Frequent cruisers here, mostly on HAL, but also on Celebrity, Cunard and Carnival (yuck!!).

Embarkation: This was the first cruise of the Caribbean season for the Nieuw Amsterdam as it had just made the repositioning cruise from Europe. The Coast Guard was required to inspect the vessel, which took a lot longer than expected. We arrived at the terminal at 10:30 am and are typically on board at 11:30 am. We did not get on board until 1:30 pm (even with priority boarding passes!!), the longest we have ever waited to board a HAL ship. Announcements were made in the waiting area that due to the late boarding times, the Mariner lunch in the Manhattan Dining Room had been canceled, and only the Lido would be open for lunch. We were disappointed as we always enjoy our first lunch in the Manhattan Dining Room on the first day, but understood why the decision was made. We don’t blame HAL for this, as the coast guard needs to clear the ship prior to boarding.

Once on board, we proceeded to the Neptune Lounge for a light lunch (we do not like the Lido at all). We had a nice lunch with champagne, and then went to our Neptune Suite. The Suite was in good order, very clean and tidy. We met our room stewards Fendi and Eka; they were very nice and asked how we would like things arranged for the week. Read more