Travel to pier - We are from Long Island so we took the Long Island Railroad to Penn and a taxi to the pier at 55th and 12th in Manhattan. I highly recommend public transit like LIRR, MetroNorth, or the PATH versus driving and parking. At $30 a day to park, they are out of their minds. It's NYC, though, so no big surprise.

Embarkation - Smooth with no problems. Not a long wait - maybe a 1/2 hour and we got there when it was pretty busy.

Stateroom - Fine. Inside cabin, 7305. Great location. Carnival's reputation for larger than usual cabins is still well deserved. This was bigger than higher category staterooms we have been in on other lines. The robes were a nice touch. The shower water temperature was fickle - not always all that hot when you wanted hot - but it wasn't a big deal to us. Read more