This was our first cruise in about 2 years, and our first RCI cruise since 2007. We sailed out of San Juan, and, just to be safe, we flew in the day before. We've been to San Juan on several occasions, and we really like staying at El Convento in Old San Juan. However, this was Memorial Day weekend, so there was a 3 night minimum. We wound up staying at Caribe Hilton, which was also nice.

We arrived at the port at noon. Embarkation was very smooth and took less than 30 minutes. We had pre-purchased the premium beverage package, so we stopped at the first bar we came to in order to just relax and, of course, start using our newly minted Sea Pass cards!

We then went to the MDR to find our table. It wasn't in the best spot, so we requested a new table, by a window. For dinner the first night, we booked the Chef's Table (which I highly recommend!), and that is placed in it's own little balcony between decks 4 and 5 in the MDR. It does take about 2.5 hours to get through the whole meal, but it was very enjoyable. We had 3 children in our party (ages 5, 5, and 6) and they enjoyed it as well. Read more