We wanted to do the southern Caribbean especially the island of Bonaire. Boarding was fast however the photos uploaded did not load to their system. Also we were unable to sign the waivers online like previously. Very annoying. The room was normal and nothing special. The dining room menu had many items repeating night to night. Shrimp cocktail and no sugar added apple pie and several other items recurred nightly. The food temperature was also slightly above warm. The Windjammer had a huge selection and the same items appeared everymorning. Always a strawberry smoothie no other flavors, same granola with apple and yogurt. No variation. Did not offer Tomato juice had to ask for it. Then at the pool bar is limited for alcoholic drinks. They no longer use island Oasis drink mix but rather use cream and ice and flavoring from another company. They have a limited menu and would appreciate a large list of frozen drinks / island drinks. The drink of the day is also on the weak side. Entertainment was ok. Casino was smokey. It was decent but nothing at all exceptional. Read Less

This was the first cruise I went on with my daughter. Now all she speaks about is this cruise and asking when can we go again. When we checked in at the port it was quick and easy. The service provided by the crew was excellent. The cabin was smelling fresh and attendant cleaned it multiple times a day. It was just a beautiful and fun-filled activity cruise. My daughter enjoyed all the kids' activity that was provided on the ship. The main dining room staff were excellent and the service was great. All our serving attendants from stateroom attendant to dining room and bar staff were so pleasant and knew our names immediately and remembered them. When they saw us arriving they would be willing and ready to serve us. My daughter loved the pool, she stayed in it almost all of the day when we were at sea. I will definitely be cruising again soon with Royal Caribbean. Read Less

I hope that this experience is not an indication of the standard service that the Royal Caribbean brand will now be providing. Check in was a nightmare. New policies about who can and can't check in are in effect and not communicated. If traveling with a minor in a separate cabin if they do not ajoin and the adult in the room with the minor has not checked in, you have to wait until they do check in before the minor can check in despite traveling. Of course the flight of the adult was delayed but luckily we were able to switch the minor to a different room to at least get her aboard the ship then switched her back after the adult arrived. If we knew having adjoining rooms would have satisfied this then we would have booked those room types or traveled all together. This was the slowest and worst check in I have ever experienced. Waiting for the elevator just to get to the room was totally ridiculous. Cabins...we had cabins were on decks 7 and 8 midship. Outside balconies and interior rooms with a view of the decks below. The rooms were nice and our stateroom attendant Damain was great! And very attentive. Rooms availability upon boarding was a big plus. Not having to wait around in the Windjammer with carry on luggage and backpacks was really nice. Dinner...dispite linking all of our reservations for 8:30 dinner the dining room was totally clueless that our group of 19 wanted to be seated together or even next to each other. And we couldn't be seated until 9pm and didn't get food until almost 10pm. Dinner seating got better in the main dining room as the cruise progressed but by then we found alternatives. Two dinner dining highlights were the Murder Mystery Dinner at Giovanni's Table courtesy of our waiter Mohammed and dinner on day 5 at Chops Grill made amazing by our waiter Igor! But on the last night of the cruise 6 other members of our parry went to Chops and sat for 40 minutes with no service at all. After they walked the host and maitre'd apologized and offered to comp the meal if they came back in but the experience was already ruined and they went to the main dining room at our regular dining time. Windjammer...Breakfast...as to be expected getting a table on sea days was an exercise in patience and restraint but the Adventure of the Seas offered room service which we opted to get on the second sea day to avoid the issues we had on the first all day at sea. The food arrived within the time window but the order form says indicate the amount of food you wish to order. This is where things get lost in translation...we wanted 4 pancakes but what we got was 4 orders of pancakes. We wanted 3 scrambled eggs but what we got was three orders of 2 scrambled eggs. The bacon had the number 3 beside it so we ordered 2 orders expecting 6 bacon strips we got a pile of bacon on each of the three orders of eggs. The order form is definitely needs to be clarified. Excursions...we had 4 originally then one was canceled days before we set sail. No issue because we were refunded the money. BUT when our excursion tickets were delivered we were missing some and others had different times so we had to change all the time to make sure the group stayed together. The excursions we picked overall were fun but the Helmut Dive in Aruba was great but if we had known that this was an activity island after paying for the most expensive activity we would have liked to stay longer to enjoy the entire facility. As it was we left late because we were waiting for 1 person who didn't show up, the ferry wasn't there by the time we arrived or departed so we lost an hour of our onsite excursion time easily which was disappointing. The Amazing Race excursion in St. Maarten was a little hectic. They suggested that we have 10 to 12 people on each team which did not work well. Our team consisted of people who did the excursion before with teams of four people and they preferred that experience over this one. However after that we relaxed on the beach and went jet skiing which was great. Kids Club/Teen Club We had an 11 year old (her fourth cruise) and 12 year old (first time cruiser) with us and usually Kids Club is the highlight of the cruise. But not this year. Everytime they went to the Teen Club for an activity that was on the schedule there was no one in the area. The girls were so disappointed that they gave up going to the club. Guest Services...I was on a line either at Guest Services or Shore Excursions 4 times the first day. After that, I was at Guest Services at least twice a day every day for the entire cruise. Pools...small and jammed packed. If you didn't get a spot by 9am then your weren't going to get a spot until 5pm when the 6pm diners left to get ready for dinner. Bars....service at all the bars was meh! Most of us had the ultimate beverage package but the drink of the day was NOT included ...um so the all included package was not really ALL inclusive. We were also disappointed that there was no "happy hour" like we experienced on the Anthem. Entertainment..if there was something interesting and actually occurring for the teens durning the time the "adult only" activities was going on then maybe the adult activities wouldn't have had so many kids in the audience or as participants. The Blue Moon Bar/night club was fun but the 80's party was more like a 80's, 90's and 2000's party. And the music was defininately repeated on other nights despite the theme so it was kind of one note. The silent party was interesting and fun but that was one hour at night twice during the sailing. Where were the shows or comedians for the late dining crowd? It felt like there were limited options once the 8:30pm dinner session was over. 10pm no shows or entertainment only a deejay or live band in the middle of a set. On the last night durnign the farewell show they was a comedian who did an adult show later on that evening but one show on the last night of the cruise was too little too late. The cupcake decoration class was cute but not well advertised. We stumbled across it. In general the onboard activities seem to be scarce. There were two formal nights, an 80's party and white party which if we would have known about prior to getting on board we would have packed clothes to attend the events. Overall this year's family trip with 20 of us was fun and we enjoyed ourselves but this experience with Royal Caribbean was far below our expectations for the brand. We will stick to all inclusive resorts that are used to larger parties when we travel with more than 6 people. Or maybe we will try the larger ships. Read Less

We enjoyed Puerto Rico both before and after the cruise. The embarkation and disembarkation went well. However, if you have family members who need Wheel chair assistance, be prepared for long waits; one at a time, on and off the ship. The ports were beautiful, especially Aruba. The tours were not really worth it if you primarily wanted to go to the beaches. You can either take a cab or water taxi at reasonable prices and often you saw some of the same sights offered on the tour. The locals were very friendly, helpful, and appreciative. You could also leave and return when you wanted to. This was our first cruise on Royal Caribbean and I was not overly impressed. The best was the outstanding service from the staff and the fitness room. The worst was the quality of the food both in the Dining Room and Windjammer. The overall entertainment was good but it was disappointing that there was not more room designated for dancing. Some bands played in the very busy promenade with no room to dance. I would definitely return but probably try a different cruise line. Read Less

I choose this cruise for the itinerary. 5 ports in the Caribbean. The ship was recently refurbished and you can tell. The carpets are new and clean. The chairs in many of the venues are comfortable. Even though I went during Spring break, the ship never seemed crowded. There was always a chair available near the pools. I found the crew in all areas to be friendly, helpful, and professional. Meals in Windjammer and MDR were of good quality. Awesome pizza, snacks, and desserts in the promenade. St. Lucia was the only port I found to be not "tourist friendly." There was a lot of traffic on the island. I felt like the taxi drivers took advantage of us. My shore excursion for this port was cancelled due to mechanical failure. Other cruisers had similar experiences in this port. Overall one of the best cruises I've been on with Royal Caribbean. Read Less

Our first and only previous cruise was on the Oasis two years ago to N. Caribbean. Loved the Oasis but not the overall experience and therefore had not planned on taking another cruise, however a friend talked us into this trip based on the ports of call. What my wife really liked was a different stop each day and only one day at sea, thus she was sold on the Adventure of the Seas cruise to the S. Caribbean. Ports of call on this trip: St Maarten - we did the beach excursion booked through RC ($51US/pp). It wasn't too far from the ship and gave the chance to see some of the Island. Tour operator stated they typically went to the French side, but due to the hurricane damage staying on British side. Didn't really like all the beach vendors (peddling massages and hair braiding) but the food at The Green House was good (included in cost)! Recommend the shrimp sandwich. The beach was nice but you only stay for a couple of hours. Overall didn't see any natural wonders, or anything else there, I wanted to go back for and there is still a great deal of devastation from the 2017 hurricane season. If you have the RC drink package, don't forget to get your bottled water before you leave the ship. St Kitts/Nevis - We did the train ride around St Kitts booked through RC ($87US/pp). We liked the experience and people were friendly. It was educational and picturesque. The start was not far from the ship. The train takes you out and around (2/3 of the island) and they bus you back (sightseeing the remaining 1/3 of the island). The tour was only a few hours so we were less than thrilled that we didn’t have the option to stop at Fort Brimstone – it was disheartening that we drove right by it with no option to view unless we went all the way back to Port and took a cab all the way back to the Fort. Due to traffic and distance we didn't feel like had time to go back. RC makes it clear that if you are not back in time you will be left behind … unless you booked excursion though RC. That being said, we were late departing each day waiting for a couple stragglers. Never more then 30 minutes. Antigua - Originally didn't have anything booked for this port but decided to go for an adventure and did the 4x4 experience booked through RC (approx. $149US/pp). The most fun we had on the whole trip! The tour was walking distance from the ship and we drove out from there. Spent 1/3 driving on “off-roads”, 2/3 driving on normal roads and hit an amazing beach on way back ... awesome! Wish they gave us more time at the beach but I get it, time on machine is money. The off-road portion really isn't "off road" as it is an old somewhat abandoned road, but it was bumpy, dusty, and rainforest, so regardless it was fun and would recommend. It was approximately 4 hours. An island we would go back to. St Lucia - Segway experience booked through RC ($102US/pp). The worst experience of the trip! We’d previously gone to St Lucia for an all-inclusive week and loved it (recommend the catamaran tours to the Pitons and also horse riding on the beach). Traffic on St Lucia can be horrible though which ruined this experience-too many cars in a small space with narrow roads. I go on vacation to escape our traffic and the last thing I want to do is sit in island traffic!? It was supposed to be a 5 1/2-hour experience with sightseeing and beach time. We spent the first 40 minutes standing and waiting to leave the port. The next 90 minutes was spent in traffic and "sightseeing" around St Lucia in neighborhoods. Sightseeing really was just a guise for wasting time until the first group got done on the Segway machines. Seriously, you know it's bad when they drive you by the waste treatment plant and point it out as a sightseeing “feature”? Actual Segway time was only 45 minutes. Important to note the Segway ride was not on flat streets but was instead on uneven mountain backroads, which were at times very steep. Some pretty views though. Basically, the group size sold by RC for the tour was just too big (40 people split into two groups of 20 each) to provide a fun experience. When we finally got on the Segway all we saw of St Lucia was an old US naval base road that ended at the beach. Not that exciting. The beach was crowed and just ok, we opted to not even go in the water as we would have needed to pay for a chair and umbrella. I have no desire to go back St Lucia again. Barbados - Wanted to see Harrison cave but waited too long to book through RC as it was sold out two days before we got there. So mental note, book early if want to book through RC. Instead we took a chance and dis-embarked early and got a cab to take us to Harrison Caves for $25 round trip/pp (which also meant he would wait for us there and take us back for this amount!). We got there before tour busses and got right in! Tickets to cave were about $30/ea. Basically saved about 50% by going out on our own as it would have cost double that through RC. The cave is cool and worth the trip, but very Disney like (trams, lighting). It took about an hour for the drive to the caves. Neil, our cab driver, was great. We negotiated a deal with him that instead of $25/pp just for the caves (there were 4 of us so = $100), we’d do a deal for $250/group (included our trip to Harrison Cave) to be our personal guide for the day, returning us to the ship 1 hour before our call time. He then also took us to bar at the highest point on the island with an incredible view, took us to a lovely old church, and then took us to the beach. He left us there for a couple hours and then came back to pick us up and take back to ship. It was an awesome, fun day. The sands of Barbados are particularly feet friendly – flat (no sudden drop offs) and the water was warm. Boarding the ship in San Juan at the start of the cruise was relatively painless. We arrived a day early to avoid the nerves of delayed flights and missing the cruise. Four of us took a cab from our hotel for about $25 (hotel was next to airport) which seems like a lot, however we were comfortable paying it considering gas costs are so high (still a lot of devastation and logistical issues for PR due to the 2017 Hurricane season). The line to get luggage dropped off and then check in to the ship was long but moved fast. We packed two bags, a large bag for the majority of our clothes and a smaller carry on with our essentials. The large bag is checked in with RC (don’t forget to put your room tags on prior to leaving your house/hotel) at the port and dropped off outside your room sometime after departure. The delivery of the luggage can be late in the evening, so advise to always have the carry on with you (or a small bag) with swimsuits, lotions, dinner clothes, medication, etc. Ship Accommodations - We had a balcony stateroom. It was nice and all as expected as recently refurbished so carpet and bedding are new. You get a small fridge and a hair dryer. There are only two US style outlets to plug stuff in. There is one European style outlet if smart enough to remember to bring along an adaptor. There is an outlet in the ceiling of the bathroom mirror for electric razors only. The bed is tall enough to hide your bags underneath should you choose. If you have lots of hanging clothes, then be sure to bring your own hangers as RC only provides about a dozen. My wife and I found the storage adequate for all our clothes. The shower is very small, so be warned. A friend who is 6’ tall and about 250 lbs found it very difficult to shower comfortably, and he banged the shower walls A LOT! Bathroom is very small…If you are talented you can rest your head on the sink counter while doing your business (careful, don’t fall asleep!). There is a general smell to all the toilets (I believe it’s in the overall plumbing system itself) of urine…rather like a litter box. Prior to our week on the seas there were a great many reviews by passengers saying the toilets backed up all over the ship – for our trip we noticed the captain and crew made mention many, many times that ONLY toilet paper can go down the tubes, so I assume that in the last month there were several attempts to flush non-biodegradables by passengers which caused RC a lot of money and headaches. The bed seemed somewhat European … meaning a bit hard for my tastes. I woke up everyday with some back pain. There is a TV and small desk. Don’t expect to get a great selection of TV shows. The Air conditioning worked well. Food – We ate with our friends at the Main dining room every night for dinner. Yes, we are one of those cheap people who feel if I’ve already paid for it, why eat somewhere else? The service is great, and the wait staff really does learn your habits quickly. Our friends are big diet coke people and the waiter had a big glass waiting for them by the 3rd night. My wife and I are wine drinkers (yes, we purchased the alcohol package at buy one get one half off) and they had our wine ready as well. They keep it coming, none of us went thirsty. I personally found the menu got boring though by night 4. There were 3-4 items that were always the same and 3-4 different items a night. Always some kind of steak and fish. Lobster tail was extra ($) except for one night when it was included (ps. You can ask for more of whatever, even on lobster night). They are very good about making changes and accommodating your special requests. If you want something, just ask for it (extra fruit, plate of steamed broccoli… you can even get dessert first Read Less

We chose this cruise through relatives who have travelled on several Royal Caribbean cruises. After many questions being asked and answered, we experienced a wonderful time. The entertainment was great and the food was much better than expected. Our stateroom attendant kept the room clean and was very attentive. The dining room staff was very courteous and service was prompt. One of the bars (Champagne Bar) was very light on the drinks and for $12 per mixed drink, there was a lot to be desired, however, the other bars were on point. The ports that we visited were really very close to being back to normal, St Maarten was the most heavily damaged and many places were not open and several homes and businesses will take years to recover, if ever. The airport and activities, beaches, bars surrounding the airport were open and thriving. Puerto Rico was coming along well, however, there are still several homes with blue tarps covering the roofs and sadly, the rain forest was 70% destroyed. The other islands visited, St Kitts, St Lucia, Antigua and Barbados were untouched by the hurricane damage. Read Less

In overall opinion the cruise is good but the food menu is poor. The meats selection is not good for my opinion. I was confuse because I did not known if the salads and pasta were the principal plate and the meats the complements. Too much foods with differents ingredients and strong tastes. I think that the foots must be provide by contries and choosing the must allusive of every region or country. For example Mexico the burritos and nachos, US the hamburger and chicken wings, PR the rice and beans, and so on. When I purchased the tickets for the cruise nobody tell us how was the package for shore excurtions, the packages of drinks. I believe that this packages should be explains with more details. Because in my case, if I had the general opinion of how these packages are. I would have bought before. Because the islands that we visit, does not have much to see by yourself. Read Less

Sailed on the Adventure of the Seas, out of San Juan. Checking in at San Juan was easy, even though there were a lot of people there and in line, we (my wife & I) were through it all and on the ship in 15-20 minutes. We had a balcony room. Room was clean, on 7th deck. Bathroom wasn't real big, but enough room and everything was clean and worked fine. We had our bed set up as a king bed, also had a sofa in our room. Closet, desk, with TV and fridge, plenty of room for the 2 of us. We were mid-ship, 7th floor was quiet, not too far from anything. The dining room for us was on 4th floor, the Windjammer buffet dining room was on deck 11, and Royal Prominaide was on deck 5. We walked the Prominaide every day/evening, and often stopped at the cafe/starbucks to get drinks or a snack, was included with our beverage package. Even ate a light breakfast there one morning, but they didn't have much out for breakfast. They almost always had small sandwiches and pizza by the slice. Was my first cruise, 2nd for my wife (went with her Mom a few years earlier). We had a great time, food was excellent, we never paid extra for any of the meals, the main dining every night was great. We had our own table, often ordered several appetizers and desserts. Service was excellent. We had a non alcoholic drink package, called the refreshment package. We ordered non alcoholic pina coladas, mudslides, and other drinks. Bar tenders were good about helping us pick drinks. At times the bars on the ship were busy, not too bad, and you could sit out by the pools and get wait service when you wanted too. We did an excursion at every port. I would recommend doing your excursion early in the day, then return to the ship, clean up, eat, change etc, then do something else in the afternoon like shop or go to beach in the afternoon. St Thomas & St Kitts are kind of similar Islands, mountainous. We did a sightseeing tour on St Thomas. Went way up to the highest point. Was a nice view, and made a couple stops where we could get souvenirs or drinks. Great views, since we did a morning trip, left us time to shop downtown in the afternoon. For us, we ended the tour at the downtown area, then did some shopping. We got a taxi ride back to the port area for $4 per person, was easy to find a ride. At St Kitts we did the kayak and snorkeling tour. Was well run, traveled to the far side of the island, and kayaked with the current, down the beach. Wasn't too windy or rough, so it was nice. They served us a few pieces of fruit and some water after we finished, before the bus took us back to the port. Shopping was walking distance from the port, the vendors have all mostly the same stuff, and are a little over eager to get you to look at their stuff. Day 3 We had a fun day at sea, the belly flop competition is a must see, pretty funny. I have to mention that our cruise director, Mercedes, was awesome and always entertaining. Day 4 - Curacao is a very nice island and port, free wifi was available. The beautiful town is walking distance to the port. They have a good economy, so the merchants weren't always after you like other islands. We did an aqua boat tour and snorkeling there. It was ok, but it is always very windy in Curacao. The mini boats worked ok, the tour could have been a little more organized, and the seas were pretty rough. I was glad we weren't in a kayak like some of the others, but wished we were on Jet skis. The snorkeling was crowded, but was in a good area with plenty to see. Aruba is a small, dry island with great beaches. We did the best of Aruba tour, so we saw most of the famous spots on the island. We had a nice air conditioned tour bus, with Juan Jacobs as our driver. He was very good. We did the aloe factory tour as part of it, not a lot to see but informative. Chance to buy aloe products at their store after the tour. Once we got back to the port, we changed on the ship, and then walked to the bus stop to take a bus to the beaches. Took a little asking to get on the correct bus, but was only $5.20 for both of us to take the bus. We got off at Eagle beach. If I would do it again, I would have stayed on and gone farther away from the port, more toward the California lighthouse. The beaches are similar, but better snorkeling farther down the beach. We could have taken a bus back to the port (9:30pm on board time), but we opted to walk back along the beach. Some of it had a boardwalk, and the sun was setting, so it was really pretty. It's a couple miles, so packing light was important. We like to walk, could easily take the bus at any point, there are a lot of places it stops. Read Less

We chose this cruise because of the ports on the itinerary. Not disappointed in any of them. There were more than enough excursion options available at each port and the ones we participated in exceeded our expectations. Very happy with our experience at each port. Our suite was clean and comfortable (stateroom attendant was exceptional!). Dining room service was friendly and professional making each dining experience superb. Windjammer was extremely busy during the hours it was open..........so MANY food options. I cannot imagine anyone being disappointed in the quantity of food and the variety. If you left the Windjammer hungry, it was your fault! Staff throughout the ship was friendly and very accommodating. We also cruised last year on the Adventure of the Sea, and will cruise this ship again if ports continue to entice us. We have also cruised on Freedom of the Seas and have rave reviews about that ship and the service provided. Read Less