This was a 10-day Southern caribbean "island hopper" that left SJU and had more or less full days at Tortola, St. Maarten, St. Lucia, Barbados, Grenada, Curacao, and Aruba. At ten days and seven ports, it was the longest and most port-intensive trip we'd ever taken. Our 14th cruise and our second on X.

Couple of facts about the ship. It is an older build and is scheduled to be transferred to Royal's joint venture with TUI later this year. It is a sister ship to Century but built on a somewhat different deck plan. Only 1,800 pax and 77K tons, we prefer this size to the larger recent builds. Very nice decor throughout the ship, a stark contrast to our last couple of trips on Carnival.. Well-maintained despite plans to phase it out of the fleet. I liked the open public decks on the back of the ship in lieu of "aft cabins"; you rarely find this feature on new builds. Nice adults-only pool area aft with a retractable roof. One dining room. On the negative side, this class of ship has a lot of vibration aft, particularly when the thrusters are in use.

This was our first San Juan departure. There seemed to be more Europeans and, of course, more Puerto Ricans aboard than you would find on a typical Florida departure. Average age perhaps 58. Very few children aboard.

01/09/2009 Debark day

We had decided to roll the dice and travel on the day of the cruise. To try to avoid winter weather issues, I had booked AA out of RDU with a connection in Miami. This was our first experience connecting in MIA and the outbound connection involved a concourse change from "D" to all the way at the end of "E". Distance seemed like miles! We had hoped for an early lunch at La Caretta, outside main security. The checkpoint lines were huge. So, we decided to opt for a quick Cuban sandwich from one of Cafe Versailles stands in the concourse.

We claimed our luggage at SJU and found the incredibly long line waiting for taxis. We were fortunate enough to connect with an another couple on our ship who agreed to share the cab to the pier.

We arrived at the port around 4:30. Stopped at the port's duty-free and bought a liter of rum and some bottled water. The clerk asked me if I planned to take the rum to my cabin on the ship. When I answered "yes", she instructed me to place it in my carry-on so it wouldn't be questioned. It wasn't.

Embark was one of the easiest we've ever experienced. Virtually no lines, we were on the ship in 20 minutes. Complementary boarding champagne was waiting but no one was handing it out, probably due to our late boarding time. We found our cabin, dropped off the carry-ons and proceeded, champagne in hand, to try to find our group from a Cruise Critic board. The line-sponsored CC party is scheduled for the first sea day but because this itinerary is so port-intensive, that isn't until the sixth day. So, the group planned a M&G on its own on embark day.

You'll get mixed comments about these CC groups. They do vary a lot depending on who is in them but we've generally found them a good way to meet interesting people and to find out helpful things. We've been able to piggy-back on private excursions or pal-up for activities with people we meet. Out of this group, several had made multiple trips on this particular ship and knew the ropes, including many of the staff. Connected with a couple who were planning the same activities the next day in Tortola and agreed to share transportation.

Several comments about the room. We were bottom-fishing when booking this trip and had selected the infamous "inside guarantee". You always take a chance when you do this but we thought the price was worth it. We got room 8253, a cat 10 on deck 8 aft. With the Savoy lounge directly below and the children's center directly above, there was some noticeable noise at times but we did not find it objectionable. The door to the public aft deck was only a few feet away. Food three floors up and two floors down. The cabin steward, Bernie, saw us almost daily and made a point of addressing us by name. Cabin service was excellent.

Open seating dinner the first night...

01/10/2009 Tortola

Shared a cab with the CC couple we met the day before to Brewer's Bay. Rented chairs for $5 each at Nicole's. Plenty of natural shade. Almost no one was on the beach initially and it remained reasonable uncrowded as the day went on. This is a beautiful beach and the road across the mountain offers some breathtaking views. The "campground" around Brewer's was deserted, even though it was a weekend. A couple of fellow pax WALKED from the pier to Brewer's and back. Wow!!!

This was our first night at our assigned table. Now, as a side note, I've learned to always book large tables. Not that I'm that bad at keeping conversation going but your chances of getting someone that you can hit off a conversation with are much better with, say, eight people than with two. Well, we get our table for FOUR. OK, that's happened before. Ask for 10, get 4. And, this one is in an awesome location right at the foot of the grand staircase. Every Portugese waiter I've ever had on a cruise has been excellent and our waiter, Miguel, is Portugese. Everything looks good, then our table mates show up, explain that our table for four is "unacceptable" and are escorted away without ever sitting down or even saying hello. Guess it will be dinner for two tonight...

01/11/2009 St. Maarten

We planned a day at Club O. We were one of the first off the ship and asked the cab driver for a drop at Pedro's. When the driver passed by the road to LeGalion he explained that the road was in such bad shape that he would go through the village to save his car. When the driver for the return trip negotiated the road, I was surprised how bad it was. Those large pieces of broken concrete could easily destroy a tire, wheel, or bend suspension.

Rain threatened but was able to get in an early morning nude walk between showers. Finally the weather cleared and we had an OK day at the beach. Just OK because water was really too choppy for my liking. David Baird stopped to introduce himself when he noticed we were both wearing TTOL hats. Met Mike and Peggy from Club Fantastico and promised to tour when we were there on less of a schedule.

As a side note, after a number of cruises we have become observers of beach towels. We also understand the anxiety some may feel about being "identified" by fellow pax on a nude beach. A couple set up not too far from us, asked us to watch their stuff later in the day, the man even offered DW a shell he had found. When we began to pack up for the day they did too. I suggested that we walk back to Pedro's together because we'd probably be sharing the cab. When he asked where we were staying, I just pointed to his towel. His reaction was priceless...

Dinner for two in the dining room. Will another couple show up? No.... But, the table location, wait staff and the food are awesome...

01/12/2009 St. Lucia

The ship does not arrive in Castries until 10:00am. Since this was our first trip here, we had signed up for a tour with Cosol. After picking up a few people exiting the ship who had not booked in advance, we departed. This is a very intensive tour, even if your ship gets there at 8:00am. Ours was conducted by Cosol himself. He takes you to a banana plantation where you sample the bananas. Then, to another stop to sample different types of local food. He has rum punch and local beer. Brief stops at the drive-in volcano, Jalousie beach, the waterfall, and souvenir stands. Steep, winding roads. If you do this trip and are prone to motion sickness, don't sit at the back of the van. Jalousie is a beautiful place between the twin peaks of the Pitons. We only got about 20 minutes there, not enough, but if you're on an excursion you're on a schedule...

Another dinner for two in the dining room. Should we ask for another table? But, we really like our table and the wait staff. The ship's restaurant manager stops by with the executive chef and has a brief chat. DW jokingly asks the restaurant manager if we can take the executive chef home at the end of the trip and he politely says no.

Now, a few comments about food and dining. We ate dinner every night in the dining room. The Michael Rioux menus from two years ago are gone. As on most ships, the menu changes nightly but there are a number of "always available" selections that include things like shrimp cocktail, steak, chicken breast, baked potato, french fries, etc. There is also an area of chef recommendations on the menu. I ordered selections out of this section a number of times and was never disappointed. Celebrity sets an impressive amount of silverware at each plate setting. You feel like a surgeon going into the operating room. Food was almost always served on time and at at the proper temperature. Timely, attentive service although things seemed to get a little dicey on the last night of the trip. We had the usual visits by the head waiter working the room for tips but he would jump in from time to time to assist our wait staff. Awesome desserts. Although they don't do it tableside due to fire concerns, bananas foster, crepes, and cherries jubilee were all freshly prepared at a station right in the dining room. Dining room coffee was decent but we missed the complementary cappucinos you get on HAL and Carnival.

If you don't eat dinner in the dining room, there are not many options. There is no specialty restaurant on this ship. There didn't appear to be much in the way of an evening buffet either; however. Celebrity has a "bistro" that they operate in a closed off area on the Lido. Casual dress, candles on the tables, you order from a menu, and are served by waiters. It is a respectable menu but different from the one in the main dining room. Reservations are required and there is a suggested $2pp tip.

We ate at the buffet every morning except one for breakfast. It is fast and the breakfast selections are as good or better than those in the dining room. We particularly enjoyed the omelets and breakfast quiche.

We only ate a couple of lunches aboard because of the number of ports. One of these was a brunch held in the main dining room on the first sea day. There were a number of elaborate ice and fruit carvings. I liked that it was early enough that old folks like us could enjoy it. On port days, our return time was usually in the later afternoon at the beginning of another food "dead zone". You are stuck with the fast food or pasta bars during these times.

01/13/2009 Grenada

Our first trip here. Beautiful old downtown that seems to have a uniformed policeman on every corner near the cruise port. Took a cab ($20 each way) to Magazine Beach. The driver dropped us at the Rex Royal Grenadian and we walked over. It's a nice uncrowded beach, although it picked up as the day went on. More surf than I'd like, but OK. Only a couple of folks came by hawking stuff. Many pax opt to take is a water taxi to Grand Anse from the ship. We got a glimpse on the way back and the people were shoulder-to-shoulder.

01/14/2009 Barbados

We had considered visiting Harrison's Cave but it was closed the day we were there. Instead, we went to Weiser's on nearby Brandon's Beach and rented chairs and an umbrella for the day. The $10 package also included a little stand to hold up our drinks. The beach there is OK, somewhat rocky and the water was not particularly clear that day. I walked maybe a mile or so further up the beach to the Malibu distillery. "Malibu Beach" is a destination for one of the ship-sponsored excursions. Nicer there, especially the smell wafting from the factory, but a lot more people.

01/15/2009 Sea day

This was the day of our official Cruise Critic M&G. An amazing number of folks who came to the unofficial one held on embark day skipped this one. Was attended by the cruise director and several of the officers. They answered questions and seemed genuinely interested in what we had to say.

Another interesting note. One of our CC group was deaf. The cruise line provided him an interpreter for the trip. These interpreters do not stay with the people continuously but rather arrange at the end of every day which times they are needed for the following day. He indicated that he had been on a recent trip with 400 deaf people and nearly 125 interpreters...

01/16/2009 Curacao

Willemstad is beautiful, so beautiful you don't notice for a while that it has a huge oil refinery sitting right in its back yard. On a whim, we take a $20 tour from an operator outside the port. A CC couple that we had shared the Cosol van with sold us on going with them. It turned out to be a real touristy deal that looped through Otrabanda, stopped at the top of the Juliana bridge for pictures, took us to the Curacao liquor factory for samples, then drove toward the eastern end of the island for a stop at a gift shop. We got dropped at the "pay beach" on the way back, $3 pp admission and $3 for a regular chair. There are probably four or five beach establishments inside the same admission area. We selected Mambo. Mobs of people. On advice from the tour driver, we took the local bus back to Punda for $1 pp. It is a short walk from the bus station back to the ship that passes several shops and an open air market. Next trip, we'll probably do the bus both ways...

01/17/2009 Aruba

We didn't want to do a tour and had planned to take the local bus to the beach again. The ship docks downtown and the bus station is right there. Fare is $1.25 and they have $2 round trip tickets. Two issues - no air conditioning on the bus and where to get off. The air took care of itself after the bus started moving but where to stop was another matter. We had considered Druid or Eagle Beach but by the time we figured out where we were and how to hit the stop button (it's on the poles), the bus was nearly at Palm Beach. For those who are not familar with the area, there are a number of nice high-rise hotels, beach bars, chair rentals, watersport rentals, and marinas. There are many chain restaurants and a C-store within a couple of blocks. And, if it matters, this was Saturday. But, this was the most crowded congested beach I've ever been to in my life. We rented "a chair and shade" under a big tent for $5 each. I walked west perhaps two miles west along the beach. Much less developed but the beach doesn't seem that great either. Will do something different should we ever return...

01/18/2009 Sea day

DW had requested a bridge tour based on something mentioned during our Cruise Critic party. You request it and then receive notice if you are selected to participate. We were part of a group of about 20 that was escorted to the bridge where two second officers, both in their mid-20's, gave a presentation and answered questions. They spent a long time with us and, while no video was allowed, there were some awesome photo opportunities. My only other tour had been on Dolphin's Seabreeze back in '96, a much smaller and really old ship even then...

From the bridge tour, we joined a galley tour already underway downstairs. We ask about these on almost every trip and have taken a number of them but this was the first that I remember being conducted by the executive chef. Usually you get it at times when there's not much going on, but the kitchen seemed fairly active. A few lines (maybe HAL) doesn't do these. They really should. It gives you a whole new appreciation for serving all those guests at once. They conducted a cooking demonstration afterwards in the Savoy lounge. Great stuff but very poorly organized as four or five demos were conducted simultaneously at tables you walked up to. You couldn't see it all at once and many things couldn't be repeated.

01/19/2009 San Juan

We had a late flight so we booked the El Yunque rain forest tour through the cruise line. Ours was conducted by Quality Tours. The driver spoke decent English. You're one of the first off the ship, you get a touristy discussion about Puerto Rico, then after about an hour ride they make several stops in the park - at a waterfall, at the observation tower, at a place where you can do a brief walk on the Caimitillo trail, then at a snack stand serving inexpensive local foods. You are dropped at the airport around 2:30. They truck your bags from the ship to the airport so you don't have to worry with them. Overall, not enough time to really see much but did I mention that but if you're on an excursion you're on a schedule?

I had been told on several boards that we could bypass the infamous USDA inspection at the airport if you left your ship luggage tags intact. We tried and the nice folks at AA sent me back outside...

Bought liquor at the SJU airport duty-free shop. Aside from the seal that they put on the free tote bag, this was reminiscent of the old days. We were able to carry it on the airplane, through our Miami connection, and all the way home..The flight was late, AA scrambled for a gate and got us in the right concourse in Miami this time. Returned to RDU, exited the airport in sandals where it was 30 degrees and starting to snow. Bummer...

Enjoyed the ship, the itinerary, the food, and the staff. Would definitely do another San Juan departure. All in all, a really good trip.