Adventure of the Seas: 8th - 12th Dec (Galveston to Cozumel)

[TravelGirlinDallas]

Thanks for sharing your review! We were on Adventure over Thanksgiving and really enjoyed it. I believe Tanya was sick - we never saw her once the entire time. The entertainment director filled her role that week.

[Btank]

15 hours ago, Kathscof said:

What is this exotic “pink sauce” you speak of?

I questioned that myself.  Big Red told me is was like a vodka sauce, without the vodka.  It may have been a simple cream & tomato sauce; I didn't get a strong parmesan taste like would have expected in a tomato / alfredo sauce blend.  Whatever it was, it was tasty!

 

      --bruce T.

 

[Btank]

5 hours ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

Thanks for sharing your review! We were on Adventure over Thanksgiving and really enjoyed it. I believe Tanya was sick - we never saw her once the entire time. The entertainment director filled her role that week.

We really didn't see her much.  We (ahem) heard her a lot more times. 🤣

 

      --bruce T.

[Btank]

5 hours ago, CruiseMomTX said:

In our cruise planner it shows chops +1 for $83.99/pp do you or anyone know if they will offer a better deal once onboard?

I didn't hear anything, but Big Red indicated that he could get us a good deal on another reservation.

 

5 hours ago, CruiseMomTX said:

The traditional Indian dinner sounds delicious.

I think that was a one-off; but if your headwaiter is named Louis and he's from India, it'd be worth asking.  The worst he could do is say no!

 

      --bruce T.

 

[Btank]

9 hours ago, Kellie in Texas said:

Love your review, your sense of humor, and your dogs.  🙂  We are on Adventure in a couple of weeks. 

Outstanding!  Have a great cruise.

 

     --bruce T.

 

P. S.  More dog pictures incoming!

[Btank]

7 hours ago, TX Cruise Girl said:

Thanks for the review!  We'll be on this same itinerary for Christmas next week.

Things really looked nice with the Christmas decorations.  Have a great cruise!

 

      --bruce T.

 

[Btank]

DAY 5 - ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END

Gooooooooooooooood mornin' ever'bodeh!  I was impressed at waking up rested after not going through the last minute packing fiasco.  This is a strategy I'll repeat for our next Cruise.

 

DISEMBARKATION BREAKFAST

The Key includes an a la carte breakfast on the morning of departure.  I managed to get Mark up at 7:30 (not easy for him and we headed down to the MDR; if I remember right, it was deck 4.  The menu was a slightly reduced version of the normal MDR breakfast menu; the service was good, the food was hot, and the relaxed pace was absolutely a winner.  Yet another reason why The Key works for us (as I duck & cover 😁).

 

DISEMBARKATION

We "walked the plank" around 8:30.  There were signs up indicating that RCL & the Port of Galveston were partnering to test optical recognition for departing passengers.  We were routed to one of about 5 passport kiosks, which seemed to be a tablet with a separate camera.  You position your head so that your face is visible in a box on the screen, you get a green box, and you're through!  I never had to take my passports out of my bag.

 

LUGGAGE

Our luggage was waiting in The Key's dedicated area; however, that was not immediately visible.  We had to ask for directions; it was at the front of the room near the exit, and the sign was not obvious.  Again, the Galveston crew really came through here; after pointing out the luggage area for me, the rep asked if I wanted a porter (it was across the room from where they had gathered).  I told her yes, and she told me to head on over - she'd have a porter meet me there.  Sure enough, by the time we had picked our bags out from the line the porter was there!  He took us directly out without stopping at CBP, and we exited on the right side of the terminal at the passenger pickup area (right side if you are facing the terminal from the front).

 

Now, the important part: If you're cruising out of Galveston and parking at the port, pay attention!

Apparently, there has been a recent change in policy for the porters.  They had been taking luggage out to the passenger's cars in the port parking lots; this is no longer allowed.  Our porter told me - a couple of times - that they were sending other porters home for violating this policy.  They can only go to the other side of the shuttle buses and cabs; I've highlighted that area below in red:

Fortunately, this zone ended right where we parked (in handicap parking).  He did help me load our bags in the back of our car since it was right there.

 

This policy seems counter-productive.  What if it was a senior citizen and/or handicapped person, or a large family with only a couple of adults and multiple bags, parked in one of the other lots?  I'm sure there is a reason for it; insurance, a limited number of porters plus increased time back and forth to the lots... whatever.  It just doesn't seem right, and I would hope that they'll change the policy soon.  In the meantime, if it were me and I was in one of the above situations, I'd leave someone with the bags outside the pickup door, go collect the car, then circle back to get them and the bags.

 

HOMEWARD BOUND

Exiting the parking lot was a little confusing (all of the signs aren't up yet).  We managed to get out safely, and hit the road.  With minimal traffic plus use of the HOV+ lane coming into Houston, we got home by 10:30.  Note that if you use the HOV+ lane you will exit into downtown; however, you'll skirt the edge of it and get back on I-45 very shortly.

 

Once home, we unpacked & started laundry.  Then, thre was only one more thing to do:

I got the girls out of jail and brought them home so they could resume their duties of cutting off circulation to my lower legs.

 

 

[Btank]

FINAL RANDOM THOUGHTS

Here's a few odds and ends that either didn't fit, or (more likely) I forgot.

 

HOW DID WE LIKE THE SHIP?

We had differing opinions here.  Our first cruise was on the Celebrity Summit; this was similar (not identical) in size, and I really appreciated both the layout and the shorter walks between places.  On the other hand, it was missing a few things for Mark; in particular, Sorrento's Pizza (these are on the Freedom class ships and higher).  As I might have said, I've cruised on both Freedom and Liberty; that is probably our sweet spot.  We sailed on Anthem with a bunch of senior citizens family and friends relying on walkers, wheelchairs, etc.; that was a little much, but I think Mark and I alone would be OK with it.  I sure hope so, because our cruise next December is on Harmony!

 

HOW WAS THE RIDE?

All in all, very good.  The weather cooperated with us, with gentle swells all the way down to Cozumel and back.  One thing that I noticed more than others was a slight side-to-side rocking of the ship; I'm recovering from blowing out my knee, and I definitely didn't feel as stable as I wanted to.  Fortunately, I had brought a trekking pole (used for hiking) with me; that was enough to give me a little more lateral stability (although I's sure I looked pretty goofy).

 

HOW WAS THE INTERNET SERVICE?

I was pleasantly surprised!  Adventure has been converted to Starlink satellite service.  Without getting too obnoxiously technical, I found improvements in both speed and quality of service over our last cruise on Liberty with Voom:

Don't worry if you don't understand any of this.  What you can take away is:

1. It was more than quick enough to support streaming.
2. It was more than quick enough to support Voice over IP (VoIP) telephone service.
3. It was probably quick enough to support videoconferencing through services such as Facetime, Microsoft Teams, or Zoom, albeit with some possible reduction in quality.
4. Coverage seemed much better than Voom - much fewer service dropouts.

Is it good enough to keep in touch with the home front or your office?  Absolutely!  Would I rely on it for critical business communications?  Only if the folks I was talking to understood that I was subject to dropping out... and I would probably not enable video or screen sharing from the ship.

 

WHAT ABOUT IZUMI?

The Izumi on this ship is the smaller one (without the hibachi).  I would have loved to go there for lunch on Day 2; however, on both sea days the lunch was taken up by Sushi-making classes and Saki tastings.  Oh well.

 

WHAT ABOUT THOSE DAMNED KIDS?

So, I never let the kids bother me; in fact, sometimes I have more fun watching them behave better than the adults.  Still, there were not a ton of kids on the ship; it was a little too early for their Christmas break.  The kids seemed generally well behaved... their parents deserve the credit.  But, I know a lot of cruisers do not like the distraction of kids; just be aware that like it or not, they're gonna be on your Galveston cruise.

 

DID YOU HEAR ANYTHING ABOUT ICON COMING TO GALVESTON?

Ahhh... the $2 billion dollar question!  I know there's been some speculation on Icon being rotated into Galveston in 2024 (or 2025).  A friendly crew member told me that this had been informally and unofficially (my words) communicated to them.  Myself, I have a hard time believing it... but I guess it depends on how well Allure and Harmony do?  It would certainly put Icon within easy driving distance of the 4th, 7th, and 9th largest cities in the country... along with a major international airport (Bush Intercontinental) featuring a carrier hub (United) and lots of international flights.

 

ANYTHING ELSE THAT YOU'VE LEFT OUT?

We did get a couple of milkshakes from Johnny Rockets.  There were OK - nothing memorable, except for the guy who made Mark's shake suffering an equipment malfunction and being covered from the waist up in strawberry milkshake.

 

ANY FINAL WORDS?

Nope - I'll shut up and answer any questions that I can.  Thanks for cruising with us!

 

        --bruce T.

 

 

[CruiseMomTX]

Thanks again for taking the time to do the review and answer questions! Do you have a picture of the show schedule?  

[Biker19]

3 hours ago, Btank said:

Coverage seemed much better than Voom

Voom is a marketing term which simply refers to internet on board - all ships have them. For a while longer, you have at least three possible providers for the internet connection off the ship (in order of performance): legacy, O3B (which you had on Liberty) and now Starlink. 
 

Coverage on the ship doesn’t depend on the connection off the ship and that is tougher problem to solve/improve. 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Biker19

[Btank]

17 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Voom is a marketing term which simply refers to internet on board - all ships have them. For a while longer, you have at least three possible providers for the internet connection off the ship (in order of performance): legacy, O3B (which you had on Liberty) and now Starlink. 
 

Coverage on the ship doesn’t depend on the connection off the ship and that is tougher problem to solve/improve. 

Point taken.  Internal network management on the ship can also apply.  My original comment still stands; the speed and quality of service seemed improved over a year ago on a different ship taking the same route.

 

      --bruce T.

[Btank]

20 hours ago, CruiseMomTX said:

Thanks again for taking the time to do the review and answer questions! Do you have a picture of the show schedule?  

I'm sorry, I don't.  But from memory: ice show days 1 and 3, theatre show day 2, headliner show days 1 and 4, and theatre movie on day 3.

 

With the switch away from paper Cruise Compasses, I got lazy and relied on the app without capturing more info. 🙁

 

      --bruce T.