This was my first cruise since 1993. We have been on 6 Royal Caribbean cruises between '85 and '93 then kind of forgot about them. My mother brought up the idea of us all going again but my wife was very afraid of boats from getting bumped around our 24' speedboat. She and my 11-year-old son did NOT want to go, but after much coercing, they succumbed to their first cruise.

In a nutshell, my son apologized after the cruise for saying he didn't want to go and he and my wife said it was the greatest vacation they have ever been on! We were originally booked on the Adventure of the Seas out of Puerto Rico, but due to the hurricane, we just happened to find this one and WOW, we were blown away! I forgot how great RCCL was. The ship is huge, but we never felt overcrowded except sometimes around the pools midday when we were at sea. We just avoided the pool decks until after 3 and there was plenty of space.

Cabins on cruise ships are always small, but we had a balcony and our room steward kept it immaculate. Anything we needed, we got it quickly. We did not eat at any of the specialty restaurants since there are many complimentary options. The food in the main dining room is amazing. The breakfast buffet is the same everything morning but still has plenty to choose from. The hidden jewel of free food is the Park Cafe in Central Park which probably had some of the best and healthiest food on the boat. We found that after a few days on the boat and couldn't stay away. Also, check out all the salsa music at Boleros and the best bartender on the boat, Kim, at the Bow and Stern Pub. Read more