Adventure of the Seas 6/25 Review

[jlstwinmommy]

More pictures of Aruba.....

[jlstwinmommy]

Our last port was Curacao. I had planned this port to be a day to wander around town, do some shopping, walk across the floating bridge, etc. Basically, I was trying to save a little cash as we had already spent quite a bit and DH is a bit of a saver. When we got there, he decided he wanted to go hiking at a park on the other side of the island. Unfortunately, it was $80 each way to get there. :eek: Needless to say, he quickly changed his mind. If we are ever in Curacao again, I would like to take a tour and maybe see the Hato Caves.

 

We did enjoy our time walking through town. DH and my dad went a bit further than the rest of us and went to a maritime museum in town. It was $6.50 to get in. They said they enjoyed it and found the museum interesting. Meanwhile, the rest of us enjoyed the shopping and the town. ;)

 

I have a bunch of Curacao pictures so here is the first bunch. :)

[jlstwinmommy]

More pictures of Curacao........

[jlstwinmommy]

Curacao Maritime Museum and pictures from the ship....

[jlstwinmommy]

As you may be able to tell from the pictures, Curacao was very windy. The windy weather made for a bit more movement after we left Curacao and into the next day. I think the captain said there was a tropical wave that was moving off to the west that we were catching the tail end of. Anyway, none of us are bothered with seasickness, so just made for some interesting walking around the ship. :D

 

Sadly, we had to get off on Saturday, after a great cruise. We had a late flight (4pm), so we ate a leisurely breakfast one last time in the Windjammer, said good-bye to our great server, then went to wait in the deck 4 dining room with the other Platinum and above Crown & Anchor members. My parents got off with the suite guests and said their disembarkation was easy. Our original time to get off was 9:15, but it ended up being delayed by about 30 minutes due to a thunderstorm that closed the gangway for a while. Once we got off, the customs line was really long. I had read of the long lines, but wow, they weren't kidding. Some on our flight said they got a porter which put them toward the front of the line. We didn't as we weren't worried about time with our late flight. It took an hour and 10 minutes to get through customs - certainly the longest of any cruise. Not a big deal for us, but if you have an early flight, plan accordingly.

 

We had a fantastic cruise and this may be my second favorite cruise, 2nd only to Alaska (but honestly, that cruise would be hard to beat). ;) We did decide that at the end of the day, we prefer the suite service, perks, and cabins on Princess, but we also prefer RC ships. If someone could find a way to combine the two.......... :)

 

We did get sucked into booking another cruise while on board. We booked a RFS on Liberty out of Galveston for October 2017 so I guess I'll be reading those reviews for a while......... :D

 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.

[Nemomof3]

How was driving in San Juan? We are still deciding if we are renting a car or just walking and using a taxi to get where we want to go.

[jlstwinmommy]

How was driving in San Juan? We are still deciding if we are renting a car or just walking and using a taxi to get where we want to go.

 

 

Driving wasn't bad. OSJ is a bit tricky as the roads are one way and narrow, but DH figured out a great place to park on the street so it worked out. The rest of Puerto Rico was similar to driving anywhere else in the US. The only issue we found is google maps wasn't as accurate as I would have expected but we still found our way fairly easily. :)

 

 

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[Keith1010]

Enjoying your posts and photos.

 

Keith

[lbtnewcruiser]

Our first port was St. Maarten. We had been to St. Maarten before and had gone to Divi Little Bay which we really enjoyed, so we decided to go back there. I have to say, I think St. Maarten isn't as nice as it was the last time we were there. The crew even commented to us that the town has gone down hill in the last few years. That said, we still enjoyed Divi Little Bay and the resort there is still beautiful. I would totally stay there for a week. :)

 

We bought some nice snorkel gear for this trip (mostly due to our stop in Bonaire), but we took it here as DH had snorkeled with success at Divi Little Bay before. It was just as he remembered. If you swim out to the left (as you look at the water), near the rocks there are tons of fish. My kids even saw a stingray lying on the bottom. We stayed here until early afternoon and then went back to the ship for lunch. You can see the rocks I'm talking about in one of the pictures below.

 

Glad to see you enjoyed Divi, we are heading there next week on Adventure and planned on taking a taxi there and possibly walking back to Phillipsburg. We have been trying to get a concensous as to whether or not the walk from Divi to town is still safe ? We stayed there for a week 27 years ago and usually walked both ways. What was your method of transportation once you left the ship ?

[jlstwinmommy]

Glad to see you enjoyed Divi, we are heading there next week on Adventure and planned on taking a taxi there and possibly walking back to Phillipsburg. We have been trying to get a concensous as to whether or not the walk from Divi to town is still safe ? We stayed there for a week 27 years ago and usually walked both ways. What was your method of transportation once you left the ship ?

 

We took a taxi to and from the ship to Divi. It was $5 a person ($25 total each way). I swear when we did it 9 years ago it was only $12. DH said it was too much for such a short taxi.

 

We discussed walking back to town, but the kids were hungry and we had a big bag of snorkel gear and it seemed far so we just took the taxi. We did walk from the ship to town and back. The walk wasn't long and we never felt unsafe, it just wasn't the nicest of walks. My parents took the water taxi back and forth, but they didn't stay long as they didn't really like the town either. It's sad as 9 years ago that was our favorite port.

[Frick_&_Frack]

Hi - Thanks for the review! I'm considering this trip for next September. I was wondering what your parents thought of the Suite amenities overall. I'm used to the NCL Haven (and have traveled on Princess and HAL in suites). I'm trying to determine the differences in the suites between this and the new "Royal Suites" on other ships.

 

Any insight at all would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks so much, again, for such a great review!

[jlstwinmommy]

Hi - Thanks for the review! I'm considering this trip for next September. I was wondering what your parents thought of the Suite amenities overall. I'm used to the NCL Haven (and have traveled on Princess and HAL in suites). I'm trying to determine the differences in the suites between this and the new "Royal Suites" on other ships.

 

Any insight at all would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks so much, again, for such a great review!

 

Overall, they were pretty happy with the suites amenities. They loved the concierge (who was great - our TA had got each cabin a bottle of champagne which we requested to be changed out for wine as we are not big champagne drinkers. Guest services was a little slow to do it, but the concierge told them just bring him the bottles, he had a stash we could choose from. :D) The canapés the got each evening were nice, although my mom couldn't eat half of them due to her allergies. The really liked their stateroom attendant. Their favorite part was being escorted off the ship, especially since the customs line was so long (not that we wanted to get off the ship). ;) Overall, they just thought Princess was better in this department. They felt more like they were in a suite on Princess. On AOS, they felt they were in a regular cabin with a few extra amenities (if that makes sense). Not that they are snobs, but they paid enough for that cabin and my mom at this point in her life likes to be pampered a bit more. :)

 

I think the amenities are probably better on the bigger ships that have more to offer. This ship only has one specialty restaurant and although they generally like eating breakfast peacefully in a specialty restaurant, the service was just better there on Princess as well. They did enjoy Giovanni's more after the first day. :)

 

I guess this feeling sums it up for all of us: on RC, if a suite is available for a great price, we will book it. Otherwise, a regular balcony cabin is fine (though I generally like the space of the JS). On Princess, we won't go unless we can get a Vista suite or higher. They spoiled us too much. :D

[Frick_&_Frack]

Thanks for such a quick reply! I totally "get" what your Mom was saying (which is why I was asking). It appears on the larger ships, there is just a bit "more" and, since I haven't been on RCCL for some time now, I'm trying to sort out the best approach to it (though I love the itinerary out of San Juan).

 

I got used to the amenities on NCL (and, they were very handy when traveling with DH before he passed). So, now I'm just easing back to cruising and trying to sort out how this will all work. I'm very used to eating alone, and my TA agrees that a "better" suite on RCCL will let me craft a comparable experience. But, she is certain the larger ships will give me more flexibility. It's just that itinerary is incredible!

 

I have a lot to consider!

 

Thanks, again, and I'm glad you all had a fabulous time!

[descotes]

Nice review thanks. We were on the same boat. It's nice to read others experiences and perspectives.

[Sea and Me]

I enjoyed your review. When you said that your husband and you went for a walk and saw the ship across the water, I'm assuming it was docked at the Pan American pier! We are staying a day ahead in OSJ and hope that our boarding will be as quick as yours. Thanks for taking the time to post, pictures were great.

 

Carol

[AFLCruiser]

[quote name='jlstwinmommy']I wanted to stay in Old San Juan so we could walk around town. Finding a place that sleeps 5 is always a challenge, but we settled on a nice family inn, Fortaleza Inn & Suites. The staff could not have been nicer and we had a huge room with a little balcony overlooking OSJ as well as a kitchen which we used to make at least one of our meals. :)[/QUOTE]

We are a family of 5 also and I found this same place and want to stay there. I deciding on whether I want a room with a balcony on the street or the apartment with an interior balcony that "looks?" over the courtyard. Was there much traffic noise in your room? I think the location will be perfect. We are thinking of staying for two nights (we don't sail until June, so I have time yet).