Well I just departed the second sailing on the Disney Adventure, this being our 6th
Disney Cruise.
To give some background, we are a family of 4 and our kids are 6 and 8 y/o. We live in Spain (Europe) and booked this cruise as soon as bookings opened, since we were really excited to be on the newest and biggest Disney Ship. We had to change datas due to the delay, but managed to be here for the second departure. We stayed on a Deluxe Family Concierge Verandah.
We decide to go to a Disney Cruise because we expect to have some consistency on the experience we will be getting. We have sailed the Caribbean and Europe and the experience is mostly the same. NOT THIS TIME
We were fortunate to be Concierge, so we could avoid problems as getting food from self serve or buffets. And we received really great service at the concierge lounge and pool area. That was really the highlight of our cruise. To be honest, service was great all over the ship, which what you usually experience when you sail with
DCL.
Some differences that were frustrating to say the least:
- Character meetings were almost nonexistent. We could do some meet&greets at the Concierge lounge but other from those, most meet and greets are replaced for a “selfie session” which, form me , did not work at all. No chance to meet the avengers, no chance to meet Buzz and Woody, no chance to meet Duffy… only meet and greet outside the lounge was Baymax, and almost missed it… so that for us was a BIG LET DOWN.
- Oceaneer Club had 2 separate sessions, one in the morning until 3pm and one in the evening from 6pm to midnight. From 3pm to 6 pm is Open House, the WHOLE SPACE is used during those open house hours, so kids could not stay there during those times alone. This is the first time we see this n a DCL and reminded us of RCL’s schedules
- NO ADULTS ONLY areas. To be honest, that was another big surprise but luckily the Wayfinder pool (Moana Pool) was almost always empty, so we could realza there. BUT no adults bars or lounges are to be found either.
- Live entertainment was very limited. We expect to have multiple venues to have a cocktail and hear some of the awesome artists that perform on DCL’s ships. This was not the case in this occasion. We literally did not experience that for the whole cruise.
- Main pool area is very limited, no shade on the pool deck and empty spaces with outdoor furniture completely empty because of the heat. Also, the Avengers playground area was not very appealing for our kids and the rides did not get any shade whatsoever, so the ride vehicles were burning hot (had to use a towel not to get burnt). By the way, the rollercoaster was CLOSED for the whole cruise. Another big let down.
- Shows were another highlight of the cruise. the Avengers Show, Remember and Adventure the Seas are GREAT. We could not get to see the Moana show since there were only 2 offerings each day at 10 and 11 am only. No show in the afternoon.
- Food at MDR was good, our servers were great and the Hollywood Restaurant and show are awesome.
I read many comments saying that the cruise is intended for the Asian market, which is true. BUT there were guests from ALL OVER THE WORLD. I really think that DCL has to keep that in mind and give all guests the same experience that they give on all other ships and destinations. For example, the selfie thing to me is something that should be changed as soon as possible. If there are more guests, get more different characters at the same time. Do not downgrade the experience with the selfie approach, that looks like an afterthought to me.
So, I hope this helps to know what will you find if you do the Adventure. BTW our sailing was only around 65% full, so the experience might change if they get it to full occupancy.
Any questions, I’ll be glad to answer
