This was the first cruise for my husband and myself so we didn’t have prior experience for comparison. I must say, however, that our experience far exceeded anything that we had imagined. We took the seven-day cruise with stops in Key West, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.

We do not live far from Galveston so we did not have to deal with flights or shuttles. We drove in, found the parking to be very convenient with frequent shuttles to the ship. We boarded around noon so we did not have long lines to deal with. The cruise line has a very efficient and streamlined process so it took no time at all to check in and board. We then spent the time before we sailed to explore, get our bearings and let our hair down.

The staff and crew of the ship were amazing. They went out of their way to make sure that we were comfortable and entertained. Captain Charles spent some time mingling around the ship and he had a great sense of humor and was a wonderful host. The food, both in the dining room and the Windjammer Café, was awesome! Mike, the Cruise Director, and his staff were an amazing bundle of energy and were constantly providing varied activities around the ship and around the clock. We completely bonded with our waiter, Dubravka (Dubi), a wonderful young woman from Croatia. She provided wonderful, attentive service while making us feel completely at home. I cannot say enough about the staff on the ship.

If you are adults interested in an adult cruise, I would suggest scheduling your trip during school. Our cruise had a large number of children and teens and, while the ship is certainly large enough for everyone, a large number of parents included their children in many of the adult activities which was a little disconcerting. The teens commandeered the hot tubs for the length of the cruise.

Key West was charming. We took the trolley tour of the town which was very interesting and it gave us a good, overall view of the city, its interesting history, its architecture and its lush vegetation. The sunset by the water was breathtaking. Our time in Key West was from mid-afternoon until midnight so there was more time for nightlife than touring museums or homes. In Grand Cayman we took the stingray city/snorkeling combo. We spent enough time with the stingrays to interact with them and take plenty of pictures. We then went snorkeling at the reef and saw absolutely beautiful coral formations and numerous exotic fish. The water is crystal clear so take an underwater camera! In Cozumel we got so involved with shopping that we missed our snorkeling excursion.

Overall the trip was pretty amazing and we can’t wait to go again. I would recommend Royal Caribbean to anyone. The ship is beautiful and the staff and service are over the top. They planned activities that would appeal to everyone and the time aboard the ship was actually as enjoyable as the shore excursions. The shopping queen, Tasha, had plenty of information on each port and on the bargains available there. We were very sad to see the cruise come to an end and we look forward to doing it all again.