We chose this cruise for the ports of call. It is a southern Caribbean itinerary going to some islands we had not been to before. We looked forward to going back to St. Maarten, but unfortunately were not able to because of the hurricane damage. Royal Caribbean did a great job of communicating changes in itinerary and waited long enough to make a decision before changing something too soon, but not too long that wondering if you were still going to be going on the cruise and/or to which islands.

I have been on one other cruise before and we had some sailing days in between stops. It felt like a nice balance of time in the ports and time to enjoy the ship and all that it had to offer. With this cruise and an itinerary packed with 5 islands in 6 days, it is tough to enjoy all aspects of the ship and spend time on the islands on excursions/shopping/etc. I didn't feel relaxed when the cruise was done because of feeling like we needed to take advantage of all the beautiful islands we visited.

We booked a balcony room this time around. Last cruise we did an interior overlooking the promenade on Independence of the Seas. Had we had more cruising days to make use of the balcony, I think it would have been worth the extra money to have that space to sit out and read a book, relax or whatever having the sea in the background. But we hardly spent any time in the room with everything to do on ship and in port. My opinion, but I don't know that anything above an interior room is worth the extra money on a cruise. You need the room for sleeping, showering and that's about it. Read more