Sail Date: June 29, 2008. NYC/Bermuda

Background: My wife, two daughters (10 & 13) and I. My wife and I are in our mid-forties. This was our third cruise - our first two were on Princess on their Grand-class ships which hold 3000 passengers. We are low-maintenance people and don't expect people to wait on us hand-and-foot.

Embarkation: We drove to NYC and parked at the pier. I made sure we came from the North because I'd read that sometimes coming from the South it can be a pain to turn into the terminal. We arrived at around 11AM, dropped our bags off with, and tipped the porters, drove to the lot where we paid $210 for seven nights upfront, had the dogs sniff our vehicle for bombs and then parked the van knowing that it would be safe and secure for our trip. We were on the ship by 12:00 and waiting for the Venetian to open at 12:30. We enjoyed a nice leisurely lunch overlooking the Hudson River waiting for our cabin to be ready, which it was around 2PM. We thought about looking around the ship but dragging all our carry-on luggage about bumping into others dragging their carry-ons about wasn't all that appealing. Read more