Review: Mediterranean on Adventure OTS, Aug 2014

Hello :)

I am new here. I went on my first ever cruise last summer. It was a 14 nights Italian Mediterranean itinerary on the Adventure of the Seas sailing out of Southampton, UK. I had a wonderful time, and I am now planning my 2nd cruise! Long story short, my research brought me to Cruise Critic. I wish I had read all of this last year as it would have been helpful!

Browsing through the threads, I have noticed a lack of Europe reviews and info on here. I know my cruise was almost a year ago, but I would be happy to do a brief review if anyone is interested.

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

I know I would enjoy reading your review, and I'm sure many others here would enjoy it too.:)

Hello :)

 

Browsing through the threads, I have noticed a lack of Europe reviews and info on here. I know my cruise was almost a year ago, but I would be happy to do a brief review if anyone is interested.

I would love if you did a review, I am doing a western Med itinerary this September the more information I can get the better!

Thanks Clarea and Mia2chi for the welcome. I also appreciate the 140+ views so far, I take that as a sign that people are interested in reading a Med review but were sad to find out that I haven't posted anything yet! :eek:

Ok, I am going to go ahead with my review. This is my first time doing this so if I leave out any details that you would like to know more about, please feel free to ask questions below.

Background on myself and cruising companions: I live in Melbourne, Australia and I went with my parents. I am 24 years old and my parents are in their late-50s. We have family living in the UK who have previously been on a similar itinerary and recommended it to us. This was our first cruise so we had no expectations, only what we had heard from family and friends who have cruised before. Nevertheless, we are well-traveled and have been to Asia, the US and Canada. This was also our 2nd trip to Europe, having done a land tour 3 years ago.

Pre-cruise travel: We flew from Melbourne to London, arriving the morning the day before cruise embarkation. We were picked up by our relatives. They took us to their lovely home in the southeast suburbs of London, where we stayed overnight.

The lines for immigration at Heathrow were very long. It took us nearly 2 hours from flight arrival to when we exited the airport. I would highly recommend anyone to arrive at least the day before their cruise. Especially during the peak summer period in July and August.

Traveling to & from Southampton: Our wonderful relatives offered to drive us directly to the port. We left their home in southeast London after 9am and it was a 2+ hours drive. There was hardly any traffic on the motorway (highway?) on a Sunday morning.

Post-cruise, we took the National Rail back to London. We caught a taxi from the port to the Southampton train station, a 5-10 minutes ride. There were direct trains into central London.

Itinerary: 14 nights Italian Mediterranean, Southampton return. Although it is called "Italian", there are also ports in Spain, France, Portugal, and Gibraltar (UK territory). We choose this cruise because it would bring us to see 5 different countries in Europe.

1) Southampton

2) Sea day

3) Sea day

4) Malaga

5) Sea day

6) Villefranche (for Nice, Cannes, Monaco)

7) Civitavecchia (for Rome)

8) Livorno (for Florence, Pisa)

9) Genoa

10) Sea day

11) Gibraltar

12) Lisbon

13) Sea day

14) Sea day

15) Back to Southampton

Currency: Euro was used in all ports. In Gibraltar, both UK pounds and Euros was accepted.

On the ship, prices are all in US$ but I saw many British passengers asking for a conversion and paying in pounds.

Ok, enough of the background stuff. Now on to the ship!

Embarkation: Efficient! Our relatives dropped us off in front of the terminal. The porters were waiting right there, and took our check-in bags as soon as we removed them from the car. As it was already past 12pm, lines for check-in and security were short and moved quickly.

First impression of the ship: As a first time cruiser, I didn't know what to expect. I'm happy to report that I was overwhelmed with awe and fell in love instantly! I found out that it had just gone through a dry dock a few months before. Everything was spotlessly clean and looked as good as new. I couldn't believe it when a fellow passenger told me the ship was 13 years old.

Passenger demographics:

1) Majority of the passengers were British as the itinerary was Southampton return. I believe the food, entertainment and activities were slightly adapted to their tastes. I will discuss more on these later

2) Summer cruise = a lot of kids on board.

Now, on to the FOOD!

Breakfast: There were 3 places open for breakfast. MDR buffet, MDR a la carte, or Windjammer. In the first 3 days, we tried a different one each morning.

The MDR buffet was the winner for us, and we stuck to it for the rest of the cruise. It had a smaller selection than the Windjammer, but more than enough for us. My daily must-haves were the English-style bacon, grilled mushrooms & tomatoes, raisin bread, American cereal, and cut-up fruit :D. Unfortunately, they didn't have a cooked-to-order eggs station. They only had pre-cooked scrambled eggs or hard boiled eggs.

As this was in the MDR, we were assigned seats at shared tables of 10. In other words, there was no free seating - unlike at the Windjammer - even though it was a buffet. On hindsight, I guess we could have asked for a private table for 3 if we wanted one. But we do enjoy meeting new people and sharing conversation, so it was fine for us.

Lunch: I loved going to the MDR on sea days! The salad bar was a big hit with us. Fresh greens topped with shrimp and smoked salmon for me! The a la carte menu had cafe or bistro style dishes. Think burgers, wraps, fish & chips, soups, pasta, etc. We could have been at a local cafe back home in Melbourne! Loved the desserts too... cherry-filled crepes were amazing.

There was also a poolside barbeque on at least one of the sea days. It wasn't mentioned in the compass, so we only found about it because we were by the pool at that time. The pork ribs and grilled corn cobs were the best!

On port days, the MDR wasn't open during lunch. If we were back early from port, we headed for the Windjammer. Lots of variety to choose from, although the quality wasn't up to MDR standard and some dishes were repeated every day. But we didn't eat there often, so there was always something new to try. Unfortunately, the dessert selection was poor and was a big disappointment for us.

Dinner: We had traditional dining at 6pm, and ate in the MDR every night. We rarely have fine dining back home, so we were excited about the whole getting dressed up, being served 3 separate courses, white tablecloth, etc...

We were seated at a round table for 6. Our table mates were an English family of 3, a middle-aged couple and their teenage son. I'm so glad to report that we got along very well with them. After reading other reviews on here, I realize that we were extremely lucky to be seated with such a friendly, open-minded, and sociable family. Every evening, we looked forward to trading stories about our daily activities on the ship, our adventures in port, and our personal lives and families back home. As well as pointing out the quirky differences between English and Australian culture!

The food was great! Not the best food I have tasted, but we were very satisfied with the overall quality of the dinners. We are adventurous eaters, and we like to indulge in foods that we don't usually have back home. We noticed that the MDR dinner menus were mostly European and British cuisine based. The exception to that were the 1 or 2 Indian dishes that were available almost every night. However, there were very few Asian (Chinese, Thai, Japanese, etc..) options.

Nevertheless, there was a different menu with 5-6 new choices every night. No repeat dishes and always something different to try over the 14 dinners. My favorites were the giant tiger prawns, various steamed and poached fishes, lamb shank and roast duck.

On a 14 night cruise, we had 3 formal nights. As I said before, we rarely go out for a fancy dinner back home. When we heard that there was going to be not one but three dress-up nights on our cruise, we were both thrilled and freaked out. As this was our first cruise, we had no idea how formal it was going to be. But we were advised to dress as if we were attending a wedding reception.

My father has a corporate job, so he is in a suit 5 days a week. He thought it was completely ridiculous that he was expect to wear one on a non-business trip to Europe. :D After much deliberation and packing-related stress, my mother picked out 3 dress shirts, his best black suit pants, and his black work shoes.

For my mother and I, we wore semi-formal dresses and low heels. We did not bother with shopping for new gowns. We just brought along outfits that we already had from previous weddings, school formals, etc..

When the first formal night arrived, we were very under dressed :eek:. A lot of men were in tuxedos or dinner suits. Many ladies were heavily made up and in stilettos. Even small children were dressed up very smartly. Needless to say, we wished we had taken it more seriously!

Great review so far, we were on Adventure for 12 nights last summer and loved it.

Ok, I promise this is the last post about food :p. I think it goes without saying that I'm a big foodie! Judging by the number of food-related threads on these boards, I know it is an important topic for a lot of other people too. ;)

Snacks: The 24 hour Cafe Promenade was the go-to-place for a mid morning or late night feed. My daily (or twice-daily :D) pick: American style pizza slices loaded with plenty of stretchy cheese! The rotating selection of cookies and cake slices were well worth the calories too. I'm not a fan of sandwiches or croissants, so I gave those a miss. And to balance it all off, whole fruit (oranges, apples, bananas) were available too.

In the late afternoon, part of the Windjammer was kept open between lunch and dinner. Perfect for grabbing a plate of fries, cut fruit, or a cookie. Take it out onto the pool deck on a beautiful sea day afternoon under the Mediterranean sun :cool:

Drinks: We didn't buy any of the drinks packages as we don't drink much alcohol or soda, and we knew that we wouldn't drink enough to meet the daily costs. Nevertheless, we did enjoy winding down at night with the daily cocktail special or a beer in the Schooner Bar while listening to the talented pianist. My father also liked picking up a specialty coffee from the Cafe Promenade on those relaxing sea day mornings.

Specialty restaurants: We didn't eat at Giovanni's or Johnny Rockets, as we were more than satisfied with the complimentary options. We also have plenty of excellent Italian restaurants in our hometown, so we didn't feel like paying extra for Giovanni's when we can have it anytime at home.

Our MDR table mates tried Johnny Rockets, and they reported to us that the burgers are massive and yummy. They said it was well worth the cover charge, as long as you go there with an empty stomach ;).

Wow, thank you for taking the time to do this. Your recall is amazing...

Thanks for reading, Gina.

I hope I'm recalling it correctly! ;)

Ports

I've already listed the itinerary in an earlier post, but to recap we had 7 ports in the Western Mediterranean. Malaga, Villefranche, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Genoa, Gibraltar, and Lisbon.

We did the ship's shore excursions for all the ports. My mother is a worrier and was really concerned about missing the ship if we were to get lost or caught in traffic on our own. So she was happy to pay for the peace of mind that comes with the excursions' guaranteed return to the ship. :rolleyes:

If you're looking for advice on private tour companies, I obviously can't recommend any. But I am going to review the places we went to and saw on the shore excursions. I hope that will help you decide where to go in the ports, whether you are planning your own tour or choosing one of the ship's excursions. :)

Malaga

After 2 sea days, we made it to our very first port! As I said in the previous post, we took the ship's shore excursions for all the ports. We pre-booked them before the cruise, and all the tickets were delivered to our cabin on embarkation day. The meeting place and times for the excursions was listed on each ticket.

On the day, we went to the theater to meet up with our excursion group. This was the same meeting point for all shore excursions in every port. We were escorted off the ship and onto the waiting coach buses outside the port terminal.

Malaga was our only port in Spain, and we took the Malaga City Tour (MG05). The beach was right there as we exited the terminal, within walking distance. But that was not our destination for the day, and we boarded our coach instead. Our first stop was Gibralfaro, on the hills above the city. On the drive up, we passed by beautiful houses overlooking the beach and the sea. At the top, we stopped at a lookout to stretch our legs, inhale the mountain air, and enjoy views of the city and sea.

Going back down, we headed towards the city. Our guide took us on a walking tour of the historical old city, and gave a wonderful commentary on its complicated history. Highlights included Pablo Picasso's statue (born in Malaga!), views of the Alcazaba fortress, the Cathedral, and the "new town" shopping street.

The Cathedral was my favorite part of the day. I've visited many churches around Europe, and this is one of the most magnificent and beautiful ones.

We were given some free time to further explore the town on our own. Then it was back on the bus for the return journey to the ship.

Enjoying your review.

Following

Thanks for following, cincicruisers!

I wanted to add that Malaga is a very memorable port for me. It was my first ever cruise port, first time in Spain, and first Mediterranean destination! :) I would recommend this RCI shore excursion, Malaga City Tour.

I wish I had photos to post with my review. I actually have a lot of photos, but my family is in most of them and I'm not comfortable with posting those on a public forum. Next cruise, I'll make sure to take more photos without people in them. ;)

How were the shore excursions??? which were the best? worst? we will be hitting several of the same ports next year.

George, my overall rating for the shore excursions is 8/10. They were run by local tour companies in each port. All the tour guides spoke excellent English, and gave great commentaries on each attraction that we visited. The coaches were clean and air conditioned. I'll give more highlights on each port as I review them.

What do you mean by worse excursions? In my opinion, that would be ports that are easy to DIY. Genoa and Gibraltar have lots to see within walking distance from the port. If I were to visit them again, I would not take an excursion and I'll just walk around town on my own.

Villefranche

After Malaga, we had another sea day before arriving at Villefranche. This was a tender port, the only one on our itinerary. After meeting up with our tour group for the day, we exited the ship and had priority boarding for our tender boat. I guess this is the big advantage of taking a shore excursion at a tender port; not having to wait in long lines for the tender. As our boat approached shore, we were surrounded by million dollar views. The blue, sparkling water of the Mediterranean sea. Rolling, green hills dotted with luxury homes. Clear, sunny skies above us. Ahhh....

There is not much to see or do in the little town of Villefranche itself. We took the Introduction to Nice (VF14) excursion. From the port, it was a short drive along the scenic coast to Nice. We started in the old town, where our guide walked us through the Place Massena, Cours Saleya, and the flower market. In comparison to Malaga's old town, Nice was a lot more lively and commercial. Restaurants, cafes, and bars lined the cobbled stone laneways. Old fashioned specialty stores mixed in with high end boutique stores. The flower market was a bustling open air space with lots of fresh produce, flower displays, cheeses, pastries, local artwork, etc...

We were then given a few hours of free time to explore the rest of Nice on our own. First, we went up to the Parc du Chateau. It's a lovely park on a hill above the old town. From the top, we had spectacular views of the sea and the city. The park grounds were well maintained with lots of green space and shady trees. Perfect for getting away from the hustle of the old town. I would suggest grabbing some pastries or a sandwich from a bakery in town, and having a picnic on the grass or a park bench.

Next stop was the Promenade des Anglais, the main street lining the Mediterranean Sea coast and the beach. We had lunch at a restaurant and ordered Nicoise salad, fresh local seafood, and Crepe Suzette. Great food and reasonably priced, but unfortunately I can't remember the name of the place! :o We then walked all the way to the famous Hotel Negresco, and had a peek at the inside of the lobby before we had to return to our coach.

Civitavecchia

We did the Discover Renaissance Rome (CV11) excursion. There is just too much to see in Rome within a day and this tour covered a number of the top attractions. The drive from the port was about 90 minutes, with a restroom stop at a fuel station along the way.

Our walking tour of Rome took us to the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and Navona Square. Then we crossed over to the Vatican to see St Peter's Square. At each attraction, we were given about 20 minutes to self-explore, as well as one hour at Navona Square for lunch.

It was peak tourist season in August, so there were huge crowds everywhere. Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, and Navona Square are outdoor attractions and there were just so many people all over the place. It was hard taking photos without a mob of tourists in the background. :eek: The lines to enter the Pantheon and St Peter's Basilica were long, but they did move very quickly. At first we hesitated to join the lines, as we weren't sure if we had enough time. Our tour guide assured as that we would, and we did! And we still had time to pick up a coffee, gelato and souvenirs before moving on to the next stop. :)

My favorites on this excursion were Navona Square and St Peter's Square. Navona Square was exactly how I imagined Italy to be like. Beautiful fountains, old buildings, al fresco cafes, and the laid back atmosphere.

I actually looked forward to going to St Peter's in the Vatican, because I've always seen it on the news and wanted to finally say I've been there. :D The basilica was so beautiful inside, and was worth the line to get in. But it was really packed with tourists and we were sort of herded in and out.

Overall, Rome was great with lots to see and so much history. I would love to return and explore more. I recommend anyone who has a cruise sailing out of Civitavecchia to spend a few days in Rome before or after their cruise.

Livorno

After our big day out in Rome, it was another busy day in Florence! We took the A Taste of Florence (LV06) excursion. In comparison to our Rome tour, this was a little more laid back. :)

Our guide walked us through the streets of Florence, while explaining the history of the city. She was also wonderful at pointing out smaller, lesser-known but equally important historical monuments as we strolled past them.

Our first stop was the Piazza del Duomo. The star attraction here was the beautiful exterior of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. Magnificent colors and so much architectural detail to gaze at. In its shadow are the adjacent baptistery, bell tower, and a museum on the same square. Like in Rome, there were large crowds of tourists everywhere and our tour unfortunately didn't allow us time to enter the basilica or the other attractions.

We then visited the Piazza della Signoria. This is a big square where the famous replica of Michelangelo's David sculpture is located in front of the Palazzo Vecchio gallery. We were given a few hours of free time here to self-explore the surrounding sculptures and architecture, museums, shops, and cafes. We took a stroll through the alleys and side streets around the square, wandering into local leather and gold shops, and designer boutiques.

On the drive back to the ship, there was a stop at a leather factory outlet store. However, there was absolutely no pressure at all from the guide or the store assistants to purchase anything. In fact, we were allowed to stay on the bus if we wished, and it was a quick approximately 20 minutes stop.

Gibraltar

After 4 busy port days, we had a relaxing sea day on the warm, sunny Mediterranean Sea. The following day, we had a late morning arrival into Gibraltar. When we sat down for breakfast in the MDR, the ecstatic vibe amongst our table mates was unmistakable. It was obvious that this was no ordinary port that we were visiting today! Gibraltar is a UK territory. A little bit of Britain in the Mediterranean. A slice of home for the majority of our fellow passengers on this oh-so-very-long voyage. ;) Well, we let ourselves get caught up in the excitement and anticipation too! As soon as our breakfast plates were cleared, we headed up to the open deck to admire the landmark Rock of Gibraltar as it grew nearer and nearer to us. As we docked alongside the berth, there was cheering across the deck. :D

We took the Panoramic Gibraltar & Tea (GI10) shore excursion. First, we were taken on a drive around town. We saw the single airport runway which also doubles up as a car highway. Driving past the Spanish border, we got a glimpse of the fascinating traffic crossing in and out of Spain. We then headed towards Europa Point, our first stop. Our driver, who was also our tour guide, continued to point out significant landmarks along the way.

Europa Point is a lookout at the tip of the peninsula. From there, we could see the northern coast of Africa. The lookout is a well-built park area with walking paths, children's playground, public restrooms, and there was even a Cadbury Flake ice cream truck!

We got back onto the bus, and our guide took us on a fun, winding drive through some of the Rock's dark tunneled roads. Shortly after, we arrived at a hotel for our afternoon tea. This part of the tour was a huge disappointment, and not worth the experience at all. The food was alright, neither bad nor good. But the service was just downright terrible! We were completely ignored by our waitress. We had to keep asking her to refill our tea cups, to get us cutlery, etc...

After tea, we drove back down to the city. We passed by the main shopping area, also known as "the high street" in British English. For those who were interested, we were given the option to alight here and return to the ship on our own. Otherwise, the bus took us back to the port when the tour was over.

In conclusion, Gibraltar was definitely an interesting and different experience from the other Mediterranean ports on this cruise. However, I do not recommend this particular shore excursion with the disappointing afternoon tea. If I were to visit again, I would choose a different excursion that spends more time exploring the Rock. Alternatively, a lot of other people on our cruise just took a walk around the high street shopping area, which is walking distance from the port. There is also a cable car that goes up the Rock.

Lisbon

This was our 7th and final port on this cruise. It was our only port in Portugal and in fact, it is actually not in the Mediterranean. It is on the Atlantic coast.

As we sailed in and out of Lisbon, our ship went under the April 25 Bridge (Ponte 25 de Abril). This is a red suspension bridge that looks just like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. We arrived early in the morning so we were still in bed when we sailed into Lisbon. But during sail away in the evening, we were up on the pool deck and had fun looking up at the huge bridge structure as we went under it!

We took the City of Lisbon (LS02) excursion. Similar to Rome and Florence, one day just isn't enough to see everything in Lisbon. It was also crowded with lots of tourists everywhere. But again, the tour was great at taking us around to the major sights. We had a drive around the city, and then guided walks of the Alfama and Belem areas.

Alfama is like the old town area of Lisbon. Lots of architecture and history. Quaint alleys, old buildings, ruins, cathedral, souvenir shops, cafes, etc... We had walking tour with our guide here.

Belem is located along the waterfront. This area is also very historical, and pays tribute to the Portuguese world explorers. We visited the Jeronimos Monastery. There were long queues, but our guide already had our tickets so we walked right in! Beautiful architecture and there were displays explaining the history of Portuguese exploration and colonization in the world. We then went over to the waterfront where the Belem Tower and the Monument to the Discoveries are. This was a nice park area overlooking the water with touristy souvenir shops and cafes. We could see our cruise ship and the bridge from here too. We were given free time to walk around, check out the historical monuments and statues, and buy souvenirs.

And then, for the very last time, it was back on the bus to return to our ship. But the cruise isn't over yet, we still had 2 more sea days, which I will write about next.

My final thoughts about shore excursions:

If you've read through my port reviews, you can probably tell that I am very happy with the overall quality of RCI's shore excursions. Sure, they are mostly overpriced and group tours always follow a rigid itinerary. But they were well organized and professional. On the 7 excursions we took, we had 7 great tour guides, 7 clean coach buses, and 7 on-time departures & arrivals. In other words, we had no major complaints about the services provided by the local tour operators or RCI.

That being said, the initial reason why we took the ship's excursions was because this was our first time cruising and we were nervous about arranging our own tours. Now that we are more experienced, we are looking at some DIY touring on our next cruise. Maybe we'll do a mixture of ship and own tours depending on the ports. For destinations like Rome, where the port is 90 minutes away, I personally would not risk getting delayed by or lost on public transport. However, for ports like Gibraltar where there are things to do within walking distance, I would feel more confident in self-touring.