This was a girls’ cruise with four of us in two adjoining cabins. We flew into Orlando the day before our cruise and stayed at the Ramada Suites near the airport. The rooms were very large and had everything we needed. We had arranged transportation from our hotel in Orlando to our ship in Port Canaveral a month before our trip. I had booked our pick-up time as 10:30 since we were scheduled for our embarkation at noon to 12:30 PM. The company, AA Access Transportation emailed me confirmation numbers and the costs for the round trip.

I phoned them again an hour before our 10:30 pick-up and was informed that everything was on time and there were no problems. At 11:30 (!!) I called again to be told that they were on their way. After waiting another 15 minutes we were very lucky to be able to find alternate transportation from the hotel staff. I cannot say enough good things about the staff at the hotel. Without their help we could have missed our cruise or at the very least have had to transport our own luggage on to the ship. Our group are all seniors and three of us use canes. Needless to say I will not be recommending that bus service to anyone.

We arrived at the ship at around 1:20 and were able to board immediately. We had arranged for wheelchair assistance for one of our group. Once on board we found the buffet and had our lunch. By then our cabins were ready and we spent some time there before the muster drill was announced. I did not like the way that was handled at all. All my previous cruises have given a time for the muster drill so you were able to go to the appointed area ahead of time. On this ship they told us that we had to wait until the signal to go to our station. That meant that every passenger on the ship was heading for the stairways at the same time. It was crazy. Read more