Arrival: Arrived in San Juan at 2:30 pm, received luggage without problems, found cab at curb and went straight to ship. Able to walk right through leaving baggage, checking passports, etc. and on to ship. Time from landing to being in our stateroom was only one hour.

Cruise: This was a 5 island cruise that allowed my husband (his first cruise) a chance to see destinations, not just learn what was aboard the ship. We booked all our excursions through Royal Caribbean and they were great. St. Thomas - didn't book excursion, as our nephew lives there and owns a deli on St. John - Deli Grotto, so met up with him and had lunch at the deli - delicious!!!!! And St. John was beautiful -worth the ferry ride over. Had the MEET and MINGLE that night - met Tom and Linda and enjoyed spending time with them several evenings the rest of the cruise - so glad I signed us up for the meet and mingle. St. Maarten - booked kayaking excursion - had only 6 couples - very attentive crew on the excursion - had much wind coming in from the snorkeling which made it more exciting. We were the only 50 somethings in the group and were able to keep up without a problem. Antigua - beautiful!!! Did a catamaran trip out to sea to snorkel - crew very experienced and enjoyable - met another couple from our ship who we enjoyed spending time with during the rest of the cruise. The beach we ended up on was beautiful sandy beach - so what we were looking for. In the afternoon my husband did a zip line tour in the Rainforest and really enjoyed it. My fear of heights kept me from it, but I enjoyed the Antigua highlights bus tour - only 5 of us on the entire tour - very personal trip with a wonderful guide. St. Lucia - even more beautiful!!! This day we chose the 7 hour trip to the Rainforest with a hike to a waterfall. The bus ride out was 2 hours long and the guide gave us a running history of the island - the mountains were unbelievable (and I've driven West Virginia many times in my life) and the driver was great getting the bus up and down and around tight curves with breathtaking views. The hike was at least one hour long, again up and down the mountains, with small paths to follow - so glad it was dry on our way in. We saw bananas, prickly pears, wild poinsettias, cinnamon trees, so much more. Temperature was perfect - warm, but not too hot and not really very humid. Once we got to the waterfall, we enjoyed standing under it (like a great massage) enjoying the mineral water. We also had a chance to enjoy a sulfur pool and as we were getting wet, the rainforest rained. Everything we had was wet, as was the way out. The hour back was a fun challenge. We arrived at a plantation where we were given a Creole lunch- my husband enjoyed it, I was disappointed, but the plantation was beautiful. It was a wonderful day. Barbados - went on the Atlantis Submarine to 135 feet to the ocean floor. The coral was nice to see, fish, including a few big ones, and a shipwreck. I really enjoyed it even though I wasn't sure I wanted to be below water like that - it was a great experience. For the afternoon, we took a brewery tour (disappointing) and ended up at Mount Gay Rum factory where we encountered the Martinique 7.4 earthquake - quite an experience - even more so to see how the Barbadians responded to it. We were hurried out of the tour back to the ship where everything had been shut up for the day - no one was sure what to make of the earthquake.

Shows: We enjoyed most of the shows. The first night was lame (Juan)- my husband wasn't too sure about going back after the first night, but we found the production numbers to have great sets, costumes, and voices. The best one was the Stage to Screen which included several stage musicals that made it to film. We also enjoyed the third night (especially me) as I grew up with Ricky Nelson and his sons, The Nelson Brothers, were on stage and performed a tribute to their father. Everyone was dancing in their seats. There was a magician who was ok and one night a comedian who was better than ok - gave us several real laughs. The Love and Marriage game was a hoot - shared it with Tom and Linda which made it even better. Read more