This is our 30th anniversary trip -- just the 2 of us. We read previous reviews of this same ship/itinerary and saw a mixed bag in many areas so we weren't sure what to expect. Some of the negative reviews were about things we weren't overly concerned with so we went with an open mind. We viewed this as a great vacation where we didn't have to cook, clean, plan (too much) and got to see great ports and have built in entertainment. We went on a New England/Canada cruise in October 2012 on Royal Caribbean so we had a recent trip to compare it to.

Demographics of this particular cruise ship: Not sure if it is typical but since we left from San Juan, over 1/3 of the passengers were from Puerto Rico and many of them didn't speak English which I thought was a little unusual (but not bad, just different). We were also surprised to have 700 kids on the trip as we thought we chose a time of year when kids wouldn't be there. We learned PR schools just started their Xmas vacation. So only a few kids from the US and all the rest from PR. The kids were relatively well-behaved but a little rowdy in the pools and whirlpools.

Ship: the decor was not as elegant at the RCI ship but it was overallfine and clean. The ceilings were low and the main steps to each floor were a little uncomfortable to walk on. Not a fan of the metal strips at the end of each step, and it didn't help the decor. This is pretty typical of some of the other reviews we read. Again, not a deal breaker for us. It was still pretty nice. Read more