*Adventure OTS or Jewel OTS for S. Caribbean cruise?

[Tall-Cruiser]

We are considering a Southern Caribbean cruise next year from San Juan. Which ship would be better, considering price and travel with teenagers?

 

Adventure or Jewel? Thank you!

[eyeamacruiser]

We are having our 5th Salute to Veterans cruise on the Jewel departing San Juan on September 20 2014. We would like to have as many folks as we can get. We have had 3 of the other 4 on Carnival and 1 on Norwegian. This time we are trying RCCL due to the price and port stops.:D

[Clarea]

We are considering a Southern Caribbean cruise next year from San Juan. Which ship would be better, considering price and travel with teenagers?

 

Adventure or Jewel? Thank you!

Both ships are fine ships, but I'd give a slight nod to Adventure because of the kids. They would probably find Adventure a bit more interesting.

[clott]

Just got off of the jewel and was on the adventure several years ago. They both have rock climbing both have putt putt. Of course adventure is bigger and will probably have more kids but we loved loved the jewel. Don't know if your kids will use the kids club but I'm sure it will be bigger on the adventure. Do they both have the same itinarary. If not i would choose the one that sounded the most interesting.

[Tall-Cruiser]

Both ships are fine ships, but I'd give a slight nod to Adventure because of the kids. They would probably find Adventure a bit more interesting.

 

Thank you Bob!

[DonnaK]

We just returned from the Jewel, and although it's a beautiful ship, we prefer Voyager-class ships because they are larger, and the Promenade is a better entertainment venue for the major events (like the Captain's party) than the centrum or smaller lounges.

[Tall-Cruiser]

Just got off of the jewel and was on the adventure several years ago. They both have rock climbing both have putt putt. Of course adventure is bigger and will probably have more kids but we loved loved the jewel. Don't know if your kids will use the kids club but I'm sure it will be bigger on the adventure. Do they both have the same itinarary. If not i would choose the one that sounded the most interesting.

 

We are looking at spring break period. Looks like one ship has a more port intensive itinerary than the other, i.e. Jewel. One does st Croix, Barbados, St Lucia, etc and the other does Aruba, Curaçao and etc. I have also noticed that Adventure is cheaper.

[Tall-Cruiser]

We just returned from the Jewel, and although it's a beautiful ship, we prefer Voyager-class ships because they are larger, and the Promenade is a better entertainment venue for the major events (like the Captain's party) than the centrum or smaller lounges.

 

All the ships we have sailed on have a RP and it's one of our favorite futures. Never been on a Radiance class.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

[Koohiichan]

I think I'd give the edge to Adventure. We took it this past February. In addition to more kid-friendly amenities, I would guess there are more kids on board, but I have no proof of that. Adventure has the ice skating rink and roller blading which I don't think Jewel has, right? And the promenade has more of a "mall" type hang out atmosphere.

 

We loved Adventure and we had been on Liberty some years before which is newer, bigger, etc. The southern Caribbean can't be beat and we felt that the Adventure was just our size. It never felt over-crowded. Liberty had better pools for younger kids, but we wanted a ship that was less child-centered, but still family friendly and we could care less about the flowrider.

 

Koohiichan

[Tall-Cruiser]

I think I'd give the edge to Adventure. We took it this past February. In addition to more kid-friendly amenities, I would guess there are more kids on board, but I have no proof of that. Adventure has the ice skating rink and roller blading which I don't think Jewel has, right? And the promenade has more of a "mall" type hang out atmosphere.

 

We loved Adventure and we had been on Liberty some years before which is newer, bigger, etc. The southern Caribbean can't be beat and we felt that the Adventure was just our size. It never felt over-crowded. Liberty had better pools for younger kids, but we wanted a ship that was less child-centered, but still family friendly and we could care less about the flowrider.

 

Koohiichan

 

Koohiichan - Thanks for sharing. Looks like Advenure is wiinning this one.

[Granny DI]

Don't know about the Jewel but the Adventure doesn't have wifi yet. We were on the Adventure the end of Oct...worst internet we've experienced. Ipads and laptops were worthless. Cruised the Mariner for NYE...just turned on the IPad and we were connected....NCl Epic in April same thing just turn on the IPad..and just off the Oasis...not as good as the Mariner but pretty good! Don't know if internet is important to you but if it's important forget the Adventure until the wifi is installed. We don't plan to sail the Adventure again...

[kastke]

We have been on both Radiance class (Serenade) and the Adventure in the Southern Caribbean. Love both ships, but would also give the advantage to Adventure. We really liked the Promenade feature, although it did get crowded at times, and Cafe Promenade is just so convenient!

 

We also enjoy sea days, and liked that Adventure on the Aruba route has two sea days versus only one on the more port intensive route.

[Clarea]

Don't know about the Jewel but the Adventure doesn't have wifi yet. We were on the Adventure the end of Oct...worst internet we've experienced. Ipads and laptops were worthless. Cruised the Mariner for NYE...just turned on the IPad and we were connected....NCl Epic in April same thing just turn on the IPad..and just off the Oasis...not as good as the Mariner but pretty good! Don't know if internet is important to you but if it's important forget the Adventure until the wifi is installed. We don't plan to sail the Adventure again...

No pervasive WiFi on Jewel either.

[ILUVCRUIZN]

We had this same decision to make. Adventure of the Seas ended up winning us over due to the ship and itinerary. Jewel would have been a little cheaper for us but we are taking our 8 year old and feel AOS fits the bill perfectly. We are so excited. We have not sailed on a ship with a promenade, only sailed on Rhapsody and Serenade, we loved both of those ships but we are really looking forward to this one. 240 days to go!!! :D

[sxphil]

We looked at both options having only travelled on freedom class before

 

Adventurer looked atractive but was not available in April so we have chosen the Jewel and are looking forward to a smaller ship although its not small by any means

[ValerieJo]

Both are great ships with amazing itineraries. As much as I love the Radiance class ships, I'd also give a slight edge to Adventure because of the kids.

 

We have done each of them and love both so much we couldn't decide for next year. So we are doing both back to back! :D

 

Sailing the Jewel, spending the night in San Juan then getting on the Adventure. Best of both worlds.

[sxphil]

Thats just plain greedy :D

[BLAMBKY]

I'm not sure what to expect sailing out of San Juan, what is the passenger mix? Any particular nationality in minority or is it a multi-nationality mix?

[39august]

Yep. Adventure with kids.

[UCF_Knight]

The teenagers might like the billiard tables on Jewel that aren't available on Adventure. I also prefer the Seaview Cafe (and the free price) to Johnny Rockets ($4.95 each time + milk shakes).

 

Other than that, I think Adventure has more for the teenagers like:

in-line skating

ice skating (both to watch the shows and to skate yourself)

A full size sports court instead of the half sized court on Jewel

A much larger teen hangout areas in Adventure Ocean

2 swimming pools instead of the 1 on Jewel

The Royal Promenade and everything on it (including pizza available any time they want it)

More kids their own age to hang out with

[Clarea]

I'm not sure what to expect sailing out of San Juan, what is the passenger mix? Any particular nationality in minority or is it a multi-nationality mix?

Seems to be more of an international mix than say a cruise out of Port Canaveral or Galveston. Maybe 25% locals. A very fun mix of guests.:)

[BLAMBKY]

Seems to be more of an international mix than say a cruise out of Port Canaveral or Galveston. Maybe 25% locals. A very fun mix of guests.:)

 

My sincere thanks! I am all over the place trying to decide on what to do about next April. My DD will fall into the no mans land, so going back over our already made plans. Lots of ports & international mix is a big plus for her!:) Thanks again!

[CntPAcruiser]

I'm not sure what to expect sailing out of San Juan, what is the passenger mix? Any particular nationality in minority or is it a multi-nationality mix?

 

It varies from sailing to sailing, but generally is very mixed. We've sailed AOS out of San Juan three times, twice in November and once in January. Each time there was a different mix of passengers from outside Puerto Rico and those who were local to San Juan. On only one of those cruises was there a noticeably larger presence of any one group that was detrimental to the cruise experience. On the most recent cruise, we noticed that there seemed to be more folks from Europe than we had seen in the two previous cruises on AOS. I liked the mix of people and nationalities, and we enjoyed talking with many people we met and shared tables/hot tubs/etc. with. Apart from cruising at spring break time or holiday times when families would be more apt to cruise with kids, it would probably be hard to predict the crowd makeup.

[Tall-Cruiser]

Many, many thanks to all of you for your feedback on this topic.

 

I use to browse through cruise critic before and a message would display right away "Hi there! Why haven't you registered yet??" I finally registered and its the best thing I have done since I like to cruise. The sharing of information here is really great.

 

Now I have to dig out that second NextCruise confirmation and pick a date for Adventure OTS.

 

Thanks again!

[karena1]

We are looking at spring break period. Looks like one ship has a more port intensive itinerary than the other, i.e. Jewel. One does st Croix, Barbados, St Lucia, etc and the other does Aruba, Curaçao and etc. I have also noticed that Adventure is cheaper.

 

Depends on if you like port intensive - but if you do I would do Jewel for sure! We just got off that itin and love it. We love the Southern Caribbean and lots of port time. The itin on Jewel has our favorite islands of Antigua, St Maarten, Barbados and St Lucia. Aruba holds no allure for us, can take it or leave it.

 

Yes Adventure is bigger and we are book on her for 2015 with the itin we like, but for this, I would take jewel just b/c the islands are better.