Review: Adventure of the Seas - "Because this will NEVER happen again"

[perfect match]

I’m so sad this virtual cruise is drawing to a close! We haven’t been on a ship since April 2019. By reading this awesome review, I’ve felt like I’ve been cruising 🛳 right along with you.😀 @RCCL Fan, I sure wish you were doing a B2B! Thank you very much for sharing your cruise with us. 

[RCCL Fan]

2 minutes ago, perfect match said:

I’m so sad this virtual cruise is drawing to a close! We haven’t been on a ship since April 2019. By reading this awesome review, I’ve felt like I’ve been cruising 🛳 right along with you.😀 @RCCL Fan, I sure wish you were doing a B2B! Thank you very much for sharing your cruise with us. 

 

Thanks Nancy.... you're so kind.  

[3kidsncats]

Loved your review. Thank you so much for taking the time, and sharing your beautiful family with us. I’m even more excited for our AOS cruise next month after following along on yours.

[RCCL Fan]

8 minutes ago, 3kidsncats said:

Loved your review. Thank you so much for taking the time, and sharing your beautiful family with us. I’m even more excited for our AOS cruise next month after following along on yours.

 

The staff is amazing, you'll be treated well.   

 

stick around for my takeaways

[Sea Dog]

11 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

After that,  I never hear anything else.

Brilliant! I will have to use this.

[JBSteelerfan]

Thanks for the great review!!  Although I am disappointed you didn't swing by and pick us up to join you!

[sandc4e]

Loved your review, thanks for sharing.

 

[exm]

Thanks for the review, loved it!

 

Question: we are on the 8/21 Adventure and I just secured a 12:30 check-in window (I believe noon is the earliest). When all goes well, can we board the ship and hang out there? Are the pools/bars open?

 

[3kidsncats]

40 minutes ago, exm said:

Thanks for the review, loved it!

 

Question: we are on the 8/21 Adventure and I just secured a 12:30 check-in window (I believe noon is the earliest). When all goes well, can we board the ship and hang out there? Are the pools/bars open?

 

Many places will be open, including bars, pools, WJ and some specialty restaurants.  MDR won’t be open until dinner.  And yes, you will board once you complete check in and are cleared.  We have a roll call for this sailing, if you feel like joining us.

Edited July 15, 2021 by 3kidsncats

[exm]

37 minutes ago, 3kidsncats said:

Many places will be open, including bars, pools, WJ and some specialty restaurants.  MDR won’t be open until dinner.  And yes, you will board once you complete check in and are cleared.  We have a roll call for this sailing, if you feel like joining us.

 

Excellent, thanks! Where's the roll call? Would love to join.

[3kidsncats]

7 minutes ago, exm said:

 

Excellent, thanks! Where's the roll call? Would love to join.

AOS Roll Call Aug 21, 2021

[FionaMG]

Thanks for bringing us along @RCCL Fan, it's been great. We were on Adventure over Thanksgiving 2019, our last cruise before the shutdown, so it was great seeing her again. We actually got to visit one of those panoramic ocean view suites on a cabin crawl and I can tell you they are amazing. As long as a balcony isn't an essential part of your cruise experience it might be worth giving it a go. The view from those front-facing windows is spectacular so I think it would be an especially good choice for a cooler climate where you want to appreciate the scenery but be protected from the elements. 

[Sunshine3601]

20 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

The staff is amazing, you'll be treated well.   

 

stick around for my takeaways

@slease is wondering if unvaccinated children can walk thru the solarium.    I thought you might know.

 

BTW, I have thoroughly enjoyed your review of your recent sailing.     So happy your family had a wonderful trip and you had great weather except for the one bad night with the tropical storm.

 

Was Cozumel still requiring people to rinse feet off in disinfectant baths?

[doctork]

A very enticing review!  We've never sailed on Royal, but I think I see RCCL in our future.

Thanks for taking the time to write this.

[ReneeFLL]

Great review as always. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

[Jasukkie]

On 7/13/2021 at 2:23 AM, RCCL Fan said:

 

I went back there and asked for it 3 times....  each time I was told they didn't have any .

 

So weird!!  were you on the same week as me?

No I was on 6/19. Sorry, didn't mean to run through their whole stock of oranges!

[EllieinNJ]

Thank you for a great review.  We will be going on our first Royal Caribbean cruise in 25 years on the Oasis in October and after reading this regret we haven't tried it again sooner.

[cruiseguy1016]

On 7/13/2021 at 8:13 PM, RCCL Fan said:

Day 6    At Sea

 

 

 

Another was the spotlight.  There was this huge spotlight just around the corner from our room that illuminated the back of the ship.   Why?   I don't know.   Seemed like it would be used if there was a man overboard,  why it was just shined at the balconies was odd, but it made it hard to stand out there at night and not feel blinded.  Not sure if someone just left a switch on or what, but  it was annoying.

 

 

We sailed Adventure a few years ago and stayed in 9690, just below 1688. That light was ANNOYING! I never understood why it needed to be on. It spoiled what could have been a serene, relaxing atmosphere.

Edited July 16, 2021 by cruiseguy1016

[gfargo53]

thanks for the wonderful review 

cant wait for our nov.29th cruise

out of miami

[Itchy&Scratchy]

thank you for the fantastic review!

You have such a beautiful family, and your review was super entertaining!

[Love.II.Cruise]

Thank you so much for this wonderful review with all the pictures.  You have a beautiful family!  It's nice to see cruising picking back up again.

[Ocean Boy]

7 hours ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

 

We sailed Adventure a few years ago and stayed in 9690, just below 1688. That light was ANNOYING! I never understood why it needed to be on. It spoiled what could have been a serene, relaxing atmosphere.

It probably shines on the superstructure for affect at night for passing ships.

[kruzinkel]

On 7/12/2021 at 5:24 PM, RCCL Fan said:

Aww thank you so much!   I miss Memphis too!   Where in the 901 are you guys?

 

On 7/12/2021 at 5:24 PM, RCCL Fan said:

Aww thank you so much!   I miss Memphis too!   Where in the 901 are you guys?

east memphis. off park just inside the loop

[rajacks]

Thank you so much for this wonderful review!  I sat down and read it from start to finish this afternoon. 

 

I will be with friends on the Liberty 9/26 and 10/3, which have turned out to be the first post-covid sailings for the ship!  Very excited to head south to Galveston in a couple of months!  Reading about your experiences has made me that much more excited to go!

[RCCL Fan]

Day 8 --- All you had to do was head home....

 

 

Thanks to a schedule change at American Airlines, our only direct flight back home left at 6pm.    So it was going to be a long day.   We asked for the latest departure time.... last ones off.     

 

While we planned to sit it out in a lounge, new covid policy took that away you were asked to wait in your room.

 

So we sat in there all morning waiting for that last ticket to be called.....   I felt badly.  Our cabin steward kept trying to get in the cabin to clean,  people were coming to drop off stuff for the people in the room on the next sailing.   We had to keep saying.... our number hasn't been called yet.

 

 

While waiting we got to see Freedom sail into port an back in next to us. She was on her first voyage from the US.   

It was cool to check her out, but seeing everyone walk around in masks, I was so happy we made the choice to fly to Nassau.  This was the right choice for us.

 

I did notice how every other ship the captain was big on backing in.... but our guy always seemed to go in head first and back up.    To each his own.

 

Finally our time was up, and off the ship we went.  

 

 

 

Our plan for the day was to hang out at the HIlton in the morning, have lunch there and then we were going to have a limo pick us up and take us around town for a tour. 

 

Well none of that went according to plan.

 

First off if you're like me and assume that since you're boarding the ship at the Hilton, you would be exiting the ship at the Hilton, you would be wrong.

 

I expected to be shuttled back there to pick up our bags from some ballroom.

 

Um no.   We were let off the ship and on our own....  we walked from the pier toward downtown and found a tent with our bags under them.  Two were covered in sand, they had clearly been dropped somewhere they shouldn't   we were grateful that somewhere was the sand and not the water.

 

You wound have thought I learned my lesson in Cozumel but no.  Here I was off the ship in a tent with my bags and no organized way to get to the Hilton or cash to get there. 

 

No  Atm around.   Just screwed.

 

This is one of those moments where you hate being the dad.  "What are we going to do?  what's the plan?"   Heck if I know.... i don't know everything lol

 

I asked the taxi dispatcher if the taxi's took credit card machines, and she said she would call one for me that did.

 

Well van came, we hopped in and took the quick drive over to the Hilton.  The short trip was $40 thanks to all of our luggage, and the driver goes, "Oh I didn't know you were paying with a credit card"

 

My patience was wearing thin...   he couldn't get the credit card machine to work for the longest.   I was walking inside to get cash from the hotel when he finally got it. 

 

 

Paid, checked in for our day passes at the Hilton. 

 

Paid a flat fee to have access to the pool, beach, and pool bar/restaurant. 

Fee included a food/drink credit. 

 

It was HOT, I was regretting this, at first, but once we got settled and I got in the water it was nice.   the beach at the hilton may be the water of the cruise ship terminal but it was still crystal clear and filled with fish and very refreshing. 

 

 

We did some paddle boarding and ordered lunch.... be advised the buratta salad is tiny. 

 

We got an alert from the limo company..... the limo was out of service.  Had to downgrade us to a black SUV.  A $75 refund would come with it, and that was cool with me.

 

 

Then another alert.... flight delay.  our 6pm flight is not pushed back to 7:20pm  I got my apps out and tracked our plane.   It was there in dallas  and on time....   must not have a crew and were waiting for them to arrive.   Usually these 3 hour international flights out of DFW are immune to this.  Local crew comes to work.  Flies 3.5 hours to the island  and 3.5 hours back.... and that's a full days work.   You don't have to wait for them to fly in from someplace else. 

 

But last time we went to Cabo.... one of the flight attendants called in sick and so we had to wait for them to find another one.

 

I'm guessing something similar here.

 

 

Anyway....  we pushed out guide back an hour... and had him pick us up for a tour.  We did everything from paradise island to the ghetto. The queen's staircase to the local's version of The Fish Fry.   It was a nice tour.... which ended at the airport. 

 

 

We had heard horror stories about how busy the airport was all day and how the lines were insane.   We didn't know what to expect.    But when we walked in at 5pm for our 7:20pm flight, the place was a ghost town.   One person was at the check in counter.

 

A woman who had flown in for the cruise, but the airline lost her luggage and didn't know where it was.   She told them she wanted to go back home, wasn't going on the cruise without her bags....   but she needed covid tests and what not.... and there were no seats.   Oy vey!

 

So remember when our friends luggage was lost and the RCI people said the airport closed at 7pm.   They weren't kidding.  It closes.   food, workers everything, shut down.   it was so odd. I was really lucky to get through for them!

 

We rushed some food from the one open restaurant and joined the waiting area for our flight.

 

We found some of our ship folks who had been there since 10am.   They were going nuts. 

 

 

 

Finally our plane came and Nassau did the weirdest boarding of a plane I've ever seen.  The basically called all zones right after one another.    and led everyone into the jet bridge.   They made us all stand in the jet bridge for like 15 minutes while they cleaned the plane and then finally opened the little barriers and let us go.

 

 

It was the most bizarre situation.    So, those in first class and zones 2-3 stood in the hot bridge the longest waiting.   It's like why not leave us at the gatehouse until the plane is ready instead of forming this 189 person line in the worlds longest un-airconditioned jet bridge.

 

 

Flight home was uneventful... i scored a win ---   sat with the smallest kid and no one else next to us....   It was a nice treat.   Landing in Dallas on July 3rd meant great fireworks shows out of the window....  it was beautiful and the perfect in to a perfect vacation.

 

 

 

 

Takeaways:

 

 

1)  Don't overplan!!   We did.  The problem with sitting at home lusting over a vacation is you keep buying stuff just because you feel like you're getting closer to the trip.   I bought too much.   The dining package and the cococay lunch. It became too much, too many plans, too much stuff we pre-purchased and just couldn't get to.  If I had to do it over again. I would have stopped buying everything ahead of time

 

2) Wifi was bad,  Voom didn't work well on this ship, it was a waste of money.   We had at least 4 of the 7 days where it just didn't work for several hours.  The tech guy kept blaming the weather, and that's fine and all but I'm paying for the day and not having service.  He wasn't really willing to do much about it.   I was really disappointed with that.

 

3)  The staff--- they're amazing   truly amazing.  You just can't find people who smile and care so much about your trip.  From Jennie in the diamond lounge to Fernando our cabin steward... everyone just was so happy to be there and so happy to have you there and it truly hit you in the feelings.   This was a wonderful trip and the service was fantastic.

 

4) The ship --- If you're like me and haven't been on a voyager class in a while,  man this ship is just the perfect blend of all the stuff that makes RCI so great, without the huge ship feel.  It's our new favorite class.  I  mean sure it was probably better because it was so empty, but the ship design was great for us.   She needs a little love... bathroom faucets and doors and what not are old and need replacing but I hear a dry docks coming soon for her, and she needs it.  After it, I think she's going to be in such great shape .  

 

5) The time is now --- This will never happen again.   Guys seriously,  sailing on a ship with just 900 people is a one and a lifetime.   It was an experience I can't describe.   Just remember,  if you're vaccinated, you're with others who are vaccinated too,  no masks, few restrictions, and few people on board.   The only downfall is flying to nassau so you have to fill out a few extra forms... and deal with the crazy airport.....   it's so worth it.    I'm wishing I could go again.   We're sailing with some friends on Allure in November,  but if we weren't i'd probably do this route all over again before she leaves, It was really that good.

 

 

I'm happy to answer any and all questions --- thanks for all the kind words.     Here's to the Royal Comeback!