Review - Adventure of the Seas 9 nights in Ultra-Spacious Ocean View / FLL

[mtsublueraider]

Review time! Would be happy to answer any questions you have.

 

It was our first time sailing out of FLL. We've done 10 cruises with Royal and all of them were out of Port Canaveral. That makes sense because we can drive to port. (Don't throw things at me)

 

We really enjoyed it! I learned a little about the parking situation. I thought i'd be smart and put my truck in the front corner of the lot knowing we were coming in to another terminal. Turned out it WOULD have been smart but I didn't realize I could cross into that fenced area. Would have saved some headache getting bags back to truck post-cruise.

 

It was amazing to have our rooms ready as soon as we boarded. That was a luxury I haven't had since sailing with Cunard. We had the ultra-spacious family room at the bow of the ship on deck 8. It was a show-stopper. I've never had so much room in a ship. Our kids had their own bunk beds with a door that could be closed. Their room as dark so they slept wonderfully.

 

The kids also loved Adventure Ocean. They went at least once a day after dinner but sometimes twice just to play with their friends. My youngest especially loved her "second dinner" after we picked her up for pizza and dessert.

 

The ship was very clean but seeing some rust spots reminded me of her age. We typically love the smaller ships but this was the first time I really saw it dated. I prefer Brilliance for example but also really love what Oasis has to offer in the way of restaurants and different venues.

 

Speaking of, this is trying to be nice, but we typically spend HOURS at the schooner bar but really didn't enjoy the singer this sailing. On a ship this small if you cross off one of the venues it does limit your options. That being said we spent a ton of time at the pub and at Bolaros. The biggest problem we found with the bars were the lack of availablity of wine bottles. We don't get the drink package but typically find value in purchasing bottles of wine to share. The lower end bottles were simply not available at any venue. We stuck with Castle Rock Cabernet at $35 and the simarily priced Chatau St Michelle sparkling. Thankfully I pre-ordered a few bottles from gifts and gear along with the gin and tonic package that suited us very well. (And the three bottles we brought on board)

 

The main dining room was the star of the show for us. I can't believe we ate 9 meals in a row at the MDR. It also showed us that the LONGER cruise is our style. 7 nights isn't enough! Our staff was incredible and made sure we had everything we needed. They were also so kind to our kids. The entrees we most enjoyed were the "english" beef. Not what i was expecting at all. The lasagna was also wonderful. The crab cake was good and the seafood patty was great. We didn't care for any of the fish dishes we got except for the salmon. My wife even commented on how much better the escargot was.

 

We did some MDR for lunch. It was hit or miss. The seafood sandwich was awful. but, many of the Mexican dishes were great! I will also say ANY of the Indian entrees we got to share with the table were fantastic. We would typically order what we wanted and then the Indian dish to share. Curry for the win!

 

The breakfast bowl in the MDR was also good but I really had high hopes for the buritto. Skip that. Not enough meat in it and tended to be soggy. I was also very happy with the made to order/pager system in the windjammer for omletts.

 

We attended many of the shows. Thought the magician was fun but not as spectacular as I expected. The final comic on the last night was awkward. Didn't enjoy that. Should have gone somewhere else. However the ice show was amazing... that rag doll dancing had me in stitches. Really enjoyed the journey tribute band too.

On the ship we liked to play mini-golf but I hated they took the clubs up after dark. one of my favorite things to do is play at night. We also climbed the rock wall and ice skated. Also fun!

As for the ports, I'll give a general idea of what we did in case anyone has questions for next time. Overall we would do this same trip exactly the same again. It was perfect and we certainly felt we got our money worth.

 

Perfect Day- We spent the day at south beach. loved the floating bar and saw a ton of "wildlife". Two huge rays and someone said they spotted a nurse shark. I was also able to pick up a starfish. The food was good and then we walked to the kids splash area. We knew what to expect here and still had a great day.

 

St Thomas- So sad we missed it. Obviously prayers for the passanger affected but this was going to be the highlight of our trip. We had a private catamaran booked to snorkel over at St John. Next time! (However, I was happy we didn't have to pay the $250 quoted for a round trip taxi to the dock... good grief)

 

St Maarten- We paid the $6 per person for the water taxi to the beach. Immediately after getting on the dock (we knew what to expect) we were solicited on where we wanted to set up shop. In fact, the diamonds international lady pointed us to another lady she knew that helped us out. Ended up paying $40 for two chairs, an umbrella, and six beers. Our location was ideal because we were within easy access to a clean restroom and just across from a market where we could buy very inexpensive drinks and snacks. The food for the day came down the beach from a Jamaican familiy who also runs a skating rink on the island. SUCH a great family to meet and the curry was perfect. It was a fun day. Next time I may check out the new hotel that just opened with a beachside infinity pool. They offered day passes and had local craft beers on draft.

 

St Kitts - We worked with a guy I found on-line to pre-book a taxi. With our kids we brought our own car seats so I wanted to be sure to organize it. For $60 round trip we got to stop at the overlook for a few pictures before going down the other side to the Carombola Beach club. He didn't request payment ahead of time but just asked that we be ready at the assigned time to return to the ship. It was even nice of him to take a detour to show us some of the island before going back to the port. Such friendly people who are proud of where they call home. The beach club was great and the beer/chairs were inexpensive. However it did cost us over $100 to have lunch. That was a little unexpected but we saw, by far, more fish off that shore than anywhere else on the trip.

 

St Johns Antigua - We grabbed a cab from the port at just $5 a person to head over to Ana's beach club on dickinson bay. It was adjacent to the Sandals property that I wanted to see and had the most beautiful water of the trip. Calm and wonderful. Ended up paying $10 each for chairs and umbrellas on the sand. There was even a local guy selling beer from a cooler for cheaper than the bar was offering it. Gotta love that! Lunch was fairly good but it took over an hour to get our food. It wasn't a big deal because we had the time but i would have stayed in the ocean longer if I knew it was going to take that much time. I'd probably go back to Ana's but I'd probably eat somewhere else down the beach.

[jacobtsf]

2 hours ago, mtsublueraider said:

My wife even commented on how much better the escargot was.

My wife said the same thing during our March cruise!