Royal Caribbean has decided evidently to become an entry level cruise experience. Here are my observations:
1) overall food quality has been going downhill for the last few years. Menu diversity also has been reduced. If you're a meat and potatoes person you're in luck. If you like vegetarian or international cuisine (Indian, Thai, Chinese, etc.) you won't be happy. Here, animal protein ...
We picked this cruise for the great ports of call, my wife and I have sailed the Southern Caribbean in the past but this was the first time for most of our group. I must say I am a fan of the Southern Caribbean ports but for some reason RCCL seems to favor old ships out of San Juan.
We flew into San Juan on the departure day as the ship didn't sail until 8pm. 2 taxis from the airport to the ...
We have been on more than 15 cruises, many on Princess, several on Celebrity and now 3 on RCCL, 2 of which have been on the Adventure of the Seas. We arrive at the embarkation city at least one day ahead to avoid the stress of airline travel and "missing the ship" We choose the deep southern itinerary as we love the islands and the best guarantee of really warm weather.
Embarkation went ...
My wife and I had a wonderful week on board Jewel of the Seas to celebrate her Leap birthday on February 29th.
We flew WestJet / American from Toronto San Juan on Friday February 26th connecting in Miami. We flew home WestJet (direct) from San Juan to Toronto on Sunday March 6th. The flights were all early and relatively pleasant considering the realities of air travel these days.
We ...
Had a terrific week on the Jewel. This ship is due for drydock refurbishment in April but the heart of the ship is the people. More on that in just a minute.
We had never embarked from San Juan before and it was a smooth process with us being on the ship within a short time of arriving at the port even with lines.
Luggage arrived by 1:30ish
Balcony room with lots of storage in the ...
We embarked in beautiful Sn Juan, staying at airport hotel which I would not do again...not clean! The ship was beautiful...spotlessly clean, beautiful decor and well cared for. Our room was immaculate...cleaned 2x a day by our wonderful stateroom attendant, Kenyan! He took time out of his day to talk to us every day...interested in our activities...he dealt with a couple of smal issues without us ...
We cruised on the Adventure of the seas in Feb 2016 and I was disappointed in many ways. First the ship was run down. The room was a sunset veranda but there was no view. We were told the view was partially obstructed. In reality it was totally obstructed.
We booked a shore excursion that through the cruise line and they claimed we would see the oldest working rum distillery in the ...
The AOS is the smallest ship I have sailed on. I was excited for this and actually would love to go smaller next time. After reading cruise critic for over a year preparing myself for what could be a terrible mistake....., I was pleasantly surprised! I'm truly convinced that the 80/20 rule applies to cruising. 20% of the people are just not going to be happy no matter what, and 80% are at least ...
This was my wife and my first cruise with Royal Caribbean. We arrived in San Juan 3 days prior to our cruise as there are only two direct flights from the UK which are on a Wednesday and Saturday flying with Norwegian Airlines.
After a short flight delay, we checked in to the Wind Chimes Boutique hotel in San Juan which was cheap in comparison to all the major hotel chains but it is a small ...
We always start our cruise with 2-3 days at the Port of call. We stayed at the Embassy Suites hotel in San Juan. Great pool and love the free breakfast and Manager's happy hours each day with drinks/snacks.
I never thought I was a Cruise guy, but I have to say they are a bargain in vacation travel and let you get a good "taste" of a number of places. There is more time involved preparing ...