Adventure of the Seas - Problems

[delirious9876]

I appreciate that there are many threads on here saying positive things about AOS but there are also quite a few where people are alluding to issues while on board, I assume from a range of angles and severity.

 

In November my mother and I are on a TA on AOS and we are getting a little anxious at the negative posts we are seeing.

 

For those who have had problems can you tell us what these were and if you think they were one-off's or re-occurring problems for that ship?

 

Thanks for your help.:)

 

Kind regards, David

[Clarea]

The only problem we had with our cruise on Adventure earlier this year was that they made us get off the ship at the end of the cruise.

[big al]

I appreciate that there are many threads on here saying positive things about AOS but there are also quite a few where people are alluding to issues while on board, I assume from a range of angles and severity.

 

In November my mother and I are on a TA on AOS and we are getting a little anxious at the negative posts we are seeing.

 

For those who have had problems can you tell us what these were and if you think they were one-off's or re-occurring problems for that ship?

 

Thanks for your help.:)

 

Kind regards, David

 

I am booked also on the AOS Nov 2015..my friend went on her in Feb with another couple..all 4 said food was very mediocre/ average as was entertainment..I asked him & his wife if they wanted to join us for that cruise and they both replied, "not even if it was free.."...they are almost Diamond on RCI, and just cruised the NCL Breakaway a year ago, and said that blew away ALL RCI cruises they have been on for entertainment & food ...I was not happy to hear that about the AOS..he also said she was old & worn ( this was BEFORE the renovations) ..cruise ports were great, but he will not sail her again...only good meal they had was in Portifinos, which is now Giovanni's....

 

Big Al

[Paulette3028]

I am booked also on the AOS Nov 2015..my friend went on her in Feb with another couple..all 4 said food was very mediocre/ average as was entertainment..I asked him & his wife if they wanted to join us for that cruise and they both replied, "not even if it was free.."...they are almost Diamond on RCI, and just cruised the NCL Breakaway a year ago, and said that blew away ALL RCI cruises they have been on for entertainment & food ...I was not happy to hear that about the AOS..he also said she was old & worn ( this was BEFORE the renovations) ..cruise ports were great, but he will not sail her again...only good meal they had was in Portifinos, which is now Giovanni's....

 

Big Al

 

When I read posts telling me things like this, I always take it with a grain of salt, kosher salt at that. Meaning -- food and entertainment are both very subjective. Are these two people difficult to make happy when they go out to a restaurant? Do they have unrealistic expectations of entertainment, when they are home, and find themselves disappointed?

 

I have ten friends and if we all go to the same restaurant and movies, 25% will like it and 25% will not like it and 50% will say it was "OK". It is just the truth.

 

Maybe when these people said, the only good meal they had was in Portofinos, was because they set a standard that the MDR could not deliver (it serves more people in a shorter period of time and has different cuts of meat because of the extra expense).

 

Some of my questions would be:

Did something break on the ship, that was not repaired?

Was the ship overall clean and did they see constant maintenance/cleaning going on in public places?

Did something unexpected happen to them that if it was at a land hotel, would have been handled better/differently?

Was the staff friendly and nice and attend to their needs?

Was there enough activities to choose from, regardless of whether THEY choose to participate in them or not?

 

 

Also, ships do age....as do hotels....and in the cruise industry, they have a ship come in for a refurbishment/renovation. This couple admits they went on the ship prior to its refurbishment.....well, they would have seen a different ship after the renovations....all nice and new and glitzy again.

[PSU]

Here is what I wrote after our Med. cruise on Adventure this past May. The cruise was not terrible and we did have a good time. It is just I noticed many reductions in service as compared to other ships in the fleet. But having said that I am sure that things on Adventure are better now since many people were complaining.

Hope that you enjoy your cruise.

 

This was my first time on Adventure, but I have been on many other RCI ships. This was not one of the better ones. The Brits who had been on the ship many times said that they could not believe how much things have been cut.

I agree a cruise is what you make it. It was fun and the ports were wonderful, but the cruise itself could have been better.

They only offered a la carte dining for lunch one or two sea days. I know because I spoke to many waiters and headwaiters. The British people tend to go to the dining room for lunch more than people on ships sailing from the U.S. And there were not enough staff.

Same way with room stewards. Our room never got cleaned until 11:30 a.m. or noon even though we had the clean our room card in the door from 8:30 a.m. There use to be an assistant for the room steward helping to clean the rooms, but no more.

On the other hand, our waiters, assistant waiters and head waiters at dinner were wonderful. Also the concierge Sucel Anderson was one of the best I have ever had.

The unlimited internet package ($160 with D plus discount) was great. I was able to check my work email with no trouble.

There weren't that many food options. The Café Promenade was mobbed every sea day and there were people sitting there all day. As a suite guest, I was able to order from the dining room menu in the room for breakfast and dinner.

This is the first cruise I went to the Windjammer for dinner. A few nights at the end of the cruise they had a stir fry made to order which was very good.

Part of the problem on this cruise was the weather since it was cool on the sea days. Therefore people were confined to the interior of the ship.

That is what made this cruise (15-nights) seem so long.

One of my favorite ports was Lisbon where we had a private tour with six people. It was fabulous. Also on our private tour in Villefrance, we went to Monaco, Monte Carlo and Nice. It was beautiful.

We were on an Adriatic cruise last May on Celebrity and I guess I was comparing the Adventure cruise to that one.

 

Quote:

[Tagsalong]

Subjective or not, our B2B experience on the Adventure this year out of Miami was the worst of any of our 96 cruises on Royal Caribbean ships. Poor food preparation, inept crew and officers, and mediocre entertainment.

 

Over the 10 day cruise, some things did get a little better as we, and others, pointed out the deficiencies we saw/experienced to various officers, however, the HD was the least visible and least responsive on any cruise we have ever taken. Yes, we did report the details in our e-mailed survey, will not do so here. It was still a cruise and better than cutting the grass.

 

Have to admit that our perspective might have been distorted by our three B2B2B's on the Brilliance the week before getting on the Adventure. Dean Bailey and Capt Stig run the best ship in the fleet and everything was letter perfect.

[Iluvcruising2]

We sailed on the Adventure of the Seas May 30 2014 out of Southampton on a 13N Iceland and Norway cruise and we enjoyed ourselves tremendously. We are RCI Diamond.

 

Maybe we are just happy that we can get to cruise.

 

My review is ongoing - http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2058253

[bouhunter]

We cruised Adventure in January of 2000-2011-2012 and thought it was great. I know, that's not recent experience. We've booked it for winter of 2016 and are not worried about anything.

 

We don't put a high priority on the "quality" of the shows, so they don't factor into our evaluation of a cruise. As for food, we consider MDR dinners on all RCCL ships "mediocre" to average. We don't do dinners in MDR anymore. Still love sailing with RCCL:)

[bigque]

Oh I thought something happened with Adventure that I had not heard about! This is just another one of those I enjoyed the cruise BUT everything about the ship, food, entertainment, and service was horrible! I'm out!

[bigeagle12]

Oh I thought something happened with Adventure that I had not heard about! This is just another one of those I enjoyed the cruise BUT everything about the ship, food, entertainment, and service was horrible! I'm out!

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Ourusualbeach]

The only problem we had with our cruise on Adventure earlier this year was that they made us get off the ship at the end of the cruise.

 

Seems to be fleet wide and not just limited to the Adventure.:D

[peteukmcr]

The main issues we experienced whilst on the recent eastbound TA from Miami to Southampton was due to miscommunication between Miami HQ and the ship.

 

I preordered various items for a surprise for a major birthday celebration, the website lets you select day of delivery, but Miami sent the the order to the ship for the day of boarding not the selected day. The ship blames Miami, Miami blames the ship.

 

Communication on board is lacking as they did not update several documents, and hid behind the fact that adventure normally does 7 night sailings.

 

Tuxedo rental was the worst ever, totally wrong sizes (not even close to that ordered) and hard to rectify.

[rubrrick]

On the Adventure TA earlier this year, along with peteukmcr, the first issue that popped up, as I had ordered 2 different vases of flowers to help celebrate my DW's Birthday, and I even brought along the confirmation. When we arrived in our suite, just after 1PM, I met the floor supervisor, and inquired as to the where about of the 2nd vase of flowers. Royal Caribbean had 4 hours to get the flowers onboard, but their standard answer was that the flowers did not arrive, and my credit card would be credited.

 

We were offered a free night at Giovanni's, which I thought was a nice gesture on the ships part.

 

We have learned to bring our own slippers, since Royal Caribbean has quit giving those out to suite guests. We bring our Princess slippers, not that it makes a difference, just to make a statement.

 

It has become very obvious to me, after cruising with Royal Caribbean since only 2003, that in the past few years, we have watched the cut backs in quality and service, so that what we once thought was a great cruiseline, is today, mediocre, compared to, say just 3 years ago.

 

Captain Ole was a bit shy till one got to know him, then was quite friendly.

 

What is sad, is that everyones hands are tied, from the Captain on down, with cutbacks on staff, is putting more work on those onboard, hence they are not quite as outgoing, can't stop for that minute to talk, as they have a job to accomplish.

 

The stockholders, on the other hand, could not be happier with the bottom line.

 

Will we stop cruising with Royal Caribbean. NO. Will we now continue to cruise with other lines.....YES!

 

So, what one has experienced on the AOS, well, it's getting to be that way, pretty much across the whole fleet.

 

And, yes, just get used to it, because it's the way that Royal Caribbean is run, for now.

 

Rick

[big al]

When I read posts telling me things like this, I always take it with a grain of salt, kosher salt at that. Meaning -- food and entertainment are both very subjective. Are these two people difficult to make happy when they go out to a restaurant? Do they have unrealistic expectations of entertainment, when they are home, and find themselves disappointed?

 

I have ten friends and if we all go to the same restaurant and movies, 25% will like it and 25% will not like it and 50% will say it was "OK". It is just the truth.

 

Maybe when these people said, the only good meal they had was in Portofinos, was because they set a standard that the MDR could not deliver (it serves more people in a shorter period of time and has different cuts of meat because of the extra expense).

 

Some of my questions would be:

Did something break on the ship, that was not repaired?

Was the ship overall clean and did they see constant maintenance/cleaning going on in public places?

Did something unexpected happen to them that if it was at a land hotel, would have been handled better/differently?

Was the staff friendly and nice and attend to their needs?

Was there enough activities to choose from, regardless of whether THEY choose to participate in them or not?

 

 

Also, ships do age....as do hotels....and in the cruise industry, they have a ship come in for a refurbishment/renovation. This couple admits they went on the ship prior to its refurbishment.....well, they would have seen a different ship after the renovations....all nice and new and glitzy again.

 

I have been reading bad/ below average reviews of the AOS for a while now...I also find it not good when ALL FOUR say the same thing about the food & entertainment .. I also ESPECIALLY did not like to hear that he refused to join us for our cruise, since we are good friends..agree food, entertainment & service are subjective, but you know the saying, "if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck..."....we sailed the AOS in 2005, when she was only 4 yrs. old, and had a great time...BTW, Roy & his wife eat just about everything and are not picky..they liked the MDR on Oasis & Freedom ( at least they said it was decent..) the last few years..I too, find most MDR food on RCI only "fair" to "OK" to "mediocre"...we dine a lot in specialty venues when possible...only on Disney have we found MDR food good in our 29 cruises on 7 lines- rest were just average to OK...just MHO...

 

 

Big Al

[delirious9876]

Thanks for some useful feedback :-)

[bigque]

I have been reading bad/ below average reviews of the AOS for a while now...I also find it not good when ALL FOUR say the same thing about the food & entertainment .. I also ESPECIALLY did not like to hear that he refused to join us for our cruise, since we are good friends..agree food, entertainment & service are subjective, but you know the saying, "if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck..."....we sailed the AOS in 2005, when she was only 4 yrs. old, and had a great time...BTW, Roy & his wife eat just about everything and are not picky..they liked the MDR on Oasis & Freedom ( at least they said it was decent..) the last few years..I too, find most MDR food on RCI only "fair" to "OK" to "mediocre"...we dine a lot in specialty venues when possible...only on Disney have we found MDR food good in our 29 cruises on 7 lines- rest were just average to OK...just MHO...

 

 

Big Al

 

I tend to disaagree with that especailly when it comes to this board. My first cruise was on Sovereign Of The Seas and if you went by the reviews back in 2008 when I cruised on her, you would have thought that Sovereign was a complete dump that should even be allowed to cruise on the open seas! i.e - A rust bucket, sewage smell all over, nasty food, bad entertainment, in need of this, in need of that and so on! I'd be willing to bet the bad reviews outweighed the good by 10 to one. I went on my 1st cruise on her anyway and had the time of my life, the ship was great, the food was good, and as far as entertainment, I'm not really a fan of cruise ship type production shows anyway on any ship so I just don't go anymore other than the magic shows, Ice shows, Quest etc. I didn't experience anything near what I was reading in those bad reviews. I'm glad I overlooked what I read and went on that cruise, because it is what made me have a love for cruising! :cool:

[JimAOk1945]

We had a wonderful experience on the Adventure of the Seas in December. We were on a 7 day round trip from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

 

I don't know whether C&A status or cabin category has anything to do with our experience on this ship/cruise. We are Emerald and were in an Owner's Suite.

 

Happy cruising!

[Paulette3028]

I tend to disaagree with that especailly when it comes to this board. My first cruise was on Sovereign Of The Seas and if you went by the reviews back in 2008 when I cruised on her, you would have thought that Sovereign was a complete dump that should even be allowed to cruise on the open seas! i.e - A rust bucket, sewage smell all over, nasty food, bad entertainment, in need of this, in need of that and so on! I'd be willing to bet the bad reviews outweighed the good by 10 to one. I went on my 1st cruise on her anyway and had the time of my life, the ship was great, the food was good, and as far as entertainment, I'm not really a fan of cruise ship type production shows anyway on any ship so I just don't go anymore other than the magic shows, Ice shows, Quest etc. I didn't experience anything near what I was reading in those bad reviews. I'm glad I overlooked what I read and went on that cruise, because it is what made me have a love for cruising! :cool:

 

Based on what you have written here, you cruised on Sovereign back in 2008, when Royal was getting ready to decommission her and sell her to Pullmantr later that year. She still was able to give people a wonderful cruise, based on what you have described as your experience. By 2008, the bigger and more elaborate cruise ships were sailing the seas and people had forgotten what it was like to enjoy a cruise without the big "WOW" factor.

 

Then Monarch of the Seas was decommissioned and sold to Pullmantr, and soon Majesty of the Seas (the last remaining ship in the Sovereign Class) will

join her two sister ships. Majesty can still provide a wonderful cruise experience. DH and I have cruised her 10 times....she doesn't have the WOW factor of glitz and glamour, but a terrific staff that makes up for the restaurants she doesn't have and the activities you won't see like, Rock Climbing or Flowrider.

 

People should take a short weekend cruise on Her Majesty, to experience a great time with wonderful fellow cruisers.

[Tagsalong]

What is sad, is that everyones hands are tied, from the Captain on down, with cutbacks on staff, is putting more work on those onboard, hence they are not quite as outgoing, can't stop for that minute to talk, as they have a job to accomplish.

 

So, what one has experienced on the AOS, well, it's getting to be that way, pretty much across the whole fleet.

 

And, yes, just get used to it, because it's the way that Royal Caribbean is run, for now.

 

Rick

 

I agree, and will add a phrase that many an officer, especially hotel directors, has/have said to me - "We have many challenges ahead of us." I would like to say that some of the ships' personnel (officers and crew) handle those challenges better than others.

Edited June 24, 2014 by Tagsalong

[Paulette3028]

I agree, and will add a phrase that many an officer, especially hotel directors, has/have said to me - "We have many challenges ahead of us." I would like to say that some of the ships' personnel (officers and crew) handle those challenges better than others.

 

Regardless of the business (cruise line, hotel, retailer, supermarket etc) -- all businesses face challenges and employees all handle the challenges differently.

 

I work for a national retailer.....I get compliments on my customer service while other employees get none. I just handle everything with a smile, or even a little humor (regardless of how serious the situation is, a little light humor can break the tension).

 

Every business I know, and I was in consulting for over 20 years.....wants to spend less to provide their services to maximize the bottom line....this has been going on for years....nothing new here.

[nelblu]

We have cruised on the Adventure some 8 times out of San Juan. We cruise mostly in February to get away from the cold NE. It's a pleasure to arrive in San Juan when it's 80 degrees. The ports of calls are excellent and was even better when St. Marteen was in the loop on the Southern loop instead of St. Kitts. Never had a bad meal or a bad cruise. Over the 8 cruises we have seen the ship age as we do, however, everyone complains about staff cut-backs not only on this ship, but on other RCL ships--if there is, we've never seen it or felt it.

 

Also, had complaints that because it cruises out of Puerto Rico that there's a good amount of Latinos. Again, never affected the enjoyment of any of the cruise. Hey, we've cruised 3 times out of Barcelona and there a few Spaniards aboard, but so what. As long as you enjoy yourself. If one thinks that the entertainment on the AOS is mediocre, one should see the horrible entertainment on the Mediterranean cruises.

[TC1957]

When I read posts telling me things like this, I always take it with a grain of salt, kosher salt at that. Meaning -- food and entertainment are both very subjective. Are these two people difficult to make happy when they go out to a restaurant? Do they have unrealistic expectations of entertainment, when they are home, and find themselves disappointed?

 

I have ten friends and if we all go to the same restaurant and movies, 25% will like it and 25% will not like it and 50% will say it was "OK". It is just the truth.

 

Maybe when these people said, the only good meal they had was in Portofinos, was because they set a standard that the MDR could not deliver (it serves more people in a shorter period of time and has different cuts of meat because of the extra expense).

 

Some of my questions would be:

Did something break on the ship, that was not repaired?

Was the ship overall clean and did they see constant maintenance/cleaning going on in public places?

Did something unexpected happen to them that if it was at a land hotel, would have been handled better/differently?

Was the staff friendly and nice and attend to their needs?

Was there enough activities to choose from, regardless of whether THEY choose to participate in them or not?

 

 

Also, ships do age....as do hotels....and in the cruise industry, they have a ship come in for a refurbishment/renovation. This couple admits they went on the ship prior to its refurbishment.....well, they would have seen a different ship after the renovations....all nice and new and glitzy again.

 

Don't use too much salt...it is bad for you. And, if the person providing the review has sailed with a particular line many times this approach (in my opinion) is hogwash. They have a standard, set by the line, against which to measure. They know that the MDR food should be slightly above average when rated by the majority of frequent cruisers. If the food fails to reach that bar then the ship kitchen staff is falling short. Similarly if the entertainment fails to meet the typical "cruise ship entertainment" as defined by any respected entertainment critic that is good to know.

[lufty70]

We were on the AOS in Feb 2014. The staff, with a few exceptions, were very unhappy, sullen, and in some cases just plain rude. Esp out on the pool deck (we had to about trip them to get them to stop and take our order for a drink). Our dinner staff was very good and cheerful in the main dining. One day at lunch I was lucky enough to witness a fellow in the windjammer getting chastised quite loudly for not cutting the meat correctly... Was it enough to ruin the cruise? no, but it definitely was enough to put a tarnish on an otherwise nice vacation. I have to deal with rude unhappy people at work every day, I don't want to have to deal with them on vacation! Hopefully after the refit, the AOS got some different management that perked up the employees.

[pcur]

We don't leave our cabin until 10:30 - 11:00, so we are accustomed to it not being cleaned until later. We actually tell the room steward on emarkation day to expect to clean our room last.

 

We don't eat lunch in the dining room simply because the selections are always limited on all the ships.

 

My point is, as Paulette3028 stated, reviews are subjective to one's own expectations and standards, and one person's issue won't bother another person.

 

What does make a cruise better is COMMUNICATION. We have a rule of thumb: always tell the appropriate staff person what the problem is right away. The key words are "appropriate" and "right away". I don't know how many times I've read here on cruse critic that someone reported a problem to Customer Service. They are like a clearing house for issues. The cabin steward usually leaves a business card, the housekeeping phone number is on the phone, the maintenance phone number is on the phone. Call the department that actually solves the problem.

 

If we don't like something, we avoid it and go on, if possible. As an example, we will not be cruising on HAL again. Their dining hours are too early for us. It was a BIG problem on our cruise with them recently, but there was so much else we enjoyed that our overall impression was good. We just won't go again.

 

With this philosophy we enjoy all our cruises, and we know every cruise will have it's quirks and little issues.

Edited June 24, 2014 by pcur

[pcur]

Also, had complaints that because it cruises out of Puerto Rico that there's a good amount of Latinos. Again, never affected the enjoyment of any of the cruise. Hey, we've cruised 3 times out of Barcelona and there a few Spaniards aboard, but so what. As long as you enjoy yourself. If one thinks that the entertainment on the AOS is mediocre, one should see the horrible entertainment on the Mediterranean cruises.

 

I am always amused by people that complain about leaving from a foreign port, and the passengers one the ship are "different" or "foreign". What did they expect??????? If you cruise in parts of the world other than your home country (or nearby), you experience other cultures, languages, food, etc.

 

Personally, we've had issues with undisciplined children from the US, UK, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Spain, etc. Never stopped us from going back or cruising from that port.

 

If one steps outside their home bubble, they meet people from other bubbles! :D