For your information ....

This was my 12th cruise and second in a row with Royal Caribbean (for a total of 3 overall). It was my first large-ship experience with Royal Caribbean. Coming into this trip, I had no strong feelings anyway in terms of preference for either Royal Caribbean or Carnival, and to be honest, I did not expect this to change. I have had very good cruising experiences with both companies.

This trip was booked in November of 2006, which is fairly late for me. I am a graduate student and Purdue University and had been looking at cruises during my spring break for some time. My initial plan had been to go with a friend, but that fell through. At that time, I had been looking at either Royal Caribbean or Carnival to see which would offer me the cheapest trip possible. When I saw the price of Voyager drop severely on a senior discount, I asked my mom (and past cruise companion) if she felt like braving the spring breakers for a great deal. I was fairly insistent, especially since I've been wanting to cruise a Voyager-class ship for a while, so she agreed and I set about making plans. For some reason, convoluted planning appeals to me, so I made some strange decisions driven by the desire to save a few (or quite a few) bucks. Read more