We cruised on the Celebrity Summit out of San Juan leaving Friday evening Nov. 19. 2011. Our stops were St. Croix, St. Kitts, Dominica, Grenada and St. Thomas with one day at sea. All ports were very nice. This cruise took place over the Thanksgiving week. The port and the timing are important because about half of the passengers appeared to be from Puerto Rico, and there were many families. This was not necessarily bad, but had an impact on how we perceived our cruise experience.

During one of our meals we sat with a couple from Puerto Rico who said that the prices were slashed as the sailing date approached, and they decided this was a deal they couldn't afford to pass up. The main impact on us was twofold. First, there were a lot of kids -â€" many well behaved, but as usual, some who were given free run of the ship and, being children, were often loud and inconsiderate. Secondly, while we are normally quite open to saying hello and making conversation in hallways, on the pier and in the elevators -â€" we were hesitant to do so because more often than not we found the person did not speak English. Again this is not a big deal, simply an observation.

I would imagine that any ship sailing from San Juan will have a hard time filling the passenger space, thus leading to a similar passenger mix -â€" but probably without the number of families. Several people we talked to mentioned paying more for airfare to get to Puerto Rico than for the cruise itself. Read more