A Review: First Time with Royal on the Adventure

[ubish00]

Enjoying your review and looking forward to reading more. Your pictures are beautiful and bringing back great memories of a previous visit to Old Sam Juan.

[sjmbruce]

I haven't figured out how to multi quote, so thanks for the compliments and I'm glad you're enjoying the review.

[sjmbruce]

After a semi pricey breakfast at Caficultura ($30 for two), we headed back to our hotel to change into swimsuits. My parents, sister and niece were flying in today and would be staying at the Marriott Stellaris in Condado. I really wanted to get a resort for a day pass to here so we'd have loungers, access to the pool, and could already be at their hotel when they arrived. Even though I tried a few months in advance, the passes were unfortunately sold out. We decided to head to Condado Beach anyway.

We had initially planned to use Uber when needed, but there was a taxi stand right outside of our hotel and it was just so easy to catch a ride. We took a $15 cab ride to the Vanderbilt Hotel in Condado. The park right next door leads to the beach. Our cab driver didn't speak a single word of English, so it was helpful to know beach (playa), a few directional words and numbers so we could discuss the price.

[JimAOk1945]

Your review isn't finished already is it? Can we look forward to seeing more? [emoji4]

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Forums mobile app

[sjmbruce]

We knew we would be on the beach with just the two of us at least a few times during the trip and we didn't want to leave valuables on the sand. We bought a three pack waterproof package from amazon. It included a bag, a lanyard for a smartphone and a fanny pack. I expected to use the fanny pack the least, but it was the perfect size for a camera, our IDs, a credit card and some cash. I just slung it around the side against my hip and swam with it several times during the vacation without issues.

[sjmbruce]

Condado wasn't a picture perfect tropical paradise beach, but it was pretty and a welcome change to the buildings of OSJ.

 

 

There is a flag based warning system for how rough the current is. Today was a red flag day. We were told that the currents were so strong that someone had died a few days before and the news channels were warning people about swimming here. There were plenty of people swimming, but it was definitely a strong current so we didn't venture in too far. While we took our valuables in the water with us, we left our blanket, towels, sunscreen and clothes on the beach.

We mostly laid on our blanket and soaked in the sun. It seemed like most of the loungers were reserved for hotel guests although there were a few spots renting chairs. We were happy with our blanket in the sand. We started off by a hotel with an infinity pool and ended the day in front of the Marriott. A few vendors were selling water and ice cream, but they weren't pushy.

 

[sjmbruce]

It was a gorgeous day but the afternoon was winding down and we thought my family should have made it to the Marriott by then.

 

We met my family in their room with a view, showered and changed clothes.

We headed out for dinner. I had been in charge of finding a place for us all to eat. I would have preferred to eat at a more local restaurant serving local food, but my family is not adventurous and can be picky. A burger joint was the place that had been recommended to them and my dad mentioned an Italian restaurant. I compromised with a Mexican place called Tijuana's. The portions were huge and prices fair, but it was the only place in Puerto Rico that refused to serve us water. They insisted on $2 bottled water. We also ended up double tipping as they slyly added an auto tip to each of our bills. It wasn't a bad experience, but I'd go elsewhere if I could do it again.

We watched the sunset from the balcony of my family's room before taking a cab back to OSJ. We were dropped off at our hotel but headed over to Paseo de la Princesa again. This time it was Friday night and there was a huge crowd with lots of food trucks and other vendors. We bought snacks and Pina Coladas and walked along the water before going back to the hotel. It was time to pack up our stuff and get some sleep. Tomorrow we would board the Adventure!

[WitnessProtection]

Fantastic review so far! You have a great eye for photography. Looking forward to more of your review. :)

[sjmbruce]

Fantastic review so far! You have a great eye for photography. Looking forward to more of your review. :)

 

Thanks! I promise I'll be back soon with the rest of the review. My husband and I only have one working laptop right now and for some reason his online certification classes for work take precedence over cruise reviews :D

[Cruise a holic]

Nice pictures. Water way too rough for my taste! Thanks for sharing.

[sjmbruce]

We woke up on Saturday super excited, even though it was gloomy outside. It was the day to board the Adventure! We had a great view of the ship from our window.

[sjmbruce]

We had a few hours until it was time to check out of our hotel room, so we decided to take a few more pictures of OSJ and have breakfast.

 

 

 

 

 

[sjmbruce]

The last stop in OSJ was Mallorca for breakfast.

The food was mediocre but cheap - less than $10 for the both of us and free refills on coffee. The real treat was all of the baked goods in the front window. I bought a couple to eat later on in the day.

 

[sjmbruce]

We headed back to the hotel so we could check out. I called my family around 11:00 and they were already in line at the ship. We left the hotel around 11:30 and took a cab to the Adventure. There was a line outside to drop off suitcases before entering the security line. The actual security area is inside but the line was out in the hot and humid weather. This is also where our long embarkation story begins.

The Long Embarkation:

When we got up to the doors, we were asked for our ID's and passes. Unfortunately, I had forgotten our passes. I had realized this once we got into Puerto Rico but due to it being too close to the sail date, I couldn't print them out anymore.

Usually I print them out myself and put them in a folder with the rest of our travel information. However, our travel agent had printed them out and mailed them to my parent's house. My parents had given them to me, but I put them in my car and promptly forgot about their existence. They were still in my car when we returned home.

Before entering security, we were directed to a single person handling everyone who had forgotten something important. Even though there were only a few people ahead of us, it took 25 minutes or so to get through this line. The employee was doing everything by hand and we had to fill out paperwork, show our passports, register our credit cards - pretty much everything we had done online. She gave us our paperwork to take with us to check in. We were allowed to get back into the front of the security line and went through pretty quickly. No open beverages allowed - there were tons of water and pop bottles in the garbage can.

Check in was fast and we were soon taking our embarkation picture. We usually skip these but I bought the inclusive photo package and wanted to take advantage of it. Overall it took a little under an hour and a half to board, but over 30 minutes of that was due to forgetting our set sail passes. It was finally time to board!

[sjmbruce]

After we boarded, our first order of business was to find some lunch. Before we even left for our vacation, I already wanted to avoid the embarkation day crowd at the buffet. I thought about using some of our OBC to see if Johnny Rockets was open or even go to a specialty restaurant. My husband’s heart was set on the buffet lunch tradition though, so we headed there. We found a table outside by the kid’s pool area with the intent of taking turns to grab food. Luckily my family called and had already secured a large table at the very back of the buffet. If you don’t see a seat, keep on going. There are some nice tables with a great view at the very back.

[sjmbruce]

After we ate, we played Uno with my niece until our rooms were ready. We changed into our swimsuits, explored the ship a little and headed towards the pool. My niece kept a close eye on the time so we could run to the slides as soon as they opened. The lines weren’t as bad as they would become later in the week and the slides were a lot of fun!

 

 

 

This seating area wrapped around the back of the deck so people could wait for others and watch flowrider participants. If you wanted to, I'm sure you could leave flip flops or other items here as well while you waited in line.

[sjmbruce]

Eventually we had to tear ourselves away from the sun to get ready for muster drill and dinner immediately after. We generally prefer anytime dining, but Royal seemed to prefer reservations for that, which completely contradicts the idea for us (please correct me if I am wrong about this). Plus the rest of my family prefers fixed/traditional dining so we gave in and agreed to the first seating. On the first night, they delayed dinner to accommodate muster.

Our muster drill was out on deck 5. I didn't like that they still had paper and pens to check everyone in as hoards of people wandered onto the deck. It was pretty chaotic. I like when other cruise ships have passengers form orderly lines and have handheld computers to scan people in using their ship cards.

They finally got people settled and lined everyone up about eight deep. Being at the back of the line, we couldn’t see or hear anything. My sister and I had people laughing after we got in trouble for “talking” during the muster drill – since we couldn’t see or hear the safety information, we were using ASL to sign to each other until we were shushed by cruise staff. It wasn't a miserable drill, but it was pretty pointless. We signed, we took selfies, we left.

[sjmbruce]

After muster, DH and I quickly went back to our room to pour some wine for everyone. Not only had we brought on a couple of bottles, but my sister had as well. Our travel agent also gave each cabin a bottle, so we were pretty set on wine for the week. It was enough for me, DH, my sister and my dad to have a glass each night with dinner. The Sapphire Dining Room was beautiful and we were really happy to have a six person table away from the entrance and next to floor to ceiling windows.

 

 

 

Our table:

 

 

[sjmbruce]

The menus were apparently the new ones, where each course is listed on the same page. We were able to order multiple courses (soup, salad, appetizer and main course, two appetizers, two main courses, etc.). Here's the menu from the first night:

 

 

 

The kid's menu was the same every night. A few of us adults ordered desserts off of the kid's menu one or twice without any issues.

Edited June 25, 2018 by sjmbruce

[sjmbruce]

A few pictures of the food from our first dinner:

 

 

[sjmbruce]

 

 

[Cruise a holic]

Wow the food looks wonderful! Enjoying following your trip. Thanks

[CapeGal]

We loved visiting both forts. For others making plans, if you have an America the Beautiful Pass, take it with you. It lowers the $7 to 0.

 

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You really should have gone down from El Morro to the Magdalena Cemetery. You would have been in awe of the statuary in there. Nothing like it. And the view of the ocean from there was awesome.

 

 

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[sjmbruce]

Wow the food looks wonderful! Enjoying following your trip. Thanks

 

It was delicious! Glad you're enjoying the review, thanks for reading.

[sjmbruce]

You really should have gone down from El Morro to the Magdalena Cemetery. You would have been in awe of the statuary in there. Nothing like it. And the view of the ocean from there was awesome.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

The cemetery was in a beautiful setting and we would have loved the go down into it, although I think we got some good pictures from above. There was some hurricane damage to a decent amount of the stones. It looked the gates may have been closed. Either way, no one else was down there even though the rest of the surrounding area was packed with local people. We decided that it was either closed or people weren't going out of respect. As visitors, we chose to follow our gut feeling and not try to go down into the actual grounds. You're right though, it was gorgeous and I'm sure the views were even better once inside the gate.

Edited June 26, 2018 by sjmbruce