Family travel - My husband and myself, our three grown children and their spouses, and six grandchildren, ages 24, 23, 22, 18, 16, and 12.
After driving to Norfolk, VA, we spent the night at the Marriott Waterside, a beautiful hotel in walking distance of the harbor. We arrived at the port around 11:30am, dropped luggage and I waited at the cruise center while my husband went to park. About 45 minutes later, he arrived from Cedar Grove parking lot, 14 blocks away. It seems they don't separate the cars coming in to park only from the ones dropping luggage, so you wait in line behind those without the right change, the ones with charge cards (we were told it was cash only), and the ones who had not even put on their luggage tags! At the new Half Moone Cruise Center, embarkation was uneventful and easy after online completion of sea pass information.
We were told 1pm for cabins, so we proceeded to Windjammer Cafe for lunch. What a zoo - people wandered the food stations with no direction and no clue. People came at you from every direction; enough to rattle the strongest traveler. After recent trips with Holland America and Celebrity, we were quite unprepared. We were not impressed and wondered how sanitary it was with all those hands, including many children, dipping in. We became increasingly aware that they do not provide hand sanitizing stations like we have found on other lines, not even at the dining rooms or the gangway after a day in port. We felt this was irresponsible, considering the number of recent illnesses on ships.