Native New Yorker....but like some I don't like to fly so I took the train down to Florida and boarded at Port Canaveral.
I love traveling by Amtrack because of the scenery! It took 22 hours, but it's fun to be able to get to know people. This time I rented a private room because I was traveling with a two year old. We ordered room service coming and going so we could relax and never went to the dining room. The food was superb. Cuban Sandwiches....yum!
Monday March 25th: we did the early embark (Faster 2 the Fun). It's useful at times! But not all the time. Had my case of water and case of Arizonas. We got to our room and dropped all our stuff off so we could run around the ship and find everything. There was a DJ in the Atrium as we boarded and my daughter and her best friend danced in the Atrium and even got the crew members dancing. Great way to start off your cruise. We headed back to our room and jumped into our bathing suite to sit by the pool. It was a little cool that day...but warm enough to sit out for a bit. We ate at the Lido Deck before we laid out. And I don't know why people on this sight and other sights call it a stampede. It's just a big cafeteria that offers you all that you can eat. It wasn't crowded at all. Later that day we got involved in most of the cruise activities as we headed out to sea. I enforced the buddy system with the girls, but was distressed to see young children walking around the ship with no adults in tow. Never got to see my steward because he was so busy with the other rooms. Was seriously debating weather I should give him a tip. When we asked for stuff it didn't happen. I didn't get a towel animal until Wednesday and that day only. I only learned his name on Thursday of my trip.
PLEASE FIX THE SITUATION IN THE WHEELCHAIR BOUND BATHROOMS. I DIDN'T MIND HAVE THAT CABIN BUT EVERYTIME WE SHOWERED WATER WOULD BE ALL OVER THE BATHROOM AND WE HAD TO THROW ALL OUR TOWELS ON THE FLOOR.