This was my third cruise with Carnival, last year my s/o and I went out of NYC on the Miracle and that was a much better experience. It's hard to have a bad time on a cruise, so I wouldn't say this trip on the Splendor out of NYC was bad, it just wasn't great.

Embarkation:

Parked at the pier, that was easy - a bit expensive $280 for the duration of the trip if I recall. Arrived at the pier around 10:30am, embarkation was supposed to begin at 1:00pm, but the terminal was packed. Spent about an hour getting through the check-in process and boarding. It wasn't too terrible though, most of this time was spent sitting in the chairs provided in the terminal. We were onboard by 11:30. Conversely, my parents had priority embarkation and they were through the terminal and on the boat in about 10 minutes. We had priority embarkation on our last cruise out of NYC on the Miracle and would say that it is probably worth having if you don't like waiting or don't/can't stand in line for periods of time. Read more