My View: Live from a Back2Back Adventure on the Seas

[Cruise a holic]

We purchased the surf and stream for our upcoming Adventure cruise. The other doesn't seem worthwhile-

[APDMOM]

We purchased the surf and stream for our upcoming Adventure cruise. The other doesn't seem worthwhile-

 

 

Good call! On Oasis class ships, surf was quite enough for us. However, it was very slow on Adventure.

[APDMOM]

Doing a “Live” review... Did it interfere with my vacation?

 

The answer is a resounding “no” [emoji846] I had so much fun doing the review while sitting in Boleros or the Promenade and listening to music. It took much less time than at home, as I got to “chunk” the picture editing, and organized everything right away.

 

I did not out any pressure on myself to “get it done”, like I usually do at home. I just posted when we had “down” time. On a normal cruise, those are the times I would be reading a novel or solving a Rubik’s Cube. Since I love photography even more, it was worth every minute spent on the cruise.

 

I purchased a $20 app earlier this year for photo editing, called Polarr. It was fun to work with it during the cruise!

[Clarea]

Thanks very much for the Compass scans and departure info, that will be very helpful to many.:)

[APDMOM]

Thanks very much for the Compass scans and departure info, that will be very helpful to many.:)

 

 

You are welcome! Thank you for following along, Bob. I have learned so much from you here on CC!

[Russ Lomas]

Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us. The commentary and photos were excellent. We had the New England/Canada cruise booked for the end of this August on the Adventure, but cancelled it. It looks like a beautiful ship and you visited some amazing places I would like to see myself sometime. The good news for me is that we do have an 8 day voyage booked on the Adventure, so I will get to see the ship eventually. Even better, the reason we cancelled the one week cruise is because we decided to to drive to the East Coast and spend a full two weeks exploring PEI, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Your photos have made me even more excited for our upcoming voyage. Thank you again for taking the time to share your cruises with us.

[APDMOM]

My View of the Ship:

 

As you already know, I loved the balcony. However, this is not the ideal ship for the NE/ Canada itinerary. It got very crowded due to the foggy weather, with crowds everywhere. Even the Champagne bar was filling up by 9a.m. with people looking for a “quiet spot” away from their cabins.

 

We also love the promenade cabins, and we had the best of both worlds, with my parents being booked in a PR view cabin (7583). This was right above the pub, but the only time the noise bothered them was when the line dance class was moved to the promenade due to bad weather, and the music was blasted too loudly (even louder than the disco party and the parade). It was fun to watch the parade from their room during the second week.

 

Although we liked the space decor (planets, stars, etc), we just did not care for the decor/art of the stairways. It really had a strong Carnival feel with all the “naked art”. We dubbed the silver lady at the entrance of the promenade, “Pregnant Grandma got run over by Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer”. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture, but you can see it here (Post number 7 in hapster’s live review):

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2650764&highlight=adventure

 

The pools were crowded when the weather was nice. Our usual plan to use the pools during port days did not work, as the ship had lots of kids with the same plan [emoji846] We ended up using the pool only twice. The slides were fun, though! I just wish they would be open longer on port days.

 

This ship has my favorite mini-golf course, to date! Once again, it was very crowded, which made it difficult for our group of 4 to play. We let people play past us, as they were often groups of 2 or 3, and we could cause a bottleneck [emoji16]

 

On the other hand, this ice show was my least favorite to date. It was still very enjoyable, but we did not opt to watch the repeat on the second week. If it were Allure’s show, we would have definitely returned!

[APDMOM]

Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us. The commentary and photos were excellent. We had the New England/Canada cruise booked for the end of this August on the Adventure, but cancelled it. It looks like a beautiful ship and you visited some amazing places I would like to see myself sometime. The good news for me is that we do have an 8 day voyage booked on the Adventure, so I will get to see the ship eventually. Even better, the reason we cancelled the one week cruise is because we decided to to drive to the East Coast and spend a full two weeks exploring PEI, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Your photos have made me even more excited for our upcoming voyage. Thank you again for taking the time to share your cruises with us.

 

Glad you enjoyed it! I think you made the right decision! Cruising is always our first choice for a vacation, but the NE destination calls for more days to explore... now, if they could only make a 14-day cruise that spends 2-3 days in each of these ports! A girl can dream. :D

[Cruisingmarmi]

APDMOM,

We're going on a 21 day B2B in Sept and will see each port twice, with 3 days in Quebec City. The only port we visit for one day is Boston on our way back. Your reviews have made me even more anxious to go! Again, thank you for your time and efforts to give such insight into the ship and ports!

[APDMOM]

Some of the Ship Decor that we liked:

 

 

 

 

 

Vision of the Seas Model:

[APDMOM]

I liked the fact that they chose these people as “godparents” of the ship, honoring first responders and those who serve and protect:

 

Tip: We saw many people crowd and line up to get formal night pictures by the Champagne bar/midship stairs However, if you can find a friend or fellow cruiser to take a picture of you and your family, the forward stairs by the theater are also beautiful, and not crowded for pictures:

[APDMOM]

APDMOM,

We're going on a 21 day B2B in Sept and will see each port twice, with 3 days in Quebec City. The only port we visit for one day is Boston on our way back. Your reviews have made me even more anxious to go! Again, thank you for your time and efforts to give such insight into the ship and ports!

Some day, I will have a day job that allows me to travel in the fall! ;) Like I said, “A girl can dream.”

 

Enjoy your voyage! It sounds ideal!

[APDMOM]

Views of the Helipad:

 

 

[APDMOM]

Sapphire (Main Dining Room):

 

Deck 3 was for my time dining. During our first week, we ate on deck 5, and during the second week, we ate on deck 4. They switched dining room teams between the two weeks, and we really wanted to stay with our team. We got to keep our head waitress, Sallyann. After two weeks of service, she is the best waitress we had in all our cruises! Both assistants (Marlon and Sebastaio) were also very good!

 

 

 

 

Chef’s table was set up on this balcony:

[APDMOM]

Decor in the Main Dining Room:

 

 

[APDMOM]

Food pictures from the first “last day” lunch in the MDR:

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Food and dessert in the Windjammer:

 

 

 

 

[JoseyP]

PS LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the shoes!:)

 

Ditto!! love the shoes! where did you get them??

[JoseyP]

We ended our day with the ice show. It was very good, but not my favorite ice show on Royal. The costumes are not as spectacular as we have seen on other ships, but the skaters were excellent!

 

 

 

 

 

I love the comedy they work into the show:

 

 

Hi! The skaters were representing Toulouse Latrec......in the blue coat costumes. Thanks for capturing me and my husband sitting in the front row too! joseyP

[APDMOM]

Ditto!! love the shoes! where did you get them??

My mom bought them for me in Namibia. They are called Chocolaticas (Brand). I have also seen them on Amazon. :) They needed a soft insert (got gel inserts from Aldi), which made them perfect!

[APDMOM]

Casino:

 

Each of us received the $5 promotion both weeks, which we used for fun on the Wheel of Fortune machines. I won $20, but we decided to keep having fun by playing the “free money” out.

 

For the first time, I also won a key chain with my gold coins for the diamond free spins.

 

Views in the Casino:

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

 

 

[APDMOM]

Schooner Bar:

 

We listened to the classical guitar here one time. The music was good, but the bar was very smokey due to its location by the casino.

 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Just outside the Schooner bar, you can go around to the beautiful stairs for family pictures on formal night.

 

A View of the stairs from above:

 

 

The underbelly of the stairs:

 

Conference Center on deck 2 (I wish my day job involved a conference at sea):

[APDMOM]

Imperial Lounge:

 

This is a great place to wait for rooms to be ready on embarkation day. It is right by the helipad and the Promenade Café. So, you can enjoy a cup of coffee away from the crowds, or hop outside for a few minutes to enjoy the views from the helipad.