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Adventure of the seas 1/4/2020 (full review coming soon)


EDiamond22
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4 minutes ago, lazydayz said:

 

Nothing booked yet, hopefully next week after our short Mariner cruise this weekend.

 

If you have any horseback riders in your group, one of my all-time favorites was riding pasofinos in Aruba.  This was not a ship excursion but the local company picked us up near the port and returned us.  What made this so special was the beautiful gait of the horses (smoother than a Tennessee Walker) and the encouragement to let the horses run once we got to the beach. 

 

very cool! no experienced riders in my group (that i know of lol)  the woodwind snorkeling tours in bonaire have been highly recommended here on CC so i have reached out to my party but most likely at least me and my GF will be doing that. haven't decided anything for the other ports. i know for sure i did a guided tour in curacao last time and loved the island so this time i want to explore that one on my own!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well i probably started this whole thing a little early but its coming up now, at 32 days out it actually seems in reach!
Black friday/cyber monday came and went and with no deal on anything i was watching in my cruise planner i will just go ahead and book the Deluxe drinks and a Vroom package for the lady, i am typically up later so my plan as of now is too do a daily or every other day addition to this thread at the night or with the morning coffee. key word being "plan" lol 
 
Well where i didn't save at royal, Kohl's made it up to me for having a killer deal on a luggage set i've been eyeing for the lovely lady's Christmas gift. 

30 days out:
the point i'm typically pulling out outfits and making sure everything still fits or deciding if we want something new and getting those things taken care of. This will be out first time going away since getting a cat so now a new step too the pre cruise planing has been added. i bought one of the pet cams with 360 view, and we have my GFs mother coming over too feed a play with her. I have heard good things about being about to watch the video feed with the Vroom S&S package so hopefully that works well.


Pre cruise plan: 
We board in fort lauderdale on Jan 4th, most of us are flying in to FLL from upstate NY on the 3rd. a few others will be driving from orlando on the 3rd, and two making the drive from Georgia. We have rented a big Air BnB less than 10 minutes from the port that 10 of the 16 in our party will be staying at the night before. 
side note.. a few years ago we tried ABNB and would seriously never go back to a hotel if at all possible.. seriously worth checking out if you haven't before. Especially traveling with a big party like this if we were in a hotel we would have to either cram into one of the rooms and sit on the beds to hang out and talk or try and find somewhere to go; with this we have a big house we can all just hangout in the living room shoot the sh## and do some practice for the DDP 😄 

It was 22 degrees and snowed all day today...Curacao it was 89 and the sun was roaring...
Not much else as of now, luckily holiday season seems to fly by so these last 30 days should go quick and we will finally be trading the snow for the sand and the cold for the rum 🙂 

Until next time my friendly stalkers happy tuesday 

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We’ve been on the adventure a few times and the Explorer also. Very nice size ships. Quest adult scavenger hunt was excellent in skating rink and football playoff games there also with hot dogs. Very cool. Rubber mats over ice.
Promenade dancing activities were excellent.
Raisin bread and ranger cookies are great.

Tutti salad in MDR lunch was delicious. We bought very good snorkeling gear about 25 years ago and still use it.
So if you’re into that here is some info on snorkeling from shore. Aruba take the public bus right across from cruise ship to Arrachi beach at end of bus ride. Excellent snorkeling reef to the left. Saves money from excursions of boat $$$$. Catch bus back to eagle or other beaches.

Bonaire pay $25 for boat ride to Klein Bonaire for drifting snorkeling from shore. Excellent.

Curaçao cab to Maho beach by aquarium and beach is like a paradise of tiki huts. Great snorkeling over the break water. Polar beer is great.

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2 hours ago, cementhands said:

We’ve been on the adventure a few times and the Explorer also. Very nice size ships. Quest adult scavenger hunt was excellent in skating rink and football playoff games there also with hot dogs. Very cool. Rubber mats over ice.
Promenade dancing activities were excellent.
Raisin bread and ranger cookies are great.

Tutti salad in MDR lunch was delicious. We bought very good snorkeling gear about 25 years ago and still use it.
So if you’re into that here is some info on snorkeling from shore. Aruba take the public bus right across from cruise ship to Arrachi beach at end of bus ride. Excellent snorkeling reef to the left. Saves money from excursions of boat $$$$. Catch bus back to eagle or other beaches.

Bonaire pay $25 for boat ride to Klein Bonaire for drifting snorkeling from shore. Excellent.

Curaçao cab to Maho beach by aquarium and beach is like a paradise of tiki huts. Great snorkeling over the break water. Polar beer is great.

awesome info, we do typically snorkel at at least one port per cruise! that being said this will actually be my girlfriends first time snorkeling ever so doing it right off the shore would probably be a great idea thanks 😄 

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  • 1 month later...

For those who stuck around from my very premature start to this review/thread thank you and welcome to anyone who decides to jump on.
It is time! i work overnights so am at work currently but will be out at 7:30 run home grab the Mostly packed bags (oops) and the woman and catch our ride to the airport. First flight departs here in upstate NY at 10:45 and unfortunately a long layover in NYC will make for a long day of travel but let me tell you the ends justify the means in this case! even though its been surprisingly warm for this time of year here 30s and 40s in still not my cup of tea..forecast shows 80s everywhere we are going and that's just perfect in my book. 
We gained a few more late bookers bringing the party total up to 18 
😮 we do typically get a good size group I think this is the biggest yet, and a collection of family and friends it’s going to be a good time!
So I know I shared in another thread about my first ever attempt at RoyalUp bid, but don't think I brought it up here so first off I originally booked a guarantee inside for the first time and started to regret it once I got my assignment, I ended up deck 2 all the way to the front with a connecting cabin to someone that was not in my party.. yes I was naïve and didn’t even realize that was a possibility, so when I got the royalup offer I threw a min. bid on the promenade view cabin and ocean view cabin. Keep in mind it really would not have hindered my vacation in anyway so I put the offer in and sure enough while settling up bills a few days before leaving I noticed a pending charge from royal and peeked back at my RCI app and noticed my stateroom was now deck 7 promenade view, not to shabby for a virgin royal upper with a min bid!

Well although I did start this post early in the morning while at work I ended up getting busy and am just finishing it up now, so now playing a little catch up, first flight just a quickie 45 min heavy turbulence on a puddle jumper but hey sometimes that’s the risks you take with choosing flying as your mode of transportation. Had lunch at a nice pizza place/bar in LGA


wow boy did time and lack of wifi get away from me. we are now on the boat and actually sailing, I am going to post a bunch of pics at some point here tonight. I have to transfer my photos from my phone to my surface, hopefully that all goes well and I get some good pictures up for you guys tonight! Thank you all for sticking with me, first review but we will work out the kinks ! 😉 

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On 11/17/2019 at 6:28 PM, bouhunter said:

We were on Adventure recently for 8 night sailing.  Ship is in good shape we had a good cruise.

 

There were 600+ Diamond members on board, D lounge was chaos  and crowded every night even though they expanded it to the entire lounge area on deck 14.

I am on th 1/18/20 sailing and already received an e-mail about a lot of upper tier C&A folks being aboard and the Blue Moon lounge being used to accomodate the nightly happy hour.

 

I didn't think, at the time, that I was choosing a particularly popular week to cruise.

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On 11/17/2019 at 9:22 AM, vettegal99 said:

We've been on Adventure of the Seas twice out of San Juan some years ago.  We are on the 1/18/20 sailing out of Ft Lauderdale and will be following your review.  Interested in knowing your experience on Adventure.

I am on the 1/18 sailing too. We have done several cruises on Adventure out of San Juan and the most recent one was last January out of Ft. Lauderdale. Never had a bad cruise on this ship. The entertainment can be a bit weak as the production shows and ice show are the same as the past 20 years. But I know not to expect Oasis caliber shows when I book this ship. Also, the internet can be painfully slow.

 

The ship, however, is in very good shape and we have an awesome time aboard. And I really like the 8 night itenerary.

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7 minutes ago, freetalkfreelaugh said:

We will be leaving on the 29 Feb sailing. Do they offer drink packages on board for a reduced price once you sail? 

 

No. Generally the drink packages are more expensive (or possibly the same price) onboard. It is usually less expensive to purchase them in your cruise planner. 

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11 hours ago, freetalkfreelaugh said:

We will be leaving on the 29 Feb sailing. Do they offer drink packages on board for a reduced price once you sail? 

transferring pictures to the computer now, have one of the drink package but i will say it was defiantly cheaper pre booking it than booking on board 

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alright lets back track a little we had a long layover in LGA, me and the girl had lunch at rossie's it was like a pizza kitchen/bar style, got a pep pizza, a beer and a soda. Yes airport food isn't the cheapest but it was amazing! could have easily split it atleast between 3 people. The pizza was $22, my laganitas (craft beer) was 9 and the girls soda was 4. Not bad for the quality IMO!

IMG_0121.JPG

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17 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I am on th 1/18/20 sailing and already received an e-mail about a lot of upper tier C&A folks being aboard and the Blue Moon lounge being used to accomodate the nightly happy hour.

 

I didn't think, at the time, that I was choosing a particularly popular week to cruise.

I’m on too.  5 of us!   2 of us diamond 

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We stayed in hollywood Fl in an air BNB, ever since our first air BNB stay like 2 years ago we swore off hotels. this is such a better way to travel, cheaper plus all the luxury of staying in a home vs a hotel like having a kitchen, outside area, really what ever you enjoy you can find a place on air BNB with everything you love. ill keep this thread more cruise oriented unless people would like to know more about the air bnb i have tons of pictures and reviews and such just ask! 😄 
Embarkation:
so as i mentioned before we were traveling in a group of 18, about 11 of us had the same travel to the port and the rest met up once on board. I have to say this was the smoothest and quickest embarkation i've ever experienced. We ignored our "boarding time" and headed to the port around 1030, by time we all got there and the 2 with a car parked and shuttled back over it was closer to 11 before heading into the terminal. after this point we never stopped moving, plenty of security scanners so no lines, plenty of check in people (we all prechecked other than the picture) this took about 30 seconds there was tons of royal employees with ipads that scan your set sail, snap a pic and you are moving again.. like i said no lines here either; got that done and it was straight on the boat. no more than 15 min from approaching the security line to ordering a drink at the pool bar 😄  

i did mention my royal up win so here is a pic of the promenade view room, not to shabby for $100 extra from them picking an inside room.. (keep in mind when originally booking it would have cost more than that 100 just to pick my own cabin so I call that a win)
 

IMG_0166.JPG

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Not much else on day one, pretty quick and painless muster drill, great dinner in the MDR (i did prime rib, cooked to perfection) then an adult comedy show by David Naster. He was pretty funny even though the crowd really didn't seem to appreciate his humor as much as we did, to each their own i guess! 
You guys can let me know if you want to see the daily cruise compass or not, i'm not sure how common this 8 night sailing to the ABC islands is so it might not be of too much use to many.
Day two early morning:
So i enjoy my coffee in the morning while the woman gets a little extra sleep, and typically i just drink black coffee the specialty ones are nice in the morning, i did not know that on this ship with your UBP the startbucks is included and that's where you get those. i'm used to getting the specialty coffee at the cafe prom. and the starbucks being an upcharge but it isn't like that on this boat/sailing. 
meet and mingle was at 9:15 in the imperial lounge, it was a decent turn out and well hosted but i will say it was the worst prizes i've ever seen at this event. (highlighter&pen, water bottle, hat, bingo shirt and grand prize a backpack) i'll never be the one to complain about free items but like i said i've seen better. Right after we did a slot pull with the CC people, if i remember the guys name who organized it i would shout him out but i don't 😞 he did a great job though we had a good turn out and started with $380 in the machine, not to shabby. We got warm for a little early and ran it up too 460 but wasn't enough to cash out and run so unfortunately hit a cold streak and ran it to the ground. But it was a good time and we got a good 45 min of entertainment value out of it! (really all you can expect when hitting any casino lol)

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Hi EDiamond22. I will be on Adventure this summer with hubby, daughter #1 & family, along with daughter #2 and her family for a total of 9 people (4 cabins).  Three of those are young children. If possible can you check out the height for the flowrider? Both boys are 10 & 9 years old and would LOVE to try it. Also if possible could you check out the cost of the digital photo package?  We (3 cabins) were thinking of buying it and hoping to get family group pictures that each would go on the 3 packages. 

Thanks for your review and photos, keep them coming ..... when you have time, after all your on vacation. 

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32 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

You are saying that Adventure now has a Starbucks? It didn't last January. Where is it located?

This is one of the great things of Adventure and the DBP (or even refreshment).  Cafe Promenade's specialty coffee menu is the standard Starbucks menu.  i..e the Starbucks is not a separate kiosk and thus, it is the coffee and included in the drink plans.

 

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Just now, LuCruise said:

This is one of the great things of Adventure and the DBP (or even refreshment).  Cafe Promenade's specialty coffee menu is the standard Starbucks menu.  i..e the Starbucks is not a separate kiosk and thus, it is the coffee and included in the drink plans.

 

Yes, I know that. It is like that on all the Voyager/Freedom class ships. The OP was making it sound like he was getting his coffee some place other than the Cafe Promenade.

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2 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Yes, I know that. It is like that on all the Voyager/Freedom class ships. The OP was making it sound like he was getting his coffee some place other than the Cafe Promenade.

 

I believe there is a real Starbucks kiosk on Mariner now.

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