We are experienced cruisers on RCI, HAL, NCL and for the last few years on Princess - not so sure about Princess any more. We were on the Ruby last year on the same cruise, so we have a direct comparison, which is not that always flaterring for this year's trip.

We flew in on Boxing Day and stayed at the Crown Plaza (cruiseport - nothing special as a hotel) to give us a cushion in case of bad weather. Our flights were on time due to our routing, but it turns out that due to the big snowstorm on the east coast, a couple hundred didn't get to ship in Ft. Lauderdale. From what I overheard, about half of them caught up with the ship in Aruba (including one of neighbours), the others never made it at all. I hope they had good insurance....

Embarkation was smooth and rooms were ready once we got on the ship. Except for elevators that were not always working, the ship seemed to be in pretty good shape. After that, things get more interesting: Read more