Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic - Adventure of the Seas Eastern Caribbean Cruise - April 15, 2024

 Today was a new port for us, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.  We had an early arrival of 7:00 a.m. and an early excursion time of 7:00 a.m. in the theater.  Paul was especially looking forward to this tour as it was going to give him a chance to drive an off-road buggy through the Dominican countryside and the excursion did not disappoint.  The excursion was called Eco, Wild & Furious Polaris Trail.  We came back with smiles on our faces and covered in mud from head to toe.

The open air bus that took us the short distance from the port to the ranch.

Streets of Puerto Plata - They generally obey red lights but double yellow lines, not so much.

At the ranch, still clean

Our first stop, a chance to sample some Dominican coffee

Part of our route took us through some city streets

We had about 20 minutes at the beach half-way.

Here is a video I put together of the entire excursion.

On the drive back, we passed this gas station named after Paul.  ;)  Ironically, we haven't gotten gas since Halloween 2023.

By the time, we returned back to the port the MSC Seascape had arrived.  We could see it in the distance as we walked through the extensive port area - after excursions, they seem to always drop you off at the furthest port area entrance to force you to walk past all the stores, restaurants, bars, etc.  Puerto Plata has quite a port area with a pool, lazy river, beach area (which I think is just a sandy area around the pools - I didn't see any access to swim in the Caribbean), bars, restaurants, etc.

Lazy River

We were excited to see the MSC Seascape up close as we will be on her sister in September and this is the first time we have seen one of this class of ships up close.

Back on board, we found a treat at Cafe Promenade and enjoyed a drink in Schooner's Bar.  This was the bar most likely to be open earlier in the day but it was also the bar that would get overrun with trivia sometimes so we spent some time here but didn't usually stay for long periods of time.

Since we had backed into our berth this morning, we decided to watch sail away from the aft of the ship.  The wraparound promenade deck has this great covered aft section which was perfect.

The port had these little vehicles for those who didn't want to walk the entire length of the pier and they set up the dock with a lane to keep pedestrians separate from the path these vehicles took.

I have no idea what kind of boat this is.  It appeared to have no bottom although there were beams or something the people were standing on.

The pilot boat following us out to pick up the pilot when we were far enough out.

For a fairly new ship (although not new enough to use LNG), she sure was letting out a lot of smoke from the funnel.

After sail away, Paul participated in a Harry Potter trivia.  He didn't stand a chance against Harry Potter fanatics but we had recently watched the movies and he is in the middle of reading the books so he didn't do too bad.

Tonight was the first chance (of two) to catch the Island Frenzy parade from our cabin window looking down on the Royal Promenade.  Here is our view.  This photo was taken just after it ended.

Before dinner we went to the headliner show staring Comedy Juggler Billy Prudhomme. For a juggler, he sure dropped a lot of items and the jokes about how bad of a juggler he was got old really quickly. We slipped out about half-way through the show.

The dinner menu was a Taste of Italy. Paul enjoyed the minestrone soup (which had pesto in it that added a real richness to it).  It was Paul's favorite dish of the cruise.   I enjoyed the polenta fries as well as the sole fillet. 

 

They had backdrops and photographers on decks 3, 4, and 5 near the main dining room this evening as they have had other evenings. It's really nice how all your photos show up in the app (pretty quickly after you take them) so you can review them at your convenience.  One of our loyalty perks is we each get one free photo so this cruise, we are taking advantage of that.

Now for an attempt at a little humor. On Royal Caribbean ships, they have these magnets for your door when you don't want to be disturbed. When you are on the actual Adventure of the Seas though, they can take on a different meaning. Personally, I don't advise sleeping off the (capital A) Adventure, especially when we are far out at sea.