The food was pretty good but not as good as some of the other cruises we have been on. The staff was friendly and tried to accommodate as much as possible.

The entertainment was so-so. It consisted of production shows and some comedians, one of whom we had seen before on the Brilliance of the Seas. It was hard to get a seat at the show. Often it was standing room only. The theatre was relatively small. Mike fell asleep during several shows.

The pool was very small; and on sea days, it was hard to get a lounge chair. One night they had a Caribbean buffet, and they had plantains.

We probably hung out with more fellow passengers on this cruise than any other. Mike made a lot of friends. We even met more people on the way home and in Puerto Rico while eating at a restaurant.

Our dinner table was terrific. All together there were eight of us. There was one couple from Canada, and one couple from Ohio on their honeymoon. There were also two women from New Jersey. We really enjoyed trading stories each night.

St Maarten:
St. Maarten was probably our favorite stop. Orient Beach is one of the nicest beaches I've ever set foot on. We liked going to the naked side, laying out, and getting in the water. We layed out for a while, then ventured to the topless side where Mike went jet skiing. They have a lot of activities right there on the beach. He had a lot of fun doing that.

We ate at a beach restaurant, Chez Leandre, which had a spicy chicken sandwich. Mike had ribs. We love the food in St. Maarten. We are always sure to find tasty French food there.

We took a lot of pictures then took a taxi to Phillipsburg for some downtown shopping. Mike always finds the cheapest cigarettes there ($10.00 per carton).

St. Kitts:
We went on a snorkeling excursion. There weren’t a lot of fish. They also showed us a shipwreck. Then we went on taxi tour of the island. It was okay. We got to feed someone's pet monkeys. We also got to see some banana trees.

Antigua:
We did a boating tour to Bird Island, which was a nice deserted island. We got to snorkel there. We had to go pretty far out to get a good spot. For the next part of the tour, we got into kayaks and paddled through some mangroves and calm water. We saw probably at least ten starfish there, and we could just reach in the water and grab one. At the end of the tour, we were greeted by a nice English lady with rose petal water for our feet and steamed washcloths for our face.

St Lucia:
We went on the Aquabelle, a glass bottom boat. It was fun, and we saw a lot of fish. Then we took a taxi tour of the island. They were trying to sell all kinds of things. We bought banana ketchup and vanilla extract.

Barbados:
We started the day with power snorkeling, which was really fun once we got into it. The first stop we didn’t stay very long cause we got pinched by shrimps or sea lice. Everyone was scurrying back to the boat because it felt like we were getting pinched by hundreds of them. The Captain said they had not encountered them before, and maybe because the water was so calm they had lingered in the area. He said that they wanted to find refuge in our clothes. The shrimp they were hiding under people's clothes when we left the water. I saw a bunch of them. Mike got a picture of them too.

So we ended up going a short ride down the coast, and the water was okay. We saw lots of coral areas. We took a taxi ride to the Barbados Wildlife Sanctuary. We went after 2:30, which was monkey feeding time. We were very fortunate to see lots of monkeys.

We also went to Chefette, which ran McDonalds off the island. I had a Roti, which is a potato and chicken combination. Mike got a chicken sandwich. It was good, but not as good as McDonalds.

Venezuela:
We went to Playa el Agua. They had chairs for us. Some nice ladies came by and offered us massages for $20. The water was wavy, and palm trees lined the beach. We did several photo shoots using them. We spent about half the day there. Then we traveled to La aldea which had some good shopping for pearls and coffee. We also got to feed the parrots and a toucan there. Then we went to another beach beside the ship that also offered more shopping.

Curacao:
Curacao wasn’t our favorite stop. We were supposed to go on a sea lion tour, and we just sat and waited. The tour never started for us because of a scheduling problem. We walked around a saw a dolphin show. The shopping was good, and the town was clean.

Aruba:
We did a tour to DePalm island, where we did helmet diving. It was spectacular for seeing beautiful parrot fish and reefs. We could see fish swimming from the pier. They were bright, and the water was crystal clear.

Helmet diving was so much fun. They put a hood on you connected to an air hose, and then you descend down a ladder. They had an underwater trail with a railing. There was plenty of staff to help us out. They fed fish right in front of us, and we couldn’t see anything except the fish in front of us. We got to sit underwater on chairs to pose for a few pictures. We then went snorkeling to the best spot ever! We saw lots of reefs and so many fish, especially parrot fish. Lunch was also included. We ate spaghetti and plantains. I think I set a record for plantains consumption.