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Adventure of the Seas Review: August 5-12th


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First of all, I wanted to thank everyone on the boards for the information you have all shared. Reading your posts not only added to the excitement of my cruise, but I got so many valuable tips. I wanted to do my part in giving back to all of you and sharing some of our experiences on the Adventure of the Seas.

 

This was my 5th cruise and 2nd Royal Caribbean Cruise- we had done the Allure of the Seas about 4 years ago. We were a bit nervous going from a newer and larger ship to the Adventure, but everyone in our group agreed that being on a smaller ship was actually nice- less crowded and easier to navigate. We are a group of 13 consisting of three families with children ranging from 15-22

 

Pre-Cruise: Our adventure began on Friday, August 4th. We flew in a day early to San Juan. Our 7:15 AM flight was delayed, which caused us to miss our connecting flight to San Juan. We didn't make it into San Juan until about 6PM...it was a long day!! Even though it was a long day, we were grateful that we weren't flying in the day of the cruise and have to worry about missing the cruise-

 

Since we were a large group, we made the decision to hire a shuttle service. We used Puerto Rico Green Transportation. We used them from the airport to hotel, hotel to port and the port back to the airport. It may have been slightly more expensive for us to do this, but it was worth it to us not to have to worry about taxis, room for our luggage, and having the group stay together. We were very happy with their service- the van was clean, drivers were friendly and we had enough room for all of the luggage.

 

Hotel- We stayed at the Sheraton in Old San Juan. The hotel was in a great location. The rooms were nice and clean. Our family had a larger room ( I think a one bedroom suite) and upon check in they told us they didn't have that room available so they needed to upgrade us to the presidential suite! It was a great treat for us and a nice way to start the vacation... (Too bad Royal Caribbean can't do that for us!!). The only negative I can say about the hotel was the service. We requested a cot upon check in and we had to call 5 times before we finally got it at 11:00 that night. The Check in process took a very long time for some reason. The pool and hot tub is on the roof- it is very small, but we had great views of the city and the water. None of these issues were big, and certainly would not deter me from staying there again in the future.

 

We got settled into our room and then went to grab some dinner. We went to the El Jibarito Restaurant . We had to wait about 20 minutes for a table. It was a cute place, very casual and a decent menu. The service was a bit slow and while we were all happy with our food, I wouldn't say the food was excellent. But it was a fun place and met our needs. We walked around San Juan for a bit but were really tired from our long day of travel. We went back to the hotel and when we finally got our cot, we went right to sleep....anxiously awaiting the start of our cruise.....

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Following along, as we board Adventure in 32 (ish) days! Which southern itinerary did you guys do? Did you happen to keep copies and/or take pics of the daily Cruise Compasses that you would be willing to post as you do your review?

 

Thanks,

 

Dan.

Edited by Dan-P
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Boarding Day:

We had our shuttle meet us at the hotel at 10:00- This was the one part of our trip that I was very grateful for the shuttle service over the taxi- there weren't many taxis readily available and obviously, we were not the only ones that needed to get to the port!! Our shuttle was right on time and we got to the port around 10:20. We waited on the baggage claim line for about 30-40 minutes. They had people selling water and lanyards while in line, and there was a very nice man that was handing out luggage tags if you needed them....so don't stress out if you forget them. Once we dropped off our luggage we were into the terminal and when to check in....there was no line and check in was a breeze!! As soon as the gates opened, (I would guess around 11:30), we took our "Welcome Aboard photo" and were soon on board!

 

The ship was beautiful! It was clean, modern and I could not tell that I was on an older ship. We made our way to the Windjammer for lunch- but stopped at the Solarium bar to christen our drink packages! We got our lava flows and toasted to the start of a wonderful week together. I know many people asked if they felt the drink packages are worth the cost, and for us, there was no question that we got our money's worth. Each day we had a drink of the day, a few frozen cocktails by the pool, freshly squeezed OJ for breakfast, a coffee from starbucks, a few glasses of wine for dinner, the after dinner cordial, as well as some water bottles throughout the day. DH drank more than I did;) Not only from a money perspective, but it was really nice being able to sample different drinks without feeling pressured to finish the drink if we didn't like it. You do need to be careful not to exceed the $12 limit- especially with the wine.

 

Windjammer- had a great offering of various foods- and they even have a bar! Some foods were better than others, and by day 7 you certainly can get tired of the same foods....but any time I don't need to cook for my family, I am grateful!! We then headed out to enjoy the pool- the ship was not crowded at all and it felt like we had an extra sea day to enjoy the sun, pool and cocktails.

 

Muster drill was at 5:30 and felt like it took forever! You are packed in lines in your assigned areas and need to wait until all the late comers decide to join the group..... Please be on time for your muster drill! It was hot on the deck so we were grateful we did not need to wear life jackets.

 

Dinner- we had the 6PM dinner, which is delayed on the first night due to the muster drill. Dress was very casual as some of us did not have all of our luggage yet. The food was the same as windjammer- some food better than others, but overall, we all left our dinner each night very full and satisfied. The waiters are all very kind and hard working and we appreciated their efforts.

 

We spent the rest of the evening checking out the ship and got unpacked and situated in the room

 

Our family had two rooms- DH and I had a balcony and our 3 kids had an interior room across he hall- Oddly enough, it was cheaper for a family of 5 to get two rooms rather than one. We were grateful for the extra space and the extra bathroom, so it worked out well for us. We were on deck 7. This is where I could tell the ship was outdated. The rooms were clean, but they had a musty smell, the air conditioning was inconsistent (sometimes you were hot, sometimes cold) and there was sometimes some plumbing issues with the toilets not flushing. A member of our group had their toilet overflow, which was not fun. The staff admitted that these are ongoing issues and I believe they are being addressed when the ship goes into dry dock

 

We had a wonderful first day and are looking forward to our first stop in St. Maartin!

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Following along, as we board Adventure in 32 (ish) days! Which southern itinerary did you guys do? Did you happen to keep copies and/or take pics of the daily Cruise Compasses that you would be willing to post as you do your review?

 

Thanks,

 

Dan.

 

I tried to attach a copy of the compass but it wouldn't let me- saying the file was too large. I only tried to attach one compass, so I am not sure how to do this. Our itinerary was St Maartin, St. Kitts, Antigua, St Lucia, Barbados, At sea

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I tried to attach a copy of the compass but it wouldn't let me- saying the file was too large. I only tried to attach one compass, so I am not sure how to do this. Our itinerary was St Maartin, St. Kitts, Antigua, St Lucia, Barbados, At sea

That's the same itinerary we are doing! I'm really excited to follow along now.

 

As far as the Compasses, do you have a Google Drive account or iCloud account you could put them on and just put a link to them? Someone else may be along with a better solution. Thanks for trying.

 

Dan.

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Thank you for sharing your experience with us. We will be in Adventure of the Seas on the trip of Sept 23. This will be our first cruise and are very exited. Thank you for the overview of the drink package we are thinking of getting one and still trying to figure out if worth the price. I think you have convince me to take it and not worry about it!

Keeping up with your postings! png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABAQMAAAAl21bKAAAAA1BMVEUAAACnej3aAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAAApJREFUCNdjYAAAAAIAAeIhvDMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=

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Day 2: St Maartin

Each morning, we woke up early to check out the sunrise and enjoy our coffee with our friends. The pool deck is very quiet and relaxing for several hours in the morning.

 

After Breakfast in the Windjammer, we got off the ship shortly after 8 to begin our day. Our group decided to go to Pinel Island.....a beautiful island on the french side of St Maartin. To stay together and be sure we can all get back when we wanted, we hired Speks Transportation to meet us at the port. Their van was clean and spacious and they were prompt and friendly. It took about 20-25 minutes to get there (there was no traffic since it was Sunday and we were the only boat in town, and the cost was $10 per person. Pinel Island is near Orient Bay. We needed to pay $12 each for round trip ferry service to Pinel Island. The island was small, with two main sections of beach, two restaurants/bars and nature/hiking trails and an iguana farm

The island was absolutely beautiful! We rented chairs and umbrellas for $10 each (they gave us a deal since there were 13 of us). We had a great beach day with drink service. The area filled up throughout the day, but the crowd was predominately people that lived on the island-

We took the ferry back to meet our driver and made our way back to the port. The guys in our group wanted to stop for a drink at a local bar so our driver pulled over at one of his places that he goes to. Needless to say, this very small bar was surprised to see a van full of people show up! It was fun to talk to some of the local people and have a drink.

Instead of going back to the port, we were dropped off at the boardwalk for a little shopping and then took the ferry back to the ship

 

It was a wonderful day! If you are looking for a beach day- I highly recommend Pinel Island- a bit pricey, but we felt it was worth it

 

Tonight was the first formal night- Instead of MDR, we went to Chops. The service was friendly and we had a nice dinner. The appetizers were great, and many of us tried different entrees. All of us liked our entrees, but they weren't outstanding in our opinion. When we were on the Allure, we ate at Chops and thought it was fabulous....this time is was just good.

 

Next stop: St Kitts

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Thank you for sharing your experience with us. We will be in Adventure of the Seas on the trip of Sept 23. This will be our first cruise and are very exited. Thank you for the overview of the drink package we are thinking of getting one and still trying to figure out if worth the price. I think you have convince me to take it and not worry about it!

Keeping up with your postings! png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABAQMAAAAl21bKAAAAA1BMVEUAAACnej3aAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAAApJREFUCNdjYAAAAAIAAeIhvDMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=

 

Thanks- At first DH was getting the drink package and I wasn't going to...but I am glad I did. I am not a huge drinker, but I felt I got my money's worth. I was nervous I wouldn't get my money's worth, considering this is such a port intensive cruise. ....It was fun being able to try so many different types of drinks. They add up fast- especially when you are sitting in that hot sun!!

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I have the same concern as I will be in Deck 7

 

 

Whenever we noticed the "smell" we let our room attendant know and it was immediately fixed- my guess is that they adjust something with the AC and then the smell would disappear. It was nothing that was a huge issue for us

( the room with the toilet overflowing wasn't fun) but the rest of our issues were more of an inconvenience

 

We weren't in our rooms that often either, though

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Day 3- St Kitts

 

We didn't have an excursion planned for St Kitts so we were able to relax a bit in the morning. We decided to go to the MDR for breakfast. This was a nice change of pace and highly recommend this for a change of scenery. You can choose between a buffet or ordering off of the menu.....(or both!!). Plenty of variety and the food was good.

 

A nice feature of the drink package is having the water bottles included in the package. They have water bottles available as soon as you exit the ship, so it's nice being able to have a few bottles of cold water to bring with you. We packed a small soft cooler with us and small ziploc bags that we filled with ice before leaving the ship...this helped keep the water cold for a little while and easily fit into my beach bag.

 

We got off the ship to check out the shops, and we were immediately swarmed by people trying offer you taxis, tours, popcorn....and the dreaded monkeys! I have read before about how pushy the people with the monkeys are-- and it is totally true!! Before you knew it, they practically threw the monkeys on you and then wanted $10. Be very careful around them and make sure you agree upon the amount before hand.

 

We shopped and stopped for a drink and did some people watching and then went back to the ship for lunch and some pool time. The ship was surprisingly crowded, but we still were able to get seats. The kids did the water slide and they said they didn't have to wait, which was nice.

 

Dinner in the MDR and we went to the ice show. The show was nice- great music and very talented performers

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In your review you stated that you had drink packages....so you had the coffee package they offer? Ithought about purchasing this but I was told that there is no starbucks on adventure. Is there a restriction on the size of drink you can get with the coffee package?

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In your review you stated that you had drink packages....so you had the coffee package they offer? Ithought about purchasing this but I was told that there is no starbucks on adventure. Is there a restriction on the size of drink you can get with the coffee package?

 

At the Promenade cafe they have a Ben and Jerrys and they serve starbucks coffee- it is not an actual store like other ships have

you have a small choice of coffees- and they open at 6:30 AM. In addition, you can get specialty coffees in Windjammer and MDR such as an expresso.....all included in drink package

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