I recently returned from another "gem" of a cruise, on the Norwegian Gem, sailing from New York City to the Southern Caribbean, with stops at the ports of St. Thomas, Antigua, Barbados, St. Maarten, and Tortola:

Embarkation/Debarkation:

We drove from our home in Connecticut to New York, arriving around 11:30 am. All went smoothly, dropped off my wife with our luggage, parked at the pier and returned to find luggage checked, and we headed for the security line. Each individual was given a number like at the deli counter, we went through the Latitudes line, though I don't think there was much of a difference at that time. Check in was efficient, we took a seat in the nicely refurbished waiting area, drank some hot chocolate and orange juice while we waited for the 1:00 pm boarding call. At about 1:10, they began calling numbers, after the VIP groups, and in a mere few minutes we were on our way up the gangway. One Freestyle 2.0 feature implemented for our cruise was the glass of champagne offered to you step onto Deck 7. We checked out our cabin and headed to the Grand Pacific for lunch. It was there we met our first familiar face, the lovely Laura Borut, Maitre' D at Cagney's. Laura gave us the perfect welcome, encouraged us to visit her at Cagney's that evening, and noted that Happy Hour 2/1 pricing would be in effect at the Specialty Restaurants for our cruise. Read more