Adventure of the Seas Review 1/21/17, post drydock with pics!

[aubreyc1988]

thanks for doing the review! We're sailing on her later this year and I'm glad so see another review!

 

 

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Subscribed! Thanks for doing this review! We're on the 4/29 sailing and I've been chomping at the bit to hear more post-dry dock info! :)

 

thanks guys, I am going to post more tonight after work :cool:

[ksadonnab]

Following......

 

Thanks!

[CruiseCheapsk8]

I know that you are getting there, but I will be headed to Puerto Rico here in a few days with my wife and some friends and wanted to see what your thoughts were on that tour. The pricing seems good, but before I pull the trigger, I wanted to get your thoughts. We'd likely go this Thursday or Friday night.

 

Thanks!

[71Corvette]

I'm on the same itinerary in less than 3 weeks so I'm very interested to see the rest of your review.

[aubreyc1988]

I know that you are getting there, but I will be headed to Puerto Rico here in a few days with my wife and some friends and wanted to see what your thoughts were on that tour. The pricing seems good, but before I pull the trigger, I wanted to get your thoughts. We'd likely go this Thursday or Friday night.

 

Thanks!

 

just a quick recap of it for you, it IS a bit strenuous when you are kayaking at bio bay at first, because you first go against the current. And it's PITCH black in that mangrove kayaking, be prepared to tango with some trees. But it is VERY cool and everyone should try it once (And I was pretty scared when I was kayaking at night in the mangroves)

 

The rainforest was amazing, the tour guides awesome, and I thought it was a really good value for a whole day excursion! Bring bugspray and maybe a warm swim shirt or something, because the waterfalls are FRIGID and you will need WATERSHOES for this excursion absolutely! There are some pretty treacherous rocks in the bottom of the waterfall.

Edited January 30, 2017 by aubreyc1988

[newcruiser80]

Please tell me is wasn't Cosol who almost made you miss your alship? I've toured with him twice, last time off of Serenade we had 10 min to make it. We are going again Feb 17 sailing. How was he on time this time around?

[aubreyc1988]

Please tell me is wasn't Cosol who almost made you miss your alship? I've toured with him twice, last time off of Serenade we had 10 min to make it. We are going again Feb 17 sailing. How was he on time this time around?

 

you've won the prize! Yes, we had 10 minutes to spare once we got on board Adventure after touring with COSOL...but more details to come on that later...but do book with caution, I would never book with them again. It was totally avoidable, us cutting it that close. One COSOL bus behind us had 2 minutes to spare! :eek:

[cruisingbajan]

Looking forward to your review.

 

Adventure was one of my favourite cruises.

 

To date the best wait staff we have ever had.

Edited January 30, 2017 by Bajan Keith

[CruiseCheapsk8]

just a quick recap of it for you, it IS a bit strenuous when you are kayaking at bio bay at first, because you first go against the current. And it's PITCH black in that mangrove kayaking, be prepared to tango with some trees. But it is VERY cool and everyone should try it once (And I was pretty scared when I was kayaking at night in the mangroves)

 

The rainforest was amazing, the tour guides awesome, and I thought it was a really good value for a whole day excursion! Bring bugspray and maybe a warm swim shirt or something, because the waterfalls are FRIGID and you will need WATERSHOES for this excursion absolutely! There are some pretty treacherous rocks in the bottom of the waterfall.

 

You're awesome! Thank you for reaching back out. I will take a closer look at trying to get this booked. That sounds like a blast! Thanks again for your excellent review!!

[mollyeilis]

nice to have a review.

 

Yeah, uber doesn't leave from or go to the airport there. We took it inside of SJ a few times in December, though. Each time it seemed they were doing it differently. :)

 

Glad to find someone else who did an Adventure Antiqua. We went with the eco tour.

 

 

Thank you so much for doing this review! I'll be on the Adventure in 40 days and have been waiting for some post dry dock feedback.

 

FWIW although there aren't a lot of reviews that I've seen, there have been at least two rather long threads with people like me posting our experiences in them. :) Hope you and the OP found those at least.

[aubreyc1988]

Thursday 1/19 continued…

 

After dropping our stuff off at the hotel, we went out to the main street and called an uber to take us as close to Old San Juan as possible. We ended up having to walk about 10 minutes to Old San Juan, because a lot of the roads were blocked off. Uber ride from Condado to outskirts of Old San Juan was 6.00. Driver was really nice and fun. We went to El Jibarito for an early dinner. We came here last time when we had a port stop in Old San Juan on Oasis in Sept. and the food was pretty good. The place does get busy in waves, we had to wait 20 minutes I believe to be seated

 

Here’s a banner I stared at for 20 minutes while waiting

 

 

https://www.yelp.com/biz/el-jibarito-san-juan

 

my husband got a pork cubes entrée with a Yucca mofongo and I just got a bunch of tapas style appetizers. The pork cubes were bleh, very tough, almost tougher than jerky, but his mofongo was ok. The appetizers are delicious though! I ordered the beef empanadas, the chicken empanadas (liked the beef ones better) the fried corn sticks (which were my favorite) and the fried cheese balls.

 

Here’s a photo of a bunch of delicious fried food for you. Small bites, 5 pcs each, are 3.95 each and I believe my husband’s meal was 10.00

 

 

We finished eating around 5pm local time and as soon as we stepped out onto the street, there were masses of people. The festival was starting, at least the opening parade!

 

 

 

 

a periscope video I took of the festival, because the only thing that is better than photos is a video!!!

 

https://www.periscope.tv/w/1YqJDAnerVaxV

[aubreyc1988]

A couple of short go pro video clips

 

 

 

More photos

 

 

 

[aubreyc1988]

Thursday 1/19 continued…

 

After the parade cleared out, we wandered around looking for the local artisans, but it looked like they were either really spread out or were gone for the day. When we asked a policeman for directions to where the artisans on, I am pretty sure he didn’t understand us completely, OR he sent us on a wild goose chase, because I never saw a bunch of them, just a few random ones here and there. I am pretty certain they pack up shop around 5pm, so I wonder if there are more of them out during the daytime. We didn’t stay at Old San Juan for too long because I was tired and wanted to go rest. We left around 7pm after wandering around. There was a big stage with some bands playing and beers being sold 3 for 5.00! And I could just tell things were going to get CRAZY soon! We walked about 10-15 minutes to where the cabs were and took a cab back to Holiday Inn Express. A warning for those taking cabs, there’s not a good system in San Juan regarding them. The Uber drivers are bullied by them, and the taxi drivers are supposed to be set rates, but I don’t know how strict they were on that. It was supposed to be 12.00 from OSJ to Condado hotels, but our driver charged us 17.00. But I wasn’t going to get in a fight over a couple dollars with a taxi driver in an unfamiliar place. Took us about 15 minutes to get back to the hotel in Condado, max. Not a TON of traffic, but it was still REALLY early and the festival had just started getting busy

 

 

 

 

(my husband loves this guy hehe)

 

[khm1]

Thanks for following along! I am surprised there are not more adventure reviews myself!

 

 

 

I just finished a review on the 1/14/17 sailing. I look forward to your perspective!

[khm1]

Thank you so much for doing this review! I'll be on the Adventure in 40 days and have been waiting for some post dry dock feedback.

 

 

 

Not to hijack this thread, but I just finished a review on the 1/14/17 sailing.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2448208

Edited January 31, 2017 by khm1

[zdad59]

Here is a very bad picture I took of the cab cost sheet. I can’t find the sheet in my luggage now, so this is the best I got. Basically its 21.00 flat rate, and 1.00 per bag. We traveled back to the airport on debarkation with our Indiana friends (so 4 people total) and the price was the same, 21.00 and 1.00 per bag. Which you would think it would be cheaper with more people, but oh well.

 

 

Here is a PDF of the general cab fare calculation sheet. Hope it helps.

Flyer-Rates-Taxi WOC.pdf

[runningmoms2girls]

Can't wait! We leave soon!

[runningmoms2girls]

you've won the prize! Yes, we had 10 minutes to spare once we got on board Adventure after touring with COSOL...but more details to come on that later...but do book with caution, I would never book with them again. It was totally avoidable, us cutting it that close. One COSOL bus behind us had 2 minutes to spare! :eek:

 

Oh dear......I have them booked for next month......

[murphy4]

Following :)

[aubreyc1988]

Oh dear......I have them booked for next month......

 

I wrote them a review on tripadvisor if you want to go look at that for a more detailed review, I will write one here as well when it gets to that day, but you can still cancel with them, as they don't hold a deposit and you pay at the end of the tour.

[khm1]

Oh dear......I have them booked for next month......

 

 

 

Try Spencer Ambrose. He is great. He will get you back on time. I have toured with his company 3 times.

[Cruiser-M]

We have done both Cosol and Spenser. We made it back with 5 minutes to spare with Spenser, our driver was weaving into oncoming traffic around cars to get us back in time, very scary. I would never book him again.

[Bigbluegal]

Following.....on Adventure in October 2017

[brightfeather]

Oh dear......I have them booked for next month......

I have that tour booked too with Nancy and you. Now i'm wonderingif we should back out. It's a bit worrisome. I wonder if we couldn't make it known to the tour leader that we have to be back sooner?

 

~~ Diane (Brightfeather)

 

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[aubreyc1988]

I have that tour booked too with Nancy and you. Now i'm wonderingif we should back out. It's a bit worrisome. I wonder if we couldn't make it known to the tour leader that we have to be back sooner?

 

~~ Diane (Brightfeather)

 

Sent from my SM-T813 using Forums mobile app

 

 

 

If you are worried about it; book something safer. We were supposed to be back at the cruise ship dock at 3:30 and there is no way that was ever the plan. We left the snorkel stop at 3pm, and had two pointless stops before even heading back to the cruise ship. These companies should have this down to a fine art, as the ships are on a set schedule and traffic patterns are probably pretty predictable

 

 

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