qwerty7123

this was my first cruise. I would have to say i had an amazing time!We left on saturday and arrived at port everglades around 9am, we got onto the ship very smoothly. My suggestion is to arrive at port by 9am to 930am to avoid crazy traffic and lineups and you can get onto ship quicker. We gave our luggage to the porter and also tipped a buck each for each piece of luggage, it arrived at our stateroom before 2pm. Overall staff service was terrific,nothing to complain about! I gave my main dining room waiter extra tips in the end due to wonderful service. There is tons to do on the ship, we received a schedule everyday showing what was going on around the ship...they had activities for kids to solo travellers to seniors to war veterans! The food selection was also pretty good. i really enjoyed the food in main dining room.one thing to note is the Windjammer closes at 330pm and reopens at 530pm and then closes at 9pm daily.. Finding seats can be bit of challenge at the Windjammer but if you go around it couple of times, you will find a table...be patient! remember You are on board with 6000 other people! As for pool deck chairs, i haven't had an issue..i guess i got lucky? I was able to grab a deck chair around 10am on sea day! They have towels rental for free on board but if you loose it ..it will be 35 bucks charged onto your sea pass! Make sure you keep your seapass safely as you will need it to get on and off ship. Also when we were leaving, we chose the self carry option which means we were responsible for carrying our own luggage off the ship and to the airport. This option was alot quicker and allowed us to expedite the exiting process..instead of having the ship carry our luggage which means more wait time. Overall i would say this trip was wonderful, just take it easy and enjoy it! Yes it will be busy at peak hours,but i didnt allow it to ruin my vacay! Be early if you want absolute peace..for example..i woke up at 6am to check out the sunrise..there was like three people at the deck! Also one note..something that made this a four stars instead of five..it is fort lauderdale airport! i know they are expanding but man o man..the service was definitely below standards! Way too crowded, and way to slow and service was crap! have fun peeps!