Adventure OTS 5/3/15 review

[01Sweetpea]

My husband & I (mid 40s) recently got off the Adventure OTS 5/3 sailing and wanted to write quick review of our cruise. This was a shortened cruise, 6 days instead of 7, and went to Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua & St. Maarten. We booked this cruise last minute for us…7 weeks out! I am a PLANNER, and enjoy that part of our vacation, but for some reason I found there wasn’t a whole lot of planning to do for this vacation, maybe because it was just DH & I…NO KIDS!!!

 

We flew into SJU from JFK the day before, a less than 10 minute wait for our luggage and off to the taxi line. The cost from the airport to the hotel was $20 (or $22) and was a quick ride. We stayed at the DoubleTree Hilton in San Juan. It did take me a while to pick this hotel, but the final decision was the price I was able to get on Hotwire. We arrived at the hotel at 2pm to warm cookies…yummy. Our room wasn’t ready so we stored our luggage, grabbed our bathing suits, changed, and took the golf cart ride to the beach. The beach was nice, the waves were small but there was a slight undertow, but nothing that kept us from being in the water. There were lounge chairs and umbrellas for our use, however they are showing their age and could be updated. Since this is a public beach there is no place ON the beach to get food or water. When we went to leave there were several people waiting for the golf cart to go back to the hotel, so we decided to walk, it was a 10-15 minute stroll from the beach to the hotel. Once back we were able to check into our room. The room was fine for our one night, ALTHOUGH I was not fond the frosted glass bathroom door. While it provides a lot of privacy, it doesn’t block out everything.

 

For dinner we decided to go to Nonna, which is just around the block. Small quaint place with amazing Italian food, just as good if not BETTER that the restaurants on Arthur Ave in the Bronx! The gnocchi was delicious. Quick walk back to the hotel with a stop across the street at the supermarket for dessert & water bottles and we called it a night.

 

The next morning our game plan was to eat breakfast, drop our luggage off at the ship, check in (if possible), then head to Old San Juan for the day. We went to Bebo’s Café for breakfast, which is right around the corner. We were the only ones in the place at 8:00am, and the food was good. Back to the hotel, packed up our stuff and grabbed a taxi to the port (I don’t remember how much this was). We arrived at the pier at 10am, and were able to drop off our luggage, but the terminal was not open to check in. The porter said it probably wouldn’t open until 11:30 so we decided not to wait. There WERE people already standing in line waiting to check in. The porter did suggest we not come back until after 4pm to avoid any lines. Grabbed another taxi and off to Old San Juan.

 

The taxi dropped us off at El Morro, and we spent about 4.5 hours exploring Old San Juan. We were able to visit both forts, the church, the gate, the fountain, and just walk around the streets taking everything in. We had a tapas lunch at Pirilo Pizza Rustica and delicious pina coladas. We really enjoyed our ½ day in Old San Juan.

 

We took a taxi back to the pier, arrived around 3pm, and I was amazed at how quickly we were on board the ship. By the time we got in line, walked thru security, checked in (there was no one in the gold members queue), and boarded was less than 20 minutes!!! The QUICKEST we have ever gotten on a ship!

 

We went right to our room D3 balcony 7646 and our luggage was waiting. Unpacked and headed to the Solarium for our first Lava Flow! For some reason they taste better when you are on a cruise ship. :) We discussed each of us getting the premium drink package, but decided against it. We would have had to drink almost $600 worth of drinks to make it worthwhile…something we didn’t come close to doing. Because of the increase drink prices, we rarely added extra to the already 18% tip included in the price, which is something we always did on prior cruises.

 

Muster drill was harmless and it was off to dinner. We had early seating and our wait staff was Yen & Nana. Yen was fun and we enjoyed having him as our head waiter. Nana was polite and quiet, but wasn’t as engaging. When booking this cruise, I had requested a large table figuring we’d have other people to talk to...we wound up at a table for 10, but only 6 of us showed for dinner. DH & I speak no Spanish, and 2 of the other 4 spoke little English. They were all very nice people, and we each tried to keep the others involved in conversations. It was a little awkward at times, usually with DH & I sitting there smiling as the other 4 had a conversation amongst themselves, but in the end we made it work. Yes, we could have asked to be moved, but we decided to stick it out. In the end, I picked up some Spanish, and they learned a little English.

 

The food in the main dining room, IN MY OPINION, has gone down significantly in quality, selection, and quantity. RCI could save some money and stop printing out the big menus with fancy fonts and “interesting tid-bits” of information, and put the money towards the actual FOOD!

 

After dinner, we walked around the ship a bit, then headed back to our cabin. The past 2 days caught up with us and it was lights out by 10pm.

 

Next up…sea day.

[JohnGaltny]

Hi Sweetpea,

 

We're sharing cruise reviews and I will be genuinely interested to hear your thoughts and impressions.

[01Sweetpea]

John...looks like we're Hudson Valley neighbors as well!

[JohnGaltny]

WOW seriously?? I didn't notice.

 

I'm in Cortlandt Manor. Where are you?

[01Sweetpea]

We're in Hopewell Junction.

 

Any chance you were wearing a Maroney's Harley Davidson t-shirt on the cruise???

[JohnGaltny]

God no. LOL.

 

We are about 35 minutes apart.

[01Sweetpea]

Small world!!! :D

 

Looking forward to reading more if your review.

[JohnGaltny]

Likewise.

 

Really curious to see different perspectives.

[Familygoboston]

Looking forward to reading! Seems like a lot of us reviewing Adventure right now! Curious to hear about this "short cruise" !

[01Sweetpea]

I have found that I like a nice balance of sea days to port days on a cruise. Since we usually travel with our kids, port days tend to be very busy with excursions & activities.

 

Sea Day…we did nothing but relax. It was nice to sit by the Solarium pool, read a book, have a drink or two. We saw the ice show in the afternoon and really enjoyed it. I think it was formal night (not 100% sure).

 

Barbados…I was REALLY looking forward to this port. I had read about swimming with the turtles, so that was my goal for this trip! After reading a lot on CC, we decided to do the excursion on our own…it was so easy. Grabbed a taxi and headed to Harbour Lights, I think we were there by 9am. Paid the $15 for 2 chairs & an umbrella and told the man helping us we wanted to go see the turtles with Neville and confirmed that it was going to be $20/person. We waited less than 30 minutes and we were told the boat was coming. There was another man on the beach NOT wearing a Harbour Lights t-shirt who was directing people to join us to wait for the boat.

 

I asked the driver of the boat his name and he said Sean…so not sure if Sean works for Neville, or if we got someone different. There were 10 of us on the boat and we headed out to snorkel, then he turned the boat around and went back to the beach to pick up 6 more people. We spent about 30 minutes snorkeling over the shipwreck. Saw lots of fish and the shipwreck was very cool. We started to head to where the turtles are, but went BACK to the beach to pick up MORE people. By this time the boat was overloaded and Sean had to stop the boat and rearrange people SO THE BOAT WOULDN’T TIP OVER!!! YIKES!!!

 

The turtles were amazing, we had to see between 15-20 of them swimming around…it was incredible. The excursion was WELL WORTH the $20/person and the possibility of capsizing a boat! Just a side note, other people were charged $30/person for THE SAME EXCURSION, so know your prices when you go. We spent the next several hours sitting on the beach, swimming in the warm water and just enjoying being in Barbados. Banana coladas were amazing, better than the ones on the ship, and the food was good. We stopped in town on the way back to the ship, found a Harley Davidson store but it was closed. DH was disappointed as he likes to get HD shirts at different ports. We walked around for a few, took a taxi back to the pier, found a HD store there (DH was happy), and back on the ship. This was our second favorite day of the cruise.

 

We did the mystery dinner show in Giovanni’s tonight. It was campy & corny but it was a lot of fun. We sat with 3 other couples. Cost $55/person and well worth it. The food was really good. Choice of soup or salad, antipasto plate, choice of shrimp or filet, then tiramisu for dessert. DH & I each ordered the shrimp, and I happened to ask DH if he wished he had ordered the filet instead (because it looked so good). I didn’t see the waiter behind me because next thing I know the head waiter is coming over and offering to bring DH a filet, so DH had the filet as well. He said he was so glad he got it, MUCH better than the shrimp. There was unlimited wine & champagne. Definitely worth the extra money!

 

We missed the C&A welcome back party, but went to the show that night.

 

St Lucia…DH & I honeymooned here many years ago, so we had already done the drive thru volcano, the botanical gardens, the waterfall, catamaran tour of the coast, snorkeled at the base of the Pitons, took a helicopter tour of the island, etc. so we decided to make this our second “sea day.” I will say, for those who have NOT been to the island before get out there and see it. One word of “caution”, while it is a small island the roads are VERY narrow, winding, up and down. A drive from Castries to Soufriere can take well over 1.5 hours, and can leave you motion sick (at least it did for my DH). If you can take a tour that partly includes a catamaran or boat part trip, I’d take that.

 

We had breakfast on our balcony then got off the ship, walked around town for a bit, and then headed back. We spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool. By the time dinner came around we decided NOT to get changed and went to the Windjammer in shorts. I think in all our cruises this is the FRIST time we’ve ever ate dinner in the Windjammer. I found the selection very good. Another show tonight.

[Jezbel716]

Great review! We are going on Adventure on Saturday and I am looking forward to it more and more as I read everyone's reviews. And I will look into Nonna for dinner in SJ on Friday night. Thanks! :)

[01Sweetpea]

Antigua…This was the port we were most looking forward to. I will usually look at the excursions that ship offers, then if I see something that interests us, I look into how we can do it independently and save some $$$. We RARELY book excursions thru the ship, however when I saw RCI’s kayak & snorkel excursion, I decided to just book thru the ship. IT WAS THE BEST EXCURSION OF OUR TRIP!

 

We were on the 8:30am excursion (not sure IF there was an afternoon one). Boarded a bus, the driver told us all about the island as we rode over to Antigua Paddles (about 30 minutes), boarded speed boats and away we went!! I was a bit nervous as I’ve only kayaked once, my DH is an avid kayaker which is part of the reason we chose this excursion, but it was no problem at all. The kayaks are tandem, and are very easy to navigate. We paddled around the mangroves, looking at the beautiful water, the small islands, got to hold a starfish & a sea cucumber and had a wonderful time. There is a guide in the front leading everyone, and one of the speed boats in the back in case anyone needs help. The tour is at a very relaxed pace.

 

Once we were done kayaking, there was water available and then onto the boats to our next destination…a tiny island for a quick hike for some amazing views. Now here is the ONLY “issue” I had with the excursion. This is a short 5-8 minute hike HOWEVER the hill is rocky, and there are a lot of small loose rocks and flip flops are NOT the best footwear to have on. Going up the hill was ok, but coming down I was sure I was going to fall. I held onto DH most of the way down for support. Bring or wear some type of shoe that has TRACTION on the soles. It will make for a much easier descent. As for the island, beautiful views, BRING YOUR CAMERA!!!

 

Back onto the boats and now off to snorkel. Lots of different fish, huge boulders & lots of different plants, it was beautiful. One last time on the boats for a fast & fabulous ride back. We were greeted with cool towels, warm banana bread, & rum (or virgin) punch. Bathrooms & FREE wi-fi are available. Back on the bus and back to the pier. In all, I think we were gone close to 5 hours. DH & I had an amazing time.

 

Formal night again…went to the show, saw love & marriage, and watched Quest. This is the FIRST TIME that the studio for Quest was NOT filled!!! Still the same show, glad to see that no one came “prepared” for the game!

 

St. Maarten…took our time getting up and off the ship. Decided to head over to Orient beach. Walked around a bit and finally picked Sun Beach Clubber to hang out for the day. $20 for 2 chairs, an umbrella, 2 drinks, & wifi. We relaxed most of the day, food was good & reasonably priced, the ONLY issue is the locals trying to sell you something every 5 minutes. After 30 minutes of saying “no thank you”, I stopped responding when they were standing right in front of me. I should not have to spend my entire day being pestered.

 

Back to the ship to pack up and get ready to head home the next day.

 

Just a quick mention on dinner…No one at our table thought the menu was good for the last night. We all discussed leaving and going to the windjammer together for dinner. Our head waited was disappointed we were considering this, so we stayed. DH & I paid the surcharge and ordered the “Chops” filet. DH & I were a bit surprised at how long it took to get our dinners, our table mates were finishing DESSERT before our steaks arrived, BUT then a chef came over and apologized that our steaks were prepared wrong the first time and they had to prepare a second meal for us. The steaks were delicious and our waiter brought out a plate of chocolate covered strawberries that DH & I shared with the table.

 

We had an 11:30 flight from SJU and DH & I “discussed” the best way to get off the ship. In the end we decided to do self-walk-off, and DH insisted we walk off with everyone else. I told him we could wait until at least 8, but he wouldn’t hear of it. So we were up early, ate breakfast, grabbed our bags and were down in the conference room at 7am as everyone was walking off. Quick walk off the ship, quick moving line thru immigration, (FYI I would say MOST of the luggage was already lined up when we went thru immigration), taxis were waiting and a quick taxi ride to the airport. No one in front of us at agriculture and we were checked in for our flight BY 8:00AM!!!

 

I know there are a lot of things that COULD happen, ship getting in late, long lines getting thru immigration or agriculture, but this was painless. I think DH wished he hadn’t rushed us off the ship so early!!!

 

Final thoughts…we had a GREAT vacation!!! We were very glad we came down a day early and had the extra time in Old San Juan. The food was disappointing, I’m surprised RCI has let this decline so much. The increased drink prices were crazy, we drank less on this cruise. We’d like to go back to the Southern Caribbean and take the Aruba & Curacao route, BUT lots of people we spoke to said “GO TO ALASKA”, so that is possibly the next cruise!

[JohnGaltny]

Nicely done Neighbor.

 

I think our two reviews demonstrate just how subjective food is. Also, we ate dinner in the Windjammer a cruise or two ago and we thought it the equivalent of the enlisted men's field mess at Paris Island. SUCH different results that I think we four should meet for dinner somewhere halfway between us and compare notes after that. Did anyone say Cold Spring??? :)

 

I also think you are better at reviewing the Islands than I since you do fish and water things that hold no interest for me.

 

As for Alaska, not only do I recommend it, but here you go:

http://www.pbase.com/bilsen/journals

[01Sweetpea]

Did anyone say Cold Spring??? :)

 

 

Cold Spring....my FAVORITE place!!! Not only is my DH from Cold Spring, but I got married there...in the little Chapel overlooking the river! :D

 

I really enjoyed reading your reviews and love your writing style!