12/19 Adventure of the Seas: Live Report

Hi everyone,

We'll soon be embarking on our first cruise out of Puerto Rico, and I thought I would attempt a live review!

Just some quick background so you can decide whether or not to read on. We are a married couple (I'm 33, DH is 44). We aren't big drinkers or partiers and we don't have any human kids (just furry ones). We enjoy the spa and I'm currently training for a half marathon. Therefore, you're not going to see a lot about clubs or kids programs....but likely to get reviews on the food, spa, fitness center, etc.

Oh, and we booked a mixture of RCCL and private excursions.

We chose this cruise because we live in Miami and had seen all the islands that RCCL has to offer out of those ports (well, except for St. Thomas/St. Martin...but we didn't want to double up on another port). I also wanted to see San Juan quickly.

Now on to the review....I"ll be updating every evening.

****Pre Cruise 12/18****

We booked air tickets on American months ago which ended up costing about $500. A little more than we had hoped, but it seems to be the norm this holiday season.

Anyhow, left the house and got to the airport quickly. My BIL was also traveling with us (staying in a different stateroom) and was flying first so we were able to check our bag with him for free :-) The airport was quite busy for 8:30 AM!

We left a few minutes late but arrived in San Juan right on time (2 PM). Grabbed bags and walked right outside for a taxi. The gentleman at the taxi stand notified us of the cost for our trip ($15 + $1 for each bag). Quick taxi ride (15 minutes) and we arrived at our hotel....the Conrad San Juan Condado.

The hotel had some mixed reviews on Tripadvisor (the norm it seems), but it was one of the few hotels with two queen beds. We booked a prepaid reservation in advance for $159 (with taxes/resort fees it was $197). When we arrived to check in I asked if they had any ocean view rooms available. They did!! Got a nice upgrade :-)

The rooms are VERY nice. You could smell that "recently renovated" scent in the air. It's such a nice smell! Anyhow, the rooms are nice and modern. Platform beds, sliding doors for the bathroom, etc.

Dropped things off and decided to catch a cab to Old Town. Cab fare was $14 and took about 15 minutes. The weather was divine and we decided to just wander up and down the streets. Snapped some great pictures. The architecture reminds me of New Orleans...I guess it's the Spanish Colonial thing. Lots of touristy shops though. Stopped in the Coach Factory Store...they were handing out 30% off coupons and the store was a zoo. Didn't see anything I liked.

Walked over to the San Cristobal Fort and wandered around ($3 entry fee) and snapped some beautiful pics. Then hopped in a cab. Was going to head back to the hotel, but we asked him if he would drive us around to some of the big touristy sites. He was great!!! He had some history books to show pictures of what certain areas looked like in the past and drove us all around for about an hour for $40. He was VERY informative about the history of Puerto Rico. I didn't get to go to El Morro because it was already closed....but I got the general idea from Cristobal.

Back to the hotel and then out to dinner. Just walked down the street to a restaurant called Ropa Vieja Grill. Had some ground beef PR style. Tasted like Cuban Ropa Vieja, but the meat was ground as opposed to shredded. It was yummy. Cost was about $15/plate....but some dishes were as high as $30.

Now I'm back to the hotel in my PJs....totally stuffed.

Overall, I really like Puerto Rico. I was starting to get bored of the whole Caribbean thing, but this island isn't like any of the others. The people are very nice (although I'm from Miami....so it really didn't feel much different) and I like the urban feel mixed with the great architecture!

More importantly....I am super excited for tomorrow!!!! I've never been on this class of ship (see signature for previous cruises) or cruised in this region (S. Caribbean).

The plan for tomorrow is to have some breakfast and veg out. Maybe walk around hotel and check out amenities. We'll grab a cab around 11:30 to head over to the pier.

I'll post more tomorrow.....if there is anything that anyone wants me to be on the lookout for, just let me know. I'll likely write everything up beforehand and then just post quickly....@ .65/min I need to be quick!

Hope you have a great cruise. Planning the Serenade cruise from there in April so your looking forward to following your trip.

Thanks for taking the time to post. I am doing this cruise in March and am interested in your experience. I hope you have a great trip.

Thanks! I hope we have a great time too :-)

I hope you guys have a great time! Going to read along- I'm hoping to do a next year and I love these live reviews anyway!

Have a wonderful vacation on the Adventure!!

It is such a beautiful ship. Make great memories and

keep up the Live Report.

Doing this cruise in February. Can't wait to keep reading your reports!

We leave for San Juan on Jan. 15th, also our first time out of this port. Very excited about reading your review!! Would love to know what time the muster drill is leaving so late, and what this does to dinner times.

Have a great cruise:-)!!

T

What a way to welcome the AOS back to the US a LIVE review:D.

My wife and I will be doing our first RCL cruise in April and are so looking forward to it.

Thanks for taking the time to post twiggers.

Just got back home to Chicago from this cruise a few hours ago. I'm sure the reason twiggers hasn't updated her live review is because she is still waiting in line to get on the boat for the embarkment. That's a private joke between me, twiggers and the other 2000 people who got completely screwed by RCI on day 1 of the cruise.

I'm also doing this cruise in Feb. And am going to tag along.

Mark

Just got back home to Chicago from this cruise a few hours ago. I'm sure the reason twiggers hasn't updated her live review is because she is still waiting in line to get on the boat for the embarkment. That's a private joke between me, twiggers and the other 2000 people who got completely screwed by RCI on day 1 of the cruise.

Sorry to hear - What happened?

The ship had just come in from its TA crossing. All the passengers and crew had to go thru immigrations and customs. On top of that the ship underwent US Coast Guard inspection and drills. We were one of the first to get on board and that was not until 3:00 pm and we had arrived at 11:30. The line outside was unbelievable. The last person to get on board was between 8 and 8:30 pm just before we sailed.

some of the crew I spoke with talked about having only 6 customs agents for all passengers and crew members. very, very slow.

Sorry to hear - What happened?

It was a disaster. Customs decided to do a full inspection of the ship and crew because the boat had been in Europe for 6 months. Customs official told me they do this whenever that happens. Seems like the kind of thing RCI should've known about or anticipated. People got to the gate as early as 8:30 to wait, we got there about 12:00. Stood in line for nearly 4 hours before being let on the boat. No one from RCI ever bothered to come out and explain what was happening. Some older people started to pass out and had to be wheeled into the building for shelter.

I met LOTS of people on the ship who swore they would never use RCI again after this unmitigated disaster. I sat by a couple in the dining room that waited in that line for over 6 hours.

Nothing more frustrating than a line that does not move and no one bothers to explain why. ONly info I got was from a nice man from Customs who explained everything to me.

Shakes.

We made it inside the building around 11:45 and they made announcements with the PA system about what was happening at least three times in the three hours we waited.

I guess the speakers outside were not working or did not exist. that is too bad, they should have gone outside with some type of announcement.

Just got back home to Chicago from this cruise a few hours ago. I'm sure the reason twiggers hasn't updated her live review is because she is still waiting in line to get on the boat for the embarkment. That's a private joke between me, twiggers and the other 2000 people who got completely screwed by RCI on day 1 of the cruise.

We were right there with you! IMHO, we really feel like RCCL dropped the ball on this one. How could they NOT have known about the immigrations/customs process upon arrival back in San Juan?? That itinerary had been in place for some time. The least they could have done was let the embarking passengers know ahead of time not to bother to show up at the pier until at least 3PM - an e-mail a few months in advance would have been helpful. This wasn't their first rodeo, so to speak. Even the crew was pretty upset about it.

It was a disaster. Customs decided to do a full inspection of the ship and crew because the boat had been in Europe for 6 months. Customs official told me they do this whenever that happens. Seems like the kind of thing RCI should've known about or anticipated. People got to the gate as early as 8:30 to wait, we got there about 12:00. Stood in line for nearly 4 hours before being let on the boat. No one from RCI ever bothered to come out and explain what was happening. Some older people started to pass out and had to be wheeled into the building for shelter.

 

I met LOTS of people on the ship who swore they would never use RCI again after this unmitigated disaster. I sat by a couple in the dining room that waited in that line for over 6 hours.

 

Nothing more frustrating than a line that does not move and no one bothers to explain why. ONly info I got was from a nice man from Customs who explained everything to me.

Me again - ditto on all of this! We were fortunate enough to get a seat inside since we arrived at 10:15 AM. Poor communication for sure. No excuse for it really. And the ONLY relief offered was water. Pitiful. And then once the boarding began, it was mass chaos. People were pushing and shoving - just so rude. Horrible. The cruise was great once we were finally able to board, but it sure leaves a bad taste in our mouth with RCCL.

The ship had just come in from its TA crossing. All the passengers and crew had to go thru immigrations and customs. On top of that the ship underwent US Coast Guard inspection and drills.

Was this the most recent disembark? yesterday 12/19? Or the week before, 12/12? Because the trans-atlantic was last week, this week should have been a normal all-Caribbean itinerary.

I know they had a lot of trouble last week, because of the TA, but was hoping this week would be better. Please help clarify, thanks!

bobj

Edit: OK so I reread the above and I think you two are complaining about last week's embark after the TA. So hopefully your disembark yesterday went a lot better? Let us know, please?

This was on 12/12/10.

Can't wait to read your reviews! We sailed on AOS in 07 and loved it..we are sailing on her again in FEB.!

Shakes.

 

We made it inside the building around 11:45 and they made announcements with the PA system about what was happening at least three times in the three hours we waited.

 

I guess the speakers outside were not working or did not exist. that is too bad, they should have gone outside with some type of announcement.

Yep, there was never any announcement outside. And anyone you asked acted as if they didn't give a crap one way or the other. One guy even seemed to find it funny that people were getting upset. Eventually they brought out someone to serve cups of water. A couple old people got chairs to sit in but most had to settle for luggage carts.

Me and my girlfriend didn't eat breakfast and went on a tour of old San Juan in the morning. Afterwards we didn't have time for lunch because we had to check out at noon of our hotel. So we decided to just head to the boat and have lunch onboard. Big mistake. Woke up at 7am and didn't get to eat anything till we got into the windjammer at 4:30pm.

Can't wait to read your reviews! We sailed on AOS in 07 and loved it..we are sailing on her again in FEB.!

I'm gonna write a review when I have more time. It will be a mixed bag. First day disaster aside, the crew was fantastic for the most part, the boat was mediocre and poorly run, the food was somewhere between inedible and below average, the passengers were about 70% Puerto Ricans and often it seemed like the ship treated the cruise as if english was the second language. The last island was a joke. But, made lots of great friends and had a wonderful time despite all the negatives, and there were some pretty big negatives.

Here's mine:

Had a great time on our cruise, but we are exhausted!

Once we FINALLY boarded on Sunday, most everything was fine. We arrived at the pier at 10:15 AM on Sunday. Did NOT board until 3:00 PM!!! RCCL really let us down. Absolutely horrible lack of planning on their part. No excuse for it. Fortunately, we arrived early enough that we had a seat inside. But once the boarding began, it was organized chaos. People started pushing and shoving. Some of the RCCL staff managed to get it under control a little bit. Passengers talked about it all week. It didn’t really do us any good to fly in a day early as a result. We would have boarded around 3:00 anyway had we flown in that day. Here’s another CruiseCritic member’s summary of what happened.

“The ship had just come in from its TA crossing. All the passengers and crew had to go thru immigrations and customs. On top of that the ship underwent US Coast Guard inspection and drills. We were one of the first to get on board and that was not until 3:00 pm and we had arrived at 11:30. The line outside was unbelievable. The last person to get on board was between 8 and 8:30 pm just before we sailed. Some of the crew I spoke with talked about having only 6 customs agents for all passengers and crew members. Very, very slow. It was a disaster. Customs decided to do a full inspection of the ship and crew because the boat had been in Europe for 6 months. Customs official told me they do this whenever that happens. Seems like the kind of thing RCI should've known about or anticipated. People got to the gate as early as 8:30 to wait, we got there about 12:00. Stood in line for nearly 4 hours before being let on the boat. No one from RCI ever bothered to come out and explain what was happening. Some older people started to pass out and had to be wheeled into the building for shelter. I met LOTS of people on the ship who swore they would never use RCI again after this unmitigated disaster. I sat by a couple in the dining room that waited in that line for over 6 hours.”

Cabin –

Cabin was always very quiet. Bed was very comfortable. Typical cramped closet space. Shower was great – no shower curtain. Had doors instead (round) so it was a little roomier than others. Balcony was nice, but kind of confined. No glass on the bottom – solid metal so you couldn’t see through to the water unless you were standing over the rail. Weird. Cabin steward was great! RCCL no longer places chocolates on your pillow nor do they provide robes unless you book a suite. Other cruise lines still have these touches.

Food –

Main dining room service and food was excellent! Breakfast buffet was average at best. Lunch buffet was horrible. Pizza was the absolute worst. I took one bite and thought I would toss it! Ugh!

Ship –

One of the best we’ve sailed on. The Promenade area was really nice. Had a very open feel to it – like being outside almost. Theater was very large and comfortable. Even if you arrived at show time or later, it was always very easy to find a good seat. Ice skating rink was neat. We tried it one day – only lasted 15 minutes!! Shops on board were not great. Not many good sales.

Spa –

Made an appt for a pedicure. When I arrived, they had screwed up the reservation and had no room for me. They didn’t seem to really care that I was ticked about it. Horrible. However, I was telling the head waiter about it, and he called and made an appointment for me. Pitiful that the head waiter had to take care of it. No massage chairs in the pedicure area.

Entertainment –

Only 2 big production shows, and neither was outstanding. Beatle Maniacs (Beatles cover band) was absolutely incredible!!! Comedian was really good. Not any great bands in the lounges. Several parades down the Promenade that were okay. The ice skating show was fabulous!

Barbados – did a half day tour with Glory Tours (recommended on Cruise Critic). Disappointing.

St. Lucia – Cosol Tours: one of our best tours ever!

St. Maarten – went to Maho Beach and watched the planes come in. Outstanding day!!

Antigua – stayed on board. I slept most of the day. Good thing – it poured down rain all day so that worked well for us.

St. Croix – went to Sandcastle beach. Gorgeous!

San Juan – took a tour before going to the airport; nice way to end the trip.

Overall, we had a great time. Staff was very friendly! (Except for the spa!!) However, RCCL is no better than others we have used. They seem to be cutting back on little things. Princess has the best cabin layout since the closet space is much more user friendly and larger. Carnival gives you more for the money. Still love HA, too. It will definitely be a while before we sail out of San Juan again. (I'll keep the reasons why to myself.)

Was this the most recent disembark? yesterday 12/19? Or the week before, 12/12? Because the trans-atlantic was last week, this week should have been a normal all-Caribbean itinerary.

 

I know they had a lot of trouble last week, because of the TA, but was hoping this week would be better. Please help clarify, thanks!

 

bobj

 

Edit: OK so I reread the above and I think you two are complaining about last week's embark after the TA. So hopefully your disembark yesterday went a lot better? Let us know, please?

This was the disembark for the first Southern Caribbean 12-12 thru 12-19. We had to wait hours for the TA disembark before we could actually get on at 3:00. The first people off the TA did not get out until 10-11

Disembarkation yesterday (12/19/10) for us went well. A little delayed but not bad. Hope it went well for others.