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LIVE from San Juan and Adventure of the Seas - 2/22 to 3/2!


KLA

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I'm a little over excited, so I'm going to go ahead and start the thread and give a bit of a cruise preview. If you guys have any questions or things you'd like me to check out, post it here!

This is my first time on this ship (and class of ship!) and all of the ports are brand new to us, so this will be a very exciting cruise.  

My husband and I plus 10 members from his side of the family (!!!!) will be traveling to San Juan early in the morning on February 22nd, and finally arriving around 3:00 PM (San Juan time). We are staying in Old San Juan in an Air BnB that we are splitting with our siblings in law (two other married couples all around the same age). My in laws and others are staying at the Casa Blanca Hotel. We got a great deal on this AirBnB, so really excited that we were able to find something reasonable in the area of the city that we wanted to be in!  

The cruise doesn’t embark until February 24th, so we will be spending two days exploring the city prior to our cruise. I know a lot of questions have come up here regarding the condition of the city, so I will be sure to share whatever pictures and information that I can!  

Now for our itinerary, we will be visiting St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados – leaving us with only one sea day! VERY port heavy itinerary.  

St. Maarten – We will be taking a Bernard’s SXM Tour (Third Party Excursion) 

St. Kitts – We have an early afternoon Island History and Rum Tasting Tour booked through the cruise line 

Antigua – We will be taking a taxi to Valley Church Beach 

St. Lucia – We are taking a Jeep Adventure and Beach Break excursion that we booked through the cruise line (and swinging by a brewery “tap room” with great reviews near the port!) 

Barbados – We have chartered a private catamaran tour for only our group with two snorkel spots, lunch buffet, and drinks included (SO excited for this!) 

As I mentioned, each of these ports are totally new to us so really excited to see what’s in store.  

For our cabin, we started out in an interior cabin beneath the casino. However, thanks to some price drops, we were able to move up to a Deck 8 Interior Promenade Cabin! It’s our first time in this type of stateroom and we are really excited to check it out based on feedback we’ve had.  

I don’t anticipate we will be doing any specialty dining this cruise (unless we can convince some in the group to join us in the newly added Izumi!), so we will be going to the Main Dining Room with our group during traditional early seating. Additionally, we DID spring for a Deluxe Drink Package this cruise once we saw it drop to $39/pp per day – worth it to us, especially since we are not diamond and do not get the perk of the nightly happy hour (though, this is our first cruise as Emerald!). I did also purchase a single VOOM code to stay connected back home (I worry about our dog!), and also to share our trip with you guys of course!   

Thanks for reading – very much looking forward to sharing our upcoming ADVENTURE on the Adventure of the Seas!   

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Can't wait to see these. It also will take me right up to the day I head to Florida and will help me hold out till I go lol. Then it will my turn right after :). You are going to have so much fun but hope you have a few days after to relax. I also scored an Interior Promenade cabin on Freedom on a sale, so look forward to hearing what its like on Adventure too. 

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Hoping Adventure Voom was upgraded to O3b but haven't heard yet.  Looking for latency results in a speedtest if you have a minute to test it onboard.  Also curious if the recent announcement of more bandwidth is being realized on ships yet.  

 Easiest way to know is a speedtest and look at ping time.  If 200-300ms its O3b, if 500-600+ms its the old satellites.

This is from Freedom:

5a09b358e1f83_FreedomDay3am-7.thumb.jpg.6933b68ae53e0b9ea9db96f245428c6b.jpg.f1f00aa8ea6d5e3f4f6f4b82b60f9e0e.jpg

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On 2/17/2018 at 10:28 AM, KLAconQueso said:

St. Kitts – We have an early afternoon Island History and Rum Tasting Tour booked through the cruise line 

Additionally, we DID spring for a Deluxe Drink Package this cruise once we saw it drop to $39/pp per day

Let me know if the rum tasting is something other than Brinley's - curious as to what other brand are sold there. AFAIK they don't distill on St. Kitts anymore.

$39 for the drinks package?!?!  That's an incredible deal! 

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My roll call for May 18 has a bunch of questions, most of them food/Windjammer-related.

Does the Windjammer still have the Jade section, now that Izumi is an option?

Does the Windjammer offer the specialty coffees?

Since Adventure doesn't have a Park Cafe, did you find a Kummelweck offered anywhere in the Windjammer or elsewhere?

One person is hoping that custom crepes have been added...

Does Izumi offer the sushi-making class? (That one is from me :D) 

Was the Murder Mystery Dinner offered?

Thanks!! 

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12 hours ago, KathyC said:

Does Izumi offer the sushi-making class? (That one is from me :D) 

Was the Murder Mystery Dinner offered?

I can answer both of these right now based on what I've seen in the Cruise Planner! 

For the sushi making class - it is not offered in the cruise planner. However, dining reservations for Izumi are also not available in the Cruise Planner, so I speculate that Izumi will be more focused as a casual walk up sushi bar. That said, if they happen to offer this on board I will be sure to report back and I will definitely be hanging on to my cruise compasses. 

The Mystery Dinner Theater is being offered at $79/pp. 

Also noted (@CruiseLifeRick - I saw you ask about this on Cruise Critic) - Unlimited Fitness Class Passes are available under the Spa & Fitness section of the Cruise Planner. 5-7 Days is $49.

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1 hour ago, KLAconQueso said:

Unlimited Fitness Class Passes are available under the Spa & Fitness section of the Cruise Planner. 5-7 Days is $49.

This is interesting. You reminded me I still hadn't purchased this for my wife for our upcoming Freedom cruise (40 DAYS!!!! :88_raised_hands:), and I still can't buy this on Cruise Planner even though I see all the different durations offered. So I called up Royal directly and spoke with a sales rep, and they said it's only available for purchase on board the ship and shouldn't even be visible on the cruise planner! No hesitation or "let me check with my supervisor" on that, either.

Maybe I'll try calling back and talking with a different rep, but it was a pretty definitive and instantaneous answer, like she'd been asked about it a bunch of times already.

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2 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

This is interesting. You reminded me I still hadn't purchased this for my wife for our upcoming Freedom cruise (40 DAYS!!!! :88_raised_hands:), and I still can't buy this on Cruise Planner even though I see all the different durations offered. So I called up Royal directly and spoke with a sales rep, and they said it's only available for purchase on board the ship and shouldn't even be visible on the cruise planner! No hesitation or "let me check with my supervisor" on that, either.

Maybe I'll try calling back and talking with a different rep, but it was a pretty definitive and instantaneous answer, like she'd been asked about it a bunch of times already.

Customer to phone rep:  "I can't see X in the cruise planner"

Rep: "it's only available for purchase on board the ship and shouldn't even be visible on the cruise planner"

Next call

Customer to phone rep:  "I can't see Y in the cruise planner"

Rep: "it's only available for purchase on board the ship and shouldn't even be visible on the cruise planner"

 

Don't assume an instantaneous response equals knowledge.  

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8 minutes ago, Matt said:

Waiting for @KLAconQueso live blog like

giphy.gif

As an update, I'm just about done packing and forced myself down from one checked back and a rolling carry on and backpack to an extended checked bag and a backpack. 

Also, a digital luggage scale was a great investment. 10/10 highly recommend.

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2 hours ago, twangster said:

Customer to phone rep:  "I can't see X in the cruise planner"

Rep: "it's only available for purchase on board the ship and shouldn't even be visible on the cruise planner"

Next call

Customer to phone rep:  "I can't see Y in the cruise planner"

Rep: "it's only available for purchase on board the ship and shouldn't even be visible on the cruise planner"

 

Don't assume an instantaneous response equals knowledge.  

Reminds me of something I was trying to get the other day.

Me: So I can't seem to select a time for the St. Kitts Zipline. I think the site has gone weird again

Rep: Yeah, Let me look into that

Rep: okay I see it let me try to add it

Rep: Oh, it won't let me book it either so must be sold out.

Me: :42_confused: , So why does it show it?

Rep: I'm not sure maybe someone booked it a recently.

So what do they have to manually adjust this? Royal's IT is terrible how the hell did the get the internet right.... Oh, wait that has its own issues lol.

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Alright, cruise friends! I all checked in to my flight, bags just about packed (minus another load of laundry and some cosmetics to pack), and I am READY to go! 

I have a very important question for you all though - I keep debating...

What should my first drink on board be?!?!?! I keep thinking Patron & Pineapple juice or Patron & Soda... and then start thinking something more tropical with Kracken. Or maybe just a good old glass of champagne. Give me your ideas! 

(Note: I don't like lava flows/daiquiris - unpopular opinion, I know!)

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11 minutes ago, KLAconQueso said:

I have a very important question for you all though - I keep debating...

We usually get on board around 11:00-ish and we are not champagne drinkers. So, being that it is still morning when we board, a couple of bloody marys  while walking around does quite well for us. Enjoy your cruise and be Adventurous! (see what I did there). :27_sunglasses:

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1 hour ago, KLAconQueso said:

Alright, cruise friends! I all checked in to my flight, bags just about packed (minus another load of laundry and some cosmetics to pack), and I am READY to go! 

I have a very important question for you all though - I keep debating...

What should my first drink on board be?!?!?! I keep thinking Patron & Pineapple juice or Patron & Soda... and then start thinking something more tropical with Kracken. Or maybe just a good old glass of champagne. Give me your ideas! 

(Note: I don't like lava flows/daiquiris - unpopular opinion, I know!)

A glass of champagne is always a good way to start a vacation! Then switch to the patron and pineapple.. yum, that sounds good!

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Looking forward to the review and I'm particularly interested in the St Marten tour as I'm looking at that as well for our October trip (and the current condition of the island).   We did a promenade view room on the Freedom and thought it was great.

First drink?  Me:  poolside margarita  Wife: something frozen poured directly into the carved out pineapple 

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4 hours ago, KLAconQueso said:

Alright, cruise friends! I all checked in to my flight, bags just about packed (minus another load of laundry and some cosmetics to pack), and I am READY to go! 

I have a very important question for you all though - I keep debating...

What should my first drink on board be?!?!?! I keep thinking Patron & Pineapple juice or Patron & Soda... and then start thinking something more tropical with Kracken. Or maybe just a good old glass of champagne. Give me your ideas! 

(Note: I don't like lava flows/daiquiris - unpopular opinion, I know!)

Oh man,  my goto for the first cruise drink is definitely something rummy. I'd go with either a Mai Tai, Pain Killer or a Pina Colada made with Meyers Dark rum -  yummm.  Or just all three in rapid succession at the Schooner Bar!  Ooo or a nice dark and stormy with Kraken rather than the Goslings (sacrilege, I know).  If you can't tell, Royal loses lots of money on the deluxe drink package with me :P

Geez, come on October!!

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