Just Off Adventure 3/26-4/2 - Review and commentary

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Nice review to date...looking to see what's next!

[Luvfuninthesun]

Thanks for the review :)

[Sky616]

Ditto!!

 

Thanks for your review. We have our reservations for Sand Castle, too

 

We are renting a car but if we have time in the afternoon we were going to possibly stop here.

[bouhunter]

We were on the same cruise:) Also stayed at the Condado Hilton (three nights pre-cruise).

 

Our port activities:

St Croix - Buck Island snorkel with Big Beards - BEAUTIFUL!

St Kitts - Carambola Beach Club - very nice beach day

St Martin - Eat/Drink/Shop (in no particular order):D

Barbados - Boatyard beach day - nice as always.

Dominica - tour with Bumpiing - great driver and guide. Beautiful island.

 

I thought the ship was in good shape. Service good. Our room attendant was awesome.

[SandyToes2000]

Enjoying your review so far and looking forward to more! This will be our first RCL cruise and I'm really interested in your teen-opinions on activities, as that was our main motive to book RCL.

[cruisecriticmonster]

great review and pictures so far...we don't sail on AOS for extacly 1 yr...but have been on her 3 times prior...we do have a large group and getting bigger...9 cabins and 19 people so far...

[manders175]

We will be on Adventure in 5 months for our honeymoon cruise!! So excited for your review!

[5thgirl]

Some Random thoughts - I think we were the only ship docked at St Croix and St Kitts, less crowds was nice. Our stateroom attendant was Jaclyn, she was nice, but seemed reserved. Good service, but a little inconsistent - some days she left the bunks up, other days they were down; some days the ladders were hidden in the bunks, other days they were left out, which was challenging since the rooms are small enough as they are...I noticed gratuities are now autocharged to your seapass, vs. the option of tipping your own amount. I can see why they would do this, to ensure the hard working staff don't get stiffed (or less likely to, anyway).

 

Here is a pic of some horses in front of the Sandcastle Hotel

 

Day 2 – Formal Night

So we had a little time to kill before dinner and decided to play a trivia game at the Imperial Lounge. Walked away with some pens and highlighters, usual RC giveaways. We all got ready for dinner (6pm seating) and headed down about 5:30 as I remembered that the lines for formal photos sometimes could get long. We were lucky to get our photos taken with no wait, and they turned out nice. As we waited for the doors to open, we took a few more with our own camera and I took the opportunity to check out what others were wearing, as I know there are frequent threads on formal night attire. The range was from really formal to more casual (sundress, shirt and tie). I’d say we were pretty okay with suits and ties for both my hubby and son, and nice dresses for me and my daughter. When we were allowed in, I was pleasantly surprised to have received a table for four as promised. One thing I noticed was that we didn’t have any ‘smart casual’ nights, which I remembered from the last cruise. Did RC eliminate this in favor of all casual?

Our waiter was okay – nice but not overly friendly, and somewhat aloof at times. It was hard to figure him out, as he sometimes looked away while speaking or explaining the menu. We all warmed up to each other as the week progressed. One thing I noticed was there was a bar waiter who stopped by to fulfill our drink requests, which I did not recall we had the last time. In the past, our waiter would put in our requests with the bar. Is this something new? We also would be asked our drink preferences by the waiter and assistant waiter, so there were times between the 3 of them that it did not seem coordinated, but not a big deal, just different from what I remembered. Food the first night was okay. Not bad but did not blow me away either. We had the escargot, lobster bisque and prime rib. Kids had the angus beef sliders.

 

The evening show was at 9pm, and I thought they used to be earlier, like 8pm instead. I remembered rushing to finish dinner to get to the shows, but this time, we had plenty of time. Or maybe the first seating used to be 6:30 instead of 6:00……does anyone remember?

[JamesEM]

Following along, what was the demographics of folks on board for your cruise, and were any of men wearing jeans at dinner?

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Following along, what was the demographics of folks on board for your cruise, and were any of men wearing jeans at dinner?

On Formal Night- sure hope not. :eek:

[Sky616]

Yes the smart casual night(s) has been eliminated. We have late seating next week so I'm assuming our show will be before dinner as yours was after dinner being early seating?

[5thgirl]

Enjoying your review so far and looking forward to more! This will be our first RCL cruise and I'm really interested in your teen-opinions on activities, as that was our main motive to book RCL.

 

You can see some initial feedback on teen activities in my earlier posts. Here are some of the 12-14 yr old activities from the compass - it seems they frequently combine the age groups so it becomes 12-17, not sure the age of your teens. They also have a lounge where they can just hang called the Optix:

 

Bon Voyage Party, What's The App Trivia, Scavenger Hunts, Volleyball, Teen Dinner, Name the Tune, Ice Skating, Karaoke, Charades, Soccer, 60 Seconds or Less, Boys vs Girls Scavenger, Dodgeball, Amazing Race, Prom Night, etc.....

[5thgirl]

Following along, what was the demographics of folks on board for your cruise, and were any of men wearing jeans at dinner?

 

Wide range in terms of demographics, from age to background. Men wore jeans to dinner on casual nights, mostly with a collared shirt. My hubby wore suit and tie for formal and jeans and short sleeve button up for casual. He did wear nice khaki shorts on last day in the MDR.

[5thgirl]

Yes the smart casual night(s) has been eliminated. We have late seating next week so I'm assuming our show will be before dinner as yours was after dinner being early seating?

 

Yes, show times were 7pm and 9pm, with the ocassional show at 11pm for adult comedy

[5thgirl]

One more note, on Cruise Director, as I've seen many threads on this topic. Ours was Mercedes, however, this was her last before heading home, so the next AOS will have someone different. I thought she was okay. If anything, she had high energy!

 

Day 3- St Kitts

The ship always has beach towels and bottled water (for sale) right before you leave at each port, which was nice.

 

We booked the Essential St Kitts tour through the ship. We wanted to alternate a bit between beach and island tours and after reading up on St Kitts, I knew I wanted to see the Fort. Our drive took us in a van of about 10 people around the island, and our first stop was the Brimstone Hill Fortress. It is high above on the hill, and a little bit of a steep walk to get up. Amazing views and lots of history - we had 45 min on our own to explore. I really liked the Fort. We then made our way to Romney Manor, an old plantation estate once owned by Samuel Jefferson, I believe. The grounds are small, but beautiful with lots of color and plants/trees. The guide took us around and gave us some info on the various plants and trees. Then we had 30 min to explore and take in a Batik demonstration where they make colorful textiles. It was a nice little place, but more of a Batik gift store than an old plantation home.

 

Steps to the Fort

 

Interiors

[SailingSal]

Following along, what was the demographics of folks on board for your cruise, and were any of men wearing jeans at dinner?

 

My husband and I were on this cruise, too. When we entered dinner for the formal night, we were in line for MTD. The gentleman in front of us was wearing shorts and T-shirt:eek:. He was told that it was a formal night and must have long pants on - this is the first time I saw this happened. I was impressed and the man just said, "ok", and left. I do not know if he returned or went to the windjammer.

[5thgirl]

My husband and I were on this cruise, too. When we entered dinner for the formal night, we were in line for MTD. The gentleman in front of us was wearing shorts and T-shirt:eek:. He was told that it was a formal night and must have long pants on - this is the first time I saw this happened. I was impressed and the man just said, "ok", and left. I do not know if he returned or went to the windjammer.

 

That's funny, on the second formal night, we saw a teenage girl with her parents leaving after dinner and she had on a t-shirt and sport shorts! I think they need to draw the line with sport shorts, even on casual nights! To each their own.....

 

Here is Day 3, Cont'd

 

Enjoyed our day in St Kitts. Good weather so far. Back to the ship for a bite at the WJ. Waiters again were hard to come by, so….self serve for drinks it is! As for drinks, we have our occasional cocktail by the pool/beach and glass of wine for dinner. We are not a soda family, so we stuck with water, lemonade, coffee, milk – that said, the drink packages would not have been worth it for us. Drinks ranged from $10-12, and $5+ for beers. There is a ‘service fee’ on drinks (not sure what that is for?) + tip, so one cocktail could cost you closer to $14 with tip.

Tonight was 70’s night, which was fun as far as people watching and music goes. After dinner we headed to Schooner’s together to play the 70’s trivia. I thought we did pretty well, but could not compete with the die hard trivia fans! The kids wanted to check out the Teen Club activity at 9pm “Bigger & Better: Paranoia – Testing your trading skills, a game where you will be looking behind your back at all times”. Sounded interesting and they were looking forward to it. We meanwhile wen to the show which was “Las Vegas Tenors’. These 3 guys were fabulous, and sang a range of oldies + some contemporary songs. When we got back to the room, unfortunately the kids were again disappointed as they said the event was changed to some sort of scavenger hunt that they did not want to do….oh well. I’m thinking the teen club is what you make of it, and depends on your kids’ interests.

 

Day 4 - St. Maarten

We took a shared taxi to Orient Beach, $7pp. We stopped in the middle by Bikini Beach. We had been to Orient once before on a ship excursion, but I never realized that it was 7 small beaches that make up the entire stretch of the 2 mile Orient Beach. The day was super windy and waves were strong. Kids had fun playing in the waves, but we brought back a ton of sand! I already knew about the beach peddlers, so just kindly said 'no' each time. We got hit with a passing rain cloud that had us running for cover for about 15 minutes. Almost decided to head back to the ship early, as it was still rainy and cloudy, but glad we stuck it out, as it turned out very sunny later on. We decided to take the kids parasailing for the first time. Hubby and I had done it once before many moons ago but first time for the kids, so they were nervous. $90 for 2 people, for about 15 min. An extra $20 for them to take pictures and videos and hand it over on a small disk. The $20 was well worth the money spent! They both enjoyed it, and also were happy to say they also took their first wave runner ride out to the boat! Sadly, in our excitement we forgot to reapply sunscreen and all got a little too much sun.....it was a beautiful afternoon, though. Next up, we experience a little issue with our cabin shower.....

[luvsun22]

Enjoying your review so far and looking forward to more!

[lauraodonnell86]

Great review! We were on this cruise in January and loved it! Book another 2 of them for Jan 2017!

[5thgirl]

Day 4 Cont'd -

So, our shower had a draining problem. The water was very slow to drain, and this started the first day, before we brought back all the sand...I was concerned the water would over flow over the ledge so I visited Guest Services and ask for some help. I spoke with Marisol, who was very nice. Over the course of the week, she probably sent someone to take a look at our shower 3 times, and she checked in everyday to ask if it was getting better. It was only slightly improved, but I just figured it is what it is, and as long as there was no flooding, we could live with it....Marisol was kind enough to send us a comp bottle of wine, which was unexpected and a nice thing to do! We had it at the MDR the next 2 nights.

 

This evening, the kids wanted to check out the teen dodgeball activity - as my daughter says 'third time's a charm' - they ended up having a good time, finally! Meanwhile, we checked out the ice show. I had never gone to the ice show on any previous RC cruises, and was pleasantly surprised at how much they do in that little space! It had enough variety and was quite entertaining. Tomorrow's port would be Dominica, and we had already planned to stay onboard, as we visited once before and toured the island already. Since they are not known for their beaches, we thought we'd take advantage of a less crowded day on the ship.

 

Orient/Bikini Beach

 

This is when the rain shower hit us, everyone ran for cover....

 

[5thgirl]

Day 5 -Dominica

We stayed onboard. Took our time this morning. Had our breakfast at the WJ. We always got made to order veggie omelets, with egg whites. The OJ was hit or miss. Most times tasted like water instead of OJ. I assume it's some sort of concentrate mix. Didn't want to spent the extra $3.75 for fresh squeezed. We were able to get a nice pool spot right by the Arctic Zone yogurt machine and the entrance for WJ. Played mini golf and ping pong, nice as it was not busy. Just a nice lazy day.

 

Dinner was good at MDR. We are warming up to our waiter but he is still a little off. After dinner we went to Schooners for 80's Trivia. We killed it, but again, those die hard trivia fans got us again.....I think the show tonight was a a magician comedian. He was okay, last trick was the best. We're looking forward to our day tomorrow in Barbados, as we heard it's a very nice island. We booked a 4×4 excursion with beach time.

[Virtopia]

Looking forward to more! We have a long wait for our Adventure cruise but I'm still gathering all the info I can get. We are considering the same hotel, from my research there seems to be lots of restaurants within walking distance. Did you notice the same?

 

I stayed in this hotel in September and yes, there are a lot of restaurants in walking distance. Wish we had enough time to try them all!

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Looking forward to hopping on Adventure tomorrow! :)

 

Nice review.

[5thgirl]

Day 6 - Barbados

We started our tour early, meeting up at 8:30am. The ship dock was a long walk to the terminal building, they had shuttles to take folks there. The tour started with an open 4x4 vehicle tour of the island for about 1.5 hours, then a 3 hr break at Copacabana beach. Our drive was cool, but he drove really fast. It was exciting, but windy! He first took us through the wealthier parts of the island, where the rich celebrities have their homes. You can definitely tell the difference between Barbados and the other island, - more affluence, investment and infrastructure. It was beautiful place, and our favorite. The local people are all very nice. We then went to other parts of the island, the less commercial sides. We made a stop at Bathsheba, a fishing town for some beautiful picturesque views of the water. There was a small restaurant w. restrooms for a pit stop, a stand selling trinkets and coconut and sugar cane. This was a very nice place to stop. Our driver offered us rum punch and juice for the kids. We then made our way to Copacabana beach, which was very lovely. There were some waves, but not nearly as windy or strong as when we were at Orient in St. Maarten. They had a great restaurant/bar with very nice, clean changing facilities. We spent 3 hours here and had a great time. This was our favorite so far. A large bus came and picked everyone up to take us back to the ship.

 

We got back and had a bite at the WJ. We were getting accustomed to late afternoon 'bites' at WJ, but then eating again at 6 at the MDR. Needless to say, gained a few pounds upon returning home! Tonight was the second formal night. Almost the end of our trip...sad to say. I love all the excitement and buzz around dinner time especially formal nights when there is so much going on, and on the promenade as well. We changed into comfy clothes to catch the show at the Lyric. "Can't Stop the Rock' - an old standard with the Royal Caribbean singers and dancers that I have seen before on other RC cruises. I wonder how often they change up these shows? It's been a number of years since I've seen this one.... Performers were really talented. My hubby and stuck around later to catch the Love and Marriage game show. I have to say, I thought Mercedes was okay as a CD, but I've had other, funnier, more entertaining CDs on past ships.

 

Some pics of Barbados

Sugar Cane fields

 

 

Bathsheba Village, these are large volcanic rocks from under the ocean

 

 

Selling fresh coconut and sugar cane

[SandyToes2000]

Yes, I agree that the kids clubs are what you make of them. Your teens were real troopers to keep trying, and I'm glad they finally had fun with dodgeball.

I'm enjoying all of your pictures!