WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot

 

Sail away from helipad when we leave Labadee:

 

How do the "perks" of a Sky Class - Crown Loft Balcony Suite compare to these?

Yes, the had the 10 for $85 - I believe it was after day 3 or 4.

 

Same offer on our June cruise....

Not to throw a wrench into your plans, we were on the adventure at the end of April and there was a white party. Maybe they phased it out since he did not have one just now.

 

 

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Well, maybe they do? I dunno. I never saw it on the Cruise Compasses, but to be fair...I never looked for it.

 

I never saw any groups of people walking around dressed in white though.

ok thanks, I'll save it for NCL one more question, our flight home leaves San Juan at 3:00 pm, anything to do at the airport to pass the time ?

 

 

Not really, no. They won't let you check your bags in with the airlines until 4 hours before your flight departs....So, you're stuck in the pre-security area until then. Absolutely nothing to do , but sit.

 

Once you're through security, there's a few shops, and a Margaritaville restaurant. That helped.

Super review, thanks for sharing, we sail next Friday. Was there any sign of a "white party" on board. I thought I read a few months ago there was one and don't want to leave the white dress behind if it's needed.

 

 

 

No, no "White Party" that we were aware of. From what I've read, this is a fleeting thing, more towards NCL. Leave your white stuff at home.

Just curious....too new?

Sunday: The Day After

 

Wow. Having all the fun is a lot like work. I need another vacation to recover from my vacation! After traveling from San Juan for 16 hours, we got home at 0100. Sunday morning, we picked our Siberian Husky up from the kennel, where he apparently had all the dog fun.

 

Here's me unpacking:

 

 

Next up: February 2018. Maybe Celebrity....?

Friday/Saturday: At Sea Day & Debarkation

 

After the awesome time in Aruba, reality set in for us on Friday..this was our last day aboard Adventure, and tomorrow we would be headed back into reality. Sometimes, reality sucks..!

 

I'm not going to get into a lot of details about our last day at sea...it pretty much followed our first one. Except, this time we spent more time in our stateroom relaxing. We did stroll through the pool area, and managed to score a pair of loungers in the shade around 1400. We were just SO tired at this point... Meals were good, we had our last MDR experience with Ligorio and Carmen...it was all good.

 

Oh, at lunchtime in the WJ, there was a parade (accompanied by very loud PA music/yelling) to recognize the WJ crew. It was a nice way to showcase the people who work hard on your cruise to serve you hot, good food. Then there was this guy, who clearly has advanced balancing skills:

 

I don't even...

 

One thing I'll mention...after having a nice, fairly classy MDR dinner, the overhead PA system starts to blare sh!tty music, and someone is loudly trying to rile everyone up to cheer for your waitstaff. W T F? I mean, really...way to cheapen an experience, RCI. We recognized our waitstaff with tips, just like anywhere else. We also heaped praise upon them each night, because they really were that good. No need to turn dinner into the Jerry Springer Show. Also, the people who work there must be under tremendous performance pressure to maintain a contract...poor Ligorio practically begged us to rate him "10"s. I inadvertantly told him not to worry, he was number one with us. He panicked!! "No, no, not number one, number ten!!!" Oops. I mean, you're number 10 with us. Yikes.

(That was pretty funny though, I'm not gonna lie).

 

Later that evening, there was a very festive parade on the Promenade. Not really sure what the theme was supposed to be, but it was decidedly Lion Kingish...Entertaining for 10 minutes.

 

 

Hakuna Matata, yo...!

 

Then, we spent a little time in the Casino. Not very long, but enough for my partner to throw a couple of bucks into this devious machine...

 

Pro-tip: Just no.

 

 

Saturday was debarkation day. Being the high-rolling Gold C&A members that we are, we were in debarkation group 11. Not too shabby. I wish I'd booked the 1100 Southworst flight home, because we'd have easily made it. As it was, I'd booked the 1600 flight, and we got to enjoy the San Juan airport all. day. long. When we disembarked, we hired one of the porters to help with our luggage. This was well worth the $5.00 tip. Although it was long, the porter line was way shorter than the other line(s). From the time we left the dining room muster point, till we got to the airport, was between 45-60 minutes. Not too bad in reality.

 

Yeah....mine's the black one.

 

All in all, this cruise was a fantastic vacation! I would definitely book aboard Adventure again. Speaking of Adventure....she's in fine shape. Other than Jester's Rape Dungeon, I don't see anything that needs to be changed. Yeah, the refurb will bring about some changes to make her more relevant in the fleet, but she is in excellent condition. I didn't see any rust, nothing that made me think she's "worn", etc. But, on the other hand, I didn't go on this cruise to nitpick. I guess, if I looked hard enough I could've found something to b!tch about. I was too busy having ALL the fun to worry, though. Adventure of the Seas is a clean, functional vessel. Period.

 

So....some random observations to close this out:

 

The Bad:

Little Asian guy Casino Cashier (I was so pissed off I didn't get his name). He literally refused to make change for us in the Casino. Twice. The bill exchanger machines were both out of order, but he wouldn't budge. We actually had to rip the signs off of the machines, go back to the cage, and shove them at him to get change. This egregious lack of professionalism is unacceptable on every level. RCI should be embarrassed and ashamed to be represented by this flippant, unprofessional amateur.

 

Russian guy in the Royal Crown lounge. Even though the place was deserted, we had to approach him for drinks after we seated ourselves. He was apathetic and uncaring. After we finally got our drinks, we left. No sense in hanging around a bar we aren't wanted at.

 

Ronald (MDR). We had him the first night. Very creepy and overbearing. Ronald would not stop making comments about how beautiful my partner is, and continually wanted to shake our hands. So much for using the Purel when entering the MDR! This is a great way for your crew to spread Norovirus around. With every course, he wanted to stand around and talk. Just bring us the food and go away, like a good waiter.

The Just OK:

The Windjammer. I get it, it's a buffet. But, it's not great. As I said earlier, it's not horrible, either. Just OK.

One night in the MDR I ordered the Chicken Cordon Bleu. It was like the frozen ones you get at Costco. Kind of disappointing.

The entertainment. We only saw the 2 comedians, so maybe this doesn't even qualify for a comment. The one guy we saw the 1st night, was really pretty funny. Although, he spoke so fast, we missed some jokes. What we did hear, though, was funny. The second guy we saw 2 nights later though, wow was he terrible. Unfunny, and stealing jokes. He actually stole a joke from the 1990s show "Married With Children". ("Go around you? Lady, I don't have that much gas in my car")

We walked out.

 

The Motown show, which was published in the Cruise Compass, never happened the night we wanted to attend.

The Good:

Pretty much everything else.

Except for the crewmembers mentioned above, the crew we encountered all over the ship, throughout the week, were amazing. Very friendly and attentive, they appeared happy, and always went out of their way to greet us.

 

Our stateroom was really nice, and we never felt claustrophobic. The balcony is a must.

 

Roomservice never took more than 5 minutes to get our breakfast up to our room. Seriously....5 minutes.

 

The ship itself....Adventure of the Seas is a great ship, and she's in very good condition. The upcoming refurbishment will only make her better.

When I was aboard Adventure, the library was a communal nap space.

 

Seriously, every time we walked by/through it, there were people passed out on the comfy leather sofas, sawing logs lol!!

ZzzZzzzZzzZzzzzz....

She seems amazed...but, she's humoring the History Geek...

 

Here's a giant rock. You can climb it, and beat it....or, you can meet me in the Air Conditioning.

 

 

She looks Happy...that's all that matters.

 

A little chapel in the high desert...

 

Divi Divi means "I love you"....

 

A Pirate Ship!!!!! There was no plundering. But, apparently, a sh!t ton of Rum. Yay, Rum!!!

 

 

Here are some more pics from Aruba...primarily from the Trikes Tour.

 

I think this was Eagle Beach....

 

I forgot...the tour stops at a bar/restaurant for 30 minutes or so. A great place to get some water (or whatever), a quick bite, and a pee break. Also, there's a ginormous rock that is apparently notorious for some reason. Our guide told us, but for the life of me, I didn't care. There was a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial aircraft engine in the sand, and that was of much more interest to me. But, you can climb up a giant rock. Or, whatever.

 

She seems amazed, but she's humoring the History Geek.

 

The tour takes you to the California Lighthouse...

 

Her hat was long gone by now. I tried to catch it while she was driving, but riding b!tch

is a lot of work....

 

Yay...riding b!tch.

 

You, too, can hike up a wooden ladder to beat this giant rock! I'll be at the bottom in the Air Conditioning.

 

Tourist Trap? Who cares....we're riding trikes, you're on an old beat-up school bus!

Thursday: Aruba!

 

So...I've been gone for a long weekend, and I hope that all of you had a nice 4th of July. Especially my UK friends (We were the original Brexit, before it was cool!).

 

Thursday morning found us on One Happy Island, Aruba!! I've always wanted to go here...it did not disappoint. I'd done a ton of research in the 6 months leading up to our cruise, focused on what to do in ports. Between CC and the internet, I'd stumbled across a small tour business called Trikes Aruba. Wow. I hadn't ridden in years, but this looked right up our proverbial alley!

 

Yes the sun is reflecting off of my head. Yes I used SPF 70.

 

I immediately made a reservation, and was promptly answered by Carlos. We couldn't wait...The day finally arrived, and they were waiting for us at the end of the pier with a whiteboard, as promised. Once everyone showed up, we got into 2 vans, and took a 10 minute ride to their HQ/Office. Everyone was professional and accommodating! After filling out the necessary paperwork, we were split into 2 groups of three (6 couples). A quick familiarization ride around the block to check out all drivers, and we were off!

 

The Beast

 

Each group had a tour guide in a dune buggy that we followed. Chris (great guide) led the other group, and our guide (I'm so sorry I forgot your name if you're reading this) was fantastic. At each stop - lots of photo ops - he'd lay some local history on us, was very funny, and took great photos! We toured from 0900 -1230, and for $190.00 it was totally worth it! If the afternoon wasn't fully booked, we'd have kept riding. We covered a large majority of the island, from the lowlands, to the beaches, to the high ground where the chapel and California Lighthouse are...highways, byways, dirt roads...We covered it all! The other tour groups that we passed (ATVs, buses, Safari Trucks, etc)....looked at us with great envy as we passed on our trikes! Hahahahaha! You should've booked this tour!!! I could see it on their faces. I'm sorry you're not this cool!

 

SO. MUCH. FUN.

 

Divi Divi trees. Google is your friend.

 

 

I had casually mentioned that it was my girlfriends' birthday at the office, because we both registered as drivers (once a biker chick, always a biker chick) because she totally wanted a turn up front. Halfway through the tour, our guide approached us, and said the office had radioed him...seems they wanted my girl's full name and age.

 

They got the full name.

 

So, when we regretfully ended the tour, the entire staff came out to greet us, they were holding up a white board reading "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MS. ***" and presented her with a giant blueberry cupcake with a "Happy Birthday" candle in it. Lots of hugs and handshakes all around! What a class act Carlos runs there...totally unsolicited, very thoughtful, and completely made the Birthday Girl's day!! Also, the cupcake was good. Because I had some.

 

 

Chris piled us into the van, and took us back into town afterwards...I think he may have taken some of our group to the beach after we got dropped off, but I'm not 100% sure. I know others from our group are here on CC, so maybe if you're reading this, you can add some more info.

 

My point is, this is a full service organization that I would recommend highly. They're expanding to Cozumel, and St. Maarten as well. I wish Carlos and company nothing but much success...we'll be back.

 

After the amazing morning we just had, we shopped up and down the main drag outside of the pier exit. Lots of fun buying souvenirs.

 

We had lunch at Iguana Joe's, a touristy restaurant/bar. Both of us ordered the fish tacos, which we eat pretty regularly all over. These ones were made with blackened grouper, and an aioli sauce that was fantastic. Super-good lunch. We then walked around a bit more on the strip, but the blazing heat was just starting to get to us. We headed back to the ship, crashed, and slept through the sail-away.

 

The evening was spent in the MDR, Schooner Bar, and Champagne Bar (See a pattern? We didn't!)

 

 

Although we did not actually go to any beaches, or experience the island proper other than the main drag, we saw enough on the bikes to quantify that this is an island we'd come back to for a land vacation. Most islands have a small proportion of luxury, no middle class, and a high percentage of abject poverty, Aruba didn't seem to be like that. From what we saw biking around, there was a small percentage of poverty, a small percentage of "luxury", and a pretty thriving middle class. Just my (our) observation.

 

Aruba...One Happy Island!

Great review: we will also be at the Marriott in November so have noted your restaurant recommendations!!! How much was the cab from the airport to the port?

 

 

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I think it was $20 for the two of us...

It is not too far to walk to downtown Curacao. Just walk through the Rif Fort and walk across the pontoon bridge to the shopping area. 10-15minute walk at most

 

I learned something new, thanks!

Yes, it's too far to walk.

Blue Bay, Curacao..Paradise!

 

 

 

 

"IS SUGAR THIEF!!!"

 

 

Some more photos from the Curacao shopping district. Very cool buildings with an obvious Dutch influence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday: Curacao!

 

We awoke to high hopes and aspirations, to a full day planned with no plans. Those are the best kind, no? After stuffing the rucksack with everything we thought we'd need, we headed to the WJ for breakfast. Lots of high-protein stuff-bacon and eggs! Also some tater tot crowns. Don't hate, they're delish!

 

We had only planned on shopping and sightseeing in the morning, and the beach for the afternoon. Curacao did not disappoint. We disembarked, got in the cab line, and despite the ineptness of the guys running the show, we finagled onto a cab taking a bunch of others to the beach. "Drop us off downtown!" She did for $20. Dropped us off in front of the huge "CURACAO" sign, and told us where to go.

 

 

 

 

 

What a cool shopping district. Heavy Dutch influence on the architecture, and the pastel colors are very unique! Lots of T-shirt and souvenir shops (Air conditioned lol) so we hit all of them up. We had a great time walking up and down the narrow streets, enjoying all of the stores.

 

 

Soon, we found ourselves in Diamonds International. Uh-Oh. So...her birthday was the next day, hence this cruise. The day before, at sea, we were dallying outside on deck 4, looking over the side. She loved how the wake, foam, and sea came together as one aquamarine painting...Therefore, we walked out with some Larimar Marahlago earrings and matching ring. Damn right, I'm romantic. Did I research? Nope. Did I ever hear of this stone before? Nope. What do I care, I'm in love! (Current research, however, dictates that I got a fair deal. And the girlfriend is happy. That's all that counts.) I can always make more money....And she has that sea-foam memory forever.

 

So, after this, we got some water, and sat at the end of the Queen Elizabeth bridge (pontoon bridge). This thing spans the entire canal on pontoons, and has a pilot house at one end (our end). When a boat comes along that wants to pass, the pilot on duty in his shack engages the motor, and the ENTIRE BRIDGE swings out of the way, allowing the boat to progress up the canal ( or down). CRAZY! All the while this is happening , pedestrians on the bridge are hopping over the break, because they would rather take a chance than wait to swing back. Free entertainment. We watched this for about 45 minutes, which involved 2 evolutions, then we walked to the taxi stand there at the end of the bridge.

 

 

We decided to go to Blue Bay, a private resort. It was $35 each way for the two of us. Yikes. Totally worth it, though. Out taxi driver was lovely , and she arranged to pick us back up at 4:00.

 

Here's the thing...Blue Bay charges $8.00/person for a day pass. This place was PARADISE! Yes, the beach is small and man-made. So what? There was hardly anybody there, we had our pick of loungers with tables, and the sand was soft. There were also two bars, 50 steps in either direction. Getting into the surf was pretty rocky for maybe the first 25 feet (I wore Teva sandals), but after that, no worries. I'm not kidding....this place was super nice.

 

 

 

During one bar run, I saw a little black and gold finch-like bird perched on the top of a Mango Daiquiri mix carton behind the bar. Being from a city where we bleed black and gold, I asked one of the bar girls what that species was called. She replied, in the most stereotypical, heavily accented Caribbean accent, "IS SUGAR THIEF!!"

 

I laughed, she laughed, we're picking out curtains on Tuesday.

 

Spending the afternoon at Blue Bay was amazing, and we hated to leave. We headed back to the ship, showered, and got ready for dinner. Since this was an 11:00 departure, we went to a Tapas restaurant in town.

 

"Kome" had good reviews on Trip Advisor, so we tried it. It was very good. The food was excellent. However, it is a true Tapas restaurant in every sense of the word. We had a bottle of wine with "dinner", and three courses. It cost slightly over $100 US. No thanks. When we returned to the Adventure, we headed to the Promenade Cafe for pizza and sandwiches, ha ha! Listen....We knew what we were getting into. We always wanted to try true Tapas, and we did. We just don't think it's for us. I will say, the staff was very attentive, and the service was excellent. They even called us a taxi to go back to the ship.

 

Curacao was fantastic, and one of the absolute high points of our cruise!!

[quote name='BillOh']Good to know on a couple of fronts. I can drive a manual shift fine, but have alway found a motorcyle clutch on the handlebars harder to deal with. But we have 450 more days, so I'll watch for more reviews.[/quote]

The trike's clutch is a left-foot pedal. Brake is the right foot. Stick is in the middle.

If you can drive a 5-speed, you can drive these trikes.

So.
Much.
Fun.

For Clarea:

 

 

So...From everything I've gleaned here on Cruise Critic, "VOOM" internet is supposed to be the shizznit. I've also read that this incarnation is not the actual product, which, based on what you see above, I am happy to hear.

 

We were planning on staying disconnected this trip, but the GF had a family member in the hospital, and needed to be in touch. Also, it was really nice on the At Sea days. Anyways, it was not amazing. It wasn't horrible, either. Slightly faster than dial-up (that I can remember). We had the Surf Voyage 2-device package. It served us well enough for what it was, which was browsing, uploading to Facebook, and emailing.

 

Apologies for the samplings being all on one day. It took me 2 days to download the app to my iPhone 6+. Mainly because I tried first to download it to my Kindle Fire HD (Android). Fuhgettaboutit.

 

Hope this helps, Bob.

 

 

 

 

Tuesday : At Sea Day

 

So...Departing St. Kitts, and headed to Curacao, we experienced the cruise's first "At Sea" day. We slept in, had a leisurely pre-breakfast on the balcony, then after showering, heading to the MDR for breakfast. My girlfriend wanted to sit down and be served, and so she shall.

 

We didn't have to wait long to be seated, and we were placed at an eight-seat table. Everybody was nice. The breakfast was average, and took a fairly long time to receive. It all just seemed like way too much dog and pony show to get an omelette and some potatoes. We agreed, that from this point on, we'd just eat our breakfast and lunch in the WJ. BTW, the MDR was packed.

 

After breakfast, we took a few hours to walk around the ship exploring. That was fun! We found the helipad, the peekaboo bridge, the miniature golf course, and sports deck. Pretty spirited basketball game going on, which was nice to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something for everybody. Then, we decided to find a seat at the pool...

 

We actually got lucky, and found 2 chairs together in the semi-shade. I've heard tale of the legendary RCI Chair Patrol, but they were nowhere to be found. Lots of chair hogs with their gear holding spots. Very poor form if you ask me, and don't get me started on how "A" group people on Southworst hold seats for their less-fortunate "C" group family members. Grrrr.... Anyways, we had decent seats. We watched the belly flop contest and a couple other things that "HelloChloe" loudly emceed. I think we spent maybe 2.5 hours there, before the heat really set in. We didn't actually get in the water, because on At Sea days, it's literally a human stew. Ew. I will say this...the pool bar makes killer banana daiquiris. Like, so good... Yay, Cruzan rum!! We decided it was time to go back to the cabin for a nap.

 

 

 

Dinner in the MDR was very good again, and Ligorio and Carmen took good care of us. After dark, we went back up to the heliport to look at the stars. Damn right, I'm romantic.

 

Then, back down to the Promenade for more drinks, and people watching. We strolled in and out of all the shops, which was fun. Spent some time in the Champagne and Schooner bars, then called it a night.

 

Next stop: Curacao!

Monday

 

We ported at Basseterre/St.Kitts....

 

 

 

 

Online research showed that there was not much here that would interest us. Therefore, our P.O.D. (Plan of the Day) was to shop in the morning, and spend the afternoon on the ship. Turns out, that was a good plan.

 

We found a Harley-Davidson apparel store, which we got a few shirts in (we collect them). Lots of the same stores you see in every port. Then we went back to the ship, took a nap, then hung out by the pool. I'm not sure I've figured out what kind of deal RCI gets from St. Kitts, but from everything I've read, it's not fantastic. Very happy we made this a pool day. Lots of banana daiquiris poolside!

 

Lunch at the Windjammer, and dinner at the MDR.

 

 

Those are the strawberries we got for being Straight Outta Compton...

 

Another towel animal...yay!

 

 

We each had the Premium drink package. If you're going to enjoy 5 drinks/day, it's worth it. Our favorite onboard bars were the Champagne Bar, and the Schooner Bar. At the Champagne Bar, Claudia was the most outstanding bartender/server ever.

 

 

 

On formal nights, she delivered us Hors d'oeuvres with our drinks, knowing we were heading into the MDR. She was always smiling and cheerful, and after the first night, knew our drinks and would bring them to us upon arrival. This is also a great place to sit and watch people walk by on the Promenade, which is always highly entertaining.

 

The Schooner Bar was our after dinner spot, despite the frequent Karaoke and Trivia contests that took place there. Amar was always our server there, and he rivaled Claudia in every aspect. He was also cheerful and upbeat, and it seemed like he was always trying to go the extra mile. He was a lot of fun to hang out with, and was exceptionally good at his job.