Last day on Adventure of the Seas 1/30/16 - 2/6/16

We're in the middle of our sea day at the end of our cruise. Here's a bit of info...

We stayed at the Doubletree in San Juan for two nights pre-cruise. Nice place, three blocks to the beach. Not much else to do nearby.

Taxi to Pan American pier was $20. Left the hotel around 10:30 and except for the lineup of taxis waiting to drop people off, it was an easy ride. Line was getting pretty long since they hadn't opened check in yet. Moderate line for baggage check. Sure would make the line move faster if people had their bags tagged before they got to the port.

Doors to check in opened right at 11am and passengers were allowed on the ship before 11:30. Cabins were ready right before 2:00. Our bags were delivered by 2:30.

We purchased unlimited wifi and were very pleased with it. Not perfect all the time, some disconnections from time to time, but worked fine. Able to log in everywhere we tried even if it was a bit slow. Don't try to load any data heavy stuff, though.

Cabins are definitely ready for refurbishment... a little tired but not something that impacts your cruise. We sure missed our big aft balcony from the Serenade! I agree with those who have said the beds are very hard... and when I asked about an egg crate, the steward said they don't have them anymore. We met someone who said the steward brought several bed spreads to lay on instead of egg crates.

I was surprised at the condition of the towels and bedding. The towels, especially, were almost all stained with quite large spots. The pillow cases also had small stains on them. Not sure if they changed detergent lately or what. Don't remember seeing that on past cruises.

Windjammer was set up nicely with a nice variety of food. We are not foodies by any means, and always get plenty to eat. Is it all wonderful? No... but it's the same as at home... sometimes you like it, sometimes you don't. Just happy I don't have to cook or clean up!

(Sat): MTD was very disorganized with muster drill at 5:45 and lots of people showing up immediately after. Took 2 1/2 hrs to eat. Staff was amazing and did the best they could. Mojo menu... Food was good as usual and we were happy to find our old favorites some of the time.

(Sun): St. Croix- Windjammer was very busy at 9am. Pulled into port around 8am and it was easy off and a short walk to shopping area. Not a lot of shopping... so back on the ship after a bit of walking around. Huge number of taxis and tour operators at the end of the pier. Lots of people walking to the beach right at the end of the pier. A towel station was set up right at the gangway so you could get a big towel to take with you. No Verizon cell phone service in this port either.

We generally spend some time in the Schooner Bar before dinner because they have trivia or something going on. This is the smallest and tightest space we've experienced. Only one bar waiter in this (and most) bars and it seems to be faster to just walk up and order your own from the bar.

Saffron menu... This was formal night and there were MANY people dressed up. We do not dress up... dark jeans and a blouse for me, Dockers and collared shirt for DH. No need to feel out of place unless you want to feel that way.

Production show was Invitation to Dance. It was OK. We feel the shows are not as high quality as a few years ago... could be just the smaller ships get the least talent.l

(Mon): St. Kitts- Nice shopping area right at the pier. Again, a beach towel station at the gangway. Walked around for an hour or so, had a drink, and back to enjoy the "sort of" quiet ship. Very busy pool area today (well, not compared to a sea day... Haha). For those wanting to get a taxi or tour on shore, there were many vendors in the shopping square.

Pimiento menu in the dining room tonite. It's our favorite because of the Sticky Toffee Bread Pudding.

Motown show with a group called Spectrum. We have seen them before. Nice show.

We're not late night people, so don't have any info about theme parties on the Promenade... Sorry!

(Tues): St. Maarten- arrived around 8am and cleared to debark shortly after. Short walk to water taxi to go across the bay to the shopping/restaurant/beach area. $7 per person round trip or all day if you go back later. Walking is about a mile. It was pretty toasty in the sun so we decided on the water taxi. Very quick and efficient. Nice that they sell ice cold water for $1. Little Costco bottles, but cheap. They sell beer as well. Lots of different kinds for $2.

Many different taxis and tour people right at the water taxi dock... also lots of people renting beach chairs/umbrellas right on the beach. No waves and beautiful white sand.

Returned to the ship and ate at Johnny Rockets. We were the only people in there. Ship was pretty much deserted today while we were in port. Lots of lounge chairs in the Solarium.

Tonite's dinner was the Basil menu.

Studio B hosted the production ice skating show. It was quite good!

(Wed): Dominica- took a quick walk around the little shopping district and headed back to the ship. There were a lot of people on board today. It was very hot with virtually no breeze, so space in the shade was welcome. Too bad the starboard side of the ship is the smoking area... there were quite a few lounge chairs available on that side with the smoke in the air.

Main Dining room had the Sage menu.

Headliner show was James Stephens III. He's a comedian and singer... pretty funny.

(Thurs): Barbados- Docked around 8am. Went on a sailing/snorkeling excursion through Calabaza. Excellent!

Dining room had the Jasmine menu. It was the 2nd formal night. I noticed that lobster was the Fisherman's Plate. I thought it was accompanied by shrimp and another fish on our last cruise, but menu said lobster only. We were full from the food on our excursion so ate in WJ tonite.

Production show featured the RC dancers and singers in Can't Stop the Rock. Sure wish they had better singers...

(Fri): Sea day- we always appreciate port intensive cruises because we're not too good at finding things to do on sea days... lol... Pool area packed!

Pomodoro menu in the dining room. We are going to Giovanni's Table tonite for dinner.

There is a second performance of Cool Art, Hot Ice in Studio B at 3pm and the Farewell Variety Show in the evening... The Balancing Act of Luis Dalton... followed by the arrival of the crew members to say farewell.

Early to bed since morning arrives quickly on disembarkation day. Will post after we get home about how things go with getting off the ship and to the airport.

Thanks, appreciate the menu order.

Just got off AOS 1/23 and very jealous! Gave it an A+ and we had a ball! Everything from food to entertainment was excellent and we would go back on tomorrow....wish we could. All going on in the next few months will totally enjoy!

 

(Thurs): Barbados- Docked around 8am. Went on a sailing/snorkeling excursion through Calabaza. Excellent!

 

Hands down the best excursion I have ever taken. I often say I will go back to Barbados just to sail with them again!

What cabin/deck were you in/on?

Laurie

We ae on the AOTS leaving tomorrow so your information is very much appreciated. I am not looking forwarding to boarding the ship tomorrow since it sounds chaotic. Once we get on board, we know it will be great. We have MTD on Saturday at 6:45 so I hope it won't be too bad. I like my dinner a bit faster.

It sounded like a great cruise for you and I hope you have a good trip back home.

We ae on the AOTS leaving tomorrow so your information is very much appreciated. I am not looking forwarding to boarding the ship tomorrow since it sounds chaotic. Once we get on board, we know it will be great. We have MTD on Saturday at 6:45 so I hope it won't be too bad. I like my dinner a bit faster.

 

It sounded like a great cruise for you and I hope you have a good trip back home.

Don't let embarkation worry you too much. I boarded on Jan 16 and it was one of the smoothest experiences I've had in all my cruises.

OP thanks for the review.

A couple questions:

How did the beach near the pier "look"? Trying to decide whether to go back to Sandcastle or not.

Any idea if you can disembark the ship to poke around San Juan pre sailing? Had resigned ourselves to dropping luggage with porters and immediately grabbing another cab to tour OSJ

Re the ice show, is there a ticket system in place or just first-come, first-seated?

Glad to hear you had a good trip! We cruised on the Adventure in December and had a great time. She is definitely showing her age in some places, but overall, we had some of the BEST staff I've ever had on a cruise.

OP thanks for the review.

 

A couple questions:

 

How did the beach near the pier "look"? Trying to decide whether to go back to Sandcastle or not.

 

Any idea if you can disembark the ship to poke around San Juan pre sailing? Had resigned ourselves to dropping luggage with porters and immediately grabbing another cab to tour OSJ

 

Re the ice show, is there a ticket system in place or just first-come, first-seated?

We just got off of a back to back cruise on AOS in January. The beach off the ship in St. Croix is just ok. We love going to Rainbow Beach and they have a great restaurant/bar there!

Not sure about dropping off luggage before cruise but I do know that taxis are insanely priced in San Juan. Our flight home was super late so we thought about just going to a beach that day but we had already spent so much on taxis before the cruise so decided against it.

The ice show is first come, first served. No tickets. They open the doors 30 mins early and I suggest getting there as early as possible! We went to the show both weeks because it's so awesome! Highly recommend it!

Have a GREAT cruise!! I'm jealous!! :D

Hands down the best excursion I have ever taken. I often say I will go back to Barbados just to sail with them again!

 

What cabin/deck were you in/on?

 

Laurie

7658. It was toward the aft. Very small balcony and across from a crew service door. Never heard a sound until last night when they were moving luggage.

Great info...we are sailing in a couple months on Adventure.

One thing that has been a "mystery" has been the name of the next cruise director after mid-March. Mercedes is the current CD...but no one knows (or has asked and posted) who takes over on Adventure after her as of mid-March.

If anyone happens to learn that information....please post in this thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2245980

Did you guys check out the nightclub on the ship at all? How was it

Any idea when the cruise director Mercedes is leaving and who will be the next cruise director?

We just got off of a back to back cruise on AOS in January. The beach off the ship in St. Croix is just ok. We love going to Rainbow Beach and they have a great restaurant/bar there!

 

Not sure about dropping off luggage before cruise but I do know that taxis are insanely priced in San Juan. Our flight home was super late so we thought about just going to a beach that day but we had already spent so much on taxis before the cruise so decided against it.

 

The ice show is first come, first served. No tickets. They open the doors 30 mins early and I suggest getting there as early as possible! We went to the show both weeks because it's so awesome! Highly recommend it!

 

Have a GREAT cruise!! I'm jealous!! :D

lol can't wait, thanks for the info. BtB, oh i'm jealous.

we've done a ship tour in past to kill time on departure day. Have decided I prefer just going back to the hotel we stayed night before cruise (caribe hilton). taxi isn't much $ there from port. Mgmt has always welcomed us to check our bags and hang out for a few hours. Then, we grab a cab to airport to face that mess. no idea why their security lines move sooo slow there.:confused:

OP - would also like to hear how disembarkation went for you.

Don't let embarkation worry you too much. I boarded on Jan 16 and it was one of the smoothest experiences I've had in all my cruises.

Can I ask what time you arrived at the port?

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lol can't wait, thanks for the info. BtB, oh i'm jealous.

 

OP - would also like to hear how disembarkation went for you.

Long day of travel, but just got home. We were in group 21 and off the ship by 9:40 (was projected to be 10am). Very quick exit and luggage was all where it should be. Followed advice we read here to get a porter to take suitcases. Wow! There was a special line for porters and was much faster than the regular immigration lines. Porter stayed with us and out to taxi in less than 10 minutes. We tipped him nicely. You want to get a paper with the fare for the taxi, and the porter did that. Arrived at the airport by 10:20. No line at agriculture/bag scan so that went fast. We were a little worried since we had read horror stories. Checked in and then to security which was quite slow. Overall, much better than expected!

Great information.

Keith

Long day of travel, but just got home. We were in group 21 and off the ship by 9:40 (was projected to be 10am). Very quick exit and luggage was all where it should be. Followed advice we read here to get a porter to take suitcases. Wow! There was a special line for porters and was much faster than the regular immigration lines. Porter stayed with us and out to taxi in less than 10 minutes. We tipped him nicely. You want to get a paper with the fare for the taxi, and the porter did that. Arrived at the airport by 10:20. No line at agriculture/bag scan so that went fast. We were a little worried since we had read horror stories. Checked in and then to security which was quite slow. Overall, much better than expected!

thanks, great to hear your embarkation went well

re your group #, going to assume it was assigned based upon your flight time? Could you share what it was?

Mulling over a few different flights out:)

Did you guys check out the nightclub on the ship at all? How was it

Poor pandabear... has asked this question like 25 times. We sail this weekend. I promise to go to the club every night and give you a full report when we return. :cool:

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.

@keishashadow... actually our group # was 15, but my sister's was 21... we got a sheet of paper the night before with all of the group numbers on it and the "estimated" time to disembark. I don't remember getting this on previous cruises, although we may have. It listed group numbers in numerical order and next to the group and time there was a column that said "self disembarkation", "gold members", "excursions", "platinum, emerald, diamond, diamond plus", etc. (maybe not those exact words). They also made an announcement that you could easily change your group number by asking your cabin steward for a different number tag and he/she could give that to you. Seems you used to have to go to Guest Services to change your group number... others may be able to help with this info.

@keishashadow... actually our group # was 15, but my sister's was 21... we got a sheet of paper the night before with all of the group numbers on it and the "estimated" time to disembark. I don't remember getting this on previous cruises, although we may have. It listed group numbers in numerical order and next to the group and time there was a column that said "self disembarkation", "gold members", "excursions", "platinum, emerald, diamond, diamond plus", etc. (maybe not those exact words). They also made an announcement that you could easily change your group number by asking your cabin steward for a different number tag and he/she could give that to you. Seems you used to have to go to Guest Services to change your group number... others may be able to help with this info.

thanks, haven't sailed RCCL out of SJU. No issues when on Celebrity. CCL was very disorganized for some reason.

to pandabear90....we were on a couple of weeks ago and went to Jesters 3 nights if that's the nightclub you mean. It doesn't get going till late and the downstairs part has a nice dance floor and DJ. We love newer and dance music and got it there. They had a "quiet party" where you had to wear headphones with awesome sound to hear the music. There were 2 tracks you could choose and the DJ had a different song on each. If just in the club you had to wear headphones to hear the music. It was a hoot and we loved. it and the dancing part. Unfortunately we wandered several nights and the entertainment was fair at best and even worse we hear Jesters will be replaced by 2 specialty restaurants in drydock. Because we enjoy fun nightlife and dancing we will consider a different class of RCCL ships in the future. On a transatlantic on the Jewel several years ago the club at the top was fantastic for late night fun and dancing.

Well it is time for me to get ready for bed for work in the morning and I just came across this. I wanted to read all the postings, etc., but I don't have time.

We are to do the AOTS the first week in April. You mentioned a couple things (so far with my reading) that I was glad to read. You said (I had mentioned on the CC forum ( i'm SPOILED from Carnival cruises, but never needed them on their ships, but others) that if we ever needed it, we could ask for an egg crate, but you say they don't give them out any more. So I guess I will ask for a LOT of quilts/blankets, as I don't like a hard bed. I'll try it out and see first. You also mentioned that they had Motown music,where do we go to hear this? Lounge, deck, etc.?

You did a different itinerary than what we will be doing, other than St. Croix, which you did too. I was glad to read what I could on it too.

We have been on the Adventure of the Seas twice (two different itineraries) round trip from San Juan and enjoyed both cruises.

Thanks for posting your review.