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Adventures of the Seas- A few take aways

sdear

By sdear,
in Royal Caribbean International

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sdear

sdear

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     Just got off a 6 night cruise on Adventure.  Overall, the ship is in very good shape.   We had JS 1334 and it was in great shape.   This cruise made us D+ and our 20th cruise on RCI.  

A few take aways : 

     All staff friendly and available.  Food in Windjammer and dining room was very good.   We did a 3 night dining package, so only ate in there twice.  Did Johnny Rockets for lunch one day and evening.  Stateroom attendant was fantastic. 

 

     We had the refreshment package.  Got it on a black Friday deal and would do it again in a heart beat.   (15/day)  .  Our coffee alone made it worthwhile.   

 

     We bought the Voom +Stream for 15.99/day for 2 devices , and it actually worked quite well.   We were able to text each other, and family at home, and also check in on our house cameras.  I was surprised how fast it was.  

 

     We did Chops two nights.  First night...wasn't that great.  The last night of the cruise it was much better.  Busy on both nights.  We did Giovanni's one night, and it was fantastic.   I highly recommend the Osso Bucco. It was great.   

 

     Now the "not so good".   I am a perpetual planner.   For months I read cruise critic, checked the planner, and plotted out what we would do each day onboard.  I bought the bottomless galley brunch and the sushi class from the RCI website.  The galley brunch was offered both sea days, so I opted to buy it on the first sea day, so I could do the sushi class on the last sea day.  Timing for both worked for what we had planned.   So on the first sea day,  we show up at the dining room as stated on the reservation, and they tell me there isn't a galley brunch today.   I had my receipt in hand showing the booking from the RCI website.  They said " we never do one on the first sea day".   They said we could come on the last sea day, which meant  I now had to cancel the sushi class.   Well, the only other sushi class was during the last sea day at the same time as the galley brunch..so I told them to cancel me for the sushi class.   Low and behold he says wait, we are doing a sushi class Wednesday at 530 pm and could go to that one.  I thought great !  We didn't have a set dinner that night, so I had them put me down for that one.   Wednesday the phone rings.   They cancelled the Wednesday sushi class.   grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr to say the least.   I told them to make sure to refund my money.  Frustrated I went to guest services and they were totally useless.  They told me there is never a galley brunch on the first sea day etc etc, and just plan on going to the galley brunch on last sea day, and sorry about your luck on the sushi class.  They would not credit my seapass since I paid for it online, but assured me I would get a refund.  ( I am sure I will have to make 10 calls)   So Friday morning gets here and the manager of the dining room calls to apologize about the sushi class, and said he would see me at 11 at the galley brunch.   We get there at 11 prompt, and it started at 1030 !!!!!   The manager ended up giving us a private tour, which was nice, but I was over it all by this time.   The food they served at the galley brunch was very fair.   Never again .  This whole experience makes me leary to book anything online again ahead of a cruise.  It was very frustrating.   Never experienced this in the past.  

 

    We didn't do much at any port.  We have been to them many times, we just went for the time away and to "be on a ship".   Ship was packed.  ALOT of kids, which was surprising for early December.   The shows were just so-so, and just didn't seem to have the "wow" aspect to them anymore.  I know it's different on the bigger ships, but I really felt the quality has declined, which makes me sad.  

 

     I loved the ship, I love any ship, but this cruise left me a little disillusioned about RCI.   We have done the big ships, little ships, and ships in the middle.  For the first time in my cruising life I am debating trying another cruise line.  I am a prime member in Casino Royale, and I prepaid for the next cruise 🙂  I donated generously to their bottom line.  

 

     Overall, we had a great time because after all a cruise is a cruise !   Had the onboard plans  gone as planned, I am sure I would have left the ship feeling a bit better about it all.   It would have been nice if guest services handled things better for us.   

 

     If anyone has a question, please feel free to ask.  

 

 

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cb at sea

cb at sea

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I don't think it's just RCI who has lowered their standards....all of the mainstream lines are cutting back on everything that made a cruise a "special" experience.  Can you still have a great vacation?  Sure!  Is it the same as it used to be?  Nope.

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Merion_Mom

Merion_Mom

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, sdear said:

     Just got off a 6 night cruise on Adventure.  Overall, the ship is in very good shape.   We had JS 1334 and it was in great shape.   This cruise made us D+ and our 20th cruise on RCI.  

A few take aways : 

     All staff friendly and available.  Food in Windjammer and dining room was very good.   We did a 3 night dining package, so only ate in there twice.  Did Johnny Rockets for lunch one day and evening.  Stateroom attendant was fantastic. 

 

     We had the refreshment package.  Got it on a black Friday deal and would do it again in a heart beat.   (15/day)  .  Our coffee alone made it worthwhile.   

 

     We bought the Voom +Stream for 15.99/day for 2 devices , and it actually worked quite well.   We were able to text each other, and family at home, and also check in on our house cameras.  I was surprised how fast it was.  

 

     We did Chops two nights.  First night...wasn't that great.  The last night of the cruise it was much better.  Busy on both nights.  We did Giovanni's one night, and it was fantastic.   I highly recommend the Osso Bucco. It was great.   

 

     Now the "not so good".   I am a perpetual planner.   For months I read cruise critic, checked the planner, and plotted out what we would do each day onboard.  I bought the bottomless galley brunch and the sushi class from the RCI website.  The galley brunch was offered both sea days, so I opted to buy it on the first sea day, so I could do the sushi class on the last sea day.  Timing for both worked for what we had planned.   So on the first sea day,  we show up at the dining room as stated on the reservation, and they tell me there isn't a galley brunch today.   I had my receipt in hand showing the booking from the RCI website.  They said " we never do one on the first sea day".   They said we could come on the last sea day, which meant  I now had to cancel the sushi class.   Well, the only other sushi class was during the last sea day at the same time as the galley brunch..so I told them to cancel me for the sushi class.   Low and behold he says wait, we are doing a sushi class Wednesday at 530 pm and could go to that one.  I thought great !  We didn't have a set dinner that night, so I had them put me down for that one.   Wednesday the phone rings.   They cancelled the Wednesday sushi class.   grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr to say the least.   I told them to make sure to refund my money.  Frustrated I went to guest services and they were totally useless.  They told me there is never a galley brunch on the first sea day etc etc, and just plan on going to the galley brunch on last sea day, and sorry about your luck on the sushi class.  They would not credit my seapass since I paid for it online, but assured me I would get a refund.  ( I am sure I will have to make 10 calls)   So Friday morning gets here and the manager of the dining room calls to apologize about the sushi class, and said he would see me at 11 at the galley brunch.   We get there at 11 prompt, and it started at 1030 !!!!!   The manager ended up giving us a private tour, which was nice, but I was over it all by this time.   The food they served at the galley brunch was very fair.   Never again .  This whole experience makes me leary to book anything online again ahead of a cruise.  It was very frustrating.   Never experienced this in the past.  

 

    We didn't do much at any port.  We have been to them many times, we just went for the time away and to "be on a ship".   Ship was packed.  ALOT of kids, which was surprising for early December.   The shows were just so-so, and just didn't seem to have the "wow" aspect to them anymore.  I know it's different on the bigger ships, but I really felt the quality has declined, which makes me sad.  

 

     I loved the ship, I love any ship, but this cruise left me a little disillusioned about RCI.   We have done the big ships, little ships, and ships in the middle.  For the first time in my cruising life I am debating trying another cruise line.  I am a prime member in Casino Royale, and I prepaid for the next cruise 🙂  I donated generously to their bottom line.  

 

     Overall, we had a great time because after all a cruise is a cruise !   Had the onboard plans  gone as planned, I am sure I would have left the ship feeling a bit better about it all.   It would have been nice if guest services handled things better for us.   

 

     If anyone has a question, please feel free to ask.  

 

 

 

 

sdear, I think that your whole cruise was clouded by your experience with the galley tour brunch and the sushi class, and I don't blame you one bit!  What an unholy mess!

 

And I have to tell you, Guest Services lied to you.  Just because you bought something through the cruise planner, it does NOT mean that they can't refund it to you on board.  I just did it with two excursions.  (I'm on the Vision right now)

 

I am surprised at your report of lots of kids, too.  They SHOULD all be in school.  (if they are school age).  

 

I  hope that you can put this behind you, and try again.  Just don't prebook the sushi class and don't do the galley brunch!  😉

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sdear

sdear

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1 hour ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

 

sdear, I think that your whole cruise was clouded by your experience with the galley tour brunch and the sushi class, and I don't blame you one bit!  What an unholy mess!

 

And I have to tell you, Guest Services lied to you.  Just because you bought something through the cruise planner, it does NOT mean that they can't refund it to you on board.  I just did it with two excursions.  (I'm on the Vision right now)

 

I am surprised at your report of lots of kids, too.  They SHOULD all be in school.  (if they are school age).  

 

I  hope that you can put this behind you, and try again.  Just don't prebook the sushi class and don't do the galley brunch!  😉

I agree...we did have a good time ….except for the time spent trying to fix the mess.   Just being on a ship is good enough for me..   I think we are done with smaller ships though...……..going big next one.   We also decided to try some new ports.   

 

I will try to call C& A to see if they can get my money back for the class.   

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sdear

sdear

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1 hour ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

 

sdear, I think that your whole cruise was clouded by your experience with the galley tour brunch and the sushi class, and I don't blame you one bit!  What an unholy mess!

 

And I have to tell you, Guest Services lied to you.  Just because you bought something through the cruise planner, it does NOT mean that they can't refund it to you on board.  I just did it with two excursions.  (I'm on the Vision right now)

 

I am surprised at your report of lots of kids, too.  They SHOULD all be in school.  (if they are school age).  

 

I  hope that you can put this behind you, and try again.  Just don't prebook the sushi class and don't do the galley brunch!  😉

And we thought the same thing about the kids.   Most were well behaved.   There were two younger boys always unattended that were terrors.  I don't know why parents think it's ok  to let them run around like crazy.  They harassed these two young cousins that were all dressed up for formal night....screaming at them " you two are dating ! ".  Literally screaming it.  I thought the little girl was going to cry.  Some man finally told them to shut up lol.  

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bilyclub

bilyclub

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Posted
On 12/9/2018 at 10:48 PM, sdear said:

I agree...we did have a good time ….except for the time spent trying to fix the mess.   Just being on a ship is good enough for me..   I think we are done with smaller ships though...……..going big next one.   We also decided to try some new ports.   

 

I will try to call C& A to see if they can get my money back for the class.   

 

 

Until Royal announced the Oasis, I never thought I'd see the day a Voyager Class is called a smaller ship.  She still is in the top 30 for now, size wise.

 

https://www.flightcentre.com.au/travel-news/cruise/the-30-biggest-cruise-ships-to-jump-aboard

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Tom47

Tom47

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On ‎12‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 6:23 PM, sdear said:

     Just got off a 6 night cruise on Adventure.  Overall, the ship is in very good shape.   We had JS 1334 and it was in great shape.   This cruise made us D+ and our 20th cruise on RCI.  

A few take aways : 

     All staff friendly and available.  Food in Windjammer and dining room was very good.   We did a 3 night dining package, so only ate in there twice.  Did Johnny Rockets for lunch one day and evening.  Stateroom attendant was fantastic. 

 

     We had the refreshment package.  Got it on a black Friday deal and would do it again in a heart beat.   (15/day)  .  Our coffee alone made it worthwhile.   

 

     We bought the Voom +Stream for 15.99/day for 2 devices , and it actually worked quite well.   We were able to text each other, and family at home, and also check in on our house cameras.  I was surprised how fast it was.  

 

     We did Chops two nights.  First night...wasn't that great.  The last night of the cruise it was much better.  Busy on both nights.  We did Giovanni's one night, and it was fantastic.   I highly recommend the Osso Bucco. It was great.   

 

     Now the "not so good".   I am a perpetual planner.   For months I read cruise critic, checked the planner, and plotted out what we would do each day onboard.  I bought the bottomless galley brunch and the sushi class from the RCI website.  The galley brunch was offered both sea days, so I opted to buy it on the first sea day, so I could do the sushi class on the last sea day.  Timing for both worked for what we had planned.   So on the first sea day,  we show up at the dining room as stated on the reservation, and they tell me there isn't a galley brunch today.   I had my receipt in hand showing the booking from the RCI website.  They said " we never do one on the first sea day".   They said we could come on the last sea day, which meant  I now had to cancel the sushi class.   Well, the only other sushi class was during the last sea day at the same time as the galley brunch..so I told them to cancel me for the sushi class.   Low and behold he says wait, we are doing a sushi class Wednesday at 530 pm and could go to that one.  I thought great !  We didn't have a set dinner that night, so I had them put me down for that one.   Wednesday the phone rings.   They cancelled the Wednesday sushi class.   grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr to say the least.   I told them to make sure to refund my money.  Frustrated I went to guest services and they were totally useless.  They told me there is never a galley brunch on the first sea day etc etc, and just plan on going to the galley brunch on last sea day, and sorry about your luck on the sushi class.  They would not credit my seapass since I paid for it online, but assured me I would get a refund.  ( I am sure I will have to make 10 calls)   So Friday morning gets here and the manager of the dining room calls to apologize about the sushi class, and said he would see me at 11 at the galley brunch.   We get there at 11 prompt, and it started at 1030 !!!!!   The manager ended up giving us a private tour, which was nice, but I was over it all by this time.   The food they served at the galley brunch was very fair.   Never again .  This whole experience makes me leary to book anything online again ahead of a cruise.  It was very frustrating.   Never experienced this in the past.  

 

    We didn't do much at any port.  We have been to them many times, we just went for the time away and to "be on a ship".   Ship was packed.  ALOT of kids, which was surprising for early December.   The shows were just so-so, and just didn't seem to have the "wow" aspect to them anymore.  I know it's different on the bigger ships, but I really felt the quality has declined, which makes me sad.  

 

     I loved the ship, I love any ship, but this cruise left me a little disillusioned about RCI.   We have done the big ships, little ships, and ships in the middle.  For the first time in my cruising life I am debating trying another cruise line.  I am a prime member in Casino Royale, and I prepaid for the next cruise 🙂  I donated generously to their bottom line.  

 

     Overall, we had a great time because after all a cruise is a cruise !   Had the onboard plans  gone as planned, I am sure I would have left the ship feeling a bit better about it all.   It would have been nice if guest services handled things better for us.   

 

     If anyone has a question, please feel free to ask.  

 

 

If you want to stay in RCI family, try Celebrity or Azamara.  They share loyalty status up to Diamond. 

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suesnake2002

suesnake2002

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I am so surprised at guest services. Just out and out lying. Thanks merimom for educating us all. 

And what the heck about the cruise planner, offering non-existent tours or classes. I can see canceling, for lack of participation. No communication between ship and corporate. 

Good luck with your refund. Let us know how many actual phone calls/hours to get refund. 

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voyager70

voyager70

Posted
Posted
19 hours ago, bilyclub said:

 

 

Until Royal announced the Oasis, I never thought I'd see the day a Voyager Class is called a smaller ship.  She still is in the top 30 for now, size wise.

 

https://www.flightcentre.com.au/travel-news/cruise/the-30-biggest-cruise-ships-to-jump-aboard

 

I know, right?  I remember when Voyager came out, she was the biggest cruise ship by a long shot.  To hear people refer to V class as small blows my mind.  Then again, my first cruise back in '82 was on the Sitmar Fairwind, a whopping 23,000 tons!

 

 

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sdear

sdear

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10 hours ago, suesnake2002 said:

I am so surprised at guest services. Just out and out lying. Thanks merimom for educating us all. 

And what the heck about the cruise planner, offering non-existent tours or classes. I can see canceling, for lack of participation. No communication between ship and corporate. 

Good luck with your refund. Let us know how many actual phone calls/hours to get refund. 

I actually reached the resolutions department yesterday after being on hold for only 10 minutes.  They refunded the sushi class and gave half back on the bottomless galley brunch since they told us the wrong time and we missed part of it.   I was satisfied, but they couldn't answer on why their website shows different days and times than what is really being offered on the ship.  

 

All in all, I felt it was handled, but they agreed guest services should have handled on board and made it right on the ship.  

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seacruise9

seacruise9

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hi, 

 

Thanks for your report. I have taken 23 Royal Caribbean cruises (beginning in 1983) and used to really enjoy this line. However, my last two cruises (Independence of the Seas in August 2017 and Mariner of the Seas earlier this month) were disappointing. I agree that the standards of most mainstream lines have declined, but this seems to be particularly evident on Royal Caribbean. Although I reached the Diamond Plus level on this last cruise, I have decided to take a break from this line.

 

Chuck

Edited by seacruise9
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centurycruiser

centurycruiser

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21 minutes ago, island284 said:

Probably terminal 29. There will be signage as you enter port security showing which terminal number for which ship. 

Do you know which pier does the Adventure dock on Saturday for 6 day cruise?

 

I cruise on Celebrity Edge on Jan 20 and then go to Adventure on Jan 27. I hope to walk over because 1. Need to kill time and 2. Don't want a taxi to lose his place in line for a $5 fare.

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Biker19

Biker19

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1 minute ago, centurycruiser said:

I cruise on Celebrity Edge on Jan 20 and then go to Adventure on Jan 27. I hope to walk over because 1. Need to kill time and 2. Don't want a taxi to lose his place in line for a $5 fare.

Ask on board Edge if there's a shuttle - walking between terminals at PE is not easy.

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