Adventure of the Seas Review - 9/10/16 Cruise

[birdie16]

Review of our Adventure of the Seas Cruise

9/10/16

 

We cruised on the Adventure of the Seas eight years ago and really enjoyed it. When I saw the deal on a balcony with an itinerary that I liked we grabbed it!

 

We are both 62 years old, from Arizona and this was our 25th cruise. We were celebrating our 21st Wedding Anniversary. We have cruised NCL, HAL, Carnival and are Diamond members on RCCL.

 

We flew from Phoenix to San Juan the night before the cruise and since we were getting in too late to enjoy San Juan we just wanted a clean, affordable hotel in the Condado area. We chose the Holiday Inn Express Condado and it fit our needs. The room was very small but clean and comfortable.

 

We arrived at the port around noon to the normal boarding fiasco, people still leaving and people arriving. It was a little difficult finding the Diamond Boarding area but once we did it was smooth sailing...until we reached the ship. There seemed to be a little problem as a dozen or so people ahead of us did not have their picture taken when they checked in. Rather than pulling them aside to one lane, they tied up both. Not a big deal, I don't know if they forgot to get the pictures taken or if it was a machine problem at check in.

 

Ding~! Finally, the sound of a cruise vacation! The cabins were not ready until 2:00pm so we checked the dining room to check on our table, it was a perfect table for eight and we loved it. Then we went up to the Windjammer for lunch. The Windjammer was not overly busy yet and the food and service were good. After we sat down a server came to ask us what we would like to drink and our plates were removed when we went back for dessert.

 

The ship is scheduled for a major dry dock in less than a month. It was the talk of the ship and everyone was excited about the new changes coming. I was a little bummed because I didn't look at the dry dock schedule before scheduling this cruise but it didn't matter, the ship is in fantastic shape for a ship this old. There are some areas that need some work and I am sure they will get them. Most notably several of the seats in Studio B were broken. They do need to do something about the air conditioning in the Diamond Lounge area but I assume they will be fixing that when they remodel in the dry dock. I miss the aquariums in the Aquarium Bar; they only have pictures of fish now and call it the Lobby Bar. Did I say it has been 8 years since we were last on this ship? ;-)

 

Dan Dan Whitney was our Cruise Director and Renato Arana was the Activities Manager. They did a fantastic job in all the areas I noticed.

 

This was a very port intensive cruise with only one sea day. We prefer more sea days to enjoy the ship but since we have been on this ship before it was fine. Our ports were St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Antiqua, St. Lucia and Barbados with our last day the sea day.

 

After walking around a little more we were ready to check out our cabin. The doors to the hallway opened promptly at 2:00pm. We put a few of our things away, enjoyed the balcony and before long our bags arrived and we were all unpacked by 4:00pm. We were in cabin 7670; there was more than enough storage. Our cabin steward was very good, out of the way, friendly and responded to our requests. After the second night I just couldn’t sleep on the pillows anymore, they stunk! It was a combination of mildew and sweat and I stacked them on the bed with a note requesting fresh pillows. Dexter replaced all four pillows with brand new ones.

 

We checked out more of the ship and ended up in the Diamond Lounge just in time for cocktail hour. We had a drink; met some nice people and then we were all kicked out for the Muster Drill.

 

We dressed for dinner and went back to the Diamond Lounge before dinner. The Diamond Lounge before dinner was a ritual for us the entire cruise. We met some of the nicest people we have ever met on a cruise in the Diamond Lounge, we looked forward to the “party” each evening to relax and talk about what we did that day, what we plan to do the next, etc. We found there are a lot of back-to-back cruisers on this particular ship.

 

We like late seating, traditional. We had very interesting tablemates and we really enjoyed our week with them. We thought our servers were wonderful, although one of our tablemates did not agree. I am never in a hurry for dinner so maybe that is the difference in opinion. Food was mostly good although if you like steak rare you better not have steak in the dining room. Everything else was delicious.

 

We saw most of the shows, to be honest, with the exception of the Ballroom Dance couple and “El Gaucho”; we thought the shows were just mediocre. The entertainment in the bars was pretty good and we enjoyed listening to the music.

 

There was a Cruise Critic event, out of about 70 people registered only 8 showed up. Maybe if they had planned the event earlier there would have been a better showing, people were already busy making plans with new friends. We did win a bottle of Champagne…of course with 3 prizes, the odds were pretty good.

 

All in all, this was an excellent vacation. We have been away from Royal Caribbean for a while cruising other lines and I was reminded why I like Royal Caribbean.

Edited September 20, 2016 by birdie16
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[erby2283]

Thanks for your review! Have done this itinerary on Carnival a few years ago and have it booked on AOS for next December. Looking forward to these ports again although it was an exhausting port intensive cruise with only one sea day. Thanks for taking the time to post a review.

[birdie16]

Thanks for your review! Have done this itinerary on Carnival a few years ago and have it booked on AOS for next December. Looking forward to these ports again although it was an exhausting port intensive cruise with only one sea day. Thanks for taking the time to post a review.

 

My pleasure. We prefer 3 sea days but it was great seeing so much. Basically we decided to look at this as a beach vacation. The only port we had been to before was St. Maarten.

[Ms Jo UK]

We were on this cruise too, sorry didnt get to the meet and mingle. Loved this cruise and usually cruise for the ports and not for the Sea days but will admit to to finding 5 ports in a row exhausting. We only arrived home today and we are exhausted.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[easyboy]

Thanks for the review.

[Clarea]

Nice to hear Adventure still delivers.:)

[Kilo November]

We're going to be on our first Royal Caribbean cruise on the Adventure in two weeks so I've been reading everything I can and am so excited to see/cruise on this ship. :D

 

Thanks!

[BillOh]

There seemed to be a little problem as a dozen or so people ahead of us did not have their picture taken when they checked in. Rather than pulling them aside to one lane, they tied up both. Not a big deal, I don't know if they forgot to get the pictures taken or if it was a machine problem at check in.

 

I wonder if they have left a step out of Agent Training. On our last Oasis cruise the lady handed us our Seapass cards and said have a nice cruise. My wife asked her, "Aren't you going to take our picture?" Yea replied kind of sheepishly, "Oh, yea!" I'm glad we didn't hold people up.

[BillOh]

Review of our Adventure of the Seas Cruise

9/10/16

 

Thanks for taking the time.

[JimAOk1945]

Thanks for the review. We have been on the ship twice but haven't done that same itinerary. It gives me a good reason to book again. [emoji1]

 

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Edited September 22, 2016 by JimAOk1945

[birdie16]

We're going to be on our first Royal Caribbean cruise on the Adventure in two weeks so I've been reading everything I can and am so excited to see/cruise on this ship. :D

 

Thanks!

If you have never cruised RCCL before, I hope you have an itinerary with more sea days to give you an chance to find your way around the ship. There are ship maps and monitor screens all over to help you navigate but there is so much to do you will want time at sea to do it. The ice show is a must...get there early (at least 1/2 hour before) to get the best seats...which are at the end of the ice rink. The show is designed to play to the end of the rink with the stage at the back.

 

You will be cruising just before dry dock but go with the expectation of having a nice time. We ran into several people that "nit picked" everything, some people spoil their own fun. JMOHO.

 

Have fun!

[birdie16]

I wonder if they have left a step out of Agent Training. On our last Oasis cruise the lady handed us our Seapass cards and said have a nice cruise. My wife asked her, "Aren't you going to take our picture?" Yea replied kind of sheepishly, "Oh, yea!" I'm glad we didn't hold people up.

 

You might be right! My big beef was they tied up two lanes getting on the ship. Things happen, it is the way it is handled that makes it a problem.

[Kilo November]

If you have never cruised RCCL before, I hope you have an itinerary with more sea days to give you an chance to find your way around the ship. There are ship maps and monitor screens all over to help you navigate but there is so much to do you will want time at sea to do it. The ice show is a must...get there early (at least 1/2 hour before) to get the best seats...which are at the end of the ice rink. The show is designed to play to the end of the rink with the stage at the back.

 

You will be cruising just before dry dock but go with the expectation of having a nice time. We ran into several people that "nit picked" everything, some people spoil their own fun. JMOHO.

 

Have fun!

 

Thanks for the info about the ice show. We definitely have that on our list of things to do so I really appreciate the tip on the seat choice.

 

We'll be trying to embark early on Saturday so we'll have the whole day for exploring, and Sunday is a sea day so hopefully that should be enough time to get the feel of the ship.

 

It amazes me when I see people on vacation letting the little things spoil their fun. We won't let that happen...vacation is always fun :cool:

 

~Kat

[Grits70124]

I have to say that we had a fantastic time! We were traveling with awesome friends that would've made staying anywhere fantastic. That being said, we know we were fortunate to have a wonderful cabin steward, Kelvin, for Cabin 8611, who thought of everything -- even before we did! He reported a bedside light out & made sure it was fixed promptly. He made sure we had ice, extra pillows, the mattress the way we liked it, anything we needed. We had issues with our safe & had prompt attention each time. Unfortunately, we had friends that had ac problems and all sorts of issues for the first 2 days. We were blessed.

Kimber and Johnson took wonderful care of the 10 of us in the Mozart dining room every night. Couldn't have asked for better service.

As for the ship -- yes, the furniture, carpeting, and other cosmetic details were in desperate need of replacement.

We were going to go to the meet & mingle, even though it wasn't at the most convenient time but decided that it wasn't fair to leave friends who weren't invited. These couples signed up for it but didn't receive the invitation in their cabins. It's a shame that part seemed so unorganized. If invitations didn't get to the majority of a group of 10 people, I can imagine how many others didn't get invited!

I would still rank the service we received on the ship as great!!

EXCEPT --- we paid $250.00 for a CD of 15 pictures. The day after we returned home, we discovered a problem with the CD. It won't play in any computer. On September 18th, we began communicating with ourcruisephotos.com, which was on the CD. They responded by saying they would contact the ship and have them send the jpegs to a drop box file. We're still trying to get the pictures! It's been 2 weeks!! As much as they charge, we should be able to get the pictures! I think we should get the pictures and at least a partial refund for all of the hassle we've been going through! If it hadn't been for some group pictures, we probably wouldn't have bought any but we did. They weren't that great but we wanted them anyway. Now we have nothing to show for it except empty promises, $250 later..... I don't know if it's the employees on the ship or on land, but either way, this is no way to handle customers. I'd love to know how many others had problems with the photography department. :mad:

[sg1phileshipper]

Thanks for your review. About the Meet and Mingle: it wasn't much better the second week of my B2B. Only 11 showed. Some didn't get invites I guess. It was nice meeting you :)

 

 

 

Cindy

[LovinCruisin24]

We have adventure booked next year and were flying direct from Baltimore but my cousin is coming from Phoenix-can I ask which airline you flew and sorry if I missed it did you fly home same day and if so what time was your flight? She's kind of anxious bc there doesn't appear to be many options flying home for her on saturday

 

 

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[Grits70124]

We flew Southwest. Your cousin may want to check it out. It wasn't expensive at all.

[SandyToes2000]

Thank you so much for the review. We will be leaving on the very same itinerary on New Year's eve (different order). Can you tell me what you did in the ports? Were they all beach days, and if so, which ones did you enjoy?

[katjoeus]

Funny! We were almost next to you in 7662, also had Dexter as our steward and ALSO HAD HORRIBLE SMELLING BEDDING!! I thought it was mostly the pillow but even the rest of it was bad...hubby didn't smell anything and once again, I cursed my overly developed olfactory sense :D

 

We also had a great time, a few gripes here and there (we were a little underwhelmed with some of the food at times...) but overall can't really fault RC and the ship. Five ports on five consecutive days was exhausting, but also gave as a really good impression of that part of the world! I still can't make up my mind as to which was my favourite island - I'd have to go with either St Lucia or St Kitts. Would not need to do St, Maarten again.

 

We stayed in San Juan for three nights after the cruise and LOVED it!! Would highly recommend adding a pre- or post-cruise stay in the Old Town. Overall, we thought cruising out of PR was a good option ,the only thing that thoroughly STANK was the check-out!! That wasn't very well organized, but I think it was less RC's fault but rather Immigration...it seemed to take forever and the lines were ridiculous!!! Apart from that, I'd recommend it and I think we'll be doing it again. Might get a rental car and explore more of the island of PR next time! Lovely place.

[Luv my furbaby]

Thanks for the review. Will be on Adventure Nov 26. Will stay at Sheraton Old San Juan 2 nights pre-cruise. So o

Looking forward to this cruise - first aft balcony and junior suite and the cruise that will for me to diamond status. Only problem with new status is I gave 2 Princess and 1 NCL cruises booked. Just I will have to book another RCCL so I can get my drink vouchers!!