We left San Juan on Jan 18th for a seven day Eastern Caribbean tour. It included Tortola, Antigua, Barbados, St. Lucia and Dominican Republic. We did excursions in Antigua, Barbados and St. Lucia. We had a beach break excursion booked for Tortola but it was cancelled on account of the high waves. Antigua was also a beach break, it went ahead but again, the waves were much too high to make it worthwhile. Our excursion in Barbados was the best of the bunch, easily. It was a snorkel trip that included lunch and an open bar not he beach. Fantastic value and fortunately the ocean and the weather behaved. It was 27 Celsius and the ocean was just wavy enough to make it fun but more than safe for our two year old to play in alongside us.

We arrived early to embark, right at 1000 even though our embarkation time was later in the afternoon. This worked just fine, and it was nice to be on the ship so early. The process to get on took only about 30 minutes or so. Disembarking was also quick and relatively easy. They gave you tags for your luggage the day before, you put them outside your room and they picked them up and took them downstairs throughout the night. In the morning your disembarkation time corresponded with the # on your luggage tag. This was convenient since you could be sure your luggage would be out there waiting for you. My only feedback for RC here, is to do with their airport transfer shuttle. We paid for this from the ship but after collecting our luggage outside the ship it was not clear at all where we needed to go to catch this. It was only after asking a few different people that we understood where to stand in line. It would be helpful to have a big sign hanging from the shelter so that people knew where to go. I don’t know how much a taxi / Uber would have cost, but the transfer was 53.95 USD on a large bus with many other people. Generally that was fine apart from what I mentioned above.

The ship itself was a bit underwhelming as far as activities and amenities go. There was no waterslides, skating rink, zip lines etc. It did have two pools and a few small spa tubs adjacent to the pools. We were quite disappointed though as our toddler wasn’t yet potty trained so he wasn’t allowed in any of the pools. There was no toddler splash pad or similar facility available. For entertainment there was a very nice theatre that spanned two decks. We saw a comedian / magician there who was a bit amateurish compared to a professional Vegas show but it was entertaining none the less. There was also a very entertaining program in the main centrum area of the ship each evening, live music and the like. There was a few bars around the ship all with separate entertainment. Our favourite was the schooner bar which had a grand piano with a fellow playing and singing nice chill music for us while we sipped our drinks and stared out the window as we chugged along. Read more