Review of Adventure of the Seas, 2/17/18

My husband and I cruised on Adventure of the Seas from February 17-24, 2018. The cruise was a 7-day, departing from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Our itinerary included St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Sea Day, Curacao, Aruba, Sea Day, San Juan. We booked the cruise nearly two years in advance and watched the hurricane recovery efforts closely in order to determine whether or not we needed to change our vacation, but ultimately decided to proceed as planned.

About us: We're both 50-something and experienced cruisers. We love the southern Caribbean because we prefer the port-intensive itineraries and variety of culture and topography represented. We tend to prefer the Radiance Class ships, so this was a bit of a departure for us.

Our sailing was the first 7-day cruise following the January dry dock. The maiden voyage post-dry dock was a five day repositioning cruise. We flew to San Juan the day prior to embarkation and stayed at a little bed and breakfast near the Condado area called Tres Palmas Inn. It may take me a few days to complete this review, as I'm still uploading photos...and doing laundry an attempting to adjust to no longer living in paradise!!

We are looking forward to your review and pictures! Sailing on the Adventure in April :cool:

I was on the same cruise with my wife and 4-year old; like you, I hope to post a trip report. I'm interested to see yours. Overall we had a good cruise, with a hiccup or two along the way.

Did you find the pizza in Cafe Promenade tasteless with cheese that tasted like dough? I know on Cruise Critic Royal's pizza is often dissed, but I liked it okay at Sorrentos on Oasis & Allure, so it was a glaring disappointment to find this on Adventure of the Seas. And having a 4-year old, we ate the pizza on a number of days, so it wasn't a 'one off' thing.

Anything you really enjoyed on this Voyager-class ship you wish the Radiance-class had?

Richard.

Drrich2, we never had the pizza at Cafe Promenade. You've made me happy we didn't, as we did consider it one day! We enjoyed hanging out in front of the Duck and Dog for people watching, just across from the Cafe.

Adventure was my first Royal Caribbean ship after five cruises on Carnival. (Doesn't nearly everyone start their cruise obsession on Carnival??) I love the Voyager Class ships, but avoid anything larger. I sailed on Freedom once and found it too large for me - very crowded at the popular events and nearly impossible to get an elevator. We tend to prefer Radiance for the outdoor dining at the Windjammer - a really HUGE plus. Also we like the more intimate settings for events like Quest and the 70's party. That said, we enjoyed the Royal Promenade, particularly the Duck and Dog. We took advantage of the water slides and enjoyed being spectators at the FlowRider. (Neither feature was on the Adventure the last time I cruised on that ship.)

While we're talking about the ship, we tend to cruise on the lower decks. We like being able to run up a flight of stairs to our cabin upon returning from an island and we're close to the MDR. It's far from the pool and Windjammer, but close to everything else. That said, we would avoid Deck Two on this class of ship in the future. We were in cabin 2608, mid-ship on Deck 2. The noise from the deck below was an issue. The gangway was extended from just below our window (loud). There was a lot of engine noise - thrusters or some such - as we got close to each port. The final night, there was all sorts of banging around, we assume the result of the luggage being transferred below. Something to keep in mind if you're booking a lower cabin. I think we'll stick to Deck 3 next time, as we typically have in the past.

We had trouble with our A/C upon boarding, but it was fixed extremely quickly. The new carpets were nice and we liked the new furniture in the MDR. The washing stations at the Windjammer were a GREAT idea. Oh...and the Vidalia Onion Tart is back on the menu!

We enjoyed Casey Pelter, who I've had once before on a Voyager of the Seas cruise. Sad to know he's leaving Royal for another opportunity.

Looking forward to your review! Love Adventure...this was our (planned) itinerary in September. Left San Juan before Harvey, switched off St. Kitts for Bonaire, and then returned to SJ after Harvey and before Irma. Anxious to hear the differences between then and now!

So excited for your review. :-) How many formal nights were there and on which nights? Also, which night was the lobster tail?

We were happy to learn that the bed and breakfast we'd booked was operational shortly after the storms. It was a great location near Condado in a residential area. Located across the street from the sea wall, a wide, usable beach was about a quarter mile up the street, across from a lovely park. The facility is older, with rambling buildings offering a wide variety of accommodations. The best part is the outdoor space, with numerous courtyards offering places to enjoy the outdoors on couches, hammocks, etc. It's called Tres Palmas Inn. Accommodations are pretty basic and the breakfast was a little disappointing, but we'd definitely stay there again. The location was great and it was a good value for the area.

We didn't arrive until about 6PM Friday night, so no time to explore. We took a taxi over to the Mariott Stellaris for dinner, which was very good. We hung around a bit after to listen to the live music in the lobby bar. We slept well in our room #20, located at the very back of the inn. Just outside our room was a lovely furnished patio. The people at the inn count not have been nicer. If you're looking for basic accommodations at a fair price, I would recommend.

Two formal nights. I never know whether you're supposed to count embarkation day as DAY ONE. If you ignore embarkation day, formal nights were on Day One (first full day after embarkation day) and Day Four (for us, Curacao). I'd read reviews of this itinerary from November and expected them to move the second formal night to the first sea day, to avoid having it conflict with a port day when we were not departing until 8PM. For our cruise, however, that didn't happen. First formal night fell on a late-in-port evening. The MDR still seemed very busy, so I don't think it had a major impact. They did have lobster tail. It was on the second formal night. On the first formal night, the menu included a steak that our waiter advised us normally costs extra.

If you're reading this review, hoping to get a wealth of information about the evening entertainment and night life, I'm afraid we totally wimped out on this cruise. We picked really active excursions on each island and found ourselves, regretfully, unable to stay up to enjoy the late-night activities. We're on the far end of that "50-something" age range I mentioned and it makes me a little sad that I can't force myself to stay up for an 11:30 poolside party or adult comedy show. I'm sure other reviewers will fill in the blanks!

Our first port of call was St. Thomas. We'd been excited to read reviews of Royal Caribbean's "St. John on Your Own" excursion, which provided transportation between St. John and St. Thomas, allowing guests to spend four hours exploring St. John on their own. It eliminated some of the stress and uncertainty of doing the same thing using the Red Hook ferry. Alas, I learned from the immensely helpful folks on these boards that RCL had altered the excursion so it allowed guests only TWO hours on the island of St. John. That's not enough time to do anything!! We cancelled the excursion. We found another couple (Hi there, Diana and Bob!) via the message boards who felt the same about the shortened excursion and we took a cab together to the ferry. It all went as planned, no issues, and we had four hours on St. John to explore.

Damage was clearly evident on St. John. We bypassed Trunk Bay and took a taxi to see the Annaberg ruins. Much of the ruins had been roped off as unsafe following the storm damage, which was a little disappointing. But the views from the former sugar mill were as amazing as ever.

After Annaberg, we walked just down the road to the entrance to the Leinster Bay Trail. The sign was missing due to the storms, but we located it and made our way down the trail. It was an easy hike, with a few side-steps to avoid beached ships along the way. We did some snorkeling at Waterlemon Cay. Not the best snorkeling of the trip, but worth the trip. On St. John, you can find yourself on a beach with few other people, which we really like. No crowds. No noise. Just nature.

Here are a few photos.

Did you catch the fish peeking out at me in that last picture? Maybe you should look again. ;);)

We made it to the Red Hook Ferry on time because St. Thomas cleared the ship very quickly. You know how they say the ship will dock in port at 8AM? Actually, the ship docks well before that time. On the ship, the captain will say something like: "We'll be docking at Port X at 7:15AM and we expect the local authorities to clear the ship by 8:30AM." Don't worry if you're meeting a privately booked excursion early. At ALL the ports except Aruba, we were cleared to disembark by 8AM. (More on that later.) If you need to be off of the ship early, just be there, ready to disembark, right away.

I would assume that, even though the cruise director is changing, the captain of the ship will be Captain Thomas for a while. To be honest, the captain of the ship doesn't tend to have a huge impact on my enjoyment of the cruise. Ironically, I've had notable captains on the Adventure of the Seas both times I've sailed on her. In 2008, Adventure was my FIRST Royal Caribbean ship after five cruises on Carnival. You'll notice from my signature, I've never looked back. On that 2008 cruise, I was treated to Captain Tommy and Cruise Director Mike S. Mike, who I'm thrilled to learn is returning to RCL after a stint as a Canadian Mountie, was the best cruise director I've ever experienced. Captain Tommy, an exceptionally young and athletic captain, was extremely personable. I will never forget him participating in the crew versus passenger dodge ball game, winging balls at his passengers in the name of friendly competition. But I digress....

Captain Thomas (ironic coincidence, huh?) on our 2018 Adventure cruise was also an exceptionally young captain from Puerto Rico. Not being a resident of Puerto Rico, I can say without any influence of national pride, that he was GREAT. He connected with the passengers and was entertaining and personable.

My last cruise on Adventure was in 2008. A lot has changed since then. In 2008, the ship had a an in-line skating rink. No more. Now, there's a FlowRider! The mini-golf course is now TWO stories! Water slides!!! If you had asked me in 2008, I'd have said that I much prefer Royal Caribbean to Carnival, but I admit that I miss the water slides. 2018 AoS has water slides...and they're great!

I am sailing on the Adventure in July! Thanks so much for this review!!

I’m enjoying your review. Great pictures. I love San Juan so happy to read cruises are returning.

I’m with you in that I prefer ships smaller than the huge ones. I do like Radiance Class ships.

Second day, St. Kitts. We toured with Javin's My Island Tours. I HIGHLY recommend! He does a mostly traditional island tour (no visit to the fort or the batik factory), but with a twist. He brings along a pet monkey for the tour, which is an adorable added feature. Peaches took the day off on our tour day and we toured with the younger (just three months old) Cream! The tour includes a visit to Spooner's Cotton Ginnery, a historic site under renovation, which was the stomping grounds of our tour guide in his youth. It was actually far more interesting than I had expected. We hiked the rain forest, also an area frequented by Javin throughout his youth. He referred to the area as his "back yard." Gorgeous! An easy hike which I would recommend regardless of your age/physical condition. We then visited the Black Rocks, where Javin tossed down a knotted rope for us to climb down to the sea level. Not mandatory and some folks didn't partake, but remarkably simple, even at our age. You really should try it. Amazing! We enjoyed a great lunch (Javin refers to this as a "snack" on his website, but it's LUNCH!) Then, we were on to our snorkeling location, including a sunken ship. The snorkeling was better than expected on an island not really known for it's diving sites. Again, some guests chose to sit out, but it's worthwhile to participate. See the photos! We then drove over Timothy Hill (OMG...can you believe the view??) to Cockleshell Beach, offering great views of Nevis. I highly recommend this excursion. My husband and I agreed that, while we LOVED aspects of all the islands we visited, St. Kitts was our favorite port.

Some more photos from St. Kitts.

Loving your review so far! Love the pictures.

I am very much enjoying your commentary and photos.

Keith

Excellent photos!

Do you have a picture of the deck area where the waterslides are? Hopefully YES.

Paulette, I'm afraid I don't have the photo you're looking for, but I found this one here on Cruise Critic. Maybe it will help?

The water slides are at the back of the ship, right near the FlowRider. If you sit on the bleachers to watch people on the FlowRider, you can also see people coming down the water slides.

The water slides are at the back of the ship, right near the FlowRider. If you sit on the bleachers to watch people on the FlowRider, you can also see people coming down the water slides.

I figured they would be there....where is the staircase to go up? When they refit ships to have the waterslides, I realize they have to set them up differently then when they are installed on a new ship, as they were on Harmony or now on Symphony.

Do you remember seeing lounge chairs so you can leave your shoes and a towel, at the end of the slide for when you come off?

Thank you for posting this review. We leave in 4 days to board Adventure so reading this and seeing the pictures is getting me primed. Will you be posting pictures of the menus? DW would really like to know what awaits her before we board.