We just recently returned from our March 18th cruise aboard the Adventure of the Seas. Thank goodness the cruise itself was wonderful because it was a comedy of errors right up to the time we boarded the ship. Originally, we booked with RCCL aboard the Serenade of the Seas out of San Juan. We loved the itinerary - Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Thomas, and St. Martin. BUT - not even a month after booking it, the airfare, and a non-refundable hotel stay through Priceline, we got word from RCCL that they were dry-docking the Serenade and the cruise we booked was cut to a 5 day - minus the Barbados and St. Lucia stops. Unfortunately, those were the two ports we've never visited and were interested in - not to mention the fact that we weren't interested in just a 5 day cruise.

SO....we decided to go with the Adventure of the Seas since it also left out of San Juan - a day later. This meant that we had to rebook our air - RCCL reimbursed us the $100 pp re-ticketing fee. They also gave us a $200 cabin credit, and we got a free upgrade from outside cabin to balcony D2. But we did have to stay a 2nd night in San Juan since the ship was leaving a day later, and we couldn't get Priceline to add a 2nd night to the hotel we already had for the 1st night, so we ended up having to book a different hotel for the 2nd night.

OK - here's where it gets crazy......most of you will remember the terrible weather some of us had in the eastern part of the US that St. Patrick's Day weekend - flights canceled all over the place.....Our AA flight was departing from Cleveland and we were lucky enough to have a connection in Dallas so we felt pretty confident that we'd be ok since we weren't getting tangled up in the mess on the east coast. Well, we boarded the plane - and 45 minutes after we were supposed to leave, the capt announced that they were experiencing a possible mechanical problem with the engine - eventually we were asked to take our belongings and get off the plane. We waited for over 2 hours at the gate and finally were told that the problem was fixed and that we'd re-board. We did, then waited and waited.....the pilot again announced that they were still hearing a noise in the engine and we had to take our belongings and get off the plane. He said it was his call but he would not fly the plane as long as he was hearing what he was hearing. We definitely appreciated the decision he made - but what a mess it caused everyone because it was nearly impossible to find flights with 4 available seats going to San Juan when we needed to be there. Luckily, they found a flight on NWA leaving the following morning that would get us into San Juan at around 2:00 PM. We'd at least get in the day before the cruise left. AA also put us up in a hotel in Cleveland - but our rooms at the hotel in San Juan that we had prepaid were left empty - and non-refundable ? Read more