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Adventure of the Seas
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Adventure Of The Seas
Ship review by Anne Campbell© |
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Onboard Experience Things to Do Dining Ambience
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Best For People Who Want:
A fun and jam-packed cruise vacation without ever stepping off a ship. The sister ships' extensive activities, amenities and entertainment options match those of any vessel afloat - and then surpasses them. Highly recommended for families with children or groups traveling in a wide range of ages. Good balcony cabins, non-stop nightlife |
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Should Be Avoided By People Who Prefer:
A luxurious cruise experience with high levels of food and service, quiet and sedate or sumptuous surroundings; large inside/outside standard cabins; gourmet cuisine; a personal level of service; single, open seating or an intimate dining experience; a close-to-the-sea cruise experience.
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Onboard Experience
 The 3,838-passenger Voyager of the Seas was the first Voyager-class (Adventure, Explorer, Mariner, Navigator of the Seas) ship. She appeals to passengers of all ages -- from kids to seniors -- and with nearly every taste. Happily, even those who can't do all of what the Voyager offers enjoy watching those who do. This is a real people-watching ship, drawing such a wide range of passenger nationalities that you're as likely to be greeted with "buenos dias," "bonjour" or "guten tag" as you are by "hello." She offers an impressive list of firsts - 40-foot-high rock-climbing walls that are busy all day; ice-skating rinks for recreational skating as well as for Ice Capades-type shows; in-line skating; a three-story dining room; and the biggest casino at sea. Voyager also boasts a 9-hole miniature golf course, full-court basketball, table tennis court and three pools.
While ships this size lack intimacy, many of the dozen or so bars and lounges make for pleasantly private nooks and crannies during the day, when they're not busy. But by virtue of the ship's layout, the potential to feel overwhelmed is mitigated. Hallways are slightly "jiggered" so you don't get a sense of walking down a bowling alley, as you do on many megaships. And signage is excellent so we never got lost. Sections of the ship even feel like a neighborhood. For instance, passengers can spend the day "downtown", along the ship's "heart", a 500-foot-long four-deck-high Royal Promenade that's modeled after a mall. It's like a real street including a cherry-red British Morgan car parked outside the faux English Pub! The promenades are dotted with cafes, a 24-hour eatery for pizza, pastries and sandwiches, and a self-serve yogurt station. Uncannily authentic shops, including a millinery selling straw hats, display their wares outside. A mini-casino with the world's biggest roulette wheel contributes a bit of that Atlantic City Boardwalk feel.
While Royal Caribbean initially charged for special activities such as rock climbing, ice skating, golf and roller blading, passenger complaints about these extra costs led to the elimination of the surcharges. Today, they're all included in the price of your cruise ticket, a very good deal indeed. Let's hope long lines don't become the new problem and result in the cruise line returning to its policy of charging. The exceptions are the small alternative restaurant, Portofino, where a hefty $20 surcharge is levied and Johnny Rockets which now carries a $3.95 service charge.
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Things To Do
Entertainment:
 These ships enjoy the benefits of Royal Caribbean's fleet-wide high level of Las Vegas-meets-Broadway-style entertainment. Though "name" performers are likely to be ''I-thought-they-were-dead'' variety. For example, Charo was the headliner on our cruise and even she joked that passengers ask her ''Didn't I see you 276 years ago?'' Lounge performers may include magicians and stand-up comedians and are generally very entertaining, if not downright excellent. Personally, we found the production shows lavish, but lacking a central theme. I personally like the piano bar and Viking Crown Lounge, where a single performer provides background music. But these ships are so extensive in entertainment, you can be sure you'll find your personal favorites available (unless it's classical).
Fitness:
You can get more than enough fitness on board these vessels just playing around on sports deck. But the ships' well-equipped gyms still draws serious fitness buffs with its full range of the most state-of-the-art machines. The Steiner Spa is a two-level affair that, with its winding staircase, looks more like the lobby of a boutique hotel, albeit with a Greek motif. It also houses a small attractive thalassotherapy-like pool in an airy glass-enclosed but private semi-circular room. The Solarium's outdoor pool area nestles behind the spa; it sports classical statuary and feels reminiscent of Pompeii. I could spend the entire voyage camped out in this serene area, surrounded by fountains, foliage, a retractable glass ceiling and huge whirlpools.
For Kids:
With the diversions that abound, you may wonder what else kids could possibly need on these ships. But Royal Caribbean's "Adventure Ocean" youth programs offers plenty. The youth activities manager tells an assembled group of enthusiastic youngsters: "We're trained to party, stay up late and eat pizza with you." Yaaaaay! Designed for four separate age groups, the youth program makes these ships an excellent choice for families with children. Children's programs are segregated by age: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 and 13-17. Teens will find their own private coffee house and disco.
Royal Caribbean's "Adventure Ocean" youth program has age-specific facilities and programs supervised by youth counselors for Aqaunauts (age 3-5, must be toilet trained), Explorers (age 6-8), Voyagers (age 9-11), Navigators (age 12-14) and Teens (age 15-17). The program runs year-round in the Caribbean, Bermuda, Bahamas, Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska. Parents can leave their children at Adventure Ocean while they take shore excursions. For this purpose, the facilities open 30 minutes ahead of morning shore excursion departures. Otherwise, organized activities are offered from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., with group babysitting from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. for a fee. Teen centers are now open past 2 a.m.
Private babysitting is offered from 8:00am to 2:00am, provided sitters are available, for children from six months old. The rate is $8.00 per child per hour with a minimum of three hours and a $2.00 per hour charge for each additional child. Cash payment is made directly to the sitter.
TIP: Soft drinks are free with meals in the main dining room but will cost you everywhere else on board. To save money on the soft drinks your kids will guzzle, we recommend purchasing RCI's $20 all-you-can-drink soft drink package. Another bonus is the self-serve frozen yogurt machine (with sprinkles) in the Grand Promenade.
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| Dining |
Cuisine:
You could eat 15 times a day on these ships, but you may not want to. Unfortunately, the Achilles heel on these Olympian-sized vessel is the food. Despite the fancy descriptions on the menus, choices are limited and unimaginative -- unless you consider a "Titanic" salad with iceberg lettuce creative. Some meals do turn out above expectations. But nearly ship wide, the food -- including even the pizza and self-serve yogurt -- is lackluster.
Restaurants:
After the gracious Georgian-style three-level dining room, the hands-down most popular venue is Johnny Rockets. On our sailing, there was a permanent 30-minute wait for seating there. The vast Lido deck restaurant for casual buffet-style meals is cleverly designed to look like two individual eateries, minimizing the sense of size and crowds. Portofino, the alternative Italian restaurant, is a lovely intimately-lit venue, though tables are placed a bit too cheek-by-jowl to confer the kind of privacy you'd expect here. On the other hand, you're so close to other tables that you're just as likely to converse with the strangers around you and wind up making new friends. But RCI now levies a steep $20 per person surcharge for dining at Portofino and Navigator's Chops Grille.
Service:
The service on our sailing was above average. It's obvious that the multinational staff and crew get the biggest kick just seeing how much the passengers enjoy themselves on these ship. They all are cheerful, knowledgeable and eager to help, considering how often they have to help passengers keep from getting lost. The wait staff in every restaurant was noticeably solicitous and conscientious. Our dining room waiter even wrote our names down so that he would remember them. On occasion, though, the wait staff at open-seating lunch was so busy being charming that they were slow in responding.
Cabin service staff was very efficient but unobtrusive, and were the bearers of such thoughtful gestures as beach towels that miraculously appeared in our cabin on the night before a port stop. The purser's desk was among the most responsive we've ever encountered, especially when you consider how much troubleshooting they must have to do on a ship this size. Room service on our sailing tended to be excruciatingly slow - due mainly, we were told, to the unexpected popularity of in-cabin breakfast orders that result from the large number of balcony cabins (757).
Attire:
There are two formal nights per cruise. Maybe it's this ship's particularly festive reputation that induced most men on board our sailing to don tuxedoes for formal nights. But a dark suit is just as appropriate. In general, though, this ship offers so much to do on board on any given evening that we noticed passengers didn't all dress alike. |
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| Ambience |
Decor:
 Explorer of the Seas has the warmest decor and the most distinct art collection, much of it done by celebrities like Peter Falk and Anthony Quinn. Despite a disparate décor overall, these are eye-pleasing ships. Though there are many whimsical touches - like a real vintage car (Voyager) and motorcycle (Explorer) on the Promenade and a mannequin permanently situated on the bridge that spans the atrium - hardly anything about the décor seems gratuitous or overdone. Even the ships' well-placed art is surprisingly sophisticated. Sinuous Art Nouveau lines underlie many of Voyager's subtle decorative touches. Cabin doors even are sculpted, lending a softening effect. Particular standouts include the Georgian-style dining rooms; a stunning tucked-away lounge for smokers -- the Connoisseur Cigar Club -- for which you'll have to ask directions to find (it looks like F. Scott Fitzgerald could enjoy a cognac there); and the snazzy Champagne Bar, with curvaceous champagne-colored leather banquettes lending a distinct touch of elegance. The Schooner piano bar boasts all manner of nautical touches, including ropes and ship replicas.
Public Areas:
That ice rink you hear so much about is, structurally, the core of the ship, which makes for some zigging and zagging in order to navigate around the ships' main public areas. But the Grand Promenade is indubitably the heart of these vessels. Much of the indoor activity on these ships takes place here. While nary an inch of the Promenade is sunlit, it hums with passengers all day long. For a sense of the sea, you'll have to head for the cluster of lounges on the upper decks or outside on the decks themselves. Amply decked out with recliners, the pool areas bustle with activity and also are the staging area for fashion shows and planned games. Outside, the real action takes place on sports deck, where fitness fans work up a sweat playing ping-pong, basketball or rock-climbing. Families flock to the open-air 9-hole miniature golf course.
The enormous casinos are so gilded on both ships they look like Fort Knox decorated by Ivana Trump. Passengers have to pass through this temple of temptation to get to the main show lounge. The disco pulses into the wee hours and is as likely to draw young-at-heart grandmothers as it is the Gen-X crowd. One of the more unique rooms, the Aquarium Bar, is book ended with floor-to-ceiling sea-water tanks teeming with Day-Glo tropical fish. The well-stocked two-deck library feels more like an urban bookshop and even thoughtfully provides seating at its glass wall for an overview of the Grand Promenade. Here, too, the Internet center draws the techies nearly 'round the clock. One of my favorite lounges is the Viking Crown Lounge, perched 14 decks above the ocean. You can also get married in port in the ships' Wedding Chapel, bringing up to 60 of your friends and families. Las Vegas-style shows are scheduled in the enormous multi-level theater boasting excellent sight lines and comfortable seating.
Cabins:
For the most part, cabins are, as one passenger defined them, "tie-knee". But no one on our cruise seemed to mind very much. "You shower, you dress and out you go," was how one older passenger summed it up. Hats off to Royal Caribbean for not stinting on balcony cabins: on these ships, there are steel walls between balconies instead of glass partitions common on most new ships (they aren't really private). Actually, cabins are more commodious than most in RCI's fleet. Inside cabins do measure a teensy 160 sq. ft; but outside cabins range from 180 to 265 sq. ft. and suites from 610 to 1188 sq. ft. Those vaunted atrium-view cabins overlooking the Grand Promenade can be mighty claustrophobic, as curtains need to remain drawn for privacy – your view is another cabin’s picture window, with occupants staring back. Personally, I don’t think it’s worth the extra charge -- it's better to have no view than to have someone peeking in and have to keep your drapes closed.
Cabins are superbly designed, including such thoughtful touches as beds with rounded corners and lighted vanity tables with mirrored cabinets. Storage is excellent, especially for a ship that essentially goes nowhere. Standard amenities include color TV with CNN and movies; a safe; individual temperature controls; and an RCI first -- hair dryers. Tubs are found only in the highest category staterooms; most bathrooms have just showers (though unexpectedly large ones) with medicine cabinets. There even was a full-length mirror in our "superior" category cabin. A word of warning in cabins with minibars: Don't touch anything in that fridge unless you plan to pay for it. The deal here is that the fridge/minibar is automatic. You will automatically be billed for anything you so much as touch for more than 30 seconds.
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