We booked with Royal Caribbean as first time cruisers with eyes wide open and our cruise on! Both my wife Vicki and I decided to take our two teenage girls with us as be booked our cabins on deck 10 mid-ship.We had been to many ohter destinations in Canada,Mexico and back to back trips to Maui but in 09 we decided to say "Why Not"! Embarkation: We drove down from Nor-Cal and decided to Fly out of LAX to our embarkation port of San Juan ,Puerto Rico as the $388 air per person round trip was worth the 4 hour drive. We arrived the day before the flight as we toook in both the Hollywood Walk of Fame as well as the LA Farmers Market.We embarked on our journey with a slight hitch as our flight on the morning of 6/19 was cancelled due to mechanical issues.Americian then put us on a flight that afternoon to Boston ,put us up in the Hyatt Harborside that night,then got us on a flight the next morning 6/20 getting us into San Juan PR at 11:30 that morning. At this point it had been an adventure just getting to the Adventure! Our Driver Francisco picked us up at the airport- he  was a real find as he was our pre and post cruise transportation which took the hassle out of finding a cab.We checked into the Sheridian Old San Juan as the location of this property was ideal for embarkation as well as the charm of Old San Juan. After a half day of shopping in Old San Juan and a visit to Castillo San Cristobal we turned in for the night with our journey on Adventure finally ready to begin.We arrived at the Pan Americian pier at 1:30 and were really suprised at just how easy embarkation was-we were on the Adventure and in the Windjammer by 2;30-luggage was in our Cabins by 6:30 -nice!Cabin- Our Cabins were ajecent to each other as we were in 1587 and our girls were in 1589 on deck 10 mid ship.Being in an inside did get some gettng used to as we were used to much bigger rooms on our land based travels.As the cruise went on we didnt mind the being in an inside as we were rarely in our cabin as activities on ship as we as shore kept us plenty busy.The Adventure of the Seas:Both my wife and I had seen this class of ship numerous times on the travel channel as well as Royal's web site -however the lady in person is way better than the profile-WOW! We all were amazed on the first day and throught the cruise just how big this ship is in person.First time cruiser's glaze we called it! From the Lyric theatre to the full service spa and fitiness center to the Royal Promamande of Shops we were really in awe of this grand lady of the fleet.The only hassle factor we encountered with the Adventure itself were the elevators as we began to take the stairs if we only had a floor or to to go.Many of the veteran cruisers told us that the elevator fiascos come with crusing.The pool areas were nice but much smaller than we were used to compared to many of the hotels we stayed at.Never had a hassle getting a pool chair as the chair saving was at a mininium .We didnt take in the sports deck but really loved the Fitines center to work off all of the great food we ate! Liked the Casino on Board as my wife is a big slot fan.I really liked the ship itself and all the activides more than the ports of call -the ship was a vacation in and of itself. Royal Caribbean really stepped out of the box with this ship as we cant wait to see what they have in store for our next cruise.

Dining: We decided on an 8:30 dining time as the extra time didn't make us feel rushed from our shore excursions.We did breakfast and lunch in the Windjammer and found the food as typical buffet fare similar to what we had in Las Vegas-Not great ,not bad. The dining in the MDR from a food standpoint was very inconsient from night to night as the lobster on the last night was great,the dishes on the other nights were medicore at best.I had changed my dinner order from main course to having a steak on more than one occasion.I loved the deserts and all the sugar free options the ship offered in both the MDR as well as Windjammer's.Activities: The teen club was my younger daughter's favorite as she had a place to hang out in a safe ,supervised envioriment which was both fun and creative.The teen club closes at 1245pm as children under 18 have a 1am curfew on the ship.Both Vicki and I took our hand at some Bingo and on one night we were one number away from winning a cruise! Rachel our activides director was the bingo queen as she really made this a really fun expierence-This wasnt your mothers bingo! We also went to a meet and mingle on our first day as we meet a few of our fellow posters on Cruise Critic as well as CeCe from the activites staff who hosted the event.It was really nice to swap stories from the long time cruisers(Cruizin RN we loved chatting with you and your husband) as we were still getting our feet wet as first timers.The mens leg contest on the first day at sea poolside was hillarious-with some good and in most cases some very bad dancing-a lot of fun. Although there was somehting for everyone the only actividy we took in was bingo.Service: This is where Royal really stepped up! I never had a service fumble the entire time  my family was on the Adventure of the Seas. The service at dinner from our main waiter Amielia was nothing short of amazing as she was not only charming but very ,very accomadating at every turn,always with a smile.The MDR staff took me back to a time when service came from the heart ,not a flavor of the week program rolled out by a chain.After the second night they began to anticapate our dining preferences as they knew more about wht we want to order than we did! Amiela ,the sugar free coconut cake was the bomb! On the first day we bumped into the wedding coordinator for the Adventure as we were exploring the ship-she gave us 4 free VIP tickets to the Ice Show -WOW! Later in the cruise we didnt fall in love with our pictures. I ran into the photography director on the Royal Promande on day three of my cruise and explained my displeasure. He said that he would have a new photographer at dinner that evening. Who shows up that night at dinner?The photography director at our dinner table on formal night to personally take our pictures-another WOW! We also loved Victor the greeter in the Windjammer every morning for breakfast.This young man's endless enthusiasm and joy was better than the coffee in the morning! We did room service on one of our shore days -loved the convience of ordered from our TV in the room as well as being able to keep tabs on our final bill as well.The service home runs from Royal throught this cruise is the main reason why i will book with Royal Caribbean for my next cruise!Entertainiment: The shows were awsome-from 70's night on the Royal Promanade to the hillarious Love and Marrage show to the Cool art Hot Ice to the even more outragious "The Quest" -cruise director Chris Northey and his entire actividy staff really hit it out of the park!We also loved all the shows in the lyric and all the live music on board -there was more live music than food! Loved it! Summary: The axium of "overfed and nearly dead" doesnt apply to Royal Caribbean as this cruise dispelled all the cruising myths about cruising. Out of the box suprises along with all the great service really made our vacation a memorable one with Royal Caribbean.We will be booking again with Royal!