Adventure of the Seas, Day 1

I’ve just recently got back from a Royal Caribbean 4 night Mini-Cruise on-board the Adventure of the Seas and would like to share my experience with you.

I had never been on any Royal Caribbean cruise before so had been looking forward to this for a long time.

The Adventure of the Seas is in the Voyage class of ships, is 137,000 tonnes, accommodates up to 3,114 guests and has 1,185 crew.

Amongst some of the unique features is The Ice Skating Rink, Rock Climbing Wall, Inline skating track, Royal Promenade and kids clubs that know no limits on how many children they can safely entertain at any 1 time.

Anyway this is how my 4 nights, 5 days went.

Day 1.

The drive to Southampton, on a Sunday, was stress free and the pre-warned road works at Southampton was not there. I had booked the Stress Free parking and parked up as instructed on the pre-recorded phone message I had to dial 10 minutes from Southampton.

Stress Free parking offer a service where you park the car in a car park right outside the terminal building and a chauffeur meets you. The chauffeur will take the car and park it in their own highly secured compound 3 miles away but first of all a quick check of my car, a recorded log of my mileage and a signature from me to cover both me and also them. The car comes back with just 6 miles more on the clock AND cleaned!!! Due to Seagulls flying overhead Stress free parking jet spray all cars before returning them, Happy days.

It is now 11.30am and I take the 2 minute walk to the terminal building and chose to take my own luggage on board, a wise move as my roommate did not get his suitcase until early evening.

Check-in took about 20 minutes from when I entered the terminal building to actually getting on the ship, my quickest experience in boarding a ship.

The Windjammer Café was open and clearly waiting for me, a massive buffet style restaurant that served salad, Sunday roast, curry, different meats, fish (Plain or battered) cheeses, fruits, all kinds of deserts including American cookies which are to die for. There was something for everyone and everything I tried over the 5 days was very tasteful and to high standards.

After lunch and it was time to walk around the ship to see what was on offer. I headed straight for the Royal promenade which resembled a Turkish market!!! There was stalls galore scattered about and at first did not give me a happy feel to being there, however once I started sticking my head into what was on the stalls I was positive again. Here is where you can make the rest of your cruise as simple and relaxing as possible, book some treatments for the Spa, get an appointment at the hairdressers for that special hair design for the Formal evening (very important to pre book and save disappointment), book shore excursions, get an idea of the menus for the speciality dining options and amongst other things the option to buy a drinks package. This I wish I had done and here is why.

On the first day I drank 9 bottles of Peroni at $5.50 per bottle. This cost me $49.50. On day 2 I decided a Beer package at $39per day was going to be a good option, however I was then told I would need to purchase the drinks package for the full duration of the cruise including the 1^st day, even though I had already paid for the drinks at the time. I was reluctant and drank less for the rest of the cruise.

Tip 1, buy a drinks package on your cruise personliser before you set sail or as soon as you get onboard.

In the afternoon I decided to go to the pool decks, soak up the sun and soak up what turned out to be a great atmosphere. The deck was filling up nicely with couples young and old, families, Hen parties, 40^th and 50^th birthday party groups and groups of friends all of which where of different age groups.

About 30 minutes before the ship sailed a team of entertainers took to the mic and stage to get the ‘Sail Away’ party going with songs and dances. To my surprise so many people got up and danced, again both young and old.

Just to add to the excitement The P&O Oriana sailed past as she started her cruise, both ships had had a blast of their horns to acknowledge each other.

After the sail away party had finished I decided to have a 2 hour nap, ready for my evening, dining, singing and dancing.

My evening meals were to be spent in the Vivaldi dining room on the 8.30 dining. The dining room is split over 3 levels with higher levels overlooking the below by a central balcony.

I was sat at a table for 10, I only knew 1 person, my travelling partner but very quickly got to know the rest of the guests and this was the case for all the tables around us.

My waiter Hassam, a Turkish citizen was a delight, as well as serving our meals with care, good timing and consideration he also interacted with all on the table, as we all swapped names he really broke the ice when trying to understand a ladies name, Dawn Hunt. When he repeated he asked if she had said Donut!!! That stuck for the rest of the cruise.

The menu for the dining was vast, something for everyone, whether it be vegetarian, spicy, gluten free etc.

As you can imagine the food was presented as well as it was delivered, hot and fresh too.

Desserts were also very fancy, it gave me a feel of dining in quite a posh hotel but with a fun and relaxed atmosphere.

The nights’ main entertainment was a 70s Disco inferno show on the Promenade. The Promenade was packed as the show went on with the great sing and dance along songs such as YMCA.

There was also a comedian doing a show in the Theatre and an Ice Show that was repeated throughout the cruise so that you could guarantee a time to suit when watching it.

My long and fun day finished in the night club Jesters where all the latest songs played, as well as a dance floor there was plenty of seating on the dance floor level of the club and also upstairs and to keep everyone happy both levels had a bar.