I'm 27 years old, and I have been on 3 RCI cruises previously; this was my first with Carnival, and I had a great time!

We flew into NYC a day early and stayed at the Crowne Plaza at Times Square. It was a very nice hotel, but breakfast was ridiculously expensive -- $5 for a small individual serving-size box of cereal! It was about a 15-min. drive (at most) by taxi to the pier.

Embarkation was reasonable. We arrived a little before 11:00. We waited in line for 30 minutes and then after turning in our forms and getting our Sail & Sign cards, we waited in the chairs for another half hour before going through security and onto the ship. We were on the ship shortly after noon. Read more