The cruise felt overcrowded and it was a hassle to enjoy most of the amenities on board.
The ship itself is impressive. My 8 YO son and 6 YO daughter said it was like a city on the sea. Embarkation and disembarkation went smoothly. We very much enjoyed exploring the ship and all the artwork throughout. We thoroughly enjoyed the aqua theater shows, the 3D movie in the Royal Theater and the entertainment on Deck 5.
The cabins are beautifully designed. The first cabin we were in was very noisy some sort of machinery that kept going on and off at all hours of the day and night . . . we recorded the noise and they quickly and graciously switched us to another cabin. We were glad too because that whole hallway reeked of sewage. The second cabin was much quieter and we were able to get some much needed rest.
We decided to tour by ourselves. We walked off the ship to the visitor information center. We were informed that they could not recommend one beach over another since they have 37 beaches and they are all wonderful. We walked over to the water taxi sign and there we chatted with one of the operators and we finally decided to go to Orient Beach. $7pp 30 minute ride. On the way the driver told us he much recommends Galleon Beach instead since we were traveling with kids. We agreed and he agreed to pick us up at 2pm. The beach itself was nice, there was an olympic pool set up on one side, there was a restaurant/bar with restrooms and chair and umbrella rentals for $5 a piece. At first when we arrived it looked deserted and I was a bit concerned but as the hours passed more and more people came but it was not crowded at all.
Embarkation was easy peasy. We parked our car in the Embassy Suites and rode the van over to the port.
Again we decided to tour by ourselves. The only bad thing is that the time on port was so short. We managed to walk to the Castillo San Cristóbal, also known as Fort San Cristobal. We explored the castle and then walked to El Morro and had some coconut and passion fruit ice cream along the way. Once we reached the lawn near El Morro we saw they had kites for sale and lots of people were flying kites. It was fun to watch. Then we walked through the cobblestone streets and found some food trucks near the port. We sampled some vacalaitos and alcapurrias before heading back on board.
It was a nice day on the beach. one side is vey rocky, the other side once we discovered it was so much nicer. The views are amazing and the artists market is not to be missed. The only bad experience was the fact that they ran out of water and our only options were to go back on the ship or pay for water at the bar (we should have brought a thermos with water)