Trip Report: Adventure of the Seas – Feb 18, 2017 Sailing….A boat load of fun!!

Summary:

My group of six were on this sailing. It is a very port intensive cruise. We selected the AOTS based on a fun 2016 cruise on Navigator, Adventure’s sister ship. It was a great trip. Adventure in our eyes was in very good shape, the service staff was spectacular, food was generally very good, and our portdays were fun for the most part. We started the trip with a couple days in Old San Juan and I will include that in the trip report as well.

The three wordoverviews:

• Ship Shape – She looked great
  
• Food – Usually VERY good
  
• Service – Best we’ve experienced.
  
• Shows – Good, not great
  
• Embarkation – Easiest process ever
  
• St. Maarten – Seraphina’s croissants = OMG!!!!
  
• St. Kitts – Thenford Grey ROCKS
  
• Antigua – Wow, the views!
  
• St. Lucia – Very lazy day
  
• Barbados – Fun unscheduled tour
  
• At Sea Day – Sun, Fun, Food
  
• Disembarkation – Porter = Easy-Peazy
   
  I’ll write each day separately. NEXT: Pre-cruise in Old San Juan
  

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54 more days and we will be there waiting on your report

Looking forward to your review!

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Pre gaming – 2 days in Old San Juan

We got to San Juan two days before sailing day. A little pre gaming if you will. We booked the Casa Blanca Hotel on Calle Fortalesa, right in the heart of OSJ. Loved this little hotel. It’s funky, different, and in within walking distance of all of OSJ. The staff is very accommodating, even hunting down a lost wallet in a cab (a minor miracle). I wouldn’t call it a long term stay hotel but for a couple days in town it was perfect.

The first evening was just wandering around town. We found a nice hole in the wall just down from the hotel called The Parrot Café. It turned out to be a great place. We ended up having dinner there. Some of the fare included plantain nachos, steak and egg tacos, mofongo(which I surprisingly really liked), and oh yea….The MONDO MARAGARITA. The service was friendly. We even went back the next day for afternoon drinks where we were the only folks in the place. Several over pours by the bartender later, we decided The Parrot café will be our first stop when Harmony of the Seas docks in San Juan in February of next year.

The Second day we did a walking tour of Old San Juan. We booked it through Viator and our guide was David Rodríguez. He made it agreat 4 hour walk. Lots of sights and history. David was a super guide and we learned a lot about the city and how it was settled. We’d recommend him highly.

Later that night we taxied over to the Condado part of town for dinner at the highly rated restaurant, Oceano. Our experience there was not good at all. After being seated, it took 30 minutes for our drinks, another hour for our main courses to arrive….some cold. Management did little to correct the situation. I can see that if everything goes well you can have a nice night there, but sadly for us that was not thecase. 2 stars out of 5 for our evening there.

Cruise morning, we woke up late on purpose. Some went out for breakfast in the square near the hotel, others like me slept an extra hour. We checked out around noon, and the front desk team had a large van waiting for the six of us and we were whisked away to the Adventure of theSeas.

Next: An amazing Onboarding experience, night one of the cruise, and winning poker.

(Also an attempt to figure out how to attach pictures)

Will be following along.

Following along! Love Adventure and it sounds like you had a wonderful cruise!

• Embarkation – Easiest process ever
  
• 
  
• Disembarkation – Porter = Easy-Peazy
  

Glad to hear it. For years, I heard a lot of stories of difficulties, but our first southern out of SJU was very easy. Looking forward to going back. Thanks for taking the time to report.

Following along... thanks for the review!!!

Day 1 – Walk right in, MDR hiccup, Win free things

Our van from the hotel was quick and inexpensive. For six of us and 11 pieces of luggage it was $29 plus tip. We arrived at the Pan American pier around 1230. We pulled upright to the luggage drop and the “line” to get through the TSA checkpoint. Bags checked, we waited for the 10-12 people in front of us to get through TSA check. From there we got in or lowly C&A Goldline. After counting to 10, we were ushered to our RCL rep to get our SeaPass cards, etc. From there we proceeded to the Duck & Dog Pub to break in our ultimate drink packages. Total time from being dropped off at the pier to the pub was 15 minutes.

The Promenade was in great shape and as my wife says “sparkly”. We had an hour to kill before rooms opened up, so we just kept sampling drinks. A passing Cruise Critic member, “Somebodysdream”, recognized our group and stopped in. It was the start of a fun interaction that lasted the whole cruise. Promptly at 2, the announcement that cabins were open was made, and we proceeded to deck 7. Cabins 7270,7274, and 7276 were our home for the next week. And what to our surprise was waiting outside our door when we arrived? Our luggage!! A little unpacking and we continued or tour of the ship. AOTS looked good tous. Sure there was a scuff or nick here and there, but in general she looked well taken care of.

After our life boat drill, we heading to our MDR seating, 6:30 today due to the drill. Day 1 is also the only day where wearing shorts to the MDR is acceptable. Consider that most folks don’t even have their luggage yet and it makes sense. We were escorted to our table…right in front of the main entrance. It was a constant din of human traffic going by, with no real opportunity to relax and have peace and quiet. We talked to the floor Mater Di, Anthony,and he said he would work a change for tomorrow, which he did. For dinner that night, I had the pork entrée, and it was my one and only substandard meal of the week. A bit dry, and frankly not real tasty. The rest of the week more than made up forthat meal.

After dinner, I made a stop in the casino to see if I gota see in the free roll poker tournament they advertised in the promenade. I did!! After shedding to table of the people that had no idea how to play poker, it came down to three of us for two prizes. I knocked out #3, and when it came to just two of us, I had a small chip lead. The wife of the guy I was playing really wanted the dinner for two at Giovanni’s prize. I already had reservations for day 7, so I we ended the game there. Let him have the Giovanni’s dinner, and I walked away with a bottle of champagne. Seemed like the right thing to do.

We all went to the opening night show at the Lyric Theater. It was pretty decent, your typical cruise show fare. The featured professional dancers were very good. Two of the 4 singers were very good, but all the rest was just OK. Not a bad show and a nice way to end the day.

Next: St. Maarten, the best croissant EVER, and lots of sun.

Great review so far...we sail on Adventure on the 8th of April...:cool:

Loving it! Thanks!

Some pics...... (I hope)

She looked good from the dock. The anchor well was even nicely ground to fresh metal.

Our 1st drink at the Duck & Dog Pub

Poker tournament winners !!

Our gang with 4th floor MDR Manager Anthony

Our door placard for the week. Each family had their son "protecting" their cabin door

Following....

Following! Great review so far. Thanks for sharing!

Can't wait for more! We don't sail until November so reviews are all I have to hold me over!

We are on this same itinerary in June. Which nights were formal nights? 2 and 5 or 6 (St. Maarten & St. Lucia or Barbados)? Thanks.

Go Blue Hens!!

Some pics...... (I hope)

 

She looked good from the dock. The anchor well was even nicely ground to fresh metal.

 

Our 1st drink at the Duck & Dog Pub

 

Poker tournament winners !!

 

Our gang with 4th floor MDR Manager Anthony

 

 

Our door placard for the week. Each family had their son "protecting" their cabin door

Enjoying your review and photos.

Enjoying your review of one of our favorite shipsand itineraries.

Day 2: Bernard?s, Baguettes,and Booze

When we woke up on day 2, we were in Phillipsburg, St.Maarten, our first stop in this port heavy itinerary. Oh yea, speaking of itineraries, when we got on board each of our group got a large laminated itinerary for the whole cruise, as well as a pocket edition for carrying around. The Prince of Planning (me) was in high gear this trip.

A sample of the itinerary

Our port day consisted of an island tour with Bernards Tours. We chose Tour #1, which did not include beach time, except for 45 minutes at Maho beach. Finding the tour and assembling was easy enough. Our van had approximately 10 people on board. Thats our group of 6 and a Finnish family of 4, who were sweet as can be. We saw many picturesque sites as we toured both the Dutch and French sides. It was an ok tour but not as good as we had hoped. Being able to look at it in retrospect, it was probably #3 of our three island trips this trip. The one let down was not due to the tour company, but the island itself. The gap between the affluence and abject poverty was much greater than I expected.

The one high spot of the tour was a bakery called Seraphina's in Marigot, on the French side. Quite simply it was the best croissant I ever had. Any of the breads of pastries we had were phenomenal. If you are ever touring the island, this is a MUST STOP location. We also made a stop at Maho Beach for about an hour. It was fun. Got to see two big planes land and a few smaller ones. The beach was pretty packed, but still room enough to get right under the planes glide slope.

Open Air seating at Seraphina's

Seraphina's Pastry selection

A beautiful view. Supposedly, the large house with the fence belongs to Chuck Norris.

The gang on a hill overlooking Orient Beach

A picture of lizards......taken from a safe place in the van.

We had our driver drop us off on Front St. to do some shopping, and continue my search for my vacation watch. It was Sunday and not all the shops were open. Saw something I liked, but nothing that blew me away. Mrs. Zdad found a nice ring and matching earring, and others in our got some good jewelry deals. Afterward we walked back to the ship, about a leisurely 15 minute walk.

On board that night, we got our MDR table moved to table 402 a much better location. And we also lucked into the best serving team we've ever had. Head server was Jeffery, his assistant was Marie, and our bar server was Theresa. Their service was impeccable. Marie was on her first contract with RCL, and I can tell you if she sticks to it, she will run the MDR someday. Theresa our bar server was wonderful too. She took our Sea Pass cards once on the first day, and the rest of the week, either in the MDR or in the Solarium where she worked during the day, we never had to show her our card again. She had our numbers down and always tookcare of us including the double Buffalo Trace bourbons with dinner. I think I broke even on the Ultimate drink package, just at dinner each day.

Later in the evening, we strolled the Promenade, and ended up in the theater to see the headliner show. The Platters. Now not the original Platters. I think they are no longer with us. The next generation of Platters were pretty good. Not an OMG show, but pretty entertaining. The show and a few Bailey's on the rocks made for a great end to the evening.

Next: A man named Thenford.

Great so far, thanks!

We are on this same itinerary in June. Which nights were formal nights? 2 and 5 or 6 (St. Maarten & St. Lucia or Barbados)? Thanks.

Yes....nights 2 & 6 were the formal nights. Very few went "formal" A lot of suits and nice outfits, but little true formal.

I'll get around to posting all the Cruise Compasses.

We also had a fantastic time. Sorry we didn't meet up anywhere on the ship! I am hoping to do a review also, just trying to get organized with pictures and everything after catching up at work this week. Great review--

Day 3: ThenfordGrey hits a home run.

We started the day as usual, with a nice breakfast in the Windjammer. We enjoyed the quick breakfast there each morning. We found that walking to “the other side” of the buffet allowed you to find much shorter lines, especially if you wanted a fresh omelet. I didn’t find the fresh squeezed OJ very tasty, but a couple cups of coffee made things tasty. Once or twice during the week, when we were more coherent in the morning, we’d walk to the promenade for a specialty coffee, then head up for breakfast. All in all, a good selection in the Windjammer. A few in our group would go to the MDR for breakfast on occasion. They reported that things were tasty there too, and much quieter than the buffet.

After breakfast, we made haste for the end of the dock. There, a lanky man with a Thenford Grey Tours sign was waiting. It was Thenford himself. We were off on his Grand Island Tour shortly thereafter. Two in our group bowed out after a liberal use of the Ultimate drink package the night before. Others in our group were a gang from Canada, couples from Syracuse, NY and England, and one pet rubber chicken named Poulet. Poulet was quite prominent inall the Canadian photos. You could tell from the start the Thenford had a great passion for his island, and a passion for cricket. He was a fantastic story teller, and had a smooth delivery that kept you interested most of the way.

Thenford Grey - The Man. The Myth. The Legend

We stopped at Romney Manor, where Thenford lead a tour. He had a great amount of knowledge about the flora and fauna. The nearly 400 year old Saman tree was beautiful. Romney Manor also is home to one of St. Kitts’ most celebrated local businesses– Caribelle Batik. Using the traditional methods of treating fabric with wax to resist dye, the artisans of Caribelle Batik have been creating their apparel and tapestries for more than 30 years. We even got to watch the artists at work and learn the technique during hands-on demonstrations.

Some Batik drying

The 400 year old Saman tree

Some ruins on Romney Manor

Our next main stop was at Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park. It was a location full of history and some very fantastic views. The hike up to the top of the fortress wasn’t so bad, but for folks with walking issues, it would be tough. I operate on a knee replacement and rebuilt Achilles, and I made it fine. The views from the top were quite spectacular. When we got back to the parking area, Thenford said he had a great photo spot for our group. He lead us to the back of his van where we found he had decorated the back with a super greeting for us (see the pic). We were shocked and happily surprised.

View from the top of Brimstone Hill Fortress

Thenford's great surprise for us.

We toured much of the island the rest of the day, with a couple scenic picture stops. The last main stop was a beach resort. A chance for those that wanted some beach time. We chose to be taken back to the ship. Mrs. Zdad and the others in our group were dropped off in town to have a late lunch, while I headed to the jewelry shops near the ship to watch shop. There I found the watch I was looking for at Kay’s Fine Jewelry. After some haggling, I got a price $100 cheaper than the “awesome price” that was offered on the ship. I happily made the purchase.

Later that night, we had another nice dinner in the MDR. I had the Manhattan skirt steak that appears on the “standards” menu every couple of days. I found it VERY TASTY and actually ordered it again later in the cruise. After dinner we strolled the Promenade on our way to the theater. My buddy stopped in the watch store and I went with him. My buddy really liked my watch and asked for my purchase receipts from earlier that day. The ship shop had the same watch and after much review of my receipts and several managers’ review, they matched the price. I could tell they weren’t happy about it, but I was glad to see that they did honor the price matching policy they advertise. The evening ended with a fun show by a hypnotist. I didn’texpect much but he was pretty good.

Next: An OK Antigua tour and a GREAT Ice show.