Ilene Karp

Age: 56
Occupation:
Number of Cruises: 12+
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean
Ship: Adventure of the Seas
Sailing Date: June 27th, 2004
Itinerary: Canada

We live in a suburb of Philadelphia so this was a great itinerary. Leaving from Bayonne, NJ only 90 minutes north.

Great trip. I would, however, forewarn guests to arrive early at the Bayonne port, and be in the FAR RIGHT HAND LANE to park. Unfortunately there are no signs directing traffic-nightmare-and we got into the wrong lane-the left because it was moving-only to find us leaving and making a u-turn to come back. Other than that and the bussing from the check-in pier-again no signage and miserable help, it was ok. We took the New York harbour tour and, get this, the bus that brought us back to the pier could not take us to the ship-about 1/4 mile away-union rules. The check in was fine-they had a lunch at the port for us in the lesser class of cabins, and for the suites,I understand they had a bigger buffet. My guess is they had warmer hot dogs, colder sodas. etc. Our cabin - 9469-was in a great location. The weather was chilly which was expected-high was 60 in New Brunswick and in Halifax. The ship was almost totally sold out-loads of family reunions, plenty of well behaved kids AND adults. Great ice show. A tip on the ice show-get in line early for tickets.

Some negatives- cabin showers are fine if you don't weight more than 180 pounds. There were several heavy weights that took showers at the spa because they couldn't fit into the cabin showers.

No pool cover. It would have been great on the trip because of the cool temperatures.

Royal Promanade-Royal pain in the butt. If you don't order a bar drink, there is no place for anything cold except water and that nasty coffee. Thay ration the food-which is ok for me-at the food court. Plenty of whinning about that. There are 14 bars on board and you can get a "soda pass" for the week if one must have soda. We found the ice tea and lemonade-when available-were great. Also if you wanted ice it necessitated a trip back to the cabin as none was available anywhere except at a bar.

Casino-noisy, and reeking of cigarette smoke which found its way up the stairs to the Promanade.

Island grill is open only at lunch. The Windjammer is closed at 5 for the balance of the day.

Johnny Rockets was always crowded since the Windjammer was closed.

Impossible to get a reservation at Portofino. It seats 70 at 2 seatings. With 3,000+ passengers on 5 nights, well, no reservations. It was booked by 8PM on Friday. It looked lovely.

No midnight buffets except for the less-than-grand buffet. Pretty tired looking wax sculptures and ok fruit and cakes. Wed took photos and left. More than 75% of the passengers were first time cruisers. We never actually met our cabin steward although we did say hi once in a while. Our dinner companions raved over their cabin stewards. Something was missing there.

Meals were very good-nothing bad the entire week.

The ice show was fantastic; the rest of the entertainment, well, everyones tasts are different. The reviews were ok-the "screamers", oops, singers, we had seen on the Grandeur of the Seas last year. Herb Reed of the Platters was a guest at the 11:30 show- which we skipped, again having seen him last year.

Disembarcation. Again, needs work. With 3,000+ passengers it was chaotic but we were off the ship, bussed to the luggage depot, schlepped our suitcases across a partially paved parking lot, and on the NJ turnpike by 10:30Am, and at the grocery store by noon, home by 1:30.

Major gripe: disabled passengers should always be off the ship FIRST and not herded in with the rest of the passengers. It is unfair to push someone in a wheelchair with the crowds of anxious passengers disembarking. They and families with small children in strollers should be off the ship FIRST.

This trip is a definite winner for the price, departure port and itinerary. It's just enough to say you got away, but not long enough to be unhappy.
 

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