TOlson70

We just did this two weeks ago while in Port on The Independence of the Seas. Loved it. My 11 and 15 year old loved it but saw kids much younger there too. Liberty Tours is awesome. We had Rose Marie as our guide, she was great and our guide at the Irie Blue Hole was Jason, who made the trip even better.

If you use a luggage porter at SJU they skip the lines at Agriculture, so if the lines are long consider using a porter, paying a tip and speeding your process up. SJU has TSA precheck lines now and are usually pretty quick.

Great review! Wish I was going on a Med Cruise!

The servers will set you up, if you booked with a TA, tell them and they will make a note for your reservation.

First cruise was on the Festivale in 1985. Good times!

I let my my husband dive at every port he wants. If he likes the dive and what he sees underwater, there's a week vacation for both of us. Win - win.

I understand, this was our first vacation together without the kids, so we wanted to spend some time doing excursions together, otherwise I would have dove every day.

Barbados and St Lucia were the recomendations I was given by other divers, I could only do one, my wife doesnt dive, and I didn't want to desert her two days in a row, so went with Barbados.

I wish I had dove St. Lucia, heard good things about diving near the Pitons. Snorkeled there and it was awesome, lots of coral and sea life.

Our cruise was Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, St Maarten, and St Croix. Is yours the same? It's a great trip. Have a blast!

Dove with Barbados Blue based out of Carlise Bay in February. They share the parking lot with the Hilton. Good guys. Various dive sites. We did wrecks, but reefs would be nice too.

Andre and G are who I dove with. Very professional yet fun dive masters.

Contact Info:

Scuba Diving

10:00 am, 12:00 pm, 2:00 pm

(246) 434-5764

http://www.divebarbadosblue.com

From their site:

Coral Reefs

2. OLD FORT: Off Needhams Point ~30ft – 90ft ~ Shallow barrier reef with lots of small fish life. Cannon balls and antique bottles can be found on this drift dive.

3. THE DEEP: Break off from Castle Bank ~ 60ft – 130ft ~ Deep drift dive, good for photography with lots of fish life.

4. LOBSTER REEF: Off Drill Hall ~ 30ft – 80ft ~ This inner reef can be done in combination with the wreck Friar’s Craig. Great drift dive with lots of marine life with occasional sightings of stingrays.

6. CASTLE BANK: Off Drill Hall ~ 50ft – 120ft ~ A barrier reef with a slow drop off on either side, great for macro photography (lots of barracudas).

7. FORK REEF: Off Hastings ~60ft – 120ft ~ A barrier reef with a drop off on both sides of the reef. Lots of barracudas, snapper and cavalee may be seen on this reef.

8. PIECES OF EIGHT: Hastings ~40ft – 60ft ~ This drift dive is good for photography with lots of fish and marine life

9. ACCRA : Off Rockley Beach ~ 20’ – 60’ ~ Shallow reef dive good for novice divers and photographers. Regular sightings of large schools of Bermuda Chubs on this dive.

10. CARIBBEE REEF: Off Caribbee Hotel ~ 60’ – 120’ ~ Barrier reef great dive for all types of photography, lots of marine life. A drift dive.

11. BOOT: Off Sandy Beach ~ 40’ – 80’ ~ Nice drift dive, lots of turtles to be seen on this dive, regular sightings of Eagle Rays. Good marine life, small derelict Coast Guard boat sunk here.

12. THE MUFF: Off Worthing ~ 60’ – 130’ ~ Virgin reef, great fish life (horse-eyes, blackjacks and barracudas) excellent for photography. Home of the famous sponge.

13. MOUNT CHARLIE: Off Dover ~ 70’ – 120’ ~ Deep reef dive, outer barrier reef, lots of marine life, turtles, snapper, horseye, and barracuda. An excellent dive for photography.

14. HIGHWIRE: Off Dover ~ 70’ – 120’ ~ This reef is between Mount Charlie and Close Encounters. There are underwater cables that are suspended over this reef. Plenty of small creatures can be found good location for photography.

15. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: Off Dover ~ 40’ – 80’ ~ Inner reef that is good for feeding fish and interacting with stingrays, lots of marine life. This reef also has underwater cables passing over it.

16. BOTTLE GROUND: Carlisle Bay ~ 45’ – 100’ ~ This area was anchorage for wooden sailing vessels and the bottom is littered in 18th & 19th century bottles. You get to keep what you find. Lots of interesting marine life can be found here.

17. CLARKES BANK: Off Brighton Beach ~ 30’ – 130’ ~ Good dive site, lots of horse-eye, eels & barracudas. Location of the Atlantis Submarine Dives, you may even get to see the Submarine on some dives.

19. PAYNES BAY: Off Fitts Village ~ 30’ – 50’ ~ Shallow patch reef, good for novices. This reef has big coral heads, lots of small tropical fish, usually done after Victors or Stavronikita as a second dive.

20. VICTORS: Off Fitts Village ~ 50’ – 120’ ~ This reef is located on the outer side of the Stavronikita. One of the more underrated reefs in Barbados not dived on very often. Soft and hard corals combine to make this site very different.

21. DOTTINS: Off Holetown ~ 40’ – 100’ ~ This is a very popular reef, it has beautiful corals, barracuda, bar jacks, yellowtails and turtles can be found regularly on this dive. You can dive this site on more than one occasion and not be tired of it. One of the more popular of the dive sites on the west coast.

22. SANDY LANE: Off Sandy Lane Hotel ~ 70’ – 140’ ~ Barracuda and other small tropical fish are found on this reef. Lobsters can also be found but they are usually hiding in the reef.

23. JOHNSONS: Off Paynes Bay ~ 70’ – 80’ ~ A typical west coast reef, well worth a dive as the corals remain as beautiful as ever harboring all the small reef creatures often missed when you are concentrating on not missing bigger fish. Abundant with soft corals, barrel sponges, tube sponges, and a large variety of schooling tropical fish, barracudas, turtles, parrot fish, and much more. Very consistent conditions make this a popular dive site.

24. EAST COAST: Consett Bay to Bathsheba ~ 30’ – 130’ ~ On the Atlantic side of the island, there are about ten (10) different sites available depending on the weather conditions as seas are usually rough. Best times are in the summer months. Plenty of big fish including sharks can be seen here.

Water worn rocks at Bathsheba on Atlantic Side

Dinner at the WJ is still a buffet, the choices are steps up from lunch. They had lamb chops one nights, steaks etc. Very good!

Yes we id hav an ocean view at the caribe. I am a platinum with Hilton so we got the concierge tower and faced northeast to the ocean.

Ine last comment about the ship and originating port. The ship was very clean, did not feel old and the perceived issues of Puerto Ricans being the majority of the cruisers is completely blown up. The overall make up of the cruise was North Americans (US and CAN), a healthy population of Puerto Ricans and a decent showing of Europeans as well. Everyone had a great time, no matter the nationality. Debate over the ADOS being a tough ship for North Americans to travel on can be put to rest, we loved the mixing of different cultures and backgrounds.

Dharmesh was awesome!

Do you have a copy of the cruise compass? I am going on the AoS April 3rd and would like to see what is planned. :) Thanks!

We didn't keep our copies, sorry!

Food in the MDR (the only two days we ate there) was okay, we actually liked the WJ as there were more choices including two nights with personally customised Mongolian Stir Fry, sushi every night, ethnic cuisine, soup, multiple protein choices, veggies as well as a kids station that featured Burgers, hotdogs, baked pasta, chicken strips, etc. Great dessert bar with a featured hot dessert every night (like molten chocolate cake or bread pudding.

On our last night of the cruise as we left the WJ after dinner, an awful odor hit us, the smell of raw sewage was ripe on the ship, people every where noticed it. We had heard an annoucement asking certain guests to report to Guest services. Didn't put two and two together until we got to our Deck (Deck 2) and the odor got worse. Three rooms forward of ours had a ruptured sewage line that required leaked into the rooms. Thankfully our room was spared on a different line but the hallway reeked. Because of how the doors seal on the rooms, once our door was closed we did not smell a thing. The RCCL staff had to scramble to fix the ruptured line, rip out carpet, replace furniture, disenfect, etc in preperation for the new cruisers coming on board the next day. By 8AM the next morning it was all done and the smell was gone, rooms ready to go.

Wish I had typed it sooner, many more details slipped waiting a week!

Some other notes:

The first night when the shops open they have free liquor tasting. Its all Absolute Vodka's, but you can sample as much as you want while they are offering it, very small samples but you can try all the flavors.

Every night on the Promenade featured a different sale, from T-Shirts (Port specific) to watches, scarves, costume jewelry, etc.

We did walk on the ship with a 12 pack of Mt Dew and they did not stop us. They have a duty free shop after security that you can buy water and pop at and carry on. They will not deliver it for you.

Guavaberry Rum in St. Maarten will deliver to the ship for you any liquor purchases with a 3 bottle minimum. Free samples are available, great little shop.

On Day 2 at Sea, Kevin (Port and Shopping guide) hosts a Shopping seminar. You can buy a Parazul travel portfolio at the seminar that has a ton of coupons for the shops in the ports. You also get a list of specials available on board like a a BOGO free drink of the day sticker that you apply to your Sea Pass, two $5 match plays per day at the casino, etc. Great value for $30.

We had a lot of fun collecting the bracelets and charms from Diamonds International, another freebie that comes with the above mentioned travel portfolio available at the Shopping show. We collected two bracelets and also picked up the free sapphires, and pendants from Venetian and Diamonds International. Just know they will try to sell you mountings for all the freebies (to be exptected).

$26 roundtrip to Christiansted for two. Not bad. The island tour we did with the crzan rum stop was $40 for two people.

Crazy work week so I ajust getting to getting a review posted for our week on the Adventure of the Seas during the 2/20 sailing.

2/19/11 - Left Minneapolis on a direct flight to San Juan PR. Of course the night before was mayhem that included my wife waking me up at 2AM to let me know she couldn't find her drivers liscense. We had her passport so I told her to go to bed. I got up at 4AM to get the car packed and literally found it sitting in her purse in plain sight, gotta love her! Uneventuful flight to SJU. Got our bags and found a porter who for a $5 tip took our bags and got us a cab in under 5 minutes, it was about a 20 minute wait for a cab if you did not use a porter, useful tip! Took cab to the Hilton Caribe ($22) and went to our room to unwind for a while. Got dressed and went to Old San Juan for sites and shopping. Met some friends who were coming off the Serenade of the Seas at Barrachina for dinner, awesome meal and great drinks! Went to bed ready for embarkation day.

2/20/11 - Woke up early like a little kid on Xmas day. Wife sound asleep. Walked the grounds at the Caribe, took pictures. Finally got the wife up and we went to breakfast. After breakfast we walked the grounds together and chilled out at the beach in a hammock. Went over to a liquor/convinience store and bought my wife a 6 pack of MT Dew (addict!) for the ship and then went back to the room, packed up and went down for a cab. Cab ride from the Caribe took 10 minutes ($19). Got in line to drop off luggage. Took about 25 minutes. After dropping off luggage we went to our assigned queue and were checked in under 10 minutes. We were on board by 12:30. Our published boarding time was 2:30. Went to the Windjammer, ate, then went to our cabin and got our suits on and went to Deck 12 to chill on some chairs. Muster was at 6PM, no big deal. We were on My Time Dining, and at dinner by 645PM. I will never do MTD again. I just did not like having a new wait team each night, and honestly after day two, we stopped going to the MDR, we went to the Windjammer where the wait staff and head waiter took awesome care of us. After dinner, did some exploring and were in bed by midnight.

2/21/11 - Day at sea. Got up, walked on Deck 12 for an hour and then went to breakfast. 11AM we had the official CC Meet and Mingle, was great to meet Dee and others from our thread in the M&M section. Explored the ship some more, relaxed on Deck 12, ate lunch at Johnny Rockets. Decent lunch, great burger. This was formal night so we went to the MDR for the last time, our wait staff that night sucked and we concluded we made a mistake with MTD. Being spoiled by Disney the past two years didn't help, dinner was an event for us on DCL and it just didn't feel the same on RCCL. Went to see some music and hit the casino at night.

2/22/11 - Barbados. Got off the ship as soon as we could and found a cab driver who took us on a great island wide tour including over to Bathsheba on the Atlantic coast for $70 USD total. Wewere gone about 3 hours. Awesome tour, great driver named Hendy (Henderson). He took us to the Hilton Hotel complex at the end of the tour as I had a dive scheduled with Barbados Blue at 12:30. Dive was great, visibility was down a bit but we dove in Carlisle Bay at 3 ship wrecks. Lots of fish, octopuss, etc. Wife spent the afternoon on the beach. She was wrecked afterwards, too much sun and she crashed when we got back to the ship, I was solo for dinner that night and that is when I started going to the WJ for dinner. The head waiter or manager was a guy named Dharmesh, he was great and the waiter who took care of us the rest of the trip was named Jose Colaco. Both should be commended and I wish the buffet staff would get some recognition. They greeted us each night and even during breakfast and lunch called us by name and brought sodas over without us asking (had the prepaid soda package).

2/23/11 - St. Lucia. Booked Spencer Ambrose Jalousie Beach Break. Got off the ship and met Spencer and Clint at the predetermined spot. He took us to his speed boat with about 12 other people. Clint and Capt Kirk took us to all the sites promised on his website including a 30 minute stop at Anse Chasenet. From there more sites along the coast over to Jalousie. Great beach, we sat over on the "rustic" side but were told we could go anywhere. The chairs on the rustic side were reserved for Spencer's tours and a few other tour groups but you could rent from the resort as well. Great snorkeling and soft white sand. The lunch that Spencer provided was great, local island fare. All the beer and rum punch I could handle. After the tour we shopped at the pier and my wife bought a Parazul handbag. Kevin the Port and Shopping guide on the boat was very convincing and nailed the best shops to go to for shopping. Dinner at the WJ, some music and casino and to bed.

2/24/11 - Antigua. We booked the Canopy tour for this port. Nice little drive over with commentary from the tour cab. Brief orientation and suit up and we were off. What an awesome way to see the rain forest. Some short zips, some long, with the longest being 328 feet long at a height of 300 feet above the floor. Loved it. Got back to town and went to the Big Banana for pizza, another recommendation from Kevin (Port Guide), very good pizza! Wife went to have he hair braided/wrapped. Back on board, off to the WJ for dinner, bingo, music, bed.

2/25/11 - St. Maarten. Booked the Tiki Hut Snorkel tour. Boat ride acorss the harbor was great, got to see some of the big yachts including Stephen Spielberg who has been on St. Maarten since Xmas. Snorkeled for about an hour. Lots of cool fish, urchins, sunken itms like a submarine, cannon, etc. Great little excursion that you can spend as little or as much time on. Boat took us to town or back to the ship. We opted for town. Went to Diamonds International and finally caved in. I bought a Phillip Stein watch and I bought my wife a blue diamond ring for her 40th B-Day. She deserves it for all my time away from home and extra work she does for me to have the career I do. Off to lunch at the Blue Bitch Bar (yes its called that) and then more shopping. Back to the ship, dinner at the WJ, bingo, music (The Scintas were great), bed.

2/26/11 - St. Croix. Slept in as we did not have an excursion planned. Hired a cab to take us to Cruzan Rum, did the tour, bought some rum and then hired another cab over to Christiansted. Spent a little time at the Hotel on the Cay which was overpacked with people, no chairs to be had so we called it a day and got back on the ship and spent the day at the pool. Dinner at the WJ, packed up, called it a night.

2/27/11 Disembakation. Unventful day, smooth disembark.

Overall, I liked my first trip on RCCL. I came into with too many preconceptions of my time on Disney. they are two different ships. Service was very good on RCCL but we did have some slips that required us to work for a fix, which never happened on DCL. Cruise director Anthony was funny and very personable, as were his Assistant CDs. Shows were okay, the Scintas was the best show of the week, combination of comedy and music. The deck band One Love was awesome, those guys deserve some big kudos. Dinner at the WJ was a nice break from the MDR. Our room attendant, Marlee, was excellent and took care of all of our requests, ice 2x day, extension cord for my CPAP, etc.

I would do RCCL again with adults, but until my kids get older will reserve future cruises with them for DCL. Once they hit teenage years we will switch over.

I have pictures attached in the link below, it links to Facebook but should work for people with no account or not on my friends list.

Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=105725&id=1512785919&l=351bfad62d

35 Days!