We flew in from Atlanta on the day of the cruise - which is a first for us! Our flight out was at 9:42 and we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale around 11 am. After finding our luggage we went to the Princess desk for our transfer to the port (another first for us, ship transfers) and we're on our way to the Port by 11:30. The transfers were well-organized and friendly. The one thing to note is that unless you hire a porter for your bags you will be conveying them to the desk, then to the bus yourself. And when boarding the transfer bus you will have to take care of your own carry on. There were two elderly getting on before us and each of them were struggling up the steps on the bus with a large carry on bag.

When we arrived at the port the line was really, really long! The nice thing about the transfer is not having to worry about your bags getting to the ship (well, not worry TOO much). So we dutifully went to the end of the line, filled out our Health Questionnaire, and proceeded to wait. A kind gentleman working with the line noticed my boarding pass and said "you are Preferred - you don't have to wait in the front of the line" and told us to go to the "other" entry. Well, there was no "other" entry and after a few wrong starts and with a group of other Preferreds we found our line before security where they shoved aside all of the "regular" people and let us go through first. I wasn't really excited about doing this because it seemed a bit rude to me but was in a group by then just moving along. It would be nice if the Preferred status was handled in a quieter manner with a little less fanfare.

We went straight up to the counter, were checked in quickly and on-board in our cabin by 12:00. We checked out our first inside cabin (hmmmmm) grabbed the Patter and headed down to the Dining Room for a nice quiet lunch. There were very few people there and we sat at one of those tables for 2 that seat you next to other couples. We chatted with 3 nice couples and had a good lunch. Read more