This was surely one of the best cruises I have been on. This was my 7th cruise and I've previously been on HAL, Costa, Royal Caribbean and Princess. Although HAL still gets brownie points for being the best in service and overall cruise experience, Princess comes very close.

Embarkation at the Brooklyn cruise terminal was a breeze. We arrived at 1pm and were on the ship in about 20 minutes. The only hitch was that my friend's 2 bottles of gin got confiscated at security (he did get them back at the end of the cruise though). We've always carried alcohol in our hand luggage and never had the problem in the past. However I did see several other passengers whose bottles of alcohol were being taken away.

Once onboard, we were straight away shown to our cabins which were ready. The cabins were beautifully laid out with a covered balcony (views of Statue of liberty on Starboard side), plenty of wardrobe space and a tiny bathroom. I wish they could design slightly bigger bathrooms. However the shower was powerful. AC and safe worked fine. Read more