My husband and I sailed on the Adventure of the Seas on 31 Aug, the Barbados route. This was our fifth RCI cruise. Yes, we were a little concerned about it being the "off season" (not to mention hurricane season), but we ended up having a wonderful time. Off season provided less crowded ports, which was very nice.

Precruise: We arrived at the San Juan airport on time and found our luggage without problems. We priced a cab from the ladies in the bright orange shirts. They charged $19.50 for a cab from the airport to the Condado beach area (where our hotel was). Be aware the cabs charge for your luggage, and even charged for our carry-on luggage ($1 per bag). I think this is why my husband decided to price Enterprise rental cars (there is a convenient kiosk right by the cab stand). This proved to be one of the best decisions of the whole trip. We picked the car up at the Enterprise off airport lot and returned the following day at a different location near our hotel (Ashford Ave). Plus, Enterprise gave us a complimentary ride to the cruise terminal. Total price for the rental car was $17.00. Great service at a great price. Would highly recommend going this route. This way, we were also able to see Old San Juan at our own pace. We stayed at the Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino in San Juan the night before the cruise. The hotel was beautiful. Yes, there was a lot of shade, but we didn't mind as we burn easily. The casino was fun. Blackjack minimums were at $5, but the craps was $10. It was easy to get a pre-made pina colada, but very hard to get a rum and coke. The service was slow at the casino even though we were tipping.

The day the ship departed, we arrived to the cruise terminal around 1pm. The lines for dropping off the luggage were LONG and disorganized. Once we got through the lines for the luggage, check in was easy and we were on board within minutes. We actually saw our luggage board the ship as we were taking our welcome aboard picture. The ship was beautiful as expected. We had been on a voyager class once before and enjoy how large the ship is. We went to Windjammer for lunch and had a nice time. Our luggage was delivered to our room without problems. We had an ocean view cabin on Deck 2. The room was plenty large for us and the bed was comfy. Read more