There are 5 of us that always vacation (cruise) together and sometimes there are more but this particular trip there were 5. Our ages range from 57-72. We flew on Southwest from Atlanta to Ft. Lauderdale, the day before the cruise. Everything at the Atlanta airport was good. I booked our hotel rooms at the Hampton Inn Plantation in Plantation, FL (a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale). They picked us up at the airport, free of charge (Shawn was our driver and he was amazing. He was funny and informative). The hotel and staff were great. I highly recommend this hotel. There is a mall right next door and several places within walking distance to eat. They also have free transportation to the port (which we didn't use because I had already booked with Infinity Transportation). On Saturday morning, we got up and ate at the free breakfast in the hotel. We had some time to kill so we went out and set by the pool, just to relax. As I said, I booked our private transportation to and from the port with Infinity Transportation. We have used them several times and are very pleased with their service and their vehicles. They are a little pricey but worth it. They have never been late to pick us up and this time was no exception. We were scheduled to board Harmony of the Seas between 12:30-1:00. We got to the port at 10:30 and were on board the ship by 10:45. The boarding process was a breeze. They tell everyone that their staterooms won't be ready until 1:00 and there are several places you can go and wait. Here is where things were a little messed up. None of the places open up until 11:30 or 12:00 so the lines were outrageously long. We grabbed us a deck chair and just waited it out. At about 12:30 we went to Mini Bites and grabbed a hot dog and at 1:00 we went to our staterooms.

Two of our staterooms were Boardwalk Balcony rooms so our stateroom attendant opened the partition for us. We had Elizabeth for our stateroom attendant and she was great. We never had to want for anything. Getting our luggage was next on our list. Everybody got their luggage early except for me. I still didn't have it at 8:00 hat night so Elizabeth called about it and they told her that they were holding it in security. So my husband and I went to security and let me just say we were not the only luggage down there. As soon as I saw this large box of extension cords and power strips, I knew why they took my luggage. We have always carried a surge protector with us and it has never been an issue but this time it was, so once I gave them my surge protector everything was good. As it turns out I didn't need the surge protector anyway. However, in riding the elevator back up to our stateroom several people told us that they had one in their carry on and they never said a word. That kind of got under my skin but still I was ok with it. Then 2 nights before the end of the cruise, we are sitting out on the balcony and directly across from us is someone who has strung 2 extension cords together and attached a set of lights to decorate their balcony (I have the pictures to prove it), now that ticked me off.

However, after the luggage situation everything else was pretty smooth. The food wasn't very good in the dining room (at least it wasn't for dinner, but breakfast was good). The Windjammer had much better food and more of a variety. Trust me, we didn't go hungry. However, we think the food on Carnival is much better. There is no omelette station, like Carnival, but you can get an omelette most any place. Read more