We are diamond members of RCL but this was our first cruise on X. We chose it because it was 11 days, visited 4 islands we hadn't been to and to try a different (although related) cruise line. We enjoy RC's dinning, entertainment and ships. X markets itself as more upscale with better service and food, but some of the comments on CC member reviews made us anxious. While tastes and expectations certainly will vary when 2000 people experience the same cruise, we were pleasantly surprised and greatly pleased overall.

Embarkation: To make it a full two week vacation, we stayed 4 days prior to the cruise at the Wyndham Rio Mar resort. This proved to be very comfortable with easy access to local restaurants (King Seafood and La Parrella), el Yunque rain forest, and the bioluminescent bay, all of which we can recommend. We returned the car to the San Juan airport and took an easy taxi ($18 + $1/bag) to the ship which was docked at the Pan American pier. This is across an inlet from the piers right at the Old Town.

Total check-in time was less than 10 minutes and we were on board at about 12:45. Greeted by a very pleasant member of the cruise director staff and champagne, we explored a little and then dropped off our carry on bags in our cabin which opened at 13:00. We then headed to the Ocean Cafe (the buffet restaurant) for a satisfying lunch in the outdoor section on the stern. After more exploring, we returned to the room, unpacked as the suitcases had arrived and then settled into cruise mode on the balcony. The whole process was stress free and relaxing. Read more