This cruise was the "test" for my DH. He had never cruised before and was concerned about becoming ill. This was the only reason I chose this itinerary. Nothing fancy - but the itinerary served our purposes perfectly. We live on Long Island making NYC the perfect spot to embark. Our first stop would be in 1-1/2 days, in Florida. If worse came to worse, he could have gotten off in Port Canaveral and come home. (It didn't happen - he did just fine)

We took the train into the city, a short taxi ride to the pier. We were not aware of the huge bike marathon going on right at the pier - perhaps the city could change that next year? However, since we always arrive early whenever we travel, this was not a problem. We arrived at the pier at around 12 noon.

We had been visited by the "upsell fairy" earlier in the week (6 days prior to sailing) and changed our cabin from an AF minisuite to a Penthouse AC (as did our travelmates - they had the room right next to ours). Our luggage tags needed to be changed and this worried me - I hate giving up control of my luggage under any circumstances. The porters were terrific, made up new tags and we were on our way. Read more