Adventure of the Seas August 3-9, 2019. The Oddball Musings of KMom.

[KmomChicago]

11 hours ago, Luckynana said:

I so enjoyed reading your review.  Thank you for taking the time to share your adventures with us.  I especially loved the part about your husband setting up the coffee pot for the next day, only to have it all cleaned up for him..lol!  My husband always sets up the coffee pot after the kitchen is cleaned up after dinner.  I couldn't help laughing about your Martini Class and ice show afterwards!!  Great job!!!😊

 

Thank you Luckynana! The whole experience was a lot of fun but reminded me why I walked away from liquor for more than 10 years when I found out (at 38) that I was going to be a mama (for the first and only time).  It was the right choice and now I am a lot more careful about when and how I (rarely) imbibe. 

[KmomChicago]

20 minutes ago, Don&Deb1976 said:

By the way, although I no longer live in Illinois, I grew up in Olney, a small town in the southeastern part of the state.

 

23 minutes ago, Don&Deb1976 said:

Thanks for the great insight.  We will be on Adventure OTS in November for the first time.  Do they still provide the individual toiletries or have they put in the wall dispensers?

 

Hi Don, or Deb, as the case may be.  I know all about Olney and your World Famous White Squirrels. It's not just any small town, that Olney.  A lot of Illinoisans do the back-and-forth between Somewhere, Illinois and Somewhere, Florida, for what I think are very obvious reasons.

 

In the Junior suite, we had both wall dispensers and individual toiletries.  I am guessing that might be a suites-only perk but unfortunately cannot confirm.  I used the shower dispenser when I was in it, rather than the packaged stuff, and found it to be perfectly fine. 

[KmomChicago]

15 hours ago, george35 said:

. My question is  about chairs in the Solirum 

 

george35

 

Sorry, I realized I didn't answer your question about chairs in the Solarium, or maybe I didn't understand the question.  My photos up in Post #29 show empty loungers in the Solarium on a port day when everyone else was in Bar Harbor. As you might expect, they can get crowded on sea days. By skipping one port day and heading up fairly early, as you can see, I completely avoided chair hogs and really humanity in general in this space on a perfect sunny morning.  I steered clear of it otherwise. 

[CJDepew]

1 hour ago, KmomChicago said:

 

Hi, CJ.  Wow, that is high praise indeed. Thank you very much.  As I go back and read it again, I see the typos that I missed, and rethink my style or repetitive use of the same word too many times when I could have found an equally useful synonym, and wish I could do a bit of editing myself.  I suppose you won't be entirely surprised when I share that I am at work on that novel that my mom has been telling me to write since I was a little nipper.  I don't know if my timing is fabulous, as my skills have improved over the years, or terrible, as these days it seems everyone is a writer.

 

I am sorry to say, 100% of the photos I took of 1624 and my husband took of 1628, were all on our balconies, where the large sizes and wedge shapes apparently impressed us even more than I realized.  I have more photos of those if you want to see but we got no interior shots whatsoever. 

 

The pictures on the Cruise Critic main site, linked below, for the JS are my husband and daughter's room, and the space and layout is identical in 1624. These are pre-renovation, but the only change is fresh carpet and soft goods and different sitting area furniture, blue and a bit more updated rather than the orange stuff.   We had the beds in the twin arrangement in both rooms which gives you about a foot of space in between - they are still quite close and one of the twins has to be against the front wall to make this work. The wall opposite the beds is overflowing with cabinets - far more than we could possibly use or need with the nice spacious walk-in closet. We also had a mini fridge. 

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/photos/ships/adventure-of-the-seas-192/junior-suite-363919/

Thanks for the link. As February creeps closer, I'm getting more excited. Our only other RCI cruise was our first, on the Enchantment. We loved that ship, but it's much smaller.

[KmomChicago]

17 minutes ago, CJDepew said:

Thanks for the link. As February creeps closer, I'm getting more excited. Our only other RCI cruise was our first, on the Enchantment. We loved that ship, but it's much smaller.

 

Indeed. You may feel Adventure has more in common with Norwegian Epic than with Enchantment, based on the megaship size and amenities, though Epic is also quite a bit newer.  We really like the internal Royal Promenade area which I believe is a unique design feature in the industry and which will be something new for you. 

 

In particular I did a fabulous job of choosing our room location.  We were under a dead space so we had no overhead noise, ever. Close to the aft elevator and a quick run up the stairs to Windjammer.  The ship was extremely stable and we barely ever felt any movement, even up on a high deck. Our hallway was very quiet and I never heard any of the screaming kids or rollicking late night party crowd sometimes mentioned in other reviews, but I suppose you can't plan for that, as you never know who might book a room near you. 

 

I also particularly enjoyed the sense of total privacy on the enclosed balcony. We were fairly sheltered from overhead rain and excessive sun glare.  We don't run around naked but you could easily do so if you wanted to while on the open water and no one would be the wiser.

Edited September 25, 2019 by KmomChicago

[ptod]

On 8/24/2019 at 7:56 AM, KmomChicago said:

The lady who gave me my rental car had an accent, so I asked her “Parlez-vous Francais?” And she said, “No, I’m from Brazil.”

 

= I had to wipe iced tea off the laptop - but it was totally worth it!  Excellent review!

 

I appreciate the way you wrote about your GREAT cruise with a side of "but let me tell you about.....".  My DH and I have traveled enough to know that something odd will eventually/usually happen to us.  We roll with most of it and there are times we end up in laughing fits that I am sure have people wondering if our medication has worn off (laughing at the situation we find ourselves, not others).

 

ps - whether I am the one on land or on the boat, I always wave to back!

[KmomChicago]

14 hours ago, ptod said:

 

= I had to wipe iced tea off the laptop - but it was totally worth it!  Excellent review!

 

I appreciate the way you wrote about your GREAT cruise with a side of "but let me tell you about.....".  My DH and I have traveled enough to know that something odd will eventually/usually happen to us.  We roll with most of it and there are times we end up in laughing fits that I am sure have people wondering if our medication has worn off (laughing at the situation we find ourselves, not others).

 

ps - whether I am the one on land or on the boat, I always wave to back!

 

Hi, Ptod! I have to agree. I think I laughed right in her face when she said it to me.  I do find, most of the time, that the "but let me tell you about" segments are the funniest stuff left over after every journey.  And secretly I love that no matter how much I plan, there will always be surprises, for better or for worse. 

 

Next time I see someone having a laughing fit I will rethink my judgment and NOT assume they need another dose of medication! Thank you for taking the time to comment, and even more so, THANK YOU for waving back!

[KmomChicago]

Digging out my photos. I didn’t take enough this cruise but here is some of the stairwell art from around the ship, which I always enjoy.

 

 

[KmomChicago]

Kid’s Club

Once again taken on the port day Mom and I stayed on the ship.

 

[KmomChicago]

These are my pics of the room. No interior shots. I took the doorknob photo because you can see minor damage where it was once jimmied open. I would think that only happens when it’s bolted from the inside so you can guess why someone had to be broken out of their junior suite.

 

[KmomChicago]

Marginally related. This is my meanager’s bedroom door at home and may help you get to know her better. Failure to follow instructions leads to direct or passive-aggressive protests up to and including door slamming, hollering, whining, and grumbling. I would not ever trade one second of my life with this wondrous magical kid. She has made my life complete. 

 

She puked in the car on the first day of the drive out to New Jersey this trip, did I mention that tidbit? All over my husband's truck.  We spent about an hour and a half cleaning it up at a rest stop in Ohio. Then we skipped our planned (short) visit to the Football Hall of Fame that afternoon in Canton, where I stupidly booked a room about 40 minutes out of the way of the route for just that purpose. We used the time instead once mom and kiddo were at the hotel to buy white vinegar and baking soda and a soft scrub brush and work on the darn thing some more. 

 

A few years ago, we also drove out to NYC because this same kid saw the Statue of Liberty on an episode of Wonder Pets, saving a baby pigeon in "Yew Nork City" as she explained, and we went all the way up into the crown and everything to satisfy the first stop on a little kid's bucket list (which is now out of control, by the way, and I don't really want to fly all the way to gosh darn Japan. I told her, HOW ABOUT EUROPE FIRST, mmm-kay?) Anyway,  somewhere in Indiana, about one hour from home on the way back, she puked in my little Mitsubishi Outlander crossover mom-mobile, which was only a couple of months old at the time. 

 

When she hurled all over DH's prized possession and we were standing out in the busy parking lot with I-80 traffic whizzing by, cussing a blue streak at the truck, each other, and life in general, I walked over quietly to him at one point and said, "We will look back one day and miss these years more than we could ever imagine."

Edited September 26, 2019 by KmomChicago

[KmomChicago]

By the way, if you are thinking, "if the kid is prone to carsickness, why don't they have a barf bag ready to go?"

 

Thank you. That is a very helpful bit of advice. I asked myself that question many thousands of times over, like, nonstop over and over for the remainder of the drive out, occasionally during the cruise, nonstop during the entire drive back, and once in a while even now. We immediately fixed one up from an intact plastic grocery bag inside the sturdy structure of a handled small paper shopping bag, which, of course, she did not need as she was not car sick, as she explained, but merely had a sour stomach from the glass of milk Kmom forced upon her before we left the house earlier that morning. Not because she needed it, or wanted it, but because it was going to EXPIRE while we were away. I added strawberry syrup before "encouraging" her to enjoy it. Which gives you some idea of the contents of the, umm, substance projected across multiple surfaces of our auto interior.

 

Kmom is a nut job in her own right, if you haven't figured that out already.  I don't crave success so much as I fear failure. I think and rethink every decision and think everything that goes wrong for other people  is my fault, and apparently I shut down and play the "victim" sometimes which I am working on. If you are a better human person than I am, well then I congratulate you and I am not really very surprised about that. Just stumbling through and doing the best we can here, like everyone else.

 

I try to remember the old mantra and apply it to life in general: If you walked away, it was a good flight!

 

Hey, it's only a $35,000 vehicle, what's to worry about?

Edited September 26, 2019 by KmomChicago

[KmomChicago]

Poutine at Smoke’s in Halifax. I believe we got one order of bacon ranch poutine, one of Philly cheesesteak poutine, and one of butter cauliflower poutine (as per Indian butter chicken sauce). They all still started with cheese curd and brown gravy under the additional accoutrements. You can see a few curds that hadn’t yet melted under my cauliflower. It cost almost $40 Canadian with a few sodas.

 

I estimate each serving was about 4,000 calories as they each weighed a couple of pounds and we needed none of those as we were already overeating daily in the Windjammer, but you gotta make sacrifices sometimes.

 

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by KmomChicago

[bklvr99]

Loved this thoroughly entertaining and honest review!

[batoryfirst]

This has been just the best review. You are a delight. 

[KimboJam]

Loved this review!!!   You kept it real and entertaining.  Good luck in your future literary endeavors!

[toras]

On 8/24/2019 at 7:52 AM, KmomChicago said:

We also watched karaoke one night. ... I can tell you that only the best acts, or those with a big entourage (never the same people, BTW) received much applause.  

 

 

I'm back from my cruise on Adventure and just wanted to add to this. Was at Karaoke and the audience (only around a dozen the first few nights) were very supportive, whooping even for the one-note singers!

 

 

[KmomChicago]

On 10/9/2019 at 1:52 PM, toras said:

 

I'm back from my cruise on Adventure and just wanted to add to this. Was at Karaoke and the audience (only around a dozen the first few nights) were very supportive, whooping even for the one-note singers! 

 

On 10/9/2019 at 1:52 PM, toras said:

 

 

 

Thank you Toras! I'm really glad to hear that. Sounds like a lot of fun, as it should be. Maybe the off-season crowd is more laid back and in a kindly state of mind.  I have to wonder how much our travel dates impacted the moods among the rest of our passengers. It was a very family-heavy peak season manifest, the kind of cruise where every berth that can be filled is filled, and crowds are at their largest.  The one show I attended was filled to the rafters, and I don't think much else was going on aboard at that time so it may have been a reluctant bunch to start with.  

 

Hope to hear more about your journey, all good times of course, amirite?

[KmomChicago]

On 9/27/2019 at 11:59 AM, bklvr99 said:

Loved this thoroughly entertaining and honest review!

 

Thank you bklvr99 for reading through and for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it!

[KmomChicago]

On 9/27/2019 at 7:46 PM, batoryfirst said:

This has been just the best review. You are a delight. 

 

Hi, batoryfirst. I appreciate your high praise!  If you met me in real life you might dial back that "delight" term, but I will gratefully take it here in the virtual world.  You are pretty delightful yourself, IMHO.

[KmomChicago]

On 9/28/2019 at 9:22 PM, KimboJam said:

Loved this review!!!   You kept it real and entertaining.  Good luck in your future literary endeavors!

 

Hi, KimboJam. Thanks for the response. Yes, that "real" part is pretty easy for me, having been accused of being too direct, or should I say, blunt, for the better part of the past 50 years.  If my words are entertaining, it's because of a hard-learned gratitude for the laughs in life as better therapy than the tears.  When my fabulous novel is available for 99 cents as an e-read, I'll let you know!

[toras]

On 10/11/2019 at 8:54 AM, KmomChicago said:

 

 

Hope to hear more about your journey, all good times of course, amirite?

 

I may get around to writing something for the review section. Our cruise is mostly seniors. Maybe a newly-wed couple or two, a handful of teens with family and no screaming kids anywhere. All the others look like they are retired or close to retiring! Shows were not well attended at all.

[Havin'fun]

1624 was my cabin this past January.

Loved the room and the location was great.  Nice to see glimpses of it again.

[KmomChicago]

On 9/24/2019 at 1:18 PM, CJDepew said:

KmomChicago, I've gotta tell you, I edit books professionally and I don't get manuscripts sent to me that are as well written and clever as your review.  

 

My hubby and I are booked into JS 1624 for a six-day Western Caribbean itinerary in February. We've been to all the ports before, so no surprises there, but it was great to hear your glowing review of that cabin. If you have any other photos of it, I'd love to see them.

 

Hi again CJ. You must be ramping up for your cruise now. Bon voyage and I hope you'll come back and share your impressions of the fabulous JS 1624 and the cruise overall!  

[KmomChicago]

On 9/24/2019 at 5:30 PM, zanydoc said:

Thank you for taking the time to do such a thorough and entertaining review! We are sailing Adventure for Christmas and it’s so nice to be able to read reviews like these to keep the excitement building. I have an only child 14 year old, too 😁-but he’s no “meanager.” I guess I just live a sheltered life, as I’ve never heard that term before. It gave me quite the chuckle! Great review-thanks again.

 

How was your Christmas cruise on Adventure with your nice 14 year old?