We couldn't have asked for a more perfect vacation for our family.First of all, we got to escape winter in Chicagoland for almost 9 days. We loved leaving from the port of San Juan. The weather was in the mid eighties when we arrived on the Saturday before the cruise. The airport was easy to navigate. We hopped a cab to the Caribe Hilton that I booked through Hotwire. BTW: even though I booked it on Hotwire, I contacted them ahead of time with my Hilton Honors info and they had no problem giving me Gold status privileges despite not booking direct. The Caribe has a nice pool and ocean view. Food was expensive, as I knew it would be, but the service was very good. We had to wait for our room for over almost 2 hours, but they gave us an ocean view, drink coupons, etc. to compensate.

We left for the port around noon.There was a ten minute or so wait to check our bags and enter the port. No big deal. Once inside I purchased my 2 bottles of wine. The prices and selection at the port are fine (average $10.) There was no wait to check in in the C&A Gold line. We got right on the boat and headed to the cafe on the promenade for a sandwich/pizza. My dd and dh had the soda package on their sea pass so they ordered their sodas right away. At 2 we were allowed into our cabin - 9320 - a D1 on the ninth floor by the aft elevators.

We loved our room location. It was so convenient to the Windjammer and pool deck. We used the stairs, mostly. If we needed something we just quickly ran back to our room. The cabin was clean and in nice condition. The deck/deck furniture had some wear and tear but was clean. The TV was the old kind, but the picture was fine. Not a problem. The beds were comfortable. Our attendant, Mr. Carter, was great. He didn't have much personality so I wasn't won over at first, but he did a great job taking care of us. He kept our ice bucket filled and got us an opener. He made towel animals that delighted my daughter. Our room was kept very clean and he was very unobtrusive. When the battery in our door lock died he got it fixed for us very quickly. Read more