Adventure May 9th - 23rd...

[cjdixon4]

We were on the May 9th sailing as well and had an awesome cruise! Our second time on Adventure and no complaints regarding the ship, staff or MDR meals. We always do 6:00 PM dining because we try to squeeze in as much of the entertainment as possible. We were seated with 2 other couples each evening for dinner and had a great time getting to know each other. The only slight disappointment for us was the quality of the entertainment in the Lyric Theatre. We are not big fans of comedians plus the Mime at the Farewell production reminded me of something you might see at kid's party. However we had awesome excursions, the Ice show was beautiful, The Quest was hilarious, Karaoke was great (standing room only most nights), we didn't find pool deck crowded and the service and meals in MDR were excellent in my opinion. We made lots of great memories and met some really nice people over the course of the week.

 

Thanks for warming up the ship for me! I was onboard the week following you (the 16th) and I concur with your evaluation of Adventure. Schooner Bar really had some dynamite Karaoke singers, Quest was really hilarious as usual. What I truly enjoyed was the lady comedian named Etta Mae...was SHE ever a hoot! It was my first time experiencing a female doing the comedy show; everybody loved her.

[audome78]

 

Diamond benefits - Wow. The Diamond Club was one of the highlights of our day. We went every night before dinner and always met some great people in a quiet place with a great view and great free appetizers and drinks. RCI really knows how to treat repeat cruisers. We were constantly reminded about how valuable we are to them. Sucel Anderson (Diamond Concierge) was the best we've ever had (OK so we've only been Diamond for two cruises).

 

B2B - Super easy. We just went to the Imperial Lounge at 11a, walked through and got a new Seapass card, then went to a special lunch they hosted for us where we had beef stroganoff that was very good. We never left the ship. We were able to go back to our room any time we wanted (had the same one both weeks) and we spent most of the early afternoon sitting on the balcony reading and relaxing. This is what makes B2B cruising so great IMO. It's like getting an extra day.

 

Tom

 

I agree about the Diamond lounge...we especially liked the outdoor section- used it everynight for 2 weeks. We even went there on the first day before the rooms were ready to sit in peace and quiet. They had cookies, juice, water, coffee and croissant sandwiches there for us...and we were the only people there.

 

We also went to the B2B luncheon...but ours was awful- from the menu to the service. We should have just gone back to the room....

[cjdixon4]

 

We also went to the B2B luncheon...but ours was awful- from the menu to the service. We should have just gone back to the room....

 

Wow, that bad huh? Out of curiousity what were you served?

[tserface]

We had a beef stroganoff that was really delicious. I've never seen it on any of the other lunch menus. I also learned a new thing that I would have never thought of on my own. They put some dill pickles in the stroganoff and that made it taste really great. We tried this recently when trying to recreate it at home after the cruise and it did enhance it for us.

 

It was especially nice having the lunch away from all of the other people just getting on the ship. We were already in "cruise mode" after a week on the ship and it was nice to not have to weather the Windjammer with all of the fresh hungry fish :)

 

I can't speak for everyone since everyone's tastes are different, but we really appreciated the extra attention and lunch that was slightly different than we got all the other days.

 

Tom

 

Wow, that bad huh? Out of curiousity what were you served?

[radmax50]

We were also on the May 9th sailing. It was a fabulous time. While we're not Diamond, we are only Platinum, we had left the hotel and were onboard the ship in less than 45 minutes. We had expected the Adventure to be a falling apart rust bucket based upon some reviews, but we found that to NOT be the case at all. The ship is newer than the home in which we live, and frankly, if all we had were a few light bulbs out now and then, I would be really happy.

 

The meals served in the MDR were very good in my opinion. I still marvel at a staff being able to prepare that many meals to be served at one time. The "old days" of cruising (we first cruised in the 80's) with midnight buffets, etc. are a distant memory. So are meals on airplanes. Somehow, we didn't lose a pound during that week and once we returned home, we had to wonder what we were going to eat to rival the food we had onboard.

 

We ate in the WJ most days for breakfast and always found more than enough food to satisfy our hunger.

 

There's also been thread after thread about the ridiculous drink prices. I'm still not agreeing with that. We spent a week drinking wine that was between $9.00 and $12.00 per glass, which is exactly what we spend on a glass of wine at any mid priced restaurant here. I didn't find prices to be outrageous. I guess the blended drinks were higher, but we didn't have but a few of those. The end of the week bar bill seemed to be in line with what it has always been. But, that's me.

 

I'm glad you had a good time, I know that the May 9th sailing seemed to have a really nice group of people onboard, everyone was friendly and having a good time.

[audome78]

Not worth wasting our time...some sort of fish and essentially macaroni and cheese. I had a salad after an hour wait. It was awful.

 

I appreciate the gesture, I really do. But it didn't really excite us. I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but I won't do it again

Edited June 9, 2015 by audome78

[cjdixon4]

Not worth wasting our time...some sort of fish and essentially macaroni and cheese. I had a salad after an hour wait. It was awful.

 

I appreciate the gesture, I really do. But it didn't really excite us. I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but I won't do it again

 

Hmmm...almost sounds as though a visit to WJ would have been better. LOL

[ltjn]

tserface,

 

We are doing a B2B near the end of the year, my question is about disembarkation. Our flight has been recently changed to departing at 11:55 AM from 1:25 PM, will this be a problem. How busy is the airport, and the only other ship disembarking is Celebrity.We are staying in suite and I see there is priority disembark with the concierge offered.

 

Thanks for any insight. I am glad you had a great cruise!

[MsSadie]

Thank you for your thorough review! The info on B2B was very helpful. DH and I will be doing a B2B on her next year.

[paylady]

Not the OP, but I can answer this for you. Since each concierge is different, be sure to ask the concierge what their process is for disembarking. They'll be busy the first day, but catch them Day 2 or 3 and ask that they assist with your disembarkation which they can do once US Customs releases the ship. I assume you are in a full suite. Enjoy.

[tserface]

11:55a departure means you'll want to be at the airport by around 10:30a or so at the latest. I think you can request to get off the ship as one of the early ones and they will accommodate that. I think that's right on the edge, but pretty doable. You can take a shuttle to the airport or a cab. The shuttle goes directly there, but carries more people (costs less as well). The cab costs more, but you have more control. We took the shuttle and got to the airport in just a few minutes after getting out the door.

 

Tom

 

tserface,

 

We are doing a B2B near the end of the year, my question is about disembarkation. Our flight has been recently changed to departing at 11:55 AM from 1:25 PM, will this be a problem. How busy is the airport, and the only other ship disembarking is Celebrity.We are staying in suite and I see there is priority disembark with the concierge offered.

 

Thanks for any insight. I am glad you had a great cruise!

[paylady]

To the OP, thanks for an upbeat but balanced review. I enjoyed reading it and am glad you had a great time.

[tserface]

Caution... once you do B2B you'll be addicted. :)

 

Tom

 

Thank you for your thorough review! The info on B2B was very helpful. DH and I will be doing a B2B on her next year.