Hey, you will be fine! I've just looked at http://www.royalcaribbean.com as you can see the ship's configurations on their website.

It is exactly the same as the 'Adventure of the Sea' that we went on a couple of years ago (which went from San Juan in Puerto Rico to St.Thomas, St.Maarten, Antigua, St.Lucia and Barbados, returning to San Juan).

It was a brilliant cruise - the ship is fantastic. You could if you choose to - eat non-stop all day and all night long! There are 18 bars and you can choose to eat in the formal dining room for dinner or just to go for a buffet meal instead. (The early dinner sitting is best; you have time to take a shower and get changed, go for dinner and then go and see a show). The entertainment was better than we expected and a different show every night - a couple of shows on the ice-rink, plus a theatre where you go to watch comedians (humour is different to Brit humour of course!), magicians and 'Broadway' type musicals and audience participation shows if that's your cup of tea. There were also art exhibitions and art auctions etc, plus a casino. There is even a Billy Bombers on the top deck where you can order anything you like free of charge and only pay for the drinks eg. milkshakes.

We rarely saw our daughter in the evenings....she discovered that once out of US waters she was able to drink alcohol (she was 18) so she was off at the disco every night with other people her age....she didn't realise that we could keep track of where she was by looking at the in-room TV where they swipe your card transactions ha ha!

We reckon that for the price it really is fantastic value - you have all the food and entertainment included so it was better value than just staying in a resort hotel and you get the variety of being in a new destination each day. We had a balcony so it was lovely to have a drink whilst watching the ship pull away from the docks in the early evenings, but you can see the ship arriving and departing on the in-room television as well. They do confiscate bottles bought from the Duty Free shop immediately before embarking and return it to you at the end of the cruise - they want you to buy in their bars at inflated prices - so buy your vodka, beer etc. before arriving at the port and put it in your suitcase.

We enjoyed this cruise immensely and it prompted my girlfriend to go (who like me thought that cruises were intended for geriatrics). She was on the same itinerary and loved it, so then just went on this RC cruise from Fort Lauderdale; this ship was much smaller and she said there was no comparison with the mega-ships.

We're thinking of taking a cruise in Alaska with RC next Summer. Has anyone done this?

Better take ya thermal bikini then !

We did a Royal Caribbean cruise earlier this year as well - 5 or 6 days out of Galveston to Cozumel and Costa Maya. We were on Splendour of the Seas, and to be honest, it was a bit disappointing. RC had been built up (in my mind - maybe wrongly) to be a top rate cruise line,but on the basis of this ship, we'd probably try someone else next time. We'd only ever been on Star Cruises in the far east before - their ships are incredibly gaudy and tacky, but the facilities are great, especially if you have kids. Splendour was more refined, but very lacking in facilities by comparison. The food was passable, but nothing to rave about, although the formal dining in the evening was very good, with excellent service. Not that I really go for the captains champagne reception dinner, but it did strike me as a bit of a misnomer when the captain didn't come, and there was no champange......

We didn't book any shore excursions, mainly because we had 2 toddlers and didn't want to involve long bus trips, and couldn't do any of the 'activity' trips such as diving, so we were left with a day at the ports. Cozumel was fine for lots of shopping, a few decent bars and lots of restaurants. Theres a bit of beach - not much but enough for a 2 year old to have his bit of fun in the sun. We had a good day ashore. Costa Maya was (for me) not so good - it was a purpose built facility with a coupe of restaurants/ bars a swimming pool and stage where they did local dance shows - the whole place just opened for the days a cruise ship came in. There was no beach, unless you wanted to pay to use a hotel beach next door, and nothing apart from the cruise facility. There was nothing actually worng with the facilities, but it jsut felt a little artifical for me. However my mum loved it, so horses for courses I guess. The people that we met that had gone on excursions from both places reckoned they were good.

Be very interested to hear what people think about the alaskan cruise cos thats at the top of the list for our next one, once we sort out where we are going to 'lose' the kids for a week or so!!

Yorkie

PS - went to Key West in 88 or 89 and I loved it. And the drive down there is quite something. Young and naive that I was, I didn't realise it was a gay hangout till my last/3rd night!!

Same here - only flown them a few times, but cheap and cheerful service for cheap and cheerful price. works for me. plus I enjoy facing backwards on a plane, and this is the only carrier I've been able to do it on! not a lot of legrooom - certainly wouldn't want to fly longhaul like that, but for the short hops they do, can put up with it.