My husband and I just sailed on Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas to the Southern Caribbean. We hadn't been on Royal Caribbean since we were on the Viking Serenade many years ago.
My first impression: Wow, what a beautiful ship! My favorite feature was the gorgeous 3-story dining room. The grand staircase at the rear reminded me of the grand staircase on the Titanic, and the lighting and furnishings throughout the room were just beautiful. It really made dinners there each night very enjoyable.
Another beautiful feature of the ship was the grand Promenade. If you haven't been on a Royal Caribbean ship that has this feature, you're really missing something! There was always hustle and bustle going on down there, especially in the evenings, when there would be music playing and people would gather around to listen and sing along. Our favorite part, however, was the Cafe Promenade, where we could sit and have a great cup of Seattle's Best Coffee and just watch and listen. This place was also a great alternative to the buffet if you just wanted a quick sandwich or pastry, and it was open late for those late night cravings!
Speaking of cravings, the food was pretty good on the ship. We found the dinners to be quite good, and lunches in the dining room (on sea days only) were excellent. You have to try the open faced steak sandwich -- delicious! The buffet food was, well, typical buffet food, so that's not too surprising. The only really good buffet we've ever had was at The Peppermill Hotel/Casino. Now THAT''s a buffet! We ate a few times at Johnny Rockets, and we enjoyed that, although I really think that they should do away with the cover charge ($3.95 per person per visit), although we did each have a coupon to waive the cover charge from our Crown & Anchor Society books in our stateroom. We've been to Johnny Rockets many times on land and the food on the ship was pretty much the same, and I really loved how they'd bring us a basket of fries and onion rings as soon as we sat down.
We took advantage of our balcony stateroom and had breakfast out there every morning. We've done that every day of every cruise that we have been on in the past seven years and that's one of our favorite things to do. It just makes us feel so pampered! We sit out there with our robes on and watch the beautiful water as we enjoy our coffee and eggs, and it is just so peaceful and relaxing. Here's a tip for those of you who want to try this: if you want something that's not on the menu, write it on there in the quantities you want and see if they bring it to you. On Princess they were very accommodating; we requested corned beef hash almost every morning and got it every time! However, on the Adventure, we tried that and they called and said they didn't have it. However, they scrambled our eggs with cheddar cheese as we requested and brought us extra pastries when we requested them. Overall, breakfasts were very enjoyable, even though the table on the balcony was so tiny it could only hold a couple of coffee cups on saucers!
Our stateroom was very nice; we had a superior balcony stateroom and it was very well appointed. We loved how the bed was right near the balcony, because we left the sliding door open at night so that we could hear the ocean as we slept, and it was so wonderful. There was ample storage space, and with all of the stuff we bought in the different ports, we used most of it!
This trip we made shopping a priority, and boy, did we SHOP! We knew we wanted to buy a couple of watches -- one for me, one for him -- plus some jewelry for me, and we accomplished all that and a lot more. We had a great time buying souvenirs and T-shirts for our kids in Curacao and Aruba, and we saved the big purchases for St. Maarten and St. Thomas. We hunted from store to store in St. Maarten, trying to find a certain Concord watch for my husband, and we finally found it, and at a great price, too! And I picked out the most perfect Sophia Fiori blue diamond ring in St. Maarten as well at the Venetian boutique. That place is a must-see if you are looking for Sophia Fiori blue diamonds. We bought more souvenirs and T-shirts in St. Thomas, plus a new digital camera for me. It was a shopping extravaganza for us, and we had a great time!
Overall, this was a very nice cruise. As I said, the ship was beautiful and the food was pretty good, but we found the entertainment to be a little lacking. We did not find that there were a lot of activities going on throughout the day, unless you were into bingo and belly flop contests. We played bingo once and spent quite a bit of money on the cards for the two of us, and we didn't win (of course) but we were surprised at how low the prize winnings were -- the "big" jackpot final game that day was all of $75! We played bingo on Disney several years ago and my husband and I each won over $200, and neither of those were the big jackpot games!
As for the shows, we did not care for the musical productions at all. The musical productions on the Disney Magic and the Grand Princess were much better. There was a pretty decent comedian, and the audience participation games were quite funny, but that was about it. The highlight of the entertainment was the "Fountains" routine they did one late night. I don't know if they are doing this on other ships or not, but this was quite funny. Oh, and they did a can't miss game show called "The Quest" one night, and this was unbelievable. If they do this on your next cruise, you MUST go! We laughed so hard and had an awesome time, I did not want it to end!
One other minor complaint involved the dining venues on the ship. On the other cruises we have taken over the years, the main dining room was always open for lunch, whether the ship was at sea or in port. On the Adventure, the dining room was only open on sea days. When the ship was in port, the only choices for lunch were the buffet, where the food was average at best, and Johnny Rockets, where you had to pay the cover charge. We really felt that Royal Caribbean was trying to get passengers to eat at restaurants in port, thus saving the cruise line money on food. Also, on other cruises, the buffet has always been open either 24 hours, or at least until very late at night. On the Adventure, that was not the case, as the buffet would close around 10 or 11 pm, so if you wanted something later on, the only choice open was the Cafe Promenade, which had a very limited selection of items. They did a late night full buffet one or two nights up on the pool deck, but when we got up there, the line snaked all the way around the deck and we decided it wasn't worth the wait.
The most important thing for us to get from this vacation was a chance to just be together as husband and wife, without the kids and the daily stresses at home, and to really connect with each other. We certainly did that, and so for that reason alone, it was a great vacation and we eagerly await our next cruise!
