Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Adventure of the Seas 9/12/15 Review

barnes061805

By barnes061805,
in Royal Caribbean International

 Share

Recommended Posts

barnes061805

barnes061805

Posted
Posted

Hello! Came back Saturday from a great cruise aboard Adventure of the Seas. I read every single review for Adventure since I booked last June, so thought I'd add mine.

 

My husband (32) and I (33) booked this cruise as our 10 year anniversary trip. We had an aft balcony cabin, 9692, and both had the premium beverage package. This was his third cruise, all on Royal and my seventh, 6 on Royal one on Disney. Our Honeymoon 10 years ago was on a Voyager class ship, so knew what to expect. Left the kids at home with Grandma and Grandpa and prepared to have a great time.

 

We flew in to San Juan from Indiana on Friday 9/11/15. We landed late, 10:30 pm, and grabbed a cab right outside baggage claim to take us to Hotel Plaza de Armas in Old San Juan. Cab was $25 for two passengers, two bags, late night to Old San Juan. The hotel was small and we paid for a "suite" with a courtyard view. The elevator was super slow and the room was okay. The courtyard outside was very noisy, but we were just there to sleep. Got up in the morning and were going to wait until 11 to cab it to the pier, but decided to head out at 10:15. Went outside and grabbed a taxi right out front. Cost of the cab from hotel to pier was $16.

 

Got to the pier and in line to go inside at 10:30, they opened the door at 11. There were about 20 people in front of us, including the suite and diamond line. Embarkation was super fast and easy as I had already checked in online. We then went to sit in the seats and wait for the door to open to let us on to the ship! We expected the doors to open at 11:30, but it was closer to noon before they let us on. Once they opened the door, we were on our way! We made our way to the Windjammer before it could get busy and had a little lunch. We then spent the next 2 hours exploring the ship. Our room was ready right at 2 and our suitcases came literally as we were walking down the hallway to go to our room. Fastest we've ever gotten them! Our stateroom attendant was Franklyn, but we didn't meet him until dinner time. He was great!

 

We ate at Giovanni's the first night. The filet was so delicious! We ate dinner in the dining room the rest of the cruise. Our waiter was Venkata and his assistant was Wilma. Venkata was very nice and always willing to bring two appetizers, multiple entrees, etc. If we were unsure between two dishes, he brought both. My husband loves lobster, so he brought him 4! We thought, for the most part, the food was very good in the dining room. We ate at Windjammer for breakfast twice and lunch once. It was okay, about what you would expect for buffet food. We had room service for breakfast once and lunch once, and it was good. We had a few things from café promenade, again it was good. Nothing to write home about.

 

We liked going to Nicholae in the Duck and Dog as our bartender. He was a little slow, but very sweet and willing to talk about his life on the ship. His wife worked in the casino too. We had no trouble getting service at any of the bars or the pool. We were in the Duck and Dog one evening and the people behind us were complaining that it was taking a long time, but still stood there instead of going to the empty sports bar across the promenade. Oh well, to each their own. We did see one gentleman in the Duck and Dog who was very upset they were not serving him and serving others around him. He eventually left and the bartender mentioned they would have gotten in trouble if they served him because he was too impaired. Nice to see they watch for that.

 

We went to the Can't Stop the Rock show and the show about dance (can't remember the name!) The stop the rock show was very good, I thought the singers and dancers were very good on this cruise compared to others I've seen. Didn't really care for the dance show, but it didn't last very long. We went to one of the headliner shows, Marcus Terrell and the Serenades, and left after about 20 minutes. Apparently he was on some reality shows like American Idol and America's Got Talent. He said the show would be a musical journey through his reality tv time? He sang some songs from the 60's, which were pretty good, but it was kind of boring, so we left. We were going to go see the comedians, but fell asleep. We went to the ice show and thought it was kind of weird :-) We went to the piano bar 3 different nights and really enjoyed him. His name was Dan Davies. We also listened to the guitar player in the Duck and Dog one evening, I think his name was Brian Raith. He was very good.

 

The ports of call were great, we went to St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados. It rained all day in Antigua, so we didn't see much. We had one day at sea at the end of the cruise.

 

Disembarkation was easy, took about 30 minutes from the time we were off the ship until we made it to our transfer.

 

One thing of interest, there were hardly any children on the cruise. It was the least amount of kids I've ever seen on a cruise. Was really nice!

 

About the room: Loved, loved, loved the balcony. It was larger than the standard balcony. We had two loungers, two chairs, and a nice sized table on the balcony. Plenty of storage.

 

About the ship: The ship was in great shape. I know other people have mentioned in reviews the ship looked tired, rust, etc. There was some of that to be sure, it definitely wasn't brand spanking new. However, everything was clean, they were always cleaning, and everything worked. The ship was great!

 

About the entertainment: Singers and dancers were good. Headliners, I could give or take. The cruise director, Dan Dan, was okay. Went to the casino a few times and played bingo once.

 

About the pools: Spent all of our pool time in the Solarium. It was warm, not too crowded on port days and bar service was great. On the sea day, deck patrol was out making sure chairs were not being reserved for over 30 minutes.

 

About the food: Mostly good!

 

About the beverage package: Loved not having to worry about the cost of drinks and how many we were getting. My husband definitely came out ahead and I probably broke even. We were both definitely done with drinking by the last day. :-) It was really great to have this part of the vacation already paid for. Our bill at the end of the cruise was only $45!

 

About the ports: Loved visiting the different ports. Barbados was our favorite. In St. Maarten we booked a tour with Bernard's tours and it was great seeing both sides of the island and all the different stops and all the information they provided! In St. Kitts we book a RC tour to SNUBA. First time to SNUBA and we fell in love. It was amazing and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Just wish we would have went to a better reef. Didn't do anything in Antigua and St. Lucia. We did do some shopping in the port of St. Lucia. In Barbados, we booked a RC tour to sail on a Tiami catamaran and snorkel with Sea Turtles. It was really cool to see the turtles and we spent a little time at a beach that wasn't too crowded. Barbados had the best looking water. It was so clear and so blue.

 

Overall, we had a great time and would definitely book that room and this cruise again! If you are on the fence about going on the Adventure, go! It was great!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mlmbar

mlmbar

Posted
Posted

We were on the same cruise and I totally agree with everything you said. Probably saw you in the Solarium because that is where we spent most of our days. LOVED that there were no children! LOL! I forgot to mention in my review what a GREAT job the Pool Patrol did. They were taking towels and cleaning up constantly. Service was superb (except for our steward who was almost non existent and had an attitude the one time we did see her ). SO so glad that there is still a Viking Crown Lounge. We had a JS and it was just lovely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nicksmom82

Nicksmom82

Posted
Posted

Hi Barnes061805

Enjoyed reading your thoughts upon your trip on the AOS!! We're big time cruisers w/ RCCL. This will be our 5th time sailing on the AOS. But it's been many years since our last sailing w/ them. Picked this one due to the many islands we'll be visiting. Can you just let me know,are they still charging the $25 service fee for getting towels thru them if not returned??

Any specifics on the entertainment- I read you touched base upon this. Sailing w/ RCCL to me is kind of "lacking" in that category. If you could tell me any details on that I'd really appreciate it.

Have a great day !! And my count down is on. . . . . Oh one more question,how was the "LOOK" for the Formal Nights??? I've heard HORROR stories w/ this? What is the majority ruling here, up or down. We're traveling w/ our dear friends & the four of us enjoy dressing to the 9'ssssssss for these nights!

 

Thank's😎

Link to comment
Share on other sites
raftrider

raftrider

Posted
Posted

I'm not a big poster except in roll calls but I just wanted to say this was an awesome little review! And it's made me so excited for Oct 24. I'll be on the adventure and in the very same room you were in. To funny!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
barnes061805

barnes061805

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Hi Barnes061805

Enjoyed reading your thoughts upon your trip on the AOS!! We're big time cruisers w/ RCCL. This will be our 5th time sailing on the AOS. But it's been many years since our last sailing w/ them. Picked this one due to the many islands we'll be visiting. Can you just let me know,are they still charging the $25 service fee for getting towels thru them if not returned??

Any specifics on the entertainment- I read you touched base upon this. Sailing w/ RCCL to me is kind of "lacking" in that category. If you could tell me any details on that I'd really appreciate it.

Have a great day !! And my count down is on. . . . . Oh one more question,how was the "LOOK" for the Formal Nights??? I've heard HORROR stories w/ this? What is the majority ruling here, up or down. We're traveling w/ our dear friends & the four of us enjoy dressing to the 9'ssssssss for these nights!

 

Thank's😎

 

Thanks for the kind thoughts.

 

For the towels, there is a sign that says they will charge the $25 if not returned, but I don't know if they actually do. They scan your seapass when you take one when leaving the ship and scan it when you return the towel. They do not scan your card when you are using them in the pool area.

 

Entertainment...There was a welcome back show, we didn't go to that. There was the Can't Stop the Rock Show, and a Dance themed show. There was a headliner show with Marcus Terrell and the Serenades, which we didn't care for. There was a show with two comedians, their names escape me at the moment. There was a late night comedy show with a different comedian. One ice show that they performed three different times. There was a piano player in the Schooner Bar every night from 10-midnight. There was a guitar player in the Duck and Dog every night from about 10-late. There were other little bands and such set up, but not quite sure where and when. They had the Love and Marriage game show, we did see that and it was the same as always, but still funny to me! They had the Quest gameshow. They had a lot of little trivia contests. There was also the farewell show. Hope this helps!

 

Formal nights...definitely saw everything from maxi dresses to glitzy dresses. It really did run the whole spectrum, but I think it leaned more towards dressy. Everyone I saw looked great and very pretty. I didn't see any tuxes on the men, though. Most wore suit coat and ties. I think you'd be fine dressing to the 9's based on my cruise. :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
barnes061805

barnes061805

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I'm not a big poster except in roll calls but I just wanted to say this was an awesome little review! And it's made me so excited for Oct 24. I'll be on the adventure and in the very same room you were in. To funny!!

 

You'll love the cruise and balcony! I was frustrated there weren't a lot of pictures of this room leading up to the cruise, so I'll try to post some when I get a chance. The balcony was really big and the view was very calming. We loved it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
barnes061805

barnes061805

Posted
  • Author
Posted
We were on the same cruise and I totally agree with everything you said. Probably saw you in the Solarium because that is where we spent most of our days. LOVED that there were no children! LOL! I forgot to mention in my review what a GREAT job the Pool Patrol did. They were taking towels and cleaning up constantly. Service was superb (except for our steward who was almost non existent and had an attitude the one time we did see her ). SO so glad that there is still a Viking Crown Lounge. We had a JS and it was just lovely.

 

I bet we did see you at the Solarium! It was a little strange to see only adults in pretty much every pool! There was one little boy about 9 or 10 who came to swim in the Solarium on the day we were in St. Lucia, but the pool patrol came and told him to move to the other pool. I saw in your review you went to the helipad. I forgot to put in my review that we went there pretty much every day! It was one of our favorite spots. During the day was really nice, but especially at night when you could look up and just literally see thousands of stars and we were pretty much the only two people we ever saw up there. Too bad your steward was unfriendly, but glad you had a good cruise too!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
raftrider

raftrider

Posted
Posted

I'll keep following this thread to see any photos you post. We do have the same itinerary as you did. This will be our first Aft balcony. Our friends have both corner rooms and we have the same room you had. I've been worried I would be disappointed if I don't get to sit on my balcony and see us coming and going into the ports but our friends say we will love it back there too!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 3 weeks later...
krazy4kruisin

krazy4kruisin

Posted
Posted

Great Pics! Thank you for sharing. I will be in cabin 9392 in March. This will be my first southern caribbean cruise & my first aft cabin. My hubby & I are celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. So looking forward to it! I would love to see pics if you have the time! Thank you for sharing!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...