The overall experience was generally pleasant. There were no tragedies or major disappointments. The Adventure of the Seas is a nice ship but showing some age. It is somewhat expensive when you add in the cruise, daily adventures, required tipping ($14.50/pp/day) and the drink packages, but to see all these islands individually would be cost prohibitive to our check book. Therefore, this cruise is the best, most economical way to see all these beautiful islands.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Boarding the ship in San Juan at the start of the cruise was ok but not great. The lines to get luggage drop-off, and then also the line for the check-in were long, but moved fast. The delivery of the luggage later that evening took quite a while (after 9pm), so we heeded previous advise and were happy to have a bag to carry on with swimsuits, lotions, dinner clothes, medication, etc.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
We ate at the main dining room for all dinners, and alternated between the dining room and the Windjammer for breakfasts. We ate lunch at the ports of call every day except the one at Sea day - and on that day at the Windjammer. The Windjammer buffet offers a good selection, but the food is often bland. Breakfast was good at either location, but you get a better selection at the Windjammer. Dinner in the dining room was good, but not fantastic. Service was good - we felt well taken care of and empty glasses filled quickly, but often felt the portions were small. Our head waiter would though quickly get us additional vegetables or soups when asked to help us feel full. The pizza at the Promenade café was usually very good (and the manager, Desty, was always helpful and friendly). I highly recommend getting the drink package if you drink alcohol - the costs for individual drinks would quickly add up to 3 times what I paid for the package. And an added bonus was that the Starbucks on the Promenade was included in the package!
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Sky Bar was my favorite for view and atmosphere, however a close second would be the Champagne bar which served great martini's (hi Eric!). We enjoyed the games at the Schooner bar (Prince's trivia was a blast) but the drink's at Schooner weren't the best quality on the ship
Entertainment
4 out of 5
I really enjoyed the Solarium pool - it was great having an adults only atmosphere, and the bar service seemed quiet fast. In comparison to the Oasis of the seas the Adventure's Solarium is smaller, however I preferred the Adventure Solarium partially open air atmosphere so that I can get direct sunlight and sea breezes
Children's Programs
3 out of 5
The only show we saw was the Piano Man entertainment. It was funny, and the star (as well as the backup musicians) were very talented, but I really missed that the Adventure of the Seas did not have an actual Theatrical Musical show (i.e. Hairspray, Joseph!, 42nd street) on stage.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Everyone was very friendly. Out head waiter Shanette was amazing!
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Even though the Adventure wasn't one of the largest Royal Caribbean classes, it was still a very good layout, with plenty of space to roam. I especially liked going to the heliport area for watching our departures from various Ports of Call.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Small, but in good shape since recently refurbished (carpets and bedding seemed new), and there was certainly enough room for 2 people, 4 suitcases, 5 hats, and 15 pairs of shoes. The shower was in particular quite small, and made shaving difficult, but understandable that space is at a premium. The balcony was a good size.
Ship tip
Pack a bag with first day items (swimsuit, medications) since luggage may not arrive for many hours. Either bring towels for the beach from home or from your hotel before coming on to the ship - you can take beach towels from the ship for beach excursions yes, but if you lose it, the replacement cost is $25/towel. Definitely come 1 day early and stay 1 additional day so you don't have flight delay anxiety.
While there was extensive damage to PR overall from the 2017 Hurricane season, San Juan's old town was in very good shape and was lovely. The Forts were amazing to experience! Highly recommend taking an extra day for this.
A lot of damage from the Hurricane's still. We went on a beach excursion and felt overly pushed by vendors peddling clothes, jewelry, massages, braiding etc. The beach was good, but not great, but the lunch at the "Green House" was really very good.
We took the scenic railway tour and thought it was a really good experience. The drinks were included, there was a local quartet/choir that came on board to sing for every car, and the views were amazing. The only regret we had was that there wasn't an option to take the rail tour and then also go up to Fort Brimstone. This would have required an extra cab ride, backtracking, and many more hours in traffic
My favorite island - I would definitely go back! We had a fantastic time on the 4x4 off-roading adventure. It seemed expensive when we signed up, but we certainly got more out of it than any other adventure we went on so worth every penny. The guides were young, and friendly - very proud to show off their island. And after all of the bumpy, dusty, off-road fun, the tour included a beach stop for 30 minutes. My favorite beach of the cruise - I wish I could have spent more time there....so I'll just have to come back
While I liked our guide, I had a hard time having fun on the adventure. We signed up for the 4 hour Segway/beach adventure and we ended up in 2 hours of traffic with our tour bus wandering aimlessly through neighborhoods, and then had only 45 minutes on the Segway. After our Segway rides we were taken to a beach where we felt greatly pressured to pay for beach space, beach chairs, beach umbrellas etc. Couldn't really enjoy ourselves on this one.
This was our only 'non-scheduled' day - no tour booked up front. Instead we opted to get a cab driver to take us around the island...Harrison caves, top of the mountain bar, old church, and ending at a fantastic beach. He drove 4 of us around for 5 hours for $250 U.S. Had we taken the booked tours we would have paid more and gotten quite a bit less value.
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