Adventure Southern Caribbean Adventure April 19, 2015

[Luv06012012]

Thanks! I have studied the webpage. In order to drop off at a specific spot, how do we find out which spot is closest to the cruise port where we will be?

 

After you choose your destination (St. Lucia for example), the next page has the drop off locations at the top that participate and there is a map below that shows where each one of those locations are in that area.

[dividedsky]

We go next Feb. I look forward to following along :)

[micmacmissy]

Yay! Love a FamilyGoBoston review!

 

Kathy, I actually just finished your Paul Gauguin review after getting a thick brochure in the mail from them. I've decided the 7 day Society Islands tour is going to be the one for our 20th anniversary in June 2017! I have a million questions for you about that...but I'll save those for awhile!

 

Have a great trip!

[cruiselife4me]

Thank you for the review! I always enjoy your reviews and even more with 306 days til Lady Adventure! Yahoo!!

Mary

[JimAOk1945]

Up to the solRium for lunch, and set up our on board internet account, we are relaxing in the Solarium until cabins are ready at 2! Internet is working well- but photos on twitter are easier!

 

You ate lunch at the Solarium? What do they have available? We will be on the AOS in December so this sounds like a great alternative to the buffet.

[Clarea]

...Up to the solRium for lunch, and set up our on board internet account, we are relaxing in the Solarium until cabins are ready at 2! Internet is working well- but photos on twitter are easier!

This sounds very interesting. We were on Adventure for two weeks early this year, and there was no food of any kind in the Solarium. What kinds of food were they serving there?

[Engrvrgal]

Well, what a coincidence, my cousin was married yesterday too! I'll look for them at love and marriage ;!

 

 

 

That would be awesome, but I don't know if my sil would go along. He is somewhat of a private person. Then again, when we sailed to Bermuda last year on Explorer, my daughter wanted to participate in the Quest. He was sitting there and tried to talk her out of it. Well, he gave in, she got picked for the team, and by the end of the game, he was right along up there with her. And their team won!!!

 

In case they do, or you run into them, their names are Victoria and Jason.

 

I will be following along.

 

I pick them up from the airport on Sunday, then Monday I drive to Baltimore to board the Grandeur on Tuesday!!

[Krittie67]

Have a great cruise! Looking forward to your review and photos. Hopefully many of the ship itself.

[Familygoboston]

This sounds very interesting. We were on Adventure for two weeks early this year, and there was no food of any kind in the Solarium. What kinds of food were they serving there?

 

You ate lunch at the Solarium? What do they have available? We will be on the AOS in December so this sounds like a great alternative to the buffet.

 

Oh, oh! :eek: warning, warning, confusion alert, confusion alert! Please stay tuned for the clarification of some confusion!

 

We ATE in the solarium, the food was procured from the Windjammer! We found a nice little table in the shade and just fetched a plate and brought it back. Since our 18 yo noticed no one was there to pick up dishes, she even bussed all our dishes back to the WJ when we were through (isn't she the greatest?)

 

This concludes the confusion alert...in the case that another confusion occurs ( a very likely occurrence) please stay tuned for future confusion clarifications! ;)

 

Sorry about that folks!

[colleennerrr]

love the review so far and will be following your adventure. We will be on AOS in june and cannont wait.

 

can you tell me if the ceilings are metal? we have a almost 2 year old that will be with us and are trying to figure out how to make a curtain or something to block her view so she sleeps through the night and doesn't think its time to party

 

Thankyou!

Edited April 21, 2015 by colleennerrr

[Familygoboston]

Sea Day

 

I'll try to post a little about today, the Internet is very slow tonight (or maybe CC is slow tonight!)

 

It was a beautiful day at sea onboard adventure of the seas! I posted a couple of photos on Twitter tonight. We started the day in the windjammer for breakfast, even though we have options in the dining room or Diamond lounge, DH prefers the big selection at the WJ. We have not had trouble finding a nice table by the water all day! Interesting fact: there is no longer flavored water offered at the drink stations, just lemonade and regular ice water. DD misses that strawberry kiwi water.

 

We were sort of a nightmare for our room attendant today. DD slept in and by the time she headed out of the cabin we were coming back! Luckily, we put out the "make up room card" and hung out on the balcony while she did her thing!

 

We are adoring this balcony. With 2 loungers and 2 upright chairs DD turned into a lounger (I'll post a photo of this when we get hoem, ingenious really! Am I making her sound too good? Because I just read an article today that too much praise can turn a kid into a narcissist. Maybe it's too late anyway, but just in case we just won't tell her what I'm telling you;)) Every time we strolled by the loaded pool or solarium, we kept feeling like we' d be happier on our quiet balcony, so that's where we stayed!

 

At 11:30 we joined our M&M. Tino, our French cruise activity manager ran the festivities. We did quick intros, and while there were only about 20 of us, I was surprised how many admitted being "lurkers" and not really posting, but they were happy for all the info people who did post shared on the Roll Call. This was a quiet RC generally, but it was great to put the names to the faces, and we all had a few laughs!

 

After lunch (again in the busy WJ, where the maitre D (what should we call the person standing in the entrance?...maitre D seems, well, a bit formal for a person squirting hand sanitizer in your hands, but I want to be respectful!) Anyway, back to the hand sanitizing Matre D, she was begging, just begging people to go to the MDR for lunch, but most weren't buying, and can you blame us? In the WJ, they served an apple pie the size of a monster truck tire! I am not kidding, I even posted a pic on twitter!

 

So after lunch maybe some of us might have napped on our balcony (ok all of us!) and we attended the second showing of the Cool Art Hot Ice show at 4 PM. It was well attended, and to clarify (mostly my own) questions; no, you don't need (nor do they have) tickets , yes, they do open doors 1/2 hr in advance, no, you dont need to be there that early, there were tons of good seats, and yes, the whole show does seem to be conceived by someone having a really bad acid trip (this joke is my daughters, clearly she's a chip off the old block- but dont tell her, she might become a narcissist...like her mother :rolleyes:)

 

But despite the truly manic and psychedelic nature of the show, it's really very entertaining, and the skaters are really talented and energetic! We loved it (even if we did'nt understand all of it!

 

Well, I promised to post only until midnight because we have an early morning in Barbados tomorrow! So I'll leave you with a really quick description of the rest of the night...

Elliptical at the gym, getting ready for formal night (3 in a cabin, always an adventure! Oops said I wouldn't do that "Adveture" thing again!) PICTURES in the centrum(smile!), drink in the Viking Crown lounge (oo, pretty! ) dinner, (saffron menu) the Jackpot show (all about Vegas, baby!) dancing at Jesters (DD is obsessed with this medieval themed night club, she would like to live there) and then BED!

 

Ok, that's a wrap! I'm hoping to tweet some turtle photos tomorrow! Night night!

[sg1phileshipper]

 

Bags are packed, and um...looks like someone wants to come along!:(

 

Awww, what a cute dog. The look on her/his face is sooooo sad. I am lucky I can leave my dogs with my dad when I leave.

 

Cindy

[sg1phileshipper]

Oh, oh! :eek: warning, warning, confusion alert, confusion alert! Please stay tuned for the clarification of some confusion!

 

We ATE in the solarium, the food was procured from the Windjammer! We found a nice little table in the shade and just fetched a plate and brought it back. Since our 18 yo noticed no one was there to pick up dishes, she even bussed all our dishes back to the WJ when we were through (isn't she the greatest?)

 

This concludes the confusion alert...in the case that another confusion occurs ( a very likely occurrence) please stay tuned for future confusion clarifications! ;)

 

Sorry about that folks!

 

I can certainly understand the confusion. Can I borrow her for my cruise on the Adventure next year? :p

Sailing along. That'll make our september 2016 cruise one week closer ;)

 

Cindy

[Clarea]

love the review so far and will be following your adventure. We will be on AOS in june and cannont wait.

 

can you tell me if the ceilings are metal? we have a almost 2 year old that will be with us and are trying to figure out how to make a curtain or something to block her view so she sleeps through the night and doesn't think its time to party

 

Thankyou!

Ceilings are metal.

[Ocean Boy]

Oh, oh! :eek: warning, warning, confusion alert, confusion alert! Please stay tuned for the clarification of some confusion!

 

We ATE in the solarium, the food was procured from the Windjammer! We found a nice little table in the shade and just fetched a plate and brought it back. Since our 18 yo noticed no one was there to pick up dishes, she even bussed all our dishes back to the WJ when we were through (isn't she the greatest?)

 

This concludes the confusion alert...in the case that another confusion occurs ( a very likely occurrence) please stay tuned for future confusion clarifications! ;)

 

Sorry about that folks!

 

Don't worry. We will all be glad to point out any issues that seem amiss.:p

[ckelly14]

Wonderful thread!

 

Taking my family (wife, children 10 and 11) in connecting aft veranda cabins (deck 8) on the AOS next March. Love to hear you impression of AOS vs. JOS for kids that age since the Jewel is another option for those dates.

 

Also, I saw some of your ship tours on your website- any plans for a AOS tour?

 

Thanks!!

 

Chuck

Edited April 21, 2015 by ckelly14

[JohnGaltny]

Great stuff. We do this cruise in about 10 days.

 

Really like the idea of Pack for a Purpose.

[Familygoboston]

love the review so far and will be following your adventure. We will be on AOS in june and cannont wait.

 

can you tell me if the ceilings are metal? we have a almost 2 year old that will be with us and are trying to figure out how to make a curtain or something to block her view so she sleeps through the night and doesn't think its time to party

 

Thankyou!

As Bob pointed out, yes the ceilings are metal and my daughter just did the "magnet test" with our white board pen, and it sticks, so you could certainly creat a curtain with magnets stitched in the top...just keep them far away from your sea pass! Between the magnets in iPad cover, and other places we've demaged our sea passes twice and we've only been onboard 48 hours!

 

I can certainly understand the confusion. Can I borrow her for my cruise on the Adventure next year? :p

Sailing along. That'll make our september 2016 cruise one week closer ;)

 

Cindy

Cindy, there are days you could have both the kid and THE dog! ;)

 

Thanks to everyone who is following along! And for Bob and OB for answering burning questions while I'm our snorkeling with turtles! ;)

[tserface]

Maybe RCI should start thinking about using a barcode rather than mag strip for the cards. The information can easily be held in the computer and there wouldn't be chance for the strip to demagnitize on all of today's latest technology.

 

Or they could use an RFID. The tech is getting pretty affordable.

 

Tom

 

 

Between the magnets in iPad cover, and other places we've demaged our sea passes twice and we've only been onboard 48 hours!

[Clarea]

Maybe RCI should start thinking about using a barcode rather than mag strip for the cards. The information can easily be held in the computer and there wouldn't be chance for the strip to demagnitize on all of today's latest technology.

 

Or they could use an RFID. The tech is getting pretty affordable.

 

Tom

They have started to use the barcode on the back of the SeaPass card for entering and exiting the ship. No stateroom door access yet. Also, I believe that Quantum and Anthem are set up for RFID via the wristbands.

[Familygoboston]

Day 3 Barbados

 

First, the Internet is pretty good when we are in port, even now at 4:30; when I expect lots of folks are returning and checking in before dinner! This is the first time I've purchased a package...usually I just check on loved ones at home with my free minutes, but I'm finding the package a good value now that it's been upgraded and is working very very well, even in my very far aft cabin!

 

We docked in Barbados this morning under beautiful sunny skies. The Cruise Compass has one of those dreaded cloudy looking icons on it, and I'm not having it! But despite dark clouds looming in the distance, we had a perfect day on Calabaza today, although now it's pouring rain. Luckily, with this covered aft balcony, we are listening to the rain fall on the decks below and watching it fall on a flat sea!

 

Our excursion this morning was Calabaza. It was like cruising with old friends! Gina, the owner, was on board today and Andrew (who was on board on our last sail with them in 2013) and Bobby. This trip our DD got to see the sea turtles and wreck snorkel, which was the reason we booked this itinerary!

 

Our cruise today is a on a cat that takes out only 12, (or 13 today and because of the one extra she refunded some of the cost of the tour, and it's not like you'd notice!) There is loads of room to spread our either in the cockpit (cozy bench area on the stern) or on the trampoline (the mesh netting between the pontoons on the bow) It was just a perfect day...Gina and her crew made sure there was always a drink in your hand and everytime we came back on board (after boarding or a snorkel) there was another snack...banana bread, crackers and spreads, fish cakes...yum! Did I mention lunch? We have photos, which I'll post later, we did not bring the connection for the iPad for the water camera this trip.

They take photos with their underwater camera and post them online after the tour. Really every need is attended to, and the attentive crew and small crowd makes it a much better experience than the larger cat tours offered by the cruise line, even though they do all end up at the same place (if you really want to save some money)

 

Whe we returned we went to the Solarium for another swim and the to the WJ for a late afternoon snack because we have to make it all the way till dinner at 8:15 (as if Gina had not fed us enough!) And we may have even got a fro yo on the pool deck :p But who's counting calories!

 

Maybe some photos tonight, sorry I cant share the turtle photos yet, because they were very photogenic today!

[Familygoboston]

They have started to use the barcode on the back of the SeaPass card for entering and exiting the ship. No stateroom door access yet. Also, I believe that Quantum and Anthem are set up for RFID via the wristbands.

 

As usual, Bob is exactly right! The guest services person told us (who, frankly, I trust less than Bob!;)) told us while it won't work for the doors, it would still successfully "bong" you in and out of the the ship because they read the bar code to see your smiling face (remember that embarkation picture?) on the machine!

[pinkroses]

love the review so far and will be following your adventure. We will be on AOS in june and cannont wait.

 

can you tell me if the ceilings are metal? we have a almost 2 year old that will be with us and are trying to figure out how to make a curtain or something to block her view so she sleeps through the night and doesn't think its time to party

 

Thankyou!

 

If not, try temporary Command hooks that stick on

[masonpips]

I just looked at your Twitter pics and I'm pretty sure we have the same cabin for Thanksgiving!! (Ok, other side of the ship). I'm GIDDY after seeing your pics!!

[rose102798]

Day 3 Barbados

 

First, the Internet is pretty good when we are in port, even now at 4:30; when I expect lots of folks are returning and checking in before dinner! This is the first time I've purchased a package...usually I just check on loved ones at home with my free minutes, but I'm finding the package a good value now that it's been upgraded and is working very very well, even in my very far aft cabin!

 

We docked in Barbados this morning under beautiful sunny skies. The Cruise Compass has one of those dreaded cloudy looking icons on it, and I'm not having it! But despite dark clouds looming in the distance, we had a perfect day on Calabaza today, although now it's pouring rain. Luckily, with this covered aft balcony, we are listening to the rain fall on the decks below and watching it fall on a flat sea!

 

Our excursion this morning was Calabaza. It was like cruising with old friends! Gina, the owner, was on board today and Andrew (who was on board on our last sail with them in 2013) and Bobby. This trip our DD got to see the sea turtles and wreck snorkel, which was the reason we booked this itinerary!

 

Our cruise today is a on a cat that takes out only 12, (or 13 today and because of the one extra she refunded some of the cost of the tour, and it's not like you'd notice!) There is loads of room to spread our either in the cockpit (cozy bench area on the stern) or on the trampoline (the mesh netting between the pontoons on the bow) It was just a perfect day...Gina and her crew made sure there was always a drink in your hand and everytime we came back on board (after boarding or a snorkel) there was another snack...banana bread, crackers and spreads, fish cakes...yum! Did I mention lunch? We have photos, which I'll post later, we did not bring the connection for the iPad for the water camera this trip.

They take photos with their underwater camera and post them online after the tour. Really every need is attended to, and the attentive crew and small crowd makes it a much better experience than the larger cat tours offered by the cruise line, even though they do all end up at the same place (if you really want to save some money)

 

Whe we returned we went to the Solarium for another swim and the to the WJ for a late afternoon snack because we have to make it all the way till dinner at 8:15 (as if Gina had not fed us enough!) And we may have even got a fro yo on the pool deck :p But who's counting calories!

 

Maybe some photos tonight, sorry I cant share the turtle photos yet, because they were very photogenic today!

 

Yay! Calabazas -- we are doing this in June. Can't wait!