Adventure of the Seas - for the rest of us

[radmax50]

We are sailing on her next February. So happy to hear your review. Our last cruises have been on Freedom class but am just as happy to be on Voyager class. Did they still have wine packages? Also happy that Deck Patrol do address the "chair hog" issues.

 

 

I didn't see any wine packages for sale on board, however on the cruise planner, you could still buy them pre cruise, so I'm not sure if they were phased out or not. We've purchased a 5 bottle plan in the past, but the selection was limited, so we didn't do that again.

 

Also, we didn't notice a size difference between the Adventure and Freedom, other than the flowrider absence.

[viper88]

Let me answer some questions. I have a few cruise compasses, I'll try to post if I can figure out how. We took RCCL excursions at every port. I HIGHLY recommend the Airport Adventure SXM, what a great time! You go to the Airport on St. Maarten, anchor and you can snorkel or swim and watch the planes land and take off. I honestly cannot remember the name of the activities manager, the Cruise Director is Bobby, his staff was really nice and entertaining. The one time I saw the activities manager was on the sea day, day 6 around the pool for all of the activities. We ate at Giovannis just one night, the rest of the nights in the MDR. I don't know if the menu changes nightly, but there is certainly enough on the menu that you could have a different meal each night if you choose.

We will be going to the airport. St. Maarten is the reason we picked this cruise. We will have to check out the airport excursion. Thank you for taking the time to post your review.

[Elvis1209]

We will be on Adventure in October. Nice to hear she's in good shape. We have a Grand Suite for the first time. I took advantage of the price break when I booked. Don't be impressed by someone's C&A status. If they are the type that brings it up they are not worth hanging out with! I just love to meet regular people, they always have such interesting stories to tell. Hope you didn't drink all the booze or eat all the food!

 

Elvis

[radmax50]

We will be on Adventure in October. Nice to hear she's in good shape. We have a Grand Suite for the first time. I took advantage of the price break when I booked. Don't be impressed by someone's C&A status. If they are the type that brings it up they are not worth hanging out with! I just love to meet regular people, they always have such interesting stories to tell. Hope you didn't drink all the booze or eat all the food!

 

Elvis

 

One couple at our table happened to be D or D+, I'm not sure which. They have taken over 30 cruises. You wouldn't know it and they had a wonderful time as we all did.

 

I still think cruising is an excellent value. Our first cruise in the mid 1980's was on a now defunct Carnival ship (Festivale) and for an inside cabin, our fare was just under $1,000, but that included airfare to Miami. So, in 35 years, the price including air, for a balcony room on a ship three or four times as big hasn't even doubled. I'm okay with that. Yes, there is no longer a midnight buffet, but honestly, how much food does anyone need????? We had pizza and sandwiches in Café Promenade several nights and the diet began as soon as we returned home. I think we left a few scraps for you! Enjoy your cruise.

[luvscruising2007]

St. Lucia, we took a coastal cruise to the Pitons with a short stop for swimming. Antigua we took a really nice island tour that really did show us the island. Barbados, the same thing, an island tour and we loved it. St. Kitts we took the railway and like the other islands, we enjoyed it thoroughly. We have always booked shore excursions through RCCL, I know that others don't, but once again, booking through the ship is the norm, not the exception. Don't be afraid to book the shore excursion through the cruise line. Friends on the ship swam with the turtles, visited the mineral springs and others simply got off the ship and shopped and ate. We were the only ship in port every day, that did make it nice, as we've been in St. Maarten with 5 other ships, it can be chaos.

 

Interested in your excursion in Antigua.

Which one did you take? Thank you.

Also, just have to say, I have read 2 Adventure reviews today, and it makes me want to sail aboard AOS.

[Slj1979]

In Antigua we took the RCCL excursion Amazing Antigua. It included a visit to Nelsons Dockyard. It was a bus tour and we enjoyed it very much.

 

 

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[ltjn]

What time did you disembark the Adventurer, and how long did it take to get to the International Airport? I am looking to book a flight that leaves San Juan at 11:54 AM.

 

Thanks

[trev71]

We are sailing on her next summer and can't wait. Can you give reviews of any excursions you did at each port?

 

 

I just did this sailing on May 9th

 

San Juan, - Did Nothing

St. Maarten, Did Nothing

St. Kitts, Did nothing

Antigua, We did Island Jeep Safari Tour 4x4 IT was great I highly recommend it if you are up for a bumpy adventure

 

St. Lucia - We did a Coastal tour to the pitions. It was long and not worth the money, it took way too long to get to them and way too long to get back. I though it was a waste of money

 

Barbados - We did the Swim with Turtles, Shipwrecks, Snorkel and Beach bbc3

 

I highly highly suggest this tour I have been on a ton of royal excurions and this one was the best of the best.

[trev71]

What time did you disembark the Adventurer, and how long did it take to get to the International Airport? I am looking to book a flight that leaves San Juan at 11:54 AM.

 

Thanks

 

 

WE left the ship at 745am and was at the airport shortly before 830am last week. Our flight wasn't until 1215. too way too early that airport is horrible no free wifi either

[ltjn]

trev71,

 

Thanks!

[Tyler Twosome]

We will be on the August 1st sailing. Trying to decide whether to take the ships excursions vs. local cabs to the beach. Any suggestions on which beaches are the best on each island? If we need a non-beach day, which port would be best to just visit the town to shop and have lunch Has anyone taken any of the ship's shore excursions that were really great?

[Clarea]

We will be on the August 1st sailing. Trying to decide whether to take the ships excursions vs. local cabs to the beach. Any suggestions on which beaches are the best on each island? If we need a non-beach day, which port would be best to just visit the town to shop and have lunch Has anyone taken any of the ship's shore excursions that were really great?

In St. Kitts, we've taken a taxi to Cockleshell Beach a couple of times. Very nice beach, with some bars and food nearby. Nice view of Nevis too.

Edited June 21, 2015 by clarea

[ColoradoGurl]

We will be on the August 1st sailing. Trying to decide whether to take the ships excursions vs. local cabs to the beach. Any suggestions on which beaches are the best on each island? If we need a non-beach day, which port would be best to just visit the town to shop and have lunch Has anyone taken any of the ship's shore excursions that were really great?

 

I'll be on that sailing as well. I've been researching and reading reviews for about 8 months now and have come up with the following (although you might have a completely different personality than me so who knows if any of this would appeal to you):

 

St Maarten: Maho beach just to say we've been (this is the beach with the planes. The beach itself sounds small and not worthy of staying for more than an hour just to take pictures and see a plane or two.

 

Orient Beach: seems to have had some seaweed problems lately and is also currently under a major renovation to update the beach bars and restaurants; basically making it more of a touristy beach than it already is and taking away some of the local charm, but still a nice beach with great water, lots of water activities (like jet skiing), lots of places to eat and drink, and of course, being on the French side, is a clothing optional beach. Actually only one side of the beach is nude, the rest is "tops optional," but don't expect to go and sightsee anything from a magazine ;)

 

Loterie Farm: this is a place where you can zip line. There's an option for "extreme" zip lining which you have to be 18 to do. There is a ship excursion here, but you can take a cab for $10/per person each way in the afternoon after cruise tours leave and do it on your own. You can hike here as well, or sit at the pool (apparently for $30, so I wouldn't plan a day here for swimming when you can do the beach for free, but the ziplining could be fun).

 

Supposedly most of the shops are closed on sunday, which is too bad because that's when we'll be there and St. Maarten has the best shopping.

 

Cab rides around the island are about $8-$10/person to the beaches one way, some places are on the city bus route for $2/person.

 

St Kitts: lots of options here. Brimstone fortress (an old fortress basically). You can take a cab here, or you can pay the ship 4 times more for a tour :) if you want to do an island tour, Thenford Gray gets extraordinary reviews and is priced about half of what the ship charges. He can do island tours, or rainforest tours, or volcano hikes or beach tours.

 

If you want a beach here, I've narrowed it down to Cockleshell beach, but South Friars beach is nearby (sounds like maybe the same stretch of beach just further down).

 

Antigua: kind of a boring island (I've never been here but that's what I gather from reviews and the lack of options for stuff to do in comparison to other islands). They have beautiful beaches and tons of them to choose from. My choices are Valley Church beach and Dickenson beach. Dickenson is a little more touristy, with resorts like Sandals nearby, but may have a bit more to do. Valley church seems to have just as much fun stuff (jet skis and the like). I believe they both have massages offered on the beach.

 

If you want to drive around and sightsee there's a place called Devil's Bridge and a place called Hell's Gate. Both are natural rock formations that have been eroded over time by the sea.

 

St. Lucia: we decided to do an island tour because this island has a lot of things to see. We went with Cosol Tours because he seemed to have a lot more reviews on trip advisor as well as cruise critic, almost all of them positive. But Herod's is highly recommended as well. Cosols reportedly has a nicer boat for the sea portion of the tour that takes you to and from the beach in between the pitons, whereas Herods boat has been reported to be less of a speed boat and more of a fishing boat with a motor that made people wary. Other than that, they both go to the same spots. Cosol's is $10 cheaper ($75/person, $65/kid under 11). I really didn't find any beaches other than the one this tour takes you to (sugar beach aka Jalouise beach). You can only get there by boat. I had done more research on scuba diving here so my beach research is sub-par for this island, so I have no recommendation for that; sorry.

 

Barbados: We're doing "The Boatyard." It's a beach shack/restaurant bar on a nice beach. It's lively and fun. There's lots of options to rent water equipment (like jet skis). You can pay locals to take you out in their boats to swim with the turtles nearby, or if you're a good swimmer and have your own snorkel equipment you can just swim off the beach to where the boats are and do it on your own for free. Reportedly locals charge about $20/person which is reasonable. The boatyard is close to the port and costs $15 (some people say $20) US dollars to get in, and that money turns I to a credit at the bar for food and drink. You get use of their loungers and umbrellas for free And they have intermittent "happy hour" specials with half priced drinks and free shots. They also have a rope swing into the ocean and a water trampoline etc.

 

Hope that helps :)

 

We're also planning to go to the Mt Gay visitors center where you can do a rum tasting. Mt Gay is the worlds (or maybe the Caribbean's) oldest rum factory.

Edited June 21, 2015 by ColoradoGurl

[JimAOk1945]

Since we didn't travel in a suite and we are not D+, we did not even know where those lounges were located. Please, don't think that everyone on the ship is in those suites. All of the interior rooms were booked, we had a beautiful balcony location very close to the centrum elevators. There were two C & A events and there were no pinnacle travelers onboard. I know that reading these boards, you are sometimes under the impression that everyone is a pinnacle. There were over 1200 C & A members on this ship, not a single pinnacle. Once again, "normal" travelers are the norm.

 

We had an absolutely fantastic time. Our best Caribbean cruise yet (until the next one).

 

I think you will find there are a lot of us who cruise in full suites who are normal, regular, down-to-earth people. In fact, we wouldn't tell you what type of stateroom we are in unless you asked.

 

The Adventure is a fantastic ship. We look forward to being on her again in December.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise. Happy sailing in the future.

Edited June 21, 2015 by JimAOk1945

[cruiselife4me]

Excited to sail on Adventure in Feb. as well. Glad to hear it's not all GLOOM & DOOM as so many people report. I've never had a bad time on a cruise - amazing all the people who do!

Mary

[fhp123]

I'll be on the August 1st cruise with you too!

[bup1224]

We did a similar cruise on the Jewel last year. Loved the RCCL excursion Coastal Cruise to the Pitons on St. Lucia - had the BEST time on that one. The crew was fun and even played a special song for us for our anniversary on the way back. Lots of people danced for a while and then the crew asked me to stay and dance with them - that was quite the experience.

[krazy4kruisin]

Thank you for the review. Sounds wonderful!

[big al]

I didn't see any wine packages for sale on board, however on the cruise planner, you could still buy them pre cruise, so I'm not sure if they were phased out or not. We've purchased a 5 bottle plan in the past, but the selection was limited, so we didn't do that again.

 

Also, we didn't notice a size difference between the Adventure and Freedom, other than the flowrider absence.

 

FYI- There is no H2O kid's pool area on Voyager ships, and the hot tubs in the Solarium stick out over the side on Freedom class ships ( much better IMO..), rather than just being inside the area on Voyager class..only other difference is no Chop's Steakhouse on AOS..they are on NOS, Voyager & Mariner...nice review..we are going in Nov..friends were on last year & said it was the worst RCI cruise ( out of 7) they had been on..said food was very mediocre & shows were pretty bad..I invited them to join DW & myself and they said "not even if it was free"..I went on the AOS in 2005, when she was only 4 years old, had a JS & great time celebrating our 10th anniversary..going for the ports mostly...thanks again!

 

Big Al

[big al]

We did a similar cruise on the Jewel last year. Loved the RCCL excursion Coastal Cruise to the Pitons on St. Lucia - had the BEST time on that one. The crew was fun and even played a special song for us for our anniversary on the way back. Lots of people danced for a while and then the crew asked me to stay and dance with them - that was quite the experience.

 

We are going in Nov & would to do this Pitons cruise..do you remember if it is called "Coastal Cruise"? Thanks...

 

Big Al

[manders175]

Have this same itinerary for our Honeymoon Cruise next September. Can't wait and thanks for the review!!

 

:):):)

[bup1224]

We are going in Nov & would to do this Pitons cruise..do you remember if it is called "Coastal Cruise"? Thanks...

 

Big Al

 

Yes it was called "Coastal Cruise to the Pitons". It was one of our favorites.