Adventure of the Seas Review - Iceland and Norway 31st Aug

[Missbrightstar]

Hi everyone. This forum has been invaluable to me so I thought I would give a little back and write a review over the coming week or so with our thoughts, feedback and plenty of pictures.

 

Please Note: We've only done two cruises before (both with Thomsons) which departed from Newcastle.

 

We went with open minds like we did with Thomson and really tried to ignore the negative reviews before we left.

 

Before we sailed we booked some excursions with RCI, I bought the royal replenish drinks package, my parents the royal refreshment soda package and my Aunt didn't buy one. We chose traditional dining on the 6pm sitting.

 

Hope you enjoy and feel free to ask any questions!! 😀

 

Laura

[Ivana Cruise]

Looking forward to your review. I'm sailing AOS in S. Caribbean and SOS in Norway next year!

[dancinman66]

Looking forward to the review

Thanks

 

 

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[abridalmaven]

Was just on this cruise too one negative was the loss of one formal night. Second was the show schedule on long port days. Missed shows because by the time we got back from excursions and tested and got ready it was late. I dislike a 7pm show those days.

Other than that I had a good time and felt very well taken care of on the ship. And MDR food was very good as was our one night in Giovanni's.

[PathfinderEss]

Looking forward to your review.

[Missbrightstar]

We set off the day before by a direct train (5hr journey) to find the train had been cancelled as there was no driver. 1 change in Birmingham dragging 14 pieces of luggage/bags and 2 hours later than planned we arrived in Southampton! We were all so glad we listened to advice and went the day before.

 

We stayed at the Travelodge which was a £7.50 taxi ride from the station. We used West Quay taxis (they have a great app for bookings) and found them to be extremely punctual. Also great they could fit in 4 adults and all of our luggage. We checked in, rooms were lovely and clean and then headed to the marina to the Pitcher and Piano bar for food

[Missbrightstar]

Southampton Marina:

 

Burger at P&P:

[Missbrightstar]

Day 1: Departing Southampton

 

We woke up at the crack of dawn amd grabbed some pastries from a local shop. After what seemed like 3 years we left the hotel at 10:45am by taxi. It took about 10 minutes and this was the view as we approached. In all honesty we were all thinking about how we were going to find our way around and the sheer enormity of the vessel compared to Thomsons [emoji16]

 

Approaching AOS:

 

We had checked in online but after making a mess of our luggage tags we were too late to print anymore. Not to worry, once the taxi dropped us off there was a very helpful man sat at a table giving new ones out. Within minutes of arriving the luggage sped off on a trolley and we headed into the terminal.

 

Check in was extremely fast and efficient. My aunt forgot her credit card that she had registered online so that was changed over, pictures taken, sea passes issued and we were on the ship within 20 minutes of the taxi pulling in. We thought the process at Newcastle was quick until we went through Southampton.

 

Note our TA contacted us the day before to say our check in was 130pm but we continued with our original plan and the queues were minimal

[Missbrightstar]

We ate in the wind jammer for lunch and then explored the ship:

 

Theatre:

 

Sports court:

 

Peekaboo bridge:

 

Sports bar:

 

Johnny Rockets:

[Missbrightstar]

Our cabin:

We were in 8224 and 8226 (category D2 superior ocean view balcony). We had booked guaranteed balcony cabins and we were thrilled with the location and room itself. Nice sized shower with a hard cubicle, lots of storage space and nice size dressing table. Only negative was the glass table which was more of a hinderence.

 

Room pics

 

 

 

[lalalemon]

Loving your review! We are on Adventure in 24 days (not counting at all!) and your review is helping us cope with our wait! Please keep it up!

 

 

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[lalalemon]

Also quick question relating to the staterooms, what time were you able to get in yours? And how did you know that you could? Do they make an announcement? Or do you just have to keep going and trying?

[davenew]

Quick question, going on 28th.

Do they provide a kettle in the stateroom, as this is also a European sailing.

[davenew]

Also quick question relating to the staterooms, what time were you able to get in yours? And how did you know that you could? Do they make an announcement? Or do you just have to keep going and trying?

 

They usally make a tannoy announcement, but keep an eye open for when the security doors to the corridors are removed.

[davenew]

Quick question, going on 28th.

Do they provide a kettle in the stateroom, as this is also a European sailing.

 

Just seen your piccy, yes they do.

[Clarea]

Also quick question relating to the staterooms, what time were you able to get in yours? And how did you know that you could? Do they make an announcement? Or do you just have to keep going and trying?

Staterooms are normally ready at 1pm or 1:30pm.

[Missus Makkem]

Never heard announcements for room openings onAOS just watch for the Warden outside the doors and when they go you can enter.

They sure have kettles on the ship too.

[mikechass]

LOVE the pictures!!!

We are on AOS in Jan.

Can't wait!! Thanks so much.

Can't wait to check in as you keep going with the review.

Thanks for taking the time to do this!

Chass

[Missbrightstar]

Hi yes there was a kettle, milk, tea, coffee and sugar available. The leaflet we got upon boarding said 130 then an announce was made. Our luggage arrived about 430pm

[Missbrightstar]

The rest of the day was spent exploring, unpacking and chilling out.

 

We had asked for a table of 4 for 6pm dining and it wasn't until we arrived at the dining room we made a rookie mistake and realised the dining table number was on our seapass and we had 2 different tables. Turns out the dining reservations hadn't been linked and we were on two tables of 6. There was nothing we could do for the first 3 nights so we sat on a table of 10 who all turned out to be lovely. We got a message in our cabin on day 4 to say they had a table for 6 with just us four on.

Here are some more pics:

 

Crab starter with lobster

 

Chicken curry (all of the indian food was delicious)

 

 

[Missbrightstar]

Day 2 - at sea

 

We ordered room service for breakfast which came bang on 9am and tipped a couple of dollars. Really enjoyed the room service throughout the cruise and it always arrived on time

 

 

 

[Missbrightstar]

Day 2 cont'd

 

We decided to take part in the progressive quiz which was a good choice as it was a really good laugh. Hosted by Cuddy in the Imperial Lounge on deck 5 meant you could carry pastries and hot chocolate along to enjoy whilst we worked our brains!

 

The cruise critic meet and mingle was at 11.30 in Jesters and was a good laugh and lots of royal caribbean freebies in the raffle. They also provided complimentary soft drinks and a buffet which was a nice touch. Fruit punch for me!

 

We then attended the jewellery making workshop in the Blue Moon lounge on deck 14 which was the only time on the entire cruise where we came across an obnoxious member of staff called Sam who was part of the Cruise Director staff. She was downright rude and her attitude stank. At no point during the hour was any advice given on how to do anything but luckily I knew the basics. An older lady joined me as you needed to work in pairs and even I was baffled about the instructions so we asked her what to do. Ahe knelt down as if to help but then really aggressively said she didn't have time to spend 15 minutes with us as she had 20 other people to deal with! At no point did we ask for 15 minutes. After getting no help she moved to the next table and snapped at them too. We managed to make a necklace each as I knew what to do and the lady went away super happy saying I should have been running the class!

 

[lalalemon]

Oh wow, didn't know there was a jewellery workshop! Was there a charge for this? Did you get to keep all the stuff afterwards?

 

Will definitely have to keep my eye out for workshops as I love crafty things!

[Missbrightstar]

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching people spending crazy amounts of money in the art auction, watching dolphins from our balconies and grabbing a chicken roti sandwich from Cafe Promenade! Delicious! We got ready for formal night - we wore trousers with a smart blouse and my dad shirt trousers and tie and were worried we might be underdressed but this was not the case. Everyone looked smart and I would say at least 40% weren't wearing tuxedos/long dresses

 

Food was yummy - lobster bisque, fillet of beef then chocolate souffle. Here we learned a tip from a fellow diner about ordering the sherbert (uk = sorbet) alongside your dessert which was a lovely refreshing end to our meals!

 

Bobby Davro was the headline act in the Lyric Theatre and we loved him. He was very funny.

[Missbrightstar]

Day 3 - at sea

We ate in the MDR for breakfast buffet every day apart from on trip days where we ordered room service. We don't like the hurriedness of buffets first thing on a morning and found the mdr better for us

 

Round 2 of the progressive quiz was next but we didn't score very well! Next up was a lecture on Reykjavik by Dr Alan Fisher in the Lyric Theatre. It was informative but we found his accent to be very droning

 

Lunch: two of us went to cafe promenade (chicken roti!!) And 2 went to the wind jammer. We played bingo which was $33/$23 I think depending if you got 4 or 6 tickets. We decided not to play again as too expensive for such a short activity. 4 games - first playing for a line, second playing for 2 lines then the final two tickets each playing for a house. I only needed one number for $350 but the whole thing only took about 30 mins. We said we'd rather spend our money elsewhere