For a change of pace this year we stayed downtown in Battery Park City at the Conrad. The downtown location provided access to a whole world of things we usually don't see, but having only one evening there we didn't do too much. One thing I really wanted to see was the World Trade Center Memorial, but the line was killer so we skipped it. We'll get to do it sometime I'm sure. One place we did go was City Hall Park over next to the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a nice little place but the real reason we went was Wafels and Dinges. My wife has wanted to go there for quite some time after seeing it on TV. They have trucks all over New York, but only a small cart at this park. The wafels were out of this world good. So good in fact we walked back over there Sunday morning for breakfast. The hotel itself was amazing. It was ultra modern and full of electronic gizmos. For example the you needed only to display your key card to enter your room rather than swipe it. Also, you could control the ac and lighting in the room on the TV. My son loved it so I'm afraid he's going to want to stay there again, but I don't know if I would just because of the location. Probably would I guess.

Sunday the drive up to Pier 88 was crazy. We made the mistake of leaving around 11:30. Generally we like to be there by 11:30 but this time for some reason we were a little later. The traffic getting to the terminal was awful probably because there were two ships in town. The Carnival Splendor was there as well. Once in the terminal it was crazy but not out of the ordinary. We got through embarkation relatively smoothly.

Having monitored the Everything Breakaway thread on the boards here at Cruise Critic for several months I thought I was more than prepared for this ship. We studied deck plans and watched her ever since the first photos began to leak out of the construction yard. That being said, I was still overwhelmed. It seemed really crowded and our room seemed abnormally small. We're used to inside rooms, but NCL seems to definitely have the smallest. Fortunately that feeling didnt last. And we soon got our sea legs and all was well. The room was small but we got used to it. The reviews had mentioned the lack of storage and they were on the money. We were definitely disappointed with the room. But thats a small thing when you’re on the newest ship in the world. Read more