Adventure of the Seas Review...11-18 June 2016!

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Friday/Saturday: At Sea Day & Debarkation

 

After the awesome time in Aruba, reality set in for us on Friday..this was our last day aboard Adventure, and tomorrow we would be headed back into reality. Sometimes, reality sucks..!

 

I'm not going to get into a lot of details about our last day at sea...it pretty much followed our first one. Except, this time we spent more time in our stateroom relaxing. We did stroll through the pool area, and managed to score a pair of loungers in the shade around 1400. We were just SO tired at this point... Meals were good, we had our last MDR experience with Ligorio and Carmen...it was all good.

 

Oh, at lunchtime in the WJ, there was a parade (accompanied by very loud PA music/yelling) to recognize the WJ crew. It was a nice way to showcase the people who work hard on your cruise to serve you hot, good food. Then there was this guy, who clearly has advanced balancing skills:

 

I don't even...

 

One thing I'll mention...after having a nice, fairly classy MDR dinner, the overhead PA system starts to blare sh!tty music, and someone is loudly trying to rile everyone up to cheer for your waitstaff. W T F? I mean, really...way to cheapen an experience, RCI. We recognized our waitstaff with tips, just like anywhere else. We also heaped praise upon them each night, because they really were that good. No need to turn dinner into the Jerry Springer Show. Also, the people who work there must be under tremendous performance pressure to maintain a contract...poor Ligorio practically begged us to rate him "10"s. I inadvertantly told him not to worry, he was number one with us. He panicked!! "No, no, not number one, number ten!!!" Oops. I mean, you're number 10 with us. Yikes.

(That was pretty funny though, I'm not gonna lie).

 

Later that evening, there was a very festive parade on the Promenade. Not really sure what the theme was supposed to be, but it was decidedly Lion Kingish...Entertaining for 10 minutes.

 

 

Hakuna Matata, yo...!

 

Then, we spent a little time in the Casino. Not very long, but enough for my partner to throw a couple of bucks into this devious machine...

 

Pro-tip: Just no.

 

 

Saturday was debarkation day. Being the high-rolling Gold C&A members that we are, we were in debarkation group 11. Not too shabby. I wish I'd booked the 1100 Southworst flight home, because we'd have easily made it. As it was, I'd booked the 1600 flight, and we got to enjoy the San Juan airport all. day. long. When we disembarked, we hired one of the porters to help with our luggage. This was well worth the $5.00 tip. Although it was long, the porter line was way shorter than the other line(s). From the time we left the dining room muster point, till we got to the airport, was between 45-60 minutes. Not too bad in reality.

 

Yeah....mine's the black one.

 

All in all, this cruise was a fantastic vacation! I would definitely book aboard Adventure again. Speaking of Adventure....she's in fine shape. Other than Jester's Rape Dungeon, I don't see anything that needs to be changed. Yeah, the refurb will bring about some changes to make her more relevant in the fleet, but she is in excellent condition. I didn't see any rust, nothing that made me think she's "worn", etc. But, on the other hand, I didn't go on this cruise to nitpick. I guess, if I looked hard enough I could've found something to b!tch about. I was too busy having ALL the fun to worry, though. Adventure of the Seas is a clean, functional vessel. Period.

 

So....some random observations to close this out:

 

The Bad:

Little Asian guy Casino Cashier (I was so pissed off I didn't get his name). He literally refused to make change for us in the Casino. Twice. The bill exchanger machines were both out of order, but he wouldn't budge. We actually had to rip the signs off of the machines, go back to the cage, and shove them at him to get change. This egregious lack of professionalism is unacceptable on every level. RCI should be embarrassed and ashamed to be represented by this flippant, unprofessional amateur.

 

Russian guy in the Royal Crown lounge. Even though the place was deserted, we had to approach him for drinks after we seated ourselves. He was apathetic and uncaring. After we finally got our drinks, we left. No sense in hanging around a bar we aren't wanted at.

 

Ronald (MDR). We had him the first night. Very creepy and overbearing. Ronald would not stop making comments about how beautiful my partner is, and continually wanted to shake our hands. So much for using the Purel when entering the MDR! This is a great way for your crew to spread Norovirus around. With every course, he wanted to stand around and talk. Just bring us the food and go away, like a good waiter.

The Just OK:

The Windjammer. I get it, it's a buffet. But, it's not great. As I said earlier, it's not horrible, either. Just OK.

One night in the MDR I ordered the Chicken Cordon Bleu. It was like the frozen ones you get at Costco. Kind of disappointing.

The entertainment. We only saw the 2 comedians, so maybe this doesn't even qualify for a comment. The one guy we saw the 1st night, was really pretty funny. Although, he spoke so fast, we missed some jokes. What we did hear, though, was funny. The second guy we saw 2 nights later though, wow was he terrible. Unfunny, and stealing jokes. He actually stole a joke from the 1990s show "Married With Children". ("Go around you? Lady, I don't have that much gas in my car")

We walked out.

 

The Motown show, which was published in the Cruise Compass, never happened the night we wanted to attend.

The Good:

Pretty much everything else.

Except for the crewmembers mentioned above, the crew we encountered all over the ship, throughout the week, were amazing. Very friendly and attentive, they appeared happy, and always went out of their way to greet us.

 

Our stateroom was really nice, and we never felt claustrophobic. The balcony is a must.

 

Roomservice never took more than 5 minutes to get our breakfast up to our room. Seriously....5 minutes.

 

The ship itself....Adventure of the Seas is a great ship, and she's in very good condition. The upcoming refurbishment will only make her better.

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Sunday: The Day After

 

Wow. Having all the fun is a lot like work. I need another vacation to recover from my vacation! After traveling from San Juan for 16 hours, we got home at 0100. Sunday morning, we picked our Siberian Husky up from the kennel, where he apparently had all the dog fun.

 

Here's me unpacking:

 

 

Next up: February 2018. Maybe Celebrity....?

[bobmacliberty]

Great review! We just got off Adventure a few weeks ago and now you have me thinking of doing the ABC islands on her. You also got me to look up the definition of solipsistic. Still not sure I know what it means. :o

[lbtnewcruiser]

Super review, thanks for sharing, we sail next Friday. Was there any sign of a "white party" on board. I thought I read a few months ago there was one and don't want to leave the white dress behind if it's needed.

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Super review, thanks for sharing, we sail next Friday. Was there any sign of a "white party" on board. I thought I read a few months ago there was one and don't want to leave the white dress behind if it's needed.

 

 

 

No, no "White Party" that we were aware of. From what I've read, this is a fleeting thing, more towards NCL. Leave your white stuff at home.

[lbtnewcruiser]

ok thanks, I'll save it for NCL one more question, our flight home leaves San Juan at 3:00 pm, anything to do at the airport to pass the time ?

[nessy48]

Not to throw a wrench into your plans, we were on the adventure at the end of April and there was a white party. Maybe they phased it out since he did not have one just now.

 

 

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[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

ok thanks, I'll save it for NCL one more question, our flight home leaves San Juan at 3:00 pm, anything to do at the airport to pass the time ?

 

 

Not really, no. They won't let you check your bags in with the airlines until 4 hours before your flight departs....So, you're stuck in the pre-security area until then. Absolutely nothing to do , but sit.

 

Once you're through security, there's a few shops, and a Margaritaville restaurant. That helped.

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Not to throw a wrench into your plans, we were on the adventure at the end of April and there was a white party. Maybe they phased it out since he did not have one just now.

 

 

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Well, maybe they do? I dunno. I never saw it on the Cruise Compasses, but to be fair...I never looked for it.

 

I never saw any groups of people walking around dressed in white though.

[bobmacliberty]

Well, maybe they do? I dunno. I never saw it on the Cruise Compasses, but to be fair...I never looked for it.

 

I never saw any groups of people walking around dressed in white though.

 

We were on the June 4 Adventure cruise. No sign of a white party that week either, at least that I saw.

[Cruisin' Along]

Thanks for the fun review and the great photos!

[salporch]

Great review...thanks so much! We're heading out on the AOS on July 30th...can't wait!

 

 

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[khm1]

Great review...thanks so much! We're heading out on the AOS on July 30th...can't wait!

 

 

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Me too! You should come over to our roll call Adventure of the Seas 7-30-2016

 

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url=http%3A%2F%2Fboards%2Ecruisecritic%2Ecom%2Fshowthread%2Ephp%3Ft%3D2284157&share_tid=2284157&share_fid=24703&share_type=t

 

It's a little lonely. We could use more members there!

[mom2mybugs]

Thanks for the great review! We leave on adventure on august 6 with the same itinerary, just order mixed up. Can't wait, though I'm guessing we would love to go after the rehab/addition of chops/demise of jesters! Jane

[Daycare Provider]

Could you please post a little more information about the menu costsat Blue Bay resort..such as the drink prices...

 

Thank you...