Adventure Disappointment

[tiessa]

Just off of the Adventure OTS. I was really looking forward to it as so many on Cruise Critic have talked about how much they like the ship. Our waiter was wonderful as was our room steward. However, service at the pool and the solarium was terrible. If you wanted a drink you had to wait a long time for someone to come along to take an order and then you had to get their attention. Used glasses and dishes sat around on deck for long periods of time before someone bothered to pick them up. Deck 4 was cluttered all day with glasses and dishes. It is OK that they are concentrating smokers into basically 2 areas but they need to empty the ashtrays more often. The ashtrays were left so full it was a fire hazard. In the Windjammer we were rarely asked if we wanted drinks or if we needed anything. Drink stations would be out of water and you'd have to go searching for another drink station. Various food items would run out and they would not replenish them for awhile again forcing us to go look elsewhere. It was just not the standard I am used to. I'm wondering if Royal Caribbean is cutting staff to the point it is showing up in their service...or lack thereof.

[caseythegr]

Sorry to hear that. We sail her in less than 2 weeks, just curios as to how things were otherwise. What cabin were you in, and how was it? How was the entertainment, what shows did you see? Did you get a drink package, and if so how was it?

Thanks

[Trekker954]

We noticed the same issues regarding trying to get a drink in the Solarium too. We first noticed it on Superbowl Sunday which was a sea day. We got to the pool around 1030 and nearing 11ish, tried to get a drinks. No wait staff in sight, even inn the main pool area where I looked. Every bar was 20 persons deep but we waited. Around 1230 I noticed wait staff about, not too many, but some. I assumed their hours changed for superbowl. However, the next sea day, it was also bad. In the MDR too. While service was good, it was slow.

 

I do believe they have cut staff dramatically on all the ships

[tiessa]

Sorry to hear that. We sail her in less than 2 weeks, just curios as to how things were otherwise. What cabin were you in, and how was it? How was the entertainment, what shows did you see? Did you get a drink package, and if so how was it?

Thanks

 

 

I'll be interested I hearing about your experience. We still had a great cruise and I'm sure you will, too. It's just little things that stood out.

 

We were in cabin 7238 and it was fine. A ceiling light cover missing but we didn't even mention it. Our steward, Robert Carter, was very good.

 

I was not impressed with the entertainment. We went the first two nights only. The ship production was pitiful. The singing was OK but the dancing was mediocre. The dancers just walked through the numbers. There was just no energy at all.

 

We didn't get a drink package. It's just not worth it to us.

 

Have a fun cruise and please report back!

[framboesa]

So sorry to hear that...I never had this kind of trouble.Well, i confess that I like to do the things on my own, don't like to wait to be served on my table, chair... but I understand that the waiters are there for it and that the passengers expect to be served...maybe RCCL are cutting staff :/

[Engine643]

I was in a group of 14 that sailed on 1/19/2014 and can honestly say that we did not experience any of the problems that you are stating. Always had great service in the Windjammer and the staff would always come around and take plates and refill drinks. Bar service at the pool was ok and I will agree about the entertainment as it was mediocre at best.

 

This was our third trip on the Adventure and I would not hesitate to return to the beautiful Ship!

[tiessa]

I was in a group of 14 that sailed on 1/19/2014 and can honestly say that we did not experience any of the problems that you are stating. Always had great service in the Windjammer and the staff would always come around and take plates and refill drinks. Bar service at the pool was ok and I will agree about the entertainment as it was mediocre at best.

 

This was our third trip on the Adventure and I would not hesitate to return to the beautiful Ship!

 

I wonder if they had staff sick or off for other reasons. I hope it is not a trend coming across the line. Perhaps our week was a fluke.

[Morecruisesplz]

Wow, that seems odd. We just finished b2b cruises on the Adventure in Jan and early Feb and never experienced anything like you have described. In fact we ate in the Windjammer for 7 days in a row because the service there was better than the MDR. Servers all over us offering drinks, refills, cleaning tables, and even going around with a cart making ice cream sundaes at the table.

 

Maybe on port days bar servers are scarce but that's always the case -- most people are on shore.

 

Sorry you had a bad cruise but we've booked her again for next January -- only 4 weeks next year!

[mom says]

Tiessa, I have to agree with all of the points that you brought up. We were on the same cruise, as well as the one the week before. So these were not just isolated incidents or a matter of personal opinion. Several other cruisers that I spoke with over the 2weeks expressed similar thoughts. While we enjoyed our cruise very much, we were quite disappointed by the things you mentioned and noted them on the post cruise survey. I know that RCI (and AOS) have many loyal followers, but I doubt that we will choose to sail with them again. It wasn't a good "fit" for us.

[tauntoncheer]

We just got off the same cruise and also noticed the same things. We never got asked for drinks in the Windjammer and food was scarce at times. We ate a lot in the 5th deck Promade Cafe and all dinners in the dining room. We felt the shows really lacked. We are going back to Carnival!

[Ocean Boy]

We just got off the same cruise and also noticed the same things. We never got asked for drinks in the Windjammer and food was scarce at times. We ate a lot in the 5th deck Promade Cafe and all dinners in the dining room. We felt the shows really lacked. We are going back to Carnival!

 

It is disappointing to see that RCI lost you as a customer because of your experience on this ship. We have sailed Adventure several times and had great cruises aboard. I wonder what has gone wrong to cause these changes?:confused:

[cpj]

It is disappointing to see that RCI lost you as a customer because of your experience on this ship. We have sailed Adventure several times and had great cruises aboard. I wonder what has gone wrong to cause these changes?:confused:

 

They have cut back on staff and are overworking the rest of the staff. But a cheerleader will soon post of how that has never happened to them. Its just the way things are on these boards.

[crisndeefromde]

They have cut back on staff and are overworking the rest of the staff. But a cheerleader will soon post of how that has never happened to them. Its just the way things are on these boards.

 

We were on board 1/26 and Feb 2 sailings...and ONLY bar issues we had was in the lounge for bingo...one bar person.

 

So yep I am a cheerleader....never experienced what you did. Excellent dining service in second seating at table 318! Anthony Navarro is awesome and his assistant top notch. We enjoyed the main dining room for breakfast and the windjammer and also loved the barbecue party out on the pool deck several dates....

 

Our room attendant Marco, we were in 8620 center hump was great and our favorite attendant right next door section to us and we saw her every day...shout out to Maria Johnson from Panama.

 

Love this ship and got great scoop on the new things that will be done on the short refurb and the rest of the revitalization will be done in 2016. As this was our third b2b and another one for 2015 we can't wait to go again.

 

Love the ports and the schedule. 190 b2b cruisers and many on board for a few months. The ship did lose some crew when she was in the UK but the crew numbers were the same that we saw last year when we saw the numbers on the bridge.

 

Excellent Captain this trip. Very funny.

[crisndeefromde]

It is disappointing to see that RCI lost you as a customer because of your experience on this ship. We have sailed Adventure several times and had great cruises aboard. I wonder what has gone wrong to cause these changes?:confused:

 

We had a great two weeks along with many others. We had a couple at our table that are celebrity folks and loved this ship and said food far better than what they experienced. The most b2b cruisers in a long long time.

[Ocean Boy]

They have cut back on staff and are overworking the rest of the staff. But a cheerleader will soon post of how that has never happened to them. Its just the way things are on these boards.

 

I'm sure there are some people to whom this has never happened. I am one of them. I'm not really sure how your comment contributes much to the tread.

[Pickels]

Just off of the Adventure OTS. I was really looking forward to it as so many on Cruise Critic have talked about how much they like the ship. Our waiter was wonderful as was our room steward. However, service at the pool and the solarium was terrible. If you wanted a drink you had to wait a long time for someone to come along to take an order and then you had to get their attention. Used glasses and dishes sat around on deck for long periods of time before someone bothered to pick them up. Deck 4 was cluttered all day with glasses and dishes. It is OK that they are concentrating smokers into basically 2 areas but they need to empty the ashtrays more often. The ashtrays were left so full it was a fire hazard. In the Windjammer we were rarely asked if we wanted drinks or if we needed anything. Drink stations would be out of water and you'd have to go searching for another drink station. Various food items would run out and they would not replenish them for awhile again forcing us to go look elsewhere. It was just not the standard I am used to. I'm wondering if Royal Caribbean is cutting staff to the point it is showing up in their service...or lack thereof.

 

I wonder if being that AOS is going into dry dock next month, that the staff doesn't have the same outlook as what RCI has always provided?:confused:

[pamelajs]

Just off of the Adventure OTS. I was really looking forward to it as so many on Cruise Critic have talked about how much they like the ship. Our waiter was wonderful as was our room steward. However, service at the pool and the solarium was terrible. If you wanted a drink you had to wait a long time for someone to come along to take an order and then you had to get their attention. Used glasses and dishes sat around on deck for long periods of time before someone bothered to pick them up. Deck 4 was cluttered all day with glasses and dishes. It is OK that they are concentrating smokers into basically 2 areas but they need to empty the ashtrays more often. The ashtrays were left so full it was a fire hazard. In the Windjammer we were rarely asked if we wanted drinks or if we needed anything. Drink stations would be out of water and you'd have to go searching for another drink station. Various food items would run out and they would not replenish them for awhile again forcing us to go look elsewhere. It was just not the standard I am used to. I'm wondering if Royal Caribbean is cutting staff to the point it is showing up in their service...or lack thereof.

 

I agree100%. We love Royal but I was very disappointed. We met people on the ship that have cruised on the Adventure numerous times and loved the Adventure.

I wrote a review on cc. The only place we got super service was in the dining room. Our cabin steward was okay but I have had much much better.

I intend to write a letter to Royal.

[Lady Chew]

Were we on the same ship?

 

We were on the 1/16 & 2/2 sailings, and didn't have any of these problems. We spent most of our ship time in the Solarium and never had a problem getting bar service. The few times we were out on the main pool deck, no problem. In fact on one of the days we found the over-presence of the bar waiters to be annoying. The Deck Patrol lady was out there all the time, picking up dishes & towels. I do mean all the time ... she was constantly working. And she wasn't the only one out there.

 

We ate about half our meals in the WJ and had excellent service and a wide variety of food from which to choose. The only issue we had was overcooked ribs one night ... oh, and an overly obsequious waiter. We though the overall quality of the food was very good. And there was always a waiter nearby to help, with water or utensils or clearing the table, or whatever we needed.

 

The ship is definitely showing some signs of wear & tear, though ... we assumed they will be taken care of during drydock. We had some issues in our cabin - the pads on our safe were almost worn out, and the "close" pad didn't work most of the time; we had to reset the number instead of just pushing it. Our couch had a huge sag in the middle, so we had to be careful if we put anything down on it. And the balcony light just sputtered when you turned it on. One afternoon I had hit the switch because I thought maybe it would work properly if it warmed up for 10 or 15 minutes. It was late in the afternoon, the sun was setting, and I hopped in the shower and forgot the light was on. When I remembered, I went out to look at it. Our cabin was on Deck 9 right below the bridge wing. There were two officers standing there looking & pointing at the light. I wonder if they thought Mr Chew & I were sending out signals to pirates! Needless to say, I quickly turned off the light.

[daljettjockie]

We will be on with a group of 9 in March. I hope we don't experience what you did.

 

I sure hope someone from RCI is reading this post!

[Big_G]

They have cut back on staff and are overworking the rest of the staff. But a cheerleader will soon post of how that has never happened to them. Its just the way things are on these boards.

 

And others can't comment that it has never happened to them without being called a cheerleader. It's just the way things are on these boards. :rolleyes:

[tauntoncheer]

Cheerleader or not I just felt AOS was not up to par on some things. Yes the dining room service and food was great, but Windjammer in my opinion definitely lacked. Also felt the entertainment was not great, except for Quest and the Newlywed game. Like I said just my opinion. All in all we had a great time and it was sure better than being here in the snow!!!!!

[Fa-Li]

I'm curious, as a newbie, is there any kind of process for addressing these issues mid-cruise? If I were staying at a resort and not getting good service, I would bring it up with a manager. Is this somehow poor etiquette while cruising? I see that there are post cruise surveys but what about while you are being poorly served? Does being seen as a complainer lead to even worse service? Just trying to figure out how it all works.

 

 

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[CruisingTeacher19]

If something is wrong go to the front desk...can't remember what it's called. If you are c&a go to the loyalty ambassador

 

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[bilyclub]

We just got off the same cruise and also noticed the same things. We never got asked for drinks in the Windjammer and food was scarce at times. We ate a lot in the 5th deck Promade Cafe and all dinners in the dining room. We felt the shows really lacked. We are going back to Carnival!

 

 

 

I have never ever seen somebody say Carnival had better shows than Royal. Just the live music alone is enough to top Carnival.

[pamelajs]

I'm curious, as a newbie, is there any kind of process for addressing these issues mid-cruise? If I were staying at a resort and not getting good service, I would bring it up with a manager. Is this somehow poor etiquette while cruising? I see that there are post cruise surveys but what about while you are being poorly served? Does being seen as a complainer lead to even worse service? Just trying to figure out how it all works.

 

 

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I am a Diamond cruiser I do not usually complain. I was just very disappointed because I have. Always have exceptional service on RCCL