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We will be sailing out of San Juan Puerto Rico next April. While we were just in San Juan in March for the first and only time I did not notice where we might check in for our cruise in April 2017. Please give me any and all information that you may have. The only port we have sailed out of prior to this is Fort Lauderdale.

 

Also, I just noticed that we leave San Juan at 8:30 pm. What time will they allow us to board the ship? And what time will the cabins be available to use. What if any restaurants will be open for us to eat at? What restaurants on the Adventure are good to eat at. We have never sailed with Royal on anything other than Oasis Class ships. Will we be disappointed?????

 

We are really looking forward to these smaller islands but don't want to be disappointed by the ship.

 

Opinions PLEASE!

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We will be sailing out of San Juan Puerto Rico next April. While we were just in San Juan in March for the first and only time I did not notice where we might check in for our cruise in April 2017. Please give me any and all information that you may have. The only port we have sailed out of prior to this is Fort Lauderdale.

 

Also, I just noticed that we leave San Juan at 8:30 pm. What time will they allow us to board the ship? And what time will the cabins be available to use. What if any restaurants will be open for us to eat at? What restaurants on the Adventure are good to eat at. We have never sailed with Royal on anything other than Oasis Class ships. Will we be disappointed?????

 

We are really looking forward to these smaller islands but don't want to be disappointed by the ship.

 

Opinions PLEASE!

 

When you embark from SJ, the pier is the Pan American, not the Old San Juan.

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We will be sailing out of San Juan Puerto Rico next April. While we were just in San Juan in March for the first and only time I did not notice where we might check in for our cruise in April 2017. Please give me any and all information that you may have. The only port we have sailed out of prior to this is Fort Lauderdale.

 

Also, I just noticed that we leave San Juan at 8:30 pm. What time will they allow us to board the ship? And what time will the cabins be available to use. What if any restaurants will be open for us to eat at? What restaurants on the Adventure are good to eat at. We have never sailed with Royal on anything other than Oasis Class ships. Will we be disappointed?????

 

We are really looking forward to these smaller islands but don't want to be disappointed by the ship.

 

Opinions PLEASE!

 

You can board at the same time as you would at any other port - starting as early as say noon (you can check in earlier though). In terms of your cabins, they will be available at around 1-1:30pm. The Windjammer will be open for lunch - not sure about other restaurants (although from what little I know about Oasis class, you'll find fewer restaurants on the Adventure). Muster drill will be about 8pm.

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You will not be disappointed by the ports of call and the Adventure is a grand ship. So what if is smaller at is still plenty big. We always cruise for the ports first and have had many great experiences and the Royal ships, even much smaller than the Adventure. You should try RC radiance class as well.

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When you embark from SJ, the pier is the Pan American, not the Old San Juan.

 

 

Hello,

We will be sailing out of SJ, March 2017 how far is the Pan American Pier from Old San Juan.

 

Regards,

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Hello,

We will be sailing out of SJ, March 2017 how far is the Pan American Pier from Old San Juan.

 

Regards,

 

I took this video a few years ago, it shows how far it is to OSJ from the RCCL pier. looks close but as you can see it's across the water. Across the water you can see the Carnival Victory at the OSJ pier

 

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You can board at the same time as you would at any other port - starting as early as say noon (you can check in earlier though). In terms of your cabins, they will be available at around 1-1:30pm. The Windjammer will be open for lunch - not sure about other restaurants (although from what little I know about Oasis class, you'll find fewer restaurants on the Adventure). Muster drill will be about 8pm.

 

The muster drill is actually at 5 or 5:30 (or somewhere in between), if you're not on the ship by then you'll have to do a separate muster drill later on.

 

You can get on the ship around 11:30 or noon, and your room will be open at 2pm.

 

There aren't as many restaurants as the Oasis class, but the windjammer (buffet) will be open, and the promenade cafe ;they make sandwiches and pizza and smaller appetizer type snacks and treats). Those are free places to eat. I felt like there was plenty to eat all the time. The adventure goes to so many ports that you aren't on the ship long enough to hop around to all the venues the oasis class has on it anyway. You're gonna have a great time.

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Just off Adventure out of SJ yesterday.

 

Can confirm most of the above. We stayed in a hotel (Marriott Solaris) and it was an easy cab ride to the port. The cabs all know and work the port lines every cruise. Ran about $25 and worked better for us than a group shuttle cuz wife is temporarily on knee scooter and didn't want to inconvenience others on a shared ride. Similar time / charge from ship back to airport.

 

Would definitely recommend booking a flight in at least a day early. We barely made our connection in Orlando due to an FAA weather hold. They held the plane for us and shut the door behind us. If that had been cruise day it would have been a major pucker factor. We were an early number (7) for disembarking, and it too was very quick, with the number called shortly after 8:00. We were at airport by a bit after 9, which was great, but we did have a good wait until our flight time. Handicapped line admittedly saved a bit of time getting out of the port, but the regular line did not look bad either.

 

Muster was held twice, once for the bulk of the passengers at 5:00, and a second for latecomers at 8-8:30.

 

We got to the port at about 11:30 and got right on the ship once the porters took our luggage. We were a bit quicker than many due to wife's foot surgery/HC. Room was not available and room corridors were closed off until 1:45. We ate in the WJ which was surprisingly uncrowded, and the Promenade café had light lunch fare. I heard anyone that got to the port earlier than about 10:45 stood in lines or found seating until the boarding process started. We intentionally waited until we felt the boarding would be underway so the wife did not have to contend with lines since standing is still hard for her.

 

Definitely port intensive with a collection of smaller islands to visit. Was a bit different for us. I liked it, but also missed our usual sea days when we sail out of Galveston near home.

 

Sorry, my short answer turned into a novel.

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Pan AM Pier is across the harbor and is about a 20 to 30 minute taxi ride.

 

Sorry, this is not accurate. Old San Juan is no more than 10 minutes in a cab from the Pan-Am pier. The airport is about 6 miles from the pier and you can reach it in less than 20 minutes on normal traffic.

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ColoradoGurl and Doug S, Your information was really helpful and appreciated your novel. We really weren't sure if we would like visiting islands day after day but we are going to try it.

 

Is there anything special to do or see on these small islands. We do not snorkel. And we are at most of the islands til 5pm. This is the 7 day cruise on Adventure.

 

However, yesterday before the sale ended, I booked the 10 day cruise aboard the adventure also. We will decide before November which we will do.

 

ON one of those islands we will be there until 10pm. Don't know which one as of this writing.

 

But thank all of you for the responses.

 

Doug, how did you enjoy the Marriott Solaris, really considering staying there.

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ColoradoGurl and Doug S, Your information was really helpful and appreciated your novel. We really weren't sure if we would like visiting islands day after day but we are going to try it.

 

Is there anything special to do or see on these small islands. We do not snorkel. And we are at most of the islands til 5pm. This is the 7 day cruise on Adventure.

 

However, yesterday before the sale ended, I booked the 10 day cruise aboard the adventure also. We will decide before November which we will do.

 

ON one of those islands we will be there until 10pm. Don't know which one as of this writing.

 

But thank all of you for the responses.

 

Doug, how did you enjoy the Marriott Solaris, really considering staying there.

 

You'll have So much fun! The adventure alternates the islands it visits every week, so I'm not sure which ones you'll go to, but the best non-snorkel activity we did was in St Lucia. We took an island tour with a company called Cosol's (check it out on trip advisor). They take you all over the island and you get to see some cool stuff.

 

St kitts is also a nice place to take an island tour. People recommended Thenford Grays but we just asked a cab driver at the port to quote us a price to take us to brimstone fortress, the batik factory and a beach. You can also do a volcano hike on this Island if you're up for a challenge.

 

Barbados has the oldest caribbean rum factory and you can visit or tour it (mount gay rum).

 

Lots of sightseeing can be done, or just a pretty beach day, even without the snorkeling :)

Edited by ColoradoGurl
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ColoradoGurl and Doug S, Your information was really helpful and appreciated your novel. We really weren't sure if we would like visiting islands day after day but we are going to try it.

 

Is there anything special to do or see on these small islands. We do not snorkel. And we are at most of the islands til 5pm. This is the 7 day cruise on Adventure.

 

However, yesterday before the sale ended, I booked the 10 day cruise aboard the adventure also. We will decide before November which we will do.

 

ON one of those islands we will be there until 10pm. Don't know which one as of this writing.

 

But thank all of you for the responses.

 

Doug, how did you enjoy the Marriott Solaris, really considering staying there.

 

Not much help on the excursion topic. We were very limited on what we could do on this trip due to DWs recent foot surgery. We did island tours and had an island cooking excursion booked on Barbados, but it was canceled due to lack of participants. Wife loves beach days, but for her walking on sand was a big 'no' on this trip. Most we talked to were doing island tours, shopping, or beach days with snorkeling. I talked to some folks who did 4 wheeler tours with beach stops and such and they enjoyed those.

 

We got off the ship in St Martin with nothing booked and went to the taxi area and they had posted rates for island tours and it was cheaper to get a group together, so we met up with 3 other couples who were off the NCL Gem, and for 8 it was only $25 pp for a 3.5 hour van tour. Had several stops, including one at a nice flea market area with some nice local cabana bars and such.

 

One note about all the port days - on our one real sea day the pools were all packed. Only time it ever seemed crowded on the ship all week. With only one sea day everyone was looking to lay out by the pool, so my advice is to go early and clear out when the crowds get bad.

 

The Marriott Solaris was very nice. We stayed Wed-Sat morning when we cabbed over to the ship. Wife had Marriott points, so the price was right for us too. :) The in house casino was not that much, but we are not big gamblers, so no loss there. Nice beach and pool area with a water slide. Convenient laundry facilities down on the ground level which we used prior to boarding to save a bit on packing. Breakfast was nice but buffet was a bit pricey. Beach bar/restaurant was good. In house restaurants, convenience / souvenier store and coffee shop, or its a very short walks to CVS, Walgreens, Starbucks, and some good local restaurants. We went to Oroscos a few blocks away for a casual lunch and tried the local fare. They sell wine in the drug stores, so you could get your two bottles there if you want, or there was a beverage store nearby too.

 

Hope this helps...

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