Adventure of the Seas – The First Voyage

[BirdTravels]

57 minutes ago, CruiszBug said:

Bird T! Wonderful, wonderful information, pictures, viewpoints! Because of your journey, I have booked my first Voyager class cruise!

 

How was breakfast this morning? Or did you opt to wait until the airport?

The Bird headed up to the Windjammer for breakfast. It was a full service with all of the normal breakfast items. Since birds are creatures of habit, we headed to our “regular” section and said goodbye to our morning wait staff. 

[SConnolly]

Thank you for taking the time to post all this wonderful info.  Excited to be able to think about cruising again.  The  ship looks immaculate. Roll on Oct & Symphony for us.  I sure the protocols, and process will have changed a few times before then, but we will be ready

 

Thanks again. 

[GA Dave]

Bird, based on your wonderful review, this fellow NCL board member has booked a cruise for November on the Independence of the Sea.  Got a balcony cabin by myself on deck 9 for what I thought was an amazing price.  Really looking forward to trying something different.  Thanks again for all your great information.  I hope I can provide a review half as good as yours.

[John&LaLa]

5 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

The Bird headed up to the Windjammer for breakfast. It was a full service with all of the normal breakfast items. Since birds are creatures of habit, we headed to our “regular” section and said goodbye to our morning wait staff. 

 

Third person commenting was just starting to grow on me, and now it's over.😪

 

Safe trip home.

 

John, who will now return to @Biker19posts for his 3rd person fix.

Edited June 19, 2021 by John&LaLa

[RFerrington]

1 hour ago, HBCcruiser said:

Sorry, I was asking if they have it. I guess not. Boo.

Oops.  I must have misunderstood.  Sorry

 

We have Global Entry too so at least a little help

Edited June 19, 2021 by RFerrington

[sharktums]

Thanks for the great TR, I enjoyed learning and following it! Here's to our 'new normal' of cruising for a while!

[BirdTravels]

Signs of our time. 
 

[3kidsncats]

Thank you so much Bird, for the fun of traveling along with you from my couch, for all of the details and information that improve all of our planning  and help assuage our pre-trip OCD.  

 

And to the knowledgeable participants as well.   As a result of this thread, I now have a B2B booked, USB data blockers ordered (and some phone accessory cases just for kicks), and TSA-Pre applied for with appointments soon (yes, I know that won’t help when we leave the Bahamas, but it will help for the MANY flights we have this year out of US airports.). Oh, and I caved and bought the drink package, lol.

[BirdTravels]

The lines at security were not bad. A lot of the time was walking from one end of the terminal to the other getting from bag drop to the security door. There was maybe 3 or 4 people in front of us. The terminal is dedicated to flights to the US only, so it is a TSA-like check and screening. 

Edited June 19, 2021 by BirdTravels

[Nunagoras]

May I come in? For whom don't well recognize me, I'm mostly visible at the MSC's boards, where I mostly belong to. 7 MSC cruises, just 1 RCI some 6 years ago when Lady Allure of the Seas first came here for her first mandatory 5 years old dry dock and Med summer season European loops. Allure was actually among my best cruises, even though, perhaps a once in a lifetime experience... Actually I prefer far smaller ships. Maybe the whole industry will run again towards the smaller ships once all the current mega ship contracted wave is gone and the demand shifts after the current covidical mess... Maybe both the RCI Oasis class and the MSC World class vessels will have more or less the same fate of the Airbus A380 plane: Too big for most ports, too big to be easily and cheaply managed and too big for a 2nd hand market for them after they become out of first hand owner standards, so they'll to end up scrapped way before the smaller ships?...

 

Oh, well, let us to go on!... Many thanks Bird for the lovely review, nice photos, and this very pretty ship! Am I the unique one finding those below Freedom class ships far more beautiful than the "super jumbo" ones?... And just out of curiosity: Did you notice if this ship has been refurbished during the lock down?... TBHH, from your photos it seemed to me like if you were on a brand new ship!...

 

And many thanks to the whole CC community for the lovely support this thread has had!... Hope that those signs of normalcy to have come to stay and never go away again!...

 

Have a nice day, a nice return home and let us to hope that this cruise dream we all so love doesn't stop going on now and forever!... :)

[BirdTravels]

Well,,, that's a wrap. Thank you for joining the Bird on Royal Caribbean's first North American cruise after the pandemic shutdown. The Royal Come Back was a great success. Royal Caribbean executed all aspect of this first cruise to perfection. And I am serious when I say perfection. And the cruise greatly exceeded our expectations. 

 

Was it exactly the same as it was 15 months ago. No. 

 

Did we expect it to be exactly the same as it was 15 months ago. No. We all learned to live through evolving protocols on land from the start of the pandemic until today. And we learned a few new protocols when we were at sea.

 

Since things are not exactly the same as 15 months ago, you had to pay a little (not much) attention to what has changed. If you didn't make reservations for shows, sign up for COVID testing, sign up for disembarkation, you may be disappointed in what you got.

 

Personally, having guaranteed empty seats to either side of us in the theater and ice rink was wonderful. No inebriated people leaning into your seat during the show. Never, ever having to look for a lounger on deck... equally wonderful. 

 

The service was impeccable. One of the best cruises of our lifetime. 

 

Thank you, again, for coming along with the Bird. It was an Adventure of a lifetime, and we were very, very happy to be onboard the Adventure of the Seas as she returned to service. 

 

 

 

[Missusdubbya]

Thanks so much Bird, wonderful review.

[Ozark_Kid]

Great job Bird. Thanks!

[BSR]

Enjoyed reading your review. 

[Tree_skier]

42 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Well,,, that's a wrap. Thank you for joining the Bird on Royal Caribbean's first North American cruise after the pandemic shutdown. The Royal Come Back was a great success. Royal Caribbean executed all aspect of this first cruise to perfection. And I am serious when I say perfection. And the cruise greatly exceeded our expectations. 

 

Was it exactly the same as it was 15 months ago. No. 

 

Did we expect it to be exactly the same as it was 15 months ago. No. We all learned to live through evolving protocols on land from the start of the pandemic until today. And we learned a few new protocols when we were at sea.

 

Since things are not exactly the same as 15 months ago, you had to pay a little (not much) attention to what has changed. If you didn't make reservations for shows, sign up for COVID testing, sign up for disembarkation, you may be disappointed in what you got.

 

Personally, having guaranteed empty seats to either side of us in the theater and ice rink was wonderful. No inebriated people leaning into your seat during the show. Never, ever having to look for a lounger on deck... equally wonderful. 

 

The service was impeccable. One of the best cruises of our lifetime. 

 

Thank you, again, for coming along with the Bird. It was an Adventure of a lifetime, and we were very, very happy to be onboard the Adventure of the Seas as she returned to service. 

 

 

 

Excellent review, I loved every minute living vicariously through you. 

[cruise1957]

Thank you so much for all of your posts, I enjoyed and appreciated all of them, as well as all the helpful information. I'm counting the days till my September 5th cruise on Oasis, and my fingers and toes are crossed that it sails with us on board. I am so glad you had a safe and wonderful vacation! 

[JimVB]

Your review has been incredibly helpful.  Many thanks!

[A&L_Ont]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

Well,,, that's a wrap. Thank you for joining the Bird on Royal Caribbean's first North American cruise after the pandemic shutdown.

@BirdTravels thank-you so much for taking the time to bring us along on this monumental RC sailing. Your photos, descriptions and shared information will be helpful for those headed to a cruise from Nassau or the rest of us who just needed a cruise escape. 
 

Let me just say, The Bird is the Word!!!

 

Thanks Bird.  

[sandc4e]

Thank you for sharing this adventure with us all!

[hellsop]

On 6/18/2021 at 5:11 PM, BirdTravels said:

Power anyone?

 

From a cyber security perspective, you should never, ever plug your phone into a usb charging port. Always use your AC adapter. 

 

Non of those are USB anyway. The "DATA" and "TEL" have RJ jacks behind them. 

[hipmomof3]

Thank you so much,  Bird and others, for all  your helpful tips and observations!  I feel much better about the logistics of our July 17 AOS cruise.  

 

Question about the MDR - are the dress code rules relaxed a bit due to the unavailability of the WJ for dinner?  Would my husband and 19 year old son be able to wear nicer shorts (not gym shorts) and a collared shirt to dinner without being refused entry or offending anyone?  I think I can make them wear long pants on the two formal nights, but every night is going to be a stretch...  trying to start figuring out packing....  thank you for your replies! 

[BonTexasNY]

@BirdTravelsYour wonderful review is mega!

 

[catella02]

A really great job with your review. Thanks so much for taking the time to do it.

[HBCcruiser]

41 minutes ago, hipmomof3 said:

Thank you so much,  Bird and others, for all  your helpful tips and observations!  I feel much better about the logistics of our July 17 AOS cruise.  

 We are on that cruise too! I think I remember Bird saying that the dress code is a suggestion not a mandate. See you onboard! ❤️🚢❤️

[Bailey & Sophie]

 

Bird...

Thank you so much for doing this.

I drooled over the pics from the Coco Cay.