I've always been close to home on my birthday since it falls around the Fourth of July weekend and there is usually some type of family gathering.  As this was an extra special birthday (all birthdays should be special), I wanted to celebrate differently by going on a cruise for the first time.  It started out with only my adult son accompanying me (since my husband could not deal with the possibility of getting seasick) and ended up including my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, niece, and nephew.  I preferred to sail from New York for convenience and ease and I wanted a cruise that was had the most casual dress codes.  NCL's freestyle cruising concept appealed to my son and me not just because of its dress code, but for its dining policy of eating whenever, wherever, and with whomever instead of assigned seating times and restaurants.  The length of the Bermuda cruise (8 days, 7 nights) seemed to best fit our needs since we like to see a place more in depth than a day here and a day there.  With this cruise, we had almost 3 full days in Bermuda.    

Embarkation and Sail Away

Thanks to one of the detailed Cruise Critic forum posts, I was able to familiarize myself with the process of embarkation in advance.  As native New Yorkers, the pier was only a taxi ride away.  We arrived around 11:30 AM thinking we would be among the first only to find a lot of people already there.  Nevertheless, the process of taking our luggage, going through security checkpoints, and check-in was all completed within 45 minutesmuch more efficient and less painful than at airports.  (They took photos that do not appear on our room key cards, but are embedded into their system so once the card is swiped, the photo appears on their terminal.)  As we departed the area, the first of many photos to be taken by the ship's photographers was taken to be displayed and sold later.  We were greeted at the Dawn's entrance with champagne (orange juice for non-drinkers and children).  There was live music coming from the atrium already, but we proceeded to locate our cabin, knowing that it may not be ready.  We were pleasantly surprised to find that it was ready, but then noticed that the two beds were combined when we had specifically asked for 2 separate beds.  Not a problemthey promised that it would be fixed by 8PM but it was done before the end of the afternoon. Read more