We did not stay near the port because our flight arrived early afternoon. We had 24 hours until we would board the cruise. This hotel worked because many near the port either had breakfast and no pool, or a pool and no breakfast. The one that had both had no availability the night of Friday, May 26, 2017. The trip prior to this we waited at the airport for a free shuttle over 45 minutes. This time we called Uber had immediate pickup (7 minutes). For 2 people with luggage, we were in Plantation, at this beautiful facility, for $14.91 within 15 minutes on Friday afternoon of a Holiday Weekend. The facility was very very clean. we had a king suite. I always checkout the cleanliness of the sheets and bathroom. For us the availability of lunch, supper, and a couple beers was easily solved, because a Publix grocery is just across the street. Since we were going on a cruise, we really didn't want to go out for lunch or dinner. However, dining was very close with Pei Wie Asian Dinner in the same plaza with the Publix. We found great salads to go for lunch and a rotisserie chicken with sides for dinner. The kitchenette worked great to keep salads cold and warm up our dinner. The freezer made our beers frosty that we enjoyed out at the spacious and beautifully landscaped courtyard. The courtyard has a pool, separate sitting area with a firepit and several table and chairs outside the indoor breakfast area. The breakfast was on the upper end of a hotel buffet breakfast. We ended up doing a load of free laundry of our travel clothes. The staff was very friendly and helpful. It was $17 to Uber from Plantation to the port. On our last trip we stayed near the port, those hotels are all so worn. Staying at the Staybridge worked wonderful and would most certainly do it again.

The Harmony is large and beautiful. We had a boarding time of 1 pm assigned, but we left the hotel in Plantation at 12 noon and we were on the ship by 1 pm. Embarkation was quick and smooth. The ship is at terminal 18. I had not found this information prior to our trip. As soon as we were on the ship, you enter on deck 5, onto the Royal Promenade. Straight in front of us was the Boot and Bonnet Pub. We had purchased our deluxe drink packages and went into the pub and had a couple good cold beers. After finishing our beverages, we slowly walked the Promenade to the rear elevators and went to check out our room. Our cards were in our cabin. I had brought a used walmart gift card for the card space inside the door it worked well. We did not use the wow bands. My DH carried his card in a pocket. I had mine in a clear case with a ring attached to a plastic springy wrist /arm band. It worked well. I prefer this over the lanyard that many use. Our cabin was on the 14th deck. It was a central park balcony. I was concerned about noise from the pool deck. We had no issues with noise. I would stay in the cabin again. You could hear the band from the pool area from about 2-4 pm. Our cabin was close to the rear stairs. One flight up to the pool deck and two flights up to the Windjammer Buffet.

On the front end of the ship is the Solarium. A best kept secret that I found and used was the Solarium. It is a great place for lunch, especially on embarkation, when the Windjammer is very chaotic. It was beautiful, peaceful, and delicious. This type of detail is exactly why we use Cruise Critic! After lunch we walked around and checked out the ship until about 4:30 pm We then went to the back of the ship on deck 16. There is a nice bar back there and a counter bar with bar stools across the back of the ship on both sides of the Abyss slide. The Abyss is a ‘dry’ slide on a carpet like toboggan. We enjoyed this area during the sailaway from Fort Lauderdale. Read more