Excellent Cruise

I stepped off the Adventure of the Seas two days ago in San Juan after a 7 day cruise to St. Thomas, Curacao, Aruba, St. Kitts with two days at sea. There were 9 of us in our group, all with cabins on deck 8.

Even though our boarding time was sent to us as 2:00 pm, we had to be out of our hotel by 11:00 am so we took a shuttle over to the terminal at that time. There were no lines to speak of and we were checked in and on the ship in about 20 minutes. As one of our group needed to stop to purchase an alcohol package we waited for them just inside the door to deck 4. Luckily for me that was exactly were the Schooner bar is. My first cocktail of the cruise was just 20 feet away and Wilbert and Pavlo were just waiting to serve it. Both men would turn out to be among the best bartenders we’ve encountered aboard a ship to date and two of the friendliest crew members we’ve met. I think every member of our group had consider them as friends by the time the cruise ended.  

Our cabins were ready by 2:00 pm and we were unpacked and ready to cruise soon after. The overall embarkation process was very easy and painless with no stationary lines.

The ship:

Adventure of the Seas was clean and in great condition. I had a difficult time seeing any condition issues even in the common areas. The furniture looked great and the carpets must have been new. Something of note about this ship in particular is that it offers more to do than any other ship I’ve been on to date. RC has redesigned this ship to be something more than it was originally designed to be, great job RC. Everything from the paint on the hull to the tables in the dining room looked like new. The layout of the pools works very well and allows for separation of kids and adults. I didn’t have an interest in being involved in the belly flop contest (I didn’t want to injure anyone) so I made sure I hung out at the Solarium instead at that time, easy fix.

I was able to check out three other cabins besides our own and they were all in good shape with no obvious signs of age or disrepair. Our cabin steward did the one thing that I find most important when beginning a new cruise, he came to our cabin and introduced himself. He told us his schedule and how he’d like to see the routine go, I appreciated that and we got along just fine. We never went without a thing and always had his full attention.

The Promenade seemed a little bit different on this ship, but in a good way. The space seemed to have been designed with a more open floor plan. This allowed for more of what passengers expect to find there. The English pub is always one of my favorites as is the pizza and sandwich shop.

The food:

We ate in the main dining room each night and I usually had breakfast at the Windjammer. For dinner we encountered two excellent servers and an equally great Dining Manager. By the end of the first dinner seating, they knew all of our names (There were nine of us at the table) and spoke to us like we were old friends. They smiled very freely and made us feel like family. Wilmar and Edwin deserve some recognition for their positive attitudes and attention to detail, just something else RC always seems to promote. I unfortunately don’t recall the Dining Manager’s name but he took care of the two people at the table that had restricted diets to make sure they had the same experience as everyone else. I recommend that passengers take the time to build relationships with their servers in the main dining room as it adds a great deal the your cruise.

The food in the Windjammer was always good and I usually had breakfast there after watching the sunrise. I never had a problem finding the bacon or a place to sit and eat it. We normally don’t bother with the specialty restaurants so I can’t comment on them.  

The crew:

The crew were always willing to help and never hesitated in making eye contact when they saw something (Or someone) needing attention. Once again, great job RC.

The shows:

I really only went to one of the shows and it was a bit too raw adult humor oriented for me to watch with my family, luckily I fell asleep in the soft chair. My family went to other shows and said they were pretty good.

The Spa:

My wife and I scheduled a couples massage for the first time, a little out of our comfort zone. The experience was very nice and the girls seemed to know what they were doing, I just might do this again sometime. When they tell you that the massage lasts for 50 minutes, it really does.

Disembarkation:

We needed to get to the airport fairly early and opted for early disembarkation from deck 1. We grabbed our bags and just walked off at 7:00 am. Getting through customs wasn’t too bad as the line continued moving most of the time. The Customs agent had a smile on his face the entire time and never once tried to eat anybody, I appreciated that.

Overview:

Cruising on the Adventure of the Seas was a great experience and turned out to be my favorite cruise to date. The ship is in great condition and has a lot to offer. I had the feeling the crew knew what a good ship it was as well because they seemed to be enthusiastic about their jobs and always seemed to be smiling. RC hit a homerun when they designed the Adventure and I hope they do the same with their other ships as well.

We had such a good experience that we did something we’d never done before, we booked another cruise while still on board, looking forward to going back.