We initially chose this cruise because a rum cake went terribly wrong! I made a rum cake using my husband’s prized rum from Grand Cayman. Learning that this was no ordinary rum and it was impossible to replace here in New Mexico, I knew a cruise to the Cayman Islands was in our future. Fortunately, we were able to find this 9 day cruise headed to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Roatán, Belize and Costa Maya.

My husband and I joined the Cruise Critic roll call and volunteered to start a Meet and Greet group. It was a great experience with 226 attendees, had volunteers to host a pub crawl, slot pull, LCR dice games and gift exchange. It was a great way to meet fellow cruisers on a one to one basis. We conducted the gift exchange by matching couples with others from different parts of the country and had them meet and exchange their gifts face to face. We also made the name tags and added birthday and anniversary stickers so that they would be recognized celebrating a special occasion. Door prizes were given for signing up and helping at the meet and greet, thus showing it pays to attend! The event staff was fantastic...easy to work with and very accommodating..true cruise Heroes.

Embarkation in New Orleans was a mess but totally unavoidable as the weather and a medical emergency delayed us by 3-5 hours. We snaked around in line for hours, hot, exhausted and confused but totally happy to be on vacation. Once on board, we were greeted by name by our room steward, Grace, who was exceptional! Our stateroom, 14714, spa balcony, was always clean, well stocked and comfortable. The whole ship was clean and well kept. Read more