Upcoming Adventure of the Seas Trip Questions

[tommyandjeremy]

We will be going on the Adventure of the Seas on June 18, 2006 from Puerto, Rico. From the many reviews it sounds like we should be excited about it. We just want to know what the overall hits and misses are for this cruise. We are in the process of reviewing the shore excursions and will be staying in Puerto Rico the day before our cruise. Any advice for us in regards to the ship, ports, and what to expect???

[Firefighterhoop]

Which route are you going? (Since it does alternating routes in the summer)

 

YOu will have a great time - the voyager class ships are awesome!

[tommyandjeremy]

We will be going on the Southern Caribbean cruise. We were not so impressed with the Western Caribbean ports of call. On the last cruise we made it to Coco Cay and Ocho Rios and we could have lived our entire lives without visiting either of those ports. I am looking forward to Aruba and the US Virgin islands and hoping that the beaches, water and weather are as beautiful as the pictures project.

[puertorican]

We will be going on the Adventure of the Seas on June 18, 2006 from Puerto, Rico. From the many reviews it sounds like we should be excited about it. We just want to know what the overall hits and misses are for this cruise. We are in the process of reviewing the shore excursions and will be staying in Puerto Rico the day before our cruise. Any advice for us in regards to the ship, ports, and what to expect???

 

 

Here you can find some information I posted on information on what to do in San Juan, Hope it help you.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=6557404&postcount=31

[tommyandjeremy]

Thanks puertorican for the advice, very informative. I see that you've been on the Adventure twice and will be going for a third time...must be a testimony to how much fun the ship is! So you've been on Carnival, RCL, and Princess...which cruise line do you think is better? Thanks again...

[rascalious]

We will be going on the Southern Caribbean cruise. We were not so impressed with the Western Caribbean ports of call. On the last cruise we made it to Coco Cay and Ocho Rios and we could have lived our entire lives without visiting either of those ports. I am looking forward to Aruba and the US Virgin islands and hoping that the beaches, water and weather are as beautiful as the pictures project.

The AOS does not do a Western itinerary. It does alternate Southern itineraries (during the Summer). One week is Aruba, Curacao, St. Maarten, and St. Thomas. The alternate week is St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados. Beginning in July, the second one mentioned will begin with Barbados and end with St. Thomas before returning to San Juan, PR.

Bid for a room on Priceline.com. Specify "San Juan area" and "resort level". The hotels will be limited to the Caribe Hilton, Intercontinental, and the Marriot Stellaris.

[tommyandjeremy]

Thanks rascalious, we know that AOS just does Southern out of PR...we were just mentioning that we weren't all too impressed with a previous Western Cruise. The ship was beautiful, the ports however we could have lived without. We're hoping that our upcoming cruise is better in terms of the ports of call. We did book a room at the Caribe Hilton...however we booked it via the cruise line...at 292.00 for the night. I see that we could have paid less, so my only hope is that we get a premium room for the price we paid!!

[em_in_murphy]

Thanks rascalious, we know that AOS just does Southern out of PR...we were just mentioning that we weren't all too impressed with a previous Western Cruise. The ship was beautiful, the ports however we could have lived without. We're hoping that our upcoming cruise is better in terms of the ports of call. We did book a room at the Caribe Hilton...however we booked it via the cruise line...at 292.00 for the night. I see that we could have paid less, so my only hope is that we get a premium room for the price we paid!!

 

Any chance that you can cancel that room without a penalty? I've read all over the San Juan port of call thread that people are getting $75-100 a night for Caribe through Priceline. I used Hotwire and got the Intercontinental for $130..much much less than the $292! That's a whole lot of foo foo drinks!:D

[rascalious]

I would definitely cancel the $292 room. Go to Priceline.com. You should be able to get the Caribe Hilton for about $65 -$70 and the Marriot for about $100.

[Schasz]

We will be going on the Adventure of the Seas on June 18, 2006 from Puerto, Rico. From the many reviews it sounds like we should be excited about it. We just want to know what the overall hits and misses are for this cruise. We are in the process of reviewing the shore excursions and will be staying in Puerto Rico the day before our cruise. Any advice for us in regards to the ship, ports, and what to expect???

 

tommyandjeremy...we are also booked on the same June 18th AOS cruise. You should join us over at the Meet and Mingle for our cruise date along with anyone else reading this thread that is going on the June 18th criuse. You can also sign up for the Meet and Mingle party...it is a good way to meet fellow cruise critic passengers.

 

John & Shari

[tommyandjeremy]

That's a great idea John and Shari, thanks for the invite. Do I need to register somewhere for the Meet and Mingle??

[Schasz]

That's a great idea John and Shari, thanks for the invite. Do I need to register somewhere for the Meet and Mingle??

 

tommyand jeremy,

Click on the link and it will take you to a Royal Caribbean where you can register for the June 18th date. We need 25 people to sign up in order for Royal Caribbean to host a party. By the way, our date is struggling, so if you are in a group then have everyone in your group sign up. Please feel free to post on our June 18th AOS Meet & Mingle thread. I have been looking for fellow cruise critic folks to get some discussion going. Our cruise date has not had much action so far.

 

Meet & Mingle Registration Page

 

 

John & Shari

[Schasz]

Sorry, I guess it is not a lnk but you can get to it from the Royal Caribbean Meet & Mingle page.

 

John & Shari

[tommyandjeremy]

Any chance that you can cancel that room without a penalty? I've read all over the San Juan port of call thread that people are getting $75-100 a night for Caribe through Priceline. I used Hotwire and got the Intercontinental for $130..much much less than the $292! That's a whole lot of foo foo drinks!:D

 

You're right about that one!!! My bar tab tends to be expensive on a cruise!!:o

[tommyandjeremy]

Any chance that you can cancel that room without a penalty? I've read all over the San Juan port of call thread that people are getting $75-100 a night for Caribe through Priceline. I used Hotwire and got the Intercontinental for $130..much much less than the $292! That's a whole lot of foo foo drinks!:D

 

I will look into it...my guess is that since we booked through RCL, probably not. But I will be calling the hotel today to find out just what type of room we are reserved for...at 292 for the night, it better be something nice!:eek:

[tommyandjeremy]

I would definitely cancel the $292 room. Go to Priceline.com. You should be able to get the Caribe Hilton for about $65 -$70 and the Marriot for about $100.

 

Now that I know about this web forum...I don't think that I will make a mistake like this again!:mad:

[tommyandjeremy]

tommyand jeremy,

Click on the link and it will take you to a Royal Caribbean where you can register for the June 18th date. We need 25 people to sign up in order for Royal Caribbean to host a party. By the way, our date is struggling, so if you are in a group then have everyone in your group sign up. Please feel free to post on our June 18th AOS Meet & Mingle thread. I have been looking for fellow cruise critic folks to get some discussion going. Our cruise date has not had much action so far.

 

Meet & Mingle Registration Page

 

 

John & Shari

 

Okay, we're signed up!

[MayWed]

Hello!! I just got off the AOS on 5-14. I was a blast. A few suggestions, In Aruba if you are the adventures type do the Half day Jeep safari (sp?) this excurstion takes you to many different stops but over half of the ride is all off roading. It was a lot of fun. In St. Thomas I have to recommend the sail and snorkel at Turtle Cove. This was the best trip ever. You get to swim with sea turtles and other marine life. We saw sting ray, squid, lots of fish and at least 6 differetn sea turtles. They will surfaces with in a foot or less of you if you float really still. It was the best expeance ever. Also to make the trip even better then serve rum punch, beer and pain killers (some type of rum drink) for free all the way back. They even put tempory tattoes on everyone which meant you could go to their sovinor shop and drink all the rum drinks you want all day long for free (very close to the ship). I wrote a very lenghty review on my trip which included every port and stuff to do on the ship. If you have any questions please let me know.

[DedeM]

We sailed the AOS in October and had a wonderful time. Due to some crises at home prior to sailing, we didn't get a chance to really research tours in each port, so we were kind of on our own and winging it.

 

As a result of that, or in spite of that, depending on how you look at it, we had a great time.

 

In Aruba we shopped near the port then took a bus to a beach. It was lovely and quiet and had a little tiki bar right near our chairs. I think there might have been bigger and better beaches to go to, but we didn't know their names. Doesn't matter, ours was nice and not overrun with mobs of people.

 

In Curacao we hired a taxi driver and we went in a van with several other people on a guided tour. It was lovely. There was a gorgeous beach/resort that they showed us, we didn't stay, but we swore if we ever came back we'd go there. I wish I could remember the name. (aren't I a big help today?). We stayed on the tour and got a feel for the island. It's just beautiful. They also took us to the curacao liquor factory - free samples! You must try the chocolate curacao!

 

St. Thomas had great shops. We took a private taxi tour first, it was in this big jitney type thing. It was fun and the island is beautiful. The Orient (?) beach looked gorgeous - I wish we had planned better - we definitely would have gone there and relaxed.

 

St. Martin was also beautiful. We hired a cab to take us to the French side - in Marigot. There are tons of shops there, but we ended up eating lunch at this lovely French restaurant, L'Oizeau Rare, it is diagonally across the intersection from La Vie en Rose in Marigot, next to the new West Indies mall. It overlooked the marina and you could eat outdoors on the patio. It was so nice that when I went back to St. Martin in February with my 80-yr old mother, I took her there for lunch and the food was just as fabulous. Try to order from the special menu, the salads and desserts are wonderful.

 

Do not eat at La Vie en Rose. We sat there for 15 minutes (it was practically empty) and we were totally ignored. My girlfriend went to the ladies room and it was disgusting. It appears to be more of a tourist trap.

 

The only downside to the cruise was San Juan airport. We didn't do any tours in San Juan - we went straight to the airport. We got off the ship very quickly, took a cab, then waited 5 hours in the airport for our 3:00 flight back to Ft. Lauderdale with the other 3000 passengers LOL. Bad idea. If we ever do a cruise out of san juan again, I think I'll spend the night there. That airport thing is for the birds!

[pambo]

If you are getting in early enough the day before the cruise, I highly recommend the Night Tales of Old San Juan. It is a walking tour. You can find the information on the site at the end of this post. Our tour guide Debbie was fantastic. She is very knowledgeable about the island. The tour starts at 6:00pm and ends at 8:00. Afterwards Debbie recommended a great restaurant where they also had a flamenco show - and no cover charge. The food was delicious and very reasonably priced. She even went inside and got a table for us. Believe me - you won't regret it.

http://www.*****.com

[tommyandjeremy]

Hello!! I just got off the AOS on 5-14. I was a blast. A few suggestions, In Aruba if you are the adventures type do the Half day Jeep safari (sp?) this excurstion takes you to many different stops but over half of the ride is all off roading. It was a lot of fun. In St. Thomas I have to recommend the sail and snorkel at Turtle Cove. This was the best trip ever. You get to swim with sea turtles and other marine life. We saw sting ray, squid, lots of fish and at least 6 differetn sea turtles. They will surfaces with in a foot or less of you if you float really still. It was the best expeance ever. Also to make the trip even better then serve rum punch, beer and pain killers (some type of rum drink) for free all the way back. They even put tempory tattoes on everyone which meant you could go to their sovinor shop and drink all the rum drinks you want all day long for free (very close to the ship). I wrote a very lenghty review on my trip which included every port and stuff to do on the ship. If you have any questions please let me know.

 

Thanks you so much for the advice, I read your review and loved it! Very detailed and interesting. We will look into some of these tours...

[tommyandjeremy]

If you are getting in early enough the day before the cruise, I highly recommend the Night Tales of Old San Juan. It is a walking tour. You can find the information on the site at the end of this post. Our tour guide Debbie was fantastic. She is very knowledgeable about the island. The tour starts at 6:00pm and ends at 8:00. Afterwards Debbie recommended a great restaurant where they also had a flamenco show - and no cover charge. The food was delicious and very reasonably priced. She even went inside and got a table for us. Believe me - you won't regret it.

http://www.*****.com

 

Pambo, this looks very interesting and we may just try it. We get into San Juan at around noon'ish and will be tired, but this will be a perfect way to explore OLS in the evening. Thanks again!

[tommyandjeremy]

Sounds like you had a good time DedeM. On all of our previous cruises, we always did our own thing like you did. We typically do not like the structure of tours and like to explore at our leisure, but then I wonder what I missed out on and hear that some of these tours can be a lot of fun. We may wind up doing just that and seeing what we can do on our own vs. touring with the cruise line. The Night Tales tour that pambo mentioned looks like one of them! Thanks again for the help.

[Carolrd]

Here are some websites that will help you decide what to do in Aruba..

 

 

http://www.aruba-bb.com

http://www.aruba-travelguide.com/bulletinboard/

http://www.visitaruba.com

 

Carol

[tommyandjeremy]

Thank you Carol, we appreciate these.