We embarked on this trip as an opportunity to celebrate our 50th anniversary with our children and grandchildren. In this respect, the trip was a great success. We were cut off from "the real world" and could thus enjoy being together with few distractions while the ship's facilities offered activities for a variety of ages and interests. We loved the excellent beaches at St. Martins, St. Thomas, and Tortola though we all found the commercialism of the port towns a bit offputting.

The ship itself was attractive enough as to the public rooms while all of our cabins (3 superior with verandas and one junior suite) were spacious, nicely decorated, well maintained, and spotlessly clean. The beds were very comfortable with nice linens and there were always plenty of towels. We had a great cabin attendant who entertained us nightly with cute towel animals which always made us smile.

Unfortunately, none of us were able to use the verandas because of the pervasive odor of smoke which constantly drifted from neighboring balconies. Why RCL doesn't designate one side of the ship for smokers baffles me. (In fact, the odor of cigarette smoke was a constant annoyance in the hallways and public areas from the far too many bars.) Read more