We are a retired couple from Canada, and this is our 25th cruise, having cruised with NCL about 12 times. This was an absolutely amazing fall vacation. We were initially a bit concerned about travelling in October in the Caribbean, and were very fortunate not to have encountered Hurricane Sandy as we were ahead of her when she hit New York. Great warm weather on this cruise, with only rain on one day, and a couple of windy days.
We travelled from Toronto to New York by Greyhound Bus during the night, an 11 hour trip, arriving in New York early in the morning. We stayed at the Westin New York Grand Central, formerly the New York Helmsley, at an extremely reasonable price through Hotwire. A large cc group had booked rooms a year in advance. Extremely large room with a view of Empire State Building. Three days spent in New York City was definitely not enough, but we were able to scratch the surface and plan to go back again to enjoy some of the museums and a play. The HOHO bus 2 day pass worked extremely well for us. The highlight was Times Square, followed by Grand Central Station, trip up to the top of the Rock and an evening ride to Brooklin to enjoy the scenery at nighttime of Manhattan.
One of our cruise critic buddies had reserved a couple of vans to take us to the port on embarkation day, which worked extremely well, especially since there was a bike race going on that day. Our van driver was extremely pleasant and seemed to get us there in no time at all. Our group was well organized by our great leader, Catherine. Everything went smoothly, porters took our luggage, advance tips that were collected were given to him, and luggage miraculously disappeared. Check in was extremely fast, a very short line, and we gathered in a lounge to wait to board our ship, which we did in less than an hour, having been met by the concierge and a few other familiar faces.
We were upgraded to a family suite, SJ category, suite #12016, on Deck 12. A very quiet location, close to the library.
We absolutely loved this cabin. The space was over 400 sqft with huge bathroom, double sinks, bathtub, shower, tiled floor, and 4 sets of separate closet space. The living room and bedroom were extremely huge and could be divided by a wooden partition from the sitting area and dining area. There were also 2 sets of night tables, one at the foot of the bed that I used to store papers and shoes. There was also a huge oblong wooden table in between the sofa and 2 plush sitting room chairs. A most comfortable room with 4 huge panes of glass to enjoy the beautiful sea down below. The best view we've ever had. We spent many hours relaxing in our most comfortable room, not bumping into one another any where. Would love to get the same cabin again.