Wonderful trip - would love to do it again!!
Adventure of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 28
6 Night Western Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)
Sail date: April 07, 2019
Ship: Adventure of the Seas
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: 6229
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
Overall we had a terrific time. Our oldest joined in with the LGBTQ meetups and ended up taking his younger brother with him most evenings. They had a blast. Our youngest joined a few activities at the teen centre, although he is very shy and not much of a joiner, he really enjoyed those activities that he attended. I think that he would go to more activities next time. Although the first day is always confusing as you try to find your way around (and try to find the other members of your party after everyone initially scatters), it's a fun and relaxing holiday.Embarkation
Although the lines appeared quite long, the signage and staff were very helpful and the entire embarkation process took just a fraction of the time I thought it might. Filling out the forms online made everything relatively quick and easy.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
We mainly ate breakfast and lunch in Windjammer, although we did try the breakfast buffet in the main dining room. We kept meaning to try the a la carte breakfast in the main dining room but didn't have time most days, and those days we did have time, we slept in. Windjammer had a great variety of foods and drinks available, although seating could be hard to come by at times.
Dinners in the main dining room were WONDERFUL. We generally ate at 6:15, although there was one night we had an 8:15 pm dinner. The later dinner we found that some of the food was overcooked, but everything was always flawless at the earlier seating.
We also had one dinner at the Chef's Table. That was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC, and totally worth the price of $100 per person - you get a glass of champagne, followed by a 6 course meal matched with 5 wines and a chocolate martini with your dessert. Be prepared for a 3+ hour gourmet experience if you decide to go to the chef's table!!
Halfway through our cruise we upgraded from the Refreshment Package to the Ultimate Beverage package. Good things to know - the refreshment package includes the "specialty" Starbucks coffees and also fresh squeezed juice (order from the servers in any of the restaurants).
Onboard Activities
We were a family of 5, ranging in age from 15 to 55. We enjoyed the hot tubs, rock-climbing wall, basketball court, Flow-Rider, mini golf course, walking track, fitness centre and the spa. We found the pools to be overcrowded.
Entertainment
We attended the ice-skating show and found it to be completely wonderful!
Service and Staff
We loved our room steward (Ian Moore) and our waiters (Richard & Joel)! They always made us feel like we were their favourite passengers and went out of their way to make our experience magical. From Ian offering us a "write-on/wipe off" board to use to communicate with our kids in the next room, to Richard and Joel remembering our drink orders from day to day (and by the 3rd night, they were just bringing our drinks to us before we even ordered them!). We felt completely pampered by the onboard staff!!
Ship Quality
Everything was very clean - they steam-clean the hallway rugs regularly (we saw them doing it) and everything was very well maintained.
Cabin / Stateroom
The cabins were perfectly sized. Small, but not cramped with good storage. Recommend that you bring a dollar-store shoe holder to keep shoes or other items organized. There is room in the closet to hang quite a few clothes, and generous shelving. The room itself has 8 small drawers, a cupboard with shelving, a mini-fridge and an in-room safe. The only negative is that the clothesline in the shower doesn't retract and appeared to have some mold on it. Hanging things overnight (even on bathroom towel racks) didn't allow them to dry, so make sure to bring at least 2 or 3 bathing suits (or more...)
Ports of call
We love this port. We did the Dolphin Cove - Dolphin & Stingray swim adventure. It was nice, but they don't allow you to take your own photos and their photo packages were OBSCENELY EXPENSIVE. Personally, I'd skip the dolphins and take another excursion to the stingrays. You can buy a couple of disposable underwater cameras at Walmart and take all the photos you want without someone wanting over US$200 for a few photos of yourself. Make sure to grab the map of the port from your daily ship itinerary and go look for the Diamond International stores - if you visit the store, they will give you a free charm bracelet - some ports have more than one store participating and each store in each port gives you a different charm for the bracelet - all free.
Thumbs Up
7
Costa Maya is a dedicated "cruise ships" port. We went to the "Lost Mayan Kingdom Aerial Park & Waterpark". We did only the waterslides and had an absolute blast - lots of shade to be had, lots of opportunities to get your photo taken "mid-slide" or in the various vignettes along the lazy river. Photo package here was only about US$20, and it was a lot better priced excursion than many.
In Cozumel, we actually did the "Rio Secreto" excursion, which is actually on the mainland outside of Playa del Carmen. This was another lovely excursion, although once again the photo package was way too expensive to consider. Lunch was included with this one and, although there wasn't a lot of time to eat, we didn't leave hungry.
Disembarkation
Disembarkation was well organized and relatively quick. Finding our luggage once we were back in the terminal was extremely easy and clearing customs was quick.