We were excited about going to ports of call that the big cruise lines couldn't. Who wants to compete with 2000+ people at each stop. The lines to get off/on the big cruisers are much longer than on this @200 person clipper. The ports visited were usually quaint villages favored by the sailing crowd. We got some awesome pictures from the tender which circled the Royal Clipper in the early evening with the sails slowly opening. We were blessed with a double rainbow behind the boat! Breakfast and lunch were served buffet style and we made an effort to sit with different people each meal. Dinner was slow and awesome with other new friends. Overall the food was very good served with a European flair. Husband was pleased to see a cheese plate as a desert option. The grazing-between-meals was limited to various different items each day at 5 at the open air Tropical Bar. Dinner was at 7pm. Entertainment was either local or the crew and considering it all happened at the bar it was great. The crew were great and their skits and crab races a hoot.

NOTE that this boat does not have an elevator and there are plenty of steps to go anywhere. The infirm and unsteady probably shouldn't consider this cruise as some of the nights at the bar were really rocking and rolling in several ways. So glad I got motion sickness patches and started them a few days in advance. First night the rolling interrupted my sleep; subsequent nights sleeping pills helped tremendously. One disappointment was not being able to use all the scuba gear on board because they couldn't find a local guide. Check availability for air fare before you choose. Coming from Seattle and unwilling to do a red eye, we had to spend a night in Miami both ways. All the flights we wanted were booked FIVE months out. Perhaps the cruise lines booked all the good flights and hadn't released them yet.