United We Stand
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2005 15:29:29 -0500
From: "Paul Ingargiola" <PaulieBotz3600@aol.com>
Subject: Review - Adventure of the Seas - September 7 - 14, 2003
We flew Jet Blue Airways from JFK Airport NYC early in the morning. Everything was on time and great. Jet Blue is a fantastic Airline with all leather seats, all 1st class like seating all have 30+ channels of DirecTV. We arrived in Puerto Rico like 10:00-10:30 took a cab to the port which was ok didnt realize but got a great video shot of the cruise ship with background music on the radio station the cab driver was blasting. The ship was huge and beautiful. Chec`king bags went smooth (make sure you tip that bag check guy they are not RCCL people they dont care about your stuff without a tip.) We then waited about 10 minutes and because we had a Junior Suite we were let up first with all the people that had suites (I Love fringe benefits.)So we explored the beautiful ship until dinner and still didn't see everything. Our first day at sea breakfast in the cabin was great (not the food) But sitting on the balcony with your feet up seeing the deep sapphire blue water go by so slowly was the best!
Our first stop was ARUBA What a place. Not quite what I expected though. Aruba is not much of a tropical paradise as you would normally imagine. It is a barren desert with cacti and evergreen Divi-Divi Trees all bent from the constant Tradewinds. But the beaches were gorgeous and people were very friendly. We took a cab to a Horse ranch about a 20 minute drive, and rode some horses. We rode down to the "Natural Pool" LOL This was really nice but also not what I expected. The pool is surrounded by sharp rocks that were slippery and dangerous. The guides stayed up by the horses and pointed down the hill and said over there friend and a group of us walked down and finally found the pool. It was pretty nice all in all.
Next stop was CURACAO. It looked at first sight ok but kinda industrial looking. We ended up doing the Hato Cave tour on our own. We rented a scooter that kept breaking down, but I endend up getting it started again. We ended up complaining and got a full refund for our troubles. Once againg the people there were very friendly but wish we had more time to see the better parts of the island that we kept hearing about.
Next stop was St. MARTIN or St MAARTEN Very beutiful lots of shops and stuff to buy. We took a cab to go see a butterfly farm on the other side of the island. What a nice friendly place and very informative. We saw and touched many butterflies and got some great photo ops. I have some photo that look like national geographic took them. We then left after about an hour or so and went to a patially nude beach (Some of the people should not have been NUDE) When we left I forgot my sunglasses and was about 5 minutes by cab away from the beach, we got out and walked back, and the guy actually was holding my glasses for me (Honest people are hard to find)
Last stop was St THOMAS what another beautiful place. It was all emerald green mountains surrounding the cities. We took a cab into town and took a ferry to St JOHN. We went to the beach which was a national park. We tried to go snorkling but the water was a little choppy so we got out and relaxed on the beach and took another set of great photos of each other. While waiting for the cab to become full I want chasing little lizards trying to capture them so I could release them aboard the ship but they were too fast for me LOL! When we got back to St Thomas we decided to walk to the ship. All the cab drivers said ohh man it is way too far too far. We opted to walk anyways. We had a great time walking. it was only about 2-3 miles with the ship in full view the whole way so you cant get lost. We saw these huge Iguana (Lizzards) Basking in the sun right out in the open. I tried to catch one but wasn't too sure of how much damage they can do at that size and being that they were not captive bred. I now know that their bite wouldn't be infectious and to only watch out for their tail. So next time i will get one! We had a good time there!
Back on the ship last day at sea. We tried to enjoy another morning of Breakfast on the balcony. One of the unforgettable moments on the ship. We all in all had a great time on the ship. The only complaints was that compared to my cruise with Princess aboard the Grand Princess. the food was better on princess only because of the wild game. What I mean is that Princess had Frogs Legs, Rabbit, Venison, Escargot, and other things that I never had but always wanted to try. Now because everything is free and you can always order a new item if you dont like something it was better. Otherwise RCCL's food was very good (better than most fancy weddings) The service was ok on RCCL they were very clean and accomidatind...but Princess had a little more attention to detail. For instance I put a smudge on the mirror in my room on princess. That smudge was gone next time I came into the room. Royal Caribbean it was there all week. That may not be RCCL's fault it may just be the one cleaner that I had but that was the impression that I got. Otherwise we had a great time no real complaints and we actuall are schedule to go on our next cruise with RRCL' Adventure of the Seas , July 31st 2005- August 7th 2005. The only reason I didnt go with Princess is beacuse their Itinerary sucks in that month. Hope this review helped. if you have any questions please feel free to email me at Pauliebotz3600@aol.com
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