We were on the April 27th repositioning cruise from San Juan, PR to Bayonne, NJ.

As always, we left on the 23rd, staying at the Waldorf Astoria Casita Village at the El Conquistador. We had a wonderful time. I got to play golf every day and work on my tan before the cruise.

We had a car service take us to the ship on the afternoon of the 27th. There needs to have a better way of checking in luggage as most people stand in a long line. We had our driver get a person to take our luggage. From there it got easy. We were in a Royal Suite, so check in was fast and very easy. I think we were out of the car checked in and in our suite within 15 minutes. We ate lunch in the Bistro on 5. Very good. We got our luggage within 2 hours, so we were unpacked and ready to relax. The suite was a little small but very nicely appointed. I was not thrilled with the veranda. There were chaise lounge beds, not chairs, with thin pads, that had paint droppings on them. They very uncomfortable and never were made up for use. The whirlpool was not really usable, since the stopper was on the floor and it never was kept real clean. Not a big problem, I used the chairs and whirlpool on the pool deck. I'm a cigar smoker and found the area outside designated for smoking. A little challenge to get a chair, everyone was friendly and helped find unused chairs. Got to meet different people every day. Had pre-purchased a premium drink package. Also used the specialty restaurants for dinner and did not use MDR. The food and the service was spectacular. Sean from Normandy Restaurant was probably one of the finest and most professional people that I ever met on a cruise line. My wife and I have been on excess of 50 cruises. Read more