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CruisingTeacher19

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    Adventure March 2, 2014 Review with baby/Toddler

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    Sunday:

     

    We woke up and packed our suitcases to get ready to head to the ship. We ate breakfast in the hotel which was a small buffet breakfast for $14.95 per person. There is a burger king next door which we almost went to but went upstairs for convenience and speed. I had to walk back to walgreens because I forgot something and took a quick trip in the morning. It was beautiful walk and very warm compared to the cold Chicago winter! Walgreens was much busier in the morning so I would suggest going Saturday evening if possible. At noon we left for the cruise terminal. It is about a 15 minute ride to the terminal. It was the same price to go the terminal from the hotel. $15 plus luggage. From the time the taxi dropped us off at noon to the time we were on the ship was 30 minutes. There was a very short line to drop off luggage but no line to check in. Check in at noon was easy and fast. They did not check our wine bottles or our water and we walked on the ship and headed to do what all cruisers plan their day around….FOOD!

     

    As for food, which I will get to later, I was quite disappointed from my past cruises. The food was subpar. Jacob however did not mind and found food he would eat right away. After checking out the rest of the ship we were able to check into our rooms. We had room 9561, it was an accessible interior room. I had my gallbladder removed the week prior to the cruise and needed a bench in the shower to assist me with giving Jacob baths. When I called a few days before the cruise the room was available and we switched to it. Our luggage arrived fairly quickly and we had most of our luggage unpacked before dinner. The Muster drill was at 5:45pm. I once again put Jacob in the ergo, I believe navigating a stroller during this time would have been a nightmare. The ergo was easy and he quickly took a nap while the drill was in session. After we headed to dinner as we had the early seating.

     

    Dinner was probably the worst experience I had on this cruise and the service was much to be desired. I have been cruising Royal Caribbean since 2006 and in those 8 years I have been on the Adventure of the Seas 3 times. I love this ship and to me the ports are the best in the Caribbean. However, the dinning room service on this particular ship was horrible. I had read many reviews before cruising with our 14month old son about how easy and fast the dining room service was. This was not the case. It took almost an hour to get apple juice and appetizers for Jacob. Once we received our food, the food was not very good. On a few occasions food was delivered cold, it was stuck together and cooked incorrectly and had very little seasoning and flavor. I usually eat pasta every evening and this cruise the pasta was not something I would order again. I realize we had a table of 11 for dinner but the table next to us had 13 and no child and were finished almost half an hour before us every evening. More on the food in days to come.

     

    Dinner Time! ry%3D480

     

    After dinner we explored the ship and took Jacob to bed around 10pm. The pack in play was a graco pack n play and was the regular size we have at home. We had brought his comforter and stuffed animal from home and Jacob slept great during naps and in the evening. I love interior rooms because they are dark and the baby sleeps better in the dark. I would suggest bringing a comforter/thick blanket from home that your child is comfortable with as the pack n play is hard. We brought his comforter from home to put on the bottom and got an extra pillow to put under the comforter. He slept very well. We were able to go to Adventure Ocean and get a bag of toys to rent for the week. This was great as we were told RCCL was not doing the FisherPrice toy exchange any longer. We rented the bag and Jacob played with them every afternoon while we were getting ready for dinner.

     

    The toys from the Toy Lending Bag ry%3D400

     

    The room with the pack n play in the background. ry%3D480

     

    A few notes about the ship: While the adventure is an older ship and needs a few updates such as new carpet in the staterooms and refinishing the deck floors, the is overall a clean and nice ship. I was not disappointed in the artwork or the overall appearance of the ship.

    Adventure March 2, 2014 Review with baby/Toddler

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    I am going to attempt a very detailed review of traveling on Adventure of the Seas with my husband and 14 month old baby. This may take a few days to finish please be patient.

     

    Background Information:

    I will give you a little bit of background information about us before I get into my review. My husband and I have been married for 2 and a half years and are in our early to mid thirties. We have a son who turned 14 months on the cruise. This was my 5th cruise with RCCL and 7th cruise total. This was my husband and sons first cruise with RCCL. My husband and I cruised on Carnival’s Valor in December 2011 for 8 days. I have always loved Royal Caribbean far better than the other cruise lines but after this cruise I will be trying some other lines as well. The cruise was awesome but in my opinion the service has really gone down hill in the 8 years I have been cruising with RCCL, more to come on that. We traveled with my parents and my aunts and uncles. There were 10 adults total and one child (our 14 month old). We are from Chicago and were very glad to escape the cold weather and snow ridden winter we have had this year. I am a stay at home mom now and was really looking forward to a relaxing “working” vacation, after cruising with a baby I will say hands down I will cruise again and soon with our son, it was a great experience albeit a little extra work from my previous cruises and a lot different.

     

     

    ry%3D400

     

    Saturday:

     

    We had an early flight at 8am so we got up at 4:30 and left for the airport at 5am. I had booked us valet parking at easy jet parking and it was the easiest airport transportation I had ever done. For $67 we were able to park for 9 days at Ohare. The shuttle was waiting to take us to the airport and from the time we pilled into the parking lot to the time we were at Ohare was 10 minutes. This was cheaper and faster than parking at lot E! Security was very easy at the airport. I carried Jacob in the ergo and we waltzed right through the security line. We were escorted to the line where you do not have to take off your shoes or empty your bags. We were door to gate in 10 minutes. After waiting at the terminal we were informed our flight would be delayed an hour. At 9am we took off and landed almost 4 hours later. Jacob was pretty good on the flight, we slept, played and crawled all over me, daddy and grandma.

     

    Once we arrived at San Juan we gathered our luggage and took a taxi to the hotel. I had bid on priceline for a 3.5* hotel and won the Radisson for $85 a night. The taxi was $15 plus $1 per luggage. With the stroller and all our luggage including my parents luggage the trip was $23 total. (Yes we pack light lol!)

     

    At 4pm we arrived at the Radisson, needless to say our rooms were not ready. This hotel was unorganized when it came to getting the rooms ready. It appears you need to check in and then come back a few hours later to get access to a room, it does not seem to matter what time you arrive or check in you will need to wait to gain access to your room. We went up the restaurant to eat and used our free drink tickets. After we finally got access to our room we dropped off our luggage and got a crib delivered to the room. The crib was an old style small metal crib. I was glad we had brought my sons comforter to protect the sides (yes once again we pack light!). That evening we walked to Walgreens which was less than a 7 minute walk and picked up some wine and other items. There is a supermarket/small liquor store on the way to walgreens about halfway between the hotel and walgreens. It is located on the right hand side of the road, they did have a bigger selection of wines. A few quick notes about the Radisson, our room was decently clean, it is an older hotel but we had not problems with letting Jacob walking around on the floor and playing. The bathroom had clean towels but the tub was slightly dirty and we chose not to give him a bath in it. The beds are very firm on the old side of the hotel, I was told they have sleep number beds in the suite side of the hotel. Check-in is a nightmare but patience is the key. I would not pay $200 for this hotel but for winning it on priceline I felt it was a decent hotel. They have a pool on the roof which is nice although we did not use it.

     

     

    A picture of the hotel room

    ry%3D480

     

     

    The best invention ever and what every mother/father needs for travel the ERGO! No hands required! ry%3D480

     

    ry%3D480

    Reputable Tour Companies for 1 day in Bangkok

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    I lived in Bangkok for awhile. I don't know tour guides but as a 20 something single white female I felt completely safe waking around. What are things you like to do? There are some really nice tells ask centrally located that a taxi can take you too or you can climb the golden mt which is a bunch of steps to see the mt there. You can walk from the temples for lunch on the main streets.

     

    Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

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