DIVERTED! Adventure Southern Caribbean June 3, 2017

A week has gone by since we left the Adventure of the Seas. In that time, I’ve sorted through many photos and video clips, edited both a 20-minute and a 3-minute highlight movie of the trip, written 7 Trip Advisor reviews and posted a couple of quick things on Cruise Critic and Facebook about our trip. But now it’s time to get to the serious business of writing a full-on review.

And I will cut straight to the chase in just a few paragraphs. Yes, Royal diverted our sailing and I will give full details on everything leading up to that event and what it meant for our cruise.

First off, we were a group of 20 this time. I was the organizer and planner and thus I am the scribe as well. We had some rookies on this sailing and some more veteran cruisers. Many of the folks from our previous group trips were back with us this time which must mean they had a good time in 2015 on Oasis and wanted to spend another week at sea with us. Most of our crew come from St. Joseph and Kansas City, Missouri but we also had Floridians (transplanted from Missouri) and a lone Albuquerquean.

We had a blast on Adventure. There will be funny stories, interesting tid-bits, some opinions about the MDR, a near death experience on an excursion and other fun things to read. However, I won’t bury the lead…

Diverted!

I know that for some of you readers this is the thing you are most interested in hearing about. Our ports of call were supposed to be: San Juan, St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados. Three weeks prior to our sailing the Adventure was diverted from St. Lucia to Martinique. This happened at the last minute, literally many found out as they were boarding the ship to sail on Saturday.

At that same time, there was a change on the RCCL website that made many people take notice. If you were trying to book a new reservation on June 3 or after, the itinerary showed Martinique, not St. Lucia. However, if you logged into your current reservation it still said St. Lucia. To make matters more confusing we found out that the internal booking information for RCCL staff still showed St. Lucia for new bookings, despite what the website was showing. Some of us chalked this up to the typical IT problems that RCCL is known to have. FYI right now, Adventure sailings are still showing St. Lucia.

I and others repeatedly called RCCL and inquired about the possible port change and over and over again, we were told that we would not go to Martinique. They "assured," "promised" and "guaranteed" us that we would be going to St. Lucia on our June 3 sailing. Then at 8 pm the night before sailing we get the email that says we are going to Martinique. Too late to do any bookings or planning. I understand ships get diverted but my issue is with the complete lack of information we were given when we called. If there was the possibility that we would be diverted they should have been honest and at least told us it might happen. Most people were caught completely off guard since it happened so late on the night before sailing.

For those sailing in future weeks prepare now for Martinique. Book excursions in both ports. If you can find excursions in Martinique that meet cruise ship time constraints and are offered with some English on the tour and on the company’s website you will be way ahead of the game.

If you wait until you are on-board to book Martinique it will be frustrating. They didn't open excursion booking until after 2 pm and then only a few of the excursions were available at first as the computers tried to download the new information into the reservation system. The choices were somewhat limited depending on what you were looking to do. I will discuss the specifics of our excursion and Fort de France later in the review.

One other note before I move on. We were in Antigua the day before Martinique and I was hanging on the beach with our excursion guides who were both islanders. They asked me where we were headed next and I told them that we had been diverted to Martinique. One of them asked me, “Does anyone in your group speak French?” I said that no one did. Both of them laughed and he said, “Well, good luck with that!”

This should be good:

Parlez vous Francais?

Interesting! Will be following along.

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Cruise in Motion!

Here is the short video I made of some of the highlights of our cruise. It's kind of like a movie trailer for this review.

Can't wait to hear the whole story!! Following!

And Now, Back to Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

Thursday was spent in the air for most of our travelers. We all wound up on different flights and different connecting cities. Every time someone would land they would post on our group message thread. It turned into an “Amazing Race” kind of theme. One plane delayed, sitting on the tarmac. One group hustling to make a connecting flight. One couple that started out a 5 am was easily winning the race. By 10 pm everyone flying on Thursday was at the hotel, exhausted but at the hotel nonetheless.

We stayed at the Hyatt Place in Bayamon. Not to be confused with the Hyatt Place that is right across from the port. I worked through Expedia Group Sales to get hotel rates for the rooms we would need. That experience was a good one. The Expedia rep was helpful and got me several quotes for the group. I would have liked to at least get a rate quote from the port area Hyatt Place or Hyatt House but they weren’t interested in even quoting us. The Bayamon location gave us a very good rate and it is a newer hotel with good amenities. Had it just been me and my wife or a smaller group I might have opted for one of the older hotels in Old San Juan. But those can be very hit and miss so I didn’t want to chance a miss with a group of 20 people.

The Hyatt Place is very nice, clean and the rooms were pretty spacious. The location is not a touristy place. It is located on a busy thoroughfare with lots of different kinds of businesses. There is a mall and a Wal-Mart within walking distance and a small casino located adjacent to the hotel. For most things, you will need a taxi rather than walking. If you are wanting to do several trips to Old San Juan this might be a detriment to staying here. There is no ocean or beach views here, but you aren’t paying those ocean view prices either.

The hotel staff were extremely helpful in several instances. We needed a wheelchair for a medical situation and they got it, we needed a lighter for a repair and a staff member loaned us one, we needed some help with finding transportation and a good local restaurant and that was arranged as well. Breakfast is included and was a little different than the normal fare you typically find, a little local flavor.

We ate at a local establishment named El Aposento that was nearby. They won us over with $3 Mojitos and Margaritas! The food was also very good and authentic Puerto Rican.

El Yunque National Forest – Death Defying

First off, kudos to Puerto Rico Green Transportation for being so responsive. We used them for all our transfers and for a rain forest tour. We were scheduled for an 8 am pickup, my fault I should have known better. There was no way our group was ready for an 8 am tour departure so I emailed Green after 8 pm and to my surprise they called me right away and we pushed back our tour to 10 am.

Harold was our driver and he was great. The vehicles they use are Mercedes Benz Sprinter Vans, very nice, roomy and comfortable. I always look for transport companies using the Sprinters. We got underway on time and made our way to El Yunque with just enough commentary from the driver to be informational but not overwhelming.

The park itself is beautiful and well maintained. The flora and fauna are thick. We stopped at the visitors center for a few minutes and the headed on into the park. It was busy and there were no ships in port that day. We made several stops but the best one was a change on the fly. A trail that had been closed for several months for renovation had just re-opened and Harold decided to use that trail. It was a good suggestion since it was much closer to where we were, and shorter in length. We had a couple of people that would have struggled with the longer trail.

We hiked up the trail and it was outstanding. I wanted to just keep hiking for the rest of the day. Eventually we made our way to the waterfall. We had the place to ourselves! Several of us got in for a swim in the cool water. We swam into the falls and went behind the falls. And that’s when it happened. The near death experience. I was behind the waterfall so I couldn’t hear anything but the roar of the falls. Luckily, one of the non-swimmers had the GoPro running or we might never have known what happened. There was a loud splash, very loud and very violent. My wife wasn’t looking and just assumed I had climbed up the side of the hill and jumped in to make a big splash. But as they looked, nothing was surfacing. Then one by one we all were emerging from behind the waterfall. So, what happened? We guessed it must have been a rock but no one really saw it. When we got back to the Sprinter we connected the GoPro to the app on the iPhone and watched the video. That’s when we realized how bad this little swim could have turned out. In an area where we had all been standing not 2 minutes before and very large rock came flying into the picture and crashed into the pool. It looked like a meteor hitting the water. This thing fell from a very high place and was moving fast. If it had hit someone it would have been very bad, quite possibly fatal.

It wasn’t really anyone’s fault. It was just one of those things that can happen. We were very glad it didn’t happen to us. The guide did report it and they let the park know what had occurred. Again, not sure there is anything that could have been done to prevent it.

The rock that could have killed us! Watch closely at the end of the clip -- lower left corner

We finished our time in the rain forest and then headed to eat at Terruno in Luquillo. Great seafood selections and good drinks. Harold helped us with ordering suggestions that were spot on and delicious. The coconut rice was a huge hit with everyone. Do not miss the appetizer Piononitos Artesanales de Camarones y Churrasco (stuffed sweet plantain w/ shrimp and skirt steak). It was fantastic. If you are in the area you cannot go wrong here!

The rain forest is a "must do attraction" in Puerto Rico as far as I'm concerned and Green will do an excellent job of getting you there and making your day a good one. Don’t miss this place. When I return to Puerto Rico I am going to do a tour with more hiking and exploring on the trails! This group didn’t have the makeup for that kind of trip but I will be back!

Oops. Lower RIGHT corner on the video clip.

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Following along. [emoji3]

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Great review! following

Oops. Lower RIGHT corner on the video clip.

 

 

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Holy Crap - that was close!!

So happy to see another review by you! Looking forward to the rest! We are booked for a B2B on Adventure from NJ next summer, with Bahamas and New England/Canada Itineraries :)

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And Now, Back to Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

Thursday was spent in the air for most of our travelers. We all wound up on different flights and different connecting cities. Every time someone would land they would post on our group message thread. It turned into an “Amazing Race” kind of theme. One plane delayed, sitting on the tarmac. One group hustling to make a connecting flight. One couple that started out a 5 am was easily winning the race. By 10 pm everyone flying on Thursday was at the hotel, exhausted but at the hotel nonetheless.

That was a very funny and clever paragraph. I'm coming late to this, I just got off Adventure last month on a cruise that didn't involve St Lucia. I have been to St Lucia on Jewel. Is the issue that this port was supposed to be ready for this size ship, but is not? I've missed the reason for this and other diversions, but I am also following along to try and figure out why Royal has had such a problem relating the issue.

I'm in......... :)

That was a very funny and clever paragraph.

 

I thought exactly the same thing! :D

Enjoying your review, thanks for taking the time to do this!

Wow, you are not lying. That was like a meteor!

I can't imagine how far that rock traveled to get up to that speed.

Thank goodness no one was hurt...or MUCH worse.

This is gonna be good.....FOLLOWING!! :D

That was a very funny and clever paragraph. I'm coming late to this, I just got off Adventure last month on a cruise that didn't involve St Lucia. I have been to St Lucia on Jewel. Is the issue that this port was supposed to be ready for this size ship, but is not? I've missed the reason for this and other diversions, but I am also following along to try and figure out why Royal has had such a problem relating the issue.

Adventure has been calling this port for a long time so the port as currently configured is apparently fine for Adventure. But, in 2018 Freedom will be based out of San Juan and doing these Southern Caribbean routes.

As you might imagine several of us on the June 3 sailing were trying to get more information on what was happening or not happening at the port in St. Lucia. A co-worker went there in May after the first Adventure sailing was diverted and she told me there didn't appear to be any work of any kind going on at the port when she was there on Carnival.

I have read what little information I can find. but nothing I have seen is something I would call definitive. Here are the rumors and musings I have read: They are dredging the port to make it accessible to larger ships (Freedom?). They may or may not be adding on to the docking area. The dredging may have started later than planned. The dredging was supposed to be done by the end of 2017 but since it started late it may not be done by then.

If you go book Adventure right now, it will show you are going to St. Lucia. And no one who works the phones at RCCL will have any idea if that is true or not...

P.S. Thanks for the funny and clever comment. :D

Wow, you are not lying. That was like a meteor!

I can't imagine how far that rock traveled to get up to that speed.

 

Thank goodness no one was hurt...or MUCH worse.

For those that didn't click the video link...you need to do so. It's not like someone tossed a rock into the water. I am still pondering exactly how that rock hit the water with that trajectory and that force. What the video doesn't show is that there were fairly steep walls around where we were. Maybe 20 feet high or so. But even if someone had stood atop the cliff and tossed a rock down to the water I'm not sure that it would have picked up that much speed. So I maybe the rock was tumbling or sliding down a hillside before it went airborne? However it happened we were very lucky. We were all standing in that very area just moments before the rock hit the water.

I forgot to mention, This is Juan Diego Falls if you are looking for it on a map.

Lets’ Go Cruising

We pack too much luggage. There I said it. I see people with one suitcase for a week of cruising and I have no idea how they do it. My wife, myself and 2 adult daughters had a tidy10 suitcases. Every time we try to manage the packing but it just seems out of our control. Southwest lets 2 bags fly free so the cost savings of the airline isn’t really pushing us to make hard choices when packing. And the thing is, we wind up using most of the stuff we take.

We did come up with one idea to possibly decrease packing…either ignore the MDR dress code as others do or opt to eat dinner in the Jammer more often. One night on this trip there was a trivia game going on at and we were unsure if it would be over before our MDR seating time. We were both tired and neither one of us really wanted to dress up for dinner. We polled a few of the others in the group and we had some takers for skipping MDR. In our 4 cruises, I have never once eaten at Jammer for dinner. We went up there once to sneak a few bites of Lobster Thermador but that’s it. So, this night we made the decision to stay in shorts and eat at the Jammer. And we liked it. The food was Italian themed like the MDR that night but different. Both offered lasagna for instance but not the same lasagna. There was no big crowd in the Jammer and we had a relaxed meal that was fun and casual.

Don’t get me wrong, we like the MDR, especially with a group trip. But I am really to the point of being so over the stupid dress code. I was excited earlier this year when it appeared that RCCL was finally going to allow dress shorts in the MDR and then promptly walked back that trail balloon of a policy change. I wear nice shorts to almost every restaurant I go to when I’m at home. Why can’t I do it on my vacation? Wearing long pants in the Caribbean is just annoying as heck. I’m fine with a couple of formal nights where no shorts would be allowed but the rest of the time it should be a bit more relaxed. And every night on the cruise compass it specifically said, “No Shorts.” I know people do it but I never have taken the leap and thumbed my nose at the code. But I’m getting closer.

We had a loud ride to the port via Green Transport. We had the same driver as our rain forest trip and he cranked the island tunes and our bus was jamming all the way to the port. The other half of our crew, apparently not so much. Arrival was fine except for herding all that luggage. Check in went fine except for one annoying thing. Most of our group purchased the drink package online at a 20% discount several months before the cruise. About a third of us actually had the drink package insignia on our sea pass cards when we got them at check in. Small thing but I just don’t understand why that detail is so hit and miss in the system.

After getting our drink package stickers, we headed straight to the excursion desk. But alas there was no help to be had there. One staff member telling everyone no excursion bookings were available yet. Then we asked another question. Many of our group had booked a RCCL excursion online with a 20% discount. Would we get a 20% discount on an excursion for Martinique? NO. End of answer. Now we were out more money, we didn’t get to go to the island we wanted to go to and as a group we couldn’t book anything together to make sure we got on the same excursion. I might have cursed at this point. They wanted everyone to book excursions in their rooms on the TV menu at 2 pm. But I had 18 people to try and arrange.

We showed back up a bit before the magic hour of 2 pm and guess what, the system didn’t work correctly and only had a few of the excursions available. I talked to the manager and he said he would get my 18 slots and call me. I waited. We were unpacking when our tour finally came up on the system. We waited. No call. Finally, I decided to call the desk and the woman there remembered talking with me and she checked the system. There were now only 20 slots left on the tour…the manager had dropped the ball. She was able to book them, all on my room account. The she personally delivered all the tickets (almost $1700 worth) to my room. She was the most helpful person we dealt with that day. At least we had something to do in Martinique. I was going in blind, something I never do when it comes to excursions. Crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

The Adventure soon sailed away and we were on our way to a new island every day!

Insomnia of the Seas

Why am I awake? It’s still very dark. Fumble for the phone, 4 am. Gah! Way early. Try to sleep…give up. Head out with the Chinese knock-off GoPro camera and the iPhone. I can’t call it a GoPro, because it isn’t a true GoPro and my friend Adam has a genuine GoPro so I don’t want to infringe on his copyrighted equipment. My AKASO EK7000 looks just like a GoPro in every respect right down to the packaging. But we will call it the FauxPro from now on. There is one very important difference between the GoPro and the FauxPro; the knock off costs less than $90.

Since I was up I decided to get some pics of the ship when she is basically deserted. Here are a few of the shots I got that morning…but I wound up using my iPhone for pics and shooting some video with the FauxPro.

Enjoying your review, thanks!

FauxPro :D I love it!

At least it is not a PAINasonic ;)

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