SUMMARY

Overall Rating: 9.5/10.0

Value: 10.0/10.0 Service: 9.5/10.0
Food: 9.0/10.0 Ship: 10.0/10.0
Cabin: 9.0/10.0 Shore Excursions: 9.5/10.0*
Ports: 9.0/10.0 Airport Transfers: 10.0/10.0
Fellow Passengers: 7.5/10.0 Entertainment: 8.0/10.0

* We took two excursions, St. Martin Pinel Island Snorkel (10.0/10.0) and Barbados Catamaran Snorkel (9.0/10.0, but weather prevented us from going to the intended site). Other passenger comments regarding their excursions generally were quite favorable.

COST
$3800 for two passengers, Category K inside cabin including airfare from Chicago. Our bar bill $350 including $125 for "Wine and Dine" Program (includes standard $15% bar tip), plus approximately $1300 in other wanton spending and shopping. Recommended budget for this trip for "no money worries" vacation: approximately $5500 (you mileage may vary depending on your own spending habits. I believe that we spent in a fashion that was fairly typical of the passengers on this cruise.)

TIPS ON SHIP
We tipped a total of $275, which is approximately double the recommended levels - $100 for cabin steward, $100 for waiter, $50 for assistant waiter, and $20 additional for wine steward. We also tipped $5 to the head waiter, who did nothing but interrupt our dinner each night to annoyingly mug for tips - we were sufficiently irritated as to give him an amount that we hope was more insulting than stiffing him. We also believe that we may have committed a bit of a faux pas - we did not tip the room service staff when they brought food to the cabin - there was nothing in the information we were provided that indicated that we should do so, and no envelopes available for this purpose. In retrospect, we now think that perhaps we should have given a little cash for each meal, but we are not entirely sure about this.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE
This cruise is a great experience if you want an active vacation and want to be pampered a bit, but don't want to have to do much planning yourself. RCCL is very customer service oriented, and is clear about their mission to provide "mass with class;" this is consistent with what I have read in other reviews. This particular itinerary is port-intensive (only one sea day at the end), so shopping and shore excursions are its main features. We sailed Christmas week, so the ship was full (and full of families), but for a very few occasions, we did not feel particularly overcrowded. This particular cruise was great for couples 30-60+, and families with teens.

There are better options than this cruise if you are single, have small children, are a gourmand, expecting elegance and extravagance, or seeking nonstop partying action. If you have reasonable expectations about what your cruise will be like - don't expect to be the only one on a ship carrying 2700 passengers! - you most likely will be pleased with this cruise.

VALUE
My wife and I are of relatively modest, but probably upper-middle class means - she is a V.P. of a 100+ employee manufacturing company and I am an economics professor - so this trip represented a significantly more expensive (about twice so) week-long vacation than what we would consider an average annual jaunt. Hence, we were keen on feeling afterwards that we had spent our dollars wisely. We feel that we did, and are planning another RCCL cruise in the near future.

SERVICE
Almost without exception, the service on this cruise was outstanding. Our cabin was kept immaculate by our phantomlike steward. We could always find him when we wanted something, but he was not the least bit intrusive - perfect! The pursers' staff was usually patient and helpful, although there were lines in front of the desk a bit more often that I would have preferred. The dining room staff was generally attentive, but a little bit rushed at times. The service in the Windjammer (buffet meal area) was not nearly as good, but it didn't really need to be. Breakfasts and lunches in the dining room were more or less open seating, and the wait staff was not nearly as good as it was at dinner, but certainly was more than adequate.

One is never wanting for a drink waiter or waitress, but they are not at all pushy. The pink-vested staffers are everywhere, and one only needs to look thirsty to be asked if a drink is desired. Drinks aren't a bargain, but aren't insanely expensive either. Figure on about $5-$7 each with tip, depending on what you order, but there are nightly specials, so look for those.

I have heard nightmare stories about sullen staff on other lines, but have read excellent reviews of RCCL's service. We agree with this assessment, and are extremely pleased with our choice. Although there can be some improvements, are quite satisfied with the service we received given the money that we spent.

FOOD
While plentiful and generally pretty good, the food on this cruise would not satisfy a cruiser searching for outstanding gastronomy. It's about quantity as much as quality.

The food in the dining rooms is very good and dinners are quite the show, as there is a different theme each evening. Generally, the chef does an amazing job of preparing excellent dinners for a mass of people. Breakfasts and lunches in the dining rooms are also quite good - a varied selection and good quality. The buffets and the snacks are okay to marginal. (We didn't sample the fabled midnight buffet). Room service brings rather horrible food, but does so quickly - it is sustenance in a hurry.

WINE AND DINE PROGRAM
We opted for the Wine and Dine program that we had read about in other reviews, although we had to ask for it as our wine stewardess didn't mention it. The program allows one bottle with each dinner (7 total, of course) from a limited wine list. The list includes a few reds, a few whites, and a couple of sparkling wines, all ok, but not the best labels or years. If you just like wine and aren't terribly fussy, this is a great deal. If you are a knowledgeable fan of the grape, and consider wine a central part of your dining experience, then order off the regular wine list. Wines there are surprisingly reasonable, although not cheap.

ATTIRE
During the day, pretty much anything goes anywhere on the ship - provided it fits the American definition of "decent," I guess. I didn't see any toplessness or overly skimpy bathing suits on board, but this was a Christmas week cruise - your mileage may vary. The dining rooms do not allow bathing suits for breakfast or lunch, but everything else was extremely casual.

There were two formal nights, one "smart casual" night, and four casual nights during this cruise. Formal means at least dark suit and tie for men - there were a lot of tuxes (35% or so?) - and long dresses for women. While some deviated from this, the majority of passengers dressed appropriately. Children got a bit more slack, but were also expected to wear similar attire. I rented a tux via the tux program (see below) and felt more comfortable doing so.

"Smart casual" meant jackets and ties for men, and skirts or upscale pantsuits for women, but this wasn't so well-adhered. Casual nights meant sports shirts and khakis for guys, and pants or skirts with nice tops for women (ok, I am not an expert on women's fashions, but you get the idea!). No shorts, t-shirts or tanks, and most seemed to follow this.

After dinner, those that didn't retire to their cabins in food comas left their dinner clothing on without changing.

SHIP
This ship was built in the early 1990s and I believe was refurbished not too long ago. The decor is "brass and fern" hotel lobby-ish rather than garish Las Vegas neon or museum quality antique vase-ish. The ship is incredibly well-designed, and gives neither the feeling of confinement that many first-time cruisers worry about, nor of hugeness. One doesn't really sense the largeness of the ship unless climbing up several flights of stairs (on those fairly rare occasions when the elevators are overcrowded) or when looking down at the pier while in port.

The focal point of the ship is the Centrum, a several-story atrium that includes a number of shops, the main dining rooms, the pursers' and shore excursion desks, and the photo gallery. Before and after dinner seatings (especially between the early and the late) this area gets pretty crowded - exacerbated by the entertainment that is provided.

As described in the brochures, there are a number of different lounges - all comfortable - and lots of places to sit or eat. The pools are small, but the pool area is quite nice, and the pool staff makes sure that children stay out of the adult pool. Other amenities include a cinema, a show lounge, a teen hangout, a disco, a gym, a jogging track around the ship (although running pounds the hell out of the outside cabins underneath it), and a casino. You don't need cash onboard, but are issued a "blue card" upon embarkation with an initial credit card imprint. The card is presented for all shipboard purchases - easy as pie.

With the exception of the casino, the ship is identified as "primarily nonsmoking," meaning that smoking is allowed in designated areas only (mostly lounges). I like the occasional cigar but try to be very careful not to bother others with it (the library is a great place to enjoy cigar, an after dinner drink, and conversation with other cigar smokers). However, I find cigarette smoke quite obnoxious. Only rarely was I subjected to unwanted cigarette smoke - something I find a real plus. If you are a cigarette smoker, you might find the ship's rules on smoking to be a little onerous, but I didn't hear any complaints. Of course, when the weather is nice, you can always go outside.

We had great weather and generally calm seas, so ship motion was not really a problem. The motion is noticeable, especially at higher cruising speeds, but I would rate it as less bouncy than the average plane or train ride. I only heard one or two complaints, but from only those who complained about everything else too. Naturally, the motion was more apparent while leaving or entering ports, and when up high, particularly in the Viking Crown Lounge. At night, I actually enjoyed the little rocking while I slept, although I think it woke me up once or twice - but it was not unpleasant.

One last personal thing - I prefer to be cooler rather than warmer. In general, I found the ship to be too warm, especially in the cabin and the dining room. I thought the dining room to be nearly unbearably hot at times, although I suspect that the average person would have just thought it a bit uncomfortably warm. This had a small, but noticeable negative impact on my experience.

CABIN
As is well-known, RCCL cabins tend to the very small side, but are generally not considered to be a problem for two adults. My biggest pre-cruise concern was whether or not our cabin was going to be big enough to hold us, our vast quantity of luggage, and all that we purchased, without causing terminal claustrophobia in our inside cabin. We had no problems, although 7 days is about my limit. We had a couple of room service snacks during the trip - suffice it to say that these cabins are not really made for dining.

That noted, the cabins are design marvels. Storage space under the bed is adequate, but be sure to bring luggage that is less than 12" or so wide, or it won't fit. There was enough closet space for our week's worth of clothing, but the drawer space was very limited. The bathroom has more storage than I expected, but if you are a cosmetics and hair products hound, you will probably find it pretty cramped. There are little ledges and shelves throughout the cabin that proved to be quite useful, and there are mirrors everywhere.

The bathrooms have good ventilation and an adequately-sized shower, although we had some hot water shortage problems - this is something that I didn't find acceptable. They sport TVs with CNN, ESPN, several movie channels (including one in Spanish), a ship information channel (very useful for debarkation), and a surprisingly interesting "infomercial" about the new RCCL behemoth Voyager of the Seas. The bed was more comfortable than I expected given that it was pushed togther to make a queen - we had no problems sleeping on it, and we are a bit fussy about this sort of thing.

Generally speaking, the soundproofing was good. We never heard anything in the hallways or in other cabins, with one major exception. We had the misfortune of being down a main hallway from a couple of families with a number of young and pre-teen children. All damn afternoon, EVERY afternoon, these kids spent hours running up and down the halls. This may sound innocuous, but it pounded heavily on the cabins, and was extremely disturbing if one seeks a nap or afternoon quiet. I asked the kids nicely to stop once. They didn't. I asked again the next day, a little less nicely. They didn't. I called security about the fourth day; they came IMMEDIATELY and told the kids in no uncertain terms to cut it out. They didn't. (Sadly, I believe that I was one of several that was forced to resort to calling security about this problem). I called security again later that night (around 10pm or so) because the same kids were STILL running - at this time, my wife and I began to speculate with our across-the-hall neighbors that the kids simply were being defiant. The purser's desk called back later to tell us that they had again reprimanded the children, and spoke to the parents, but the next day they were at it again, with gusto. I gave up at this point, and tried not to fume about it. No point in making this unpleasantness a focus of our trip.

I apologize for the excessive detail on these episodes, but the bottom line is that two sets of parents' indifference to their children's ill behavior had a highly negative impact on the cruise experience of many other passengers. Parents: Kids will be kids, and have a right to a good time on their vacation, but so do other passengers. PLEASE make sure that your kids are playing in areas away from where people sleep - there are lots and lots of programs, babysitters, and opportunities for them to run and shout and have a good time without disturbing scores of other paying guests. The hallways are not playgrounds.

TUX PROGRAM
Information about the tux program was included with our cruise documents. I rented a tux and shoes, which along with two shirts were in the room upon our arrival. While not the highest quality tux, it wasn't bad, and both added to the experience and removed the hassle of packing my own. It was somewhere around $80-$100 and was worth it to us.

PORTS
We stopped in St. Thomas, St. Martin, Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados, and San Juan. The only place we required a tender was St. Martin; the rest we docked at the pier. On the typical day we docked around 8, just as we were waking up, had a quick breakfast in the Windjammer, and were on shore by 9 or 10 am. We were typically back on the ship about an hour before it sailed at 5 or 6 pm. Note that shore excursions and sailings are at the times indicated. If you are late, you will miss the excursion or the ship, and that is YOUR problem, not theirs. If you tend to be temporally challenged, take special care to be on time, or you will S.O.L.

All the ports featured shopping to a greater or lesser degree in the immediate pier area and in the town area closest to the pier. With the exception of some small degree of discomfort in St. Lucia, we did not fear for our personal safety, but we are city folk that have a natural wariness. We always secured our wallets and purse, didn't flash money, and carried relatively small amounts of currency ($100-$200 each) in case of theft. Basically, safety didn't seem a major issue to us.

Taxis are easy to hire in each port - they make themselves known to those exiting the ships. We had no problems with any drivers, nor did we hear of any from other passengers. On each island, there seem to be more or less fixed prices for various rides/tours, but it is prudent to make sure that you agree on prices before you get into the taxis.

In general, we found that locals are quite welcoming and friendly toward cruisers. This isn't a great surprise - I would estimate that each ship represents somewhere between $200-$600K per visit for each of the ports. These islands are not large, uniformly wealthy, or populous (with the exception of San Juan and to some degree Barbados). Tourism in general and cruise ships in particular are very important elements of these local economies.

Here is the port-by-port rundown of our own experiences and impressions:

St. Thomas: SHOPPING. Great deals on booze, jewelry, and perfume. Bring your money. We shopped in the morning, had lunch in the ship's dining room, then hired ourselves a taxi to Magen's Beach on the other side of the island. Great beach! One note - it had more than its share of loudmouthed and obnoxious New York-area folks sporting more cash than class - you know the type :) Ok, I was born and raised in Chicago, and have biases! I of course realize that not everyone from the Northeast is loud and obnoxious, but there were more than a few who were at the beach.

St. Martin: We enjoyed this island the most, but cruisers should note that there is quite a bit of poverty evident throughout the island. Many of our fellow passengers were disturbed by this, and it detracted from their experiences.

We took a taxi in the morning to Marigot on the French side to do a little shopping. We avoided the very upscale shops - plenty of these on Michigan Ave, Fifth Ave, and other places we can visit frequently - and focused on the street market along the waterfront. Some great deals on interesting local merchandise available there. We had lunch at a cafe across the market, with a view of the old fort. Very pleasant morning.

We took the afternoon Pinel Island snorkeling excursion. It was about a 30 minute bus ride to the Orient Beach area, then a water taxi to the French-side island. They outfitted us with everything we needed, and turned us loose to do a little snorkeling. They keep a fairly good eye on things, but you need to take your own precautions and not be dumb. You are not in the Land of Liability Suits and you will not see the same safeguards as you would here in the U.S. After about 45 minutes of snorkeling, most everyone had enough and retired to the beach. It is a "top-tional" beach, so be warned that there are a few folks forgoing the bikini tops, although they were in the minority. I decided to go topless myself, but my wife didn't and was kind enough not to notice my occasional peeks around the beach. All kidding aside, all were well-behaved and respectful, and it was an interesting adventure for a couple of landlocked overly conservative Midwesterners.

Antigua: After a little morning shopping, we had lunch on the ship, then hired a taxi to Runaway Beach. The driver dropped us at a resort and helped us get a staffer to set us up with a beach tent (highly recommended considering the hot sun!) and was there to pick us up as we had pre-arranged. We had two or three hours of relaxation, only pleasantly interrupted a few times by entertaining beach vendors, then back to the ship for our usual afternoon nap before our late dinner seating.

St. Lucia: We exited the ship in the morning, as was our routine, to do a little shopping in Castries, the port town. There is a small outdoor somewhat upscale mall right at the terminal, a duty-free area, and then a large, covered "craft" market. As soon as we left the mall area, we were harangued by taxi drivers and street vendors - much more so than on any of the other islands. We found this to be rather unpleasant. Crossing a busy street, we entered the craft market area. Lots of booths in aisles crowded with middle-aged local women plying their wares. If you like haggling and interacting (on our part, this mostly meant saying "no, thanks" in a firm way) you will love this. Lots of good buys on all kinds of things, but you have to bargain. Worth the trip, but I found it to be a somewhat tiresome experience - my wife really liked it, however. We took the afternoon to relax on the ship - we had been going nonstop for most of a week, so the downtime was welcomed and needed.

Some of our fellow passengers took excursions on this island and were pleased with their experiences. You can exhaust the interesting opportunities in Castries in less than half a day, so we would recommend that cruisers do an excursion on this island.

Barbados: Bridgetown is a working city, and a financial center for much of the Caribbean, so you will be disappointed if you are looking for quaintness here. We found that a quick taxi ride and a brief walk through town satisfied us. We took a peek at the Mount Gay rum distillery, but didn't have time for the tour. There is some pretty decent duty-free shopping right around the ship terminal - definitely worth a look.

In the afternoon, we took the snorkeling catamaran excursion. It was worth the money and time, although the seas were a little rough so we had to go to a secondary location - along with about 4 other snorkeling outings. Very crowded, but it was still fun. Following that, we sailed around the island, enjoying the free rum punch and beer. My wife and I didn't have very much of this as we were bouncing pretty heavily and we were feeling a little queasy. However, many of our fellow catamaraners imbibed heavily - I have never seen so many people get so loaded so fast in my life. They were clearly having a great time, singing and dancing (despite little room!) The Jolly Roger outing was the better excursion for this sort of thing, though. Our cat sailed near them, and oh boy! were they ever hammered. Great time, but if you don't want to lose the rest of the day, be very careful with the rum punch!

FELLOW PASSENGERS
My wife and I felt as though we were quite typical of the passengers on this cruise. We are from the American Midwest, are both 39, have been married for 16 years and as indicated above, think of ourselves as middle-class professionals. To our eye, we were a little younger than most of the other couples - average age of 45 or so? - but not overly so. I would estimate that about 85% of passengers were American.

Most, but hardly all, of our fellow passengers seemed to be upper middle class economically and socially. With few exceptions, they were more reserved than not, and friendly and polite. There were a few folks that would best be described as inappropriate (e.g., overly loud, crude, impolite, or frequent complainers), but they were most notable because of their relative rarity.

This being a Christmas cruise, there were a large number of families, including extended families. I suspect that there were more than a few Grandmas and Grandpas that took some of their recently acquired stock market wealth and treated the kids and grandkids to a great vacation. There were lots of teens who seemed to be having a grand time with each other, and did not at all bother their adult shipmates. As indicated above, a few of the younger children and their parents were not as considerate. It appeared that most of the families - especially those with small children - availed themselves of the early rather than late dinner seating.

There seemed to be very few singles on this cruise, and I would not recommend this particular sailing as an opportunity to meet that special someone. Other cruises, itineraries or cruise lines might be a better place for this.

Few passengers - aside from the teens! - seemed to want to stay up very late. The majority of folks took advantage of early shore visits, and were crashed by midnight. I know that we certainly were!

ENTERTAINMENT
There was always plenty to do on board, regardless of your interest. Each evening featured a different show and main event. The shows were well-scheduled around dinner seatings, and were better than I expected, although not quite Las Vegas quality. The headliner was John Davidson, of 70s fame (oh, how the mighty have fallen). I skipped this, but my wife had a good time despite his show's kitchiness - something that Davidson himself alluded to. Aside from him, there were several variety shows - dancing, singing, comedian, magician, ventriloquist - during the week that I enjoyed, although I am not a big fan of this sort of thing. Somehow, the milieu of relaxation provided by the cruise made these shows more fun than I would have found them anywhere else. Then again, maybe it was the Guinness I quaffed during the shows.

AIRPORT TRANSFERS AND DEBARKATION
We went with the air-cruise deal offered by RCCL, which meant that we checked our bags in Chicago, and didn't see them again until we were in our cabin. Upon arrival at the San Juan airport, we were met by the RCCL rep holding up a big "Monarch of the Seas" sign, and whisked to a bus to the ship. We got off the plane around 6:45pm, and were able to make our 8:30 dinner seating.

Passengers were expected to have their luggage outside their cabin by midnight before debarkation, with the provided color-coded luggage tags filled out. (I wonder how many forget to leave a change of clothes out for the next day!) You should also fill out your customs form the night before or after breakfast the day of debarkation.

Breakfast is served until 8am or so, and cabins are to be vacated by 8:30am. Passengers wait in the common areas - there is coffee in the Windjammer, CNN in the show lounge, and other things to do in other lounges. Despite the frequent notices about not waiting in the Centrum area and clogging traffic, a number of people did anyway. When your flight is called, you may exit the ship. Approximately 2/3 of the ship had debarked by the time our flight was called, but we only had to wait until about 10am or so.

Passengers then pick up their bags in areas separated by color tags. (We heard one pinhead the night before debarkation trying to convince the purser that he should have white luggage tags - first off - despite the fact that his flight was later. He blustered "Are you calling me a liar? Do you question my integrity?" The purser wasn't buying it.) From the luggage collection area, you are whisked through customs. Despite identifying on the form that we were a little over our liquor limit, the agent just waved us through - not worth his hassle for less than $20 of duty, I guess.

Once through customs, you are directed to a spot on the pier with your airline. You can get a porter to take your bags to a truck, and then you check onto your flight. Then you are done until you board the plane - very, very convenient. Then you either board a bus to the airport, or can knock around San Juan for a bit. If you have a later flight, you can also take a San Juan shore excursion.

RCCL operates a Crown and Anchor Club a few blocks from the pier. Show your blue card, and you are in. They have a bar, light sandwiches, and an airconditioned place to wait. We opted to pay for a taxi to the airport for about $15 rather than going back to the pier to catch the bus.

Our experience was that the San Juan airport is a disorganized mess - more Third Worldish than what you might expect in another American airport. Part of this is because the United terminal was under construction, but there were no postings of departure gates in the terminals, and close to no announcements of gate changes. It would have been very easy to miss our flight, but we paid close attention and pestered the (rather uppity) United staffers and were able to get home. Quite a change from being on board!

FINAL COMMENTS
Our travel agent, Adventure Travel of Green Bay, WI, did approximately nothing to help us with our trip. This perhaps was due to unfortunate circumstance - the person who we have worked with on other trips quit not long after we booked in March, 2000. Even so, we had to ask her replacement for everything that we required, with the exception of that actual cruise documents, which she got to us on her own. We had done our homework prior to sailing, so the agency's lack of help was not really a problem, but they surely didn't earn their commission. Bottom line: use a cruise specialist that you trust. Also, it is worth the money to arrive a day early to your embarkation port, to use the fly-and-cruise program, and to buy the cruise insurance. The extra money is worth the piece of mind and convenience.

Happy Cruising!