My husband, our two sons (ages 8 and 10 years old), his aunt, two friends of mine and I all went on the Adventure of the Seas from December 7-15, 2019. We had been on several Royal ships before and our favourite one was the Allure. We chose to ‘downsize’ to the Adventure to allow us to visit the ABC islands. First off, we cannot say enough great things about the islands – they are by far our favourite that we have sailed to on a cruise!
Regarding the ship, there were a few downsides besides not having the Abyss, Central Park or the Boardwalk. First off, the artwork that adorned the ship walls was a bit bizarre considering it is a family-type vessel. There are a lot of nudes (and not just upper body) hanging in places. Second, the ship in spots did show its age more than others we have sailed. The shows were also somewhat disappointing. Not so much the talent who were quite good, but the overall plots. We have been spoiled by the Broadway-at-Sea and diving shows on the bigger ships. And Vroom and Surf was spotty at best. We took two interior interconnecting cabins which seemed much smaller than other ships. The beds were quite hard and so we asked our stateroom attendant to add extra blankets to provide a bit more comfort. RCL really needs to change mattresses the next time the ship goes into dry dock.
Having said that, we had an amazing trip! I cannot say enough about the crew! They are by far the best we have ever encountered in our eight cruises. They were genuinely friendly and seemed happy to be working onboard. They were knowledgeable and helpful! One thing we discovered that we had never paid attention to before was the country scavenger hunt. You have to find a crew from each of the countries listed on the sheet. (It would have been nice had the ship updated the sheet to be current to sail date but that is a different story lol.) My sons and I had a blast hunting down as many countries as we could and met wonderful people along the way! We literally stalked a few crew but we ultimately won the hunt! We are planning on going for our second win on the Anthem in March. Shout outs to: Johanna, Maria, Leticia, Marisol, and Mobin all from Guest Services, Faye the Ship Comptroller, Hector and Judy deck 6 starboard aft stateroom attendants, Conrad aka Shorty at the Promenade Café, Chicken Nugget in the Kid’s Camp, and especially Vanita in Next Cruise! You are wonderful and made our cruise extra special!!!!
We stayed in 6373 and 6375. The cabins were quite small compared to ones we had stayed in on other ships. But the layouts worked and we didn't spend much time in the rooms anyway. Plus the mattresses were quite hard.
We stayed at the Pelican Grand Beach Hotel and loved it.