My girlfriends (2) cruised on Carnival Fascination two years ago and enjoyed it, so we chose to go on Carnival again. We all live in New York and figured it would be easier and cheaper for us to leave from New York. The price was good since the third and fourth "passenger" paid half price, so we split it three ways.

Embarkation: The price of parking your car for 8 days was just ridiculous in my opinion (I believe it's twenty dollars or more a day), so I had to find my way to the pier. Carrying as much as I was taking the train was not an option and my friends and family work during the week so I had to do some creative traveling which was pretty stressful.

When I got to the pier it was chaotic. The cars lined up in the front picking up and dropping off and porters picking up and dropping off luggage with no signs or guide anywhere. I had my fingers crossed until I got my luggage hoping that my luggage would get to me. After that it was pretty easy, but I got there at 10:30 am so it was not really crowded. There were people disembarking from the ship I was going to get on so it was interesting seeing them go by. I've cruised many times on Carnival so checking in and getting my sign and travel card was a breeze. Read more