minn0315

Gold Card: Grand Suites and above and Pinnacle, ONLY.

It's the RCI mantra lately: What have you paid for lately? C&A status does not mean as much as your current diamond or what ever...The rewards are for current passengers paid for premium cabin prices and status.

Ditto.

I wish I would have looked at the ship/room map more closely. To see what room were "connecting".

We were on Adventure in a Grand Suite, 1260, last week. We did not notice that it was connecting, UNTIL we heard the neighbors coughing, sneezing, laughing, talking, sexing, and their TV emitting loud noises. There was loud sounds until 4:00 am on the last sea day!

The walls are thin.

Minn0315 only posted to boast that they are a self-perceived "high roller".

Nobody cares lol!

***: Why are you even on this website when you have never been on a commercial cruise, yet you criticize others? I don't care for your bragging about your naval service. There are many of us that have backgrounds that we don't throw in people's faces.

On Adventure last week we saw everything in the evening, but not swim suits. The concierge, Ryno Strapp, wanted to be everyone's friend, so I think he didn't want to offend anyone not in long pants.

Minn0315 you don't need a grand suite or higher to get good service. My interior room got fantastic service. I wouldn't state it is the type of room that rates. I have stayed in suites as well so am always treated the same

 

 

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However, you cannot deny from published gratuity payments to these folks who provide us service, that the suites attendants get a full 1/3 more than classes less than GS. They recognize they are helping higher paying clientele and serve accordingly. Plus most of us give a generous gratuity at the end of the cruise in addition to the "pre-paid" gratuities already paid for.

Yes to porters! They were all over the place.

No discounts on GT at all this week, $30 pp for evening and $20 pp for lunch on sea day.

To th OP. As you may have read my live review everyday on Adventure sailing 3/5/16 on the Adventure board, we differ greatly in our experiences.

Here are two things that made the difference between you and I.

I was invited to tour the galley. The guide specifically stated that ALL food for the WJ is prepared in the 3rd floor galley, then transported to WJ In elevators. WJ does not cook the burgers or fries. Johnny Rocket's on the other hand makes fresh to order burgers that you can watch them make and cook on the grill just for you if you sit at the counter. They also fresh fry their own fries and rings to order.

So your claim of a scam on JR's part falls on deaf ears.

Also we stay in a Grand Suites or higher. Suite stateroom attendants get paid more from the start that those serving your class of cabin. Also, our suite 1260, deck 10 had no visible rust and the carpeting was in perfect condition.

Our attendant in our suite, Marianne, serviced our room three times each and every day. Both my wife and I take at least two showers a day. New and fresh towels three times a day. Again, this is my opinion and experience: sometimes you get what you pay for. Try a Grand Suite or higher next time.

Some of the nightclub venues, i.e. The Viking crown lounge started at 11:00 pm and the the closing time is not listed, just the word, "LATE"

There was also a DJ spinning tunes ( a lot of Motown on this sailing)

in smaller venues, also until late.

I can't address the participation or crowds as we are sleeping by 11, sorry.

I need to back up a little about this morning.

When you leave the terminal people are waiting with signs for your tour. They then take your big bags as well as you overhead carry on bag and put them in a closed box like truck. They tell you will see your bags at the airport. You keep your purse.

So we are done with the tour. Many other tours were dropped off at the Central terminal. Our driver took us to terminal D. Our bags were indeed waiting. We entered the terminal at these doors. This is a defunct terminal area.

I found someone who looked like they worked there who directed to our right to the, you guessed it, the Central terminal. This is huge long walk to find Delta. (The actual B & D gates are behind the food court area beyond security here, so maybe the front of D terminal is being remodeled.) So we get in line and put our bags up on the scale and the agent asks if we have goon through "agriculture screening". What?! There were no signs or agents at the beginning of the check in lines telling us to do that first! Grrrr...

So we find the agriculture place and they have no one to organize lines, etc. there are actually two screening areas, side by side but one is on the left and one is on the right. You put your bags on the belts that go through, what looks like an x-Ray machine . It actually has sensitive "sniffers", looking for fruits or vegetables that should not be taken to the US mainland. (Apparently they do this also in Hawaii, but in the two times I was there we didn't go through this).

They then place a green tape on your bags telling the airline agent that all is well. So we go back to the Delta counter, with our now fruit and vegetable free luggage, and start the check in process again.

We do have TSA pre check that we paid for and went through the vetting process back in November. So that part of security was very quick.

Delta does not have a Sky Club lounge at SJU. So if you have an American Express platinum card that gets you into Sky Clubs for free, you can ask AMEX to send you a free "Priorty Pass" for other airports. So we used PP and are spending time here until we board.

Thank you to all who took the time to read this review/diary. Adventure is a wonderful ship. Bon voyage!

This is day 8, disembarkation.

There is only one non-flight between SJU and MSP. It leaves at 5:20 pm. So to burn some time we booked an exclusion through Royal. "Old and New San Juan with airport drop off."

Our luggage tags were # 4. So we took our carry on bag and met in the Imperial lounge with others taking excursions at 7:30. About 7:40 they led us off the ship into the terminal. Luggage was in neat rows and we found ours easily. My wife's bag looked like a spotted cow and my bag had "Happy Holidays" ribbons on all sides.

Customs was a breeze. Off the ship to bus waiting for tour, 16 minutes.

Tour was less than spectacular. 3 hours and we made only two stops: the cemetery and church well before you get to the old fort, and second stop the old fort. Only restroom available was at the visitors center at the old fort. The tour driver was hard to understand. We arrived at the airport just before 11:00 am.

We are on Adventure right now. This was our only sea day, and our last full day. Only one specialty restaurant on board: Giovanni's Table.

Lasagna is not offered in the evening. Only for lunch on sea days.

As soon as we board we make a noon reservation for the sea day(s). Had today at 12:00, it is now 7:25 and I am still full!

I think that some of the most fun things we enjoy are the "side" shows. For example on the pool deck today, the sea day, was the Sexiest Man Alive contest and then the world Champion Belly Flop contest .

These may not sound like your cup of tea, but what makes them fun is the audience really getting in to it and taking sides and cheering. The other pool deck fun today was "If you know the song, Dance it". It was those songs that we know the dance moves to: YMCA, Macarina, Gangnam Style, and other line dances that we hear at wedding receptions. Great audience participation and cheering and laughing. We think these little things should be enjoyed.

As are the Battle of the Sexes, Love and Marriage, Quest, etc.

This has been a wonderful afternoon at sea. Sunny, breezy and everyone on board.

When the ship is rocking rolling side to side slightly the large pools become mini wave pools. If you are at the sides it is like surf coming into you. If you are in the middle of the pool the current will take you from one side to the other. I enjoyed it.

Galley tour was interesting. Everything is so clean and food temperatures and safety are #1. We each got a white chocolate covered strawberry at the dessert prep station.

Giovanni's lunch was fantastic as always with the phenomenal lasagna. To keep the amount of food to a reasonable amount we simply had the lasagna. Just with that we were stuffed!

A word about our tipping. We did pay for pre-paid gratuities when we booked our cruise. This is our own preferences and experiences; not advice to others, simply our opinions. I have the premium drink package that includes an 18% gratuity. However, if a bartender is generous with his pours of liquor and really is attempting to please me, I give an additional $1 bill US to show my appreciation. Most of the time they put it directly in their pocket; rather than adding a tip to the receipt, those are pooled per my understanding. I prefer to reward the individual.

At the specialty restaurants, even if we received the dinners free from our TA, I tip 20% of what would have been the charge; i.e. Last night at GT was free to us but it as worth $60. So we tipped $12.00. Since we also had complimentary cooked to order breakfasts in GT each morning we tipped our busboy and waiter this morning, the last full day of the cruise.

In the concierge lounge where unlimited alcohol is served for gratis, we tip $1 bill US for each and every drink. Just like we would do for free drinks in Las Vegas when gambling.

I am tipping my stateroom attendant an extra $20 because she did extra things without asking. For example if we left clothing lying around she would fold it and place it on the table and brought a bucket of ice without our asking.

We are also going to tip our concierge who went out of his way to do extra things for us.

I also tipped the porters in San Juan pre cruise.

While our MDR waiter and assistant did their jobs very well, I didn't think they did anything extraordinary that deserved an extra tip beyond our prepaid gratuities. We only ate at MDR twice in 7 days.

On this ship JR doesn't serve breakfast. On oasis class ships they do and it is complimentary. We've been on Oasis and my wife will be on Allure in about 60 days.

MDR does complimentary breakfast every morning. Lunch there is only on the sea day.

If you are in a GS or above there is complimentary cooked to order breakfast every morning, except disembarkation day, in Giovanni' Table. On some other ships with a Chops the breakfast for suites is there, as we experienced recently on Navigator.

It s day 7, Friday. At sea. Bright sunshine.

The drink of the day is Caribbean Sunshine, $10 (plus 18%). On other threads some have posted that drink prices vary wildly for the DofD. Not here. Consistently $10 each and every day.

The dinner menu is Pomodoro. Chef's selection for entree is rosemary lamb shank.

Entertainment this evening is Balancing Act of Luis Dalton, Lyric Theater, one show only, 7:45. There is one last ice show in Studio B at 3:00 pm. There is also Adult comedy at 11:00 pm in Lyric, featuring Phil Palisol.

I have my galley tour at 11 this morning and we have lunch, lasagna, at GT.

Giovanni's Table was very good. Since this is the only specialty restaurant on board it was quite busy.

We each had the filet mignon. It was equal to Chops on other ships. We also shared a pasta dish and a caprese salad. While service and quality was great, they just serve way too much food. Looking at our table and neighbor's tables, there was so much uneaten food at the end of each meal.

In our stateroom tonight were our departure luggage tags, already. Also instructions for disembarkation in San Juan on Saturday morning. Seemed to go by so quickly...

This afternoon got a little rainy so at 3:00 pm I went to the Screening Room a small movie theater on deck 2 forward, i.e. Forward of the conference center.

The movie was Our Brand is Crisis with Sanda Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton. I was cynical about political campaigns before, now after seeing this movie I am even more cynical.

The theater seats 55 in theater like seats. It felt like that old TV show "Cribs" where they showed millionaire's homes. Most of them had home theaters that looked like this. There were 12 other people in the place with me. I thought it was nice to spend a couple of hours on a rainy afternoon.

Listed in day 5 compass on the back page. 50s & 60s Rock and roll party was one night, day 5, Wednesdday from 8:00 to 9:00 pm. The assistant to the activity director is your MC. She tell you that this is not a concert, it is a party!

The four piece band and singers are spot on in their performances!

If you have 8:30 dinner reservations, get out there and dance at the very first song. They then have a little friendly dance completion that ends at 8:25 so people can leave for dinner. The rest of us stayed and danced until about 9.

Elvis, the Platters, chubby Checker, etc. a little more 50s than 60s, but songs we all know. They also sprinkle in some slow dancing for up close and personal enjoyment, wink, wink...

Another port here in Grenada that the Compass states: "The local officials have informed us that guests are not permitted ashore in camouflage wear in Grenada.".

The evening entertainment is similar to Day 2: Production Showtime, with the ship's singers and dancers. 7 & 9 in the Lyric Theater.

Love and Marriage show is tonight at 10:15 in Lyric Theater.

From our generous travel agent we have a complimentary specialty dinner for two this evening at Giovanni's Table. Others have posted that the GT filet mignon may be better than that in Chops on other ships. So steak tonight, then lunch on sea day there for famous lasagna. Dinner is worth $30 per person. We will pay $20 pp for tomorrow's lunch.

The loyalty ambassador assists you with concerns you may have with your Crown & Anchor status. In our case we were just inquiring when our next C&A level would be met.

To go ashore here the pier is quite long, not as long as St Croix, but a very close second.

Basically you dumped into an indoor mall, complete with a Subway sandwich shop and a New York bagel restaurant. Not to left out there is, of corse, Diamonds International.

Got outside into the "real world" of the locals. We needed a pharmacy and one of the small spice vendors out in the street gave me excellent directions. The drug store was on a side street and served our purpose.

There is an old fort very close by but we did not want to walk up the many, many stone steps.

Please allow me a little history discussion. You may or may not remember that in 1983 US president Reagan sent Marines into Grenada to rescue American students studying at a foreign medical school on this island. There was political unrest with Cuban interference. All Americans were safely evacuated. The US was scolded by the United Nations for interfering with another country's politics.

Today on the street an elderly native of Grenada said, "Americans, thank you and your president for keeping us safe so long ago. The good thing is that we have never seen Cuban soldiers in this country since that time". He smiled and gave a little bow.

It is day 6, Thursday. Grenada. Partly cloudy, high of 86. We are docked on the starboard side. Using the same dock and pier is a P&O Cruise line, Britannia of of Southampton , England. They are docked port side, so we look in each other's balconies and rooms. Our Adventure looks like a small little brother next to her.

Drink of the day is Pom Tree Margarita, $10, plus the 18% gratuity. (GRENADine is made from pomegranate juice; wink, wink.)

Menu tonight is Jasmine. It is formal night. So for the most part, 7 day cruises on Adventure feature formal nights on day 2 and 6. The chef's selection tonight is prime rib. There is also lobster tonight on the Fisherman's plate.

That's one way of putting it...don't try and use it the last sea day :P

I thought about that. It seems that if we come back to the ship early when everyone else is still ashore, it seems to work better. Perhaps like old school Internet, the more using it, the slower it gets. So on last sea day everyone is on board. You are on to something. Thank you.