Friends and I took the 10-day Ultimate Caribbean on Celebrity Equinox over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was a relaxing, fun getaway, and Celebrity was on their A-game. Here's the highlights:

Pre-embarkation hotel: We flew into FLL the night before and stayed at Hyatt Regency Pier 66 on a Hyatt Credit Card free night. I'm glad I didn't pay for it, because the hotel is tired and in need of a major renovation. (The service, however, was excellent!) We had breakfast the next morning and friends picked us up on their way to the ship about 10:30 a.m. We were at the port by 11:00 a.m.

Embarkation: Embarkation was, surprisingly, not a breeze. We were in AquaClass and the line to enter was very short, but the person checking us in accidentally swiped one of our passports twice, which set Celebrity's computer system into a tizzy. A supervisor had to come over, and he and his colleagues who were trying to figure out what went wrong had a little tiff right in front of us. (Not professional!) Finally, we were walked to another desk, where the new agent figured out the mistake within seconds, and we were on the ship. No big deal. We headed right to the Aqua Spa Cafe for a delicious light lunch. Read more