Adventure of the Seas Aug 5-12 Review and Pictures!

[jimbug]

Hi all,

 

We just returned from a great week onboard the Adventure of the Seas. Below is the start of my review, and my pictures can be seen here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mrskennedynd

 

Enjoy, and please let me know if you have any questions!

 

Adventure of the Seas Review

August 5-12, 2007

 

Pre-Cruise:

Who we are: I am Jimmie, and I am 25 years old, and this was my fourth cruise (but first on Royal Caribbean). I traveled with my best girlfriend Liz (24), and this was her first cruise ever. We left the guys behind for this trip and had a wonderful girls’ week out on the Adventure of the Seas!

 

We began our journey on Friday, August 3. We live in North Dakota (me) and Montana (Liz), so getting anywhere fun is quite the process. We both flew to Minneapolis that evening on Northwest Airlines. After meeting up in baggage claim, we rented a little blue Chevy Cobalt from Avis and set off to find our hotel – the Holiday Inn Bloomington/MSP Airport (a fabulous Priceline find for a bid of $35). As previous travelers have complained, this hotel is not really that close to the airport, but it’s right off I-35W, so it’s really not hard to find. It was clean, felt safe, and the room was nice, so we really had nothing to complain about. After checking in, we drove the short distance to the Mall of America (Liz’s first visit) for some last-minute shopping and a great dinner at the Rainforest Café. By the time we had finished dinner, we were exhausted, so we headed back to the hotel knowing we had a long day of travel ahead of us.

 

As we got to talking that night, we came to the conclusion that we might have some big problems getting to San Juan the next day. First of all, President Bush was flying into Minneapolis on Saturday because of the terrible bridge collapse, which would certainly halt air traffic for a long enough time period to cause delays…and secondly, the Weather Channel was predicting thunderstorms in the Twin Cities area the next morning. We didn’t want to chance missing our connection in Chicago, so we called American Airlines at 4:00 a.m. Saturday morning and found out what our options were. Basically, our best chance for getting out of MSP earlier in the day was to go standby on a flight to Chicago at 7:40 a.m. Not a problem – we got to the airport in plenty of time, and were numbers 2 and 3 on the standby list. We got our seats, and happily arrived in Chicago in plenty of time to make an earlier flight to San Juan, as well. After a very long and uncomfortable (4 hrs and 40 mins) flight on a 757, we arrived in San Juan around 3:15 pm. It felt so nice to finally be there after so many months of planning and anticipation.

 

We claimed our bags (thankful they all arrived together even though we went standby), and as others reported, they DO check that your bag tags and your baggage claim receipts match. So, don’t throw those stickers away before they are inspected. Here’s where our trip gets interesting and where we almost got scammed...haha. I knew from reading on CruiseCritic that taxi fares are regulated in San Juan, and I also knew approximately how much we should have to pay to get from the airport to our hotel, the Caribe Hilton. So, I was just as surprised as the next person when I stupidly allowed some guy who asked me if I needed a taxi to take our bags and load them into his unmarked (although quite nice) vehicle that his wife was driving. Liz and I got in the vehicle and told them where we were headed and asked how much it would be. The man said $45. I knew right then we weren’t in the right kind of cab…haha. I told him no way are we paying that much, so he wanted to know how much we wanted to pay. I told him $15 or $20 and he wouldn’t go that low. I guess he thought we’d just pay it since we were already in the car and pulling away, but Liz and I both looked at each other and said NO…lol. They screeched over to the curb and let us out of the cab. I don’t know what they were doing…besides obviously running an illegal cab business. You’d think they’d at least undercut the tourism association rates by a few bucks if they were going to get any business. Anyway, scam avoided, we hauled our four bags back over to the OFFICIAL taxi stand (it’s easy to find – everyone wears bright orange shirts) and we were given a slip of paper with a price of $19. Much better! The tourism association lady working the taxi stand was really nice…she showed us to a cab and told the driver where we needed to go. Everything worked out just fine…so traveler beware – don’t get into a cab without a tourism association logo on the side of it!

 

The ride to the Hilton was only about 15 minutes tops, but it was enough to make us both realize that maybe we shouldn’t venture beyond the resort grounds on our own that night. (Admittedly, now that we’ve seen other nicer parts of San Juan, I’d feel much better…but the area around the hotel is not that great.) We checked in at the front desk, and I inquired about getting a villa room or an executive tower room. Much to my surprise, the clerk said we were already booked in a villa room (yay!). I should mention that we got this hotel on Priceline also, for a bid of $65. I should probably also mention that it was HOT and HUMID. I’ve been spoiled living in North Dakota for the past year, as we have practically zero humidity year-round…just standing in the open-air lobby at the Hilton about killed us…whew! We had to wait about 10-15 minutes for our room to be ready, and when it was, an absolutely wonderful bellman took us to the villa towers in a hotel minivan, and escorted up to our room, unloaded our luggage, and offered to get us ice and anything else we needed. Now I’m not completely from the sticks, and I realize that this is what bellmen do (haha), but this guy was SOOO nice and helpful…big-time kudos to him.

 

After cooling off in the comforts of air conditioning and marveling at the view from our balcony, we decided to take a look around. First of all, our room was fabulous. It was clearly recently renovated…we had a gorgeous marble bathroom with separate shower and soaking tub. The bathroom even had a bidet (eww), but Liz made better use of it by rinsing the sand off her feet there…haha. We walked around the resort grounds, taking pictures, gawking at the ocean, and trying to decide where to eat for dinner. Had we had more time at the resort, we would have had a blast. The pool and beach area looked great, but by the time we got there and got settled, it was late evening and the sun was already starting to go down. The Caribe Hilton has several restaurants, most of which are pretty pricey and quite nice-looking. As a side note, the concierge desk has a large album filled with all of the hotel restaurant menus and prices, as well as menus for a lot of nearby places. We settled on the Palmeras Restaurant, which is very near the main lobby area. They have a special buffet each night, and that night’s feature was the oriental buffet, priced at $30 each. The buffet did look appetizing, but we really didn’t want to spend quite that much on dinner, so we decided to order off the menu. We both got the rosemary chicken breast. Wow…quite possibly the best chicken I’ve ever had…seriously. It was $17, the portions were huge, and it came with bread, vegetables, and your choice of potato. I honestly didn’t expect much from a generic hotel-type restaurant…but they totally exceeded our expectations. Liz and I would both definitely recommend eating there if you have the opportunity to do so.

 

By the time we finished dinner and got back to our room, it was about 8:00 pm. I’m sad to say that we were both so exhausted, we crashed and didn’t get to enjoy any of the nightlife going on around the resort (there seemed to be plenty). Oh well…maybe next time!

 

To be continued...hopefully very soon...

[Snoozeman]

Excellent--looking forward to the rest.:)

[jimbug]

Embarkation Day:

We woke up around 8:00 am and quickly got ready and checked out of the hotel. The nice thing about the villa tower is that you can check out right there at their front desk, rather than making the hike over the main lobby. The desk clerk summoned a cab for us (yes, a tourism cab this time!), and we asked to be taken to Old San Juan and dropped off at the Barrachina restaurant on Calle Fortaleza so we could take advantage of their luggage storage service. The taxi fare was around $15 and it was a very picturesque drive there. By the time we got there, it was probably around 9:30 a.m. and the restaurant was not yet open. However, there were a few people milling about, and we were able to determine where to take our bags. A very friendly employee took care of us and gave us claim slips for the luggage. I had read that the service was free and that they operated on tips only, but I can report that they now charge $1 per bag. We checked 4 suitcases and a backpack, and the fee was $5. Totally reasonable, and it appeared to be quite safe.

 

None of the shops in Old San Juan were open yet on a Sunday (they open around 11 am, I believe), so we left the restaurant and headed down Calle Fortaleza in search of another famous restaurant - La Bombonera. I couldn’t remember what street it was on, so we were sort of on a wild goose chase trying to find it until we went into the Hotel Milano and asked the front desk clerk. Fortunately, we were only about a block away (it’s on Calle San Francisco), and it was quite easy to find, once we knew where we were supposed to go. We arrived at La Bombonera and drooled over their pastry display in the window before going in to be seated at a table. We both tried the famous mallorcas – a fried pastry filled with your choice of meat, eggs, and/or cheese, and all topped with a generous heap of powdered sugar. It might sound a little strange, but it was amazing. It was also budget-friendly – I think they were $3-$4 each. After eating our breakfast, we walked around Old San Juan for just a little while more before we decided it was way too hot and humid yet again. We walked back to Barrachina and claimed our luggage. It must have been around 11:00 a.m. at this point, and when the proprietor of Barrachina discovered we were headed to the ship already, he vehemently tried talking us out of it. He kept telling us it was too early, and that we wouldn’t be able to board until at least 1:30 or 2:00. I’m not quite sure what his problem was, but we didn’t listen. I walked about half a block to where the cabs were lined up, and secured a driver to take us to the Pan American Pier where our ship was docked.

 

We arrived at the pier shortly after 11:00, and saw a line forming outside of the building. What may not be clear to everyone at this terminal is that you go to the front of the line to drop off your luggage, and then return to the back of the line to enter the building. It really should be better-marked, but there were several employees there directing people where to go, which was pretty helpful. We were about the 30th or 40th person in line, and we only had to wait about 10 minutes before the line started moving and we were inside! We filled out our SetSail passes online prior to arriving, so we went to the designated SetSail check-in area. There was no line at all, and we were quickly issued our SeaPass cards and were able to board the ship right away. We’re so glad we didn’t listen to that man at Barrachina! We were one of the first few on the ship, and it was so much fun! 

 

We were told the cabins wouldn’t be ready until 2:00, so we set off on a self-tour of the ship, starting at the top. Keep in mind that this was Liz’s first cruise, and I think she was in absolute awe of the ship and its massive size. We had a lot of fun walking around and taking pictures…however, we didn’t get very far until we decided it was time for the first foo-foo drink of the trip! The closest bar was the Sky Bar, and we both ordered a Miami Vice. Anthony at the bar took great care of us, and he was very personable, but there was a problem with our SeaPass cards…they wouldn’t scan. So, after being held up at the Sky Bar for about 20 minutes while they fiddled with our cards, they finally entered our drink charges manually and told us to go to Guest Relations to have our cards replaced. Why they couldn’t have just done that 20 minutes earlier is beyond me, but hey…we were on vacation and nothing was going to spoil our fun!

 

We continued our tour through the ship…it was pretty cool to be able to take pictures and explore before the ship got packed with over 3000 people. Once we got to the deck with the Guest Relations desk (Deck 4?), we stopped there to inquire about our SeaPass cards. They had a Guest Relations employee pre-screening passengers about what they were inquiring, assumedly to solve any minor problems quickly and prevent people from standing in line unnecessarily. When she got to us, we explained what happened, and we got a lecture about our SeaPass cards and how sensitive they are to magnets and other magnetic cards, etc., and how we should be more careful with them. Funny, though…we’d only been issued the cards an hour before, and they hadn’t been anywhere but our pockets since…not anywhere near any other cards, magnets, etc. Oh well…we got up to the desk and a WONDERFUL guest relations employee (can’t remember her name!) totally apologized for the situation before we’d even said a word. She just took one look at the account and was able to easily fix whatever was wrong with it. It appeared to be just a computer glitch and we were off and running. She was so nice and had wonderful customer service skills…she even told us if we have any more problems with the cards (which we didn’t), that we didn’t have to wait in line…just come find her and she will fix the problem. This would be the first of many Royal Caribbean employees we encountered who were willing to go above and beyond without even being asked.

 

After visiting Guest Relations, we headed over to the dining room to check out our seat assignment. We had Table 251 in the Vivaldi (lowest-level) dining room on Deck 3. We searched and searched for table and were having a hard time locating it, until we realized there was a side room off to the right side of the dining room…La Notte. We found our table, which turned out to be a table for 12 (geez), and affectionately referred to our secluded little dining area as the “reject room”…haha. I’d never been seated at such a large table before, and was hoping we’d have friendly tablemates.

 

By the time we finished our ship tour, it was almost 2:00, so we headed up to our cabin to check it out. We had #8445, which was a Category N inside. Prior to this trip, I have only cruised with a balcony, so I was sort of dreading the experience with an inside cabin…but I have to say, it turned out just fine. I just felt a little detached from the world when I couldn’t tell what the weather was like outside or when we were pulling into or out of port. We opened our cabin door, and found that the beds were pushed together and made into a king-size. We kind of joked that Royal Caribbean must have thought we were “together,” rather than just friends…little did we know they really may have thought that (more on this later)!

 

Other than the bed issue, the cabin was perfectly fine. It was in really great shape, minus a few stains on the carpet. We also felt that we had plenty of storage space and room to move around in for the week, which was quite obviously a plus.

 

To be continued tomorrow (Tuesday)...time for bed! :)

[candjwilsn]

Great review, I'm anxiously awaiting your full review. We sail on AOS in a month and can hardly wait.

[BethV114]

Where's the rest of your review? We're sailing on AOS in less than three weeks, so I can't wait to hear how the rest of your cruise went!!:eek:

[jimbug]

Working on it right now...I'm at work so it's not going quite as fast as it would be if I were at home. I promise more soon!

[kittymom65]

Excellent review so far!

Looking forward to the rest.

[bubbadog]

just leave work and head home,tell your boss you have a dental appt,then run home fast and finish the story lol:)))):p ;)

[jimbug]

Here's some more for you...I'm still writing (obviously)...haha...

 

Embarkation Day (Continued):

After seeing the beds together, I went off down the hall in search of our cabin steward, Castillo. (We found his name and picture on the card by the guest services binder in the cabin.) He was more than happy to separate the beds for us, and he was very friendly and capable throughout the week. Our luggage still had not arrived, so we decided to go up to the Windjammer for snacks and a beverage. The Windjammer was crowded, but there were still plenty of seats to be easily found. We filled our plates with some yummy desserts (the sugar free Key Lime mousse was awesome!) and grabbed a lemonade, then sat down by the window to people-watch and just take it all in. After snacking a bit, we headed back up to the cabin to check for our luggage…Liz’s two bags had arrived, but mine were still nowhere to be seen. So, she was able to unpack, and then it was time for the ever-dreaded muster drill. The one thing I didn’t really like about Royal Caribbean’s version of the muster drill, is that we had no idea where our muster station was. There was a diagram posted on the back of the cabin door, but it didn’t make much sense, and it didn’t give a name for the place we were supposed to “muster”…haha. We asked Castillo where to go, and he said just to follow all the people heading downstairs, so we did. Turns out, our muster station was the dining room…would have been much easier to find if we had known where we were heading! The drill itself was quite painless. We headed back to the cabin to put our life jackets away, and discovered my luggage had finally arrived! We unpacked, lounged around the ship some more, then went up on deck for the sailaway party. It was so much fun, even though we did more watching than participating! The crew members had a large number of people doing various line dances…the calypso band was pretty good, as well.

 

By then, it was time for our 8:30 dinner seating. We made our way to the dining room, unsure of who we’d find at our table. Admittedly, I was sort of hoping we’d either be seated with other women traveling together, or a wide variety of people. We were actually seated with FIVE married couples…four of which were honeymooners in their early 20s, plus another couple who looked to be in their mid-40s. Indeed it was a little weird, and conversation was pretty strained that night. Everyone was perfectly nice, but I’m pretty much convinced that Royal Caribbean thought Liz and I were more than just friends…haha. The food was also so-so that night…I had the Vidalia onion tart (more like quiche, which was excellent), the Tuscan tomato soup (decent), the shrimp ravioli (yuck), and some sort of apple tart for dinner (not that great). Liz had the melon and mango and the stuffed chicken breast, both of which she thought were excellent. After dinner, we had grand plans of going to the welcome-aboard show and to the Rock-a-Rokie karaoke, but we were so exhausted, we ended up going straight to bed.

 

Oh, I forgot to add... our waiters were Mustafa and Ericson, with Mihai as our headwaiter. All 3 were great! Mustafa was from Turkey, and he was such a ladies' man...so charming! Ericson, from the Philippines, was his assistant. Ericson always performed tricks or told us jokes...he was a riot, and definitely our favorite! Mihai was probably the friendliest of all the headwaiters I've ever had...he came to our table each night to check on us and to make conversation. Was he fishing for tips? Yes, probably, but at least it didn't seem forced.

[Mack704]

Thanks for the beginnings of a fabulous review. You have a wonderful writing style. Easy reading and very interesting. Looking forward to the rest. DW and I will be on the AOS next April.

 

Also, you have the correct attitude for a great cruise vacation -- "but hey, we were on vacation and nothing was going to spoil our fun." That's the way we always do it, too.

 

Harvey

[jimbug]

First Day at Sea:

We slept in this morning (yay!), and ordered pastries, cereal, and juice from room service to be delivered between 9:30-10:00. They called to let us know they were coming at 9:20, and were at our door at 9:30 exactly…talk about prompt service! Something I noticed, that I thought I should share: the room service breakfast cards that you can hang on your door the night before do NOT list any of the hot items that are available for breakfast, such as eggs, bacon/sausage, omelets, etc. However, if you look in the guest services binder in your cabin, there is a much more extensive room service breakfast menu. You will have to call them that morning to order it, rather than hanging the card the night before, but that information was good to know for when we wanted a larger breakfast.

 

After breakfast, we put on our swimsuits and headed up to the pool. The pools were actually packed, but there were plenty of loungers to be found. We grabbed a couple on Deck 12, and laid out in the sun for a couple of hours, just reading and enjoying the tropical weather. Here’s another bit of information I discovered: the Pool Bar and the Sky Bar do not have the same extensive drink menus that all the inside bars have. I ordered the frozen Key Lime Pie drink from a pool deck waiter, but I was unable to get it, so I “settled” for a strawberry daiquiri (good nonetheless!). Maybe everyone else knows this, but I didn’t! :-)

 

Around noon, we headed indoors to have the Brasserie 30 lunch in the dining room. They were advertising made-to-order pasta in addition to the regular menu. The pasta looked delicious, but I decided on the mulligatawny soup, the buffalo chicken sandwich, and the carrot cake pyramid for dessert. The soup was fabulous – I had no idea (and still don’t) what mulligatawny soup was, but it was quite delicious…almost had a mustardy-curry taste to it. The sandwich was just okay…I should have gotten the pasta…and the cake was yummy. I think Liz had a Caesar salad, the cheeseburger and fries, and a peach crumble for dessert. She said the peach crumble was great…it was the waiter’s recommendation, and it did look good!

 

After lunch, we went back out to the pool for awhile, and then went inside to get ready for our formal night dinner we had reserved at Portofino. We took a few formal portraits before dinner (hardly any lines), then headed up to Portofino. I should qualify what I’m about to say by stating that we are both fairly picky eaters (neither of us eat very much fish or seafood), and I am extremely picky about what vegetables I eat. I admit that it was a little bit difficult for us both to find items on each course that we liked, BUT…what we did pick was quite simply amazing. I started with the shrimp risotto, then had the bean soup, the mushroom pasta, and the filet mignon. Liz had the eggplant roulades, the mushroom pasta, and the veal. Everything was so delicious, but our favorite was decidedly the mushroom pasta. It was served in a mascarpone cream sauce, and it literally melted in my mouth. By the time dessert came around, we were too stuffed to even think about it, but we did have a few bites of the strawberry pistachio panna cotta (me) and the apricot tart (Liz). I don’t really remember our waiter’s name, but Mary Grace was our assistant waiter, and she was awesome. She was really on top of things, as well as being super-friendly and seemed to really love her job. You should also know that after you’ve had dessert, they bring you out ANOTHER plate of chocolate-covered strawberries and petit fours, which we couldn’t even bring ourselves to touch, so Mary Grace boxed it up and sent it back with us to our room. Our dinner there was fabulous, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone wanting an upscale dining experience.

 

Once again, we had plans to go to the show and the nightclub after dinner, but after stuffing ourselves silly at Portofino, we pretty much just passed out and watched tv for awhile before falling asleep. (It was nice to get the Style network on the in-cabin tv...I got to catch up on my celebrity gossip and makeover shows...!) Oh well…vacation is for relaxing, right? haha

[BethV114]

Jimmie - it sounds like you guys had such a great time! I'm jealous!! You're making it even harder to wait out those last 19 days until it's our turn.:eek: You've got me hooked - can't wait until your next installment. What you've written so far is great.:)

[jimbug]

Here's some more...

 

How could I forget…the CruiseCritic roll call party at 5pm on the first formal night! We met at the Blue Moon lounge, and we had a pretty good turnout (25-30, maybe?). Marvin from the cruise staff hosted the event, and Royal Caribbean provided canapés and lemonade/tea/water. They also did a raffle drawing for about 10 or 12 different prizes…I ended up with a Shipshape towel and Liz got a Royal Caribbean hat. It was a very nice event overall, and also fun to be able to finally put faces with names.

 

Aruba:

We woke up around 8:00 a.m. and turned on the TV to the bridge cam just in time to see us pulling into Aruba. We went down to the Windjammer for breakfast (still not that crowded) and tried to formulate a game plan for the day. Prior to the cruise, someone on the CruiseCritic Aruba board mentioned how great the Spa del Sol at the Manchebo Beach Resort was, so after checking out their web site (http://www.manchebo.com) we decided to book spa services for our day there. Soraya, the spa receptionist, was the one we corresponded through e-mail with, and she was awesome when we got there, as well…so very welcoming and pleasant. We disembarked the ship and walked the short distance to the bus station. There are signs by where each bus stops letting you know where the bus is headed. This probably won’t make any sense to you before you get there, but the bus to Eagle and Palm Beach is the one that stops on the far left side of the terminal. Check the white 8.5x11 sign posted there to make sure. The fare is $1.30/pp one way or $2.30/pp roundtrip. They do take US dollars, and they will make change if you need it. Our driver was very nice, and he gave us our transfer ticket for the return trip.

 

Getting to the Manchebo Resort was a little bit confusing. I knew beforehand that it was near the Alhambra Casino, so when I saw the bus stop near the casino, we got off there. It was on a little side street about 100 yards from the corner where the casino and the Tamarijn Resort are. We crossed the street and walked into the Dunkin Donuts next to the casino to ask for directions to Manchebo. Turns out it was just right behind us…there is a smaller street that runs parallel to the main street in front of the casino, and the resorts are along there. We arrived at the resort, and although it’s a fairly small property, it was absolutely beautiful. We followed the pathway signs to the Spa del Sol pavilion, and Soraya greeted us warmly. Even though we had about 2 hours before our scheduled services, Soraya was able to give us lockers, robes, and anything else we needed, including a nice glass of delicious pineapple juice. I have to say here that Eagle Beach was BEAUTIFUL…I have never in my life seen such a gorgeous, perfect beach, and I’ve been to the wonderfully picturesque Half Moon Cay, Bahamas (my favorite until this trip). Soraya had mentioned to us that chairs and umbrellas at the resort were $5 each, so we headed over to the beach attendant. He wanted to charge us $8 each, so we declined upon principle. I know that it sounds silly to fuss over $3, but we were only going to be there about an hour, and there were plenty of places for us to sit and put our stuff for free over by the spa. That’s the one thing I wish – when we’re spending big bucks at the spa, it would be nice to get resort guest privileges for the chairs and umbrellas, at least. So, we dropped our towels under a palm tree and headed for the water! Seriously…amazing. There were no rocks, seaweed, or anything. I didn’t even see a fish. So, it’s probably pretty rotten snorkeling, but that was okay. The water was a crystal-clear turquoise, and the sand was powder-soft white. If I ever get the chance, I will definitely be back to Aruba and will definitely be staying at a resort on Eagle Beach.

 

We returned to the spa a little while later, and used their showers…too hot to use the complimentary jacuzzi. Shortly thereafter, it was time for our spa services. I booked a 50-minute relaxation massage, which took place in one of the open-air beachfront cabanas. I felt like a celebrity! Liz had an eyebrow wax and a French pedicure, which she said she really enjoyed. My massage therapist, whose name escapes me, was very good. Our CruiseCritic roll call friends Ben and Judy were also there for massages, so it was nice to see them again and chat for a bit.

 

After our spa treatment, we took the bus back downtown. The bus stop to return is much easier to find. Soraya drew us a little map, and there is a closer stop nearer the casino than where we stopped earlier. The bus came within 5 minutes of our arrival, and we were back downtown probably 10 minutes later. We walked around and did a little bit of shopping for about an hour, then decided we were hungry. Rather than eat in Aruba, we decided to just walk back to the ship for a late lunch in the Windjammer. After eating, we headed to the nearly-empty Solarium pool and lounged around there for a couple of hours, getting in some more sun for the day. I really, really enjoyed Aruba and wish we could have spent more time there. Is there a cruise that stops there for a couple of days? :-)

 

Before dinner, we participated in the Majority Rules game show (we didn’t win…), then returned to our dining table for the first time since embarkation night. I was sort of dreading it, since conversation was so difficult the first night, but it turns out we had nothing to fear! Two of the honeymoon couples did not show up again, and we had a new honeymoon couple, Dan and Amanda. Turns out their flight to San Juan had been cancelled and they had to join the ship in Aruba…boy, do they have stories to tell their kids someday about their honeymoon adventures! They were super-nice, and we really got along well the rest of the week. The table dynamic was much-improved. I think on this night I had the Caprese salad, which I did not like, the roasted garlic soup (good), and the chicken marsala (very good). I don’t recall what I had for dessert that night. Liz had the scallop risotto with no scallops (haha), and the chicken marsala. We were both pretty pleased with the food that night.

 

After dinner, we FINALLY made it to some entertainment and went to see BeatleMania. I was not expecting much, but these guys were awesome! They performed near-perfect covers of Beatles songs, and they really had the crowd moving. I think some of the baby-boomer crowd forgot they were cheering for a cover band and not John, Paul, George, and Ringo. (haha) The crowd loved them so much, they came out to do two encores, which was definitely not planned, because the sign language interpreter had to get new lyrics before they could start! They were, quite possibly, the best cruise ship entertainment I have seen. If you get a chance to see them, definitely go!

[mchin]

Your review is wonderful. Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip. We are sailing the same ship, same itinerary, and staying at the Caribe Hilton in April 2008.

[Let'sGo!]

Keep going Jimmie, keep going!!!

 

We're on this cruise in February. I'm already looking into that spa for our Aruba stop. Sounds heavenly!

[TMarie]

Jimbug-

 

I cant wait to hear more about your adventures! We are sailing 17 days! I also checked out the Manchebo Spa and resort, and will keep that in mind next time around! I wasnt able to get my S/O interested in beach side massages!

 

Keep up the good reading material! I have to have SOMETHING to do at work :rolleyes:

[enzeno]

Great Review so far! Keep it coming.

 

We're going on the Sep 16th sailing of AOS.

 

By chance, do remember if port or starboard had a better view most of the time? Just wondering.

 

Thanks!

[jimbug]

I wish I could tell you, but being in an inside cabin, I really didn't keep track. Sorry!

 

I'm almost finished with the Curacao portion, so it will be up soon. Thanks for the nice comments, everyone!

 

Great Review so far! Keep it coming.

 

We're going on the Sep 16th sailing of AOS.

 

By chance, do remember if port or starboard had a better view most of the time? Just wondering.

 

Thanks!

[jimbug]

Curacao:

In Curacao, one of our fabulous roll call members, Sandytoes (Kris), had organized a private bus through Blue Angel Tours to take 16 of us CCers to Playa Porto Mari. We had prearranged to meet on Deck 2 by the Screening Room, then we all went out and disembarked the ship together. Our air-conditioned bus was waiting on us and we all loaded in, along with our guide Noosha (sp?). She was very sweet, and gave us a wonderful tour and Curacao history lesson all the way out to Porto Mari, which was about a 30-minute drive. We had the option to add on a city tour at the end of our trip for an additional $8/pp, but we all declined…we were so tired by the end of the day. May I just say right here that if you are planning on renting a car and driving yourself to Porto Mari, don’t…unless you are already familiar with the island. Nothing is marked…there are hardly any road signs, and we even went over some questionable “roads” on the way there. I really would not feel comfortable driving all that way, unless I knew I had a good map and good sense of where I needed to go. Otherwise, the roads and traffic in Curacao in general were probably the easiest to travel on out of all the islands we visited (drivers are just crazy in St. Maarten and St. Thomas!).

 

Playa Porto Mari was just like the pictures. (http://www.playaportomari.com) It was very scenic and remote, just as we had expected. When you first walk in the bar/restaurant is on your left, and the dive shop and restrooms are on your right. We were one of the first groups to arrive for the day, so we had our share of loungers and umbrellas to claim. Shortly after our arrival, a beach attendant came by to collect the entrance fee ($2 each) and the lounger fee ($3 each). Umbrellas are free, and are first-come, first-serve. Liz and I went up to the dive shop to rent snorkel equipment ($9 each)…the mask and snorkel were good quality, but the fins were bent out of shape and made it difficult to maneuver with them. This beach area is an EXCELLENT beach for snorkeling (more on that below), but maybe not so much for just bobbing in the waves, since there is a lot of coral and sharp rock in the shallow areas. However, once you get out to about 5 ft deep, there are large sandy spots that are much better for just hanging out. Just about the time I was ready to start snorkeling, it started to rain…and rain…and rain some more. It downpoured hard for about an hour, I’d guess. Most people didn’t mind – snorkeling and swimming continued, but Liz and I waited it out under our umbrella laughing at our bad luck. Fortunately, our bad luck didn’t last long, as the sun finally came out (and stayed out) a little bit later. I started snorkeling around, trying to find the underwater snorkel trail they have, marked by the reef balls. If you’re not sure what reef balls are, look on Porto Mari’s web site…it’s quite informative and really pretty cool. I never finished the whole trail, as it was quite long and the water was a little too choppy, but what I saw was really cool…all sorts of beautiful fish and sea life. Supposedly there is some fire coral out there, but I never saw any. The people at the dive shop will give you a map of the snorkel trail to get you started…but it’s kind of difficult to follow once you’re in the water…they should plant some sort of sign or arrow on the bottom directing you which way to go to follow the trail (is this even possible?).

 

After snorkeling for a while (Liz stayed in the shallow area), we headed up to the bar to get some lunch. At first, I was a bit shocked at the high prices until I realized they were in Netherlands Antilles Florins (NAF). The conversion rate to USD is $1.75NAF=$1.00USD, so things were quite cheap there, actually! I had the grilled Hawaiian sandwich (grilled chicken with pineapple and a spicy ketchup-like sauce) and a Diet Coke, and my total was $3.36 USD. Awesome…Liz had a grilled cheese sandwich (not like any you’ve seen before…much better, with lots of vegetables and fresh bread) and a soda, and her total was also around $4. You really can’t beat that with a stick. They had burgers, all sorts of sandwiches, and dinners with chicken skewers, shrimp, and some Dutch items that we weren’t quite sure about…had we been hungrier, I probably would have asked what they were, but a sandwich was sufficient, so we were set.

 

After lunch, we laid out in the sun for a couple of hours, and proceeded to get fried (oops). (I was tan by the next day, so it wasn’t too bad!) We met up with our CC friends in the bar about 30 minutes before we were scheduled to leave and had a great time chatting and talking about our cruise. Our bus arrived on schedule, and we got back to the port area around 3:00 or so. The total cost for roundtrip bus transportation was $15/pp. This was a pretty good bargain, considering some people have reported on CruiseCritic paying over $30/pp for a roundtrip cab. I also just wanted to say thanks again to Kris for organizing this wonderful tour!

 

We had to be back onboard by 4:30, so we decided against going into town, and just did some last-minute shopping at the souvenir huts by the ship. Here’s another little pointer for you—one of the huts there sells some local liquor brewed in Curacao…I don’t remember the names, but one was a banana cream, and one was a pistachio cream. They gave out free samples, and the banana cream liquor was so smooth and delicious! I thought about buying some, but at $23 for a 750ml bottle, I decided not to. I later saw the same stuff at Le Gran Marche (supermarket) in St. Maarten for about ½ the price. Keep that in mind if you really like it!

 

I think this is the day that we got back on the ship and ordered room service for snacks. Liz had the turkey sandwich, I ordered the chicken drummettes, and we got the chili dip and chips to share. Sandwich and chicken = good. Chili dip = kinda weird. Just so you know…lol. My memory is starting to get a little hazy here, but I think we just lounged around in the room that evening reading and watching tv before dinner. Dinner that night was good, and it was a menu that I have never seen before. For those of you who have seen the menus at http://www.thepreismans.com/Freedom_menus.htm, they have dropped the Caribbean menu, and replaced it with something different. Since I don’t have it for reference, I really don’t remember what I got, but I think I had a pork chop. I do remember about the dessert that evening – we did not have a choice, unless someone needed a low-fat or sugar-free option. Mustafa brought us all out a dessert sampler plate…and it was just okay. There was a rum cake, some sort of chocolate cheesecake, and another item that I don’t recall. No one was really impressed with it, I don’t think. However, before you think that I’m complaining, I’m really not. I just would have preferred something different, I think.

 

The Love & Marriage game show took place this night, and we had the best intentions of going to it, but of course, we walked back to the room and decided sleep was calling our name. Fortunately, we were able to catch it on the in-cabin tv later in the week…it was very funny! (The guys had to write down their wife’s bra size…one of them said 8A…!!)

 

Okay, this is going to be it for a few hours...I'm leaving work in a bit to go play softball tonight, so I won't be back online until later tonight. Hope you all like what I have so far!

[Gator0178]

Great Pics! I laughed at the pic of you rinsing your feet off in the Bidee(sp)!!!!!!!!!

[Gator0178]

Great pics. I got a big laugh at the pic of you washing your feet off in the BIDET!!!!:eek:

[findatmyfeet]

Great Review so far! Keep it coming.

 

We're going on the Sep 16th sailing of AOS.

 

By chance, do remember if port or starboard had a better view most of the time? Just wondering.

 

Thanks!

Enzeno,

Have you joined the roll call for your sailing? Large group of us going and have the meet and mingle all set up.

Michele

[KillaFee]

OMG I'm having so much fun reading your review! I feel like I'm there - and I love that you just seem to enjoy everything and even if somethings not great you seem to be really level-headed about it. :D

 

I'm SOOOO happy that you said Eagle beach is the most beautiful beach you've ever seen because that's where I'm getting married in January!! (we've got 23 people booked w/us on the AOS for that week:D ). Do you remember how long of a drive it was from the pier to Eagle beach, by any chance?

 

So how do you like Royal Caribbean compared to other lines? Are you a fan or what? :D :p

Can wait to hear the rest!!

Laura

[Tex_Jen]

Jimbug, great review! You are making me homesick for the AOS. I have to wait until next April...:(

 

Jen

[jimbug]

OMG I'm having so much fun reading your review! I feel like I'm there - and I love that you just seem to enjoy everything and even if somethings not great you seem to be really level-headed about it. :D

 

I'm SOOOO happy that you said Eagle beach is the most beautiful beach you've ever seen because that's where I'm getting married in January!! (we've got 23 people booked w/us on the AOS for that week:D ). Do you remember how long of a drive it was from the pier to Eagle beach, by any chance?

 

So how do you like Royal Caribbean compared to other lines? Are you a fan or what? :D :p

Can wait to hear the rest!!

Laura

 

Hi Laura,

I'm glad you're enjoying the review. I'll have more up here in just a little bit...we got run-ruled tonight in softball, so the night ended early...haha.

 

Eagle Beach was truly awesome. I think it was maybe 10 minutes tops from the pier...we took the public bus both ways, and it really didn't take long at all. I'm sure your wedding will be beautiful there.

 

I really do like Royal Caribbean...and everyone keeps asking me which is my favorite out of Princess, HAL, and RCCL (all the lines I've sailed on). I have honestly enjoyed every single one of my cruises, and like all 3 lines for different reasons. I'd sail on any of them again in a heartbeat. So, yeah, I'm an RCCL fan, but not necessarily any more than Princess or HAL..haha. We're trying Carnival for the first time next March...also the first time I'll be sailing with a large family group...we're taking my 75-year-old grandma on her first cruise...look out! :)