Advice on a new camera?

I want to buy a new camera but not sure what to get. I want something simple yet semi professional to take good pictures! I don't want one that's compact or that requires lenses. I'm not sure what to look for. I've been told megapixels don't matter uts the optical zoom. I was looking at the nikon p510 and a person at best buy reccomenede the cannon sx40 but i'm not sure. Any idees advice suggestions etc? I don't want to spend nore than 400 dollars. Also i'm ggoing on a cruise soon and want a good camera for that and sight seeing. One that will last a long time and is worth my money!

You will not be buying anything close to a semi-pro camera when you are looking at bridge cameras like the P510

And it is true, that the most important aspect of a P&S camera is its optical zoom range.

When comparing the P510 to the Canon SX40, I guess the guy at Best Buy did not notice that the Nikon has a longer optical zoom range and has a built-in GPS (the Canon does not)