We chose this ship and cruise for our Granddaughter's first cruise with us. The Adventure Of The Seas was newer and larger than the Carnival ship with a similar itinerary. We knew the room, a Balcony cabin, would be small, but we could work with that. The cabin layout was far better than the design on the Allure of the Seas, which we were on last June. The bathroom was still tiny, and the shower did not allow us to bend and wash our legs well, but, again, better than the Allure. The positives included the Royal Promenade area, with bars, shops, a cafe, a Starbucks, and a Ben & Jerry's, as well as a guest services and an excursion desk. Our dining room waiter and assistant waiter were wonderful (Kingsley & Neeman), and the big band was terrific. The pool area is beautiful, the buffet has 8 hand washing areas at the entry, and the maintenance and cleaning are continuous and efficient.
The negatives, from major to minor, include really bad breakfasts, and, overall, poor quality food everywhere. There is no food at the pools, or anywhere near them. The buffet is set up with the typical pool food all the way in the back, with hot dogs and hamburgers thrown in a pan to keep warm, no grill to melt cheese, and the vegetables, like lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onion, tossed into food trays near them. You get your own. Johnny Rockets would be an alternative, except that it's 2 floors up and buried between the teen club and the mini golf course, and it is not part of the free food. Another issue is the wired hours the various venues around the ship offer. Only the Cafe serves 24/7, and they are very limited. The bars are open at varied hours, and the "Sports Bar" has only ESPN1 & ESPN2, SO very little sports on tv. Overall, it was hard, at various times, to buy a drink, get food, or find something to do. Even the soft serve was often closed or didn't work. This was, in all probability, our last Royal Caribbean cruise.
We chose the cabin because of the location and a larger balcony size due to the curve of the ship. The 2 outside chairs were the only comfortable chairs we had. The cabin had adequate storage, large closet, and space for luggage under the bed was enough. The bed was rock hard, but we slept well anyway. The bathroom was tiny, but workable. The furniture was beat up, the mirrors were old and worn out on the edges, but all was clean, and the room stewards were nice and worked hard.
Kind of a dirty, 3rd world port, with an overpriced Tijuana style shopping area right at the port.
We did a helmet dive from Sea Trek before going to the ship. It was wonderful. We would recommend staying at the Caribe Hilton the night before the cruise and doing this dive before going the port.