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Live-ish + RECAP. Thanksgiving Adventure on Adventure OTS, 23 Nov to 1 Dec 2019


FionaMG

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In the words of the old John Denver song – “All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go”! I’m not quite standing outside the door yet though since we don’t set off until tomorrow afternoon.

We (myself and DH Fernando) will be flying from our local airport – Faro, in the Algarve, which is mainland Portugal’s southernmost province – to Lisbon, where we will overnight at the Star Inn Lisbon Airport Hotel. We have stayed here twice before. It is less than a five-minute walk from the terminal and offers a very decent included breakfast. I would definitely recommend it as a good option if you just need a room for the night in Lisbon before an early flight.

While this overnight is not strictly essential, it does mean we avoid the dreaded 3 am start to catch the 6 am feeder flight, which would then be followed by a 4-hour layover in Lisbon. Not a great start to a holiday and guaranteed to have us arriving in Miami utterly exhausted.

On this particular occasion it will also give us the chance to go and see the Portuguese version of the musical Chicago, which is showing in Lisbon at the moment.

Our flight to Miami International departs from Lisbon at 10.35 on Thursday morning, arriving stateside at 2.55 pm. We are flying on TAP, the Portuguese flag-carrier, who are operating the flight with one of their very new Airbus Neo aircraft, so that will be an interesting change from the much older and very tired airbuses they previously used for this route.

On arrival we will try to Uber or Lyft to the Best Western Plus Oceanside Inn in Fort Lauderdale for a two-night pre-cruise stay. We have stayed here before too and find it to be a pleasant and reasonably-priced option within walking distance of just about everything you could need, as well as offering a very decent included breakfast. Yes, there’s a pattern here. We do prefer included breakfasts!

We are hoping that the weather will cooperate and we will be able to spend the day on Friday riding the water taxi.

Saturday the 23rd is Cruise Day. We are aiming to board at about 1 pm, just as the cabins open up. The morning will probably be spent relaxing by the hotel pool. For us, the hotel stay is part of our overall holiday and we prefer the comfort and convenience of boarding later, so we don’t feel that we are missing out by not getting to the port earlier.

Our ports of call on the 8-night cruise are Labadee, San Juan Puerto Rico, St Thomas and St Maarten. We have booked one excursion through the ship – the 5-star island tour in St Thomas – and will be doing our own thing in the other three ports. We have also booked the 3-night speciality dining package so will be looking to eat twice in Giovanni’s and once in Chops. No Izumi for us as we don’t like sushi and Adventure does not have the hot rocks option.

At the end of the cruise we will book an excursion with airport drop-off; we just haven’t decided which one yet. Again, the convenience is the deal-breaker for us.

I will try and post at least once a day, including pics of the daily compass and menus, and I will be very happy to try and find the answer to any questions while we are on board, so feel free to ask.

Oh, and one last very important note to close on for this evening… This will be our very first cruise as Diamond C&A members. Uber-excited would be an understatement.

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Our flight to Lisbon was on time and uneventful. We checked in to the hotel where we found everything to be as expected, having stayed here twice before. The rooms are small but are fine for an overnight stay.

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Ours is the door on the right at the far end of the corridor.

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The lobby is already decorated for Christmas.

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And there are vending machine and a scale so you can weigh your luggage before heading to the airport.P_20191121_001139_p.thumb.jpg.7616e9696f0d96612429ed331a434854.jpgAs I mentioned previously, the hotel is less than 5 minutes walk from the airport and there is a metro (underground, subway) station at the airport making it very easy to get into the city centre. Tickets cost just €1.50 each way. Very convenient.

That's it for tonight. Tomorrow morning we will board our trans-pond flight. 

Goodnight and thanks for following. ?

 

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It's fly to Miami day! ?

We are enjoying the hotel's included breakfast before walking over to the airport. It is a very good breakfast for a hotel of this category. There are hot items too and an espresso machine in addition to the filter coffee. 20191121_081944.thumb.jpg.1d4bb6307c0f47c552cac95bcd695ea5.jpg

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Time to start playing catch-up.

Our flight across the pond was uneventful and on time. We paid an extra 70 euros each for exit row seats and it made a huge difference in terms of comfort. Having plenty of space to stretch our legs out and nobody else's seat back in or faces was great.

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The only drawback to these seats is that it can be quite cold so I came prepared with fluffy socks and slippers to keep my feet warm. 

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The flight was one of TAP's new Airbus Neo so we had pretty decent in-flight entertainment, with many films, TV series and games to choose from, as well as the flight map. We had screens that were housed in the armrest.

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There were various internet options available onboard including free text messaging.

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We had 2 meals during the flight; lunch, which was served about 90 minutes after takeoff and a snack about 90 minutes before landing. The lunch was just about edible; it was some sort of chicken and pasta dish and was of poorer quality than I have come to expect from TAP. However, the snack was quite good.

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The ship seems incredibly crowded and there are lots of kids! I guess it's because it's a holiday cruise. We usually sail on less popular dates so are not used to having so many shipmates!

I was trying to upload a pic of our cabin but that's not working either. ?

 

 

 

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So, day 2 and the internet is still playing up. I may have to go and speak to guest services about it. I'm not too happy about paying for surf and stream and not even getting surf. Boo. ?

I haven't bern able to upload any more pics either but if needs be I will do that when we get back.

We have beautiful weather today for our sea day. The water slide was very busy, lots of mostly kids lining all the way up the stairs. And there was plenty of action on the flow rider too.

There was a line dance class and world's sexiest man competition poolside, both well participated and there was a 10 dollar sale in the promenade which we were able to view from our cabin window. 

We came for lunch at the WJ at 2pm and it was still pretty busy but the crowds had thinned out by 2.30 pm.

Tonight is the Captain's welcome aboard party so I expect the promenade will be buzzing later.

 

 

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Can't wait to be on Adventure in less than 3 weeks.  Sorry that your internet isn't great.  Hope they can straighten that out as you paid for it.

Wondering if you have been to the Schooner Bar in the evenings?  If so, how is the piano player there?  That's my favorite non-show venue in the evenings but depends on the musician.

Hope you're having a wonderful time! 

 

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On 11/25/2019 at 10:08 AM, WannaCruise said:

Can't wait to be on Adventure in less than 3 weeks.  Sorry that your internet isn't great.  Hope they can straighten that out as you paid for it.

Wondering if you have been to the Schooner Bar in the evenings?  If so, how is the piano player there?  That's my favorite non-show venue in the evenings but depends on the musician.

Hope you're having a wonderful time! 

 

Yes, we are having a great time. ? The internet thing is annoying but it's not the end of the world. 

We have passed through the Schooner bar each evening. Last night and the night before there was a pianist called Peter James. The bar was busy and people seemed to having a great time. Tonight it was a guitarist called Lorenzo (maybe Peter's day off?) and the bar was much quieter.

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 The internet is a little better just now because we are in port so there are less people trying to use it but it is still not working properly so I will definitely be doing a recap review with pics when I get home.

In the meantime if anyone else wants questions answered please go ahead and post and I will still try and get you the answers. 

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1 hour ago, FionaMG said:

 The internet is a little better just now because we are in port so there are less people trying to use it but it is still not working properly so I will definitely be doing a recap review with pics when I get home.

In the meantime if anyone else wants questions answered please go ahead and post and I will still try and get you the answers. 

Are you all at seas on Thanksgiving day or in port, I'm sure the main dining room will feature turkey on Thursday, enjoy the cruise.

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4 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Yes, we are having a great time. ? The internet thing is annoying but it's not the end of the world. 

We have passed through the Schooner bar each evening. Last night and the night before there was a pianist called Peter James. The bar was busy and people seemed to having a great time. Tonight it was a guitarist called Lorenzo (maybe Peter's day off?) and the bar was much quieter.

Thanks for the feedback.  It shows that the musician makes a difference.  Glad that Peter James had a big crowd. Hopefully he's a regular on the ship then.

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16 hours ago, Dan Curtis said:

Are you all at seas on Thanksgiving day or in port, I'm sure the main dining room will feature turkey on Thursday, enjoy the cruise.

We will be in St. Martin. Apparently there will be a special Thanksgiving menu in the MDR. Not being from the US, this is a first-time experience for us. I am hoping to get the chance to try pumpkin pie! ?

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So, update on the internet situation. They brought a technician on board today who was able to identify the problem but not fix it because he didn't have the right tools. The voom man said that tomorrow, when we are in St. Martin, is the last chance to fix it as we have two sea days after that. ☹️

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2 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

So, update on the internet situation. They brought a technician on board today who was able to identify the problem but not fix it because he didn't have the right tools. The voom man said that tomorrow, when we are in St. Martin, is the last chance to fix it as we have two sea days after that. ☹️

This reminds me of the ol’ sayin’....”I have goods news and I have bad news...”

 

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On 11/26/2019 at 5:47 PM, WannaCruise said:

Thanks for the feedback.  It shows that the musician makes a difference.  Glad that Peter James had a big crowd. Hopefully he's a regular on the ship then.

The crowd was standing 3 or 4 deep in the passageway outside the Schooner bar tonight. The place was hopping and he had everyone singing along.

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2 hours ago, teddy said:

Thank you for this.  My wife and I will be on the same ship and itinerary Jan 18-26.

It's a great itinerary and has been an excellent cruise. ?

Just two sea days left now till they make us get off.

I don't have to go right back to work when we get home, so I will have time to do the recap next week. If you have any particular questions, feel free to ask.

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