We chose this cruise because we had been on the Crown Princess before and wanted to do the Curacao/Aruba itinerary because we figured the water would be warmer there in February than further north in the Caribbean. Boy were we wrong.

We made our own arrangements to get to Fort Lauderdale and traveled by independent taxi to the ship. Unlike other ports, the ride from Fort Lauderdale airport to the port is just a short ride so no need to wait for a bus to fill up when an inexpensive taxi ride will get you there faster and cheaper than the transfers.

The first problem we encountered was that there was a delay in boarding. We were given a number and told to walk around if we would like and to return at 3:00 p.m. By this time since we had been up since 3:00 a.m., we were starving so we ended up going for the walk and had lunch, which turned out to be quite expensive. After lunch we called the Princess emergency "Day of Travel" number and we were advised that boarding would begin at 1:00 p.m. so we decided to walk back to the port and our group was called shortly after we arrived. Read more