We departed at the end of September so that we could see the changing of the colors of the trees during the first week in October. As it turns out, we were early and the leaves had not changed. Also we experienced rain for the first 4 ports (Portland, Bar Harbor, Saint John, and Halifax).
We drove about 5 hours to Bayonne where the parking and check-in went very smoothly. The TSA X-Ray line moved very fast and the RCL special check-in for Jr Suite & Diamond members was very fast. At this point things slowed down. After the check-in we waited about 5 minutes for a bus to take us the 200 yards to the ship. Once on board the ship on deck 1 we waited a long long time for the elevator to take us to the passenger decks. RCL needs to have those of elevators reserved exclusively for getting passengers on board (like Celebrity does).
The lifeboat drill unlike previous ones by RCL was held outside rather than inside in a public space. This is OK for spring/summer/fall cruises but might be a problem in the winter in New Jersey.