Adventure B2B Trip & Ultimate Beach Review 4/16/16 - 4/30/16 (photo bomb)!!!

[SolsticeAZ]

Up on Deck 15 is the Skylight Chapel, just in case you have a sudden urge to get married. Another game of chance that appears rigged in the house's favor. Just kidding, SolsticeAZ.

 

The house ALWAYS wins in the end. (Insert evil laugh here). :cool:

[Familfof4]

Soaking it all in ... we are on the Adventure to celebrate our daughter's sweet 16 in August. Thank you so much.

[AZAficionado]

Great review ! You are a kindred spirit--from the Grey Goose Matini to the Ritz (and BLT) and even the Software part although I was a dreaded sales exec.

 

Anxiously following

Thank you, thank you. Great people have similar tastes! Ouch, sales. That means interacting with customers. :eek:

[AZAficionado]

Tagging along. Thinking of hitting Adventure again next summer.

DING! Welcome aboard. Hey, no hitting, that's cruise ship abuse! Just kidding. She'll be all shiny and new by then.

[AZAficionado]

Great photos! Looking forward to the rest of your review!!

Thank you very much. I'm looking forward to writing it!

[AZAficionado]

The house ALWAYS wins in the end. (Insert evil laugh here). :cool:

Yea, yea. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce my better half and the official spokes model for the peanut gallery, SolsticeAZ!

 

Aren't you supposed to be at work right now? :p

[AZAficionado]

Soaking it all in ... we are on the Adventure to celebrate our daughter's sweet 16 in August. Thank you so much.

You are most welcome! And please enjoy.

 

Wow! You are an awesome parent. All I got for my 16th birthday was a talking to about the relationship between car accidents and insurance premiums. :rolleyes:

[AZAficionado]

Many people don't know this, but there is a water slide on Adventure - a kids water slide. Ha! In your face, Harmony. You are not the first ship in the fleet with a water slide!

 

There is also a kid's pool. For all you parent's out there, this stuff is on Deck 11 just aft of the Adventure Ocean area. Royal also offers life vests for children to use when in the main pool. This is free of charge.

 

I got some great shots of the San Juan port area. The ship next door was the Celebrity something-or-other (Summit maybe?).

[AZAficionado]

Finally, after 30 minutes of wandering that I thought would never end, our cabin was ready!!

 

Just another typical Junior Suite.

 

Waiting in the cabin, was a bottle of champagne, our Diamond gift. Loyalty, perks, you know the drill... I had forgotten about it, so it was a nice surprise.

 

I should talk about the set sail time, muster drill, dinner and how all that interacts. Adventure sets sail at 8:30 pm, probably to allow people on the East Coast to be able to fly and sail in the same day, making a Saturday to Saturday cruise very appealing to those who work, have kids in school, etc. All aboard is at 5:30 pm. Check-in at the pier ends at 7:00 pm. Muster Drill is at 5:45 pm. Late seating dining is at 8:30 pm. Anyone seeing a problem here?

 

So, here's the deal. They expect most passengers to be aboard at 5:30 pm and hold the standard Muster Drill at 5:45 pm. However, passengers can continue boarding until 7:00 pm and those that miss the 5:45 pm drill must go to a special Muster Drill at 8:15 pm.

 

What about dinner? Everyone with the late seating has a choice: attend the Set Sail Party or Eat, pick one, make it quick. No, no, no. The late seating is moved from 8:30 pm to 8:45 pm on the night that Adventure sets sail. They also move the early seating time, but I didn't bother listening to the announcement. Yea, I know that I should listen to all the important announcements.

 

Sailing away from San Juan at night is absolutely beautiful. These picture pale in comparison to the actual experience.

 

[AZAficionado]

 

 

 

 

 

[AZAficionado]

My sail away drink, just to make taking all those beautiful photos even more difficult - a Mai Thai.

 

For dinner, I ordered the beet root salad and the Diane Steak. I had a glass of Kendall Jackson Cabernet, which was very nice and included in the drink package. Sorry for the lack of food porn, but this is a family show... To be honest, we were enjoying the company of our table mates, who happened to be on our flight into San Juan, that I forgot to snap photos. I promise this won't happen more than once more for this review.

 

On the subject of table mates, we got to sit at dinner with two fantastic couples. We all really hit it off and had a great time together. Now that I think about it, I don't think we've every had any "bad" table mates. I've heard people talk about it and I've seen many fellow passengers who I was glad to not have at my table at dinner. I guess we've just been lucky.

 

Later we hit the cigar lounge for drinks, smokes, and great conversation with other passengers. I really love these lounges. Every time I've been in one, it has been a fantastic experience.

 

For those who are interested, our Cabin Attendant was Tri (pronounced "tree"). He was awesome, although when we told him that, he commented that he didn't have to do much to keep our cabin clean. It appears that when I gave SolsticeAZ new luggage for Christmas a few years ago, I gave her defective luggage that does not explode like a bomb when placed in a cabin, sending clothes in every direction. And so, Tri's job is far easier than if I had bought non-defective luggage.

 

Our Diamond Concierge was Sucel, a very nice woman from Jamaica (I think). I always feel bad for not utilizing the concierge, but I really don't need their help. I can make my own dinner reservations (I managed to reserve a cabin on the cruise), read the Cruise Compass, so on. It's ironic that I get access to a concierge only after cruising numerous times, when I really could have used a concierge on my first few cruises when I was an ignorant noob.

 

Our waiter was Waylon from Dominica and he was assisted by Kunal. These guys were awesome and probably the best wait staff I've ever had on a cruise. Their boss, Peter, was one of the most attentive head waiters I've ever had. While we got to keep our table (table 420, wink, wink, nudge, nudge), we did not get to keep our wait staff during the second week. Sigh.

 

The lack of a Sorrentos on board did not mean no midnight pizza. Cafe Promenade was dishing out slices (or two) late night and they couldn't make the pizzas fast enough. It was very popular around 1:00 am. Remember, this was Party Boat #1.

 

We went to bed around 1:30 am, but the good news was that we had nowhere to go tomorrow. Wait, we did? Oh snap! Every day is new island and a new beach to review. Time to set an alarm.

 

Coming up, St. Thomas and what many say is the most beautiful beach in the world...

[SolsticeAZ]

Yea, yea. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce my better half and the official spokes model for the peanut gallery, SolsticeAZ!

 

Aren't you supposed to be at work right now? :p

 

Better half AND official spokesmodel?? So many compliments - I'm overwhelmed! *fanning self and ignoring peanut gallery comment*

[rogicoco]

Great review!

My famiky and I are going 5/7/16. Can't wait to be on it.

Thank you so much for such detailed review.

[lovevacadays]

Fantastic review! I will be following along.

[leosmom08]

Following with bated breath as we will be on her Oct 17! I didn't know there was a kids slide. I am curious if that will stay after dry dock.

 

Thanks for the review so far and I am looking forward to the rest!

[brady.bunch]

Oh this is fun!! We have our 1st RCL cruise coming up NEXT summer with the entire family. I'm already thinking of what we should book at NEXT CRUISE if DH decides to do so. I'll leave it up to him. He and I have cruised before and he was iffy. It was on a lesser line, so I HOPE RCL changes his mind. And if he does, I think Adventure and her itineraries will suit is really well. I like the idea of the big boats and think it'll be perfect for our family but for the 2 of us, I want a ship that can get to more ports.

 

Anyway--- i ramble late at night! I look forward to hearing about your cruise!!! Sounds like a great start!

[AZAficionado]

Great review!

My famiky and I are going 5/7/16. Can't wait to be on it.

Thank you so much for such detailed review.

You are most welcome! Enjoy your cruise!

[AZAficionado]

Fantastic review! I will be following along.

Thank you kindly. I'll be leading the way!

[AZAficionado]

Following with bated breath as we will be on her Oct 17! I didn't know there was a kids slide. I am curious if that will stay after dry dock.

 

Thanks for the review so far and I am looking forward to the rest!

You are most welcome! And thank you for the kind words.

 

As for the kids slide/pool area, I doubt it will stay "as is". It is sitting right where a Flowrider would go.

[AZAficionado]

Oh this is fun!! We have our 1st RCL cruise coming up NEXT summer with the entire family. I'm already thinking of what we should book at NEXT CRUISE if DH decides to do so. I'll leave it up to him. He and I have cruised before and he was iffy. It was on a lesser line, so I HOPE RCL changes his mind. And if he does, I think Adventure and her itineraries will suit is really well. I like the idea of the big boats and think it'll be perfect for our family but for the 2 of us, I want a ship that can get to more ports.

 

Anyway--- i ramble late at night! I look forward to hearing about your cruise!!! Sounds like a great start!

I'm glad you are enjoying it!

 

If you want more ports, Adventure is your ship.

[AZAficionado]

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas (Day 2):

18°19'5" N 64°55'26" W

 

I did my research before taking this cruise and also relied upon my personal experience to select a beach. Even though I'd been there before, Magen's Bay was the clear winner.

 

We grabbed a "cab", although it was more like a super-duty pick-up truck with the back converted into open air seating. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. I just want those who've never been to St. Thomas to know what a taxi is on that island. To get to Magen's Bay, you have to cross over the mountain/hill that runs down the middle of the island. They charged $8 per person to go from the ship to Magen's Bay. There is also a $5 per person entry fee to get into Magen's Bay.

 

I got a few good shots looking down onto the harbor, even though the driver did not stop or slow down. If you want to get shots like these, you have to sit on the right side of the vehicle going up and the left side coming back down.

[AZAficionado]

Magen's Bay:

18°21'47" N 64°55'26" W

 

This is Magen's Bay. Not too shabby.

 

Once at the beach, we did not get chairs ($8 with refundable deposit) and didn't need an umbrella (listed at $10, but I didn't see any). Magen's has these nice tropical trees (Mangrove? Talk to your horticulturalist) that provide plenty of shade. There are nice facilities spread along the entire beach and, of course, a bar.

 

I had to go with the rum punch ($6). Delicious and dangerously strong.

 

[AZAficionado]

It wasn't overly crowded, but we were the only ship in port. When Allure/Oasis and the big Disney ship are both in port, this beach can get crowded.

 

The water is crystal clear.

 

The beach is absolutely beautiful and the water was a wonderful temperature - just cold enough to be refreshing. There were almost no waves to speak of. The sand was fine and extended out into the bay far enough that if I could touch bottom, I got nothing but sand. However, there was a large "dip" when you get knee deep in the water. It goes down a foot and then right back up, so you have to be a little careful getting into the water. There is some scattered debris (leaves, twigs) on the sand from the trees. Even so, this is certainly one of the best beaches I've ever visited.

 

Saw some cactus-like plants. I find it interesting that the topics and the desert (where I live) have very similar plants.

 

Later in the afternoon we went back into town for a bite to eat. I don't know what it costs to go straight back to the ship. But getting back into town is $8 per person and it is another $8 per person to get from there to the ship.

 

Downtown Charlotte Amalie. It was Sunday and many places were closed - shoppers take note.

 

Stay tuned for lunch and everything that happened back on the ship....

[Rosy1013]

Beautiful pics!

[AZAficionado]

Beautiful pics!

I thank you and my iPhone thanks you! ;)