An Adventurous Review: Adventure of the Seas to the Med May 2013!!

[DanTheCruisingMan]

A Late Review of Adventure of the Seas

 

Where has the summer gone? While this is a late review of Adventure of the Seas’ first Med cruise out of Southampton (May 9 - May 24), I hope that you find the information and details are worth the wait!

 

The Itinerary – 15 Night Mediterranean Cruise

 

 

Southampton, UK

At Sea

At Sea

Gibraltar, UK

At Sea

Barcelona, Spain

Villefranche, France

Livorno, Italy

Civitavecchia, Italy

Cagliari, Sardinia

At Sea

Cadiz, Spain

Lisbon, Portugal

At Sea

At Sea

Southampton, UK

 

Pre-Cruise:

 

We live in Florida and had booked RCL Choice Air from Miami to London Heathrow on American Airlines for arrival two days prior to the cruise departure date. As is always expressed here on cruise critic, it is very important to fly in a day early when taking a cruise. You never can anticipate the unexpected. Considering U.S. to UK flights are overnight, we decided two days early would be sufficient just in case anything happened.

 

Check-in in Miami, FL was a breeze and we were onboard the plane on our way to London before we knew it. A loooooooooong 8 hrs later (I don’t sleep on planes), we arrived in sunny and cool London Heathrow Airport. Immigration and customs was a breeze and we were now ready to head to Southampton.

 

Prior to arrival, I had contacted Woodford Chauffeurs for a car pickup from the airport to our hotel in Southampton. Such a great company and I highly recommend them for your travels to the UK. Our driver met us right at the arrivals entrance and escorted us to our car. We had an Audi A8 and plenty of room – which was nice after 8 hrs on a plane in economy. Traffic was light for a Tuesday morning and we were in Southampton in about an hour and a half.

 

We decided to not stay at the Holiday Inn in Southampton. For one, it looked old. Two, it looked to be in a less than desirable location. After some research, I found a brand new hotel located near the maritime museum, the mall, and a beautiful park. The Jurys Inn features rooms suitable for 3 people as well as couples. Our room featured views of the city and harbor, a double bed, a single bed, a desk, and a large bathroom with a tub. Very suitable for our two nights. The price was even better! Roughly $125.00 per night.

 

After expressing our thanks to the driver, we checked in at 11:00 am and were relieved to find that our room was ready. We went upstairs, took out some clothes that may get wrinkled (too late!) and jumped into the comfortable beds for a nice snooze. Four hours later, we were up and ready to explore.

 

The Jurys Inn Hotel, Southampton, UK

 

As previously mentioned, Jurys Inn is located on the fringes of Mayfield Park. The park is also the site of the Titanic Memorial. After a stroll through the park and through the city, we returned to our hotel’s restaurant for an overpriced (conversion rate!), albeit delicious, dinner.

 

After a good night’s sleep, we decided to hit the road for our last day in Southampton. We walked through the park again on our way to the West Quay mall for breakfast and a wander around the shops. We found a delicious English breakfast eatery with a full English breakfast in the food court area. Price was very reasonable. Southampton is a city filled with maritime history. As a result, the maritime museum is a must for anybody visiting the city, especially cruise enthusiasts. With a specific focus on the Titanic, the museum is detailed and a great way to pass a damp day.

 

Queen Mary Model in the Southampton Maritime Museum

 

As a low pressure system began to build off Southampton, the weather deteriorated rather rapidly. Gales and rain kept us in the hotel for dinner, but this time we found that the coffee bar also served dinner, at a much better price! A couple of drinks and a nice chicken dish later, it was time for bed. Excitement awaits, we board the Adventure of the Seas in the morning!!!

[Carolynne67]

Great start, I am really looking forward to your review as we're going on our first big cruise next August on Adventure.

It's interesting to hear a report of Southampton from an Americans view. We live about 3/4 hour away and usually travel the opposite way to you as we have been to Florida seven times.

Can't wait to read more.:)

[DanTheCruisingMan]

Day 1: Boarding Day!

 

It had been over 16 months since I had stumbled across this cruise and got out my magnifying glass to see the deck plans of the Adventure of the Seas. Is there anything better than finding “your” cabin on a sheet of thousands of little squares? Just knowing the little 1cm x 1cm box on a deck plan will be your home away from home for 15 nights brings out the excitement before the cruise even starts!

 

The low pressure system had intensified overnight. It was barely over 50 degrees Fahrenheit and the winds were sustained around 40kts. Toto – we aren’t in Florida anymore!! We arrived at the terminal where RCL had a poor chap handing out luggage tags in the driving wind. His cheeks were rosy red and by that point, we all wanted to just get inside, him included!

 

My hats (and at this point, scarf, gloves, wool socks, ear muffs) go off to the British. You are #1 in organization. Wow!! Check-in and security was by far the smoothest experience I have had ever. Seapass cards were at Priority Check-in counter, passports were collected and receipts immediately given to us, and 10 minutes later we were politely asked if we wanted a photo to board the ship. I could hardly believe it had been 10 minutes from curb to ship. So well done Southampton RCL crew!!!

 

We boarded the ship in complete excitement. The ship was warm compared to the extreme weather outside and we decided to go up our stateroom to unload the carryon luggage since it was just after 1:00 pm. Oops! Not so fast. Staterooms opened at 2:00 pm – our first (and one of many) differences in our cruise experience. We are easy going and decided that we would go to lunch instead at the Windjammer Café while housekeeping finished the rooms. The windjammer café was a circus. No seats, lines everywhere. With staterooms closed, the weather outside prohibiting anyone from enjoying the pool deck, and windjammer café had become the resting spot for the 2,500 pax already onboard. People were enjoying their books and friendly conversations at their respective tables, even though they weren’t eating. While I respect that people are on “cruise time,” that was quite a shock for us, as we did not find an empty table. We ended up eating standing up, but at that point, the food had gone cold. Oh well – we will chalk it up to the weather. Not a big deal. Surely it would just be a one-time thing??

 

Adventure of the Seas Junior Suite

 

2:00 pm arrived and we went to our Junior Suite cabin. I had forgotten how much I love the Junior Suites on the early Voyager Class Ships. They are spacious and feature two desks, a walk in closet, large bathroom, a “living area” with a sofa and two chairs, and a private balcony. This was “ours” for the next 15 days. All three of us had a big smile on our face. Not long afterwards, a knock on the door delivered us all of our bags.

 

My father and I had ordered tuxedos from the RCL Tux department. They were hanging in the closet with a note stating to try them. We did. One of the tux pants had been damaged and was not to the satisfaction of my father. So to the utter dissatisfaction of the gentleman in charge of the tuxedo program onboard, he found new pants and delivered them in the morning.

 

The low pressure system had intensified and now winds were reading at sustained 50kts on the TV. The ship required tugs to leave the dock and navigate the narrow channel of Southampton. The sail away out of the Solent, pass the Isle of Wright, and into the English Channel was beautiful. I would recommend the starboard side of the vessel for that reason alone.

 

As part of Royal Caribbean’s Loyalty Program, we have access to the Concierge Lounge. The concierge lounge is located on deck 9 and we went every day around 7:45 pm for a drink before our 8:30 dinner. The concierge was a lovely lady and her bar tenders in the lounge were top notch. I was very impressed. The lounge was busy, but we had no issues finding chairs. There was also an overflow lounge on deck 14 in the card room.

 

Adventure of the Seas Dining Room

 

Dinner that night was at 8:30 (second seating). The dining room is beautiful and our two waiters and head waiter were sensational. Probably some of the best we have ever had! Really made our entire dining experience so memorable. Food was delicious, as the Adventure of the Seas now has RCLs new menu. After a long day, we decided to forgo the show and call it a night. It had been an incredible day, with many more to come! However, the night was far from over.

[Debitoo]

Subscribed! I was on AOS last December and LOVED it! Looking forward to hearing of your travels.

 

Thank you!

[MrFunInTheSun]

Thanks for sharing your cruise adventure with us! Looking forward to the rest of your adventures!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Please excuse any typographical errors.

[Alohaaloha]

Loving the start of your cruise report. We are on AOS in less than 2 weeks on an almost identical itinerary, so I am very keen to read your report.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Coolcruise02]

Can't wait for more!

[DanTheCruisingMan]

More to come over the weekend. Working on days 2-4 now.

 

Reposted the pic of our JS.

[gxchan]

I'm on AOS in 84 days for a B2B. I was on AOS last year with Debitoo (Hi! Debi:)) and can't wait to be back on board. In the meantime, I'm so looking forward to your continued excellent review:) Thank you!