Hi folks,I had high expectations of going on this cruise ship and i wasn't dissapointed!I had booked it over a year previously and i plenty of time for research and to avoid the pitfalls that all first-time cruiser's dread!like a huge on board spend bill and getting ripped off !haha but no such event occured so breath in and relax!It's all good in the world of R.C.C.I!We flew Air Lingus from Gatwick,U.K(a change from B.A,heathrow we felt was warranted by the strikes,etc)a nice flight,met a nice chap at the airport bus depot who had cruised before and whom we met on board afterwards,one face we felt familiar with after 2o mins.on the plane some lovely welch girls who were cruise addicts and all going on Adventure so we were getting excited.the sun shone and we had arrived at Malaga,Spain.A quick ten minute or so coach trip later and we were in Malaga's Cruise terminal where Adventure greeted us towering above us,a white bemoth of windows and Lifeboat's.It really needs to be seen to be believed.In the reception area were a few curiously dressed 'party girls'(Blokes!)who turned out to be entertainer's and set the theme for the many Spanish guests who were obviously of a differnt persuasion,shall we say,from my wife and I.No problem,we just joined the throng,had our pictures taken for the i.d cards and on we went,aboard at last.we went straight up to our cabin,a small but perfectly formed mini-masterpiece of design,bed,t.v couch and shower etc,no window but i had taken the truoble of a few on-line spice-up's in the form of the 'bon voyage!' banner,balloon,door poster and a champagne-on ice chocolate strawbs,well worth the money and a nice touch to jazz it up a little.the room service was fantastic,very prompt,nice food,presented perfectly and all free!(before midnight-05.00).We had just got our bearing's when it was time for the 'Muster station's call' which meant a shuffle for all to the lifeboat station assigned to our room,sorry cabin!this excercise was mainly treated by a joke by the guests so we went along ,the only two wearing our life jackets!D'oh!thank the good Lord that we didn't have to use them!We had opted to pay our on-board spends in cash(dollars)rather than by card a facility our travel-agents were suprized we were able to do.we felt this was better than running up a tab we might not be able to pay for!In the end i have to say the prices were a little inflated but we spent #530 dollars all told.We were not big drinker's and that included 2 coach trips we booked from our room on the T.V!Cruising doesn't have to break the bank if your carefull.We had booked my-time dining and being naive i had booked a variety of times for our 'slot'.it was obvious that these were all in the wrong time either too early or late to get a show,or film etc.We found the nice young ladies at the Dinner booking booth very helpfull to change our times with no fuss.The first few days were Smart Casual then the feared 'formal night'was on us.In the end it was a great experience to be in our best and the whole crew and guest's gleaming from Bow to Stern.Our table was a 2-person all week as my wife felt a little uncomfortable sharing a table with peopleshe didn't know!this is meant to to be the point but i wasn't going to make a thing of it,after getting her this far from home!The food and choice on adventure was fantastic!the waiter's and waitresses do a fantastic job,bearing in mind the numbers involved.ten/ten here for the service.you will be impressed with the freindly staff who no doubt are seeking that tip but who treated us with dignity and respect at all time's.We met a young chap from Brazil in the dog and duck pub onboard,charming.The cocktail waiter from Jamaica,Dean equally charming.These guys are having a blast,working the ships and travelling they will make your trip special by making you feel special,thanks R.C.C.I for introducing us to some nice people from all around the world,that what makes a cruise so personal!The business side of things on the promenade was omni-present,the sales promotion's etc but on the whole the atmosphere is nice and relaxed.We caught the ice-show one evening,apart froma couple of slips(this was on a ship!)the show was amazingThe juggler and hoop show we had seen in the Lyric theatre earlier was first class!I enjoyed the Spanish lessons that repeated all the announcement's and we met all nationalities on-board,those gay Spanish chap's seem to congregate in the whirl-pools and i even braved that for a posed Motorcycle news reader meets Spanish men at sea stunt,much to wife's amusement.the guys were nice really,just looked a little different!Weather on this trip wasn't great,mostly overcast and few sunny skies but we hardly noticed as we zoomed up and down in the greast glass lifts,rushing here ,going there just loving the ship and the fantastic experiences on offer.the wind jammer cafe was a nice big motorway service station of free food!whilst cakes and snack's could all be found on deck 5,whre tea and coffee mixed with soft drink's were free to enjoy at will.one day we were still in our room when my wife strangely began to slide down the bed!this turned out to be a technical problem with one of the ship's stabalizer's!the ship had leaned right over with no warning!a quick look out of the cabin allayed my initial fear that we were going to become some horrible 'Titanic' like nightmare,disconcerting you must agree.No future problems here so that's a relief.Tenerife and maderia came and went in a blur of trips and experience's i will add later and before we knew it it was the last night on board-party night where all the crew sang,danced and waved us off to our home shore's making us all a little sad that it was over but giving us hope for new beginning's now that our Cruise virgin's tag has gone,REGARDS TO ALL HAPPY Cruising,Roger T Bikerboy32