This was our fourth cruise in all, and our second with Royal Caribbean. We joined the cruise on Adventure of the Seas in Malaga, departing on November 7, 2011 for the Canary Isles and then the Transatlantic crossing to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

We arrived at the port at approx. 1 pm and within one hour we were in our balcony stateroom on Deck 7. Boarding was very easy, except for problems with the check-in clerks with respect to the ESTAs which all non-US residents need. Apparently the clerks needed to keep a copy of the ESTA's and there was a long line for the copying machine. But apart from that, everything went smoothly. One of our three bags arrived almost immediately, and the other two arrived in plenty of time to change for dinner at 8.30 pm. We were in a balcony stateroom number 7346 and had the best cabin steward you could wish for. His name was Simeon Downes, and he made our cruise very special. Nothing was ever too much trouble for him and he took the best care of us. Just seeing Simeon's big smile every day made our journey very special. The stateroom was to the usual Royal Caribbean standard and the a/c was fantastic. It worked silently but very well. The balcony was great whilst we were in the Canaries and for the transatlantic crossing, but once we headed off for the South Caribbean (back-to-back with the transatlantic crossing) it was uncomfortably warm and humid out there.

One thing that other contributors have mentioned, was the "shuddering" of the ship. When we first set sail in Spain it was really bad. We were told that it was because the ship was moving slowly between the islands. Once we set off on the Transatlantic portion, the "shuddering" was minimal. But for the first couple of nights, we were very concerned, because the moment you lay down in bed you could really feel this movement. Read more