This our first cruise for both my hubby & myself. We booked it for our 20th anniversary, first time on vacation without children in over 25 yrs! We left from "sunny Syracuse N.Y." on Sat. the Nov. 8th. We were to fly out at 6:45 a.m. But as usual it was delayed by an hour & then we sat on the tarmack another hour, two hours late! Needless to say we missed our flight and had to be re-routed on another airline. We arrived in San Juan sometime around 6:00 p.m. to find that NO ONE knew where our luggage was. I knew than that I should have heeded the warning from other posters to fly in the day before, hind sight and all that! We wondered around for hours going back & forth to Delta & American trying to find our luggage. Finally we were told that the luggage would be delivered to us in St. Thomas (our 1st port of call) the following day. Exhausted & confused we got onto a shuttle that brought us to the ship & then things only looked up! As we came aboard ship there stood in front of us hundreds of people with life vests on looking like "what the heck is going on" we laughed and went straight away to the guest relations to get our room and info on lost luggage. We went to our room dropped off our carry ons & off to eat. Our stateroom with a balcony was perfect for us, the bed was very comfortable and having the deck made it all so much more enjoyable. Having a balcony I will never be able to have a room without one now. I took the tip to bring a shoe holder that hangs over the back of a door for toiletries. It was the smartest thing I did. Had plenty of room for other belongings on desk & vanity. There is a safe in the room which made me so happy and secure that my valuables were safe at all times. Now for the Ports of Call: St Thomas: Beautiful! We saw very little of it though do to the fact that we were exhausted from the day before. We ate breakfast & headed out to do shopping which is right outside the Ships entrance. There is a relatively new photo opt ride "The Skyview" which takes you to the top of this hill over looking the bay where the ship is docked. Took many pictures. They have several Parrots that you could pay to have your picture taken with if you wish, we declined. We then headed back to the ship to sip on Virgin Strawberry Daiquiris by the pool. There was hardly anyone there and that made it a nice quiet afternoon.

St. Maarten: We shared a taxi with some other people on board, $6.00 ea. to Orient Beach. When they say clothing optional they are NOT kidding! If you are not into looking at old mens penis' swinging in the wind...please go somewhere else. All day it was like a bad accident, you don't want to look but you do. The beach itself was wonderful, lots of room to roam, para sail, wave runners... We rented chairs & umbrella for somewhere around $20.00 or so. Well worth it. Bring something to nibble on food is very expensive for anyone on a budget, otherwise spend away.

Antigua: For $110.00 a person we took an excursion to Prickly Pear Island. I will say by far this was the best!!!! You take a water taxi to this tiny little secluded island, just beautiful & breathtaking. Here you are given snorkeling equipment and you can snorkel all you want. The day we were there the fish must have been hiding but the jellyfish were out in abundance. Our guide just would push them out of the way. We did see the guide catch a sea turtle and that was fun. We sat & baked in the sun admiring the Beautiful sights. Soft drinks, beer, juices and rum punch is included all you can drink They also make you a fabulous lunch with local fare, delicious. The day was so great we didn't want to leave. In total I believe we were there for 5 hours. I highly recommend this excursion. Read more