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

[AZAficionado]

Some of the things we saw while on the tour.

[AZAficionado]

We stopped at this church, which I think was the first church, or first Anglican church, or something like that. I'm not great with details like that.

 

Our tour bus.

 

That would be Valley Church Beach, according to our driver.

[AZAficionado]

We ate some delicious food at Cheers, right off the pier. If you go there, have the Curry Chicken. I had a bite of SolsticeAZ's, and it was simply amazing.

 

I did the grilled shrimp, which were large, fresh, and cooked well.

 

A few Presidente beers helped wash the food down, and we called it a day.

 

It cleared up some by the end of the day.

 

Coming up is the Ice Show....

[twcricket]

Glad you are liking it. I hate to say it, but the Viking Crown was pretty empty most times I went by there, even during "happy hour". I can see why Royal has slowly been re-purposing that part of the ships.

 

Sometimes we like the quiet. It is a fun place to people watch the pool deck area. You get to know the bar tenders pretty well there.

[lbtnewcruiser]

Loving your review ! Sailing Adventure for the first time in July. What time did you arrive at the pier to board ? Where can you purchase the 10 drink card on day 4 ? Can't wait to see and hear more of your review.

[NemoCrownie]

This request is to TWCRICKET - Can you please scan a copy of the duty free flyer and the name of the duty free store? Can you take a pic of the following items and also the prices of the following items in the duty free store: Ginger Ale, water, soda, and juices. I would greatly appreciate it so much. The information will determine if I need to buy before we arrive at the pier. Thank you so much in advance.

 

The duty free shop only sold Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, bottled water, wine and liquor. There is a limited supply of Diet Coke. You can go back and forth to the Duty Free shop as necessary, up through final all aboard time. It is much cheaper to buy your drinks before arriving. If memory serves me a 12 pack of water was about $10 and the soft drinks were at least $1 per can. The wine prices were reasonable but we didn't care for the selection.

 

Take your drinks on in a carry-on, we were sent to the naughty room to pick up our luggage because of an 8 pack of Coke Zero. No problem keeping it once it was inspected, though. We have no issue with drinking ship's water so we take our own collapsible water bottles and fill them from glasses at the water station. We never even took our "free" C&A provided water off the ship.

 

I don't know how they would handle carrying on everything you listed. We have never had an issue carrying on a 12 pack of water and an 8 pack (that is how they are packaged in San Juan) of pop for two people.

[NemoCrownie]

Sorry for the hijack, AZAficianado. Loving your review and pictures. My husband's favorite place on the Adventure was the Cigar Lounge - he loved the ambiance and the man cave feel of the place. We have been to all of these ports a few times and done several B2B's out of San Juan - my favorite port to cruise from. We hit Megan's Bay for the first time this year and have never made it to Rainbow Beach or Valley Church. We have had fabulous beach adventures on these islands, though. I'm looking forward to the rest of your beach selections.

Edited May 6, 2016 by NemoCrownie

[AZAficionado]

Sometimes we like the quiet. It is a fun place to people watch the pool deck area. You get to know the bar tenders pretty well there.

I agree. I just think it is something that will eventually disappear.

[AZAficionado]

Sorry for the hijack, AZAficianado. Loving your review and pictures. My husband's favorite place on the Adventure was the Cigar Lounge - he loved the ambiance and the man cave feel of the place. We have been to all of these ports a few times and done several B2B's out of San Juan - my favorite port to cruise from. We hit Megan's Bay for the first time this year and have never made it to Rainbow Beach or Valley Church. We have had fabulous beach adventures on these islands, though. I'm looking forward to the rest of your beach selections.

No worries. Its all good info that I didn't have to offer. :)

 

I have to agree that San Juan is a fantastic port to sail from. Glad you are enjoying!!! :D

[AZAficionado]

Loving your review ! Sailing Adventure for the first time in July. What time did you arrive at the pier to board ? Where can you purchase the 10 drink card on day 4 ? Can't wait to see and hear more of your review.

We got to the pier around 1:30 or so. We were on board by about 2:00 pm, but we got to use the suite line (very short).

 

You can purchase the 10 drink card at any bar. There might have been other places where you could buy the drink card, but I didn't see any. I also wasn't looking, so...

 

I'm thrilled you're liking the review!!

[Luv my furbaby]

Thanks for the great review. I'll be on the Adventure in November. Love sailing from San Juan - go down 2 days early and I'm already in the Caribbean state of mind! Loving your pictures - can't wait!!!

[AZAficionado]

Thanks for the great review. I'll be on the Adventure in November. Love sailing from San Juan - go down 2 days early and I'm already in the Caribbean state of mind! Loving your pictures - can't wait!!!

You are quite welcome!!

 

You'll get to see her all shiny and new from the dry dock. I'm jealous.

[AZAficionado]

The show that night was the Ice Show down at the Ice Rink (Studio B). Of course the ship has an ice rink. You didn't bring your ice skates on vacation?!? It's Ok, they won't let you use them even if you did bring them with you.

 

My pre-show drink was an Old Fashioned. It was excellent.

 

The Ice Show was very good. Overall, it was not the best Ice Show I've seen. However, they had a pair of guest skaters who did hand balancing. They were simply amazing and better than anything I've seen in an Ice Show. The theme of the show was art and had a story about an artist and his muse. They included a number of Beatles songs and a tribute to famous fashion designers. Certainly worth seeing.

 

That's the "rink". I use that term losely, since I've had drinks with bigger pieces of ice in them.

 

They had great costumes and props.

 

Another happy landing.

 

 

Just toss her around like a rag doll!

[Setting sail for fun]

Glad you are liking it. I hate to say it, but the Viking Crown was pretty empty most times I went by there, even during "happy hour". I can see why Royal has slowly been re-purposing that part of the ships.

 

Noooooo! Viking Crown is our favorite place to enjoy the ocean views and enjoy a drink. I hope they don't do that on Voyager and Freedom class. On the cruises we have been on, they are usually well utilized. Of course, each cruise is different.

 

Enjoying your review! Many thanks.

[AZAficionado]

Look Ma! No hands and she's balanced on my head!

 

The hand balancers in action:

 

 

 

 

[AZAficionado]

 

These two stole the show.

 

 

Great costumes and keep in mind they are basically on their knees for this bit.

 

More great jumps.

 

That's a back flip, caught mid-air, when the skater is upside down.

[AZAficionado]

They did plenty of lifts too.

 

The big finale with plenty happening.

 

The boys doing coordinated jumps.

 

There was still some time before dinner, so I had a Belvedere Martini. As usual, I didn't get the photo until some of it was gone.

 

At dinner, I had the Crab Cake, which was delicious. I'm beginning to see a pattern with the food. While the crab cake was very tasty, it was not really a "crab cake", which are usually all crab with just enough binder (bread crumbs, etc.) to hold it together. Or if you're from Maryland, like two of our table-mates, a crab cake is just a huge lump of crab meat. Anyway, these were 50%+ binder. The chef did a fantastic job of flavoring the binder so the crab cake was still delicious, just short on the crab. I'm guessing this was a cost cutting measure.

 

Then I had the Orichette Pasta (beef short rib ragout over pasta), which was delicious. All that slow cooking is kinda cheating when it comes to flavor. I've had this dish on many different ships over the years and it has always been very well prepared.

[AZAficionado]

Back in the cabin was an adorable pig. We promptly butchered him and made ham, pulled pork, and bacon (duh). What do you do with pigs?

 

To celebrate our victory over the towel pig, it was a cigar and some Woodford Reserve, neat. Very good stuff, if you like the brown liquors.

 

Late night snacks. The drink in the background is another bartender's special from the Champagne Bar. It was a pomegranate gin and tonic with other stuff. I'm generally not a fan of pomegranate, but this was awesome.

 

Just a quick reminder on how the beach competition is going:

 

1. Magen's Bay, St. Thomas

2. Rainbow Beach, St. Croix

3. Valley Church Beach, Antigua (rain)

 

There wasn't a beach, but there will be in St. Lucia. Don't go anywhere...

[oraelo]

I agree about the guest skaters. All of that balancing that they were doing on a moving ship was amazing. Well worth the admission price:cool:

 

I was on a cruise a few years ago with a famous juggler. We saw him on a rough sea day. The stage being in the bow of the boat he had difficulties and dropped a few. I guess when you throw something expecting it to come down in a certain amount of time, but the ship raises you a few feet up to meet that object, it could mess up the timing a bit.

I'm betting he never worked another cruise ship.

[AZAficionado]

Noooooo! Viking Crown is our favorite place to enjoy the ocean views and enjoy a drink. I hope they don't do that on Voyager and Freedom class. On the cruises we have been on, they are usually well utilized. Of course, each cruise is different.

 

Enjoying your review! Many thanks.

I don't know what they plan to do with it on Adventure, but they butchered it on Legend. They put Izumi up front and to port, overlooking the pool deck. Chops took over the aft area. All that was left for the Viking Crown was a small sitting area to the starboard and room for the bar/dance floor in the center.

 

The newest classes (Oasis, Quantum) don't even have a Viking Crown. I'm not surprised. It is a single-use space and multi-purpose spaces (like 270 Degrees) make more sense on ships where square footage will always be limited.

[AZAficionado]

I agree about the guest skaters. All of that balancing that they were doing on a moving ship was amazing. Well worth the admission price:cool:

 

I was on a cruise a few years ago with a famous juggler. We saw him on a rough sea day. The stage being in the bow of the boat he had difficulties and dropped a few. I guess when you throw something expecting it to come down in a certain amount of time, but the ship raises you a few feet up to meet that object, it could mess up the timing a bit.

I'm betting he never worked another cruise ship.

Yea, they basically killed it. I would have paid $30 a ticket to see them if they were a Las Vegas show. For free, it was a steal!

 

To be honest, I don't know how performers manage on a moving ship. The rink on Adventure is low and near the center, so the amount of movement is minimized. But still, you're performing on a "cork in a bathtub", so to speak. I have trouble walking straight, let alone on ice skates, juggling, or whatever.

[Setting sail for fun]

I don't know what they plan to do with it on Adventure, but they butchered it on Legend. They put Izumi up front and to port, overlooking the pool deck. Chops took over the aft area. All that was left for the Viking Crown was a small sitting area to the starboard and room for the bar/dance floor in the center.

 

The newest classes (Oasis, Quantum) don't even have a Viking Crown. I'm not surprised. It is a single-use space and multi-purpose spaces (like 270 Degrees) make more sense on ships where square footage will always be limited.

 

Agree, Legend's Viking Crown was greatly diminished (or maybe it was the Vision). We would sit in the part that was left and look at the empty Izumi every night. Such a shame.

 

It has been raining here for almost two weeks, nice to see your lovely pictures!

[Clarea]

Agree, Legend's Viking Crown was greatly diminished (or maybe it was the Vision). ...

You're correct, it was Legend where 2/3 of Viking Crown was turned into specialty restaurants.

[AZAficionado]

You're correct, it was Legend where 2/3 of Viking Crown was turned into specialty restaurants.

There was a bonus to that change for those of us who smoke. On either side of the Viking Crown area is a small balcony with stairs down to the deck below. The starboard balcony allows smoking and became my own "private" cigar lounge.

[Crznthrulife]

Enjoying your review. Been on Adventure several times and is my favorite.

 

Thanks for info on all the different drinks. (Guess you have a strong stomach to be able to handle different types of alcohol in one evening.:) )

 

Too bad it was raining in Antigua. Clarea introduced us to Jolly Beach and it may be the most beautiful beach I've been to. Looking forward to going back in Sept.