Our Adventure on the Adventure - Live from Adventure of the Seas, July 3, 2021

[WxNerd]

2 hours ago, spammie said:

Your boys are adorable!

Thank you. I am a bit biased, but I think so too. 

[dswallow]

4 minutes ago, WxNerd said:

So, Giovanni’s…. I was excited to try it after all of the reviews on here and how

so many say it is better than Jamie’s on the Quantum class ships. I was terribly disappointed. We knew the service would be on the slow side, and I spent 3 weeks in Italy just before the shutdown so I know the pace of a tradition dinner. The dishes came out super slow, even the appetizers took over 30 minutes.
 

None of the food (appetizer, pasta, main dishes) was bad, but definitely nothing to write home about, I would say maybe a step above Olive Garden.  For my main dish I got the grilled Prawns which came with puréed potatoes. Not thing about it was overtly Italian. My husband ordered the Fliet and he said it started like the Filet at Chops. The menu said it was served with broccolini but it was definitely served with just regular crowns of broccoli. 

 

Dessert…..I don’t know how else to say it but the cannoli they brought out was atrocious. I’m not a picky eater, but this was just beyond terrible. I don’t know what the filling was made of but it was the consistency of raw cookie dough. The boys both ordered strawberry “gelato” which I would venture to say was scooped from a tub of the cheapest strawberry ice cream container you could buy at the store…they ate it without complaint but yeah, not the quality I would expect to find in a fine Italian restaurant (or one of the hundreds of gelato stands around s Italy). They brought out Hazelnut Tortes for the boys and those were on point. I don’t know what the filling was they put in it, but that is what they should have been putting in the Cannolis. 
 

As far as atmosphere goes, they had music on but weren't playing Italian music, I think it was the standard Caribbean instrumentals played around the ship. They also put us directly in front of the kitchen window, which could have had the potential for greatness watching the chefs artfully prepare dishes, instead we got a view of all the wait staffs backsides while they waited for their tables dishes to be ready. At one point there were 8 dishes sitting under the warmer but none of them were a complete order for any one table so they just sat there. The restaurant was also very loud. I think it was the open kitchen that made it so loud, but it was hard to have a conversation. 

 

I know many people love Giovanni’s, and it could have been an off night but it’s not a restaurant we will likely visit again. 

 

Personally I will never step foot in a Giovanni's Table again. They should be closed. On Adventure, Chops should move to where Giovanni's is, and they should bring Sabor to the Chops location. Or just turn it into a McDonald's. Because even that would be better.

[mo&fran]

When we were on in week 2,  we had MTD and the only time we could get  was later than we wanted to eat. WE went early, and had no problem getting seated right away.  I got a call a couple of days into the cruise asking why we weren't eating in the dining room , I said we had, but I guess they didn't swipe our cards, so I guess they didn't we had been there. Out of curiosity, I checked for reservations in the specialty restaurants and there were none available.

 I am guessing that they were over whelmed with the number of people in those venues so that service suffered.   I am sure if you say something to the Concierge something good will happen.  Trust me, they want to know about these things.

Edited July 6, 2021 by mo&fran

[HBCcruiser]

6 minutes ago, mo&fran said:

When we were on in week 2,  we had MTD and the only time we could get  was later than we wanted to eat.

We are in the same boat as you so to speak! 🚢.  🤣  We have a late dining time slot. I am hoping to change that with the Suite Concierge. Does anyone know if that is doable?  Even 30 minutes would help. 8:30 is just too late!

[Tree_skier]

1 hour ago, dswallow said:

 

Personally I will never step foot in a Giovanni's Table again. They should be closed. On Adventure, Chops should move to where Giovanni's is, and they should bring Sabor to the Chops location. Or just turn it into a McDonald's. Because even that would be better.

I hate when you beat around the bush like that. I wish you would be more plain spoken and tell us what you really feel. 

[mo&fran]

34 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

We are in the same boat as you so to speak! 🚢.  🤣  We have a late dining time slot. I am hoping to change that with the Suite Concierge. Does anyone know if that is doable?  Even 30 minutes would help. 8:30 is just too late!

WE didn't have to use the concierge, we just went when we wanted and they seated us. I think all of the earlier times reserved were not being used, they went to chops or G.

Edited July 6, 2021 by mo&fran

[M&A]

On 7/2/2021 at 5:40 PM, nicben said:

Wxnerd- we are not on this cruise we are on jewel later this month could I ask you do they still do set sail booklet as all royal does is bombard us with the royal app to book the check in as we only settle our account in cash we have to check in at the pier ,thanks . By the way we’re from the uk

You only settle in cash??

How does that work?   do you carry all that cash with you?

[WxNerd]

3 minutes ago, M&A said:

You only settle in cash??

How does that work?   do you carry all that cash with you?

If you prepay gratuities and the buy  drink package in advance if you drink, I can’t imagine you would need all that much. 

[WxNerd]

You are never too old for the splash pad. Splashaway Bay is a great place for the tiny humans to burn off some energy and is  not an additional cost on Coco Cay. 

[WxNerd]

I think South Beach is closed to allow RCI crew members a place to get off the boat and relax while in port so we didn’t go visit that area. We spent the day in the Chill Island section but wandered around towards the end of the day. On the map below we were in the area circled in red. Very few other people around us. We attempted some snorkeling but the waves were strong so that made it difficult. The boys all saw some schools of fish and crabs. I wi share pictures later since those were all taken with the GoPro.

 

Towards the end of the day we walked over to Breezy Bay and played some soccer-pool. 

 

I know there were some questions about the breezy bay beach beds. Most of them have an unobstructed view of the water. A few on one end look at the over water cabanas. The area they are in is circled in blue on the map below. 

Edited July 6, 2021 by WxNerd

[Sea Dog]

3 hours ago, WxNerd said:

I was terribly disappointed.

Thank you for the review of Giovanni's. I too was a little disappointed when I ate there on Adventure 4 years ago. Since then I heard some glowing reviews about how good it is. Some has said that their filet (like your husband had) was even better than chops. I was planning on eating there on Explorer this November to see if it is better. I wonder if the quality of Giovanni's is different on different ships?

[BecciBoo]

3 hours ago, dswallow said:

 

Personally I will never step foot in a Giovanni's Table again. They should be closed. On Adventure, Chops should move to where Giovanni's is, and they should bring Sabor to the Chops location. Or just turn it into a McDonald's. Because even that would be better.

Same here, definitely not like the old and wonderful Portofino's which we used to love.

[cruisinghawg]

Wow all this Giovanni's talk has me confused as we have never experienced a bad meal there. Of course we have only eaten there on Oasis class and the Indy. Did do Jamie's on the Harmony and though just okay.

[kearney]

7 minutes ago, cruisinghawg said:

Wow all this Giovanni's talk has me confused as we have never experienced a bad meal there. Of course we have only eaten there on Oasis class and the Indy. Did do Jamie's on the Harmony and though just okay.

One of the questions I have had is how well a cruise ship can be provisioned from Nassau. At least in Miami the chef can send things back if they are not what he ordered... harder to do on a small island. I suspect that food quality will improve as supply chain kinks get worked out. Now food sitting on a warmer tray for a long time is another issue. Finally, sometimes it is best not to see how the sausage is being made, so to speak.   

[mo&fran]

27 minutes ago, kearney said:

One of the questions I have had is how well a cruise ship can be provisioned from Nassau. At least in Miami the chef can send things back if they are not what he ordered... harder to do on a small island. I suspect that food quality will improve as supply chain kinks get worked out. Now food sitting on a warmer tray for a long time is another issue. Finally, sometimes it is best not to see how the sausage is being made, so to speak.   

I believe they provisioned in Freeport. I know they refueled there.

[orkaren1]

2 hours ago, cruisinghawg said:

Wow all this Giovanni's talk has me confused as we have never experienced a bad meal there. Of course we have only eaten there on Oasis class and the Indy. Did do Jamie's on the Harmony and though just okay.

We have never tried Giovanni's but did do Jamie's on Harmony.  The food was decent but our waiter made the meal spectacular.  We went twice just because the waiter was so good.  We had a party of 5 adults and 2 young children and I think he brought at least one of everything on the menu.

 

[Akina13]

I got the chops + 1 for our July 17th cruise - was going to go to Giovanni's but now 2nd guessing that choice.

 

Thanks for the review! following along 🙂

 

[Sunshine3601]

8 minutes ago, Akina13 said:

I got the chops + 1 for our July 17th cruise - was going to go to Giovanni's but now 2nd guessing that choice.

 

Thanks for the review! following along 🙂

 

We have never had a bad meal at Giovannis.   I personally like the filet mignon at giovannis better than chops.  I love their scallop appetizer too.   Desert is always yummy too!  I can never say no to a cannoli.  

[ReneeFLL]

@WxNerd Your boys are so cute. Looks like they did fine on the ice skates.

[Jasukkie]

Oh my goodness, so much agreement with you on Giovanni's! One step above Olive Garden? Maybe, being generous. 

 

Grilled octopus is one of my favorites. It's supposed to be char-grilled, balanced with acid, should be a slam dunk menu item. This was served swimming in the white bean sauce, thus removing any grilled texture. My daughter's eggplant parm was all breading, like a freezer queen tv dinner. I also had the prawns, they were a nice quality but eh on flavor and so weird served over pureed potatoes. Never again. This was actually our first experience in a specialty restaurant on Royal. I really missed the Windjammer since it was reduced on this cruise. I've had far better dinners in there on fully operational cruises.

[dswallow]

30 minutes ago, Jasukkie said:

Oh my goodness, so much agreement with you on Giovanni's! One step above Olive Garden? Maybe, being generous. 

 

Grilled octopus is one of my favorites. It's supposed to be char-grilled, balanced with acid, should be a slam dunk menu item. This was served swimming in the white bean sauce, thus removing any grilled texture. My daughter's eggplant parm was all breading, like a freezer queen tv dinner. I also had the prawns, they were a nice quality but eh on flavor and so weird served over pureed potatoes. Never again. This was actually our first experience in a specialty restaurant on Royal. I really missed the Windjammer since it was reduced on this cruise. I've had far better dinners in there on fully operational cruises.

 

No comparison with Giovanni's. Olive Garden is good.  🙂

[choose2cruz]

This is one of the best reviews ever. Thanks @WxNerd

[sgmn]

On 7/5/2021 at 12:08 PM, WxNerd said:

We love to travel so we do feel it is important for them to try all sorts of new things. They were not convinced on the snails so there may have been a bet involved and then we talked about how good they were and that you can’t say you don’t like something until you have at least tried it. They are also working on getting me to try them again. I have had escargot in the past and wasn’t a fan but might try one more time, we will see. 

My husband favorite starter, on one cruise our waiter brought it every day even when he didn't order it. I love bread dipped in the garlicky butter but not so keen on the snails 

[bobmacliberty]

We ate at Giovanni's on Allure it's inaugural season.  Loved it.  Everything was great...food and service.  We then ate at Giovanni's on Freedom.  Hated it.  Very different experience with half of our meals being described as average, at best, and service was poor.  Like many things, the Giovanni's experience probably varies from ship to ship and from cruise to cruise.  Shouldn't be that way if you're paying extra.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

17 hours ago, WxNerd said:

You are never too old for the splash pad. Splashaway Bay is a great place for the tiny humans to burn off some energy and is  not an additional cost on Coco Cay. 

 

that looks like a lot of fun!!!!