All Things Adventure of the Seas

[Ocean Boy]

Nicely put. But I'm still curious how this ship can have such differencing opinions.

 

The ports of call were fantastic - it was a Norway Cruise starting in Southampton in May.

 

I'd have thought that regardless of the home port, the international crew would be the same. I believe crew have something like four months on, two months off but unless through some sheer fluke all the decent crew hit their two months off at the same time, such rotations should not make that big a difference.

 

When we sailed on Adventure's sister ship Navigator, it was out of Civitavecchia on a six night cruise. The ports visits were a little disappointing, one because it was not a particularly nice place, one would have been great were it not for the pouring rain (but we still enjoyed it) one was cancelled due to severely bad weather and one was nice, but the place closed for lunch. Despite all that we had a great time and loved the ship.

 

So, looking at the proposition that the home port could affect things - of the fans of the ship, how many sailed from Southampton? Does the company put a sub-standard crew to save money when dealing with what will predominantly be British guests?

 

First of all, I would tell you that we also had an amazing cruise the one time that we sailed on Navigator. For some reason everything on that cruise just came together... itinerary, service, entertainment. It was just great.

 

As for Adventure, we have only sailed the ship out of San Juan to the southern Caribbean. I don't think RCI places sub-standard crew on the ships going to Europe. However, we were on one of the last sailing on Independence just before it was gong to go over to Britain for its summer sailing that first year. I had been talking to one of the crew who told me that many of the crew from the Caribbean were not happy about the move as it made it difficult to see their families and they did not care for the weather either. Some were trying to transfer to ships staying in the Caribbean and others were just not happy.

 

I also think that maybe Caribbean cruises may be a bit more laid back than European cruises and that may change the vibe aboard the ship too. And as many of us have mentioned earlier, the local Puerto Ricans bringing the flavor of their culture aboard seems to add something special to the sailings that, of course, is going to be missing on European sailings.

 

I relate this all to you as a possible explanation but, obviously, anything that I write is based on speculation.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Ocean Boy

[Redrobo]

I think there may be something in what Ocean Boy writes, we were B2 B in April just before the TA. most of the Caribbean crew were leaving the ship. I can only give a view point of having sailed from Us ports that there is always a good vibe and nothing beats cruising in good weather.

However I will be able to say when we sail Explorer out of Southampton next year.

The cost of a med cruise being about the same cost as a Caribbean cruise including flights, it may account for the unhappy Brits, especially brummies who hate spending :D

[mnjh15]

Wow!! Thank you. Those photos are awesome!!!

 

Yes, I agree, they are! I've been itching for more (recent) pictures of Adventure and these helped immensely.

[krev]

We are on Adventure right now sailing towards the Med, there have been some quite negative reviews of late but I can assure you the ship is lovely and the staff very friendly. Granted some areas of the state rooms could do with upgrading but the hall carpets are new and one would hope the rooms are next. Certainly nothing to ruin a cruise or prevent from booking.

 

 

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[Inked]

We are on Adventure right now sailing towards the Med, there have been some quite negative reviews of late but I can assure you the ship is lovely and the staff very friendly. Granted some areas of the state rooms could do with upgrading but the hall carpets are new and one would hope the rooms are next. Certainly nothing to ruin a cruise or prevent from booking.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

 

That's great to hear, as we will be boarding in two weeks time :)

[Laurin612]

I have really been enjoying this thread! I'm especially glad to see that there are so many people who have cruised on AOS multiple times. Thanks to everyone who has been answering questions and posting pics.

 

My family and I are booked on the AOS for spring break this year. We were originally booked on Carnival Valor and at the end of August received an e-mail from Carnival telling us, "Sorry, folks! Your cruise is canceled." They apparently decided to switch out the home ports of the Liberty and the Valor and decided to do the repositioning during spring break. :rolleyes: They offered us $50 per person OBC for our trouble. :mad:

 

Anyway, we already had our airfare from Chicago booked and didn't really want to re-book with Carnival on a different ship because we really like the Southern itinerary. AOS to the rescue!

 

We were originally booked on AOS in a D1 balcony on Deck 9 pretty far aft. We wanted a JS, but since we just booked at the end of August all that was available were aft Junior Suites on Deck 6. My husband has been obsessively checking for availability of Junior Suites and I'm happy to report that he found one on Deck 9 midship yesterday so we booked that.

 

A few questions:

 

1) Is there a charge to use the skating rink/rent skates?

2) How is the teen club? My teens are concerned they won't like it as much as Carnival.

3) Is there a charge to use the climbing wall?

4) What do you think of MTD? We liked the comparable program on Carnival, but I have heard some negative things about MTD on Royal.

5) What is your favorite thing about this ship?

 

Thanks in advance!

Edited September 19, 2014 by Laurin612

[Clarea]

...A few questions:

 

1) Is there a charge to use the skating rink/rent skates? No charge and skates are provided for free.

2) How is the teen club? My teens are concerned they won't like it as much as Carnival.

3) Is there a charge to use the climbing wall? No charge.

4) What do you think of MTD? We liked the comparable program on Carnival, but I have heard some negative things about MTD on Royal.

5) What is your favorite thing about this ship? Excellent crew and Royal Promenade.

 

Thanks in advance!

Questions I could answer in RED above.

[mchin]

A few questions:

 

1) Is there a charge to use the skating rink/rent skates?

2) How is the teen club? My teens are concerned they won't like it as much as Carnival. Our first cruise was on Carnival. My daughters were 16 and 14 for that cruise and had a horrible time. They did not enjoy the teen club at all. As a result we switched to RCCL and it was an amazing turn around. Could not get them out of the club for family time. We now travel with our 9 year old daughter who is the same. She absolutely loves Adventure Ocean. I'm sure your teens will enjoy themselves. One thing I did to help older daughters was find others through the cruise roll call with teens close to their age and let them start emailing to get to know each other. I found that made a huge difference in their cruise experience.

3) Is there a charge to use the climbing wall?

4) What do you think of MTD? We liked the comparable program on Carnival, but I have heard some negative things about MTD on Royal.

5) What is your favorite thing about this ship?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Hope my input above is helpful. We are sailing AOS again the week after you, also for spring break. :D

Edited September 19, 2014 by mchin
added more color text.

[peteukmcr]

4) What do you think of MTD? We liked the comparable program on Carnival, but I have heard some negative things about MTD on Royal.

5) What is your favorite thing about this ship?

 

Thanks in advance!

Always use MTD and had some issues on Allure and Splendour but never on this ship. The MDR host for MTD on Adventure is fantastic.

 

Favourite thing about Adventure - Giovanni's Table.

[pharm51]

We have just came back from an Iceland/Norway cruise on AOS. Had booked MTD and do not regret it. The dining room, host and staff were excellent and they do their best to meet one's request. We made a reservation for the 1st night and we had a great waiter and assistant waiter serving us. So on the way out we made reservations for the entire cruise and requested to be placed in the same area as these two great waiters. It was no problem and sure enough every night we had the same waiters and practically the same table. The service was out of this world and so we decided to give an extra tip over and above what we had already prepaid. Their names are Dalibor Peshovski & Vladimir Jeremic - look out for them if you can.

As a general comment, my wife & I cannot understand why there are so many negative comments about this ship. For us it was one of the best cruises we had.

[janeyzee]

4) What do you think of MTD? We liked the comparable program on Carnival, but I have heard some negative things about MTD on Royal.

Thanks in advance!

 

We are also on the 3/22 AOS Southern Caribbean cruise and I had no idea this was a spring break cruise, but I guess anything in March will be spring break for someone.

 

I can only answer #4 - we love MTD and have never had a bit of trouble getting seated (only two of us), even when we don't have reservations. We like to dine by ourselves so sitting at a huge table in traditional dining didn't appeal to us at all. We do MTD every RC cruise we take and love it. Sometimes we make reservations, sometimes we don't, and either way we do it, it's always a breeze.

Edited September 20, 2014 by janeyzee

[big al]

We have just came back from an Iceland/Norway cruise on AOS. Had booked MTD and do not regret it. The dining room, host and staff were excellent and they do their best to meet one's request. We made a reservation for the 1st night and we had a great waiter and assistant waiter serving us. So on the way out we made reservations for the entire cruise and requested to be placed in the same area as these two great waiters. It was no problem and sure enough every night we had the same waiters and practically the same table. The service was out of this world and so we decided to give an extra tip over and above what we had already prepaid. Their names are Dalibor Peshovski & Vladimir Jeremic - look out for them if you can.

As a general comment, my wife & I cannot understand why there are so many negative comments about this ship. For us it was one of the best cruises we had.

 

Glad to hear you liked MTD on the AOS..I have friends who were on the AOS last Feb., and said it was the worst RCI cruise ( out of 7) for food they have ever taken..all 6 nights in the MDR were very mediocre & nothing was "good" or even " very good"- they BOTH told me the only good meal they had was in Portifinos...now, food is very subjective we all know, but these 2 eat everything, and were very dissappointed in the MDR food- along with another couple, that's 4 people that didn't like the food..to show you how much they disliked the food, I am going on the AOS next Nov 2015, and I invited this couple to join us, and he said, "if it was FREE , we wouldn't go again"..WOW! big statement...BTW, they said service was good, entertainment mediocre, ports of call terrific ( Southern Caribb)...thoughts?

 

Big Al

[janeyzee]

they said service was good, entertainment mediocre, ports of call terrific ( Southern Caribb)...thoughts?

 

Big Al

 

Normally I don't cruise for the food, I cruise for the ports. The whole reason we're going on AOS in March is the Southern Caribbean ports. I've never been to any of them other than St. Maarten so I'm really looking forward to seeing places I've never been. If the food is bad, well then it's just like eating my own cooking! :D

 

If it's really bad I'll find ways to find something else that I do like. Windjammer is always an option, taste a little of everything until I find something good. Does AOS have pizza? I need to go look at the deck plans, see what else they have that I could eat.

[Missbrightstar]

Four of us travelled on AOS earlier this month and we had no complaints about the food at all (two are fussy eaters and the other two adventurous). Plenty of choice and the Indian lunch and cookery demonstration for $10 was delicious

[Ocean Boy]

Normally I don't cruise for the food, I cruise for the ports. The whole reason we're going on AOS in March is the Southern Caribbean ports. I've never been to any of them other than St. Maarten so I'm really looking forward to seeing places I've never been. If the food is bad, well then it's just like eating my own cooking! :D

 

If it's really bad I'll find ways to find something else that I do like. Windjammer is always an option, taste a little of everything until I find something good. Does AOS have pizza? I need to go look at the deck plans, see what else they have that I could eat.

 

Available in the Windjammer from lunch time until evening closing and also available in the Café Promenade on the Royal Promenade from around 11 AM until 4 AM when they shut down for one hour for cleaning.

[Barnum42]

 

A few questions:

 

1) Is there a charge to use the skating rink/rent skates?

2) How is the teen club? My teens are concerned they won't like it as much as Carnival.

 

1) Has already been answered, but I hope they have changed their opening hours policy than when we sailed in May, which was to keep the rink shut as much as possible. On a week long cruise with a full boat of families they thought it a good idea to open it for a couple of short sessions on one day and about four on another. The flood of complaints resulted in another couple of sessions being added to the second day it was open. There was one other closed session for the kid's club.

 

2) The teen club was a big hit with our teen. We may have had a lot of bad experiences on the boat, but the teen club was not one of them.

[Barnum42]

We have just came back from an Iceland/Norway cruise on AOS.

 

As a general comment, my wife & I cannot understand why there are so many negative comments about this ship. For us it was one of the best cruises we had.

 

That's something I've been trying to figure out. We were in the negative comments group - on a Southampton sailing to Norway. The ports were great, the Main Dining Room was good and the Teen Club was good, plus no problems with the cabin. But the rest was astonishingly bad compared to our experience on her sister ship Navigator less than two years previously.

 

In earlier discussions as to why the big divide of love and hate for this boat, there seemed an implication that the sailings from Southampton had a bigger problem than when she sails the Caribbean, as a lot of the Caribbean route crew don't want to sail from Southampton.

 

Could it be that when the Caribbean season ends, so many of the crew leave that the crew we had in May were so new they did not know their base from their apex? Now they've been together a while things are running more smoothly?

 

Though that does not explain the sub-standard singers, dancers and other entertainers we encountered on-board.

[Barnum42]

Normally I don't cruise for the food, I cruise for the ports. The whole reason we're going on AOS in March is the Southern Caribbean ports. I've never been to any of them other than St. Maarten so I'm really looking forward to seeing places I've never been. If the food is bad, well then it's just like eating my own cooking! :D

 

Main Dining Room was good. No problems.

 

Windjammer - Awful. Food was the same stuff every day, reheated to the consistency of a leather codpiece. Staff cutbacks meant there are not enough waiters to deal with the mess and the senior staff don't seem to care.

 

Cafe Promenade - No variety but it will plug a hole if you are hungry.

 

Room Service - Used only once towards the end of the cruise, and whilst very limited it was not too bad, and the pizza tasted better than that in Cafe Promenade.

[janeyzee]

Available in the Windjammer from lunch time until evening closing and also available in the Café Promenade on the Royal Promenade from around 11 AM until 4 AM when they shut down for one hour for cleaning.

 

 

Great, thanks

 

 

 

Tapatalk posting

[Dajbman22]

Main Dining Room was good. No problems.

 

Windjammer - Awful. Food was the same stuff every day, reheated to the consistency of a leather codpiece. Staff cutbacks meant there are not enough waiters to deal with the mess and the senior staff don't seem to care.

 

Cafe Promenade - No variety but it will plug a hole if you are hungry.

 

Room Service - Used only once towards the end of the cruise, and whilst very limited it was not too bad, and the pizza tasted better than that in Cafe Promenade.

 

I have only been on a hand full of cruises (RCI and NCL) and honestly have never really enjoyed the buffet on any of them. I have long since kept reasonable expectations for the windjammer, and tend to just chalk it up to me, like many others, just preferring even banquet style cooking to buffet style.

[love2cruise56]

oH Steve, we just sailed February 1st in sister pole cabin 1388. You will hate it and will not want to let anyone else know how silly all the fuss is about the small cabin and small balcony.:D we were forced to book same cabin in February 2014. How dare RC do that to us!

 

Do you have a picture of the pole cabin.

[love2cruise56]

 

Vs. No Glass

 

What ship and cabin number are the pictures of

[Clarea]

What ship and cabin number are the pictures of

Don't know for sure what ship or stateroom, but the photos are from a first generation Voyager class ship, such as Voyager, Explorer, or Adventure.

[love2cruise56]

Its a D1 room price , JS size .Only thing it doesnt have is the full size bathroom , Guess it nots for you LOL.

 

I heard several posts about the pole room.does anyone have pictures .

[Barnum42]

I have only been on a hand full of cruises (RCI and NCL) and honestly have never really enjoyed the buffet on any of them. I have long since kept reasonable expectations for the windjammer, and tend to just chalk it up to me, like many others, just preferring even banquet style cooking to buffet style.

When we sailed on Navigator, the Windjammer there was so much better - there were different dishes each day, lovely displays and selections of fruit and the tables and windows kept clean. It's the stark contrast how on a sister ship, less than two years later it could have all been so bad in comparison that surprised us.