We had a great vacation but it turned into an adventure, not a cruise, due to Hurricane Frances and Ivan. As Frances approached the Florida coast, RCCL was extremely slow in communicating to the customers. We booked our flights through American, who called us immediately when three of our flights got cancelled. Finally, they got us on a flight from Raleigh, NC to LaGuardia to Miami - UGH! As of 2PM Sunday, the cruise wasn't cancelled. When we landed in Miami, guess what, the port wasn't open and we weren't leaving until Monday. RCCL did a great job of informing everyone at the airport and getting us great lodging and a meal for the night.

The next morning, we decided to take a cab to the port and beat the bus loads of stranded customers. We got to the port about noon and were on the ship within 30 min. We booked a promenade room, 7605, which was designed to be an adjoining room. The room was small but we expected that. Next time, we'll get a room without an adjoining door because we could hear our noisy neighbors every day and night. We heard the balcony rooms are the best. Since Hurricane Ivan was heading towards the Eastern Caribbean, they changed our itinerary to go to the Western Caribbean. We didn't mind, we were on vacation. Some people cancelled their cruise. RCCL did give everyone a $250 on board credit and 50% off a future cruise. That was fair to us. Since the ship wasn't leaving Miami until 10PM, we decided to have dinner at Portofino's restaurant. It was excellent!! You will feel sick after it because of all the food they serve you.

We had a great waiter from Turkey who treated us like royalty. Go here on the first night because it is not crowded. All of the onboard entertainment was good. We had no complaints. The windjammer cafe became old after the 2nd visit. It's like going to Golden Corral Restaurant buffet. For dinner, we had the first seating, which was empty (only 2,200 passengers made it). Our table was great - right next to the window. Leonardo, our waiter from Nicaragua, was excellent and very fun to be around. Read more