NEW!! Christmas on the Adventure w/ Max's Mom: Photo Diary

[maxs mom]

It was a busy morning. The Meet and Mingle was at 11:00 up in the Blue Moon Lounge, so we hoofed it up there. There was a nice turn out. Drew Divine, the Cruise Director, was there and they raffled off some very nice prizes. We won a picture frame and $25 internet credit.

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

Afterwards it was back to the cabin for some reading and relaxation. We went to the WJ for lunch around 2. Not crowded at all and the food was very good. I had a little bread pudding for dessert.....Yum!

 

When we got back to the cabin, there was a message from Lisa on the phone to come up to their cabin to visit for a while. I already posted some pictures of their cabin, but here is the little Christmas tree that they brought and set up. Nice touch!

 

 

I always bring some Christmas Clings for our window. Easy to pack and no weight!

 

 

 

 

The afternoon consisted of more reading and more napping. Did I say I love sea days?!!

[clochette]

great review, thank you

[maxs mom]

Later on we dressed for dinner and stopped off the the CL around 7. There we met Cynthia and David from the UK who are on the Adventure for 4 weeks! We also met Dale and Karen from Oklahoma who were previous cruise buddies of Guy and Lisa. Always a good time in the CL.

 

Guy and Lisa joined us after they had dinner.

 

 

 

We had our same table in the dining room tonight right by the window. Of course it was dark so it didn't matter. Good thing because when I went up there during the day to take a picture I found out that outside that window was a lifeboat! We walked right in tonight. No waiting. It was Italian nght and there were some great menu items new and old. I had a new appetizer.....arrancini.....quite tasty......then some old favorites....Insalata Mista and Tiger Shrimp. Then Sticky bread pudding for dessert. All of these were waiter recommendations and I dedided that I would just get whatever he recommended for the rest of the cruise!

 

 

They came around and made some informal shots at the dining room tables tonight. This was ours. We bought this, but like I said, I was too lazy to scan it, so I made a picture of it to post on here!

 

 

 

We were seated at about 8:40 and were all done and walking out of the DR at 9:30. Love it!

 

I strolled around a bit before going back to the cabin and to bed with a Jack Reacher book.

 

The Quest......with which we have a long and successful history......was tonight......at 11:45. Too late for us now, sadly! Ugh! We had to get up early the next day, so we passed. My how times have changed. We're not real fond of the way they play the Quest on the large ships. It's not near as much fun as on the "smaller" ships!

 

Time for bed!

 

As usual.....we had a neat little critter on the bed. I think we had one just about every night!

 

[maxs mom]

Thursday ~ December 27th ~ Aruba

 

Up early again today.... same routine.....coffee.. CL ....Breakfast in MDR.

 

I'm excited to be back in Aruba again. We are going to one our all time favorite beaches today. Guy and Lisa are going with us. We left the ship around 9. Before getting in a taxi we took time to make a few more Christmas tree pics.

 

 

 

The taxi driver takes us to the Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort on Eagle Beach. Great spot! We got there early enough to get some prime chairs and a palapa. It was a beautiful day, once again.

 

Best beach day of the cruise!

 

 

 

 

 

No crowds here! They all go to Palm Beach.

[maxs mom]

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

This was such a nice day. We enjoyed a couple of Amstel Brites, then ordered lunch, which was delivered to the beach. I was able to finsh the book I was reading.

 

 

 

 

This is the beach bar:

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

We relaxed here until around 2 o'clock. Sometimes you have to wait a while for a taxi to come by, but today there was one right there and soon we were on our way back to the ship. Great beach day!

 

 

 

We had some nice down time back in the cabin before getting ready for the evening.

 

We met the usual folks in the CL before dinner and had a great time once again.

 

 

Guy and Lisa met us there after they had dinner. Their waiter made her a flower out of a napkin:

 

 

 

 

On to dinner at 8:30......walked right in......same table ......same waiter. We had excellent service and the food was very good once again. I had the crab cake, Caesar salad, cod. Then I had some kind of a rum cake with ice cream for dessert......all recommended by Christopher.....all excellent! John had the chicken cordon bleu and he raved about it and John doesn't usually rave about any food! He cleaned is plate tonight!

 

This is my cod:

 

 

 

Here is the rum cake:

 

 

After dinner we went to cash in our internet minutes.....better late than never. We had 90 minutes from coupons and then the prize from the M&M.

 

Then we went to look at pictures. We gathered all of them together and they held them at the desk for us so that we could decide on which ones to get at a later time. We hardly ever have any made, but we had a few made this trip.

 

Next ....it was on to the casino so we could get our free key chain in the spin to win thing.

 

Next, it was on to the theater for the Love and Marriage Game Show at 10:30......always a good time. Finally.......something that wasn't too late to stay up for! The show was refreshing in that all three couples had not seen or done this before. All couples were also married the appropriate lengths of time for each category......7 mos........17 years.......and 42 years. It was a good show!

 

We went back to the cabin after that........Good night!

[maxs mom]

Again......another critter awaited us in the cabin!

 

 

[maxs mom]

Friday ~ December 28th ~ Curacao

 

Another one of our favorite ports! It was a nice looking day outside!

 

 

 

 

 

It was pretty quiet up on the pool deck as well when I went to exchange our beach towels.

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

Same routine for coffee and breakfast. I had another egg white omelet this morning.......soooooo good!

 

Today we are heading out by ourselves over to a favorite spot close to the ship. We took a taxi to the Sea Aquairium Beach. Actually we have the driver drop us off at the Lion's Dive Hotel entrance. We just walk through the hotel and out on the beach at their property. The beach boy found us and we paid him for two chairs and the $3 beach charge......$18 in all. There are plenty of trees there for shade. We like this particular place because it is not as crowded as other spots on this beach and for the shade. Other places are cheaper. But they are loud and crowded. I prefer to relax. It is close to food, drink, and bathrooms. Here are some pictures of this beach. It is actually like a lagoon......kind of different. It is fun to swim out to the breaker, but I didn't do that today.

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

We saw an excursion from the ship come in to the beach right next to us. They were herded in like cattle and were on top of each other. I was happy to be where I was!

 

 

These two guys entertained us all day on their jet ski:

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can get some pretty good hot dogs for lunch here, but we decided to go back to the ship around 1:00 today and just get lunch on the ship.

[maxs mom]

You can see the ship from this beach.

 

 

I've always wanted to try going to Playa Porta Marie on Curacao but the cab fare is $50 one way. Maybe one day if we can get some more people to go with us.

 

Back on the ship, we showered and went to the WJ for lunch. No one was there and it was nice. I must say the service in the WJ every time we were there was excellent!

 

We had a nice relaxing afternoon......of course.....reading and napping! We went up to the Blue Moon which is a hot spot for internet and checked our e-mail. It was nice and quiet up there. GOt a couple of nice shots o the pool area from up there.

 

 

 

This was a formal night again. John opted not to put on the tux again and that was perfectly fine. We met Cynthia and David in the CL and then were joined by Guy and Lisa later.

 

 

[maxs mom]

David and Cynthia:

 

 

Guy and Lisa:

 

 

Jane and John:

 

 

While we were in the CL, the Captain made an announcement that we were turning around and going back to Curacao because of a medical emergency. A passenger needed to be med-e-vaced. A heart problem I think. But it wouldn't effect our arrival in San Juan.

 

So it was on to dinner at 8:30. Very good dinner and service once again. We both had prime rib. We don't usually eat beef as a general rule unless we are on a cruise. After tonight's prime rib.....which was very good......we decided we had had enough. No more beef until the next cruise!

 

After dinner, we wandered around for a bit and then went to the theater for the Beatle Tribute Band's performance. It was pretty good. Great music. They were pretty good for a tribute band, but not near as good as the Abba one or the Jersey Boys.....but we enjoyed it.

 

 

Shake it up baby......twist and shout!!!

 

 

 

We walked through the casino on the way back to the cabin and watched a lady drop $100 on my Pink Panther machine in the blink of an eye! Glad I didn't try it again!

 

After that....it was time for bed!

[maxs mom]

Saturday ~ December 29th ~ At Sea

 

Yay .....another sea day.

Just made a quick visit to the CL this morning to get a little coffee.

We were joined at breakfast by Cynthia and David.....then Barbara and Jeff came in.

 

 

After breakfast we went up to the Blue Moon Lounge on 14 to use up some more of our internet credit. Pretty soon, it was time for the Captain's Corner.....Q & A with the Captain.....and it was being held in the Blue Moon, so we had good seats already!

The Captain.......Ron Holmes form Canada, and the Hotel Director, Chris Karavos......did a very nice session for over 30 minutes.....answering all kinds of quiestions. There was a pretty good turn out of passengers there and some good questions were asked. We enjoyed that very much.

Captain Holmes:

 

 

 

Chris Karavos:

 

 

 

Afterwards we went back to the cabin and got a couple of suitcases out from under the bed! Ugh!!!!!!

Before long it was time to go down to the MDR for lunch. We were invited to have lunch with an officer. Our friends, Karen and Dale were also invited, so we met up with them and two other couples. We were shown to our table and there we met the Casino Manager......Christian Hatley. Not really an officer.......but it was still nice! Christain was a very nice "chap" from the UK and I enjoyed talking to him. Unfortunately one of the other couples there sort of did a lot of complaining about many things. I tried changing the subject many times. I didn't go to lunch to hear a bitch fest and I'm sure Mr. Hatley didn't either, but he was very gracious. Anyway.....it was a very nice lunch, complete with wine. I enjoyed it.

 

 

[maxs mom]

So after lunch.....we went on over to the photo gallery and chose the pictures that we wanted to buy. It wasn't crowded at this time, so it didn't take very long.

 

Next we went back to the cabin to do the serious and dreaded packing. I had my main bag packed in no time. Then it was time to read and nap.......looking at the wonderful ocean one more time!

 

I hate this sight!

 

 

Just a little more holiday!

 

 

The promenade on the last day:

 

 

The main dining room:

 

 

Our special area of the dining room on deck 5. Loved it here!

 

 

That's our table right there.

 

[maxs mom]

Tonight in the CL, we met Cynthia and David, Karen and Dale, and Guy and Lisa one more time. Guy and Lisa were staying on board one more week. Cynthia and David were staying on board for three more weeks!!

 

 

We had such a nice time with these folks!

 

 

Some last minute toasts:

 

 

I think David was ready for another gin and tonic!

 

 

 

One more for the road! Glad I'm not driving.

 

[maxs mom]

Herbie and Shawn really took care of us this week. They are the best!

 

 

Super Heroes!!

 

 

[maxs mom]

It was really hard saying good bye to everybody......but we had to get to the MDR for dinner.

 

 

 

 

Silvia is going to be a good Concierge.

 

__________________

[maxs mom]

So down to dinner......same table......same waiter. I just let Christopher order for me, and once again, he did not disappoint. I had the spinach dip, a very good salad, some sort of shrimp dumpling thing (new), and for dessert.....the new and improved warm chocolate cake! I must say ......it was really good and much better than the old one!

 

 

 

Our wait staff for most of the week were wonderful. Definitely go with the waiter's recommendations. You won't be sorry.

 

 

Here's some more food porn from earlier in the week. I just forgot about them. This is the mushrooms in puff pastry:

 

 

This was a tasty dessert that I had one night:

 

 

And John always gets the sugar free chocolate ice cream:

 

[maxs mom]

After dinner, we went back to the cabin and got our suitcases out in the hallway.......always a sad sight!

 

 

 

 

We turned in early.

 

Coming up.......disembarkation day and a very nice day in San Juan

[maxs mom]

Sunday ~ December 30th ~ San Juan

 

Well.....I guess we'll have to get off today. (sigh)

 

We got up around 6 this morning and we were already docked.

 

We went down to the MDR for breakfast and noticed that the D/D+ area was opened this morning. We have never seen that before.....so we went on in. Nobody was there......only waiters. So we had the place to ourselves. Talk about good service! We saw another waitress that we had on the Serenade. I couldn't believe it. It was nice to have a nice relaxing, un- hurried breakfast this last morning.

 

Here we are all by oursleves!

 

 

 

After breakfast, we went back to our cabin and got all our stuff together. We had so many loose things all over the place. It was hard to get it together. But we did and left our cabin around 8 o'clock. We said good bye to our wonderful cabin steward, Jesmond.

 

 

The departure area for D/D+ was in the dining room on deck 4, so we went there. That was very convenient as it was right by the area for debarkation. We only sat there for about 5-10 minutes before they called us to get off. Very quick debarkation......no lines.

 

There was an older couple walking slowly in front of us, though, and when we got to the escalator.....the man panicked and fell down the escalator. It was awful. They immediately stopped the escalator and helped him off. He appeared to be OK, but I'm sure he was probably pretty sore.

 

Our luggage was right there waiting on us......no problem....and we breezed through customs.

 

As we were walking out to the taxis, we noticed a big table with nothing but irons all over it. Big irons, small irons, travel irons......it was hilarious. I'm so sorry I didn't get a picture of that! The attendant was also laughing!

[maxs mom]

We immediately got a taxi and headed over to our hotel. We were spending one night in San Juan before returning home. Got a better airfare and we would miss all the cruise crowd at the airport on Monday.

 

The only problem was I had a hard time finding a hotel room for the night. All our favorite hotels were booked when I started looking for a room. I finally found something at the Verdanza. This hotel is right next to the Embassy Suites.

 

We got there very early and, of course, no rooms were ready, but they checked our luggage and we had the run of the property until a room was ready for us. They took my cell phone number and would call when that time came.

 

So we got some coffee and hung around the lobby for a little bit. Then we moved on out to the pool area. It was quite nice......and.....a bonus......not crowded at all. Here are some pictures of the pool area......very nice:

 

 

 

 

While we were out at the pool, we met another couple who were just off the Adventure as well. They were Diamond Plus folks as well, and we had a nice lunch and chat with them while we were waiting on our rooms.

 

 

They called to say that our rooms were ready while we were eating lunch, so afterwards we went on up to our room. It was nice, though old, and was just fine for spending one night. I would definitely stay there again. We actually got a pretty nice corner room.

 

 

Here is the view from our room of the pool:

 

[maxs mom]

We just crashed in our room for the remainder of the afternoon. I finished a book and John watched the NFL. We had such a big lunch, that we just got some sandwiches for dinner. We got to bed early because we had an early flight in the morning.

 

More views from our room. You can see how close this hotel is to the beach. Nice location. Lots of inexpensive restaurants in the area, also.

 

 

 

We were up at 5 AM on Monday morning and got ourselves over to the aeropuerto. Taxis were readily available at that hour of the morning. Another nice thing about this hotel is its availability to the airport. About 5 minutes. We got to the airport and ran our stuff quicly tbrough the USDA check point, then checked in with Delta.....no lines. We went quickly through security and were on our way.

 

What a great trip......just way too short. Thank goodness we booked another cruise while on board! Next up......The Independence of the Seas 8 night on March 30th for Spring Break. Then retirement in June and the sky's the limit!! Woo Hoo!

 

Well, friends.....thanks for reading! I apologize again for my stupid mistake with the pictures. Still shaking my head about that! I may try to copy and paste and reinsert the pictures in a new thread. But that will have to wait until the week-end. We'll see. Keep an eye out for it just in case!

 

So .....now it's time for a toast to all our cruise buddies past, present,.......and future. Hope to see you on a Royal Caribbean cruise again real soon! (And often!!)

 

 

Here's a parting shot from the beach in Curacao:

 

[GinaGG279]

Hi Jane I've just booked the adventure for this summer and I was curious as to what seven hearts is. on the deck plans it says one thing and other websites the other! can you clarify this?

Thanks Gina :)