Thrifty Couples Adventure of the Seas 2/1 to 2/9 Trip Report

[starvenger]

To help keep costs low we book shore excursions on sale, and use our OBC to help pay for them. Many lines run sales from time to time on excursions so it pays to book before boarding.

I haven't been to the ABC Islands so I've not done much research on them. Are there less 3rd party excursions - or less data on 3rd party excursions - available there? Obviously when you go to the usual ports there's a lot of information out there so booking via the ship doesn't make sense unless you are, say, doing a trip in Cozumel which involve a ferry to Playa del Carmen and a bus ride.

After buying a lot of DCL gear on our first trips we have really limited what we buy on board. The shops being expensive on the Edge and RCCL not having anything that caught our eye helps. If you have any thoughts of buying something like a decent watch in port, the best way to do it is to get a piece of jewelry as well. Watches can only be discounted so much, but they tend to give you a better deal overall if you pair the two together. We don’t buy stuff like that often, but my Bulova has saved me money because my skin oils trash cheaper metal watches.

Good tip. I've not had any urge to buy jewellery in the Caribbean but will keep this in mind.

On RCCL we generally only get the drink of the day and hope for the 10 drink card allowing you to get ten drinks at a pretty good discount. The card can be shared but is not always available. Our first two RCCL cruises it was offered halfway through, unfortunately this last one it wasn’t. This year we each had two 8 buck drinks so with gratuities spent about 40 on drinks.

Don't forget that each person gets a 2-for-1 beer/wine/soda loaded onto the SeaPass. A chilled moscato can be just as refreshing as a pre-mixed cocktail. And probably more dangerous since that stuff goes down so easy.

Drink card is generally good value, since you can get mixed drinks/mid-shelf drinks for the price of am on-board beer.

Flights and hotels are tough nowadays. Southwest used to be the cheapest for us until this year. Hoping when the 737 maxes are back in service their prices go down and they add some more fights. In Ft Lauderdale we have 2 hotels we like, but they aren’t dirt cheap unfortunately. Port Canaveral we have a hotel that has been a great deal but we haven’t sailed from there in a while.

I think the Big Game disrupted your prices a bit. I've mentioned this before, but ValueTrips gives some great rates at Hyatt Place over the summer and you get a decent sized room (can sleep 6-8 comfortably) plus breakfast (if you sign up for the rewards program). My brother has actually booked them for 2 nights for my Symphony cruise out of Miami.

 

[cgolf]

I haven't been to the ABC Islands so I've not done much research on them. Are there less 3rd party excursions - or less data on 3rd party excursions - available there? Obviously when you go to the usual ports there's a lot of information out there so booking via the ship doesn't make sense unless you are, say, doing a trip in Cozumel which involve a ferry to Playa del Carmen and a bus ride.

We never have looked at or done a third party excursion. Mostly because of the missing all aboard time being handled much differently on a ships tour vs your own.


When on DCL we did a dolphin tour booked through the ship and they did wait for our group to get back even though we were pretty late. My family was called by guest services to see if we were onboard or not. We got pretty lucky they waited. I am sure there is some money savings to be had, but we do like the piece of mind. Just like trip insurance with the medical Evac clause, not terribly expensive, we get it hoping we don’t need to use it, but it will save us big money in the end if we do need to use it.

The Southwest thing was interesting. They were the cheapest flying done the Friday before the super bowl and I would even say it was a pretty good price. Coming home was very high and they didn’t have any flights that left at 1 or 2. We ended up using American but getting home at 1 am the next day.

 

[starvenger]

Fair enough. I'm the sort where I will sort through 2-4 star reviews to get a good idea of what a tour operator is about before signing on. Or if I'm going somewhere like the beach I'm not even concerned about things because travel to/from is almost entirely within my control.

Don't really have anything against the cruise excursions apart from the price. In fact when my brother went to Chichen Itza from Cozumel I recommended a) don't do it, because it's long and you'll be late, and b) book through the ship. Well he did do it through the ship and lucky he did because they were about an hour late getting back to the ship.

 

[cgolf]

Day 6 Compass

 

[cgolf]

Just a note about Chair Hogs! The solarium was stupid bad all week! We went to swim at 8 in the morning and there were 2 chairs available right by the entrance to the solarium area. The chairs were 10% utilized and only 5 people in the hot tubs and pool combined. It was like this all the time. Cruise lines really need to get this under control, it just isn't fair. I also really dislike the people that feel entitled enough to do this. I would love for one to try and explain why they feel they should own a chair for a day! Around the two main pools seemed similar, but there were at least spots a deck up you could sit at. Thankfully we had deck 4 which is where we spent a majority of our chilling out time.

 

[cgolf]

Well in Aruba our tour of choice was the best of Aruba to again give us a good feel for a large part of the island.

It started out with the bus driver stopping along sided the road and us wondering what the heck was going on. He came back onboard with a cashew and the fruit it grows with and passed it around. This did help explain why cashews are so expensive, because they essentially grow 1 cashew and fruit together, not multiple cashews in a bunch. Throughout the tour our driver gave us a lot of information.

The Aloe factory, first stop we got out, was actually pretty cool and we learned some things we didn't know about the aloe plant. We also made our most expensive purchase, 24$, on some aloe gel with lidocaine in it for pain relief. After a bit at that stop the bus took us to the Casibari Rock formations which was pretty cool. Essentially you climb some fun steps to stand up on a rock and they have a very low fence to keep you from wandering off the edge It was a great place to get some pictures so that was good. We didn't have a ton of time there, but enough to get a few more pictures in the general area.

Next stop kind of was the gold mill ruins, but we stayed on the bus and we got a brief history. As we were driving to the Natural bridge, he stopped the bus to allow us to get some pictures of the shoreline cuts that were eroded away. This shoreline was beautiful and I took a ton of pictures as the waves were crashing into shore. This area along with the natural bridge, we could have relaxed at and just ocean watched all day. It was just mesmerizing. There just seems to be a calm that comes over you looking at this, hard to explain, but was likely our favorite area to stop at on all three islands. The main natural bridge in the area had collapsed back in, 2005?, but they still had a baby natural bridge which was really cool. The only bummer is the ocean spray was so intense at times, not soaking wet kind of spray but a light mist, that it was a pain to keep my camera lens clean while trying to capture the pictures of the spray and the waves crash into the rocks. I did get some awesome pictures though.

The last stop was the California lighthouse and this was a disappointment. The lighthouse looked cool, but there was a 5$ per person charge to climb it which we chose not to pay. We then took the bus back to port, and unfortunately it went past houses, condos, resorts, timeshares, etc. It almost felt like an advertisement for these places That we could have done without.

After lunch we did go shopping and I had been looking for an Orange Bulova watch and we managed to find one. Unfortunately my wife couldn't find a piece of jewelry so I had to pass on the watch. I think I annoyed the sales person when I stated price was the reason for not buying it, but I knew I left bargaining power off the table by not having another piece of jewelry to bargain with. Hopefully next year we will come across one. I will say jewelry shops are the one place I will bargain with and walk away from if I am not content with the price. If we buy something from the street side shops, I won't try to bargain much on souvenirs if I feel the price is pretty fair. I know you can, but I am guessing these people aren't getting wealthy by selling these items, so it is a way to help out the people on the islands.

I will say while Aruba had the prettiest area by far, but it was also the island that really showcased the haves vs the have nots. We saw trailer homes all the way up to 7 million dollar homes. Great place to visit, but if we were to live on one of the islands it would have been Caracao.

 

[cgolf]

 

[cgolf]

One of the coolest things we got to see on the trip due to the bump out by the dining rooms on the Adventure was the pilots reboarding their boat. They use what looks like a sketchy ladder from afar, but is probably pretty safe. This was really neat and the first time we got to see it in 16 cruises!

 

[cgolf]

While watching for pier runners, I will say there was a pretty rowdy bunch of people that were giving the late people a hard time. They bordered right on the edge of being too ugly so it was ok, but I have never heard it this pointed before.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and playing some mini golf. After supper we attended the hypnotists show, TYZEN and it was very funny. The only bummer for me was the music or something he used when putting people under gave me a splitting headache. We did go back to the second show, but I stepped out for the part where people were hypnotized. This was a very entertaining show and we enjoyed it both times we saw it. After the second show we caught a little piano music and headed back to the room to crash.

I will say the excursion process of meeting in studio B was a bit strange. A lot of different tours met together so it was difficult to tell if you were in the right place or not. It ultimately worked out but could have been setup a bit better.

 

[starvenger]

Just a note about Chair Hogs! The solarium was stupid bad all week! We went to swim at 8 in the morning and there were 2 chairs available right by the entrance to the solarium area. The chairs were 10% utilized and only 5 people in the hot tubs and pool combined. It was like this all the time. Cruise lines really need to get this under control, it just isn't fair. I also really dislike the people that feel entitled enough to do this. I would love for one to try and explain why they feel they should own a chair for a day! Around the two main pools seemed similar, but there were at least spots a deck up you could sit at. Thankfully we had deck 4 which is where we spent a majority of our chilling out time.

I've not stayed in the solarium for long but I'd probably not have an issue with moving people's stuff if it's apparent that they're not around. If someone does come back and complains you simply need to point out the deck rules that get blared out every 30 minutes or so. Might not be everyone's thing but I can be a stubborn youknowwhat at times.

 

[cgolf]

Day 7 Compass

 

[cgolf]

Well the next couple of days will go quickly. for the most part. Tried to get into pickle ball again, but the courts were full and people were waiting to get on. Generally we spent the day relaxing, wandering the ship, or playing mini golf. We did have a drink of the day, Mai Tai, but that was about the highlights of the morning and afternoon. Seas were 8-10 foot, but the ship was very stable. I had hoped for higher seas with all the wind we were seeing.



At lunch I did try a gluten free pepperoni pizza and it was very good. Supper was formal night and I did the poor man's surf and turf with the new york strip loin and the lobster tail. It was a very good supper and I have always found the new york strip to be tasty on RCCL. We did see one person in shorts and a dress shirt, and based on the comments of the table next to us, there was at least one other person in shorts on formal night.



After supper we attempted the Invitation to Dance show and it wasn't for us. Had the singers been better we might have stuck it out, but watching dancing is not something that interests us all that much. Later we caught the game show the Perfect Couple, and it was hilarious.



In our eyes the downer of the night was the Crazy Quest and it brought out the worst in at least one team. At one point when they said we need 3 bras brought down, one team was there pretty much as soon as the words were said, not a big deal since this is a repetitive game, maybe the crowd just anticipated it. Nope, that wasn't what happened. After their number was called, the lady took the bras to her friend in the crowd and she stuffed them in a bag. Then for the final task with dressing up a guy, they had everything in a bag to accomplish this. This was the first I noticed it, but since they were first or near first on the other tasks, they may have went to their bag of tricks for that too. Bummer the CD didn't bust them, because they ultimately won the whole thing. The crazy quest is supposed to be a fun thing, kind of sad some decide to cheat or bend the rules to win. after that it was off to bed to crash.

 

[cgolf]

Day 8 Compass

 

[cgolf]

The last sea day was pretty much a carbon copy of Day 7. We took it easy and relaxed during the day. I did enter the ping pong competition and won my first match, but lost my second match to a lady that had the most insanely wicked serve I have ever seen that was pretty much unreturnable. That decided the match unfortunately for me. Lunch in windjammer was changed up a lot from previous days, so while a nice change, wish it would have happened sooner in the week.



After supper we caught the farewell show and adult show with comedian Tom Foss. Both of his shows were very funny and a great way to finish off the cruise. After the show we went back to the room and set our wake up call and set our watches back and crashed to be ready for the long trip home.

 

[cgolf]

Well it’s time to get off the ship. We had booked the post cruise Everglades tour since our flight doesn’t leave till after 5.


Our start of the day was a rather rude automated wake up call at 5 am that was set for 6. It turns out RCCL forgot to turn back the clock on the wake up call system. Since I was up I went out on deck 4 and ship watched as we were backing into our dock. Went back to the room around 6 and we went up for breakfast shortly thereafter. Saw the Edge in port and can’t wait to see the Apex next year.


we met in the imperial lounge for our excursion and grabbed our luggage, tag number 1, on the way out. Once at the bus the hurry up and wait day started. Took a bit to get all the luggage packed and people on the bus. Once we got going it was off to the gator park. This was a lot of fun. Got to see a ball python, their big gator, and hold a baby gator before the airboat ride. Apparently it had been cold the last few days and the gators weren’t showing themselves, but we were able to see one which was really cool. Also saw a Heron hanging out on shore.


After the gator park they added a quick stop because we had time on the way to the airport. It was an area with trees and different plants to show us a different part of the Everglades. They got us to the airport I believe around 1:30. We got lucky and were able to check our luggage right away and go sit in the departures area to wait for our flight. I have to say the excursion was a blast and exceeded our expectations. It was worth the money and also served its purpose off chewing up time and getting us and our luggage to the airport.


Once we finally got in the air and got to Charlotte we got to wait almost another 3 hours before our flight home took off. When we finally landed in WI at 11:19 pm, the joke was on us. We had to wait 20 minutes for a plane to clear out of our gate. Then when we went to get our luggage 1 or 2 pieces would show up followed by a wait of 2-3 minutes. Thankfully our luggage wasn’t the last off the plane. We got to my parents at 1:15 am. Long day starting with the early wake up call



pictures and summary next.

 

[cgolf]

Cashew From Aruba

 

[cgolf]

Before I start, I want to say that we never felt pressured to buy anything onboard. Our server mentioned the up charge items at the bottom of the menu once, otherwise their was zero sale pressure onboard!



The good

The ship is incredible. It is super easy to get around, and having been on the freedom, I instantly felt at home. It was very clean and well maintained and had a good variety of things to keep people busy. Overall the ship never felt congested, with the exception of the schooner bar during piano or trivia time. The guest performers were very good. Deck 4 our favorite place to relax and of course a mini golf course that wasn’t too tricked up so it was a blast.


The So So

Food selection. Wife wife really missed her cold fruit soups and RCCL isn’t the most imaginative with their handling of gluten free meals. The fact that the menu and windjammer was so repetitive was disappointing as well. Thankfully my food tasted good, but repeating a supper 3 of 8 nights was a new experience for me.


The Bad

The theater shows. If the singers would have been better we may have had a different opinion, but RCCL’s theater shows have not impressed us yet.

This wasn’t as long of summary as I expected, but I think I covered everything pretty well in the full write up.

So overall this was another great cruise and we look forward to being on RCCL again in the future.

 

[cgolf]

Did want to add that we lived up to the thrifty part this trip. Onboard charges were the 4 drinks of the day, tips, and the post cruise excursion. In the ports we got the Aloe, cactus liquor (I goofed this may have been the most expensive at 25$), and some small gifts in a pottery store.

 

[RllngRckBrw]

Thanks for the review it was an informative teaser as we are going on the Adventure in less than 2 months. We also are doing a gator park/airboat excursion. We are trying to figure out how we kill the rest of the day after getting dropped at the airport as our flight doesn’t leave till after 10:00.

Glad you hear you had a wonderful trip.

 

[cgolf]

Thanks for the review it was an informative teaser as we are going on the Adventure in less than 2 months. We also are doing a gator park/airboat excursion. We are trying to figure out how we kill the rest of the day after getting dropped at the airport as our flight doesn’t leave till after 10:00.

Glad you hear you had a wonderful trip.

You could inquire at the airport if they have a secure area to store luggage or check with your airline and take a cab or uber to do some shopping or check out the sites in the area. We just got lucky we were in the 4 hour window to check bags when we were dropped off.