Another Adventure of the Seas /Southern Itinerary Review

[MGoBlue2]

Thanks for the great review! We just booked this same itinerary for August, and are really looking forward to it.

 

Regarding the Marriott (booked through Priceline), what type of room did you get upon arrival? Was it an ocean/pool view? I have this booked directly with Marriott right now, but think I'll consider Priceline (we've used them many times) based upon the experiences of others I'm reading about.

 

Also, can you please explain to me what the immagrations check in St. Thomas was for? We cruised there last year on Carnival Triumph, and I don't recall needing our pasports there (only our seapass).

Thanks again for all of the info! It's very helpful!:D

If you go from Miami to San Juan to St. Thomas you haven't yet visited a foreign port so no immigration check is necessary. For Adventure, St. Thomas is the first US Port after having visited foreign ports so an immigration check is necessary.

[ansafae]

Here's the next installment of the review...

 

Dinner-We had the second dinner seating in the Vivaldi dining room, which in on the 3rd floor. Our Waiter was Baker, Assistant Waiter Hakan & Head Waiter was Mustafa. They were all great and made our dining experience fun.

 

I was so excited to read that you enjoyed your service in the dining room! Hakan and Mustafa were two of our wait staff in the Vivaldi at the end of January when we cruised the AOS! I found both of them to be so friendly and willing to do whatever needed to make dinner pleasant! Our waiter was Sylvester from India. So cool to read someone else having the same servers! :D

 

Loved reading your review!

[mpbmark]

Great review and very helpful. We are going on 7/16 with our family. Balcony and Promenade cabins on deck 8. Glad to hear the noise level is manageable.

 

Your quote regarding St. Martin, "The liquor was really good prices here and one place had the best prices I saw anywhere" is interesting. Can you remember the name of the store and where it is located? Also, where did you purchase liquor in San Juan?

 

Thanks for your response.

[bankofdad]

If you go from Miami to San Juan to St. Thomas you haven't yet visited a foreign port so no immigration check is necessary. For Adventure, St. Thomas is the first US Port after having visited foreign ports so an immigration check is necessary.

 

Makes sence. Thanks for clearing this up for me!

[CtCruiser1]

Sorry for the delayed response! Glad you enjoyed the review, we are ready to go again ~ wish we could go in August :)

 

Our room was a city view, I believe we were on the 8th floor and were happy with the room. One of my families rooms though, which was also booked through Priceline wound up being an Ocean front room on the first floor with a patio (ours had a balcony) Seems they made an error when they checked them in and gave them a better room. All the rooms were nice though, they just lucked out with the view :D

 

The immigrations check in St. Thomas went extremely fast, we just walked into the dining room, they scanned our seapass card on one side and on the other side immigration checked our passport. I guess it is a new security measure, although it seemed almost useless. It was so fast though we didn't mind doing it, not sure what they are looking for.

 

Have a great cruise :)

 

Thanks for the great review! We just booked this same itinerary for August, and are really looking forward to it.

 

Regarding the Marriott (booked through Priceline), what type of room did you get upon arrival? Was it an ocean/pool view? I have this booked directly with Marriott right now, but think I'll consider Priceline (we've used them many times) based upon the experiences of others I'm reading about.

 

Also, can you please explain to me what the immagrations check in St. Thomas was for? We cruised there last year on Carnival Triumph, and I don't recall needing our pasports there (only our seapass).

 

Thanks again for all of the info! It's very helpful!:D

[CtCruiser1]

I was so excited to read that you enjoyed your service in the dining room! Hakan and Mustafa were two of our wait staff in the Vivaldi at the end of January when we cruised the AOS! I found both of them to be so friendly and willing to do whatever needed to make dinner pleasant! Our waiter was Sylvester from India. So cool to read someone else having the same servers! :D

 

Loved reading your review!

 

Thanks Ansafae:) Friendly waiters make the trip that much more enjoyable. Hakan was funny, he even showed us the local dance from his village. I see that was your first cruise in Jan, but I bet it wasn't your last;) We went on our first last Jan 05 on EOS, and now are hooked :)

[CtCruiser1]

Great review and very helpful. We are going on 7/16 with our family. Balcony and Promenade cabins on deck 8. Glad to hear the noise level is manageable.

 

Your quote regarding St. Martin, "The liquor was really good prices here and one place had the best prices I saw anywhere" is interesting. Can you remember the name of the store and where it is located? Also, where did you purchase liquor in San Juan?

 

Thanks for your response.

 

Thanks mpbmark :)

 

For San Juan as soon as you enter the Royal Caribbean cruise terminal and walk inside you make an immediate left and then look left and you will find the liquor store tucked in the corner. They have good prices and it is very easy to bring it on the ship with no problem as long as it is out of sight.

 

For St. Martin, in Phillipsburg I saw the excellent prices on alchohol in a little row of shops just off the main street/Frontstreet. It is toward the end of Frontstreet closer to Bobby's Marina water taxi terminal. We got off the water taxi at the downtown pier and walked across. If you are heading toward the Guavaberry Emporium, with it being on your left you will pass on your right stores on the main street then in between the stores about a block before Guavaberry there is a side street(no cars can go on it) with lots of little shops. The great prices on booze was one of the first shops on the right, they have the bottles on display in front. Also, they have t-shirts directly across from it that I got 2 for $5

[mpbmark]

CT,

 

Thanks for the info.

[Guest rfrenchbaxter]

Thank you so much for your great review. My Husband and I are going on RCCL 11 day Southern Cruise in Jan., 2007. We will miss St.Thomas this time. I am looking forward to more reviews.

 

Also, could anyone tell me how bad it was at San Juan Airport? I have heard really bad stories. Should we leave a day early?

 

Thank you

Rfrenchbaxter

[CentralMom263]

Thanks for your great review.....

one question, At the Renaissance Island you said it included non-motorized sports. Are there jetskis there that you can pay extra for? Or other motorized sports? Cost? Are there beach toys in the water like at other resorts such as the iceberg and trampoline?

Sounds like a great beach day.... looking forward to trying this place out.

[CtCruiser1]

Thank you so much for your great review. My Husband and I are going on RCCL 11 day Southern Cruise in Jan., 2007. We will miss St.Thomas this time. I am looking forward to more reviews.

 

Also, could anyone tell me how bad it was at San Juan Airport? I have heard really bad stories. Should we leave a day early?

 

Thank you

Rfrenchbaxter

 

Hi Rfrench,

 

We found the airport in San Juan not to be a problem. I had also read many bad stories about the airport and the way the luggage was handled but everything went very smoothly for us going & coming thru San Juan. We did leave a day early, just because our last cruise we encountered plane delays and didn't want to stress this trip.

 

Have a great time on your trip!!!

[CtCruiser1]

Thanks for your great review.....

one question, At the Renaissance Island you said it included non-motorized sports. Are there jetskis there that you can pay extra for? Or other motorized sports? Cost? Are there beach toys in the water like at other resorts such as the iceberg and trampoline?

Sounds like a great beach day.... looking forward to trying this place out.

 

Hi CentralMom,

 

I don't recall seeing jetskis at Renaissance island. When I called about the daypass they mentioned non-motorized sports being included, so they must have something there they consider motorized, might be just scuba? I bet if you call the Marriot 800 # and ask what they have available they could tell you more. No beach toys as far as iceberg or trampoline, but they do have floats you can use, kayaks, snorkel gear etc. We really liked it, and there might of been more items available, we weren't looking for anything else, so didn't inquire if anything else was available.

[grangermom]

Hello Rfrenchbaxter,

We just returned from the AOS two days ago. It was awesome, and I hope to post my review later this week (trying to finish taxes first). Anyway, I had to respond to your question about the San Juan airport. When we arrived, we had no problems. We got our luggage quickly, and went out to a taxi immediately. However, the return trip was completely different. We had a 12:30 flight home on Sunday, and arrived at the airport at 9:30 that morning. When we were driving there, we were wondering what we would do with a 3-hour wait. Thank goodness we had all that time. It took two full hours to check in at USAir and to get through security. This airport is not equipped to handle all the cruise passengers. Our friends flew out earlier (I think it was 10:30), and there were no crowds for them. They have two runways there, and one of them is shut down, for some reason. Once we got on the plane (which was delayed 1/2 hour), we had to wait another 30 min. to take off because we were 10th in line. When we arrived in Pittsburgh, there were people who only had 10-15 min. to catch their connecting flights.

 

I just wanted to throw this info out there so people can plan accordingly.

[andnickali]

I'm thinking of booking the EOS repositioning from NJ to Miami in November. The ship stops in Curacao and Aruba, does anybody know if a passport is required for those stops? I went on the gov. web site and it does not look like you need one to get in, but it does not say anything about coming back to the US.