First time on Royal (Adventure, 3/31/18): The good, bad, and odd.

[C Dog]

We recently got back from the March 31st sailing of Adventure of the Seas. This was my family’s first time on Royal, having previously sailed only on Norwegian (Pearl and Escape). We are a family of four (me, wife, son age 9, daughter age 7), and we stayed in the 2 bedroom Royal Family Suite; room 8394. We picked this sailing over Norwegian primarily because of the itinerary. Royal seems to have much more interesting Caribbean routes; the vast majority of Norwegian’s Caribbean sailings are western ports which we have already done. Overall we had a great time, and even the “bad” things only disappointed for about 10 minutes since there was so much fun to be had.

 

The Good:

Ship layout - Easy to navigate. The royal promenade is awesome (Norwegian’s atriums are tiny).

 

Activities - Lots, from water slides to mini golf to ice skating

 

Cleanliness - Seemed like cleanliness was a priority… even saw a crew member wiping down the controls on the games in the arcade.

 

Crew - room attendant was great; seemed to know exactly when we needed her yet wasn’t intrusive... cleaned up my kids’ messes and even staged their stuffed animals with the towel animals in different poses each night. Also, assistant waiter in the MDR cut my kids’ food for them… wow!

 

Itinerary - Everything was on time, no missed ports, and Royal even arranged perfect weather for us!

 

The Bad:

Room service - The first and only time we ordered it (breakfast), we never got it, at least in the 30 minute window we selected. Ten minutes after the end of the 30 minute window, they called and said they were busy and it would be another 10 minutes. As we had to meet for a shore excursion at that time, we unfortunately had to cancel and wait until after our 3.5 hour tour to eat at lunch.

 

The Arcade - Many games non-functional. A few were clearly labeled as out of order, but many (at least 4) took money yet didn’t work (skee-ball didn’t release balls, air hockey didn’t release puck, etc). We also had a playstation in our suite, but never could get it to work. Neither a big deal; we don’t cruise to play arcade/video games, but would advise not buying prepaid video game credits.

 

Specialty dining food - MDR food was satisfactory. Got talked into Giovanni’s the first night for a discount. They bragged about the filet mignon being the same as that served in Chops. Well, I won’t say it was the worst steak I have ever had (salisbury steak in school cafeterias might be worse), but it was the worst filet mignon I’ve ever had. Seriously doubt that was even the cut of meat they claimed. Tasted like lab-engineered meat or something… (Do they use a filler? Tofu? I don’t know but it didn’t even taste like real meat). My wife got the same thing and it tasted the same. Didn’t go back to any specialty restaurants. (I know taste is subjective, but Norwegian’s food is much better in my opinion, and, even ignoring the quality of food, NCL has much more selection… even on their smaller ships).

 

The Odd:

Booze smuggling? - The first night all of our suitcases had arrived by dinner except my wife’s… so she couldn’t get dressed for dinner. Our room steward assured us it would come eventually. It did; after 10:00 pm, with a sticker on the tag saying “ALCOHOL”. When we opened the suitcase there was another notice referencing their alcohol policy and the contents they seized, which… was left blank. Unsurprising, since we didn’t smuggle any alcohol on board.. It’s even stranger because there was nothing in the suitcase that could have even resembled alcohol on a scanner. No bottles, nothing. Just clothes. We did pack some sunscreen, but that was in my daughter’s luggage which made it through just fine. Incidentally, we had already bought the deluxe beverage package so would have no need to smuggle alcohol.

 

Apologies for nothing - Midway through the trip, we got a voicemail from the concierge saying he heard about the slow service in the dining room, apologized, and was contacting them to rectify it. However, we never complained about this and actually thought the pace in the MDR was just fine. Nonetheless, we got the standard apology chocolate-covered strawberries later in our stateroom. (Maybe it was a miscommunication from the late/no-show room service from above, although we didn’t complain about that either)

 

Anyway, nothing scared us off Royal, and while we prefer the relaxed, freestyle dining on Norwegian, we are surely trying Royal again. Actually, we have a deposit on Oasis in November for the 2 bedroom aqua theater suite… can’t wait.

[Clarea]

Odd that you mention the suitcase held by security for alcohol. Same thing happened to us on 3/10 Adventure cruise. No liquid at all in the suitcase. We finally fetched it around 9am on the first night.

[BillOh]

Thanks for posting, interesting read. I don't play video games, but I'm not surprised as they get used hard by kids who aren't gentle. I imagine getting credit was/is a pain. Most times I've heard of people getting notifications about alcohol in their luggage, they had to go down and have the suitcase opened in their presence. I wonder if this is a new policy? Like you, I wonder what they took out if anything.

[nalatrixie74]

glad overall you enjoyed your cruise. strange about the alcohol. did you say anything about the meat? they really should have your feedback on it so they have a chance to improve. thanks for posting your experience!

[Tahina cruising]

I'm glad you liked Royal Caribbean. I just have to comment on the filet mignon. I was on a different ship in January, Serenade of the Seas, and I ordered the upcharged filet mignon in the main dining room that was supposed to be from Chops. We ate at Chops the first night which was very good. The steak I received in the main dining room for $16 was similar to what you described. It was pretty bad.

 

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[B&J_Pgh]

Odd that you mention the suitcase held by security for alcohol. Same thing happened to us on 3/10 Adventure cruise. No liquid at all in the suitcase. We finally fetched it around 9am on the first night.

 

happened to me March 17 because of magnets.

[Clarea]

happened to me March 17 because of magnets.

They thought the magnets were alcohol?

[asalligo]

Someone has to expound on this issue. How is RC mistaking magnets for alcohol and when they realize their mistake why are people still getting the notice in the luggage? Was nothing removed from your luggage?

[Big_G]

Odd that you mention the suitcase held by security for alcohol. Same thing happened to us on 3/10 Adventure cruise. No liquid at all in the suitcase. We finally fetched it around 9am on the first night.

 

Ummm...maybe too many mentions of you in Rick's review made you a target?

[Clarea]

Ummm...maybe too many mentions of you in Rick's review made you a target?

Never thought of that!:eek:

[toyman55]

If may disrupt their scanners, especially the more powerful magnets.

[LadyLaker]

It was my suitcase.. nothing was removed, and there weren’t any magnets. We didn’t have to go and retrieve it either. It was in our room when we returned for the evening.

 

 

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[B&J_Pgh]

happened to me March 17 because of magnets.

 

We had ask about my bag because DH was delivered and we're told I needed to go down to security and open my bag for theme. I felt like a criminal had no idea why. I was asked over and over and over if there were any liquids. There were none. No spray bottles, nothing. Those were in DH's bag which had cleared.

 

I even left the magnets in the original packaging just in case because we keep running into wierd situations like a "sinister" picture frame in my caryon.

[Tyler80]

C Dog & LadyLaker,

 

Thanks for your review. I'm sorry you had a mishap with a prohibited item search. This shouldn't happen and obviously Royal Caribbean needs some quality improvement in this area. A mistake like this can often be a slap in the face and make a bad impression on the first day of a cruise for a new customer.

 

You both are obviously well traveled and know how to shrug off a non-issue and not let it ruin your well deserved vacation. On behalf of all of us, welcome to Royal Caribbean. We're glad you'll be sailing again. Oasis of the Seas is a magnificent ship. Enjoy!

[ButterflyGA]

So, I am confused now. I get that you didnt have alcohol, and still got the bag searched. But I thought that you could bring Wine with you (2 bottles per cabin). So they are talking about hard alcohol (rum, vodka ect) or are you supposed to bring the wine with you, through security, when you come in the ship? Can you put the wine in your suitcase???