My husband and I have cruised on the Dawn to Bermuda for the last three years and thought we'd try something different. We chose going to the Bahamas on the Gem for this year.

We flew into Newark airport from Boston on a 6:40am flight. We called Carmel Limo service and they were there within 10 minutes to pick us up. If you are in the New York area and need a car service, I would recommend them highly! We got to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal at around 8:30 and were seated in the waiting area right away even though we were very early. We waited until about 10:00 and asked if there was a place for people in a suite to go. We were shown to a special line and through security within minutes then to the VIP room where there was coffee, water, juice, and snacks. We got our room keys, Day 1 daily, and a map of the ship from the assistant concierge. Elvina, the concierge who was coming off her vacation hadn't gotten there yet. When she did arrive, she greeted everyone that she had missed.

We were told the rooms were not yet ready and that we would be escorted directly to Cagney's to have lunch at 11:30. This was a little disappointing to us because we were used to boarding the Dawn and going directly to our room to drop off our carryon bags. People were being told if they wanted to check their carryon bags in the Bliss Lounge, that was available. I wasn't comfortable with that, so I kept mine with me. We had lunch (which was delicious!) and asked if they knew when the rooms would be available. Our waiter said usually not until around 1:15 or so. We walked around for a little while and decided to try to see if we could get to our room. The doors to all the hallways to get to the rooms were all closed with notices that there would be an announcement when the rooms were ready. Finally at around 1:20, they made the announcement. Read more