Age: 43 Occupation: Programmer Number of Cruises: 2 Cruise Line: Carnival Ship: Triumph Sailing Date: June 18th, 2005 Itinerary: Eastern Canada

I'm a 43-year-old woman who traveled with my husband, 14 year old son and 12 year old daughter.

New York: We drove into NYC the morning of our cruise and had no problem finding and parking at the pier. It's only a few blocks away from the Lincoln Tunnel (the directions are on the Carnival website). You must drop your luggage off at the berth where a porter will meet you ($1/bag). Passengers can also get out of the car here and begin the wait in line for embarkation while your other half parks the car on the rooftop. Parking was $24/day and you must pay in full (Visa or cash) on arrival. We all had passports and had registered online with Carnival which made the embarkation process painless  we probably waited in line less than an hour. We were on the ship by 2 p.m. and ate lunch at the buffet on the Lido deck. Dinner was casual the first night which was good as half of our luggage didn't arrive until 8 p.m. Read more