Just beat the storm! We flew out of CT on Saturday morning at 7:55, a few hours before they closed down the airports for Hurricane Irene. Arrived in San Juan in the afternoon and were met by our pre-arranged taxi with car seats for the kids (really wasn't necessary). We went straight to the Radisson Hotel in Condado, which was a nice location with plenty of restaurants and two Walgreens within walking distance. We stocked up at the Walgreens on diapers and wine (much cheaper there). The next day we headed to the port around 12:00 after a quick side trip to Baby's R Us for another stroller. I do not recommend arriving at the port at 12:30. The lines were longer than I've ever encountered. We were lucky to have two toddlers in strollers and they escorted us to the special assistance line (only one person in front of us). I estimate that it would have taken close to 2 hours to go through the regular line.

Once on board, they directed us to the buffet for some lunch. Once again, long, long lines. This was consistent throughout the cruise. The only time I ever felt like there were a lot of people on the ship, was in the Mediterranean Dining Room (buffet). We had a category 8A Balcony room. It was pretty tight with the sofa bed and the crib, but that was expected. The bathroom and the shower were the largest we've ever had on a ship. They had plenty of soap, shampoo, lotions, toothpaste, etc in the bathroom. The balcony was necessary, as we were traveling with our kids, ages 3 and 1. When they went to bed at night, we could go out on the balcony and relax without worrying about waking them up.

We opted for the anytime dining, which was in the Atlantic Dining Room on the Fourth Floor. It was pretty nice and the food was good. I only had one meal that I didn't care for and that was the Seafood Newburg (which normally I love). The service was very good on most days, but really depended on where you were sat. That's the only thing that I disliked about the anytime dining. You didn't have the same server each time, so you never knew how the service would be. They always greeted our kids by name (actually it felt like everyone who worked on the ship, knew our kids' names by the second day). We ate breakfast in the Pacific dining room on most mornings, unless we were in a hurry to get off the ship. The service in there was really slow. We waited 15 minutes one morning before anyone came over with coffee and water. This is not good when you have small children! If you went to the back of ship, behind the Mediterranean Buffet, there was an area that had hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken fingers and another that had pizza. There was never a line here, so we ended up there most days for lunch. In the morning, they serve breakfast there, including an omelet station. Read more