This was our first time cruising. My husband and I were accompanied on this cruise (7/28-8/4) by our two daughters, ages 10 and 17, along with my parents who have cruised a few times before, but never on the Norwegian line. Prior to departure, we filled out our preboarding information on the NCL website. We brought our e-documents with us, along with our passports.

Embarkation took place in New York city. We drove to the Manhattan Terminal from Massachusetts. We left early in the morning and arrived in NYC at approximately 9:15AM. Parking for the week was $168 and due upon arrival. There were representatives inside to point us in the correct direction to check-in. We found all of them to be pleasant and helpful. We found check-in to be surprisingly simple. We handed the representative our e-documents and she took the necessary papers and returned the rest of the information to us. Each one of us had to have our picture taken, complete a customs form for the Bahamas, and then we received our room card keys. We were then seated in a large open area for approximately an hour and then we went through customs. We had our embarkation photo taken, and then proceeded to board the ship. We decided to have lunch in the Venetian, but found out it wouldn't open for lunch until 12:30PM, so we ate lunch at the Garden Cafe (Food Court.) We enjoyed the Garden Cafe and ate breakfast there most mornings. We ate lunch there a couple of times.

Our rooms were ready around 2PM. The ship was filled to capacity and we didn't receive our luggage in our room until after dinner. I was concerned about the dinner dress code, but after a quick phone call found out that what we were wearing was fine since it was embarkation day. We ate dinner at Impressions (Italian restaurant) and enjoyed it. It became one of our favorites. Read more