Adventure Observations 4/27/19

[sjb317]

Back info: Husband and I were originally booked to sail  on the Oasis TA and the first Mediterranean cruise following TA.   I’m sure you all know what happened to those plans😂. I do have to say that, surprisingly, Royal was very quick to make refunds which meant I had a huge credit on my charge card. So what to do with this credit? Book another cruise, of course! I had a difficult time finding a cruise that would fit into the specific time span needed as well as one that I thought was a good price but Adventure was available. Balconies were more than I wanted to spend for an 8 day cruise but a promenade interior was available for a semi-decent price, I booked this 1 1/2 weeks before the cruise which is the latest I’ve ever booked!

 

Even though we’ve been on over 50 cruises, this was our first time on Adventure and our first time in a promenade cabin and we had not been on an Explorer class ship since 2013, so it all seemed brand new to us!

 

WHAT I REALLY LIKED:

Embarkation was very quick. We got to port about 1030 and were on the ship before the WJ opened at 11.  Rooms were ready at 1 and our suitcases were waiting in the hallway for us.

 

Ship is beautiful and very clean.  Carpets looked brand new.

 

Promenade cabin on deck 8 seemed to have more space than some of the balcony cabins we’ve had. Window seat and small couch, plus chair at vanity. Vanity/desk area was large with a good amount of counter space. Shelves in the corner above TV and in the closet.

 

Was not approached a single time to buy any packages.

 

Food was very, very good!  WJ embarkation lunch was excellent as was breakfast.  We did not go to any of the specialty restaurants as we liked the MDR food so well.

Service wherever we went was excellent, with one exception (see below). Our cabin steward, Lilian, was exceptional as were our waiters, Hadi and Arnold.

 

Pizza in Cafe Promenade and WJ was very good.

 

Entertainment was typical, cruise ship type.  Comedians were funny.

 

We rarely do a ship excursion but because I had a lot of OBC from Oasis cruise to use, we booked a catamaran and snorkeling excursion in St. Kitts and felt it was well worth the money.

 

Disembarkation was just as quick and easy as embarkation.  Our tag number was called at 810 and we were in the car leaving the parking garage at 850. This included having to shuttle to parking garage. 

 

THE NOT SO GOOD:

Adventure seemed incredibly crowded on sea days, especially compared to our Oasis class cruises.  The pool area and Solarium were packed!  Very difficult to find a chair in the Solarium, on the last sea day I woke up early and decided to take some coffee to the Solarium. Walked in at 730 and there was ONE chair that had not been “reserved”🙄.  I noticed one couple had the same two chairs everyday, do they camp out at night?

 

Solarium was very noisy, a good size group had a large speaker that they set up by the pool each sea day and blasted music.  Fortunately, I liked most of it but I could tell some did not.  I heard there were lots of complaints at GS. 

 

Diamond Lounge was packed each night, very hot and noisy. Cards were being swiped for “inventory purposes”.  They had a corner set up where you stood in line to get a drink.  We usually went after six but always found it full so we would go out to the  Viking Lounge Bar for a drink before the show. This was the one exception to good service, we practically had to tackle a waiter to get anything.  We tip every time but found we were completely ignored, so we just went up to the bar for service.

 

70’s show seemed tired and cheesy as did Love & Marriage Show. Maybe it’s time for something new?

 

Vanity shelves and drawers in cabin were very narrow/shallow so even though they were plentiful, they did not hold much.

 

 

Overall, we had a good cruise.  I will say there was lots and lots of young children, especially babies, but I enjoyed seeing them.   They seemed to really enjoy the pool area for kids but I was surprised it did not open until 10 on sea days.  The kids were waiting poolside by 9am.😀

 

Any questions?

 

Sherri🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Clarea]

Thanks for the report.  Hard to believe someone would set up a speaker system in the Solarium.

[BonnieSte]

They set up a speaker?!?!

[LuCruise]

Thanks for the review.  We're trying Adventure for the first time in December.  That's disappointing about the Solarium.  Can't believe it's so busy.  Too bad about the noise too...guess that depends on who is travelling.

 

I like the Love & Marriage show but have only been a few times so I imagine it gets repetitive.  Did you attend Quest?  Who was your CD?  Was he/she good?

[Tom47]

Thanks for your review.

[sjb317]

1 hour ago, Host Clarea said:

Thanks for the report.  Hard to believe someone would set up a speaker system in the Solarium.

Yup, that was a new one for me, too!😂 It was about the size of my carryon bag and transmitted music from their phone.  

 

Sherri🙂

[sjb317]

1 hour ago, BonnieSte said:

They set up a speaker?!?!

Yes they did😂😂

 

Sherri🙂

[BonnieSte]

Think it's best if I just zip it.... 😀

[sjb317]

54 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Thanks for the review.  We're trying Adventure for the first time in December.  That's disappointing about the Solarium.  Can't believe it's so busy.  Too bad about the noise too...guess that depends on who is travelling.

 

I like the Love & Marriage show but have only been a few times so I imagine it gets repetitive.  Did you attend Quest?  Who was your CD?  Was he/she good?

Sorry, we did not go to Quest.  The CD was Drew someone, he was ok but we only saw him when he introduced a show and at 70’s night &Love & Marriage.

 

Sherri🙂

[blueridgemama]

I have been reading several reviews recently that the Solarium is not the serene adult relaxation area that is advertised. Is there anyone there to enforce rules such as teenagers taking over the hot tubs and pool, saving chairs and now loud music from speakers? 

[Clarea]

9 minutes ago, blueridgemama said:

I have been reading several reviews recently that the Solarium is not the serene adult relaxation area that is advertised. Is there anyone there to enforce rules such as teenagers taking over the hot tubs and pool, saving chairs and now loud music from speakers? 

 

There are lifeguards that will stop any dangerous activity in the pool, but as far as removing underage guests from the venue, that would be one of the pool attendants.

[sjb317]

4 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

There are lifeguards that will stop any dangerous activity in the pool, but as far as removing underage guests from the venue, that would be one of the pool attendants.

I did at one point see the lifeguard walk over to a guy sitting next to the speaker and say something to him so the guy turned it down but he turned it back up after they switched lifeguards.🙄

 

Sherri🙂

Edited May 8, 2019 by sjb317

[TimeToGetNauti]

Sad to hear about the Diamond Lounge but it seems to be the norm recently. I am going on Adventure in December and it will be my first time eligible for the Diamond perks.  

[sjb317]

1 hour ago, TimeToGetNauti said:

Sad to hear about the Diamond Lounge but it seems to be the norm recently. I am going on Adventure in December and it will be my first time eligible for the Diamond perks.  

Congrats on reaching Diamond.  You can get a drink in the lounge and carry it out to the Viking Lounge or you can order one in the lounge using one of your vouchers, if you can get a waiter to stop.😂😂

 

I was surprised to see the Suite Lounge was practically empty.🙄

 

Sherri🙂

[maryjaden]

Thank you for your review.  We are sailing on her December 1st. 

[long4acruise]

5 hours ago, sjb317 said:

Husband and I were originally booked to sail  on the Oasis TA and the first Mediterranean cruise following TA.   I’m sure you all know what happened to those plans😂

I was also scheduled to sail on the Oasis TA, but life happens...

Question: Were your Oasis OBCs from Next Cruise (from previously booking onboard) or from your TA? 

 

Thanks again for your thorough review!  Will be sailing B2B on the Adventure on Dec 1st.

 

I just realized that the sign in the Solarium (at least on the Symphony) says "Age 16 and above".  It's a shame we couldn't have a "real" adult area - not implying that everyone say 25 an older will be well-behaved!  Or a Quiet Zone, especially since the upper deck of the Solarium is now the Hooked Restaurant on Symphony and soon to be converted on other Oasis class ships. 

 

[Mikew0805]

I would have had a big issue with the speaker. It's clearly stated in the Guest Conduct Policy that they are not allowed. I wonder if a copy of that to GS would have helped.

[sjb317]

44 minutes ago, long4acruise said:

I was also scheduled to sail on the Oasis TA, but life happens...

Question: Were your Oasis OBCs from Next Cruise (from previously booking onboard) or from your TA? 

 

Thanks again for your thorough review!  Will be sailing B2B on the Adventure on Dec 1st.

 

I just realized that the sign in the Solarium (at least on the Symphony) says "Age 16 and above".  It's a shame we couldn't have a "real" adult area - not implying that everyone say 25 an older will be well-behaved!  Or a Quiet Zone, especially since the upper deck of the Solarium is now the Hooked Restaurant on Symphony and soon to be converted on other Oasis class ships. 

 

MyOBC came from the VISA points I had converted.

 

I would say the people playing the music were all older than 25.  And I believe they all had drink packages😂😂.

 

Sherri🙂