This was a port-intensive cruise, 7 ports in 7 days...a really great itinerary, which was the reason we chose this trip. We flew to San Juan from Virginia the day of embarkation with no difficulties. We took a van taxi from the airport which was wonderful...it was only $29.00 plus tip for 6 of us and all our luggage. Getting onboard the ship was fairly easy. Lines were long but moved along very quickly. Once onboard the real lines began. For this particular cruise, and for reasons we still do not understand, excursions could not be booked ahead of time on-line. This was disturbing to us as we were traveling with 4 of our young adult children and we wanted an exciting excursion in each port and we worried we would not be able to get 6 tickets for each one by the time it was our turn in line. In order to combat the problem we knew we were facing, we booked 4 of our port stops with ShoreTrips.com months ahead of the cruise. We have used them before on previous cruises and thought the quality of the excursions was better than the usual cruise line offerings. We didn't find what we were looking in 2 of the Ports with ShoreTrips, so we had to wait in line to purchase them from Carnival. The lines were very long. Upon arrival to the ship, we were informed the itinerary was going to be changed due to weather from Tropical Storm Ana. We were now going to have a Day at Sea, and the port arrival days were changed or omitted, and new ones added. Of course this now altered all the excursions we were going to go on with Shore Trips. We called them from San Juan and they changed everything for us, times, dates, ports, and offered full refunds on any ports we were no longer going to visit that we had bought excursions for. They were wonderful on the phone and it was easy to make all the changes. We stood in a long line to buy excursions for the other ports we were now going to visit. Once that was done, awhile later and before we left San Juan, the itinerary was changed back to the original itinerary. Back to long lines to get a refund on excursions we bought but now we were not going to those islands, and then to try and buy excursions for the ones we needed to start with. Had to call Shore Trips again, and they put everything back as it was originally with just a phone call. We spent most of our first day on board waiting in lines which was not a fun way to start the trip.

SHIP: Very modern looking with bright colors. We were impressed with the cleanliness of the ship. A little hard to navigate as you have to go up and around some of the decks to get to the main areas. Some decks do not allow you to walk through to the center of the ship, but once we figured it out, it was fine. We were on the Upper Deck (Deck 6) in a balcony room. It was spacious, with good storage. Our empty luggage fit under the bed, and we liked that the bathroom/shower was just a tad larger than most...doesn't seem like that would make a difference, but extra counter space and a few more inches in the shower were very welcomed. Linens were lovely and the bed was very comfortable. Kids cabins were great too..we got interior cabins for them to save $$$..but they prefer it, as they like the darkness in the cabins on mornings they didn't have to get up for early excursions. We all had the same room steward, Pu Tu, and he was great. Rooms were always cleaned promptly, clean beach towels every day, etc. The accommodations were really nice. We always love a balcony room to see out, get more light, and take photos as we come into Port.

PORTS Read more