Adventure of the Seas

Windjammer food is good. the ship is lovely like any Royal Carribean ship. Very easy boarding procedures. Good staff and service.

We have been loyal RC members for more than 20 years, and have always enjoyed our cruises. The value-for-money and breadth of activities and accommodations appeals to our family vacations, and we have often encouraged extended families to join us on our RC cruises. As usual, the ship was beautiful, the food was very good and the staff was nice and efficient. But we have two major concerns that we take this opportunity to relay to you: Service Quality Decline: Recently, however – starting with the automatic 18% service charge – the quality of services has declined noticeably. Traditionally, the service has consistently rated exceptionally high, with almost every waiter, cabin attendant and staff remarkably eager to provide knowledgeable and efficient service with impeccable friendliness. After the introduction of the automatic 18% service charge, the incentive for staff to provide that extra level of service is gone, and the decline in service is significant. 1. Staff at the excursion or service desk are not aware of basic facts, such as location or distance to shopping areas 2. Some wait staff – particularly unassigned waiters at breakfasts – are unresponsive or slow with service and/or food is delivered late and cold or orders are inaccurate 3. General attitudes of staff are consistently not as ebullient as they were prior to the 18% system. That said, our waiters, Inyoman and Made, and our cabin steward, Oral La Borde, were excellent. Over-Selling: There has always been an significant element of “selling” on any cruise ship – pushing beauty treatments in the spa or selling beverage packages, shore excursions, private dining, etc. But in the last cruise, the hard selling was truly over-the-top. It seemed that there was a constant bombardment of selling – loudly pushing every conceivable item all the time. The sound system in the spa was turned-up so loud during the beauty products pushing sessions that the whole fitness center was made virtually unusable by people trying to exercise. And at every turn in the ship, someone was selling something, creating the atmosphere of a barkers’ bazaar throughout the ship. Transportation Logistics: In Fort Lauderdale, the traffic leading to the port and terminals was very long and poorly handled by port officials. We spent over an hour in traffic just at the entrance to the port. It seems the road infrastructure and security are not designed to handle the volume of traffic and no one seems interested in fixing it. This will discourage us from cruising from Ft. Lauderdale again. In Grand Cayman, the tendering to and from shore was very prolonged and frustrating. To get back onto the ship in mid-afternoon, the line for the tender was 90 mins and in the sun. Older and younger people in particular had a hard time with it. Closing Comments: In closing, I would emphasize that our particular waiter (at dinner) was excellent, and our cabin attendant was friendly and efficient. But, overall, there is a dramatic decline in the quality of the entire RC cruise experience as a result of the service and constant selling. We assume that RC has calculated the financial benefit of the 18% system and the move to go down-market, and has determined that it is willing to do so in exchange for an increase in revenue. And perhaps Royal Caribbean is repositioning itself to compete more with Carnival than with Norwegian Cruise Lines. If so, then it’s a reasonable commercial decision for RC, but we have determined to seek a cruise line that may charge a bit more, but one that provides that former level of service. We’re not interested in a Carnival Cruise, and that’s what RC is becoming, then we will have to cruise elsewhere.

Everything was mismanaged & unorganized. Stores closed on port days; an older lady I talked with was very disappointed because she didn't want to port & was looking forward to reading in her room & visiting the shops. Buffet closed after port day which created mega chaos in hallways around the pizza bar. That little area was probably the best. I did just remember something, & that was when I walked past a booth, there was what appeared to be human feces. I have no explanation on that one. Food in buffet was cold most of the time, but large selection. Very chaotic, everyone coming in, going out , & standing in main aisle talking. VERY UNORGANIZED! Constant problems with being seated in main dining room. Had to get angry on 3rd night, Christmas, actually both Christmas & Christmas Eve after being told three nights in a row they couldn't seat us (due to being booked at full capacity). We had been seated, finally, on the first night by the head dining room supervisor. He even waited on us. The 2nd day we received a phone message & written message from the dining room supervisor, looking forward to having us that night. When we showed up, EDIN, the guy standing at the podium, again, refused to seat us. We told him about the head dining room supervisor; EDIN called him out. He stood there hanging his head, not saying a word. We got seated after I made a very loud complaint. EDIN dismissed the supervisor, & someone else came to seat us. We were okay after that. The one night we had booked the "Mystery Dinner Theatre." I guess we were expecting something else; definitely not worth the $158. That was Christmas Eve. Christmas night, same thing, & admittedly, I lost my temper, telling him we were the customers who had booked almost a year ago. & how he now had totally ruined our Christmas cruise. This man, EDIN, very controlling needs to either be reprimanded or fired!

Had a wonderful time with friends on this cruise. Our aim was to relax, and other than screaming young children on board, it was VERY relaxing. Formal night attire should be maintained (not jeans and t-shirts) -- the ship encouraged passengers, but didn't bar them from the dining room as other ships have done. If they're going to do that, just say there is no dress code.

This was our first cruise. It was probably the best vacation we have ever taken. From the wonderful places we visited to the wonderful staff on the boat the entire trip was amazing! We will be cruising with Royal again!