Denise and Yuval cruised from Baltimore, MD March 25-April 5, 2002 to Charleston, SC, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, San Juan, and the Bahamas. They also had a wedding ceremony on the island of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.

FOOD:
The evening sit-down food was absolutely unbelievable - gourmet full course - excellent selection, quality food, - we are really snobs when it comes to food and it was delicious (lobster, frog's legs, veal, chicken, filet mignon, shrimp cocktail, salad, crab, salmon, stuffed mushrooms, the list goes on!)

The afternoon buffets were fine - nothing spectacular but a wonderful selection of cold cuts, salads, fruits. The hot food available (hamburgers, FF, etc) at lunch was cafeteria style and just fine - no complaints

The breakfasts were either sit down, again unbelievably pampering, wonderful or buffet which was also very tasty and less formal. We did get breakfast in room once and a while and it was just fine - the portion ordering was a bit confusing - but the food wonderful and prompt.

Problems:  sometimes the lines for the buffets were long and people obnoxious.

SERVICE:
Impeccable, flawless, absolutely no complaints, wonderful from the cabin maid to the captain.

ROOMS:
Beautiful and very comfortable, not too small, very clean.

ON-BOARD ACTIVITIES:
We did not participate too much in the games and what not - the night shows were a bit cheesey. The did have a few ones that were very entertaining like the comedian and the Newlywed Show. But, over-all they were a bit hokey - everyone else seemed to enjoy them - older crowd especially and maybe people who don't get out much.

There was definitely something to do every day if you wanted - I thoroughly enjoyed the SPA - very relaxing and state of the art amenities, a bit pricey - but that's any spa. I had my hair and make-up done on board for the wedding and they did a terrific job. The gym was good - we went there a few times - just fine.

THE CRUISE:
It is a long time to be at sea if you have never cruised before - I loved it, very relaxing but Yuval was getting a bit stir crazy at first - you are psyched to be on vacation and it is a bit disappointing to be at sea for so long in the beginning - again, I liked to veg but he was a bit bored. You don't have nice sun weather until the 3rd day into the cruise..

PORTS OF CALL
Wonderful, loved them all with the exception of PUERTO RICO - we had a really crappy time there, borderline horrible, disgusting actually. Favorite was ST. Maarten!

Problem:  which we had more time and overnight at port of call

EXCURSIONS:
Hate to tell you that they were sorely disappointing, really bad, very cheap, and not as advertised. We seemed to pick the worse ones of all of them.

The Plantation in North Carolina - BORING and not well organized AT ALL - there was almost a mob scene with thoroughly disappointed senior citizens.

The Kayak in Puerto Rico - absolutely one of the worst experiences in my life, really. We were on Kayaks floating down a dirty river with a 16 year old guide, no wildlife with the exception of a few lazy iguanas, the Kayak rental place had a pack of starving dogs with fleas that literally stormed us when they served us our snacks (granola bars and apples with water) - one dog bit a lady. Toilets didn't work and no lights. REALLY BAD!

The Ragatta - excellent- we enjoyed our sailboat ride and won! We worked the sailboat and loved every minute.

Despite our problems, the staff on board was very apologetic about the excursions and did refund full for Puerto Rico and partial for the plantation.

In a nut shell

The food and service was unbelievable - very pampering. If we had to do it again, we would definitely choose a longer stay in port - we were very happy with the experience overall - nice cause we didn't have to worry about many details, money, food, etc. but we would have enjoyed a little more adventure - relaxing but not necessarily exciting! Many families, older people, - children dominated the jacuzzi.

THE WEDDING
excellent - we had a blast - best wedding - we took off our clothes, put on our suits and went swimming after! Very romantic - the photographer was excellent - here is info for wedding that I would recommend.

http://stjohnweddings.com/ - Anne Marie Porter

www.alainbrin.com - photographer

thanks for all your help - please let me know if you have any questions- Denise

Sincerely,
Denise Ross