Bit of a blog - Adventure of the Seas – B2B in the Caribbean – 18th November 2012

[NorbertsNiece]

Last dinner menu

 

 

 

 

[Ocean Boy]

Unfortunately customs does there own thing here. We experienced this on our b2b. We had many many non us citizens on our second leg and it was a debacle in the luggage area. We made it tho....the airport could use clearer signs about doing the ag screening first. We would not have known about this had it not been for cruise critic.

 

You are correct about the airport. However, when it comes to the cruise terminal, RCI is a customer that brings a lot of revenue in. That should give them some clout. And, right or wrong, unlike at the airport RCI's customers are going to judge RCI based on their impressions from when they arrive at the port until they leave it. Long lines and unscrupulous porters do nothing to enhance people's perception of the cruise experience even though, technically, much of that aspect of the operation is not under RCI's control.

[MsSadie]

Linda,

My how time flies....I can't believe our cruise is over. I hope you are home safe and sound! It truly was a pleasure to meet you & all the rest of the M&M group!I loved your blog, I will be rereading it whenever I want to stroll down memory lane. :D

I hope that your blog and the comments of others will be noted by Royal and that as a result some positive changes are ahead to smooth out the disembark for future cruisers. As for Tony & I, until then we probably won't be cruising from SJ at least not with Royal.

Take care....see you on the boards!:D

[NorbertsNiece]

Linda,

My how time flies....I can't believe our cruise is over. I hope you are home safe and sound! It truly was a pleasure to meet you & all the rest of the M&M group!I loved your blog, I will be rereading it whenever I want to stroll down memory lane. :D

I hope that your blog and the comments of others will be noted by Royal and that as a result some positive changes are ahead to smooth out the disembark for future cruisers. As for Tony & I, until then we probably won't be cruising from SJ at least not with Royal.

Take care....see you on the boards!:D

 

Hey :D

 

Yeah I'm home, 845am this morning.... had a bit of a nap..... when I was in Miami I went online and have the supermarket delivery due..... they are already late. Laundry is on and house is almost warm enough.... my toes are complaining!

 

I also have a bit of Mal de Debarquement...... rockin' and rollin' a bit..... !!

[NorbertsNiece]

Here's a link to someone from the roll call who posted some comments on week 2.

[P&OMAN]

Linda,

 

Just got back from Australia and New Zealand cruise on Voyager, where there was no smoking anywhere inside the ship only on the open decks.

 

Has this been adopted on Adventure as we are on the TA from San Juan to Southampton in April.

 

We also did the TA from San Juan to Malaga on Adventure this year when smoking was allowed in the pub and the casino and I can assure you this was not pleasant and where ever you were in the promenade one's clothes always had the smell of tobacco smoke.

[NorbertsNiece]

Smoking areas around the ship:

 

Jesters Nightclub (designated area) : Deck 4

Casino Bar : deck 4

Outer deck, Port side : deck 4

Duck & Dog Pub (designated area) : Deck 5

Connoisseur Cigar Club : Deck 5

Pool deck, Port side : Decks 11 & 12 (and Pool bar)

Blue Moon (bar counter) : deck 14

19th Hole - outer deck : Deck 14

 

(Cigars may only be smoked in the Connoisseur Cigar Club)

 

Your room steward will provide you with an ash tray on request for use on your balcony only.

[Jules12Wed]

Mobiles for £3 pd? Will that include data upload though? What network?

 

It's a contract with Vodaphone £41 per month but it allows you when using phone abroad to pay just £3.00 for a day and you can then use your phone with the same allowance as if you were in the UK. If you don't use your phone one day you don't pay the £3.00 for that day.

 

We're in Greater London so may not be too far from you??

[Jules12Wed]

Smoking areas around the ship:

 

Jesters Nightclub (designated area) : Deck 4

Casino Bar : deck 4

Outer deck, Port side : deck 4

Duck & Dog Pub (designated area) : Deck 5

Connoisseur Cigar Club : Deck 5

Pool deck, Port side : Decks 11 & 12 (and Pool bar)

Blue Moon (bar counter) : deck 14

19th Hole - outer deck : Deck 14

 

(Cigars may only be smoked in the Connoisseur Cigar Club)

 

Your room steward will provide you with an ash tray on request for use on your balcony only.

 

Didn't realise there was so many smoking areas on AOS. Was there many people smoking. I thought it was just on your balconies??

[NorbertsNiece]

It's a contract with Vodaphone £41 per month but it allows you when using phone abroad to pay just £3.00 for a day and you can then use your phone with the same allowance as if you were in the UK. If you don't use your phone one day you don't pay the £3.00 for that day.

 

We're in Greater London so may not be too far from you??

 

I'm in Norf London ;)

 

Didn't realise there was so many smoking areas on AOS. Was there many people smoking. I thought it was just on your balconies??

 

Plenty of smokers around on deck areas and at pool bar.

[cruisecookie]

Linda, thanks for your amazingly detailed review! I really enjoyed following along with you on your voyage. I'm happy to read that you made it back home safe and sound.

 

I am always surprised that people can sail on the exact same sailing, yet they have completely different experiences! (Sometimes I watch the cruise in review video at the farewell show and I think to myself, "All of that happened on my ship? ") I really enjoy the shows, but you did not write very much about the ship-board entertainment. Were all of the shows late at night? We are sailing the Aruba route in January and have signed up for the late dinner seating with the hope of seeing some 7:00 pm shows. I hope you will be posting daily issues of the Compass soon.

 

Thanks again for being such a dedicated cruise critic member!

[NorbertsNiece]

You're all so generous with your comments!

 

Some nights there was just the one show.....sometimes it was early, sometimes it was late.... sometimes 2 shows....-

 

If there was an Ice Show there was no production show.... but a late night one eg Love & Marriage....

 

I promise to scan, upload and post links!!!

[Daycare Provider]

:DLinda you have been a real sport taking sooo many people on vacation with you! I enjoyed every entry that you posted. Enjoy th rest of the holiday season in London and be safe.

 

Angela[/size]

[campbell51]

Welcome home to the UK Linda shall miss reading your blog each evening but sure will be looking out for your next one.Have read all your blogs and loved them all. Well done you

[crisndeefromde]

You are correct about the airport. However, when it comes to the cruise terminal, RCI is a customer that brings a lot of revenue in. That should give them some clout. And, right or wrong, unlike at the airport RCI's customers are going to judge RCI based on their impressions from when they arrive at the port until they leave it. Long lines and unscrupulous porters do nothing to enhance people's perception of the cruise experience even though, technically, much of that aspect of the operation is not under RCI's control.

 

You are so so right...I sure wish RCI could do something about Bayonne too

[B_Mc]

Thanks for a great blog!!! Really enjoyed sailing along with you!

[PattyG12]

Hi Patty .. love seeing pictures of you and Linda on the cruise. Can't wait to see pictures when Paul and Erica joins you.

 

{{{hugs}}}

Janie

 

I sure wish you guys had come with us!! xoxoxo

[PattyG12]

Thanks for the info Patty. If they are the same two gentlemen that sailed last year and got on in spain and stayed on until the adventure returned to spain those guys had inside cabin and staff provided them with another cabin for their steamer trunks they brought onboard which the staff said were many. DeDe said the international ambassador helped them each evening come down the stairs to dinner fashionably late for dinner as ours started at 830. They would arrive about 9 carrying their little rainbow box that had a battery operated candle in it for their two top table.. Salads would be sitting there already and their beverage.

 

Apparently these gentlemen have ties to Casinos and have plenty of money to spare. I'm guessing they are NOT the same ones. We really didn't see them very often. They matched bathing suits at the pool area and tuxes at dinner but we didn't see them much while we were out and about.

[crisndeefromde]

Apparently these gentlemen have ties to Casinos and have plenty of money to spare. I'm guessing they are NOT the same ones. We really didn't see them very often. They matched bathing suits at the pool area and tuxes at dinner but we didn't see them much while we were out and about.

 

Glad you had a great time on board! Did you all plan another adventure together??? Just love seeing Linda's pics each day.

[PattyG12]

Really? Because we have read these comments online and we have also spoken to people (and not even Cruise Critic members) in person.....since 2001, about good weeks and less than pleasant weeks on sailings out of Puerto Rico.

 

You can certainly disagree. I've never personally experienced any unpleasant behavior on our sailings from San Juan. And we have sailed out of Puerto Rico 4 times. But! I also moved our cruise to a different week.

 

I mentioned the passenger mix. I don't particularly care for children and teens. The passenger mix on any cruise can have an effect on a particular sailing. It's not just sailings from PR, although that is of frequent mention...it could be from from any port. :)

 

We have a wonderful time in San Juan pre-cruise. We love visiting. :D

 

This was my 4th time in PR. Week one was fine ... lots of kids but they were pretty well behaved. Let me tell you that week 2 was NOT fine. This was my worst cruise by far. The passengers were rude. They would start banging drums (kettle drum sounds) in every area. Yes, this included the main dining room. Then a HUGE group would congregate. Sometimes as few at 15 people, often as many as 100 people. Pushing, shoving and yelling.

 

I would MUCH prefer the children to what we encountered on week 2!! And yes, this was clearly a product of sailing out of Puerto Rico

[NorbertsNiece]

Glad you had a great time on board! Did you all plan another adventure together??? Just love seeing Linda's pics each day.

 

I have a bucket list of cruises..... my income is such that when I cruise I need to be seeing more new things and visiting new ports of call, to get the best value for the money.... air fare is pretty nasty..... I would like to visit St Petersburg in Russia and have an eye on the no fly options right now.... had to cancel a cruise there last year and am intent on making it!!

 

There'll be a blog of course!!

 

Patty is Caribbean bound again next year.... who knows when our paths will physically cross again.... thank goodness for Facebook!!

[NorbertsNiece]

Week 1 Compasses can be found here.

Enjoy.

[PattyG12]

Glad you had a great time on board! Did you all plan another adventure together??? Just love seeing Linda's pics each day.

 

Well I want to plan another adventure. I think Linda is planning to stay on her side of the pond for a while. We have trips scheduled in March and December next year, both to the Caribbean. Linda wants new and exciting. We'll definitely sail together in the future though!!

[Esahuma]

We're hoping to use our mobiles for £3.00 per day we can use same limits as if in the UK. Do you know what the reception would be like in the middle of the sea?? I'd love to post pictures etc like you've done but don't want to pay RCCL rates!!

 

Mobiles for £3 pd? Will that include data upload though? What network?

 

**Please note that you will NOT be able to pay only your cell phone time - you MUST go through the ship with your cell phone and their rates are EXTREMELY High - there is NO WAY to bypass the ships mobile usage while on board -

 

I often see people on their cell phones onboard and wonder how surprised they must be to get that final bill under the door with all that airtime they used -

 

I could be wrong but please double check so that you don't get a surprise

[Jules12Wed]

We're hoping to use our mobiles for £3.00 per day we can use same limits as if in the UK. Do you know what the reception would be like in the middle of the sea?? I'd love to post pictures etc like you've done but don't want to pay RCCL rates!!

 

Mobiles for £3 pd? Will that include data upload though? What network?

 

**Please note that you will NOT be able to pay only your cell phone time - you MUST go through the ship with your cell phone and their rates are EXTREMELY High - there is NO WAY to bypass the ships mobile usage while on board -

 

I often see people on their cell phones onboard and wonder how surprised they must be to get that final bill under the door with all that airtime they used -

 

I could be wrong but please double check so that you don't get a surprise

 

My son seems to think that we can just use our 3G with unlimited wifi. Any ideas how I would be able to check would I need to call RCCL or my internet provider here?