My mom has been on a couple of cruises 15+ years ago. She is not a sun worshiper, so we decided to go to Canada. This was my 6th cruise. We arrived in NYC the day before the cruise and had a great time walking around. The weather could not have been better.

Embarkation was a breeze - we arrived at the pier around 11:45 and were on the ship by 12:15. They were already calling zones when we got there. There was a line, but it moved very quickly. We took a cab to the pier from our midtown hotel, which only took 10 minutes.

I have never had a balcony cabin before and due to traveling with a 2 year old, I wanted to "splurge" for one. Due to her 2-3 hour nap schedule, did not want to be trapped in a room. Our cabin was in a great location on the ship. At first when I saw it was so close to the front, was disappointed, but it worked out great. The longest walk we had was to the dining room, since we were assigned to the Paris lower level, which was at the very back of the ship. Not a problem though, needed to walk off the incredible Chocolate Lava Cake! Read more