LIVE from the Adventure of the Seas - Eastern Caribbean - April 12-20

[prmssk]

Today we are enjoying Frederiksted, St. Croix which is truly a beautiful place.  It has been a very warm day but spotty showers helped us cool off when we needed it.  The ship was cleared around 8:00 a.m.  After breakfast in the Crown Lounge, we went on shore about 9:00 a.m.  

 

 

At the end of the pier, if you go left there is a market, the fort, and then a beach (with chairs I assume you rent).  We started with a tour of the fort which cost $5 per person and is self-guided.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you go right at the end of the pier, there is a walkway through a park along the shore.  At the end of that walk way, if you follow the streets for about two blocks, you come to a boat launch and a beach that continues for a long time along the shore.  This is a really quiet beach and a little rocky.  After touring the fort, we headed this direction and probably walked almost 2 miles before turning around.  We had a chance to do a little bird watching along the beach.

 

 

There were chickens wandering the city and beach, many had babies in their group.

 

 

 

This is a Bananaquit.  It is in the Tanager family and feeds of the nectar of flowers like this one.

 

Back on the ship, here are a few photos of the port from the helipad.

 

The fort, is the red building in this photo.

 

 

 

 

[prmssk]

There was a crew medical emergency which delayed our departure from St. Croix about 20 minutes.  An ambulance came down the pier to collect someone - hope they will be okay.  The clouds were creating shadows on the hills of St. Croix that was especially nice.  We could also see sea turtles in the water around the pier.  Once we backed out of our berth, the ship turned around to face the setting sun which was quite pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

Before dinner, we spent some time in Boleros listening to the Soothing Guitar Classics with Jorge Garcia.  His music is so peaceful.

 

Dinner was A Taste of Mexico.  I had the salmon which was excellent.  

 

This might be a good place to mention internet speeds.  I have pretty consistently been getting about 6 Mbps download and anywhere from 6 - 15 Mbps upload which has been more than sufficient for my needs.  That said, I have run into quite a few issues getting connected initially either after switching devices or after a device dropping the internet.  I've always been able to get it to work but it has taken multiple refreshes and attempts to log in and the website "login . com" has not generally worked for me despite the instructions I was given asking me to use that website.  I've had better luck with "onboardicafe . com".

[prmssk]

The passengers on this cruise are an early crowd.  We were up wandering the ship by around 6:30 a.m. and there were a lot more people out and about than I am used to seeing that early on sea days.

 

We enjoyed breakfast in the Windjammer.  There is a chef making sunny side up and fried eggs in the back next to the omelette station.  The pastry station in the back has almond milk that you can request.

 

There is a full day of activities around the ship for those interested.  We enjoy the downtime of sea days.  I have been saving the Cruise Compasses in this Google Drive folder for those that are interested in the days' activities, hours, etc.

 

I had a chance to ask about capacity of this cruise.  There are about 3,600 passengers on board.  For context, double occupancy is 3,382.  Full capacity is 4,058.

 

Internet speeds are quite a bit faster today (except from our cabin), not that they were bad before today.  Below are the speeds on my iPhone from some chairs on deck 7 overlooking the promenade about 9:20 a.m. this morning.  I just retested speeds from my MacBook up in the Crown Lounge, just now and they are currently 82.2 Mbps download / 7.17 Mbps upload.

[prmssk]

Today is our second sea day in a row. As much fun as it is to see new countries, it’s the sea days I look forward to most. I’m sitting on the promenade with a light breeze listening to the waves push off the side of the ship. It’s really quite lovely. 
 

 

Last night’s show was the impressionist, Paul Boland. He was alright but we got stuck sitting behind a couple that wouldn’t stop loudly talking, so we left early. 
 

We sat outside the Duck & Dog Pub in the Royal Promenade to listen to our favorite guitarist, Jose Garcia, and enjoy a few drinks. Tonight’s dinner was Royal Night with Main Lobster Tail on the menu.  Food was really good. 

 

We’ve had our photos taken a number of times around the ship.  A number of them have really turned out quite nice. We will have to decide today which to get. 

 

Later this morning, we plan to go to the Captain’s talk.

 

 

 

Edited April 19 by prmssk

[registrar]

Sea days are my favorite also!!!

[prmssk]

As we sat on the promenade watching the sea, a Brown Booby (common sea bird we see on cruises) flew right by and spent some time fishing right next to the ship.  These birds amaze me as they spend so much of their life at sea, rarely seeing land and they are quite beautiful.  This time I had my camera on me so captured some great photos.  

 

 

 

But enough of birds which I recognize doesn't interest most cruisers.  We attended the Captain's Corner with Captain Jaret and Cruise Director Dan.  I was a bit surprised it wasn't more highly attended.  On other cruise lines talks like this by the Captain fill the theater.  It was a fun hour that went by fast with some great questions and humor.  Let me share some of what I learned.

 

Captain Jaret is from Newfoundland, Canada.  He has been with Royal Caribbean 25 years and has commanded all five voyager class ships which are his favorite.  His reason is that the Voyager class ships have more horse power per ton and for the passenger's benefit they have more elbow room.  I would definitely sail this class again for that reason.

 

 

He talked briefly about the Discovery class coming out in 2029 which will be similar to the Voyager and Freedom classes.  He put his plug in for convincing Royal to let him Captain this new ship.  Clearly, he is excited about this upcoming class.  

 

A question was asked about dry dock happening in the fall.  A number of participants are on the transatlantic cruise either to or from dry dock (or both). Wouldn't that be fun?  The ship is in Europe for 19 days which would be an ideal amount of time to explore some of Europe.  If only we had the time off....

 

He talked a little bit about dry dock.  They have these large blocks that are no more than about 2 meters high that the ship sits on.  They design exactly where to put the blocks based on the specific ship going into dry dock.  Divers are in the water as they slowly enter dry dock to help guide the ship which then ties up and then the divers stay in the water once the dock is closed and the water slowly drained to make sure it sits right.  It sounds like quite the process!

 

The Adventure's top speed is 22.5 knots.  They need to use 5 of the 6 engines to achieve that speed (one engine is reserved as a backup).  A headwind has the most affect on their ability to achieve that speed.  They can drop down to 4 engines at about 21 knots, 3 engines at about 18 knots, and 2 engines at about 14 knots.  The ship takes on about 1,000 tons of fuel at Port Canaveral each cruise - 300 tons of HFO and 700 tons of MDO (I hope I got those acronyms right).

 

Starting with the Harmony and all ships built since, they have an ALS system (Air Lubrication System) which creates bubbles at the hull to cut down on friction and help the ship go faster.

 

The top three senior officers are the ship's Captain, the Staff Captain (2nd in command), and the Chief Captain (3rd in command).  Those three senior officers are on the Bridge for every arrival and departure.  Otherwise, the ship is generally run by the other officers.  A senior officer would get called up when there is high traffic or low visibility.  1st and 2nd Officers work 8 hour shifts.

 

Captains and other senior officers usually work 10 weeks on and 10 weeks off.  Some of the other officers on the Bridge work 14 weeks on and 14 weeks off.

 

At each port, a local pilot boards.  They are the expert on the local tides, dock, which ballards can take how many lines, etc.  In the US it is required they take command, although the Captain is still responsible for the ship and the Captain's staff still do the docking.  Local pilots also work as a translator with lineman in foreign ports.

 

When deciding whether to back into the dock or pull in forward, a lot of factors come into play.  Sometimes they are doing drills on certain lifeboats.  Other times the current or swells play a role and with some docks, the location of the gangway matters.  Cozumel is one of the hardest ports to dock at because of the combination of currents (which are ever changing) and wind speeds.

[sgerth]

Thank you for all this information.  My sister and I will be on the 4/24 sailing and really looking forward to it.  Loving the pictures you've posted.  

[prmssk]

1 hour ago, sgerth said:

Thank you for all this information.  My sister and I will be on the 4/24 sailing and really looking forward to it.  Loving the pictures you've posted.  

Thank you!  We have really enjoyed this cruise and are sad to see it coming to an end.  I'm sure you and your sister will have a great time!

[firefightermediclasvegas]

Thank you for posting this past week. I will be on the Adventure in June and look forward to sailing.  I have one quick question.  Did they have any production shows in the main theater during your cruise?

thank you,

‘Scott 

[perfect match]

On 4/19/2024 at 12:47 PM, prmssk said:

 

Loved this picture! Thanks for sharing both of the Brown Booby pictures. 

[prmssk]

11 hours ago, firefightermediclasvegas said:

Thank you for posting this past week. I will be on the Adventure in June and look forward to sailing.  I have one quick question.  Did they have any production shows in the main theater during your cruise?

thank you,

‘Scott 

Yes, there were two production shows.  We didn't attend either so I can't speak to how good they are although we did see a preview of the first and the ballroom dancers and orchestra seem quite talented.

 

The first one was "Invitation to Dance."  Here is the description:  Invitation to Dance is a fusion of latin and Ballroom dance, beautiful costumes and the excitement and energy of live theater.  A sensual and passionate world-class production where Ballroom and Latin dance are reinvented for a diverse global audience.

 

The second one was "Can't Stop the Rock".  Here is the description:  Can't Stop the Rock takes the audience on a musical journey through Rock and Roll from movie soundtracks.  Covering everything from Chubby Checker and Connie Francis to Whitney Houston and Prince.  Over 40 years of some of the greatest movie music.

[prmssk]

We are on our drive home so I'll take advantage of this time to talk about our last day and disembarkation and share some overall thoughts.

 

Earlier in the cruise, there was a spot in the app to provide your departure plans so they knew which luggage tags to give you the final day.  We had chosen to self-assist so we could get on the road quickly on disembarkation morning.  In our cabin that last morning with our daily service, there was a letter explaining departure procedures.  I uploaded a copy of that letter to the same Google drive folder with all the Cruise Compasses which you can access here.  

 

Our cabin steward also left us one tip envelope with the letter which rubbed me a bit wrong.  He had been mediocre at best.  Our cabin seemed to be low on his priority.  And to leave only one envelope vs enough to tip more of the regular staff we interacted with seemed very self-serving.  This is one cabin steward who didn't get an additional tip from us.

 

The day before we had obtained the form from the loyalty concierge (same form is available at Guest Services) to add additional tips to our onboard account for our wait staff (Mel and Erina) who truly had gone above and beyond.  They were among some of the best servers we have had.

 

I'm not even sure how we spent the rest of that last day as it was so low key.  I know we spent a little more time listening to our favorite guitarist, Jorge Garcia (I mistyped his first name in another post - his first name is Jorge).  

 

Sunset was later and so there was still a bit of the blue hour light as we sat down for dinner that night so we got to enjoy having a window table.  The pecan-crusted salmon was really good.  Of the food this year, their pastry chef and the chef that handles fish are really talented.  Overall food was quite good in the main dining room but it is the fish dishes and desserts that really stand out.

 

They had one more party in the promenade that night.  As early birds and light sleepers, we won't book a promenade interior again.  If I recall correctly, there were four nights this cruise with parties after we wanted to go to sleep.  If you are a night owl or a heavy sleeper, I doubt the noise would be an issue for these cabins and they generally are pretty quiet the rest of the day/night.

 

The next morning we were up early so we could get an early start.  Cafe Promenade opened at 6:00 a.m. (although I think you could get coffee starting at 5:30 a.m.).  Diamond drinks are loaded on your card this final morning so I enjoyed one more coffee (which I ultimately didn't even have time to enjoy).  We ate a light breakfast from Cafe Promenade and then walked out on to the helipad to watch the last ship come in.  When I had woken up at 5:15 a.m., we had already docked along with the NCL Jade.  By the time we made it to the helipad sometime after 6:30 a.m., the Disney Fantasy and the Carnival Mardi Gras had both docked.  The Carnival Liberty was pulling into their berth next to us.  The sun was just starting to rise.

 

 

 

 

 

A couple minutes before 7:00 a.m. (about 45 minutes ahead of schedule), we were on the promenade looking down at the dock when they started opening up the line to disembark as we had just gotten clearance.  We rushed up to our cabin to grab all our luggage.  Self-assist disembarkation at that early hour was a breeze.  We barely had to pause for the facial recognition.  We were leaving the parking lot by about 7:20 a.m.

 

Overall, this was an amazing cruise.  The ship had lots of quiet places for us introverts to find peace and I love the classes of ships that have the wrap around promenade deck with access to the helipad.  Our only excursion was in Puerto Plata and my husband felt it was one of his favorite excursions we have ever taken.  We had opportunities to walk the beach in both Grand Turk and St. Croix.  MDR food was quite good and service was exception.  Buffet food was good if you knew what to look for and what to avoid (which is pretty typical of a buffet).

 

We cruise a lot of different cruise lines so as we stood on the helipad that last morning looking out at the NCL, Disney, and Carnival ships as well as the RCCL one we were on, we reflected on what we enjoy.  Our perfect cruise line would take little pieces from each line and maybe that is why we mix it up often.  

 

After disembarking, we spent the morning on Merritt Island before driving half-way home and staying in Tifton, GA.  If you ever have time before or after a Port Canaveral cruise and have an interest in wildlife, I highly recommend Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.  It is about 25 miles north of the port.  There is a 7 mile auto loop where you can see so much just from your car with some spots to pull off for short and longer hikes.  They also have bus tours from the National Wildlife Refuge Visitor's Center.  As a birder, this is my happy place.  I'll share just a few photos.

 

Common Gallinule

 

Tricolored Heron

 

Greater Yellowlegs

 

Blue-winged Teal

 

 

[firefightermediclasvegas]

Thank you for taking the time to give updates and summaries of your cruise.  It was very informative! I loved it.

[sgerth]

Thanks again for taking us along on your adventure on the Adventure.  It's nice to know that the ship is in good shape and the service is mainly excellent.  My husband is a photographer and he loves the pictures you included in your posts.  

[cruisingjandb]

I enjoyed your review. Could you tell me what they have for breakfast in the crown lounge as we haven't done that yet.

[prmssk]

30 minutes ago, cruisingjandb said:

I enjoyed your review. Could you tell me what they have for breakfast in the crown lounge as we haven't done that yet.

It’s a continental breakfast so nothing hot. They had pastries, donuts, yogurt and granola, muesli, fruit, smoked salmon, cold cuts, and cheeses.  You can get tea, espresso based coffee, and juice. I included a couple photos in post 22 that might be helpful. 

[Mike.S]

On 4/19/2024 at 2:04 PM, prmssk said:

Last night’s show was the impressionist, Paul Boland. He was alright but we got stuck sitting behind a couple that wouldn’t stop loudly talking, so we left early. 

That drives us mad, if you want to chat, find a bar, if you're in the theatre show some respect and watch the show. Sorry, rant over.....

[Havin'fun]

Just read through your review this morning.  I was in this cruise also and enjoyed looking at all of your pictures.

Originally, I was looking forward to going back to Labadee but Grand Turk was amazing as were all of the ports.   

It was a wonderful cruise!

[Jaynay]

On 4/19/2024 at 12:47 PM, prmssk said:

As we sat on the promenade watching the sea, a Brown Booby (common sea bird we see on cruises) flew right by and spent some time fishing right next to the ship.  These birds amaze me as they spend so much of their life at sea, rarely seeing land and they are quite beautiful.  This time I had my camera on me so captured some great photos.  

 

 

 

But enough of birds which I recognize doesn't interest most cruisers.  We attended the Captain's Corner with Captain Jaret and Cruise Director Dan.  I was a bit surprised it wasn't more highly attended.  On other cruise lines talks like this by the Captain fill the theater.  It was a fun hour that went by fast with some great questions and humor.  Let me share some of what I learned.

 

Captain Jaret is from Newfoundland, Canada.  He has been with Royal Caribbean 25 years and has commanded all five voyager class ships which are his favorite.  His reason is that the Voyager class ships have more horse power per ton and for the passenger's benefit they have more elbow room.  I would definitely sail this class again for that reason.

 

 

He talked briefly about the Discovery class coming out in 2029 which will be similar to the Voyager and Freedom classes.  He put his plug in for convincing Royal to let him Captain this new ship.  Clearly, he is excited about this upcoming class.  

 

A question was asked about dry dock happening in the fall.  A number of participants are on the transatlantic cruise either to or from dry dock (or both). Wouldn't that be fun?  The ship is in Europe for 19 days which would be an ideal amount of time to explore some of Europe.  If only we had the time off....

 

He talked a little bit about dry dock.  They have these large blocks that are no more than about 2 meters high that the ship sits on.  They design exactly where to put the blocks based on the specific ship going into dry dock.  Divers are in the water as they slowly enter dry dock to help guide the ship which then ties up and then the divers stay in the water once the dock is closed and the water slowly drained to make sure it sits right.  It sounds like quite the process!

 

The Adventure's top speed is 22.5 knots.  They need to use 5 of the 6 engines to achieve that speed (one engine is reserved as a backup).  A headwind has the most affect on their ability to achieve that speed.  They can drop down to 4 engines at about 21 knots, 3 engines at about 18 knots, and 2 engines at about 14 knots.  The ship takes on about 1,000 tons of fuel at Port Canaveral each cruise - 300 tons of HFO and 700 tons of MDO (I hope I got those acronyms right).

 

Starting with the Harmony and all ships built since, they have an ALS system (Air Lubrication System) which creates bubbles at the hull to cut down on friction and help the ship go faster.

 

The top three senior officers are the ship's Captain, the Staff Captain (2nd in command), and the Chief Captain (3rd in command).  Those three senior officers are on the Bridge for every arrival and departure.  Otherwise, the ship is generally run by the other officers.  A senior officer would get called up when there is high traffic or low visibility.  1st and 2nd Officers work 8 hour shifts.

 

Captains and other senior officers usually work 10 weeks on and 10 weeks off.  Some of the other officers on the Bridge work 14 weeks on and 14 weeks off.

 

At each port, a local pilot boards.  They are the expert on the local tides, dock, which ballards can take how many lines, etc.  In the US it is required they take command, although the Captain is still responsible for the ship and the Captain's staff still do the docking.  Local pilots also work as a translator with lineman in foreign ports.

 

When deciding whether to back into the dock or pull in forward, a lot of factors come into play.  Sometimes they are doing drills on certain lifeboats.  Other times the current or swells play a role and with some docks, the location of the gangway matters.  Cozumel is one of the hardest ports to dock at because of the combination of currents (which are ever changing) and wind speeds.

This is great information! Thanks for posting. I'll be on the referenced Enchantment transatlantic cruise in October (to Lisbon, Portugal) but taking Voyager back from Barcelona. Just retired so that will be my longest cruise(s) ever. Also, just got off 5-day Mariner last week and we were in Cozumel - we watched the docking but didn't know it was a difficult docking, they made it look so easy.  So many ports that you are reviewing are new to me so I'm loving it. Thanks so much for your review!

[Jaynay]

I love the bird pictures that you included from the islands. Aren't they beautiful?!  Thanks for including them.  We go to Merritt Island every year, particularly the cooler months, when birds are here for the winter. It's such a peaceful ride, you never know what you'll see. And, always, gators toward the end of the drive, for those who don't get much of a chance to see them.  Thank you so much for sharing.

[prmssk]

9 hours ago, Jaynay said:

I love the bird pictures that you included from the islands. Aren't they beautiful?!  Thanks for including them.  We go to Merritt Island every year, particularly the cooler months, when birds are here for the winter. It's such a peaceful ride, you never know what you'll see. And, always, gators toward the end of the drive, for those who don't get much of a chance to see them.  Thank you so much for sharing.

Yes, I love the diversity of birds you see in other countries.  If you want to see some really beautiful birds, check out my live thread for the Xpedition Galapagos (in my signature).  Besides the bird photos from the Galapagos, we did a full day birding tour in mainland Ecuador after that cruise.

 

I wish we lived closer to Merritt Island as we would visit a lot more often.

[huntr104]

Thank you for your review, we'll be on Adventure in 8 weeks.  I appreciate you posting the Cruise Compasses!

[CntPAcruiser]

On 4/16/2024 at 1:05 PM, prmssk said:

I'll end this post with an attempt at a little humor.  As I'm sure you have seen on many Royal Caribbean ships, they have these magnets for your door when you don't want to be disturbed.  When you are on the actual Adventure of the Seas though, they can take on a different meaning.  Personally, I don't advise sleeping off the (capital A) Adventure.  

 

I made a similar joke to my husband the last time we sailed on Adventure about sleeping off (of) Adventure. It's also reminiscent of the apocryphal first-time cruiser question, "Do the crew go home every night?"