This was a delayed honeymoon cruise for my wife and me, after getting married in October. First off, I should mention that Norwegian went above and beyond for us even before we got on board. We originally booked our trip through an internet service, mostly because it was advertising the same rates as elsewhere, but they offered a free shore excursion, so we went with them. After booking, I noticed that the price kept going down, and I contacted the site representative to see what she could do for us, if anything. Well, she was great, because she first got us a cash refund of $220, then a cabin credit of $200! Of course, Norwegian went along with this, which is what made it possible in the first place. After giving us over $400 back from what we originally paid them, they then offered an upgrade from the window cabin we booked to a balcony cabin on the 11th deck for $250 more. We jumped at the opportunity and wound up in cabin #11610.

We live in Connecticut, so we hooked up with Entertainment Tours bus company for a ride into the New York City ship port. The bus was $55 per person round trip (the fare has since gone up to $75) and was well worth it. It starts in Boston and makes stops in Providence, RI, then Hartford and New Haven, CT. We got on in New Haven, and rode in comfort to the pier. We got in around noon and headed for the customs line.

It was somewhat warm in the port terminal, but they tried to make it as painless as possible. Soon we were on the ship, room cards in hand. Our very first stop was to the restaurant reservation desk in the Grand Centrum, where we secured seating at the specialty restaurants for three nights. We decided to play the rest by ear, which worked out very well for us. Read more