B2B on the Adventure of the Seas in February

[emeraldcity]

It all started on the Brilliance of the Seas in April 2016 when a group got together on cruise critic to form the Solo and Friends table(s) for the transatlantic. We spent 14 days sharing laughs and bonding. By the end of that cruise we knew we needed to find more opportunities to cruise together. The first of those was the B2B on the Adventure in February, with four of us making the trip. Two of us flew down to San Juan 2 days early and stayed with another couple from the Solo and Friends group. We spent part of the day on Friday visiting El Yunque Rain Forest (including that brutal uphill/downhill trek to the waterfall). We kept meeting people going the other way and we asked “How much longer?’ and they must have been part of a conspiracy. I swear every one of them said “Ten more minutes.” But we eventually reached the waterfall and it was worth it. Of course, we would need the exercise because we were destined to be unable to pass up a meal or a snack for the next two weeks.

 

The next morning, the other couple flew into San Juan and they beat us to the ship. I think we were getting the text that they were in the Windjammer about the time I was having my “THERE SHE IS!” moment. It still doesn’t get old! That moment when I see the ship for the first time is always a thrill.

 

Good news for those boarding in San Juan … the port team really has their act together. The porter wasn’t pushy, the lines were non-existent, the security people didn’t make you feel like a potential felon, the counter staff was friendly and efficient … and there were just the right number of people to point you to the important “To the Ship” sign. We were boarding in record time.

 

We paused briefly to admire the view down the Royal Promenade and then headed up to the Windjammer to join up with the rest of our party. Some friendships are so natural that you pick up right where you left off nearly a year ago. Such it was with our foursome. We sat and chatted and wallowed in our pre-cruise euphoria until it was time to go check into our cabins.

 

Luggage handling was in a special class by itself on this ship because we actually spotted our bags in the hall en route to our cabin. For once I was able to quickly dispense with the chore of unpacking and settling in immediately, leaving me plenty of time to explore the ship before muster.

 

Although we had the good fortune to have a muster station in the lounge, I couldn’t see a thing from where I was sitting. There were so many people, the seating capacity of the lounge was exceeded, which brings up the specter of just how packed that would be if you had to actually spend several hours at muster station (like they did when the Grandeur had that fire). Fortunately,we had done our fair share of musters so we pantomimed the entire life vest piece for the benefit of anyone in the vicinity, should they have failed to had the opportunity to go through it before. I’m sure it was appreciated by all.

 

We went to the Welcome Aboard Show before dinner and I thought the dancers did a good job. I wasn’t terribly impressed by the comedian, but we consoled ourselves that the next one had to be better.

 

We had a dinner table that evening by the window, which is rather pointless when you are having dinner long after the sun goes down. In any event, there was a table assignment mixup and we agreed to move to another table to the other side of the dining room for the rest of the cruise, which was a bonus. Our first wait staff was apparently rather new and the second wait staff was very, very good.

Edited March 6, 2017 by emeraldcity

[scurrymd]

Looking forward to your review! Followed your Alaska review when we were prepping for our trip on the Radiance last year, and will follow along on this one as we're planning our AOS cruise this summer.

[emeraldcity]

Day 2 - At Sea

 

 

Depending on your itinerary, when you cruise from San Juan, you’re likely to have a port call the first day. Fortunately we booked our B2B with Bonaire being our first port, so our first full day aboard was a sea day. After I’ve gone through all the logistics of travel to get to the ship, I really want to spend that first full day immersing myself in the shipboard life.

 

I started off with some coffee, laced with the powdered French vanilla creamer I brought with me and some pastries from the Café Promenade. If you’re looking for donuts on board, this may be the only place to find them. They certainly didn’t have them in the bread offerings they toted around the Main Dining Room. If they were offered in the Windjammer, I’m clueless. I don’t think I ever went there for breakfast. Along with my donuts, I had some of that wonderful cranberry bread I dream about when I’m planning my next cruise. A day aboard ship always had to start with one or two pieces of it… and I’m told I always had a contented smile whenever I picked up a piece to eat it. I admit … it’s pathetic. I clearly need to get out more.

 

I took my simple breakfast to the Solarium and settled into a lounger with my embroidery. It was a glorious morning and I spent most of it relaxing, looking out to sea and watching the flying fish trying to escape the massive ship slicing through the water. Frankly, it amazes me that you can see them from that high up, but they fascinated me. They actually travel quite a distance before a rearing wave gets in their way and they smack into it to disappear below the surface.

 

For those interested in the chair hog report, there wasn’t a determined corps of them that first morning. Cruisers who arrived after 8:00 still had chairs to pick from. Of course, when I abandoned my chair mid-morning, it was promptly claimed before I got out of the Solarium.

 

We joined up for lunch in the Main Dining Room and I was planning on just-a-salad. They had gnocchi on the menu, and I couldn’t deprive myself of that experience. So I had a marvelous big salad with a gnocchi chaser. Then I rounded it off with that marvelous Chocolate Raspberry dessert that I discovered some years back. I should really be more specific about what they called it … maybe it was a ganche tart … but whatever it was called, I loved it.

 

I believe there was some vague plan to walk the track everyday. I guess that gets filed in the “Best Intentions” folder. It happened about 2-3 times during the course of the 14-day trip and I have no regrets. I did what I wanted to, when I wanted and had a wonderful time. I’ll be retiring soon and this was my chance to practice being retired. By all indications, I will be very good at it.

 

We gathered for some trivia games from time to time during the course of the cruises. We won a couple times, lost most of the time, and went home with some highlighters and shopping bags for our efforts.

 

As noted earlier, this was the night we got our table reassignment and we were quite pleased with Ronnie. He always had a recommendation and he was generally spot-on. The other advantage to this table is that the servers could easily approach it from all angles. The window table in the corner had been terribly awkward to serve to the people sitting closest to the window. I haven’t had enough window tables to really assess it, but I have to say I don’t think the logistics are workable. In any event, we had an enjoyable dinner and when the dessert menu was handed out I had to admit that nothing looked more appealing than that chocolate-raspberry-whatever-it-was from lunch. I wistfully asked if there was any chance they had a piece of it lying around somewhere in a cooler and I seem to have touched off a culinary dilemma that needed to be solved. To my surprise a chef came out to consult with me and apologize that it wasn’t available, but he promised he’d make it just for me and it would be ready for me the next evening. Frankly I was a little embarrassed that they would go to so much trouble.

Edited March 7, 2017 by emeraldcity

[easyboy]

Following along.

[trev71]

Thanks looking forward to more of your review.

[emeraldcity]

Day 3 –Bonaire

 

This was one of the days that our excursion didn’t need us to present ourselves until the nicely civilized hour of 10:00. By the time I was wandering the top deck and taking some pictures of the charming scene below, large numbers of people had already gone ashore. I could see Woodwinds already well away from its dock and en route to the snorkel site, so I know many of the roll call people were already on their excursion.

 

We had booked an island tour through a shore excursion web site, which promised views of distant flamingos and a kaleidoscope of colors at the salt flats. The guys had a field day with the tour description here. They wanted to make sure that all flamingo-spotting was of the distant nature … and how many colors of salt could there possibly be? Bone white, stark white, off white, neutral, beige …

 

Our tour vehicle was a nice mid-size travel bus with easy access and air conditioning. We had paid 25% of the cost when booking, so we paid the 75% balance just as we were boarding the vehicle. We had a driver (Eagle Eye Eddie) who was always on the lookout for things we might find of interest and a backward-facing tour director who kept up a running commentary. They were wonderfully friendly and informative.

 

Bonaire is really known for its diving and snorkeling activities, and the people promoting those activities comprised half of the traffic on the roads. We did a driving tour of the coastline before crossing into the interior. I would have liked to stop and take a picture of the rocky cliffs, but I kept my rocky cliff fetish to myself. I didn’t figure the rest of the company would have appreciated my interest. We did finally stop when we reached the famed Gotomeer Lake so that we could photograph pink dots on the horizon that were allegedly flamingos. At a second vantage point they got close enough so that would we could see them better, but this doesn’t have the impact of watching otters at play. Flamingos stand on one leg for the most part, imitating plastic flamingos that people fill front yards with to embarrass friends on their birthday. But the guys were suitably pleased that the flamingos were “distant” as advertised.

 

To be fair, a few over-achievers actually took flight so we could be certain that these were not plastic flamingos. Of course, the tour guide asked if we knew why they are pink and pretty much the whole bus did. I suspect years of honing their trivia game skills had rendered cruise passengers rather capable of coming up with pertinent facts of this sort.

 

As we continued on the tour, Eddie pointed out iguanas and parrots he saw along the way. We stopped each time there was something of interest so that all who wished could get some pictures.

 

Of course, we had the objective of checking out the “colorful” salt ponds, so we headed to the other side of the island. The first stop was a rocky beach that also held the slave huts. Somehow it seems odd to me that tourists visit that sort of thing and snap selfies with slave huts in the background. I settled for pictures of the rocky beach.

 

When we reached the vast salt ponds we were stunned to find out that they really are colorful, because they are pink. Not just pale pink, but flamingo pink. So much for the levity directed at the women who planned this junket, because we really did end up with colorful pictures at the site.

 

When we returned to the ship we headed to the Windjammer for lunch. In what would become a comfortable habit for the length of the cruise, I set out to make the perfect salad for my first course. The salad fixings at the first part of the buffet made a suitable starter and I discovered that the sandwich making area and the hamburger fixings area could yield some additional components. Accordingly, it was a bit of a process each time, but well worth the effort. By the time I sat down with my masterpiece, my friends were halfway through their lunch. About the time they finished lunch they were ready for dessert and I was ready for my main course. This meant that when I went for dessert, I was likely to have to eat alone, but I have great friends! Someone almost always offered to have a second dessert so I wouldn’t have to eat alone.

 

After lunch, there was a chunk of time before “all aboard” so two of us headed back ashore to do a bit of shopping. Since we had docked at a different pier than my last time in Bonaire, the open air market was not close by. We were docked at the pier with the charming, port shopping area that seems to be a staple at most Caribbean islands. It was stocked with all the usual stuff, but that wasn’t quite what I was expecting at this port. On my last visit, there had been so many vendors at the open air market selling things they’d made themselves and it was such a pleasurable voyage of discovery to wander through. So we set off for the market. Unfortunately, most of the vendors had packed up for the day, so I didn’t get the experience I had hoped for. Sometimes you just can’t go back. I did manage to find a fan for those occasions that I’m the only one in the room who’s getting over-heated, and we discovered an ice cream store that needed to undergo a taste-test. They passed the taste-test with flying colors.

 

The headliner show that evening was “Action Comedy”. I think a lot of people enjoyed the show, but we didn’t rate it very highly.

 

At dinner that evening, no mention was made of the chocolate raspberry dessert until Ronnie was presenting our dessert menus. Sure enough, the chef had made that delicacy for me. I felt terribly guilty that he’d gone to so much trouble and I was the only one at the table who ordered it. But it was fantastic. I still wonder how much the recipe made and what they did with all the rest of it. Hopefully, it went to the crew dining room.

Edited March 8, 2017 by emeraldcity

[emeraldcity]

Day 4 - Aruba

 

There’s no denying the charm of Aruba, particularly when viewed from the top deck on a beautiful sunny day. But we had a limited amount of time to enjoy the view because our tour had an earlier start than the previous morning.

 

During the trip planning phase, the guys hadn’t really gotten terribly involved. I swear, I was told, “whatever you want to do is fine.” Of course, now that it was time to do another tour, they were ready for the details. When we said Casabari Rocks and the rocky coastline and natural bridge, all they tracked on was “rocks”. “We’re going to see rocks. I can’t wait to see rocks.”

 

This would be the second island tour which we had booked through the same web site, but this time we’d taken the opportunity to have a private tour just for our foursome. This was a great option because we got to ask for additional stops for photo ops, as well as avoid having to wait for everyone in a large group when we were ready to leave a stop. We had a great guide and nice size van for the half-day tour.

 

First stop was the Butterfly Farm, which conjures up images of industrious butterflies tilling the soil. Alas, they just fluttered around and concentrated on frivolities like insuring the continuation of the species. I’m enough of a dork that I really enjoyed this stop and the extremely well-informed young lady who guided us through the enclosure.

 

The next stop was apparently the Aloe Factory. As the van came to a stop we were all harboring the dread that this was going to be a 15-second glimpse into bottling of “product” followed by an exorbitant amount of time allowed for wandering a shop to part with your cash. Unexpectedly, we were wrong. We really did get a thoughtful explanation of the history behind the cultivation of the aloe plant and the history of what that meant to the economy. We were given a careful demonstration of how they remove the gel-like aloe in the center of each shoot, which then ends up getting blended for various products. The first demo was in the field adjacent to the building where rows of plants were soaking up the sun’s rays. This was followed by a guided tour of the factory where we could view the workers below as our guide explained what the different processes where that the women were involved in.

 

We continued on to the Natural Bridge on the rocky windward side of the island and this was my favorite stop. I am a sucker for rocky coastlines with waves crashing ashore and this delivered the appropriate spectacle. Much is made of the fact that the larger of the two bridges collapsed some years ago, but I found the existing bridge worthy of a few photographs before turning my camera to the challenge of trying a capture the biggest wave crash I could get. There was a stiff offshore breeze and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to wander along the rugged shoreline. When my friends returned to the van, I dutifully called it quits, but I could have spent more time with the wind in my hair and the sounds of the crashing waves. Our guide obliging stopped at numerous points along the drive back to the main roadway whenever we spotted another photo op.

 

It’s always intriguing to see how the locals live, so we were driven through a couple of local neighborhoods. The first was a middle class enclave of houses with a similar basic design, but different colors and structural elements to make them all unique. Later we were driven through an area inhabited by the rich and the filthy rich. Jaw-dropping opulence is the only way to describe it.

 

But we’d promised the guys “rocks”, and that meant there was one other stop to make sure they had some memorable ones. We arrived at Casabari Rocks and tumbled out of the van to explore the fanciful collection of monolithic rocks that had reportedly been blasted into curious shapes by wind-driven sand. The most dramatic is probably the Dragon Mouth that looks like a prehistoric dragon got frozen in time while he was trying to heave himself out of some subterranean cavern. But the adventure doesn’t stop there. A set of steep stairs hewn out of rock leads up to the top of the rocky mound through a slightly confining chimney. The views from the top were fairly expansive and the breeze was pretty stiff. At the back side an easier stairway led back down to ground level where the skull rock was waiting for selfie addicts.

 

We returned to the ship, congratulating ourselves that we were two for two. Given the fact that both tours were very reasonably priced, we felt we had been given a very rich experience on each island.

 

Since this port call involved a late evening sail-away, the ship continued to be largely deserted for much of the afternoon. I decided this was a prime opportunity to try out the slides without having to deal with long lines. I studied the two slides a bit before heading for the stairs and I concluded I wasn’t ready for the blue one yet. It includes a transparent section that extends well out over the side of the ship and I had a mental picture of it giving way as my body rounded that curve and I could picture me sailing out over the side en route to a fateful landing in a pod of flying fish. And the slide was fun, but two trips down was enough for me.

 

With the first cruise being halfway through, we spent some time at dinner that evening trying to make sense out of the scheduling that was apparently in place for each evening. While the headliner or production shows were spaced out such that people at both the main seating and the late seating could have a nice dinner and then have a show either before or after. That was not the case with the movies. On this particular night there was not only the poolside movie, there was also a movie in the Lyric Theater. One started at 7 and the other at 7:30. We were at late seating (8:30). We would find out that the next evening the movie started at 8:00. Apparently, 8:30 diners are not the target movie audience.

 

Since this was Valentine’s Day, it was an interesting night to be hosting the Love and Marriage Game Show. It was entertaining, per usual, but it doesn’t stand out as one of the best I’ve been to.

Edited March 18, 2017 by emeraldcity

[emeraldcity]

I've had zero luck in linking to my Photobucket pictures. The process I used to use doesn't work on this newly designed site. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Clarea]

I've had zero luck in linking to my Photobucket pictures. The process I used to use doesn't work on this newly designed site. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Use the insert Image button () and put the link to your Photobucket photo in the insert image field.