CRUISING ON THE ADVENTURE OF THE SEAS

We recently completed our 9th cruise (slowly moving up the cruise ship loyalty ladders!). We cruised on Royal Caribbean for the 5th time (we've made it to platinum-level of the Crown & Anchor society), this time on the Voyager-class Adventure of the Seas.

Here is the ship docked in Curaçao...

All Voyager-class ships have the Royal Promenade which is like an indoor shopping mall traversing nearly the length of the ship...it is the heart of the cruise ship. Passengers can shop for jewelry, perfume and clothing, taste a multitude of imported beers in a pub, get pizza, coffee, snacks or pastries at the open-24-hours Café Promenade, check out the latest sports scores at the sports bar or just find a seat, relax and people-watch. 

At least once a cruise the ship's crew puts on a spectacular parade up and down the Promenade with elaborate costumes. 

Of course, you don't go on a cruise to stay indoors. If passengers aren't relaxing on the Royal Promenade, they're hanging out at the pool deck. On the pool deck there are 2 side-by-side pools plus 4 whirlpools for passengers of all ages...

And the adults-only Solarium area with its pool...

and two oversized whirlpools. That's husband frolicking in the frothy waters.

Besides water activities on the ship the other main activity is of course eating. There are a multitude of places to eat on Adventure of the Seas: besides the buffet style Windjammer Café, there is the 3-deck main dining room...we chose the My Time dining option. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all served in the dining room. The dinner selections and service were all excellent the times we did eat here.

If you like burgers and milk shakes, there's Johnny Rockets, a 1950s style old-fashioned diner...there Is a small fee to eat here.

For something different, try Giovanni's Table...but make sure you are really hungry when you go. Three filling courses of delicious Italian specialties. There is a charge for eating here, but sometimes it's nice to splurge. We enjoyed it very much.

For those late night cravings, Café Promenade is open 24 hours. Here you can also purchase specialty coffees and Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

Of course if you're not eating, then you're drinking. No shortage of bars/lounges on Adventure of the Seas. There is the Duck and Dog Pub, an English-style pub featuring a multitude of imported beers...

Keep up with the sports scores at Gravity, the ship's sports bar. NOTE: While you're at sea, most sports is ESPN International. Hopefully you like soccer...but did you come on a cruise ship to watch TV?

Prefer a glass of the bubbly? Order a glass in the Champagne Bar...

There is the appropriately-named Schooner Bar...

Another Royal Caribbean signature bar, enjoy views of the surrounding ocean and the pool decks from the Viking Crown Lounge located high up on the 14th deck. A bar during the day, you can dance all those calories off at night when it becomes a dance club.

As beautiful as the ship is now and although just in 2014 she received a Royal Advantage upgrade, later this year Adventure of the Seas will undergo a $61 million renovation. In addition to new waterslides and Flowrider, two new restaurants will be added, another lounge and more than 100 new cabins and Suites Lounge for luxury travelers.

Thank you for visiting.

A Great Europe Trip Planner

All photos were taken by my husband and me in May/June 2016. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

A STROLL DOWN THE ROYAL PROMENADE

I loved the Deck Six location of our cabin on Independence of the Seas. A short walk down the corridor and down one flight of stairs led us right to the main attraction of the ship: the Royal Promenade.

From the stairs we would walk between the two sets of glass elevators and cross over... 

the beautiful glass bridge which leads to the four-deck tall Royal Promenade...

To the left of the bridge is the Champagne Bar where glasses of bubbly await...

To the right of the bridge is the Guest Services and Shore Excursion desk which you can see in the background of the photo below...

There are so many duty-free shops (like an exclusive Michael Kors shop), restaurants and stores featuring jewelry and clothing located along this beautiful floating mall...let's take a stroll! Our first stop is to check out what's new in Royal Caribbean cruising at Adventures and perhaps book our next Royal Caribbean vacation.

 






























Awake and hungry at 3:00 a.m.? We had just enjoyed solitude in a whirlpool on the pool deck (yes, at 3:00 a.m.), so afterwards we headed down to Cafe Promanade for some coffee and pastry before heading back to our cabin for a few hours of sleep. Cafe Promanade is open 24 hours.

Wine lover? You need to check out Vintages, the first-ever wine bar on a cruise ship. Not only do they offer glasses or bottles of red or white wine, wine-tasting events are held so passengers can try new wines or indulge in favorites.

There is even a vintage Morgan automobile parked outside the wine bar.

Opposite of Vintages is the English-themed Dog and Badger pub for those who prefer beer to wine. The pub features authentic Irish, British and European beers on tap.

In addition to Ben & Jerry's ice cream and the Cupcake Cupboard (both cost extra $$), another complimentary eatery is the Sorrento's Pizza which serves not only pretty good slices of pizza, but sandwiches and pastries 24 hours a day.  In the photo below, Sorrento's is shown on the left.

A view of the interior of Sorrento's.

Finally at the aft-end of Deck 5 is the Pyramid Lounge. Here we saw comedians perform and played silly audience-participation games.

In my next post, we'll continue the tour by visiting the upper decks of the ship.

Thank you for visiting,

A Great Europe Trip Planner 

All photos in this post were taken by my husband and me during our Caribbean cruise in May, 2014.

OUR CRUISE TO THE EASTERN (ROYAL) CARIBBEAN

Our last three cruises had been on Carnival, but for our family cruise last May, we decided to go back on Royal Caribbean. It had been 10 years since we sailed on Royal Caribbean, and we really wanted to finally sail on one of the ships with the Royal Promenade...

We also wanted to visit islands we had never seen before, so we chose to sail on the beautiful Independence of the Seas...here it is docked at our first port stop: St. Maarten.

Independence of the Seas is one of the Freedom Class ships: these ships are 1,112 feet long and 183 feet wide with a 160,000+ gross tonnage, making them now the third biggest ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet after the new Quantum Class begins sailing in the two weeks. Quantum Class ships are 1,141 feet and 136 feet wide with a 167,000+ gross tonnage. Of course, the Oasis Class ships are the largest: 1,186 feet long and 213 feet wide, giving them an incredible 225,000+ gross tonnage. Here the Allure of the Seas sails out of Port Everglades just a few minutes before we departed...believe me, that is a BIG ship!

Port Everglades is a very busy port...as many as five major cruise ships can depart on a Sunday afternoon in May. Here our ship's sister ship, Liberty of the Seas, also departed just prior to us...

As the Independence of the Seas departed Port Everglades, I was able to snap a photo of the other two Royal Caribbean ships sailing ahead of us to other tropical paradises. Allure of the Seas is on the right; Liberty of the Seas is on the right.

We would soon join these ships out in the waters of the Atlantic, sailing off to the island of St. Maarten. It would take two days to reach the island, so we had plenty of time to explore the ship. I'll give you a brief tour on my next blog post.  

Thank you for visiting,

A Great Europe Trip Planner 

All photos in this post were taken by my husband and me during our Caribbean cruise in May, 2014.