I wanted to write this review while my girlfriend and I were on the ship but decided to wait until it was over to give RC a fair review documenting every aspect of the cruise.

We chose this specific cruise for two reasons. 1) The Itinerary 2) The time of year. Time of year is a critical choice as we prefer cruising during the school year when there are less children on board. We have sailed out of Puerto Rico twice before this cruise and were looking forward to an enjoyable and fun time as before. Sadly, from the beginning this was not the case.

We always fly in the day before to allow a little personal decompression time and for an early and less stressful boarding. Being that Puerto Rico had recently been devastated by two hurricanes our hotel accommodations had to be cancelled (another poor review) and we were forced to fly in on the day of embarkation. RC did offer free transfers to and from the airport and got us on board quickly but only an hour and a half before sailing. Not exactly stress free. Also, since the USS Hope is anchored at the new dock, RC is using the old, very worn docks on the other side of the inlet. We boarded just as Muster Drill was ending so we were greeted by thousands of people scrambling back into the ship from their muster locations on the decks. It took nearly 15 minutes to get on an elevator and to our cabin. Since we had My Time Dining at 5:45 we went directly to the dining room for our first meal. There we were greet by Devendra and Dinesh our waiter and assistant waiter. They were an example of what we are accustomed to from RC. Excellent service, fun and funny, attentive, they always made our day throughout the cruise That first night was crucial as they were aware that we were stressed out from our flight. After dinner, we played a little in the casino and then called it an early night. Read more