Okay, time for a trip report from my recent cruise on the Adventure of the Seas. This is only an overview of the overall cruise experience. I will give you all the specifics a little later in the week when things slow down here at home.
Ship Overview: This was my second time onboard Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas. The memory I had of the ship was that it was massive (at the time it was) this was no longer the case. After cruising on ships that were of equal or greater size of the AoS the voyager class ships no longer seem so massive. However, it is still a spectacular cruise ship. Although the AoS is now 8 years old, it still looks great. You will notice a couple of things that make this ship look dated, but the crew does a great job keeping things as “shiny” as possible.
The Crew: In my opinion for the most part the crew is even better than when I first cruised on the Adventure of the Seas. My cabin steward (Keffon) introduced himself almost immediately after we checked into our rooms. He had a friendly demeanor, great personality and always kept the room in tip top shape. Additionally all of the bar staff and wait staff were for the most part exceptional and did a phenomenal job making us feel like they had a personal investment in ensuring we felt special. It took a while for me to warm up to the cruise director staff. I am used to having them introduced early on in the cruise but on this ship, it seems like everyday there was a new member, which kept me from really connecting with them.
The Entertainment: It all starts with the cruise director and I have to say Casey Pelter was incredible. He is extremely funny and innovative in his comedy routines. If I had to explain his humor I’d say if you threw David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel and the cast of Saturday Night Live into a blender and hit puree the result would be Casey.
The Love and Marriage show is always great but Casey took it to a whole other level. However, the rest of the entertainment was only average. There were two comedians, “Abbacadabra” (an ABBA tribute band), the Nelson Brothers and the usual routine of production shows comprised of the cruise ship singers and dancers. There was also a crew talent showed made up of no performing crewmembers such as bartenders and waiters, some of which were as good as the actual performers.
Dining: Initially we booked the early seating but a few days before embarkation I changed it to “My Time Dining. Although there were some hiccups, the overall experience was quite enjoyable and I like the freedom of being able to plan my dining time depending on the events of the following day.
We dined at Portofino’s the first night on the ship. While I will say the service was excellent, the food wasn’t anything special. Either my palette has improved or the quality in Portofino’s has decreased which is a shame the restaurant has such a great atmosphere, but I can no longer call it my favorite alternative restaurant.
The Windjammer is what I have come to expect from the buffet onboard cruise ships, solid offerings in a relaxed environment. I choose to eat dinner there twice, my waiter Aytach (pronounced I-touch) appeared nervous at first but in the end turned out to be great.
One thing that bugged me about the AoS is the relatively limited food options compared to other ships. Once the Windjammer closes, your only options are the “Café Promenade” (which is extremely limited), “Johnny Rockets” (which has a surcharge) and room service (which was pretty good but slow). In some instances it took almost an hour from the time I placed my order to when my food actually arrived. This is especially troubling if you order after midnight since you will be charged 3.95 (if I am paying for room service it shouldn’t take an hour to get there).
Conclusion: Overall, I would say the Adventure of the Seas is a decent ship, but not great. I love the Southern Caribbean itinerary and as long as the AoS carries it, I will always consider it but for a normal western Caribbean cruise I would probably look elsewhere. The staff tries very hard to make you happy but in the end, Royal Caribbean as a whole didn’t do a lot of impress. You can tell there are budgetary cutbacks in certain areas like entertainment and dining which makes it a cut below other ships in its class. If the itinerary and price is right I wouldn’t hesitate to try it again but given other comparable options I would probably not chose the Adventure of the Seas.
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