We chose to sail on Summit for the fifth time, because we love the ship and we also love that it's not HUGE, and it sails from Cape Liberty and that is a port we can drive to, rather than fly. We have had four wonderful cruises on her in the past six years.

Sometimes the drive from Philly to Bayonne has been a bit crazy due to road construction but this year it was as smooth as could be. We were early enough to secure a parking place in the parking garage, which was what I was hoping since we were leaving our fairly new car there for a week. However every time we have parked in cruise parking at Bayonne it has always been fine, whether in the garage or not.

The only glitch with embarkation was that we were told by the stevedore when we dropped off our luggage, that we could not bring a case of bottled water onboard, even though we had a ship luggage tag on it. We have always done this in the past with no problem. He insisted it was a new rule, but that we could "carry on" the case of water. Well we weren't going to park and walk all the way to the terminal and then onboard carrying a case of water. I have a kidney condition which requires that I drink at least 64 oz of water/day, and while we did have the premium drink package, it's just been easier to have the bottled water in bulk available in our cabin. :( My husband put a few bottles in his carry on bag. Read more