It was a new line to try out and always enjoyed Carnival, NCL, Holland America, Princess, but this was very, very different. Had never before travelled on a ship that catered mostly to the international/European, etc. crowd. That was a rude awakening. The passengers -- not all, some of the English speaking places were nice overall - but those that did not speak English, or those who had no manners (and there were an awful lot) was a great disappointment. We had never had the experience of the huge number of people who would push into a line, walk right in front of you without so much as an "excuse me" or not move over so you could get down a hall without pasting yourself against a wall so they and 3 or 4 of their friends could get by. And we are elderly and were astounded as to the lack of propriety from all ages.
The dinner portions were very small and it turned out we ended up ordering two or more appetizers plus the main course and dessert just to make our meal filling. The ship WAS beautiful, the crew WERE incredible and very, very nice, the service staff could not have more HELPFUL and good at their job. No more with this kind of crowd - they just took so much of the joy out of our week. It was actually such a relief to get into port to escape this kind of behavior.and the ports were San Juan, St. Maarten and Nassau which were all our favorites. One extra: The Logo Shop was manned by a wonderful young man, Charles - he was the joy of the trip -- and another sweet guy was Florin in the Casino -- they really were so happy and cheerful and helpful and we loved them. And a warning, the prices in the other stores were all pretty high-end - not at all for the average person.
Nice cabin and normal sized balcony but in all a tad smaller than what we had previously on Carnival. But it was clean and the cabin steward was very, very efficient.
Stayed over the night before and it was okay but not super special.
We are very familiar with St. Maarten and so did our own thing - love this port!! Our favorite Jeweler is there, Ray's Jewelry, and always stop to buy and meet again with good friends.
Love Old San Juan and that is where we spent most of the day just wandering in and out of the shops. Great restaurants too.
We have been there before so stayed on the ship - not a whole lot to do! The best we can remember is the bus tour that went to Atlantis, which was just okay - on our previous cruise there.