RCVoyager

Maybe it's not my business, and maybe that hotel is nice.  I've heard it called the "Nothing to Do Sheraton".  The Sheraton Old San Juan is exactly what it is called.  A 500 year old city with walls, forts, churches, and restaurants right out side the door.  It's a cool experience.  Just sayin'.

I've not done one of these cruises on RCI, but I've done three of them, and yes, we received all of our credit all three times.

 

I really don't understand why these cruises aren't more popular.  How many of us really want to see the production shows on board?  Come on admit it.  To have all the entertainment replaced by entertainment you actually really like (assuming you pick a theme cruise that is a theme you like) is a great thing.  

 

My first was January 2007.  My group of brothers were in our 40s and really enjoyed the Barenaked Ladies.  BNL was great, but the huge bonus was all the down ticket bands and acts that none of us had heard of.  You may not like them all, but you may find one you like more than the headliner... and we did.  10 years later BNL has faded, but we remain huge fans of Gaelic Storm and their music is in the background of all family functions.  My parents, in their 80s now, and my 9 year old, consider themselves big fans too.  None of us, and I'm guessing few of you, had heard of them 10 years ago or even today.

 

All the same food, all the same ports, but great entertainment rather than something you tolerate to please your wife or someone else in your travel party.

For best choice of cabin, book the farthest ahead possible.  You can usually change or cancel later, but your great cabin won't be available.  Just my .02

I have won a few hundred a few times playing blackjack.  Lost a few times too.  Never had luck on slots.

I've been to Provo on a land vacation and Grand Turk on a Carnival ship.  RCCL is missing out.  Nice place.  Not to commercialized like so many others.

I thought the rooms were getting new carpets and mattresses.  No?  Both are needed.  I've been on the ship twice in the past 18 months.  I love it, but it needs some attention.

According to Marine Tracker, the Adventure is back in San Juan today.  Despite the issues with the refurb, I look forward to hearing how she is now that she's back in service.

We took my daughter on her first cruise when she was about 3 years old.  The waiter asked her what she wanted on the first night.  she said "strawberries" which were not on the menu.  He came back with strawberries and did so every time she asked for them.  She's now in college and rarely eats them, but she sure loved them then.

What is the website?  I would be interested in it.  Thanks.

I've been there pal.  I don't know if your divorce was unwanted, but I can tell you, and everyone reading this, that an unwanted divorce is in some ways worse than death.  But, things do get better, as it sound like it has for you.  

 

My divorce was in 2006, and if you look at my tag line, you'll see that many of my cruises have been in the past 10 years.  I think that Barenaked Ladies Cruise in January of 2007 was where my healing began.  For me, there's something about being on a ship that is magical.  To me, it's great for the soul.

 

It sounds like you're down the path your new life.  I hope you, your parents, and your children have a great trip(s).

I would think if you didn't do multiple cruise lines, the food would get old pretty fast.  If I were to do something like that, I'd try many different lines.

The Adventure of the Seas now shows up in Freeport.  I've been watching for it all week, and it has not shown up.  Now it does.

I've been watching on Marine Tracker.  The ship is not showing up in Freeport.

There is a white out night on the Adventure of the Seas.  It's not a big deal.  RCCL never puts anything out on it in advance.  Very few people are involved.  It happens too late at night for us.  I hope this helps.

While I have not had the experience, it would be interesting to cruise one of your favorite ships under a new flag.  Someday when the Voyager Class is sold off, it would be cool to sail one of them again to see the changes but also remember what she was like.

I would not do it at check in.  I just did this in June on the Adventure.  After you've boarded, just go to Guest Services and ask for an extra key for each room and show your ID.  They will give you 2 extra key cards.  Just have the two people with the new key cards use the new keys for room entry and their old cards for charging.

I agree on that Matt.  What angers me is when you have to make a decision with the best information available at the time, and then you are criticized after the fact when all the important data is available.  None of the cruise lines can win in this situation.  No matter what they do, lots of people will be mad.  There are millions of hall-of-fame Monday morning quarterbacks.  Very few of them have what it takes to make a decision when the chips are down. 

Susieeq67 I feel kind of bad for you.  The cruise lines are in a tough spot right now.  The situation is changing every few hours.  The only advise is to do the best you can.  Some years ago, we had a fall vacation interrupted by a hurricane.  we ended up going in December and had a great time.  I'm pretty sure the cruise line will be willing to work with you if you can't get there or if the itinerary changes because of weather.

 

You may be able to get a nice discount on a 7 day cruise two months from now.  Think how that could be for your first cruise.

I'm not that familiar with her schedule, is this an early return because of the hurricane?

Can't find it on Marine Tracker.  Anyone know?

It is beginning to sound like alcohol was a factor.  Sad.

I'm a big baseball fan as well as a big cruise fan.  The sad news of the death of young baseball star, Jose Fernandez, in Miami this morning may bring the two together.  He died in when the boat he was in slammed into a jetty early this morning.  The location was listed as Miami Beach.  To my knowledge, the only jetties at Miami Beach are at the entrance to the cruise ship docks.  Does anyone know if that was the location of the accident?

 

I'm a Cincinnati Reds fan, but I know elite baseball talent when I see it.  He had it.  Sad for his family and that of the other two men who died.

One thing is for sure... Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 

My sister-in-law and her husband really do believe that WDW is the greatest place on Earth.

 

My family, kids included at all ages, wouldn't put it in the top 100.

 

We've been there twice (only 1 day each time) and been to Downtown Disney while passing through two other times.  It's a nice day, but to us, it's not defining.  I'm not an amusement park guy, but we have Holiday World in Indiana.  Much much less expensive, free drinks, free sunscreen, smaller crowds, great roller coasters, and an awesome water park. 

We have relatives who leave their kid at home and cruise Disney Cruise Line.  The thing I will never understand is this:  why would anyone want to be on a ship with 1,000 of other people's kids?

 

We were on the Adventure of the Seas in June with extended family, including the relatives mentioned above.  The whole trip was paid for by my mother-in-law.  They had previously been REALLY pro Dinsey, and stated they wouldn't go on the trip if it was Carnival...even if it was free.  The Adventure was the choice and they loved it.  They actually booked a Next Cruise while on board.

 

If I had a choice of staying home or going on DCL, I'd take DCL.  However, if I'm making the decisions, because of cost , the casino, and all those kids on board (and I have three of my own), I would choose about any other cruise line than Disney.

 

By the way, for me the same goes for NCL.  If the choice is stay home or go on NCL, I'll take NCL.  Because of the poor food quality in the MDR, if I'm making decisions, I'd choose most other main stream lines over NCL.

I don't have any interest in Carnival - have heard exactly what you mentioned, that it's a party ship, and not the cleanest/nicest cruise line out there. I plan to stick with either Disney or Royal Caribbean. Is Adventure Ocean like a kids club onboard RCL?

I love cruising RCCL, but I'm a big fan of Carnival too.  The whole "party cruise" thing is way overblown in the industry in my opinion.  If you were blindfolded on a Carnival ship, you wouldn't notice a big difference in the two cruise lines.  There is probably more late night stuff on Carnival than Royal.  There used to be a topless deck on the top some Carnival ships.  I don't know if that exists anymore, but even if it does, not many are there.  Some people think the food is better on Carnival.  They have 'Camp Carnival' for kids.