Kcjarvis Posted December 27, 2013 #1 Share Posted December 27, 2013 It’s Ken and Paulette from NYC. We are Diamond Plus Crown & Anchor members who spend every vacation day we have at sea. We normally take a cruise in December to escape the cold weather; this year would be no different. The weather in NYC had been great…. right up to the weekend of our cruise. NYC was expecting 6 to 8 inches of snow on Saturday, Dec 14th, the day before our departure. That Saturday we closely monitored every weather website and faa.gov. We also kept track of marine traffic to make sure Adventure was heading to come pick us up. Luckily we only received 3 inches, so weather was not going to be a factor. We were flying in the day of the cruise. (20 cruises – never had a problem) One of the keys of having a good NYC airport experience is taking the 1st flight out, which is the 6:30am flight to CLT. We arrived at LGA at 5am. Checked in, dropped off our luggage, went through TSA and were sitting in the USair Club at 5:15am We had tea and bagels. We then boarded our flight to CLT. I slept the entire flight. We had an easy connection to the SJU flight. This time of year they use their Airbus A330’s on the SJU flights. We love love love the envoy pod suites. The meal was pretty good too. We landed right on time at 2:15pm. Getting our luggage took about 30 mins – it’s island time. We then stood on the long taxi line Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kcjarvis Posted December 27, 2013 Author #2 Share Posted December 27, 2013 The line moved quickly. The regulated fare is $19 plus $1 per bag. They were filming a movie along our route, so the ride took longer than usual – 40 mins. We arrived at the port and were in our room in 15 mins. (There is a C&A bag drop to the left) By now it was about 4pm. There was no way we were going to be in San Juan and not go to our favorite restaurant. As we swiped our cards to get off the ship, they told us we had to be back for the muster drill at 5:45pm, however in the terminal they said we had to be back by 7pm. We jumped into a taxi and headed to Metropol in Isla Verde. Their Ultimate Margaritas are our favorite Not realizing it was a Fred Flintstone portion, I ordered the Chuletas Can Can with Congri and sweet plantain. The food was great even if I only ate 1/3 of the can can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kcjarvis Posted December 27, 2013 Author #3 Share Posted December 27, 2013 We then walked across the street to Walgreen’s and bought three 6 packs of Poland springs water, we hate Evian. We brought a duffle bag with us to carry the water back. We arrived back at the port at 5:55 pm; we put the bag through the x-ray machine with no problem. No one even asked to look in the bag or asked about its contents. We re-boarded and headed for our muster station. The drill was ending so the crew member asked us our room number and gave us the 10 second “this is how you put your life vest on” speech and we were gone. We headed back to our room to unpack and explore our room. We were in Owners Suite 1598 [ The suite was in great condition, much better condition than the OS we had on Freedom in August. Adventure still provides one of the best suite perks – Beach towels!!!!!!!! There was one issue with the room – the window was sea blasted and you could not see out of it. Not a major issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kneadsdough2cruise Posted December 27, 2013 #4 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Great start and very fun pics! We hope to do this itinerary soon so look forward to the rest. Thank you for posting your review:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kcjarvis Posted December 27, 2013 Author #5 Share Posted December 27, 2013 We went out on the balcony and prepared for our night time sail away. In port with us – One of the Seabourn baby ships and the tugboat valor. Our vacation is officially underway….. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kcjarvis Posted December 27, 2013 Author #6 Share Posted December 27, 2013 We love all itineraries that start with a day at sea. We slept late, hung out on the balcony and went to the WJ for lunch. After lunch, we went to the Viking Crown Lounge to watch the Belly Flop Contest. We then headed to the Meet & Mingle. The Activities Manager did a nice job running the event. I ended up winning the grand prize - a bottle of red wine. That evening we split our time in the Concierge Lounge and the Diamond Event in the 19th Hole. We then headed to Portofino for formal night. Dinner was very good. The staff surprised me at dessert with a birthday cake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drarill Posted December 27, 2013 #7 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Excellent pictures and great start!! Looking forward to the rest of your review!!:):) BTW, Channing Tatum was filming the sequel to 21 Jump Street, during your visit to San Juan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kcjarvis Posted December 27, 2013 Author #8 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Excellent pictures and great start!! Looking forward to the rest of your review!!:):) BTW, Channing Tatum was filming the sequel to 21 Jump Street, during your visit to San Juan. Thanks and thanks for the info, we were wondering what movie it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted December 27, 2013 #9 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Great photos. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kcjarvis Posted December 27, 2013 Author #10 Share Posted December 27, 2013 We woke up at 7am and headed out to the balcony. Hello Barbados!!!!! Pilot coming to guide us in In port with us - The former Celebrity Horizon We grabbed a $3 pp cab to Carlisle Beach which adjoins the "Boatyard" beach. The ride was less than 10 mins. The beach was amazing. The sand was soft as carpet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kcjarvis Posted December 27, 2013 Author #11 Share Posted December 27, 2013 2 chairs and an umbrella was $15 US. Rum punch was $5. For lunch we had fish cakes and 2 flying fish platters After a great beach day, we headed back to the ship and watched the sun set heading to St Lucia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hscruiser Posted December 27, 2013 #12 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Keep it coming! I'm doing one of the other Southern Caribbean itineraries on Adventure in just under two months, so I'm now starting to really get excited - thanks for doing this! :D I'd love to hear your opinion on the onboard activities - theater entertainment, ice show, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Teeara Posted December 27, 2013 #13 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Looking forward to the rest of your pix! Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Tyler Posted December 27, 2013 #14 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Great pics! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kcjarvis Posted December 27, 2013 Author #15 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Hello St Lucia. We were already docked when we woke up. In port with us, the Mein Schiff 2 – formerly the Celebrity Mercury. The weekly life boat drill was underway. We took a $25 25 minute taxi ride to Reduit Beach (pronounced red-wee) at Rodney Bay. 2 chairs and an umbrella were $15 US Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ocean Boy Posted December 27, 2013 #16 Share Posted December 27, 2013 I love Adventure and the Sountern Caribbean. It is fun to find this thread today. And thanks for the pic of Horizon. That ship was our very first cruise from NYC to Bermuda.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kcjarvis Posted December 27, 2013 Author #17 Share Posted December 27, 2013 The beach was very nice. The floating fruit market was getting a lot of business. Paulette had a mango and a grapefruit. She loved them!!!!!!! I stuck to rum punch. We were going to go to Spinnakers for lunch But decided to support the local food vendors instead. This turned out to be a great idea. We had a fried chicken platter, that came with rice, lentil peas, sweet plantain, green plantain and breadfruit. Yummy!!!!!!!! After another great beach day, we headed back to the ship to watch our sail away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare countess5 Posted December 27, 2013 #18 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Have sailed this route and ship twice we liked it so much. Leaving SJU at night is fantastic. The fort all lit up looks amazing! Thanks for bringing memories back. Can't wait to read and see more. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkvillain Posted December 27, 2013 #19 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Loving this review, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
setsail Posted December 27, 2013 #20 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Hey Ken, how are you guys? Have a wonderful vacation/holiday. We just got back from an 11 day southern on Legend. Hope you are sending pics back to the office:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kcjarvis Posted December 27, 2013 Author #21 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Hello Antigua. We woke up docked. The Costa tugboat Magica pulled in after us followed by the Legend of the Seas. The AidaLuna was docked on the other side of the Costa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruising_chow Posted December 27, 2013 #22 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Great review! Doing southern a route in 8 days and southern on jewel in April!! :-) Sent from my SGH-T989D using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kcjarvis Posted December 27, 2013 Author #23 Share Posted December 27, 2013 We took a $15 taxi to the Coconut Beach Club, where we had a day pass. The day pass cost was $50 US per person and began at 10:00 am. This price included buffet lunch, all alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks at the bar, use of the pool, beach, beach loungers, tennis facilities, all local taxes and gratuities. As you can see the beach and pool were very crowded :-) The drinks were good And so was the food - Fish, curried chicken, pasta, rice and peas and potato salad After another great beach day we headed back to the ship Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carumba7 Posted December 27, 2013 #24 Share Posted December 27, 2013 This route is on my wish list, thanks for sharing!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kcjarvis Posted December 27, 2013 Author #25 Share Posted December 27, 2013 My parents live on the island of Nevis, which is the sister island of St Kitts. Heading to St Martin, we sailed right by Nevis. My parents waited up to see us sail by. We did figure 8’s on the way. Not really sure why, but I can remember some cruise critic posts about Freedom doing the same thing. When we woke up, we were already docked Preparing for our biweekly fill up from the fuel barge In port with us – The P&O Azura Christmas in St Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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