The Ft. Lauderdale Hilton failed to load our luggage on the ship. When questioned by the ships concierge the hotel representative refused to look for our bags because he was busy. Finally the next morning the hotel admitted they still had the bags. Celebrity gave all seven of us $200 in ship board credit to purchase clothes, and made Hilton FedEx 7, 40+ pound bags overnight to our first stop Puerto Rico. Miserable experience that could have been worse had Celebrity not performed in an excellent manner. Everyone on the ship went out of their way to be personable and friendly. The wait staff knew our names the first night and catered to our every need. Considering I traveled the Caribbean on the Carnival Glory last April and could not wait to get off the ship and eat some decent food that was served at an appropriate temperature, the food on the Solstice was served hot and was quite delicious.

After the cruise all the cruise lines dump you off at the Ft. Lauderdale airport which is to small to handle the sudden influx of passengers. the airport won't allow you to check in prior to two hours before your flight which means you have to wait in a small area with lines that extended around the terminal. This experience has taught me not to allow the cruise line to set up the air travel and hotel stays. Its off to Alaska in June on the Coral princess, we will see how that compares!