We flew into Fort Lauderdale. Took a 14 passenger van to Miami. Cost was about $15pp. There are lots of vans waiting but we reserved ahead. We spent Friday night at the Holiday Inn Port of Miami. It was a nice hotel, clean and Convenient. Across the street from Bayside shopping Center. Lots of Restaurants and a 10 minute ride to the port. Embarkation: We arrived at the port about 11:30. Not very crowded. We got through the check in and to the final waiting area quickly. Boarding started at 12:30. Room: Cabin was Roomy and clean. Loved the new bedding. Our SA, Patrick was great. Told him one day to just leave towels and ice if he was busy and he cleaned the whole cabin anyway. Meet and Mingle: I have not been on the board long so just sat back and listened. Everyone was very friendly. I won the RCI computer mouse. It has a cruise ship sailing inside. Several people tried to bribe it away from me but I held on tight. Disappointing turnout. I imagine if large numbers sign up and only a few show up RCI will stop having them. Food: I was disappointed. Some nights I had trouble finding something I wanted to eat. It tasted fine but I guess I just expected a little more. The Chef's offerings seemed very unimaginative. Mostly different fish. Big surprise, lobster night was not formal night. It was Wednesday. Lots of empty tables because we were in St Martin. More for us. I was at the casino later and sat with a man that almost cried when he heard he missed it. Wait Staff: Outstanding. Erkan, Eldon and Mr G were great. My son considers eating a sport and Erkan kept 2 or 3 plates coming at a time. We had a great time teasing Eldon about going to Orient Beach. Dining Attire: There isn't much to prepare you for the variation of the dinner dress. Because it was the Caribbean (less formal) and because we had four ports, we had 5 casual nights and two formal nights. No in between. Because we had early dinner and didn't do any RCI excursions, we still dressed for dinner but loads of people didn't. We had no smart casual night. We did have Tropical night and Western night. Just wore bright colors and ignored western night. Drinks: The wine package was ok. Not much selection. I chose the middle class and 7 bottles with tax it was $212.79. I mostly drink G & T. If you are ok with house Gin they run $4.89 with tax and tip. Tanquarey is $5.75 with t&t. Very reasonable. Casino: OK but not great. Machines were very tight. Staff there was very friendly on the most part. Some dealers were just bored and didn't hide it. Marvin, one of the drink waiters was exceptional. The first drink I ordered he knew my name and from that moment on he would start calling my name from a few steps away. I only ordered 1 or 2 drinks a night so he had that good a memory. I gave him a nice tip. Ports: San Juan: Hired a van with two other couples. $15pp and he would take us where we wanted. We went to both forts. Beautiful photo ops. Driver was very good. Took us also into New San Juan. We wanted to be back for our early dinner so that is about all we had time for. Lots of shopping within walking distance of the pier. I was pleasantly surprised. Liked it better than I thought I would. St. Thomas: I was disappointed in this island. I though it was dirty. Our driver Henry was great, Again we hired him as we got off the ship. He took us on a two hour tour for $15pp. My Daughter and Son in law wanted to go to the beach after we returned to the ship. Henry took them the the Hotel beach, showed them the rest room facilities and told the workers to treat them well as they were family. Might have had something to do with the really nice tip my husband gave him earlier. St Martin: My favorite of the stops. After we took the Water Taxi to the French side($5 rt) we took a cab (again) $18 for two to Orient Beach. Our driver Marius was exceptional. He had a van but made the trip for just the 2 of us. He answered all our questions and took us to what he said was the nicest part of the beach. The beach is well worth the visit. Pure white sand. Lots of shaded places to sit if you are sun sensitive like me. Kakao Beach bar had a good Bloody Mary. When we got back from the beach we stopped at a little cafe called Chez Del Phine. A lovely french woman owns the place. She makes a nice crab sandwich for about $4.00 and I had a really good Tuna Tartar for $12. I told her I wanted to try something different and local. She suggested a Ti Punch. It is Sugar cane syrup, lime Juice and French rum. Very potent but wonderful. She said that the plantation owners drank it. It was called Petit Punce, Now just Ti punch. If you don't want to eat just stop by and talk to her. She is very nice. Nassau: We have been there many times and it doesn't get any better. Walked to the Straw Market. A real waste of time. so crowded and hot it was hard to move. Every booth had the same thing. Knock off purses, cheap t-shirts and straw items. Our GrandDaughter got her hair braided. It took 2 hours and cost $144.00. Very well done but expensive. My Granddaughter loved the Adventure Seas kids program. We had to drag her away. Lots of activities. Disembarkation: We had the third color called and were off the ship by 7:30. We had to wait for about 30-40 min for our luggage. We had to wait for some others to get off to share our ride to FLL. We were there by 10:00AM. Overall: Had a great time. Beautiful ship. Biggest disappointment was the food but the rest of my family thought it was great. It was my first RCI. I have done 3 Carnivals before. I think the spirit class Carnival ships hold up very well in comparison. I would not take this route again but would sail RCI again.