My wife and I arrived in San Juan the day before. We stayed at the Conrad Conando Plaza and Casino. I give this hotel a B. Very nice hotel, pools, jacuzzis, and swim bar was pretty cool. The view was nice, overlooked the ocean and lagoon. The beach on the lagoon.. really wasnt that great.. but it worked. That evening, went into Old San Juan, checked out the shops and ate at the Barrichina with other cruise critic members (38 at the table!) Food was so so, but not to shabby. Service was pretty remarkable considering how many people we had. The flamingo show was pretty interesting. AFter dinner, back to the hotel and crashed.

Sun Embarkation- It was a breeze. We were on the ship at 1pm! Had lunch on the lido deck and just relaxed by the pool and jacuzzi. It was a good thing we had our swimsuits on!! Drank a few DOD's and by 230, actually had our lugguge at the stateroom!! Later, we eventually had dinner, drinks, drinks, then muster. After muster, was the sailaway party.

The ship, services, food, entertainment etc.. were the same for us on a prior w.caribbean cruise last year on the Carnival Valor.. it was laid of the same just different decor. The shows.. the same as last year... so.. really didnt phase me.. The cruise director, Brad, was decent. I heard horror stories of the previous director Karl.. Brad is younger kid, good sense of humor etc.. Read more