First of all here are a few demographics. My boyfriend and I are both in our early 20's, both students, from Georgia. We chose this cruise because of the price and the itinerary. We booked with a TA, he got us an upgrade from an inside to a 5A, which was ok with us, we were happy to be anywhere on the ship.

Precruise: We flew in a day early and stayed in at the Caribe Hilton in San Juan. Nice hotel, I don't really have any complaints, for the price I paid (I was able to get it via an internet bidding site) it very much exceeded my expectations, I was able to get a newly renovated room as well.

Embarkation: A breeze. We got to the terminal a little before noon since our check out time was at 11 AM. We walked in, was checked in within 20 minutes, and we seated in a large waiting area. There is a nice duty free store for liquor, and they give free samples. When you buy it, they will flat out tell you to put it in your carry on and you can consume it on the ship. My cashier even helped me in repacking my carry on to accommodate the bottles, and he bagged the wine and water separately, since those items can be carried on. Around 1:20, (the wait was not bad, we struck up conversation with a lot of people around us, and we were in zone 2). We went through security and was on the boat. Even though the doors were closed to our deck, we found our steward and he let us drop our carry ons in our room. I requested ice from him, and after that there was always ice in our room. We went up to the lido deck, lunch and was out by 2:15 to go around San Juan. Word of advice: Get in before 1 or later than 4 for Embarkation. When we left to go back out to San Juan, the Embarkation line was horrendous and out the door. We came back around 6, and there were practically no lines. Forgetting it was Mother's Day, we found out practically all the stores were closed and we ended up just walking around till we got back on the ship. Read more