In contrast to Vegas, 18 year olds can gamble on cruise ships... so my nephew, whose favorite movie is "Vegas Vacation" wanted to go on a cruise so he could gamble. He is still in high school so we had to do a short cruise where he could miss a day or two of school only. My TA found this cruise for us. We chose an AE cabin (it was the best we could reserve about 60 days prior to sailing). There would be three of us in the cabin: my nephew, my mother (his grandmother) and me. We utilized the mini-suite to sleep 3 people separately. It was fine for 2 nights but I would have preferred more room. With the bed pushed apart to make 2 beds it was difficult to use the closet and with the sofa bed out there was hardly room for the furniture and access to the balcony and fridge. But we managed. Hey, we were on vacation. The room was clean and we never had to ask for anything.
We flew in to NYC a day early and stayed with friends. That was nice. We took a cab to the port and embarkation was easy. I had ordered the birthday package and the room was great! There were banners and balloons and a very nice cake. It was well worth the money in my opinion. Besides, I am not sure how I could have snuck in early to decorate. This way we all had the element of surprise. Next, thanks to CC I knew to go to the Main Restaurant and not the buffet. I do not like buffets and avoid them whenever possible.
When my nephew and I went to the casino we were in for a surprise. All of the table limits were very high $25 for blackjack and $50 for Pai Gow Poker (which we had both learned to play recently). It did not take long for us to lose a bundle. I was a BJ dealer for a long time so I was doing everything right. But when you split and double down at $25 a pop - and the dealer draws to 21 - OUCH! We did play slots. There were plenty of all amounts. Luckily we found a blackjack machine in the lounge that sat 5 people. The minimum bets were $5.00 - now you're talking! It was a hoot. There were digitally enhanced buxom female dealers. Everyone was cracking up. But who cares? SInce we all won and won and won. I never even cashed a traveler's check. My nephew got to play a lot of blackjack and he was happy. That machine saved us!