Just Booked first RCCL cruise in 23 years!

[Kissmya63]

Can't believe I did it! Booked on Adventure of the Seas Southern Caribbean from San Juan on May 28th. Little nervous because I usually takes weeks and months to plan and research. I just needed to do it! We got a Junior Suite 1658.

 

Any thoughts, advice, must see and do? :)

 

Can't wait!!!!!!

[330searay]

Awesome! Congrats! This is a great class of ships. I don't think you will be disappointed. Dan

[Virtopia]

Enjoy! Adventure was my last sailing and I had an amazing time ... I'm pretty sure you will too! Southern Caribbean cruises are the only Caribbean cruises I plan to do in the future. What route are you doing?

[welshrich]

Congratualtions, we recently sailed on Explorer in a JS, lots of room in there. What RCCL ship did you last sail on (I am assuming from the title that it was an RCCL ship) as I am sure you will see a lot of differences, good and bad.

[Clarea]

Can't believe I did it! Booked on Adventure of the Seas Southern Caribbean from San Juan on May 28th. Little nervous because I usually takes weeks and months to plan and research. I just needed to do it! We got a Junior Suite 1658.

 

Any thoughts, advice, must see and do? :)

 

Can't wait!!!!!!

We prefer JS staterooms on deck 9 to minimize potemtial for noise from the public deck above.

 

Many people love the ice show.

[Kissmya63]

Enjoy! Adventure was my last sailing and I had an amazing time ... I'm pretty sure you will too! Southern Caribbean cruises are the only Caribbean cruises I plan to do in the future. What route are you doing?

We're sailing out of San Juan and going to St. Maarten, Bonaire, Curacao, and Aruba. We were in St. Maarten on our 1st cruise and that was our favorite island at that time. I am exciting and think this is an awesome itinerary with 2 days at sea. Love sea days :-)

[davekathy]

We're sailing out of San Juan and going to St. Maarten, Bonaire, Curacao, and Aruba. We were in St. Maarten on our 1st cruise and that was our favorite island at that time. I am exciting and think this is an awesome itinerary with 2 days at sea. Love sea days :-)

 

Great itinerary and I believe the Adventure will WOW you. Enjoy.

[Kissmya63]

Congratualtions, we recently sailed on Explorer in a JS, lots of room in there. What RCCL ship did you last sail on (I am assuming from the title that it was an RCCL ship) as I am sure you will see a lot of differences, good and bad.

I guess its RCI now, LOL!!!?? We sailed on Monarch of the Seas and I think it was the newest ship at the time! I looked it up and its still sailing but with Pullmantur Cruises as of April 2013. That cruise was so awesome! I think food, service and everything may have been a little better then. I could be wrong. We sailed to Alaska on Princess in 2012 and that was awesome too, but food and service was nothing like on Monarch in 1992! So we decided while on our Princess cruise that our next cruise would be back with Royal Caribbean!

[cincicruisers]

What fun you will have planning. ~~Enjoy ;)

[Kissmya63]

We prefer JS staterooms on deck 9 to minimize potemtial for noise from the public deck above.

 

Many people love the ice show.

We are right below Windjammer Café. I didn't think that would be an issue! I sure hope not! I was planning on trying to research a little more and switch if needed. Will they let you do that though? Man, I hope its not like being in an apartment with loud people above you? Thanks for this information!!!

[Clarea]

We are right below Windjammer Café. I didn't think that would be an issue! I sure hope not! I was planning on trying to research a little more and switch if needed. Will they let you do that though? Man, I hope its not like being in an apartment with loud people above you? Thanks for this information!!!

You can change to any available stateroom within the same exact category without penalty.

[knittinggirl]

We've been below the Windjammer on a few Vision Class ships. Wasn't a problem for us. But we prefer booking a passenger deck above and below if we can.

Edited December 4, 2015 by knittinggirl

[goodycruising]

We just got off Voyager of the Seas (same class as Adventure), and between deck 10 and the Windjammer is an air duct system that does a great job of stopping any noise from the above deck. The green area in the picture. Each of those grills is the intake, and it is pretty well spread out.

 

The only down side was that when you are out on the balcony you can hear the air intake and it does take away from hearing the ocean quite a bit. When you are in the room, we had no issues, it was no louder than the normal air-conditioning.

 

We were very nervous as we had D2 balcony room 1366, and we were on Deck 9 in a Junior Suite the cruise before, so we checked out the Windjammer and thought the slamming door into the staff area would be nearly above us. Never heard it at all.

 

On Radiance and Rhapsody we have had issues being under the pool deck and food areas. Big issues. Voyager class, I was very pleasantly surprised.

 

Edited December 4, 2015 by goodycruising

[Philly Steve]

Congrats! You'll wonder what took you so long. ;)

[ladytaekwondo]

Just some quick advice about San Juan. We left out of San Juan last year. Absolutely use a porter at the airport if you are flying in and use a porter after you leave the ship.

 

The San Juan Airport is very very crowded, undergoing renovations, and is small. It was nuts when we were there.

 

The porter breezed up past the customs line after getting off the ship and we went through Customs itself very quickly. I know the other passengers who were waiting in line were not to happy.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

If you like to snorkel Bonaire is the place to do it.

 

We sailed on the Woodwind Catamaran and had a great time. We did a 4 hr drift snorkel. They divisde the group into 3 by ability to swim. I am an OK swimmer, but went with the beginners just to feel safe. :o We got to see several turtles near us, lots of coral, a barracuda and many schools of fish. What a day.

 

They had all of the equipment. I wear glasses and they had a mask in my prescription. They have a professional photographer along and you can buy the shots if you want. they whole thumb drive of 181 pics was $40. I could never have gotten the shots she did.

 

The coral reef there is one of the best in the world. :)

 

Have a good cruise.

 

PS--I hope you are in Curacao after dark. the light on the swinging bridge in the harbor are spectacular.

[Clarea]

... We sailed on the Woodwind Catamaran and had a great time. We did a 4 hr drift snorkel. They divisde the group into 3 by ability to swim. I am an OK swimmer, but went with the beginners just to feel safe. :o We got to see several turtles near us, lots of coral, a barracuda and many schools of fish. What a day....

Agree 100%, best snorkeling we have ever done was with the Woodwind group.

[cruiseapril]

Great itinerary. Aruba has some beautiful beaches and Curacao has a good

walking town-Willemstad- and lots of cove beaches for snorkeling. Enjoy your cruise.

[Kissmya63]

Hi Ladytaekwondo!

 

Thank you for the information! I will have to put that in my cruise notes!!!

[Kissmya63]

We haven't snorkeled in years! I think the last time was 2006 in the Florida Keys and I did not have a good experience. So I really didn't think I would want to again, but after hearing the reviews of Woodwind and the fact that they break you up in groups of ability we may have to give it another try!

 

I do have a question. I booked online with RCI and picked a stateroom that was available there. Does anyone know if those are just some of the available rooms; that they hold some for later? I'm thinking maybe if I call I can get one of the rooms I'm looking at? Or at least get waitlisted? IDK - maybe I'm overthinking it, LOL!!!

 

Thanks again and if anyone has pictures of JS they would like to share, especially of the balconies that would be great!! We have stateroom 1658 reserved and I would LOVE to see pic of that balcony! It would be great to be able to fit at least one lounger and without a pic I have no idea. I've seen pics of other balconies and its hard to tell!

[Virtopia]

We're sailing out of San Juan and going to St. Maarten, Bonaire, Curacao, and Aruba. We were in St. Maarten on our 1st cruise and that was our favorite island at that time. I am exciting and think this is an awesome itinerary with 2 days at sea. Love sea days :-)

 

 

That's a great sailing! If you're a beach person, when in Curaçao, please please please go to Santa Barbara resort for the day. It was $100, but worth every single penny. It was all inclusive food and drinks and the pool area was amazing. I'm actually trying to change my Feb 2017 sailing to one that includes Curaçao so I can visit again. I've attached a picture!!