It was a easy drive from Southern NJ approx. 1hr 30 min with no traffic. It was a little hectic dropping off luggage with ppl from previous cruise leaving and our ppl arriving. Once we made it to the tent my husband dropped off myself and daughters and all the luggage and he went and parked the suv. We arrived at port around 11:15am and it took some time to get to the tent for luggage drop off -about 45 minutes. We got in line to do check in (we did not do it ahead of time) and they immediately took us and did the necessary paperwork and was directed into another room that had chairs along with cold beverages and cookies which the girls did get and there was a shuttle waiting to take us to the ship so we literally walked through the room and onto a Rutgers shuttle bus and was on the ship in a few minutes.

Once on the ship (approx 12:15-12:30) we went to the windjammer for lunch and there were no empty tables as people were waiting there for the cabins to be ready. It was alittle frustrating so we went out the the pool area and found a small table and ate our lunch out there. It was an extremely hot day and i think that is why the windjammer was so crowded. I the announcement was made that cabins were ready at 1:30pm. We then headed to our cabins we had an AFt balcony and the girls had an inside cabin near us.

Our AFT cabin balcony was amazing-it was HUGE! I will certainly try to get more AFT cabins in the future. There was more vibration and movement at the back but adjusted immediately. The cabin was perfect for the 2 of us and was very clean. The balcony was in need of a little help....we had broken lounge chairs and the railings need to be varnished. But the view more than made up for the needed repairs. The girls inside cabin had new carpet and new loveseat and chair fabric. They loved having their own space and bathroom. We had walkie talkies that worked great the keep intouch with the kids. They worked everywhere except in the promenade. Read more