Both my son and myself went on a this cruise from December 23-January 1 2014. We got a deal from Montreal Canada and it was so much fun.
The moment we arrived at the port in NY City it was crazy busy. We were lined up for about an hour than after going through the security than we had to wait in another line to register that we arrived. Total time and it was just before Christmas1 hour 20 minutes,,,we got there at 1pm. This was pretty fast once we got to that point and than we went on the ship. It actually is pretty large and the lobby was decorated pretty tacky, it was Christmas and the decorations looked like dollar store, so please Gem buy some really nice stuff and use it each year the amortization is worth it. Garland with fairy lights, make it traditional it was bare, sparse would be a great word to describe it. The dining room was not even decorated at all .
We went to our room and had to wait till after 7pm till our luggage arrived it was long, so I just walked on the ship trying to explore it all, we left at 4 however before we left port there was an emergency drill which everyone needs to attend. Everything closes meaning the cafeteria while this is going on...so eat fast.