Adventure of the Seas
by Illinois Guy
Southern Caribbean
January 14, 2007
FIRST OFF: I don't know why people start out reviews talking about their flight, cab right to the hotel, hotel they stayed, San Juan night life, and so on. YOU DON'T CARE.
EMBARKATION:
I read a particular review before my cruise suggesting one use on-line checkin to speed up embarkation and it was EXCELLENT advice. Via online registration, you can enter nearly all necessary data rather than wait in line for some clerk who can barely type. At the pier you go right to the "Set Sail" line and breeze through in minutes, and that gets you on the ship much faster.
In general the earlier you arrive at the pier the better you are going to be. If you arrive in morning you will likely have to wait as passengers are still disembarking. But the sooner you arrive after 12:00 the better off you will be. Less people are there registering, and the sooner you can board ship. Remember, it's only a '7 day cruise' if you can enjoy the ship on your first day.
It's a good idea to fly in the day before and stay at a local hotel. While San Juan hotels are expensive, you can relieve your mind of the travel woes of bad weather delaying flights. No matter what happens the day before, as long as you arrive, you'll be rested and ready to cruise on Sunday. And if you waste all Sunday flying into San Juan you may arrive late and miss the cruise.
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BAGGAGE TRANSFER:
Baggage transfers are a hornets nest which people don't get until they've cruised a few times. Prior to THIS cruise we cruised a couple of times out of San Juan, and if you allow RCCL to handle your bags you stand a good chance of having trouble. Specifically, I'm talking about breaking into your bags and perhaps even theft. Locking your bags provides no guarantee they won't be broken into, and in fact, they will cut your locks off and pilfer your bags.
If you get the transfers from RCCL your baggage is handled NOT by RCCL but by a 3rd party cartage company in San Juan, hired by RCCL. So if you complain to RCCL you get blank stares and hollow apologies, but no resolution. Since your baggage contains your personal items, breaking into them is akin to breaking into your house - you feel VIOLATED. RCCL can do nothing about a a 3rd party cartage company even though they hire them, because cruise lines don't care. The only people who do are the ones working for tips $$$$$.
My advice is to skip the transfer and handle that yourself. It's a $19.00 cab fare from the airport to the pier and that fee is set by the government. Just put your bags in the trunk and go. You know your bags are safe and you leave at your convenience, NOT the convenience of a bus driver.
When you pay for transfers you travel on a bus (your bags by truck) and we've been stuck waiting over an hour once by a bus driver that had to fill his bus. As a result on that prior cruise we arrived late for checkin and couldn't make our 6:00 main dinner seating. When we arrived at 6:30 the doors were already closed and there was no entry. No bags and no dinner. Bad start.
On this cruise we did in fact skip the transfers, arrived 2 days early, and enjoyed both our hotel and San Juan. It was a short cab ride over to the pier and we arrived by noon with bags intact. After that we refused to allow RCCL to handle our bags and transported them ourselves. As soon as they allowed us into our cabin (at about 2:00 PM) we arrived with our bags.
If you let them handle your bags they can arrive many hours later and you probably won't have them before dinner. Sometimes they just disappear without explanation, and when you talk to guest relations you get this crap about "your bags will arrive soon". Oh yeah? One year they didn't arrive until after 11:00 PM, we couldn't change clothes for dinner, and our bags were broken into with the locks cut off. This is for real.
We NEVER, EVER allow the cruise line to handle our bags. This we've learned the hard way after 5 cruises. And DO NOT bring large bags because they cannot get through the x-ray machines. Bring medium and/or small bags.
THE SHIP:
Adventure is huge. I've been on several other ships and this one was by far the biggest. It's been very tastefully decorated, far more so than Carnival ships, which tend to be overbearing. You can find it's features on the RCCL website so you don't need me for that. The Royal Promenade is a great place to hang out.
DINING:
Food is very good and most people typically eat lunch and breakfast at Windjammers on deck 11. Some choose the dining room instead. Breakfast at Windjammers tends to be the same every day, but with so many selections it doesn't matter. Lunch tends to be similar also but they do vary some of the meats, fish, and sides. The deserts change daily and are very good.
The main dining room, which is 3 floors high with each having their own name, is excellent. For us service was very good and the food was great.
Portofinos has great food and offered the best tenderloin I've ever had. Great deserts! Worth the $20.00 per person. Make your reservation(s) as soon as you board the ship. It can be a great escape from noisy diners.
DINING ROOM DRESS:
There are 2 formal nights in which the majority of people actually dress formally. If you are the kind of person who refuses to dress up then I suggest having dinner at Windjammers Cafe on deck 11. Also, if you cannot get to dinner on time you should have dinner at Windjammers Cafe. It's informal and buffet style. When people refuse to dress properly in the dining room they disrespect their fellow passengers. When they refuse to arrive on time they disrespect the dining room staff and make life very difficult for them.
BEDS:
Other reviewers talk about how bad the beds are and if they are talking about the edge of the bed they are right. But what people forget is the cardinal rule of beds - which is you DO NOT sit on the edge of the bed. In addition you don't sleep on the edge. The beds are large and though the mattress is thin it's not bad in the middle. My wife and I had plenty of room.
PORTS OF CALL & EXCURSIONS:
There are tons of excursions offered by Royal Caribbean, but what's not generally known is there are other companies providing excursions. One such is 'Port Promotions', and since we booked our cruise through 'Cruise.com' we got a free excursion worth up to $84.00 per person. Port Promotions has any number of excursions on many Caribbean islands and are probably better than those provided by the vendors selected by RCCL. But if you choose them you MUST keep track of the time returning to the ship. DO NOT expect them to keep track of departure time because they won't. You DO NOT want to arrive late for the ship since it may not still be in port.
ALCOHOL:
RCCL is pretty chintzy about this and want to make sure you ONLY buy THEIR liquor at their inflated prices. Consequently, in the home port even though you've already been through security and your bags x-rayed, they force you through another security scan on the ship. This is so they can catch you sneaking in booze. While they do have the need to screen you when returning to the ship from port, nonetheless, in the home port you get screened twice. They want to make sure you don't buy booze at the San Juan pier (which you can at the duty free shop) and bring it on the ship.
Ironically, it's at the ports where you might be able to sneak it on. What happens is they make you go through security and your purchases are scanned. When you detect you having liquor they tell you to go over to a desk and check it in there. But if the scanner guy gets busy with a lot of people he cannot watch you. Just walk past the liquor check in desk and enjoy. How DARE they make you purchase liquor from them if you want a drink. Try to board with a bunch of people so they get too busy to keep track of you and your liquor. It's your property and you should be able to bring it on board - just like they let you bring on money (which they WILL get from you). This is a real downer about crusing.
THE TABOO TOPIC:
While it may be politically incorrect to talk about I'm going to, which is Hispanics. If you are going to cruise out of San Juan you are going to see a great deal of Puerto Ricans. While I suspect some might tune out at this point I think with the assumption I'm a racist, nonetheless hear me out on this. There's upper, middle, and lower class people in every country in the world, but because RCCL wants the ships full they offer cheap fares in the home port. Consequently, all the San Juan natives have to do is drive themselves over to the pier and board the ship - for only $200.00 per passenger. Unlike lower class Americans who find flying to San Juan and then paying $800.00 per passenger cost prohibitive, it's the lower class Puerto Ricans taking the cruise, not the upper class, so the behavior on board can be a major problem. On this cruise it was only about 16% Puerto Ricans and they seemed well behaved. But a cruise of over 60% Hispanics is NOT unusual.
On a cruise last year on Carnival we experienced about 75% Puerto Ricans and the ship was under siege. The halls were noisy virtually 24 hours a day, the stairs were crowded with kids sitting on them and blocking people, kids were fooling around in elevators and drunk (14-15 years old), they refused to dress appropriately in the dining room, and there were altercations. Last year I posted those comments and several emailed me saying they encountered the same problems on their cruises.
One of the big problems was Hispanics being rude and pushing into lines. On this cruise the lines were pretty short and it wasn't a problem until debarkation, when they pushed in front and were rude. Sadly I have to admit that on prior cruises, when there was noise, it came from Hispanics. Call that racism if it makes you uncomfortable but it's true. It's lower class Hispanics on the cheap tickets causing the problems. On this cruise we encountered mostly middle class Hispanics and they conducted themselves appropriately.
Last year we cruised during Christmas and it was a nightmare. This time we cruised in January and it was great. I think the time of year can account for some of the problems so I recommend the winter months, which you'd probably want to do anyway to avoid the northern winter in the US.
I also find it very unfair that my wife and I paid over $1,000 per passenger, while in Puerto Rico they get cheap passage for $200.00 - and yet receive the same cruise. So Americans and Europeans pay the freight which is grossly unfair.
ENTERTAINMENT:
This is pretty subjective and depends upon your personal taste so that must be up front. The ice show is fabulous and not to miss. Get your tickets as soon as they are offered, which I believe is Monday. There were 2 comedians on separate nights. There were also 2 musical shows. As a former professional musicians I can tell you the shows were excellent. Good musicians, good dancers, good singers who could sing in tune. Around the ship there are various other musicians and usually pretty good.
ART AUCTIONS:
Auctions are held on most cruises lines and on most ships. I've sailed Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Carnival, and Park West Galleries was on all of them.
Park West used to claim they sell art for 60-80% below gallery prices. That's hogwash. Today, they no longer make that claim because people were catching on. On this last cruise they wanted over $7,000 for pieces from Salvador Dali's 101 illustrations from the Divine Comedy. But if you check the Internet you'll find them being sold by Lockport Gallery (southwest suburb outside Chicago) and their websites says the Divine Comedy pieces for around $250.
Their appraisals come from outer space because they don't jive with the real world. You can get some great pieces but you MUST do your homework first. If you see something you like go research it on the Internet BEFORE you bid. The will NOT tell you the minimum bid they will accept so forget that. Watch out for opening bids because they can be very high.
About once in each auction they give a low opening bid for piece and let it go just to get the audience fired up, and so Park West can claim the buyer got a really great deal. Maybe they did and maybe they didn't. But be aware there are other places to buy art so don't feel obliged. Drink their champagne and wait until the end so you get your free artwork - which is an 8 x 10 that's probably not worth much.
Also, you can catch the Park West people on the cruise, let them know what you are interested in, and make them an offer. You're going to have to do it blind, having no idea what their minimum bid OR opening bid would be. FYI: Often their opening bid is higher (maybe MUCH higher) than their minimum bid.
WARNING: Park West auctioneers like to talk about the value of a piece and how it rises so quickly. Be advised - they are salesman who know NOTHING about art. They are slick. They are superficial. But they are NOT knowledgeable. Buy artwork because you like it and NOT because some fast talking 29 year-old says it's a great buy. Trust your instincts, not them.
Art work is shipped from a Detroit suburb and we've never had a problem. HOWEVER, you WILL see some reviews in which people describe their nightmares with Park West.
DISEMBARKATION:
People leave the ship in groups and you are provided with a group number, which they call for disembarkation. We found that's where the shoving and rude behavior by Hispanics was prevalent. RCCL wants you off the ship as quickly as possible so expect a knock at your door by 7:00 AM, and they want you out of your cabin by 8:00 AM.
OVERALL CONCLUSION:
We had minimal problems with obnoxious Puerto Ricans or Americans, probably because mid January is a highly desirable time to travel so there's not too many cheap tickets issued. Food was very good, entertainment was great, the ship is fantastic, I would take this ship and cruise itinerary again.
SUGGESTIONS:
1) It's worth it to try to sneak on alcohol at ports of call. Stay in the middle of a group and the RCCL people will be distracted, just don't report to the "booze" table after security. It's your property.
2) Don't miss the ice show. It has world class skaters and you'll see it up close rather than on TV. They are incredible on such a small ice rink.
3) Check in online. Embarkation will be faster.
4) DO NOT allow ANYONE to handle your bags. You'll be sorry if you do.
5) If you have problems with rude people at Windjammers then eat all meals in the dining room.
6) WARNING: Be advised to avoid a confrontation with rowdy people. You are at sea and there is no local sheriff to arrest people. The ship's "security" will "file a report" which you CANNOT get a copy of for documentation or further legal matters. They WILL NOT cooperate with you. Been there, done that.
