momofthreeboys3

We sailed 9/10 , had 10:30-11 arrival time and parked at port. We arrived around 10:15, parked, went into terminal, easy check-in, on ship 11:15. 
 

I learned on this site:  Go directly to parking, take your luggage with you from there. Apparently if you drop luggage first, you have to circle back to parking which can take 30-40 minutes. 
 

Debarkation was easy, walked off with our bags at 8:00, no lines for customs. 
 

For those debarking with Carnival transportation:  Our FB sailing page is full of horror stories that not enough shuttles were available so people waited hours!  Those who decided to give up on the line simply walked across the street and got Uber/Lyft  

On 2/6/2019 at 2:39 PM, brookeq said:

When was your second formal night?  I want to make steakhouse reservations but not on this night.  

Our second was Friday night.

On 2/5/2019 at 10:26 PM, 2xsin12mths said:

Was alchemy bar as bad as they say? Meaning bad location, crowded and hard to get a drink? This makes me sad as we LOVE alchemy on the spirit and vista class ships.

And is the smoking lanai area right outside the door at alchemy 😳

Alchemy was our favorite, we spent a lot of time there.  Yes, it was very crowded during trivia times, hard to get a drink.  Service was slow, but the drinks are complex.  If you sit in the area in front of the bar and to the left facing the stage you don't get the casino smoke,  I didn't notice a smoking area outside, but the wind from that door will blow you away if you are sitting at the bar.  

CD was MarQ.   He was full of energy, was everywhere, don't think the guy slept, fun, pleasant to listen to (not too goofy, yet funny).    Kept his announcements to a minimum.  I don't have the "fun times", we actually used our Carnival Hub App and not paper most of the time.  

Thanks to everyone who posts about their experiences, I love reading them and hope to give a little back.

DH and I are in are 50's.  This was our 9th cruise, 2nd on Carnival, we are loyal to Royal for the other 7.  We cruised with 12 other family members ranging in age from teens to 80's.  We didn't pick the ship or itinerary as we were invited along.  We live in Maryland, but vacationed in Florida before the cruise.  

Embarkation:  Easy.  We did not have FTTF, had an 11:30-12 arrival with an email a few days before to delay that by an hour due to gangway work.  We arrived at 11:00 (drove from Melbourne, FL), and were on the ship by 11:20.  Remember where you park!!!!  More on that at debarkation.

Carnival Hub:  Loved it!  It kept us in touch with the group, well worth the $5.  We did not have internet.

Ship:  I loved the layout and decor.  The staff was very friendly.  Our cabin was 7394.  We spend very little time in our cabin, but I did miss the loveseat/coffee table from the Royal ships.   We had low water pressure in the sink, it was fixed right away.  There was no sewage smell in our cabin but we did notice it several times walking through corridors.  We did use our Costco card with the magnetic strip to leave in the slot for the lights--thanks for that tip here!

Food:  Just OK.  Ledo oatmeal and eggs cold on two separate occasions.  I enjoyed Blue Iguana and sandwich place.  DH loved Guy's burgers.  The Ledo cakes were to die for!  We had dinner every night in the Main Dining Room, 6:00.  Service was lacking.  The waitstaff worked very hard, probably just understaffed.  

Bars:  We had Cheers!  We felt the wait at most bars was extreme.  Our favorite was the Alchemy (ask for Ana, she's the best!), service slow (again understaffed), but worth the wait.  We enjoyed the singers there too.  The piano bar had great service (the singer was ok, kept us entertained).  According to our bill, we broke even or came out just ahead on Cheers! and I wouldn't consider us heavy drinkers.  

Entertainment:  We didn't like the Country Roads show, the Rock and Roll show was better.  We did see a PG comedian, he was okay.  

Grand Cayman:  We did Rum Distillery and Calico Jack's through Shore Excursioneer.  Great trip with endless rum tastings!

Roatan:  Paradise Beach Club Day Pass through Shore Excursioneer.  If you do this--directions say walk outside terminal and meet down hill after passing access gate--that's misleading.  You must first walk up a huge hill, on the down slope you see the tours.  Lovely beach day.   Don't sit in the first row of beach chairs, the locals hound you to death.  Security visible, keeps them at bay if you sit further back.  Snorkeling from the beach was great, but you do have to swim out pretty far.  There are boats that will take you out though.  

Belize:  We went cave kayaking with V.I.V.  It was fun, but a long day.  After kayaking we got to the bus at 3:00, last tender 4:15 and it was an hour ride.  We made it, but no time for food.  I had packed snacks and we did grab a few beers from the locals.  

Cozumel:  We did Carnival's Three Reef Snorkel (we were invited to do this as a family excursion).  Reefs weren't that great.  We shopped in Cozumel and I got a fish pedicure, which is something you have to experience once in your lifetime.  

Debarkation:  We chose luggage tag 9 that was called 8:30 a.m..  Three of our four bags were where they were supposed to be.  It took us about 20 minutes to find the missing one, the 9 tag had fallen off, so it was placed on a different carousel.  I think next time I will double-tag them.  There was no mobile passport line (I was prepared) but we were out in 5 minutes after we found the missing luggage.  If you drive--remember where you park!!!!  We embarked thinking, "we are right across from the ship".  That works great until the ship docks in a different location, you walk out and are so confused.  We had a long walk to our vehicle, which wasn't a problem for us, but for someone with mobility issues, it could have been.  

All in all, it was a great trip.  We escaped winter, went to two ports we had never been to, and had quality family time.  We are still loyal to Royal though.

I'll try and answer any questions you may have.

Thanks. I doubt my wife will get in the water in the gorge. She doesn't like cold at all. I assume that isn't a problem?

I was there earlier this month, I wouldn't get in the water. It wasn't a problem at all, there's an area to stand and watch or places to sit nearby.

Which bumpiing tour did you do on Dominica?

Ours was Roseau Valley

Champagne Reef--excellent snorkeling, tough entry and exit as beach is rocky (not for someone with mobility issues) even walking to and from the water could be tough for someone who had knee/leg problems

Titou Gorge--water was cold, cold, cold but you didn't have to swim if you didn't want to

Trafalgar Falls--lots of steps to climb going up and back down. This is just a picture taking opportunity, you don't swim in the falls.

Botanical Gardens--just drove through, didn't get out of van

Morne Bruce--scenic overlook

Thanks for the review. So glad you had a good time on AOS. We will be on her shortly and all the negative comments were becoming a real bummer.

 

DH and I are also driving down to Florida for a couple of days and then flying from Orlando to San Juan the day of the cruise. We get in to San Juan about 11. I'm perfectly fine with chilling on the ship embarkation day but DH has been hinting about dropping luggage and getting a cab to Old San Juan. Any thoughts about that?

If you have never been to Old San Juan--do it, it's lovely!! Cab fares aren't cheap though. It's $24 plus $1 per bag from airport to port. I don't know how much from port to Old San Juan would be.

OP - thank you for the review.

 

2 questions:

 

you mention the long embarkation line, approx what time was that?

 

did you find the beds as hard as i've been reading?

 

I actually prefer a hard bed as long as it's not lumpy:D

We arrived at the port around noon. Our bed was quite hard, but like you, I didn't mind.

Cruise Director Mercedes--not our favorite. No particular reason though. We did see her a lot.

Also how prevalent were mosquitoes on any of the islands?

Never saw a mosquito,

A quick review:

DH and I are 51, this was our 6th RC cruise.

Arrived in San Juan day of embarkation (we are from Maryland but enjoyed a few days in Florida before the cruise, so figured it was safe to fly in the same day).

Embarkation--Line was very long! Hint: If you have priority boarding (as we did), cut through the line close to the building. We didn't know there was a separate line until we waited 20 minutes. After that, it took about 5 minutes to get checked in.

Promenade Cabin 7575--Glad we tried it, probably won't do it again. There was a speaker near our window that played the piped-in music to the Promenade, although it wasn't loud, we heard the bass sound from 7:30 a.m. (one morning at 5:30 a.m.), but it was off early in the evening.

Ultimate Drink Package--We both had it, probably broke even. Would do it again.

The Ship--Beautiful! The staterooms need some updating. Clean and easy to navigate. The deck patrol was removing towels and personal items from chairs that were unoccupied for 30 minutes. You don't need your seapass to get towels at the pool but you do need it to get towels if you get them just before you get off the ship in ports (just return the towel the same place you got it and have them scan your card). The Windjammer was packed during peak dining times, it was very hard to find a table.

Dining--I am not a fan of buffet food, so no comment. We ate at the late seating in the dining room every night. Food was good, service was excellent!

Entertainment--Just so so for me. The ice show was great. One comedian, James Stephens III was hilarious. Two other comedians were just blah. Even the Love and Marriage show (which I always look forward to), got off to a very boring start.

St. Croix--Gecko ATV tour and Rainbow Beach. Highly recommend both.

St. Kitts--Cockelshell beach. There are several bars within walking distance of each other. We went to Lion Rock (I had read about it on this board). Very quiet! We snorkeled on our own, snorkeling pretty good.

St. Maarten--Tiki Hut through the ship. Excellent snorkeling, not crowded at all, had there been a crowd I think that would have changed the whole experience as the "dock" areas have limited space. Tiki Hut advertised that the water taxi would arrive every hour for transport back to the ship. We waited an hour and 45 minutes. All in all, good experience.

Dominica--Bumpiing Tours. Two thumbs up!! Long day though, make sure you pack a snack.

Barbados--BOATYARD!!!!!!! and the most beautiful beach I have ever seen!!!! I wouldn't arrive after 11 though as most beach chairs were taken by then.

Debarkation--Easy. Use a porter, you tip whatever you'd like and you are out in 10 minutes or less.

Nice Cruise--Would sail on Adventure again in a heartbeat.

DH and I are approaching age 50. This was our sixth cruise, five on Royal Caribbean. We are Platinum.

Embarkation was a breeze. We arrived at port around 10:30, dropped off by family that we has stayed with for a few days in Melbourne. Check in took all of 5 minutes, so we had to wait until 11 when they let us board. I carried on two bottles of wine that no one ever asked to see.

We'd never been caught with rum runners before, so I guess there's a first time for everything. Phone message in our room said to go to deck 1 and see the bar staff. I made DH take the walk of shame. They basically asked if he had alcohol. He said yes and they asked him to remove it. He removed one of the two rum runners and gave it to the staff. They told him to have a nice cruise.

Labadee--nice beach day. Swam, drank, didn't do any shore excursions. There was a medical evacuation. The helicopter landed on the dock so it held us up about an hour trying to get back on the ship. We were told a crew member had had a heart attack.

Falmouth--We went to Hilton Rose Hall. It was beautiful and the service was outstanding. Well worth the price.

Grand Cayman--We snorkeled on our own, had our own gear. Walked to to few areas on the main drag. Excellent snorkeling!!!!

Cozumel--Booked through the ship (which I never do, but this was a long tour and was afraid we wouldn't get back in time. We didn't, ran about 10 minutes past "all aboard") We did the Tulum with beach break. DH picked this one. I wasn't thrilled about going (history, boat rides that warn of seasickness and long bus rides (I do get carsick) just are not my thing. I went into it with an open mind. The water taxi was great--huge boat and ac worked really well. Took us about 30 minutes to get to mainland. This tour involves a lot of walking!!! We were fine, but I could see how others struggled. By the time we got to the actual ruins we had about 40 minutes. We then took the bus to lunch and beach break at a hotel. Again, short stay. We wouldn't do this tour again--too much travel time.

Pool Deck--They do take your seapass for towels. I thought I had read on these boards that RC stopped that, I could be mistaken. We are early risers so we never had a problem getting a chair. There were many, many towels on chairs for long periods with no one occupying. Pool police didn't do anything about it.

Cabin--We were inside deck 6. Typical room. The bed had a rounded mattress on one side that left a gap at the bottom between the frame and mattress--looked really tacky. We think our steward was new or in training. On two nights she neglected to leave the Cruise Compass. She didn't leave the customs form either. We figured she failed the towel animal class as we only recoginzed two of the four animals she left. On day 4 our bathroom trash can disappeared (the removable one under the sink). We saw her a few days later and she said she didn't know what happened to it.

Meals--I had the soda package. Machines were on Deck 5 and in the Windjammer. They were easy to use. Windjammer is typical Windjammer (I'm not a real buffet liker anyway) and it was crowded. We had dinner in the main dining room at 8 each night. Service was excellent. Food was okay.

Entertainment--Sorry, I can't remember any of the performers names. The midnight comedian wasn't funny. We did like the comedian at the farewell show. The magician was okay. Ice skating was neat because the rink is so tiny, it's amazing what they do in that little space. Except for the ice skating I don't think it's necessary to arrive too early to find a seat, they were plentiful.

Debarkation--We carried our own luggage off, which took about 30 minutes total.

All in all, awesome cruise (as always is on Royal Carribean). We're already planning the next!

Booked inside guarantee on FOS, eight weeks prior to our 02/02/2014 sailing. Was assigned the next day, cabin 6529 forward, category N. Can't complain.

Sailed from Baltimore last year in January. The first two and last two days are really tough. So we're leaving from FL in January this year.