Adventure of the Seas March 3 -10 - some observations

This is not a full review of our cruise, just some of my observations from the ship. This was the third(?) cruise for Adventure since she got out of dry dock. The things that I found to be positives are;The ship is in great condition. There are new carpets throughout the entire ship. All of the deck furniture has been upgraded. The crew was very friendly and easy to get along with. The entertainment on board was very good but not the best I have seen on RCI. The quality of the food is debated quite heavily on these boards but while tastes vary and I'm sure some won't agree with me, I found the food to be very good in both the Windjammer and in the Main Dining Room. The selections in the MDR are not as extensive as they used to be but there was a good selection to choose from every night. I never came across anyone on this cruise that I would consider rude; no line jumpers, no pushing or shoving in/at the elevators. The chair hogs were minimal and it was fairly easy for our group of 8 to find chairs near the pool every day.

There were only a couple things that I was not happy with. The first was our wait staff in the MDR. This group was by far the worst group that we have ever experienced in the MDR. Despite the fact that their tables were only about 50% occupied, their ability to do their job was poor. They were slow, quite often we had to wait too long between courses. On a couple of occasions they did not bring the items we ordered. And for some reason, they could not bring coffee WITH our dessert. We asked on night one to have coffee WITH our dessert but every night, the coffee showed up after our dessert was gone. It wasn't until night 5 that they finally brought coffee WITH our dessert. The other thing that really bothered me was the hard sell for the specialty restaurants. My guess is these venues are not selling as well as they used to. There were people outside the MDR and Windjammer all the time trying to push the specialty restaurants. They were on the Royal Promenade. They were in the bars. Our waiter in the MDR even pushed them most nights. This constant hard sell became very annoying. Izumi was added during dry dock. I'm assuming RCI thought it would be a popular addition but I never saw more than 6 or 8 people in there.

So that's my short list of pluses and minuses. The positives on this cruise certainly outweighed the negatives. All in all it was a very enjoyable vacation for us. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll answer anything I can.

Thank you for the feedback!

Thanks for the feedback. We have been on some cruises lately that have had a hard sell for the specialty restaurants and some not at all, perhaps it very s by how they are selling on an individual cruise.

Thank you for the report! We are booked on a refundable fare next spring break with our small kids. It’ll be after our first 2 family cruises ever on Oasis this year. Though at first I was a little concerned about being on a “smaller” ship (I realize it’s still huge) after Oasis, I’m really warming up to Adventure with everything I’m seeing and reading about it lately. So I will likely switch over to a non-refundable fare at some point.

Can I ask, did you happen to notice the Splashaway Bay pool area for small kids? Did it appear there was enough space for the kids that wanted to play there or in the pools in general?

Thanks for the info!

Cruiseguy, I enjoyed Adventure of the Seas on a recent cruise post-dry dock; glad to hear you did, too. It's a big ship; when I started cruising (on it, no less) back in 2006, people were saying the same sort of things about Voyager-class they now say about Oasis-class - it's too big, I can't feel (or adequately see) the ocean, etc...

Did you try the pizza at Cafe' Promenade? I found it tasteless with cheese that tasted like dough, even though I usually like Royal Caribbean pizza okay.

GatorDad, if you've got a potty-trained 'no longer in swim diapers' kid under 42 inches tall, there's a big issue with Splashaway Bay access you need to know about. Otherwise, when I was there, the purple slide varied from busy to not too busy, the little yellow slide usually not busy, and kids were having fun.

Richard.

Cruiseguy, I enjoyed Adventure of the Seas on a recent cruise post-dry dock; glad to hear you did, too. It's a big ship; when I started cruising (on it, no less) back in 2006, people were saying the same sort of things about Voyager-class they now say about Oasis-class - it's too big, I can't feel (or adequately see) the ocean, etc...

 

Did you try the pizza at Cafe' Promenade? I found it tasteless with cheese that tasted like dough, even though I usually like Royal Caribbean pizza okay.

 

GatorDad, if you've got a potty-trained 'no longer in swim diapers' kid under 42 inches tall, there's a big issue with Splashaway Bay access you need to know about. Otherwise, when I was there, the purple slide varied from busy to not too busy, the little yellow slide usually not busy, and kids were having fun.

 

Richard.

Oh wow thanks for the info as I was unaware of the kids’ slide catch 22. My youngest is almost 3 now and 90% potty trained (we are really pushing him to 100% for our cruise in May so he can go to kids club with our daughter). But obviously I habe no idea now if he will be 42” by March 2019 (though I doubt it as he isn’t an exceptionally tall kid). I guess we would need to remember a swim diaper for the yellow slide even though he won’t need it.

Though if he sees his sister on that purple slide and he can’t go, all hell may break loose. Seems like a high height requirement for such a small slide. He already goes on slides bigger than that daily...

Again, thanks for the heads up on this as it will most likely impact our son.

Thank you for the report! We are booked on a refundable fare next spring break with our small kids. It’ll be after our first 2 family cruises ever on Oasis this year. Though at first I was a little concerned about being on a “smaller” ship (I realize it’s still huge) after Oasis, I’m really warming up to Adventure with everything I’m seeing and reading about it lately. So I will likely switch over to a non-refundable fare at some point.

 

Can I ask, did you happen to notice the Splashaway Bay pool area for small kids? Did it appear there was enough space for the kids that wanted to play there or in the pools in general?

 

Thanks for the info!

The Splashaway pool area was a huge hit! It was always well used but I never saw it over crowded. There was plenty of room for the kids to play and have fun.

 

Did you try the pizza at Cafe' Promenade? I found it tasteless with cheese that tasted like dough, even though I usually like Royal Caribbean pizza okay.

Richard.

I did not try the pizza. I have had it in the past. I have always described RCI pizza as cardboard with ketchup on it.

Nice read; interesting regarding Izumi...

Thank you for your report.

Keith

Appreciate the feedback.

Appreciate the feedback.

Bob - I know you're on now so it would be interesting to see if things are the same. The MDR staff problem I assume/hope was limited to our tables. I am curious about the specialty restaurant hard sell though. That was very annoying. Hopefully it won't be as bad for you.

Thanks for your comments as I am going on the Adventure in June. On the subject of elevators as we have a son in a wheelchair with have no option but to use them so is there much waiting time for them to come available and is there any part of the ship where they aren't used quite as much as others.

Thanks for your comments as I am going on the Adventure in June. On the subject of elevators as we have a son in a wheelchair with have no option but to use them so is there much waiting time for them to come available and is there any part of the ship where they aren't used quite as much as others.

Our cabin was at the back of the ship so the most convenient elevators for us to use were the ones near the back. We use the stairs quite a bit so we were not always looking for an elevator. There are 8 elevators there (4 on each side) and when we wanted to use one, the wait never seemed to be too bad, never more than a couple of minutes. We used the elevators near the front a couple of times and when we did, there seemed to be less of a wait.

Our cabin was at the back of the ship so the most convenient elevators for us to use were the ones near the back. We use the stairs quite a bit so we were not always looking for an elevator. There are 8 elevators there (4 on each side) and when we wanted to use one, the wait never seemed to be too bad, never more than a couple of minutes. We used the elevators near the front a couple of times and when we did, there seemed to be less of a wait.

Our room is actually at the front of the ship so this is good to know so thanks. (y)

Bob - I know you're on now so it would be interesting to see if things are the same. The MDR staff problem I assume/hope was limited to our tables. I am curious about the specialty restaurant hard sell though. That was very annoying. Hopefully it won't be as bad for you.

We also encountered the constant upsell on the one Princess cruise we've taken. The practice can be rather off-putting, but we just smile, say "no thank you", and keep walking.

We've seen them everywhere, on each of our three Royal Caribbean cruises, pushing specialty dining and drink packages. Everyone we've encountered has always smiled and gone on to the next person whenever we've said no thanks. Were the ones you encountered on this trip not taking "no" for an answer?

 

We also encountered the constant upsell on the one Princess cruise we've taken. The practice can be rather off-putting, but we just smile, say "no thank you", and keep walking.

Most took "no thank you" for an answer but a few were more persistent. We just kept on walking. My complaint is, it was CONSTANT! Every day, every meal and every time we tried to walk the Royal Promenade. Sometimes they were even hawking on the pool deck.

Most took "no thank you" for an answer but a few were more persistent. We just kept on walking. My complaint is, it was CONSTANT! Every day, every meal and every time we tried to walk the Royal Promenade. Sometimes they were even hawking on the pool deck.

Bob - I know you're on now so it would be interesting to see if things are the same. The MDR staff problem I assume/hope was limited to our tables. I am curious about the specialty restaurant hard sell though. That was very annoying. Hopefully it won't be as bad for you.

We are finding the medium (not hard) sell. We've been approached a couple of times in the last 3 days, so not bad. I tell them I'm interested in their 40% off offer as long as they are not adding 18%. They shake their head and walk away.

MDR is not a relaxing experience at all. The staiff is always rushing around. I feel sorry for them. We are a party of two in MTD, and have waited a few minutes each night to get seated. Then we wait 5-10 minutes before anyone comes over to our table. Once the waiter finally comes, service is lightning fast, soup is too hot to eat, and we are out of there in 45 minutes. Slow start, fast finish.

Thanks for sharing - heading on Adventure on Saturday. Used to the upsell by now but already booked the BOGO Specialty Restaurant offer on Cruise Planner.

Is the BOGO dining offer put on the cruise planner on an individual cruise basis? I don’t see it on my Ovation Cruise.

Is the BOGO dining offer put on the cruise planner on an individual cruise basis? I don’t see it on my Ovation Cruise.

Yes, you may or may not see various offers. Also, what you don't see now may show up later.

This is not a full review of our cruise, just some of my observations from the ship. This was the third(?) cruise for Adventure since she got out of dry dock. The things that I found to be positives are;The ship is in great condition. There are new carpets throughout the entire ship. All of the deck furniture has been upgraded. The crew was very friendly and easy to get along with. The entertainment on board was very good but not the best I have seen on RCI. The quality of the food is debated quite heavily on these boards but while tastes vary and I'm sure some won't agree with me, I found the food to be very good in both the Windjammer and in the Main Dining Room. The selections in the MDR are not as extensive as they used to be but there was a good selection to choose from every night. I never came across anyone on this cruise that I would consider rude; no line jumpers, no pushing or shoving in/at the elevators. The chair hogs were minimal and it was fairly easy for our group of 8 to find chairs near the pool every day.

 

There were only a couple things that I was not happy with. The first was our wait staff in the MDR. This group was by far the worst group that we have ever experienced in the MDR. Despite the fact that their tables were only about 50% occupied, their ability to do their job was poor. They were slow, quite often we had to wait too long between courses. On a couple of occasions they did not bring the items we ordered. And for some reason, they could not bring coffee WITH our dessert. We asked on night one to have coffee WITH our dessert but every night, the coffee showed up after our dessert was gone. It wasn't until night 5 that they finally brought coffee WITH our dessert. The other thing that really bothered me was the hard sell for the specialty restaurants. My guess is these venues are not selling as well as they used to. There were people outside the MDR and Windjammer all the time trying to push the specialty restaurants. They were on the Royal Promenade. They were in the bars. Our waiter in the MDR even pushed them most nights. This constant hard sell became very annoying. Izumi was added during dry dock. I'm assuming RCI thought it would be a popular addition but I never saw more than 6 or 8 people in there.

 

So that's my short list of pluses and minuses. The positives on this cruise certainly outweighed the negatives. All in all it was a very enjoyable vacation for us. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll answer anything I can.

Hi,

We just spent two weeks on the Adventure - found the elevators to be a real pain. Maintenance was always working on them & had one or two shut down at a time. There were also complaints of toilets not working/water shut off. Thankfully, our water was only off during part of the last day.

We felt the food in the WJ was pretty mediocre - all burgers/pizza/pasta. Not nearly enough fresh tasty foods. Disappointed in the Head Chef. Food in MDR was merely ok - lacked presentation & variety. But the strawberry cheesecake made up for that. The Ahi Tuna was good. We had a standing order for salmon which was cooked perfectly every nite.

Constant lineups in WJ for omelets - ended up in MDR for breakfast every day instead. Much better idea.

Appetizers in DL lacked variety - just little wings, etc. most nites. Wondered where they got the little chickens. Wished outdoor patio was open for DL but now only SL has patio.

Still vote for Jewel & Ovation as favourite ships. Much better food, service. Looking forward to getting back on Jewel in a few weeks!!

NJ

We were on Adventure the last two weeks also. It's amazing how different experiences can be. We never saw the elevators being worked on, didn't have any issues with toilets or water or even heard that there was an issue. Maybe we weren't in the same areas.

We did have an issue with the MDR. Some in our famîly of nine eat gluten free so after a couple of nights in the Windjammer we decided on the MDR. The first night my DIL ordered GF from the menu and we were in and out of there in less than an hour. The head waiter gave us the next night menu to order GF ahead of time so they would know ahead of time.

The next three nights we were there two hours each night. This might be ok for a couple but when there's 6 kids, three of which are little, it isn't good. DIL decided to stick with the WJ. She did tell them that it took too long and we wouldn't be back. They also got our desserts mixed up. Don't know whether it was the waiters or the kitchen at fault for the slow service.

The WJ had enough choices for the GF people and the kids liked eating there so no one went away hungry ( quite the opposite) They would also make GF pizza and pancakes if you asked.

We also had the same problem with the kids slides. Grandson wasn't tall enough (42") for the purple slide and is potty trained so had no swim diapers for the yellow slide so he couldn't go on it either. Not good. When we got back to SJ between cruises I went to Walmart and got the swim diapers so he could use it. They don't sell them onboard. Didnt even know what they were. Make sure you bring some if you're in the same situation.

We didn't have any problem with hard sell for the specialty restaurants. I guess the 6 kids scared them away.

We had a great cruise and the kids, ages 3-15, loved it.

We were on Adventure the last two weeks also. It's amazing how different experiences can be. We never saw the elevators being worked on, didn't have any issues with toilets or water or even heard that there was an issue. Maybe we weren't in the same areas.

We never saw the elevators being worked on either and never saw one shut down. No problems with water or toilets either.