*Live* Adventure of the Seas 8/31-9/7 Canada and New England

[Jzx1103]

Was going through cruise critic this morning and saw this. I figured it was you guys before even seeing the posts. (This is Jimmy btw)

[rimmit]

Was going through cruise critic this morning and saw this. I figured it was you guys before even seeing the posts. (This is Jimmy btw)

 

Lol. Yep! It’s us!

[jimbri]

Enjoying your review and blog!

[accio_7]

rimmit, if you're reading this, I think you made a typo in your Day Four blog because you are sailing on Adventure not Anthem LOL.

 

When we woke up on the Anthem at about 8:00 am, we were already docked in Portland, Maine.

Unless I suffer from reading comprehension and your family is truly onboard a different ship :P

 

Loving your live blog, keep up the great work!

[Yuridog]

I'm enjoying reading your review, lovely family. Looks like a great time!

[rimmit]

rimmit, if you're reading this, I think you made a typo in your Day Four blog because you are sailing on Adventure not Anthem LOL.

 

Unless I suffer from reading comprehension and your family is truly onboard a different ship :P

 

Loving your live blog, keep up the great work!

 

Thanks for catching that. We fixed it the other three times we tried to upload the article, but missed it the last time. lol.

 

Glad you're enjoying the blog!

[rimmit]

https://thesmallworldfamily.com/2018/09/04/canada-and-new-england-cruise-live-blog-day-5/

 

Day 5. Thanks for reading. Any feedback is greatly appreciated on how we can improve the live blog.

[Croozin Soozin]

I’m loving your blog!

[rimmit]

https://thesmallworldfamily.com/2018/09/05/canada-and-new-england-cruise-live-blog-day-6/

 

Day 6!

[4Orchids]

Thank you for a wonderful, beautiful review/blog.

[accio_7]

Just read the entry for Day Six, and absolutely loved those photos!

 

Looking forward to hearing about your adventures in Halifax and hope you all enjoyed your time in my home country :) I can't believe that this is Day Seven already, boooo :(

[Florida Glamazon]

Loving this blog!!! We just recently booked for April 2020 and can't waiiiiiit to board this lovely ship!!

[MJSailors]

Interesting blog and excellent photos !

Your children seem to keep up with a busy pace on this cruise. Do they ever take naps ?

[rimmit]

Day 7.

https://thesmallworldfamily.com/2018/09/07/canada-and-new-england-cruise-live-blog-day-7/

 

A little bit of a delay, but the internet was causing this to consume too much time on vacation, so we decided to wait till we hit land and had reliable internet.

 

Thanks for following along, and so i guess it’s a semilive blog now. Lol.

[rimmit]

Interesting blog and excellent photos !

Your children seem to keep up with a busy pace on this cruise. Do they ever take naps ?

 

Our seven-year-old son Has more energy than any human should. He never acquired naps, even when he was young. That is why we were able to travel so much during his infancy and toddler hood. Our daughter, who is now three, will rarely require naps at this age, and you can push her. She definitely does get a little fussy, however, if you push her too many days in a row.

 

For the most part, they travel really well, which is why we travel so much with them. But like any child, they have their moments.

[rimmit]

Just read the entry for Day Six, and absolutely loved those photos!

 

Looking forward to hearing about your adventures in Halifax and hope you all enjoyed your time in my home country :) I can't believe that this is Day Seven already, boooo :(

We were definitely sad to leave your country. I love Canada and have been there many times. Now that I have been to Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick the only province I have not been to is Nunavut.

[rimmit]

Last Day of Our Cruise

 

https://thesmallworldfamily.com/2018/09/08/canada-and-new-england-cruise-live-blog-day-8/

 

Stay tuned for some tour reviews.

[traveler1980]

I loved reading your travel blog. We are looking at a Spring Break cruise on the Adventure with our two boys (9 and 6). Could you tell us more about the kids club on board? We have only sailed a 3 day on RC before. We have sailed with our kids before on Holland America (too young to use kids club then), and on NCL (used kids club) and would love to hear more about what they offer. I am also not familiar with the dining offered while they are in kids club. Is that an additional charge? Do they give each family a phone for contact if needed? NCL we just left the location of where we were going to be. One time when we returned to the cabin (with the kids at that point) we had a message from kids club that one of our boys was very tired and wanted to be picked up. Missed that one! Any details would be much appreciated. Thank you!

[rimmit]

I loved reading your travel blog. We are looking at a Spring Break cruise on the Adventure with our two boys (9 and 6). Could you tell us more about the kids club on board? We have only sailed a 3 day on RC before. We have sailed with our kids before on Holland America (too young to use kids club then), and on NCL (used kids club) and would love to hear more about what they offer. I am also not familiar with the dining offered while they are in kids club. Is that an additional charge? Do they give each family a phone for contact if needed? NCL we just left the location of where we were going to be. One time when we returned to the cabin (with the kids at that point) we had a message from kids club that one of our boys was very tired and wanted to be picked up. Missed that one! Any details would be much appreciated. Thank you!

 

Hey! Thanks for reading our blog. You're getting ahead of the game in that my wife was planning on posting an article similar to that in the short future.

 

Either way, Adventure Ocean is awesome. We love it. We do mainly Disney or RCI, but have been on many other lines as well. There is only an additional charge after 10PM of 7.00/hour per child. This is called the late night party zone. They only give a phone if requested, and sometimes they hand them out randomly. It really is random. When we used the nursery, they always gave a phone out no matter what. For Adventure Ocean, it has been random, although we have requested it on a rare occasion. They have to be potty trained to go to the kids program, but that should not RCI is also pretty good at tracking your current location based on where you used your sea pass card last if you don't have a phone. Although, if you aren't using your sea pass card on the ship, that isn't helpful. If you want a DECT phone, they will get you one from our experience.

 

The hours on a sea day are 9-12, 2-5,7-2AM (surcharge after 10PM). There is also adventure time dining sometimes that bridges the gap between 5-7PM. This is done about 60-70% of the time. On a 7 night cruise typically 4 nights, and a 9 night cruise 5-6. 14 night cruise, around 9-10. Depends on the itinerary, but they always have it on a formal night. When in dock, there is continuous child care the entire time your ship is docked, so if you want to do an excursion without the kiddos, you can. We've never used that service, but it's available for you if you wanted to use it. They feed the kids lunch at that point as well.

 

For the dining there is no additional charge for any of the dining. It is included if it is available, and like I stated above it bridges the 5-7 gap in the program in the evenings. There is also My Family Time Dining, in which they will pick up your kids at the front of the main dining room at 6:40pm, and take them up to the kids program. Just let your waiter know that you are doing My Family Time Dining and they will expedite the kids meals, and your meals will come out at a normal pace. You can then finish the rest of your meal without the kiddos once they leave for Adventure Ocean.

 

Adventure Ocean is pretty strict about the age ranges of the programs when the ship has a lot of kids. These are 3-5,6-8,9-11. Kids can age down without issue, but aging up they tend to be stricter, but on sailings with few kids, like this one, they combine age groups. the 6-11 year olds were all in the same room together. I have never requested our child to age up, but I believe there is a little wiggle room to age a kid up. I think a couple months, but am not 100% sure, so don't take my word on that.

 

Most boats have a nursery, but the Adventure does not. From 2010-2013, RCI was installing nurseries on almost all the ships, but for some reason some came out of dry dock without one. This can be very important for parents with children under 3, but not in your case.

 

Please feel free to ask any other questions. Our kids have been in the nursery/Adventure Ocean from 9 months age till now, so we have logged many hours using Adventure Ocean. Thanks again for reading along.

 

And don't feel bad for missing the phone call. We have missed several calls, sometimes for accidents, sometimes cuz they were fussy and tired. They cannot be crying in the kids program, and if one starts crying they all start crying, so they will try and track you down if that happens.

Edited September 9, 2018 by rimmit

[traveler1980]

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. That gave us a much better look at options we didn't know were possible with the dining. Do you feel like the activities they provide are entertaining? Keep the kids wanting to come back? Our kids have only used the NCL kids club and I feel like our youngest was engaged, but our oldest wasn't really interested. Made it hard for us to drop them off. We do hope to utilize the kids club on Adventure!

[rimmit]

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. That gave us a much better look at options we didn't know were possible with the dining. Do you feel like the activities they provide are entertaining? Keep the kids wanting to come back? Our kids have only used the NCL kids club and I feel like our youngest was engaged, but our oldest wasn't really interested. Made it hard for us to drop them off. We do hope to utilize the kids club on Adventure!

 

The kids had a better time in the kids club on this boat than any previous cruise, this includes both the Disney Fantasy and Disney Wonder, and those kids programs make me want to be a kid just so I can participate.

 

Some of the cruise ship staff remembered them from a Grandeur cruise we did in March, so maybe that helped, as they had a built in relationship with some of the staff.

 

They have a large variety of age appropriate activities. I would be more worried of a 9 year old getting bored, but at 9 they can sign themselves out if you are comfortable with them doing that. They cannot sign themselves out on a port day, however, to prevent them from randomly leaving the ship.

 

They have themes for the days activities typically as well. For the younger ones, it's like "Pirate Night" "Birthday Party Time" "Super Hero Night", etc. For the older kids, they are more like Hollywood night, Sports Night, etc.

 

Overall, our kids kept asking to go back. On some other ships, their enthusiasm can wax and wane throughout the cruise based on what activities they may do, but this cruise for some reason, my daughter is still asking to "Go back on the boat" and "Go to kids club." Our kids are also extroverts to the EXTREME, so that helps. If your child is an introvert, it may be more difficult for them to make friends. Definitely don't miss the first night though, as that is when everyone is new, and when cliques can start forming.

 

Hope that helps.

[rimmit]

https://thesmallworldfamily.com/2018/09/10/olis-trolleys-4-hour-acadia-national-park-review/

 

Review of our Acadia National park tour.

[Jzx1103]

https://thesmallworldfamily.com/2018/09/10/olis-trolleys-4-hour-acadia-national-park-review/

 

Review of our Acadia National park tour.

 

I loved the pics you took in Acadia, ended up showing my dad the pics you took instead of the ones we took. Heck we were on the same tour anyways. :D

[rimmit]

I loved the pics you took in Acadia, ended up showing my dad the pics you took instead of the ones we took. Heck we were on the same tour anyways. :D

 

Thanks!

 

You saw everything at the exact same time we did. :). If you like my photography feel free to stroll through my Facebook photo albums. When i has more time to take pics i used to do a ton of photography. Also used to do weddings and other photo shoots as well.

[kccrzr]

Thank you for taking the time to post. Your blog was great and loved the photos. It is interesting that there was a make your own drink table in the diamond lounge. We will be on Adventure next month for a snowbird migration cruise from Quebec to Florida, so will have to check out the diamond lounge.

 

If you make it back to Acadia, definitely make reservations for Jordan Pond House. The food is great and the location even better when the weather is nice and you can sit at a table on the lawn to eat. We will be taking Olie's trolley this time around since there is no convenient rental car location in Bar Harbor, so I enjoyed learning more about your experience on the tour.