Let's start with the fact that I was never really thrilled about going on a cruise until my husband and I decided on actually going. I'm more of a "fly to the destination" kind of girl. Once we decided to take the 5 day cruise to Bermuda I got excited. I was on the RCI website a lot looking at the ship and the things that were available to do. I booked the cruise online. Everyone had the same price for the cruise, but they offered tips for the end of the cruise. That sealed the deal for me.
My husband and I drove 3 hours from central Pennsylvania. One of the main reasons we picked Cape Liberty is because we could drive to it. We didn't want to have to worry about flights and hotels, so I can't comment on getting to the port from the airports. We took I-78 from PA to NJ, almost the entire way to the port. Getting to the port is confusing, but that's due to New Jersey's poor road signs and lack of "merge" signs. It took us 3 hours to get there and we arrived at the port about 1:30.
Embarkation: Once you get up to the embarkation center it can be a little confusing, although we were relieved to find out that you check your bags right away and then park your car. We were worried about dragging all of our baggage from the parking lot. Checking the bags was very simple. The porter tagged the bags for us and put them where they needed to be. We tipped him, as I think is expected. Once our bags were checked, we parked the car a good bit away from the embarkation center. Just our luck though, a parking shuttle pulled up to our car just as we were getting our carry on bags ready to go. It took us right to the embarkation center. We tipped him a few dollars and were on our way. Checking in was extremely easy. We had done the on-line check in which made the check in process less than 5 minutes. In a few short minutes we had our Sea Pass and shuttle number and were sent to the waiting room to take the shuttle to the bus. I would say we only waited about 10 minutes in the waiting room. It was cool the day we were there, so it wasn't uncomfortable, but I could see where it could very hot during the summer. Once we got on board the shuttle we were at the ship in about about 1-2 minutes. Boarding the ship was easy and quick.
Great view of NYC harbor, decent size, room for bags in corner by chair, comfortable, near stairs and elevators.