I booked this cruise for Bermuda based on the fact that I have been to about 7 or 8 islands in the Caribbean and wanted to go someplace different. My BF will not cruise so I paid for my two 17 y/o nieces to travel with me since this coming school year will be their last. I wanted to do something for them since I wouldn't probably see them much once they were off to college next August/Sept.

Pre-cruise/Embarkation: We flew in the day before and stayed at the Country Inn and Suites in Elizabeth, NJ. Not sure what to expect since the reviews were varied. I had read reviews saying it was in a dangerous part of town, dirty, etc. I found the motel to be clean, the rooms large enough and safety was NEVER an issue. We could have taken a shuttle to the mall across the street but we walked. Also, remember I was with two teen nieces that were not my children and at no time did I feel unsafe here. The next day the motel called us a cab and we left the motel about 11:30am to the pier. There was a line of cars to get to the tent but it moved relatively fast and we were inside waiting for our shuttle to the ship in less than 15 minutes. However, there were a few wedding parties and they boarded first. Even so we were in the Windjammer by 12:45 for lunch and our rooms were ready by 1:30pm.

Room: Our room was an L inside category and there was enough room for all 3 of us. In fact, we never even unpacked, if you can believe that. I had 3 bags in the closet for dirty clothes and we just kept our suitcases under the bed. We had the third pullman from the ceiling and that worked well also. The beds were comfortable and our stateroom attendant was Julios (sp?) who was great. My feeling then and now was that we were not in the room much anyway so paying for any upgrade would have been lost on us. Read more