This was our 9th cruise and our first cruise with RCI. We have sailed with Celebrity, HAL, Princess, Carnival and NCL, so this gave us a chance to compare them all. We started out our trip and ended it by staying a night in Old San Juan at the very, very old Howard Johnson Hotel at Plaza des Armes. The HOJO was clean and much cheaper than the beach side hotels, but the main advantage was that it was within walking distance of many great eating places, and the free town shuttle bus stopped across from the hotel.

The Adventure of the Seas: A huge and beautiful ship. The promenade (street) that extended the length of the ship was impressive. I also was impressed by the decor in Jesters night club and all the artifacts implanted beneath the glass floor in the casino. The Art work scattered throughout the ship was adequate but not as impressive as on some of the other lines (HAL and Celebrity) When we moved in to our balcony cabin, all was clean and in perfect order (unlike the condition of our cabin on NCL). Our room attendant was excellent, except we had to ask that our ice bucket be filled several nights. The ships facilities (Health club,sauna, steam bath and hot tub) made me feel pampered. We never used the ship's pools because we found the water too cool for comfort. We did all our swimming and snorkeling on the Islands. The ship's entertainment was better than what we experienced on our other cruises FOOD: I am a "foodie" and I found all the food served in the dining room and Windjammer buffet to be surprisingly good. I sampled and ate three entrees at each dinner (a meat course, pasta and an Indian vegetarian course) as well as two to three desserts. We believe the food served on the Adventure is equal in quality to the Crown Princess and certainly better than NCL or Carnival, but not better than HAL or Celebrity. I enjoy seasoned food , but two couples on the cruise were not satisfied with their food; they found it too plain and bland for their tastes. We tried the speciality restaurant, the Portofino, which everyone raved about. It was good. Complaints: I only have a few complaints about this ship and RCI. The Windjammer buffet needs about 50 more tables. We had to circle the seating area two to three times almost every breakfast and lunch before we could find a vacant table. Also, This was the only ship I have been on that was not built with an outdoor dining area at the back of the ship at the buffet. (Having your breakfast outdoors while in port or at sea can be a wonderful dining experience). The ship needs more elevators to handle the crowds. This was the only cruise line that charged us for cappuccino coffee at dinner (over $5.00 for two). On all our other cruises we were able to order cappuccino at the end of each dinner without my tab escalating. And lastly, but not least, in the hot Caribbean climate we survive by drinking gallons of ice tea and avoiding pricey bar drinks and sodas. It's available 24 hours a day on the other cruise lines. On RCI its free only during the hours of breakfast, lunch and dinner; after that you have to buy it. (RCI does provide hot coffee and ice water 24 hours a day in the promenade cafe) RCI gave us a great cruise but nickel/dimed us on the iced tea and cappuccino. That alone is enough for me to favor Princess and HAL and Celebrity on our next cruise.