Relaxing Itinerary, Disappointing Ship Activities

Adventure of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 65

Overall rating:

3.9 out of 5
Verified Review
Adventure of the Seas

8 Night Eastern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 08, 2018

Ship: Adventure of the Seas

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 1556

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

Embarkation and Disembarkation were very smooth. No problems here. We were very disappointed with the lack of activities. On the Explorer of the Seas, the Cruise Director staff was hilarious and kept us on our toes with "activities you could not miss". On this cruise, nothing was made obvious. The musical events were tributes to adele and michael buble. Only singing. I still am not sure where the other dancing show was as it was not explained and was not anything popular or easy to figure out. The "fun" activities consisted of the cruise director holding a "love and marriage" game show that was dirty and consisted of asking people about their sex lives in public. It was tacky and tasteless. This was then broadcast all over the ship tv afterwards. The food was amazing. The wait staff in the Sapphire Dining Room is not to be missed. The breakfast buffet in the main dining room is also amazing. Everything you could possibly think of to eat. Our concierge - Christopher - was fantastic and was everywhere all the time. He was dependable and easy to talk to. He met us all and directed us ahead of the lines and made sure we were well cared for. Andre - the Head Waiter was amazing and even traveled to other dining rooms to make sure that I had the right meals. (He had them specially make me salmon as it is my favorite even when it was not on the menu that night). My advice to anyone going on this trip is the following: Sunblock, sunblock, sunblock. Make sure you take a water bottle. Bring things to keep you busy as the shipboard activities are horrible. Get to know the staff as they really made the trip wonderful. Internet is NOT free on this ship - even for suite guests. There is no electrical plug on the balcony side of the bed. You need an extension cord. If you have trouble laying on a flat bed, ask for a bed wedge. (they build them and have them in your cabin when you arrive). Unless you are addicted to soda, you do not need a soda package. There is free water, iced tea, hot tea, coffee, orange juice, mango juice and lemonade all the time in all the dining venues.. Our suite had a complimentary hair dryer in the drawer next to the bed. You can get into the cabins before 1pm if you really want to drop your items. While it is not technically time, the doors to the stateroom hallways are not locked and staff will not yell if you drop your luggage in the room while they are cleaning. My parents and my husband and I had a very relaxing time, but we felt that the shipboard activities were a waste of our time and since we had 3 "at sea" days, this was unfortunate. No, we would not sail on this ship again. We would, however sail again on Royal Caribbean.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Johnny Rockets

5 out of 5

Fantastic. Check your suite paperwork for a coupon for a buy one get one free milkshake/malt. Oh my goodness they are worth it. Johnny Rockets changed how they price food now, too. Instead of buying each item from the menu like a fast food restaurant, you now pay a flat $9.95 and you can eat as much as you want. That includes burgers, fries, onion rings and dessert. The milkshakes/malts are extra.

Main Dining Room

5 out of 5

Completely worth skipping every paid food venue (other than Johnny Rockets!!) to eat here for every meal. The food was delicious. The service was amazing. The views from our private four person table next to the window was bar none. Amazing choices of food and the appetizers were crazy! Make sure to try the pumpkin seed dinner rolls (yum!) and the special chocolate cake dessert on the first night. It's molten and melts in your mouth!

Windjammer Marketplace

5 out of 5

Fast service... a HUGE variety (best biscuits and gravy i have ever had), and the staff was quick to clean up and help you find a place to sit.

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5
Very disappointed in these. There was supposed to be an area for suite guests that was adult only. There were only like 12 chairs for all of the suites included. The deck was full of smoking people, so for those of us with an allergy, we could not enjoy the pools. The casino was also a nightmare zone full of smoke. The ship needs to go smoking free. It was disgusting.

Gift Shop

1 out of 5

Very poor selection. Mainly t-shirts and watches. I kept asking for items that I had seen on every other RCCL cruise I had been on, yet they did not have much. Their clearance sale consisted of a few beach bags, ball caps and about eleventy billion watches. They pushed watches 3 different days. It was like they had nothing to sell but watches. Very boring.

Entertainment

2 out of 5
The Ice show was fabulous. We did not hear about the other shows as they were poorly advertised. The Mystery Dinner was amazing. The Final Show comedian was very funny. The rest of the evenings, we went to our stateroom for bed around 8pm every night... BORED out of our skulls.

Studio B

5 out of 5

Seats were more comfortable than the Lyric Theatre! The Ice show was awe-inspiring. You can take non-flash photos, but not video or audio due to copyright.

Concierge Lounge

5 out of 5

Service here was fantastic. Concierge Christopher was always around with a smile. Food and hor d'oerves were wonderful. Lots of people in the lounge this cruise. Everyone was friendly. I was disappointed to see that they have discontinued service for movies and PlayStation 3. The ship no longer has either. They now make you pay to stream movies in your room like everyone else.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Andre (5th Floor Sapphire Dining Room Head Waiter) was amazing. If you have a chance to meet this bubbly Head Waiter, you are in for a treat. Hanna in Next Cruise was a pleasure to work with. Renato (room steward for my parents in 1568) was fantastic. He was charming and charismatic. Wish we had had him!

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5
The cabin was great and it was always clean, but people entered our room even when we had a Do Not Disturb sign on the door. We had to "ask" for the towel animals (even though my parent's suite 3 doors down always got them without asking.) It was our anniversary and our suite was always last to receive anything. We never got the "Thank you for sailing" gift from the captain that my parents got in their suite. We were quite disappointed with our suite experience on this trip.

Ship tip

Take extension cords. Take books or things to do. Shipboard shopping was awful unless you want to buy an expensive watch. There were only a few items for sale on board and about 90% of the time it was watches on sale for $150.00.

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

3 out of 5

Labadee (Cruise Line Private Island)

5 out of 5
This is by far the best port. The ocean is relaxing, the food is fantastic. Avoid the shopping area. Some of the locals are scary in the back market. We were actually a bit afraid when they all swarmed my husband. (about 20 of them at once).

San Juan, Puerto Rico

4 out of 5
Local artisan market by the pier is fantastic. Hand made crafts at low prices... Very neat! We got a hand punched aluminum picture in a frame... beautiful! We also got to talk with the artist.

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

1 out of 5
The Ferry purposefully dropped us at the far pier down in the poor section of town away from shopping to make us shop the local shops first. For those with walking problems, it was horrible as it was over a mile to the regular shopping area on foot in 85 degree temperatures, no shade--full sun. They dont tell you they are doing this, they trick you and you pay the water taxi in the process. So we technically paid them to trick us into having to walk a mile and a half to get back to civilization. Shopping is same stores as in all the other ports. One gross thing is that the water taxis drop passengers at the pier that is between the "pristine" beaches. I should mention that the back of the water taxis let off this black sludge from the exhaust that goes into the water and the pier is smack between groups of people. The pier is actually ON the beach. It is so disgusting. You could not pay me to swim in that water.

Basseterre, St. Kitts

5 out of 5
By far the most fun of the islands. The Caribbean Cooking excursion is our favorite (second time around for this one. Do not miss it!) We keep meaning to head to Nevis while there but keep taking the cooking excursion. We hear the shopping in Nevis is fantastic!

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
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4 Comments

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

wgammon1    4 years ago

Glad you had a good cruise. Thanks for the great review.

amcre    5 years ago

Did you not receive a cruise compass each day? It would list all of the onboard activities and shows for you. I have been on a small ship and mid-sized ship and never been "bored".

Dutch3901    5 years ago

Most all of your negative comments were simply personal preference. You felt that the love and marriage show was tacky and tasteless yet you sat through it? Many people enjoy it. (It’s not our cup of tea either, so we don’t go). Many people enjoy the soda package without being “addicted “. I am getting a clue here, as you mentioned your suite a number of times... Sorry you don’t feel like you got your money’s worth...

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