Embarkation. RCCL has finally gotten this down. 20 minutes from the time we walked up with our luggage until we were on the gangplank to the ship. They had more people checking passports and sea passes from the desk to the ship than I've seen on prior cruises, but wrote it off to the national security level raised to orange. Went straight to the dining room to have our tables changed since 4 cruising with us hadn't linked reservations. No problem only took a few minutes. To the pool bar (with a stop at the lobby bar). No crowd. Someone said that a lot of folks check in, then leave to hang around PR due to the late sailing time of 8:00 pm. Met "our" pool bartenders. Couldn't ask for better, Jamal and Hector. Muster - RCCL has this down too. Did not have to go to the room to retrieve life vests. Except for the people who were late, holding everyone else up, and you know who you are, muster went smoothly. We stayed in one of the Promenade staterooms. Nothing really special except the window that overlooks the Promenade. Great for watching the parades. The only problem with the room was there are not enough drawers. I ended up putting things on the shelves in the closet, which are not easy to access. Our room steward, KerryLee, was awesome! What a wonderful, bright, cheerful person. We have been on RCCL ships where we never saw our steward, and while KerryLee did not "hover", she was always there at the exact time we needed her help. Went to the Windjammer for breakfast, what can you say. Eggs are eggs. Not a lot of variety, and please everyone, heed this warning. Step away from the sausage gravy! I'm still working on talking to the head chef on proper sausage gravy prep after 6 cruises. Went to the meet and mingle. Surprised that more folks didn't attend. Enjoyed meeting the ones who were there. Our host was Natalie (Sexalicious) and what fun she was! Door and drawing prizes were nice. One of our group won the mouse, which was really neat. We spent the rest of the cruise trying to bribe it from him since you couldn't buy one. The usual events at the pool, belly flop, sexy legs, etc. We only visited the pool area when the band was not playing on this cruise due to them being louder than usual which made it rather unpleasant. The plus at the pool, once again were "our" bartenders, Jamal and Hector. Spent some time in the sports bar on the promenade. Wonderful staff here also. Moses, Robert and Karen. Quiet, place to kick back and take a break. Can't say a lot for the choice of sports on the many TVs, but oh well. Monday was formal night. Got all gussied up and made our way to the Schooner Bar to meet friends for dinner. Excellent staff here also. Hector, Simone and Orlando all great and attentive. Many folks complain that the food on RCCL has gone downhill in the past few years and, I admit, I am one of them. I think RCCL has finally taken the hint. Dinner in the main dinning room was better than we have come to expect. The selection was good and well prepared. This was the case for the entire cruise and no one in our group of 10 had anything negative to say. The wait staff was another plus. Natasha and Ronald where excellent and the service above par. We attended our first shore shopping seminar. This was the longest, most boring thing I've done on any ship. No wonder we never saw the need to attend before. It is a big commercial for Diamonds International (hmmmm, wonder if RCCL owns that) and a couple of other "jewelry" stores at port. The real information one would need could easily be covered in 10 minutes. If you do go, buy the coupon book for $25.00. You will get your money worth with the freebies in there. The overall cleanliness of the ship was good. The one area that could use improvement. Restrooms need to be monitored more frequently, especially during high use times (such as the restrooms outside the dinning areas during meal times, outside the theaters during shows). One thing I feel strongly about and need to comment. Regarding the reviews I have previously read of sailings from Puerto Rico and the rudeness of the locals on the ship. I saw none of this. What I did observe on this cruise and every cruise I've been on, people from all backgrounds and nationalities were equally rude and disruptive. I wish that RCCL would include in its daily newsletter hints for proper behavior. Will just touch on a couple highlights for excursions we took. In Barbados, we took a 10 minute cab ride ($7.00 per person each way) and went to a lovely beach bar called Bar Kan'ei. If you are looking for a quiet, clean beach to relax for the day, this place is a must. They provided beach lounges and umbrellas if you wanted. The wonderful owner, Irena and her staff were attentive and took great care of our group of 10. The beer was ice cold and the food great. Try the flying fish fingers! In St. Maarten, we went ATV riding. What a great time. While the guides weren't very "talkative", they knew what they were doing and we saw some amazing scenery along the way. Took a little stop at the beach (can't recall the name of the bar, but we didn't see any naturalist, its at the other end of Orient Beach). Had a great lunch. Recommend the ribs, excellent. We did the parasailing excursion in St. Croix. What a class act. Cruzan Breeze Parasailing. The owner Dillon is one of the nicest folks you will meet. His excellent crew made our trip wonderful. His captain, Christian and 1st mate, made for a great excursion. Even though there was a slight problem with one of the parasails, Captain Christian quickly made adjustments which impressed our group of 6, and we were on our way. Great time!