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Adventure of the Seas Iceland & Norway Cruise May 30 2014 Sailing Review


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We were on the May 30, 2014 sailing on the Adventure of the Seas to Iceland and Norway. We had a fabulous time, visiting ports that we have never visited before. It was a trip of many firsts for us - first time to Southampton, first time sailing out of Southampton, first time on the Adventure of the Seas, first time to ALL the ports on the itinerary.

 

Our itinerary was as follows:

 

Day 1: Southampton, depart 4:30pm

Day 2: At Sea

Day 3: At Sea

Day 4: Reykjavik, Iceland, Arrive 2pm

Day 5: Reykjavik, Depart 1pm

Day 6: Akureyri, Arrive 8:30am and Depart 4pm

Day 7: At Sea

Day 8: Trondheim, Arrive 1pm, Dep 6pm

Day 9: Alesund, Arrive 8am, Depart 11:59pm

Day 10: Molde, Arrive 8am, Depart 9pm

Day 11: Olden, Arrive 8am, Depart 3pm

Day 12: Stavanger, Arrive 8am, Depart 5pm

Day 13: At Sea

Day 14: Arrive Southampton, 5:30am

 

In this review, I will use photos and videos and also links to my blog where I have put up even more stuff for all to read. Unlike my previous reviews, I thought it would be even more informational to do more short video clips. They say a picture speaks a thousand words so a video must speak a thousand pictures?

 

Here is the Adventure of the Seas, docked in Southampton

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Stay tuned.

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We are a family from Singapore. We flew to London on Singapore Airlines, non-stop direct. From London Heathrow, we got a private pickup to Southampton, and stayed at the Premier Inn West Quay for one night.

 

In my biased opinion, Singapore Airlines is the best Airline in the world, though not necessarily the least expensive. We flew SQ 308 from Singapore to London, a 13 hour flight.

 

Boarding gate at Changi Airport

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The plane was an Airbus A380, whose wings are massive. (blocking my view!)

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Do try Singapore Airlines, if you haven't had the chance to. When on board, ask for the Singapore Sling!

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Here is a picture of a meal served while onboard. They called this breakfast, hence the coffee and the orange juice (instead of alcohol).

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I have created a 10 minute video of the flight review here -

 

Also more pictures of the flight on this blog post-

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/06/singapore-airlines-flight-sq-308-to.html

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We stayed for one night at the Premier Inn West Quay. It was a comfortable stay.

 

Suffice to say that the hotel is very conveniently located and we would stay there again if we cruise out of Southampton. You can easily walk to the ship using the nearest Dock Gate, which is Dock Gate 8 , by cutting through the carpark of Holiday Inn. The walk is no longer than 10 minutes and in fact, we walked many times to recce the place in the early morning of cruise departure day just to make sure that we could enter the port via Dock Gate 8.

 

On boarding day itself, we had too many bags (because we were a party of 6), so we hired one taxi to send the bags to the terminal while 4 of us walked. The taxi fare came up to 5 GBP, which is reasonable.

 

Here is my blog post on our pre-cruise stay, if you are interested.

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/06/southampton-uk-pre-cruise-premier-inn.html

 

Let me move on to the actual cruising now!

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Boarding day was very exciting for us. We didn't board early though, since we had 2 and a half sea days ahead of us. Always fun to shop in Southampton.

 

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As we were not early, there were no more crowds at the port, though there was still a steady stream of passengers arriving. Checking was very smooth, hardly any lines.

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We got the ship very quickly and headed to our cabins. They were all ready. My family was in Cabin 1388, aft. Here is the view from our balcony.

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Stopped by Windjammer to grab a quick bite. For some reason, I find Windjammer food very homely, even though I am not American.

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Captain and Senior Officers. We recognize the Captain from an earlier cruise on the Brilliance of the Seas out of Dubai a few years ago. He is quite funny indeed.

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This was the welcome basket for Diamond members. We would thoroughly enjoy the Diamond Club lounge during this cruise. More on that later.

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Compulsory muster drill. It was efficiently conducted.

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And we are sailing away! Goodbye Southampton!

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On our way out of port, we passed by this other cruise ship, still in port.

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Well, the weather wasn't great. So there certainly wasn't any sail-away party on Deck 12.

 

Here are more pictures on Day 1 - Boarding.

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/06/adventure-of-seas-iceland-and-norway.html

 

It is getting rather late here (in Singapore) and it is my bed time. I will definitely continue the review. Stay tuned

Edited by Iluvcruising2
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Great start, thanks for taking the time to do this.....really looking forward to the rest of your review, going on our first cruise on AOS in August......love all the pics and little videos:-))))

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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Great start, thanks for taking the time to do this.....really looking forward to the rest of your review, going on our first cruise on AOS in August......love all the pics and little videos:-))))

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Thanks. I have plenty more coming up, I can assure you of that.

Edited by Iluvcruising2
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Sitting here trying to patiently wait for the next installment. So far it is great, and it can only get better Thanks for the extras, like the little videos

 

Thanks for your patience!

 

We returned home (I.e. Singapore) on Sunday 15th June and I was back in office on Monday, 16th. Still coping with jet lag but having lots of fun organising the photos and videos.

 

It brings back a lot of memories for me too.

 

Glad you like the little videos. I often laugh at myself watching them.

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DW and I were on the Adventure for her Transatlantic crossing earlier this year.

 

She is a great ship, and the crew more than made up for some of the things that she lacks, that other ships have. She only has two alternative restaurants, one being the new Giovanni's Table, and the other, which we never entered, is Johnny Rockets. I believe that there is a reason for this, but it's only my gut, so I won't share.

 

I have known Sheldon for years, and glad to see that he is now the F&B Manager. We have sailed before with Captain Henrik, and he is very good with the guests.

 

The one thing that the OP stated, and I truly believe, that Singapore Airlines is the number one airline that I have ever had the chance to experience, and where they were flying coach, we did it in First Class. That was a true first class experience!! None finer!;)

 

Thank you, OP for making this review so enlightening, filled with pictures and videos. I look forward to your continuing review!

 

Thanks!!:)

 

Rick

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Not sure if this link is working yet. Short video of the casino.

 

 

I don't gamble but my parents spent quite a lot of time in the casino, playing table games as well as slot machines. They told me that the casino was very quiet and often they were the only players at the table (Caribbean poker I think).

 

Dad also took part in a couple of those poker tournaments. He told me only 6 to 8 players each tournament. Buy-in cost was abt USD100.

 

Compared to a typical Asian cruise, the casino on this cruise had hardly any business. Dad said they had reduced the minimum wagers on some tables to just US$1 yet still no business. I guess if people do not gamble, they simply do not gamble.

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DW and I were on the Adventure for her Transatlantic crossing earlier this year.

 

She is a great ship, and the crew more than made up for some of the things that she lacks, that other ships have. She only has two alternative restaurants, one being the new Giovanni's Table, and the other, which we never entered, is Johnny Rockets. I believe that there is a reason for this, but it's only my gut, so I won't share.

 

I have known Sheldon for years, and glad to see that he is now the F&B Manager. We have sailed before with Captain Henrik, and he is very good with the guests.

 

The one thing that the OP stated, and I truly believe, that Singapore Airlines is the number one airline that I have ever had the chance to experience, and where they were flying coach, we did it in First Class. That was a true first class experience!! None finer!;)

 

Thank you, OP for making this review so enlightening, filled with pictures and videos. I look forward to your continuing review!

 

Thanks!!:)

 

Rick

 

I am still waiting for a chance to fly First class on SQ! (Still dreaming)

 

So far, have only flown long-haul Business Class on SQ and even that was an awesome experience.

 

I am hijacking my own thread with these videos on SQ Business that I made last year.

 

SQ322 - Singapore to London on Business Class

 

SQ321 - London to Singapore, Business class

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I am still waiting for a chance to fly First class on SQ! (Still dreaming)

 

So far, have only flown long-haul Business Class on SQ and even that was an awesome experience.

 

I am hijacking my own thread with these videos on SQ Business that I made last year.

 

SQ322 - Singapore to London on Business Class

 

SQ321 - London to Singapore, Business class

 

 

 

WOW! My Singapore flight was years ago, on a Boeing 747, from San Francisco to Honolulu, and then on to Singapore. I'm talking about 25 years ago.

 

Thank you for sharing your A380 flight to LHR. I have yet to experience that aircraft, but from your video......I look foreword to it.

 

Rick

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So excited you are doing this! We will be on this itinerary 8/31 except for Molde. We will be taking the 2 night cruise 8/29 to see the beaches of Normandy that we missed the last time. Looking forward to hearing your opinions of the ports.

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This was the first time we were trying out the new menus on Royal. Excited! This was the menu. The theme was Mojo. We had the early seating at 6pm.

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We were seated in a table of 6. I had this starter.

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Main - beef.

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And the dessert.

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As the entire table of 6 was family, we did share our food family-style. Since the previous cruise, we have convinced our kids to order from the adult's menu, rather than the kids' menu.

 

For more pictures of Day 1 Dinner, please go to this link here -

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.com/2014/06/adventure-of-seas-iceland-norway-cruise.html

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Days 2 and 3 were sea days. Pretty much time to chill out and recover from jet lag.

 

See this video for a tour of breakfast offerings (video was taken on last sea day, but breakfast is the same everyday)

 

 

Windjammer in the morning. Egg station.

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The Royal Promenade, early in the morning.

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We were under no pressure to do anything at all. Absolutely lovely. Time to recharge.

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In the Windjammer during dinner time, I came across Make your own pizza. Can't remember if we had this in previous ships. Here are two short videos. They are very tasty as they come out from the oven piping hot.

 

Part 1

 

Part 2

 

Along the way to Iceland, often the weather was rather dismal, foggy and windy. Thankfully the seas were very calm.

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