Adventure 2/27 mini review. Our least favorite, but still a good cruise.

[jetexpress]

We just got off Adventure yesterday and while I am not doing a "full review" of what we did each day and in each port, I at least wanted to share some of our thoughts and comparisons to past cruises. We have sailed both RCI and Carnival so any comparisons made are in reference to those listed in my signature. Please excuse any spelling or grammar errors since this is being typed on an ipad. Please keep the comments friendly. These are my opinions and I don't need to hear from some Cobalt or Titanium member why I am wrong on something. Lol

 

Have read many negative reviews about Adventure recently and for the most part I remained positive and tried to not put much weight behind them. With that being said, my DW and I both agreed that there was some validity to them and that this was our least favorite cruise. That doesn't mean it was "bad", but it definitely fell short in some areas and far short in other areas.

[jetexpress]

EMBARKATION----

We arrived to the pier at 10:15 after staying at Hyatt House and there was a short line forming to enter the terminal building. Dropped off bags with the porters and queued up. Doors were opened around 11:00 and quickly were thru security and in the Gold check in line that was actually shorter than the lines for Suites, Diamond, Pinnacle, etc. I believe we were onboard and eating lunch in Windjammer by approximately 11:20. I forgot to check my watch but check-in felt much quicker than any other cruise we have taken. Our hallway door to staterooms was opened by 1:30 and our bag were already waiting for us.

[jetexpress]

SHIP APPEARANCE & CONDITION----

As soon as we boarded, everything felt very similar to our Liberty OTS cruise several years ago. Both RCI ships we have been on together are so much more impressive than Carnival. Public areas are decorated better and much less gawdy on RCI. However, the need for Adventure's upcoming October dry dock is very apparent to anyone who has cruised at least once or twice. Will try to post some photos of some public areas and our cabin after I get this all typed out. Our balcony, for instance, had severe rust issues and the balcony door frame had an entire corner that had separated from the threshold to the room by about 3/4 of an inch. Carpeting in most public areas and our cabin was worn out. Multiple elevator buttons throughout ship did not work. Air conditioning in public areas was spotty at best. Forward elevator banks and stairwells of ship, decks 6-12 did not seem to have any air conditioning working at all. Heard other people say stuff about poor air conditioning as well.

[jetexpress]

CABIN / STATEROOM----

We stayed in cabin 9542. As I already stated, carpeting was worn out and balcony door has severe rust issues. Closet and other storage doors all had hinges that were no longer securely attached and sagged once opened. Mattress must have been recently replaced, as others have recently complained about on CC, as it was hard as a rock. We did not ask for a mattress topper so do not know if one would have been available. Air conditioning thankfully worked well in our cabin and the dial actually did seem to control cabin temperature.

[jetexpress]

CABIN STEWARD----

Our stateroom attendant's name was Shauna Love. To put it bluntly, she was awful. On embarkation day I requested extra towels all week long and extended an extra gratuity to her. Towels were brought by evening service, however, that appeared to be the only thing she did besides leave a Cruise Compass. Dirty towels from earlier were left on bathroom floor and no sort of bed re-making/turndown service was performed.

 

After getting back on in St Croix, we accidentally had quite a bit of sand get dropped on the cabin floor when getting the beach towel out of our bag. Went in bathroom to shower and discovered that no extra towels had been left as I requested the day before and tipped her extra for. Also, previous day's towels were still in a pile on the floor. DW used the last of the shampoo/shower gel once back on board. Several more days passed and only sporadically were used towels removed from the bathroom floor. Also, sand was still on the carpeting from St Croix and shower gel still had not been refilled. When we were getting ready to disembark in Barbados, I approached her and requested our bed sheets be changed and started to ask about the shower gel but she cut me off and rudely said "What is wrong with your sheets?" At this, I went to guest services and asked to speak to a housekeeping supervisor. Guest services told me to return to the cabin and a supervisor would be up to inspect the room. Shortly the supervisor, Ajmal, arrived and genuinely seemed embarrassed at how unkept the room was. He promised to personally supervise the room being cleaned while we were ashore and left his card with me. He asked me to please call once we were back onboard. We arrived to a MUCH improved stateroom that was comparable to any other ship we have been on. Upon calling, Ajmal informed me that he had made complimentary reservations for us at Giovanni's table. We received two more calls from him and guest services asking if room was being cleaned adequately and again apologizing for the inconvenience. Kind of funny that we did not receive any towel animals until that night either.

[jetexpress]

FOOD TASTE & QUALITY----

All week long, food ranged from above average to excellent and was comparable to previous cruises. We both feel like RCI desserts at Windjammer are much better than Carnival's lido buffet. Food is subjective, so will not elaborate too much. Ate at MDR twice and Giovanni's once. We just seem to prefer Windjammer throughout the week and to not mess with the effort required of MDR, formal nights, etc.

[jetexpress]

RESTAURANT VENUES AND PROCESS---

This is an area where we feel Carnival excels tremendously. Carnival's lido buffets seem to be better laid out and flow so much smoother. Why is is that RCI always seems to have half of the Windjammer closed off? We also enjoy being able to eat outdoors on Carnival and feel it is discouraged on RCI with the one way in, one way out

setup of Windjammer. Times of complimentary food availability is much better on Carnival as well. You can pretty much go in the lido deck buffet on Carnival throughout the day to get something or a venue like Guy's Burgers or Blue Iquana. On RCI, the windjammer does not open until 6:30 pm for dinner. This is a whole hour after My Time Dining starts in the MDR and creates big lines for the one serving line they actually used, as people always were waiting to get in when the doors opened. Pizza availability is similar on both lines. RCI's Johnny Rockets is a scam if you ask me. We ate there once and were served the exact same burger patties and fries being served in Windjammer one deck below. Much prefer the free Guy's Burger venue on Carnival. Giovanni's service was excellent.

[jetexpress]

CREW----

The only way to describe the majority of Adventure's crew is understaffed and unhappy. Two staff that were the exception were servers Emmanuel Guyud and Vedran Moskov from the Windjammer. Both were friendly and enjoyed having conversations with them throughout the week. Kept our drinks filled and extended extra gratuities to both throughout the week. Talked to several other crew members, whom I won't name, that said the ship is understaffed and they have higher resignation rates than other ships they have worked on. These crew members also said that ship morale is very low and most of their coworker friends would not be signing with RCI for their next contract.

 

Bar service was slow shipwide with the exception of Viking Crown always having three bartenders working. I assume this is due to Diamond Lounge being up there. MDR was slow both nights we went there. And while food was good, it came out quite cooled off. Server at Johnny Rockets was not very friendly either for being an upcharge venue.

 

Cruise director and entertainment staff were pretty typical. Cruise Director Mercedes was able to salvage what would have been a pretty unfunny Love and Marriage show due to three pretty dull couples being selected. One of the activities staff, Nai from Spain, was pretty good and I feel like she will make a good cruise director one day.

Edited March 6, 2016 by jetexpress

[jetexpress]

DISEMBARKATION----

Smoothest one we have ever had. Saw self-assist people start exiting at 6:55am. We ate breakfast first and took an elevator down from room at 9:00 with all of our bags. Never went to any lounge, just exited on deck 4 and had a 10 minute wait for customs. In a cab headed to airport by 9:15.

[jetexpress]

Like I said before, although the ship did leave much to be desired and it was our least favorite cruise,we still had a great time and would not describe it as 'bad'. At least it was the Southern Caribbean so we had 5 good ports and almost perfect weather all week. I do feel like unless the Adventure receives major cosmetic improvements during dry dock it would be better suited for the 1st time cruiser, 3-5 night market out of Florida. For repeat cruisers, who notice these worn out areas on a ship, the real appeal to Adventure right now is the ports of call.

 

Feel free to ask any questions you have.

[cruiseycrazy]

SHIP APPEARANCE & CONDITION----

As soon as we boarded, everything felt very similar to our Liberty OTS cruise several years ago. Both RCI ships we have been on together are so much more impressive than Carnival. Public areas are decorated better and much less gawdy on RCI. However, the need for Adventure's upcoming October dry dock is very apparent to anyone who has cruised at least once or twice. Will try to post some photos of some public areas and our cabin after I get this all typed out. Our balcony, for instance, had severe rust issues and the balcony door frame had an entire corner that had separated from the threshold to the room by about 3/4 of an inch. Carpeting in most public areas and our cabin was worn out. Multiple elevator buttons throughout ship did not work. Air conditioning in public areas was spotty at best. Forward elevator banks and stairwells of ship, decks 6-12 did not seem to have any air conditioning working at all. Heard other people say stuff about poor air conditioning as well.

 

 

Thank you so much for this review, we sail In about 4 weeks! I am actually pleased with the spotty air conditioning , as I freeze my butt off most of the time when I'm inside the ship 😂 Looking forward to the pics , thanks again!

[cheezwiz]

Like many of us ladies with a couple of years on us, Adventure will benefit from her upcoming "spa trip" and will no doubt look stunning when she returns. I do agree that the crew in general seems a bit low in spirits, and several had things to share with us that indicated that morale is lacking due to working environment and understaffing. However, many employees were still quite friendly even if the usual spark isn't there.

 

I hope that the upcoming drydock will result in a real nice boost for both the ship & the crew. I look forward to finding out when we sail again on her next January.

[LidoBoy]

Thank you for the review. We will be on Adventure next week and I appreciate your objective points. I'll definitely remember the stateroom attendants name.

[jetexpress]

Some pictures of balcony and sliding door rust/separation.

 

 

 

[titansrobin]

We got off Adventure 2/27. Wonderful cruise and saw none of the bad things that were listed here. I cruise with my son and his wife and we all agreed it was one of our best cruises. The staff was attentive and very friendly. I guess we love cruising so much we don't look for anything bad. I do agree that embarkation and disembarkation were both the smoothest we have ever had. We booked the Adventure again for next February!

 

 

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[raymar63]

Oh yeah, that rust in the door would really ruin my cruise! Who notices this type of thing? I was on board in August and thought everything was wonderful!

[vickiw0318]

I am not picky, but I would certainly notice that much rust and the problematic sliding door. It would not ruin my cruise and it sounds like it didn't ruin the OP's either. It does sound like there were several causes for concern on this cruise. Glad the housekeeping problem was straightened out.

[davekathy]

We got off Adventure 2/27. Wonderful cruise and saw none of the bad things that were listed here. I cruise with my son and his wife and we all agreed it was one of our best cruises. The staff was attentive and very friendly. I guess we love cruising so much we don't look for anything bad. I do agree that embarkation and disembarkation were both the smoothest we have ever had. We booked the Adventure again for next February!

 

 

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Oh yeah, that rust in the door would really ruin my cruise! Who notices this type of thing? I was on board in August and thought everything was wonderful!

 

I consider any review positive or negative the opinion and experience of that Cruiser. I consider it to be in the category of "to each their own". I would never book or not book a Cruise or a ship based on others experiences or opinions. We've done two different B2B Cruises (2012 and 2014) on the Adventure and would book the Adventure again.

[jetexpress]

We got off Adventure 2/27. Wonderful cruise and saw none of the bad things that were listed here. I cruise with my son and his wife and we all agreed it was one of our best cruises. The staff was attentive and very friendly. I guess we love cruising so much we don't look for anything bad. I do agree that embarkation and disembarkation were both the smoothest we have ever had. We booked the Adventure again for next February!

 

 

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Good to hear. I understand everyone will have a different experience and just wanted to share ours.

[jetexpress]

Oh yeah, that rust in the door would really ruin my cruise! Who notices this type of thing? I was on board in August and thought everything was wonderful!

 

 

I never said it ruined my cruise.

[jetexpress]

I consider any review positive or negative the opinion and experience of that Cruiser. I consider it to be in the category of "to each their own". I would never book or not book a Cruise or a ship based on others experiences or opinions. We've done two different B2B Cruises (2012 and 2014) on the Adventure and would book the Adventure again.

 

 

I agree. 100 people on the same cruise can give you 100 different opinions on how it was.

[krazy4kruisin]

Thank you for posting you review. I respect you views and opinion.

[searoses]

We were on 2/6....first time on any class above radiance....saw some wear and tear but nothing that made anything less fun....the bed was quite hard but a bonus for us....better for our older backs....our steward,Carmen,was lovely and did a fine job.....our ac was meat locker on deck 6 just the way we like it.....the food was ok everywhere,including giovannis. ....we don't cruise to eat and have come to expect nothing too great....our waiter in Giovannis was a riot with our raucous family table of 12......mdr staff worked with us and accepted our help to have a table for 12....we did a lot of passing etc....the only real complaint I had was the cold solarium pool and the lack of a conveyance of some kind for the mobility challenged to get back and forth to the transportation at any of the ports....wouldn't hesitate to book her again....

[Yorkshire Voyagers]

CABIN STEWARD----

Our stateroom attendant's name was Shauna Love. To put it bluntly, she was awful. On embarkation day I requested extra towels all week long and extended an extra gratuity to her. Towels were brought by evening service, however, that appeared to be the only thing she did besides leave a Cruise Compass. Dirty towels from earlier were left on bathroom floor and no sort of bed re-making/turndown service was performed

 

 

 

Must say I have to jump into defend Shauna, we've been in cabin 9540 for 8 consecutive weeks now and have never encountered any of your problems. We have extra towels each day, have never run out of bathroom amenities, and she has always been very pleasant.

 

Our balcony/door is also showing signs of rust but not enough to bother us and no different to other ships of a similar age

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your report.