Adventure of the Seas review - June 25-July 2

[descotes]

Just got back from the Adventure of the Seas ship. First time since our honeymoon leaving out of San Juan (Monarch of the Seas) and maybe the last.

 

This was our second cruise with our kids DS16 and DS13 (14 in a month - I'll get back to that) and our 5th RCCL cruise.

 

Pre-Embarkation

 

We flew from JFK to SJU on Friday morning and stayed at the Hilton Condado. Hotel was very nice and sufficient for what we wanted. It was an early morning so we were tired. We hung by the pool mostly. Didn't tour around San Juan at all. Had dinner by CC recommendation at Ropa Veija Grill which is right near our hotel. It was amazing food. Everything we ate was fantastic.

 

Embarkation

 

I heard bad story's about the port so wanted to get there and get on. Had no issues at the port getting on or getting off. Key is to get on early and get off early.

 

Saturday had breakfast at Denny's (in the hotel) and headed off to the ship. Since we got their earlier in the day - around 11:00-11:30 we had no issues getting on the boat. It was nice. But we got on and the rooms don't open till 2:00 so we walked around. Adventure looks exactly like the Freedom (our last ship) so we pretty much knew where everything was. We weren't hungry because we just had breakfast so when we were done walking and getting drinks we sat in the library until we could get to our room.

 

DH had the Premium drink package. Both boys had the soda package and I happily stopped at CVS in San Juan and brought Pepsi for myself on the ship.

 

Cabin

 

We had connecting balcony cabins with the boys (7630 & 7632) near the elevators which I like. Our cabin steward Pam was fine and nice. On the first day we asked her to take the 2 waters in both fridges out so we weren't accidentally charged for them as we had our own soda and DH also bought the water package that was in the room when we got there. She said she couldn't take them out of the room (which they've always done in the past) and told DH to just hide them so he put them under the bed. It also took a while to have someone come and unlock the connecting door because Pam couldn't do it.

 

The balcony was small and the glass was so dirty and a bit gross you couldn't see out of it so sitting wasn't very relaxing. Didn't sit out there much. The boys didn't really use it at all so they're getting an inside room next time. Although I really liked have the connecting door. Made the room feel bigger.

 

Food/Dining

 

Our table was in a corner which wasn't great but wasn't too bad. Our MDR waiter Seddley was ok. He wrote our names down the first night and then asked us again the second night. His assistant Ruben was horrible. We had a joke that he secretly hated my DH even though nothing happened. He wouldn't come with water, he would look at us and walk the other way instead of seeing if we needed anything. The drink guy Shawn was ok but DH once got up and interrupted him at another table to put in his drink order since he never came by. I think he got the hint after that and was a bit more attentive but that was almost the end of the cruise. We have never eaten at the Windjammer for dinner and we did this cruise.

 

The food in the dining room was not great. For the first 2 nights I was disappointed. The 3rd night the food was better. The 4th night we had dinner at Giovanni's table. Way too much food but it was good and the service was so much better than the dining room. 5th night we went to the WJ for dinner and I think I ate more there that night then I did in the dining room the first 3 days. Just had a good selection I guess. 6th night was lobster night so we went to the dining room and the 7th was the last night so we ate there too. It wasn't good the last night but by the 6-7th nights the service was better because they want your rating and an extra tip. Breakfast we did in our room because of early excursions and when on the ship at the WJ. It was fine.

 

I like that they have the menus for the dining room. I wish they did something like this for the main courses in the WJ. I know it's a buffet and there's a lot but usually they have a few main entrees with the usual hamburgers, etc. if I don't like anything in the dining room it was hit or miss because the WJ didn't open till like a half hour after our dining room seating.

 

Entertainment

 

I think I fell asleep in most of the shows. The Motown guys were the best out of them. The comedian was eh. His first night of juggling was good then he did an adult comedy that I could have had both my kids at and not be uncomfortable. Love and Marriage was cute. Quest was fun. Last comedian had like no material. His friends were FaceTiming in jokes. It wasn't good.

 

Ports

 

The theme of the week was wind. The weather was beautiful everyday but it was windy. To the point that Thursday night they closed the doors to the outside decks.

 

St. Maartin

 

St. Maartin was nice. We did Bernard's Tour with the Mailman. DH and I had did the tour when we were in the Oasis but took the kids this time. We went to Maho first because the KLM plane was supposed to get in at 10:55. We got there at 9:30 and the plane didn't land until 12 something. At that point I was done. Way too long there and it was very hot. We didn't go in the beach because we didn't want to be wet and sandy the rest of the day. So it was really long and really hot at Maho beach. We had seen a few planes come in but our tour guide was waiting for the 747. The rest of the tour was great and I'm glad we did the beach for the last stop.

 

Bonaire

 

We did Woodwind tour as per the suggestion on CC. Note: you have to book this Tour probably a year out. It was very windy but the weather was beautiful. Woodwind is a very well-run operation. They are very nice and they help you with everything. They even give you a personal guide to point things out and to help when needed. They also have a professional photographer on board who goes in the water and takes pictures of your family and things you're seeing and sells it for $40. The pictures we saw were amazing so we bought it. They give you a nice little lunch on the way back in which was very good. I would highly recommend them.

 

Aruba

 

In Aruba we did the Jolly pirate tour. We were with another family so all together there were 10 of us (6 of them - 4 of us). They had these taxi vans so we just figured we would all get in together. They have some racket out there. They said they couldn't take us all together but they can only take 5 in each van. I just figured it was to get more money because there was plenty of room in the van for all of us.

 

We were dropped off at the holiday inn which turns out to be a bit of a walk to get to the pirate boat

 

The wind was really bad so the snorkeling was really rough. The kids really liked the rope swing and the crew was so much fun. They also gave a nice barbecue lunch. I would also definitely recommend this tour

 

When we got back to the beach I took the kids parasailing and then we relaxed on Moomba Beach

 

On the way back our friends wanted to leave a little bit before us and walked all the way to get a taxi back at the Holiday Inn and then had to walk back because again the taxi said it was some kind of law that they couldn't have more than five people and they had six. So they brought their daughter back to us and we were on our way out anyway so she came back to the ship with us. But I think that's really ridiculous and a lot of money in taxis if you're traveling with more than five people in Aruba.

 

Curaçao

 

On another CC recommendation we went on Irie tours. The tour around the city wasn't great. The Blue Curaçao distillery was very small and our tour guide was nothing to write home about. The sea aquarium beach was very nice which we had about two hours at. Wasn't too impressed with this port. Again a very windy day.

 

The Ship

 

The ship itself has it's typical wear spots and I'm sure will be much better after it is refurbished.

 

"HelloChloe" was ok as a cruise director. We actually had to have a meeting with her about my son. On the Freedom my kids made tons of friends and were in the same group and never came back to the room before the 1:00 curfew. There are lots of kids/teens on the ship but not a lot of them went to the teen club area where my kids like to go and hang out. The next cruise guy said the week before we got on there were like 30 quinceaneras on board. There were a lot this one too.

 

My son's birthday is August 3 and we went on The freedom around the same time two years ago. At that time my older son was 14 and my younger son was three weeks from 12 so we had no issues moving him into the same group as my older son. This cruise my older son is 16 and my younger son is three weeks from 14. The groups are split 12 through 14 and 15 through 17. My older son is a bit immature for his age and my younger son is way mature for his age. On the first night mice younger son came into our room at midnight. We asked him why he said because there's like 2-5 kids in my age group. There was more in the older group.

 

We wanted to move him up to my older sons group and after going through a few people had to meet with the cruise director. They all blah blah'd me with RCCL rules "Safety concerns". These are 15–17-year-old kids. I can understand your safety issues if kids were drinking. These kids are not. And I was willing to sign something do you give my permission to move him up. I am paying a lot of money for this cruise. And my son doesn't need to be miserable. That should have been the end of it. They put me off to give it one more night and in the end since there weren't a lot of kids they didn't do a lot of the activities and instead just hung around all together.

 

We did one sea day at the pool and the second at the solarium. The solarium was much better without all the kids.

 

We got no invitations to anything. On the first day I went to the desk to ask when the Meet and Mingle was because there was no invite in my room. They told me when it was and I thought they'd get me another invite as it was on Day 4 @ 5:00 and not on Day 3 which was the sea day. Glad I have a decent memory still because I got nothing. Boarding time on Day 4 was 4:30 or 5:00 which is probably why there were 60 people signed up and 5 people who showed up.

 

Then there was the Crown and Anchor party that our friends told us about that they got an invite to in their room and again we didn't. It was formal night and I always change right after dinner anyway so we changed and went to the party only to get there and be told the invite says its a "formal" party. Yeah well if we would have gotten the invite we would have known that. So we had to go back to the room to change again. Wasn't happy.

 

Overall

 

It was ok. I'd never complain about being on a beautiful ship for a week. I probably wouldn't leave out of PR again unless the itinerary called for it and would probably stick to more medium-large ships.

 

If anyone has any questions, let me know.

Edited July 3, 2016 by descotes

[MikeBayAreaCa]

I pretty much agree with everything you said. A week at sea can't be too bad, but it could have been much better.

 

 

 

We went to the Windhammer on the last night because we wanted to eat early and get ready to leave early on Saturday.

 

Lunch in the main dining room on he last sea day was good. They had a very nice salad bar.

 

My wife became ill from the ship rocking during the top tier event so we had to leave.

[cruiseturbo]

We are sailing this same itinerary in Sept and love all of the planning up until the cruise gets here. So thank you both for sharing your thoughts and comments with us!

 

Do either of you happen to have the cruise compasses from this sailing that you can upload here?

 

Thank you!

[descotes]

I didn't keep them. Sorry

[Clarea]

Nice report, thanks.:)

[cruiseturbo]

I didn't keep them. Sorry

 

No worries!

 

Just came across another review for the same week and he posted them.

 

Appreciate your thoughts and review!

[CruisinBlondie28]

I was on this same cruise, I kept all the compasses. I'll try to remember to grab them to scan and upload!

[Debitoo]

Thank you for the report!

[danp]

When we are in Aruba we take the bus to the beach, if they would have taken the bus from the holiday inn it would have cost them $1 each and they would get the bus in front of the inn and it end across the street from the dock

[bup1224]

It's too bad you didn't enjoy this cruise, especially Curacao. There is so much to do and see there that in 2 vacations there we still haven't seen it all

[KMagz]

Thanks for the review. We were on the same sailing with you. We chose this sailing more for the ports than the ship. And for us, the ports were *spectacular.* Everything on the ship operated as can be expected but it is showing its age here and there. I'll try to post photos of one of our balconies to show you what I mean. We still prefer Fort Lauderdale to sail from but had some wonderful meals in Condado and a great day in Old San Juan.

 

 

[KMagz]

Our rusty balconies were offset by this...... (Aruba) :)

 

Edited July 14, 2016 by KMagz