I cruised on the Dawn to the Bahamas and Bermuda with my three sisters. Two of us live in New Jersey, so the other two flew into Newark the day before. This was the first cruise for two of us, the other two had cruised once before, but not on NCL.

Family members drove us to the pier. We arrived at 11:15, gave our luggage to the porter, and proceeded through for embarkation. We had to wait for a while, but there were chairs and coffee and cookies. After a while we went to get processed and receive our key cards, and were on board by 12:15. I had read horror stories about embarkation in New York, but didn't think it was bad at all.

We first stood in line to make a reservation for Le Bistro for that night, then went for lunch in the Venetian. We finished at about 2:00, and found that our cabins were ready. We had connecting cabins on Deck 8. It didn't take long to get someone to open up the connecting doors both inside and on the balconies. One chair on the balcony was broken, and it was replaced the next day. Read more