Just back from Adventure of the Seas 10/2..quick mini review

Just wanted to post a quick mini review of AOS. It was the second time we sailed her. The first was 1/03 right after Christmas....

I have to say that the ship has shown some wear and tear since the first cruise but nothing to get alarmed about. Stained cushions, rugs..etc. Clogged toilets all over the ship were corrected almost immediately but the stink of sewage was there all week.

Food was good on some nights, mediocre on others... Portofino was excellent, better than in '03.

Champagne bar has an unadvertised special....$43.16 for 10 cocktails vs. $7.95 for each...A definite plus. We bought 2 packages during the week....

Casino was good....got paid off 5 times by an attendant...over $2,000. Lots of attendant payoffs during the week...

Most staff were attentive and very good...our room steward was the best. Bar service was great in all areas...Concierge was pitiful....never looked up from his desk..he should have been a telephone operator..

Shops carried the usual ho-hum selection of logo stuff...no bargains there...

One of the few cruises where we didn't see the shows so no comment there.

Johhny Rocketts...surcharge was 3.95 but we had freebies..Was not crowded on the day we were there...(in port, Aruba) ..Food and service were fine...

No constant hounding of picture taking...we posed for one photo all week.

Ports were all good...great weather helped.

Balcony cabin...8642 was a good spot...mid ship with great port views....

Any questions...please ask.... be happy to answer...

What were you playing in the casino? We were on that sailing in August bells were ringing everywhere.

What's an attendant payoff?

The machines only pay off up to a certain amount. (quarters come streaming out of the machine into the metal tray making a VERY satisfying crashing uproar). If you hit a jackpot HIGHER than the machine's maximum on-the-spot noisy payout, the casino attendant has to come and GIVE YOU ALL YOUR MONEY. It's a BLAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tami was telling us that HER jackpots were BIG.

Way to go, Tami! ;)

I played quarter machines..max play was 3 -5 coins. Always played the max.

Machines only paid out up to 1000 quarters so anything that was won higher than that had to be paid off by casino personnel..

First night I won $575.00. Last night I won $675.00, $337.50. In between was $450.00 and $275.00. Also cashed in some buckets of quarters during the week. Machines were really loose (at least for me). Hit on the same machine twice...(675 and 275) and always hit on the first $20 I played.

It was a lucky week....

Hello sgttami,

My wife and I are booked for the 11/03/05 sailing and have the same cabin 8642 that you had. Any more opinions of it, if you have any pictures you could share we would greatly appreciate it. My email address is robert_acevedo8@hotmail.com

Thanks,

Robert

Sorry..I have no pictures of the cabin...We hardly took any pix on this trip since we had done Alaska the week before and took way too many!!!

Cabin was fine and balcony was fine also...on Serenade we had the HUMP cabin with a bigger balcony but Adventure was as good too..just not as big. You'll like it....as long as we have a balcony...we're fine with it!!!

We just got off the ship on Sunday 10/16. We also had been on the Adventure before--Feb 02. We had an incredible time!!! The Captain had to make some port changes--just changed the order we visited the different islands--but it was all for the best!! We had sun every day except for the first one in St Thomas. It was very funny what you said about the concierge--but true. They need someone at that job that has alot of personality. Did you by chance meet the Hotel Director--Robert. He was the best we have had on any ship--RCCL needs more people like him. The Captain was also outstanding!!

I did not have any luck on the slots in the Casino. I played 1.00 slots and could not win!! I did not see anyone winning. They must have payed all of the money on your cruise!!

Tootsie

Glad you had a good cruise...we SO wanted to stay on for the next week since we love that itinerary. There were a few couples who were doing both weeks...

Yes, Concierge was the worst but other staff made up for him. Did meet the hotel director also and everyone else was wonderful.

Maybe our cruise was the one that paid out in the casino...the bells were always going off!!!

We're going to Bermuda on Voyager next week (just booked yesterday)...hoping to be lucky again!!! Curious to see how Voyager compares to Adventure....

Hi, we will be on the AOS November 27th.

What is the name of the Concierge?

Concierge....Luis...can't remember the last name???

Was the concierge really that bad? :eek:

How busy was the Concierge Lounge at peak times ( before dinner)?

Luis did everything we asked of him. We had no problem with him at all. He was busy almost every time we went in with people at his desk and other people waiting. Give him a break, folks.

CKrobyn. I promised to tell you about "our" room (1324). It was very nice. Be sure and ask for the foam pads to be put on the beds, however. They were like rocks. The balcony was a little larger than most, I think but not as big as Holland America. The bathroom was unbelieveable. Best we have seen on any ship. We mostly ate in the Windjammer and the food was adequate. Portofino's was excellent...both the food and the service. Our steward, Fred, was great.

We had a very bad experience with our luggage not being delivered until 9:30 PM but the Guest Relations sent champagne the following day and also a nice bottle of white wine.

I know you will enjoy the suite. If my husband ever gets the photos up, I will put some up.

Nancy

I never complain about service staff anywhere. Perhaps I was spoiled the week before on Serenade because Maritza was SOOO wonderful. It's not like we were looking for anyone to do anything special..it was HIS attitude.

Serenade had Bloody Mary's and Mimosas in the AM and we went to Concierge one morning on Adventure looking to sit and relax and have a mimosa. We were told in a nasty tone..."Cocktails are only at night."

We figured that was OK since we had champagne in our cabin (from our TA).

We asked if we could get some ice..no problem..we'd go on the balcony and make our own mimosas...we were told..."there's no ice, this is breakfast only."

We went to introduce ourselves on our first visit and were brushed off because he was on the phone. Every time we were there, he was constantly on the phone and some of the conversations were clearly personal. After the third night, we never went back...

The lounge was never crowded while we were there.....it opened at 5:30 which was close to 6:00 dinner..not much time to relax...Serenade opened at 5:00 and our "group" enjoyed that hour before dinner.

It was the only time on a cruise that I didn't tip the Concierge...

I think having free Mimosas in the morning would be wonderful as well and I would be completely spoiled. We haven't experienced that yet. Our favorite cruise line (HAL) has all day very friendly service (vs only certain hours on RCI) and MUCH better food, but no free alcholic drinks. I will have to look up the Serenade. (Also the concierge lounge on HAL has breakfast items the day of disembarkation which is a super value to us.)

Before I retired, I had over 150 customer service reps reporting to me and I know that working with the public can be very stressful. He was not the most loveable concierge I ever met but he did his job and he gave us a great smile when we told him "Happy Birthday". And we felt that the things he did for us justified a nice tip.

Nancy

I think I was most disappointed on Adventure because the Concierge Lounge was so different than on Serenade. You had a beautiful open room, all glass, lovely views (Alaska in Sept). They are open all day...just use your passkey to enter. You can use the Internet, meet and mingle, sit alone and read etc. Food and cocktails (Mimosas..Bloodies) are served in the AM..8-9:30 and again at night (open bar of premium liquor) 5PM to 8:30PM. We only went once for the AM Mimosas but went every night to meet for drinks before dinner. As I said, Maritza constantly asked if we needed anything and knew us all by name.. The atmosphere was always lively and it was always pleasantly crowded with the same groups...we met so many people...

A week later we go on Adventure (first time in that Concierge) and it was like night and day..no windows, very few people, almost dismal and I think that Luis' attitude just added to the discontent. His assistant was actually quite nice and very pleasant...seemed to be doing a lot of work for no recognition!!

Don't know why the Serenade's set up is different...we'll be on Voyager next week and I'm curious about that set up...I'll let you know...

I'd to know why HAL is your favorite line...food? service?overall? We've never sailed HAL but am always looking for new suggestions..

We think the HAL suites are far superior to what we had on Adventure especially the mattresses and bedding. Balconies and suites are larger. We are basically quiet people and find the HAL ships quieter and passengers more polite than RCI. Of course they are older as well. The menu on RCI was very limited in comparison with HAL, dining room and room service as well. You can order from the dining room menu for room service and get what you want. On RCI my two favorites, shrimp cocktail and lobster were not available to be served in the room. HAL's Lido is laid out much better with varied stations so that there are not long lines as there were in the Windjammer. As far as suite perks, HAL has free laundry, priority boarding, priority tendering, fresh flowers in the room along with champagne. In a suite on HAL you do not have to put your luggage out until morning of disembarkation and you get to stay in your suite until you are ready to leave the ship.

Don't get me wrong. We had a good time and appreciate the fact that we were able to go, but we are doing the Mexican Riveria on Oosterdam in December and really looking forward to it.

Lucky, lucky you to be able to try three different ships in such a short period of time!

Nancy

Cincy -

Thanks for sharing info on "our" suite! I'm looking forward to being in it just about 100 days!

I will definitely ask for the foam pads - hopefully there won't be a problem getting them.

I've seen pics of the bathroom and it looks amazing!

When you were on the balcony, could you see the front and the back of the ship - or only the back?

Was the location of the cabin a good one in terms of noise etc?

Glad you had a great cruise!

The location was absolutely marvelous. There was no noise except for one night when little kids were running up and down the hall for a brief period. It was so easy to go somewhere...one flight down for concierge...one flight up for Windjammer. I would say the location was perfect.

On the balcony you cannot see forward as there is an Owners suite next door and it juts out. You do have a great view though.

There should not be any problem with getting the foam pads. We asked Fred as soon as we met him and he had the bed changed within an hour.

The embarkation process was a nightmare. Long, long lines. Confusion. Few RCI reps to give instruction. If we had priority in any way, we couldn't tell it.

Disembarkation was better. We got priority white luggage tags from Luis and were off the ship and at the airport early. If you are flying home the same day, try and get something to eat before you go down to the gates as in the area we were in, there were only a couple places to get something to eat and long, long lines for each of them.

Nancy

Sorry...double post.

Cincy -

Being in a GS didn't get you on the ship faster? :eek: Yikes.

Tell me about the balcony - was it plexiglass so when you are sitting you can see the ocean? The balcony on the Radiance was glass...

Glad to hear it's a good location - looking forward to enjoying Concierge service for the first time. Did you use the sofa bed at all? Our daughter will be sleeping on it, so I need to know if it needs foam pads too?

Thanks for answering all the questions - I appreciate it!

One more thing - did the balcony have loungers or only chairs for sitting??

I'll have to ask my husband what the railing was made of. It was clear as we were sitting down. I liked to go out there in the morning with my coffee. There are two regular chairs and a table on the balcony, plus on the end toward the owners suite there was a chair with an ottoman. That area was a little wider than the rest of the balcony. The floor of the balcony could have used a good scrubbing.

We did not use the sofa bed.

Also...storage galore. I have never seen so much storage space. Actually the bathroom was so huge they could have cut some off it and added it to the size of the bedroom area. Also my husband liked the lighting in the room very much.

If you are on the Southern Caribbean trip, Trunk Bay Beach in St John was wonderful and worth the long ferry ride!!! We would surely do that again given the opportunity.

Nancy

Nancy..

You made HAL sound like something we might like...as far as the size of the cabins..

We had an Owners Suite on Empress of the Seas last year and it is hard to go back to a "normal room" after that...We had two balconys on that cruise...

We're quiet people also...we love to party and meet new people and do our one or two late nights of socializing but we always have our table of two for dinner...love chatting with new people but also like our quiet time...(I'm 51...hubby's 46) Are we too young for HAL????

Trunk Bay is a beautiful place...we spend 6-8 weeks a year on St John and will be there in Nov until Christmas ..if you ever get the chance, go to Francis Bay...it blows Trunk Bay away...no tourists!!!

I think that the average HAL cruiser is a little older than you. You could try the Vista ships such as the Zuiderdam, Oosterdam, Westerdam. They are aimed at a younger crowd than the smaller HAL ships.

I'll look up St Francis Beach, thanks for mentioning it. You are very lucky to be able to spend so much time in such beautiful places. Where do you stay in St John?

Go to the HAL website and look at the suites. You will be impressed.

Take care,

Nancy

We are taking the Adventure in October 06 and have a question for anyone who has been on her. What is one activity on the ship that you would definitely recomend others to do? We are in our 30's and very active if that helps any.