My family decided a year ago to take a cruise together and the kids all said they would pay for themselves(it wouldn't have happened otherwise!) My married kids came from Manhattan and Hoboken, NJ. I'd done a lot reading on this website prior to the cruise and would wet every one's cruise appetite by telling them what I'd learned.

My DH and DS and I traveled from northern NJ to park at port and it took less than 35-40 minutes to get there. After the bomb sniffing dogs did their thing we dropped the bags by the elevator and I parked the car and we all went downstairs and dropped our bags to the porters. The Carnival Glory was also embarking so we kept looking for the NCL signs as we made our way through airport like security. While paying corkage fees for the wine we brought our DD and her DH also came through security. At the NCL check-in line a women asked our room # and said "You're VIP so go over there." (I believe I got VIP status as I ran the Cruise Critic Meet & Greet on board- I had been hoping it would happen but wasn't sure!)I told my kids to come with me and we checked in right away and were taken to the "special" holding room with juice and other goodies. We only waited about 3 minutes and were then escorted on to the ship, past the greeter, Megan, wearing her fishnets and short shorts-quite cute! For the sail away we were on the bow of the ship outside on the 14th floor. Be prepared for wind! We especially enjoyed going under the Verrazano Bridge and going by the Statue of Liberty.

My DS & DIL had an aft balcony like us on the 1th floor and we had one on the 9th. The 10th floor aft balcony is double the width of the 9th floor and I wish I'd booked that floor instead. We used the staff staircase the few times we went to their room as otherwise we would have had to walk down the hall to the nearest passenger stairs and then walk back to the aft. I liked being able to see both sunup and sundown in the aft. Our bathroom had a spacious shower area. It seemed you could almost fit 2 people in it. I used the retractable clothes line in there for wet suits, etc. The toilet area could be closed off which is good for privacy but cramped. The sink and mirror were between the two. The stateroom was perfectly adequate for 2(couldn't imagine having more than that in there) with nice shiny wood shelving, drawers, makeup area with padded stool and a desk with a chair(and a small couch and table). I found the bed to be really comfortable and liked the pillows too. We had towel animals every night after the first day or so. As we were VIP we also had little snacks around 5pm every day. A nice touch. Read more