All Things Adventure of the Seas

[cricketts]

When Adventure was built the only specialty restaurant that existed with RCI was Portofino's. It would have been really dumb to design space into a ship for something that didn't exist.

 

 

Thanks for the background on Chops... It never made sense to me! Our first time eating in Chops was on Liberty. Looking at deck plans, it seems that Voyager and Explorer don't have Chops either. Is that correct?

[cricketts]

I have to disagree here- Giovanni's was delicious. I can grill a great steak for myself at home (well, my husband can), but I can't make some of the delicious dishes that they offered at Giovanni's. I was very happy with the Giovanni's option. Still would have gone to Chops if that were the only option, but I think I would pick Giovanni's over Chops if both were offered on a future sailing.

 

 

I agree... We chose GT over Chops when we were on Navigator in May. Now that Chops has changed the mud pie and red velvet cake it just isn't the same! Plus, Giovanni's has an awesome filet as well as all those other wonderful options... love the crabmeat ravioli [emoji3]

[Clarea]

Thanks for the background on Chops... It never made sense to me! Our first time eating in Chops was on Liberty. Looking at deck plans, it seems that Voyager and Explorer don't have Chops either. Is that correct?

Yes, the first gen Voyager class ships (Voyager, Explorer, and Adventure) were only outfitted with one specialty restaurant, which was Portofino at the time. For whatever reason, when these ships are retrofitted, they don't put the second restaurant up in the Windjammer area, so they have to use the top deck of the former nightclub.

[skiiergirl]

When Adventure was built the only specialty restaurant that existed with RCI was Portofino's. It would have been really dumb to design space into a ship for something that didn't exist.

 

 

Guess my memory really isn't what it used to be. I thought that AD and RD were both built in 2001. RD had both Chops and Portofinos when it was put in to service. Therefore, I was thinking that RC had made the choice of Portofinos over Chops for the "one" specialty dining location.

[skiiergirl]

I have to disagree here- Giovanni's was delicious. I can grill a great steak for myself at home (well, my husband can), but I can't make some of the delicious dishes that they offered at Giovanni's. I was very happy with the Giovanni's option. Still would have gone to Chops if that were the only option, but I think I would pick Giovanni's over Chops if both were offered on a future sailing.

 

I agree... We chose GT over Chops when we were on Navigator in May. Now that Chops has changed the mud pie and red velvet cake it just isn't the same! Plus, Giovanni's has an awesome filet as well as all those other wonderful options... love the crabmeat ravioli [emoji3]

 

LOL...didn't mean to ruffle so many feathers. I guess you either really like GT or really dislike it. Mr Ski still prefers Portofinos to Chops or GT. I like Chops best then GT over Portofino. However, we have had nice meals at GT on all ships EXCEPT AD. I was addressing GT only on AD as this thread is titled "AD". We dined in GT probably 5 times in 3 weeks last fall. (BOGO on first night of each cruise) and then several other times. They had some nice food on several of the visits however also had some horrible food on other visits. One visit our friend had an entrée that was so tough it couldn't be cut. By the time they got around to figuring out what to do about it the kitchen was closed! We even had horrible service in there on more than one evening (which can happen in any specialty restaurant on any ship). The surprising part here was that on one of those nights we were dining with the Captain! They finally started providing better service when one of the staff noticed that the Captain was giving them "the eye". He even said he isn't crazy over the food in there. Wow!

[cricketts]

LOL...didn't mean to ruffle so many feathers. I guess you either really like GT or really dislike it. Mr Ski still prefers Portofinos to Chops or GT. I like Chops best then GT over Portofino. However, we have had nice meals at GT on all ships EXCEPT AD. I was addressing GT only on AD as this thread is titled "AD". We dined in GT probably 5 times in 3 weeks last fall. (BOGO on first night of each cruise) and then several other times. They had some nice food on several of the visits however also had some horrible food on other visits. One visit our friend had an entrée that was so tough it couldn't be cut. By the time they got around to figuring out what to do about it the kitchen was closed! We even had horrible service in there on more than one evening (which can happen in any specialty restaurant on any ship). The surprising part here was that on one of those nights we were dining with the Captain! They finally started providing better service when one of the staff noticed that the Captain was giving them "the eye". He even said he isn't crazy over the food in there. Wow!

 

 

Oh my! GT on Navigator is the best we've had... The ones on Oasis and Serenade are not quite as good - I guess it varies a lot by ship. I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best on Adventure in January!

[Jan_In_Maine]

LOL...didn't mean to ruffle so many feathers. I guess you either really like GT or really dislike it. Mr Ski still prefers Portofinos to Chops or GT.

 

Now I have to agree with Mr Ski - still love Portofinos!!! :D (PS - good to see you! :)) - Jan

[TwinMom7]

We cruised last week. Giovanni's was AMAZING, as was the service. Friends tried to make a reservation and it was sold out every night.

[AtlantaAlly]

LOL...didn't mean to ruffle so many feathers

 

No feathers ruffled here. Just had alternate opinion I wanted to provide. We absolutely loved it. We arrived and they had a nice corner table for our family of 7 adults and a one year old. They were very accomodating for our daughter. We brought distractors and booked early so as to not potentially ruin someone else's experience. They brought her some steamed veggies to snack on right away (asparagus, snow peas, broccoli, squash) From there, we had an appetizer order placed for us (as suggested by the waitress). We ordered our pasta dishes and entrees.

 

For appetizers, I think they brought us everything, antipasta, caprese salad, scallops, spinach & ricotta crepe. We had the eggplant parm (so creamy, thinly sliced and perfectly cooked), the crab ravioli were tender, and we ordered another round they were so good. We had the gnocci and I think that was our "most disappointing" dish, because the others were so delicious. The penne with seafood had shrimp for everyone and some lump crab meat as well. For entrees we all had a combo of the tenderloin with either gorgonzola butter (could have maybe had a bit more gorgonzola flavor?) or the red wine reduction. The tenderloin was fork tender. My husband had the rack of lamb and I was mad because he would only share one bite because he liked it so much. I may get the lamb next time, it was that good.

 

I think the desserts were good- but I preferred the portofino's tiramisu in the chocolate bowl... but maybe that was the sidecar of baileys it came with? The lady fingers in this tableside service of dessert were a little soggy, great flavor and 10x better than what was served in the MDR.

[skiiergirl]

We cruised last week. Giovanni's was AMAZING, as was the service. Friends tried to make a reservation and it was sold out every night.

 

No feathers ruffled here. Just had alternate opinion I wanted to provide. We absolutely loved it. We arrived and they had a nice corner table for our family of 7 adults and a one year old. They were very accomodating for our daughter. We brought distractors and booked early so as to not potentially ruin someone else's experience. They brought her some steamed veggies to snack on right away (asparagus, snow peas, broccoli, squash) From there, we had an appetizer order placed for us (as suggested by the waitress). We ordered our pasta dishes and entrees.

 

For appetizers, I think they brought us everything, antipasta, caprese salad, scallops, spinach & ricotta crepe. We had the eggplant parm (so creamy, thinly sliced and perfectly cooked), the crab ravioli were tender, and we ordered another round they were so good. We had the gnocci and I think that was our "most disappointing" dish, because the others were so delicious. The penne with seafood had shrimp for everyone and some lump crab meat as well. For entrees we all had a combo of the tenderloin with either gorgonzola butter (could have maybe had a bit more gorgonzola flavor?) or the red wine reduction. The tenderloin was fork tender. My husband had the rack of lamb and I was mad because he would only share one bite because he liked it so much. I may get the lamb next time, it was that good.

 

I think the desserts were good- but I preferred the portofino's tiramisu in the chocolate bowl... but maybe that was the sidecar of baileys it came with? The lady fingers in this tableside service of dessert were a little soggy, great flavor and 10x better than what was served in the MDR.

 

Yeah! So glad to hear it has gotten better since last fall. We will dine there at least once this year. So glad to hear it has improved! Thx for the update!

[skiiergirl]

Now I have to agree with Mr Ski - still love Portofinos!!! :D (PS - good to see you! :)) - Jan

 

Good to see you! I was thinking about you just the other day!

[Ocean Boy]

Guess my memory really isn't what it used to be. I thought that AD and RD were both built in 2001. RD had both Chops and Portofinos when it was put in to service. Therefore, I was thinking that RC had made the choice of Portofinos over Chops for the "one" specialty dining location.

 

It is true that both ships went into service in 2001. However, the designs and contracts for the first three Voyager class ships were in place well before the Radiance class was started. I should have been more specific. Sorry. Navigator and Mariner were started after the Radiance class was designed and went into production and, therefore, had Portofino's and Chops from the beginning.

Edited June 24, 2015 by Ocean Boy

[cricketts]

No feathers ruffled here. Just had alternate opinion I wanted to provide. We absolutely loved it. We arrived and they had a nice corner table for our family of 7 adults and a one year old. They were very accomodating for our daughter. We brought distractors and booked early so as to not potentially ruin someone else's experience. They brought her some steamed veggies to snack on right away (asparagus, snow peas, broccoli, squash) From there, we had an appetizer order placed for us (as suggested by the waitress). We ordered our pasta dishes and entrees.

 

For appetizers, I think they brought us everything, antipasta, caprese salad, scallops, spinach & ricotta crepe. We had the eggplant parm (so creamy, thinly sliced and perfectly cooked), the crab ravioli were tender, and we ordered another round they were so good. We had the gnocci and I think that was our "most disappointing" dish, because the others were so delicious. The penne with seafood had shrimp for everyone and some lump crab meat as well. For entrees we all had a combo of the tenderloin with either gorgonzola butter (could have maybe had a bit more gorgonzola flavor?) or the red wine reduction. The tenderloin was fork tender. My husband had the rack of lamb and I was mad because he would only share one bite because he liked it so much. I may get the lamb next time, it was that good.

 

I think the desserts were good- but I preferred the portofino's tiramisu in the chocolate bowl... but maybe that was the sidecar of baileys it came with? The lady fingers in this tableside service of dessert were a little soggy, great flavor and 10x better than what was served in the MDR.

 

 

Wow! You're making me hungry... I haven't eaten lunch yet!!

[cricketts]

It is true that both ships went into service in 2001. However, the designs and contracts for the first three Voyager class ships were in place well before the Radiance class was started. I should have been more specific. Sorry. Navigator and Mariner were started after the Radiance class was designed and went into production and, therefore, had Portofino's and Chops from the beginning.

 

 

I love the history lesson! So, which was the 1st ship in the fleet to get a Chop's?

[Clarea]

I love the history lesson! So, which was the 1st ship in the fleet to get a Chop's?

Probably Radiance in 2001, because Navigator did not come out until 2002.

[Ocean Boy]

Probably Radiance in 2001, because Navigator did not come out until 2002.

 

My thought also.

[cricketts]

Probably Radiance in 2001, because Navigator did not come out until 2002.

 

 

The only ships we were on prior to Liberty in 2008 were Voyager and Adventure - that's why we never knew about Chops! We've eaten at Chops on Serenade, Mariner, Oasis, Jewel, Navigator, Legend and of course Liberty. So, I was very surprised that our Adventure trip in January would be our first time without Chops since we got hooked! I am happy though that we'll have Giovanni's!

Edited June 24, 2015 by cricketts

[jamiehaas27]

I've been searching, but do not see any....Does anyone have any pictures of the food from Cafe Promenade? What all is offered?

[mar915]

On AOS now at at GT..great food and service. One of the best filets I have had and lived the crab ravoili. Appetizers wee so goo and the tiramisu to die for. Sailing back to San Juan now sitting at the Solarium. Only issue I had is that it was very warm in the public rooms

[Clarea]

I've been searching, but do not see any....Does anyone have any pictures of the food from Cafe Promenade? What all is offered?

Pizza slices, small sandwiches, wraps, pastries, cookies, fruit cups, fruit.

[AtlantaAlly]

I've been searching, but do not see any....Does anyone have any pictures of the food from Cafe Promenade? What all is offered?

 

There were pizzas (Plain, pepperoni, veggie), sandwiches (turkey, ham, italian, roast beef), fruit tarts (strawberry, peach, etc) chocolate mud pies or something like that, rice crispy treats, cheesecake pops (good, but not a traditional cake pop), chocolate/peanutbutter rice crispy things.

 

Good for snacks, but I probably wouldn't eat a whole meal there.

[AtlantaAlly]

On AOS now at at GT..great food and service. One of the best filets I have had and lived the crab ravoili. Appetizers wee so goo and the tiramisu to die for. Sailing back to San Juan now sitting at the Solarium. Only issue I had is that it was very warm in the public rooms

 

Glad you're having fun! We really noticed the lack of AC in many areas too!

[jamiehaas27]

There were pizzas (Plain, pepperoni, veggie), sandwiches (turkey, ham, italian, roast beef), fruit tarts (strawberry, peach, etc) chocolate mud pies or something like that, rice crispy treats, cheesecake pops (good, but not a traditional cake pop), chocolate/peanutbutter rice crispy things.

 

Good for snacks, but I probably wouldn't eat a whole meal there.

 

 

Perfect thank you...wasn't sure if it was like sorrentos (spelling) on the other ships where they would have different meats, cheeses, antipasto etc.

[cricketts]

We cruised last week. Giovanni's was AMAZING, as was the service. Friends tried to make a reservation and it was sold out every night.

 

Great to hear! We'll need to plan ahead :)

[lscruise15]

Just a reminder that if you're planning on purchasing the ship WIFI, make sure to check with your cell phone provider on any device specific charges that you will incur at a higher rate (text, calls, data, etc). Data charges can add up quickly and call time can be in excess of $3/minute. We didn't buy it because there was free wifi in all ports...we just kept our phones on "Airplane Mode" the entire trip and never had any issues.