ADVENTUREOFTHESEAS REVIEW RCCL ADVENTURE OF THE SEAS SOUTHERNCARIBBEAN

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CRUISES

ROYAL CARIBBEAN ADVENTURE OF THE
SEAS REVIEW
By Paula Hughes Court, Editor, Family Travel Fun

ADVENTURE OF THE SEAS SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN CRUISE
OVERVIEW
This was our tenth cruise, the fifth on Royal Caribbean. The others ranged
from Radisson Seven Seas to Carnival and I’m happy to say this was
probably our favorite cruise of all. The cruise was very port intensive, maybe
too much so for me. I missed the extra sea day and was very tired when we
returned. But we had a great time and have booked the Adventure of the
Seas in February 2008 for the Aruba-Curacao route. I traveled with my
husband and 11-year-old daughter.

The Adventure of the Seas enjoyed a different feel to it than other RCCL
cruises we’ve been on. There was more of a family atmosphere vs. party
ship atmosphere. I didn’t see anyone behaving drunk or obnoxious and the
teenagers I saw were all well behaved. On the second night the ship
handed out a paper saying a strict 1 am curfew for teenagers would be
enforced and they also were not allowing teenagers to congrerate on
stairs, mess around with elevators, etc.

SAN JUAN PORT
We flew into San Juan on Saturday and spent the night at the Sheraton Old
San Juan. The hotel was nice and was in a great location for visiting Old
San Juan. We ate dinner at Senor Frogs since it was across the street but
now I wished we had explored a little further into the town and eaten at one
of the great little restaurants I saw. The next morning we ate breakfast at a
great (and inexpensive) café in Old San Juan which served a variety of
Puerto Rican and American breakfast dishes including a full bakery. My
husband found an even better café a block away so he managed to cram in
3 breakfasts that morning. He said they were all terrific. We spent the
morning exploring Old San Juan which was quite photogenic. We arranged
for a late check out at 2 pm then headed to the port.

EMBARKATION
There was a long line to check in baggage in 95 degree heat. We were in
line only about 25 minutes but the intense heat made it seem much longer.
Once we checked our baggage the check in line inside the terminal was
very short. I’m excited about being Platinum next cruise so I can skip the
line.

ADVENTURE OF THE SEAS CABINS
Our cabin was 9520, a room we have stayed in three times before on other
Voyager class ships because the balcony is about 1/3 longer than other D1
cabins. On the Navigator of the Seas the balcony is all plexiglass and you
have a view to the front of the ship, the bridge and to the side. On
Adventure of the Seas the white steel blocked the view to the front of the
ship and the bridge. We will not book this cabin again because the
connecting door to the family oceanview room allows a great deal of noise
to come through. I felt the family next door was in the room with us
whenever they were in the cabin. Luckily they didn’t stay up all night. Our
room attendant, Germaine, was from Jamaica and very sweet.

ADVENTURE OF THE SEAS DINING
We ate breakfast every morning in the Windjammer and dinner every night
in the Dining Room (Main Seating). They handed out disinfecting wipes
only the first two days of the cruise before entering the Windjammer. After
day two they stopped and there was not a sanitizing machine there either. I
have never seen this before on RCCL and found it to be quite disturbing
considering there was apparently a small Norovirus outbreak of 30 people
on the prior cruise. I carried a personal bottle of sanitizer to the buffet with
me every day and sanitized before and after touching the serving tongs.
Considering the thousands of cruisers that touch the serving tongs, I
personally believe this is a major spot for viruses to be spread so I don’t
take any chances. I also wipe down the cabin with Clorox wipes upon
entering.

Food in the dining room was consistently good. I was glad to see they have
switched the Caribbean menu to another one with better selections. The
“get out there” menu seemed to offer an odd assortment of dishes to me
so this was my least favorite night in the dining room. This would be the
best night for Portofino’s in my opinion.

ADVENTURE OF THE SEAS ENTERTAINMENT
It’s probably coincidence since the crew members rotate between ships,
but we felt the Ice Show and the two Production Shows were of a higher,
more professional level than the shows we’ve seen before on the
Navigator and Voyager of the Seas. This was the best ice show we’ve seen
with several skaters having Olympic competition experience. The dancers
also appeared to be better professionally trained than others we’ve seen.
RCCL is spending a lot of money on show props to give a “Cirque du
Soleil” feel to the shows now.

SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN PORTS
This is a great cruise for ports and I made the mistake of booking
excursions on a couple of days that were simply too long and exhausting.
We did and saw a lot but next time I’m limiting excursions to 3 ½-4 hours
so we will be able to enjoy the ship amenities too. I will be posting more
details about the individual excursions on the port message boards.

Note: The ship leaves each port as soon as the last person boards. In
Barbados, my husband ducked into a store in the cruise terminal to pick up
something quickly on the way back to the ship. All aboard was 5:00 pm and
at 5:01 the cabin phone rang with the gangway asking where my husband
was and why it hadn’t boarded yet. They said they saw him running down
the pier so they held the ship. So don’t be late! They will leave you.

PORT OF BARBADOS
We woke up to a downpour so most ship excursions were cancelled.
Luckily, we booked the private Thriller Tour excursion with Stephen so our
tour left at 12:30. By this time the rain had stopped. We first snorkeled with
sea turtles where the rain caused the water to be murkier than normal. The
turtles were still clearly visible and fun to see. We made two more
snorkeling stops at sunken ships and a beach. Stephen is terrific, a great
host and the maker of the most delicious rum punch ever. I highly
recommend this tour. It was a great value at $50 for 3 ½ hours on a speed
boat.

PORT OF ST LUCIA
We booked Peter the Great for an all day boat/van tour of the island. I’ve
posted a detail review on the St Lucia board. We enjoyed this tour also
because you get to see everything…Pitons, volcano, waterfall, great beach
and the beautiful coastline plus you’re not stuck in a van on winding roads
all day.
Review of St Lucia Tour with Peter the Great
St Lucia Photos

PORT OF ANTIGUA
After reading so many terrific reviews, we booked Eli’s Ecotour. There were
several teenagers and preteens onboard so most were bored with the two
hour boat ride getting to the first stop. I thought we were going to have a
mutiny on our hands any minute. My personal opinion is that they could
charge the same amount, cut the 1 ½ tour talking about the various hotels,
etc. and go straight to the fun stuff. Once we hit Bird Island the tour picked
up and we had a great time. We visited Bird Island, Hell’s Gate (amazing)
then snorkeled. The tour was fun but also too long. It would have been
better if we could have done things in reverse and had more time
snorkeling. Still very much worth the money though. The water in Antiqua is
amazing and clear.

PORT OF ST MARTEEN
We did the same thing as many others and went to Orient Beach. The
beach itself is great with soft white sand and clear, blue water. We found
most of the people on the French side of the island to be rude though, even
if you were buying something from them. After we returned to Philipsburg
near the ship we learned there wasn’t any reason at all to go to Orient
Beach and spend $7 per person each way on a taxi. There is a great beach
downtown that’s beautiful also and Philipsburg is charming and cheap. My
husband collects expensive and unique liquor as a hobby so he is always
checking out ports for great liquor bargains. Usually he buys his liquor in St
Thomas. After shopping in Philipsburg he said it’s by far the best port in the
Caribbean for liquor purchases because the prices are much cheaper.
There is a $5 water taxi that can take you into Philipsburg or you can walk
(a little far though).

PORT OF ST THOMAS
By this time, we were really getting tired. We had been getting up by 7 every
morning and running wide open all day, every day on excursions. In St
Thomas, my daughter and I called it a private sea day and stayed on the
ship which was almost completely empty. We’ve visited St Thomas before
and love going to the top of Paradise Point for the view and the bird show.
We enjoyed having the ship and pool to ourselves. Clearing customs was
easy and only required about 15 minutes to simply walk through the dining
room to get our sea pass stamped and our passport checked.

DISEMBARKING
We had #1 tickets to get off the ship. They let us off at 8:15. We quickly
grabbed our luggage, then a cab to the airport.

FLYING OUT OF SAN JUAN AIRPORT
We were at the airport by 8:45. Important-if you keep your cruise tags on
your luggage you can skip the agricultural lines. We did self service check
in with American Airlines outside the terminal and dropped off the luggage.
We were at the gate by 9:15. It’s so important to get to the airport early. The
lines were stretching to over three hours long by 11 am.

Overall, we greatly enjoyed our cruise. We’re going again in February to do
the other side with Aruba and Curacao. I’m looking forward to the extra sea
day on that cruise!