We just returned from our Southern Caribbean cruise on Adventure of the Seas, and it truly was an adventure!

We had booked a flight from Detroit to San Juan on Northwest Airlines for Saturday, the day prior to the cruise, so we'd be there safely ahead of time. Halfway to Detroit, we had a rear tire blow out on our car, and come to find out my dear husband had removed the spare earlier and not replaced it. We called AAA and ordered a towtruck, but when the truck arrived the driver told us he couldn't tow us with a rear tire flat. So he ended up driving us back home where we picked up the spare tire and drove ourselves back in our other car. In the meantime, we had called Northwest to let them know we wouldn't be making our flight. They offered to let us pick up the only other flight out to San Juan, which was leaving an hour later than our original flight. We couldn't make that one in time, either—so it looked grim. After arriving home, with both cars, I phoned Northwest again and they arranged for us to be on the Sunday flight—which would arrive in time for us to board the ship. We crossed our fingers for luck, and all went smoothly. The plane landed, we got our luggage, got a taxi and were dropped off at the pier before "official" boarding time of 2 pm. Since we had received our cruise documents in the mail, and checked in online ahead of time, we already had our luggage sticky labels filled out, and our boarding passes in hand. The waiting line at the pier looked long, but moved very quickly—we were on the ship within a few minutes. Considering the rocky start to the trip, this was such a relief! We found our stateroom on the 9th deck ready and inviting, my husband's tuxedo and shoes he'd rented were stowed in the closet, and we enjoyed the wine and cheese plate that was set out on the counter. Since we were on the starboard side, we had a nice ocean view on our balcony for drinking our wine (which was excellent) instead of seeing people boarding at the pier. Then we headed up to the Windjammer to sample the food.

The buffet in the Windjammer was good, but not as tasty as what we had on the Jewel of the Seas (a smaller ship). Throughout the week, I swear at lunchtime they were serving leftovers from the day before, which I don't ever remember seeing on the Jewel. My favorite items were the desserts—they were ALL exceptionally delicious, often "gourmet" quality tarts, mousse, and cakes—so I could forgive them for serving the same exact pasta, lettuce, and Waldorf salad all week. Breakfast was like the lunch, adequate but the same exact scrambled eggs, ham and cheese omelet, sausages, bacon, etc. all week. We ate breakfast in the dining room twice, where there were elegant surroundings but not much difference in the food (except we got real toast there). Read more