It wasn't supposed to be this way. We were supposed to be flying in to Puerto Rico. Then we were supposed to be on the Caribbean Princess for a Southern Caribbean cruise. Nine days prior to embarkation we got the emergency e mail telling us that the Caribbean Princess had blown an engine and our cruise was cancelled. Finally, my DW was able to arrange this substitute. It wasn't the Southern Caribbean. It wasn't Princess.

There were seven other cruise ships leaving port the same day. Hotel rooms were scarce. At a considerable premium, (about 270 dollars) we were able to book the Hilton by the airport which included transfers from the airport and to the cruise port. Some of the reviews for the Hilton were less than stellar, but we found our room to be acceptable. There was a LONG wait from the airport to the hotel.

Embarkation the next day went well. They started about 11 am and by noon we were on board, in our already cleaned stateroom meeting our two stewards. They were quite attentive and kept our room clean and supplied with dry, warm towels. We used the shipboard laundry one day, and a bag was twenty bucks. It wasn't a particularly large bag, but it was amazing how much my wife got crammed in there. Unlimited laundry would have been 49 dollars. We made do the rest of the trip. Read more