This was our first cruise without our teenage son, who for some reason preferred to visit his uncle in cold Vancouver rather than join his old parents in the sunny Caribbean...Arrived on Saturday night and stayed on Hilton points at the Conrad Condado. A very nice property and certainly adequate for a pre-cruise stay. It was outside Old San Juan, but after 10 hours in airports and on airplane, we had very little interest in going out. We found the hotel to be very nice, as we received an ocean front room. We ate in the coffee shop and found the sandwiches quite good. Fortunately, we had $14 in certificates for breakfast because it would have have been quite overpriced without them. The exercise room was adequate, the grounds immaculate, and service uniformly friendly.

Sunday, after a rip off taxi ride to the port ($25)"bad", we arrived at the port at 12:30. For some unknown reason the baggage area was off line and we had to lug our luggage through the embarkation process "bad". Fortunately, it was a very easy check-in process. We were herded up to the expected Lido deck since the rooms were not made available until 2:30(though at 1:30 I did not see any activity in the halls). WE grabbed a quick bite to eat and waited for the 2:30 entrance into our room (inside cabin 7th deck). Once we got to the room and dropped our luggage, we took off for Old San Juan. We enjoyed our two or so hour exploration of old San Juan. We returned to the ship around 5:00 and by 5:30 we had our first dinner in the Atlantic Room. I must say this was one of the best parts of the cruise. The food in the Atlantic room was excellent. This was quite unexpected given the poor quality of the Lido buffet offerings (except for the pizza). As bad as the lines and quality of the food at the Lido "bad", the Atlantic room was the opposite "excellent". Throughout the cruise, were were served by the best waiter I have ever encountered on a cruise, or for that matter, in any venue, Alexander of Moldova. He made each dinner memorable with his humor, warmth, efficiency, and professionalism"excellent". That evening we spent exploring the ship and watching the ship depart San Juan. Incidentally, our room steward, William, introduced himself that evening. We never saw him again, though he was quite efficient in cleaning the room as well as providing towel animals.

The first full day began with the lamentable Lido buffet as we had slept in and missed the opportunity to eat in the Pacific room. The lines were long and slow as it appeared the number of people overwhelmed the Lido. The food was dorm quality. Our first excursion was in St. Thomas with the delightful, energetic Sunny Liston. A great tour! We returned to the ship around 3:00, rested and had another wonderful experience with Alexander in the Atlantic room. We took in the first show, which turned out to be identical to one we had seen last year on a different Carnival ship. The entertainers were adequate, with only the lead female singer standing out "good to average". Overall, with the exception of one comedian, we found the entertainment on the ship average, not memorable. Read more