Adventure of the Seas Review, April 19-26, 2015

[mbjonsn]

Adventure of the Seas Cruise – April 19-26, 2015

 

We arrived in San Juan the day before our cruise. We took a cab and headed to our apartment to drop off our bags. We rented the San Sebastian Suite at Old San Juan, which is located in the Fortaleza Suites, which I booked through airbnb. It was a very nice apartment in a great location.

 

After we checked in, we decided to explore and grab some dinner. We enjoyed dinner at the Parrot Club. The food was delicious but the service was a bit slow. No worries, we’re on vacation, right? After dinner we headed to Carli’s Fine Bistro & Piano to have a drink and listened to some music. What a great find! We sat at the bar and enjoyed watching the bartender, Fausto…it was obvious he’d been doing this a long time. He made the BEST mojito I’ve ever had. The music was nice as well. We had some crème brulee for desert before heading back to our apartment. It had been a long day, as we’d been up since 2:30 am to catch our flight out of Chicago.

 

In the morning, we found a very nice coffee shop called Cuatro Sombras…delicious! San Juan is known for great espresso and we were not disappointed! Breakfast was next. We stopped at Café Manolin for some fresh squeezed orange juice, eggs and bacon. Yummy!! Very inexpensive and delicious!

 

We had to check out of our apartment by 10:00, so we had them call us a cab and headed for the Pier. They all thought we were crazy to go so early as we didn't leave port until 8:30 but we really didn't want to spend any more money on cab fares. So we waited in line for about an hour before they allowed us entrance to check in. Once we checked in, we had to wait a few more minutes before we were allowed to board the ship. We didn't mind waiting, but of course we were excited to get our cruise started.

 

Once on the ship, we explored and I have to say we found the ship to be very beautiful. We had a bite to eat in the Windjammer. The food was very good.

 

Rooms were available at 2:00. We headed to our cabin once we could. We found our bags waiting for us when we arrived. We were amazed at our room…cabin 1688, which is an aft cabin on deck 10. All I can say is WOW!!! Now we know why these cabins sell out FAST. What a great cabin and amazing balcony. We were spoiled for the week! The only negative thing I can say is the room felt dated. It could stand an update. But it was very clean and our steward was great! We had Bruce, who was on his last week before his 10-week break. What a great guy!

 

We love the bar up on deck 14, so we headed to Blue Moon for sail away.

 

We chose traditional dining, second seating. We sat at a table of 10 and had very nice table-mates. Our waiter was Willy…super great waiter.

 

On a side note, my husband has a gluten intolerance issue and has to eat gluten free. Not once did he have any issue the entire week finding something to eat. Just make sure your waiter knows and he/she will take good care of you. We even talked to the head chef in the Windjammer at lunch the first day and he walked around with us and discussed the different options available. He answered all my husband’s questions and made it clear to us that they will answer any questions he has at any time. He even told him that they would make him something special if he couldn't find anything to eat. But as I stated, it was never an issue. The only complaint my husband had was the lack of gluten free sweet treats for lunch.

 

Even though our ship was sold out, I never felt too crowded…even on our one and only sea day.

 

I have nothing to really offer about our first port of call, Barbados as my husband went scuba diving and I stayed on the ship for the day. I can say, however that he would highly recommend Eco Dive and would certainly dive with them again, given the chance. They picked him up right outside the ship and returned him when the dive trip was over. Great operation.

 

St. Lucia is such a beautiful place. I booked an excursion with Spencer Ambrose. We did the beach break. They met us right outside and as promised, got us to Sugar Beach before any other boats. Our guide was Terry, and he was super nice. Our boat captain was also Terry…apparently they have 4 Terry’s that work for Spencer. The chairs that are free on that beach are a bit scary, which they pretty much implied in route. They do not own the chairs, so there isn't anything they can do about it. There are better chairs that belong to the resort that you can purchase but we found chairs that were fine and put our towels down and enjoyed our 4 hours at the beach. Other boats came and went the entire time we were there. The snorkeling was awesome! We saw lots of fish, including an octopus. They served us a great lunch right there on the beach. And the rum punch is to die for! Wow…it has some kick, too! After our break was over, they took us back to the ship more leisurely than they took us out and pointed out some of the sites. It’s really a beautiful place. I would highly recommend Spencer Ambrose and his team and would use them again if we ever came back.

 

Antigua needs to work on their port area. It’s not pretty at all! This was the only ship excursion we booked and it was the horseback riding on the beach. It was a lot of fun and the horses were very sweet. You could tell the owner loves his horses and they are very well cared for, which makes me happy. The beach area was beautiful!

 

Next port was St. Martin. We've been here before. The last time we were here, we did an excursion with Bernard and his tour is awesome…I would recommend him! But as we've been here before, we decided to just rent a jeep and tour the island by ourselves. I made arrangements with Coastal ahead of time. They were located right there at the cruise terminal. Once we checked in, we picked up the jeep and we were on our way. The island is easy to get around on your own. Some of our stops included Friar’s Bay, which is gorgeous! We also went to Marigot and walked around. We climbed up to Fort Louis…the view from there is not to be missed! We also stopped at the butterfly farm…so cool!

 

Our last port of call was St. Croix. We took a cab to Sand Castle on the Beach, which cost $6 per person, round trip. We did their beach break, which was $25 for 2 chairs, an umbrella and 2 rum punches as well as use of their pool and bathroom. They also have a restaurant onsite and though we didn't eat there, the food smelled delicious. I had prearranged for a couples massage there on the beach with Beach Massage & Bodyworks Delivered. Terry and Michael met us there and it was awesome! I would highly recommend them.

 

In summary, we found the ship to be beautiful, the staff to be awesome, the entertainment to be great and the food to be delicious. I would sail on Adventure of the Seas and with Royal Caribbean again in a heartbeat! We have not one thing to complain about. In fact, we booked our next cruise while on the ship…not sure how I’m going to wait 2 years to cruise again, but I’ll make it happen, I suppose. Next year we will do a beach resort, as we like to alternate between islands and cruise vacations.

[ColoradoGurl]

Thank you! I'm going on this ship this summer and contemplating a drinks package. It's hard to get a feel for it when other people talk about using them on other ships because they usually have 3 or 4 sea days. Since Southern routes have only 1, did you feel you were drinking more off the ship or would it be worth it to buy anyway (assuming you drank at all)? I'm not a big drinker, in fact on my last cruise I only drank 1 day, but that was because I was with my daughter. This time there will be ther adults with me on the trip. It seems like we will be doing our drinking at the beach but maybe not? What do you think about the time for drinking on the ship?

[mbjonsn]

So your average drinks were $10 plus tax and gratuity...some cost more than that. Drinks of the day were $7.75 + tax and gratuity. We are not real big drinkers, but we did think it might be worth the money. If you plan on having more than 3 drinks a day on the ship, I say go for the package. Don't forget to take into consideration if you buy bottled water, soda, fresh squeezed juice and specialty coffees, etc. Those are all extra too.

 

Enjoy your cruise! I'm envious of you. :)

[cincicruisers]

thanks for posting a review. glad you had a great trip!

[MrBill923]

We just got back two weeks ago and we had two sea days. We decided on the Premium Package. The cost was $408 total for each of us. Special Coffees was not included, but we got all the bottled water we wanted. Drinks were $9-12, and beer was $5-8. Wines by the glass were $8-11. I might have broke even but my wife would have been better off with the Select Packages which is better for wine and beer drinkers. Hope that helps.

[ColoradoGurl]

Thank you both for your input. I just don't see myself drinking 21 drinks onboard, so that was a good way to think about it. I think I'm going to test the waters and pay by the glass and see what my bar bill ends up; I just think I will do more "day drinking" on the beach and be too wiped out to continue the drinking on the ship every single night in order to make the 3 drinks/day break even point. I can see maybe 1-3 days of heavy night drinking, but not 21 drinks worth...I don't think anyway.

[cruiseapril]

Enjoyed your review. Good port information and review of excursions.

 

Interesting excursion in St. Maarten/Saint Martin.

[dacsmom]

Thanks for the review. I am in the other corner aft in October and cannot wait. I am glad you liked Spencer Ambrose, I am looking at one of his tours too. I always get a drink package but with only one sea day plus embarkation day which can be thought of as a sea day too, I did not think it would be worth it. I am rethinking it because of the drink price increase.

[trev71]

Thanks we are doing this route next week :) cant wait

[jamiehaas27]

Thanks for the info, I like the idea of the seaside massage!

[dacsmom]

Thank you both for your input. I just don't see myself drinking 21 drinks onboard, so that was a good way to think about it. I think I'm going to test the waters and pay by the glass and see what my bar bill ends up; I just think I will do more "day drinking" on the beach and be too wiped out to continue the drinking on the ship every single night in order to make the 3 drinks/day break even point. I can see maybe 1-3 days of heavy night drinking, but not 21 drinks worth...I don't think anyway.

 

Don't just think about the alcohol. If you drink water, specialty coffees, fresh squeezed oj, soda, you have to factor that in too depending on what package you are thinking about. I am still on the fence too.

[ColoradoGurl]

Don't just think about the alcohol. If you drink water, specialty coffees, fresh squeezed oj, soda, you have to factor that in too depending on what package you are thinking about. I am still on the fence too.

 

That's true. My plan is to bring water and soda onboard with me. If they take it it's not a big deal because I don't really drink anything but water anyway. On vacation we tend to drink soda and juice for fun but if I don't have it, it's not a deal breaker. The alcohol on the other hand would be nice to have, but again, not a deal breaker. Whatever I end up drinking and paying out of pocket for will definitely be less than 21 drinks, at least on this ship because of all the port time.

[racerxspeedy]

Hello Mbjonsn -

 

I was hoping you could post or email some pics of 1688 and balcony.

You mentioned things were dated. Was the furniture and carpet dirty?

 

Did they replace the balcony chairs with the new blue versions? I see they did this on deck 7 (see pic)

 

Thanks

[mbjonsn]

Hello Mbjonsn -

 

I was hoping you could post or email some pics of 1688 and balcony.

You mentioned things were dated. Was the furniture and carpet dirty?

 

Did they replace the balcony chairs with the new blue versions? I see they did this on deck 7 (see pic)

 

Thanks

 

If you give me your email address, I can send you some pics. The room was not dirty at all. I just meant the curtains and carpet were dated. The lounge chairs on the balcony were nice. I'm not sure of their color, though.

[Beach Ball]

If you give me your email address, I can send you some pics. The room was not dirty at all. I just meant the curtains and carpet were dated. The lounge chairs on the balcony were nice. I'm not sure of their color, though.

 

 

Could you try to post them here? We just booked this room for February, 2017. It will be our first aft cabin. Thanks.

[jkety19473]

Rooms were available at 2:00. We headed to our cabin once we could. We found our bags waiting for us when we arrived. We were amazed at our room…cabin 1688, which is an aft cabin on deck 10. All I can say is WOW!!! Now we know why these cabins sell out FAST. What a great cabin and amazing balcony. We were spoiled for the week! The only negative thing I can say is the room felt dated.

 

We have this cabin booked for our August cruise. Can't wait. We booked this the day the bookings open in what seems like a lifetime ago. Any pictures you can share of the cabin?

[crisndeefromde]

Could you try to post them here? We just booked this room for February, 2017. It will be our first aft cabin. Thanks.

 

We board the Serenade on Feb 15th. We have been on the Adventure 4years in a row doing b2b but tried the Serenade out of New Orleans also last March...so now on her in December and Feb but 2017 back to our Adventure which will be all new after dry dock finally!

[racerxspeedy]

If you give me your email address, I can send you some pics. The room was not dirty at all. I just meant the curtains and carpet were dated. The lounge chairs on the balcony were nice. I'm not sure of their color, though.

 

Please email pics to racerxspeedy@yahoo.com. (Same user name ) at yahoo.

 

THANKS

 

I can post them here for you as well.

[mbjonsn]

Please email pics to racerxspeedy@yahoo.com. (Same user name ) at yahoo.

 

THANKS

 

I can post them here for you as well.

 

I have sent them. Hopefully you received them ok. And thanks for posting them for me!

[racerxspeedy]

Hello again mbjonsn -

 

I could not find the email from you. Possibly too large due to the pictures? I checked my spam as well. What email address are you send from?

 

Sorry for making more work for you. You could try sending an email with no file or one picture as a test. Not a problem either way.

 

Thanks

[racerxspeedy]

Found them in my spam!!! You rock

 

 

Can't wait to move in here for a week

[racerxspeedy]

[Beach Ball]

Thanks mbjosn for the pictures and racerxspeedy for posting them. I am soooo excited about this cabin.

[JohnGaltny]

Nicely done.

[mbjonsn]

Hello again mbjonsn -

 

I could not find the email from you. Possibly too large due to the pictures? I checked my spam as well. What email address are you send from?

 

Sorry for making more work for you. You could try sending an email with no file or one picture as a test. Not a problem either way.

 

Thanks

 

I just tried to send one this time. My email address is brendonmary@gmail.com