Thoughts on the Adventure?

[PrincessShmoo]

Is the Oceaneer Lab "open house" when the Oceaneer Club is closed? Our daughter doesn't like to go by herself, so we would just switch between them as the "open house" times were complimentary (i.e. one closes, the other opens).

It will not be great if she can only go to the clubs with us for three hours a day! Especially when there are minimal character meet and greets or ad-hoc / roaming experiences like story time with a princess, etc.

It appears that the Adventure only has Oceaneer's Club (ages 3-10) and Edge (ages 11-14) and Vibe (ages 14-17.

 

[kirstyfly]

Haven't sailed on her only going off what I have seen from people posting.

I had a booking for September and cancelled it, prior to her first sailing as the amount of people put me off.

I am feeling good about cancelling as no FOMO at all.

 

[Dreams&wishes]

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

Thanks you for sharing your experience we are also booked on the Adventure. Were the clubs really full? Were the kids splash areas really full, especially when the club is closed? Was t hard to get a quick service reservation?

Thanks

 

[Cfabar1]

No love for the Dream class? I mean that is a valid opinion, I am just fascinated you'd put the Trition class above them if you like the classic class so much

Sorry... my view was the Magic Class and the Dream Class are the classic ships...

I slightly prefer the Magic Class because of the larger rooms the more laid back feel and the adult pool area, and just the fact there are fewer people... but also really do love the Dream Class....

Though I did not get to sail on the Magic prior to the refurb, I think I would have preferred the original Magic layout/amenities even more than what they currently offer!

The Triton class has such well-appointed bathrooms - in many ways I prefer the shower to the one in my master bedroom! But I much prefer the nautical theme of the original ships to the "Disney" theme of the new ones...

 

[Agent 86]

It appears that the Adventure only has Oceaneer's Club (ages 3-10) and Edge (ages 11-14) and Vibe (ages 14-17.

Ah. I should have picked up on that before we booked! Oh well, we have time to try to adjust her expectations.

 

[scroogie]

I disembarked from the Adventure yesterday after a 3-night voyage. We were originally booked for a B2B in February, which was obviously cancelled, and the March 13 departure they added after the rescheduled maiden was the only one that really fit our schedule.

Honestly, she's such a beautiful ship. There are people that insist to never sail on a brand new ship, and while there are teething issues there was nothing that would've ruined the cruise for me (although it may have for others depending what they were looking forward to).

- We had a deluxe oceanview verandah on Deck 9 aft, almost directly around the corner from the rear stairwells and elevators and a short walk from Animator's Table. The deluxe rooms are the ones in the "classic" DCL style with a proper bed and fold-out sofa. With just the two of us we obviously didn't use the sofa bed so can't comment on reports on how comfortable (or not) they may be. The rooms don't look anywhere near as cheap or unfinished in person as some photos make them look.
- The staterooms do indeed have split bathrooms. Where the Adventure differs from the other Disney ships I've sailed on is that it is a stand-up shower only, no bathtub. For two adults this wasn't an issue or anything that we cared about, that would obviously be different for other families.
- Our dining rotation was Enchanted Summer: Olaf / Hollywood Spotlight Club / Animator's Table. All the menus were really good and as someone from a western country that really enjoys eastern food, I found the choices and quality to be excellent.
- Enchanted Summer's location is incredibly unfortunate, while the Maximus section is off on the starboard side of Deck 6, Olaf is located a bit further forward through a main thoroughfare between Guest Services and the Theatre. This means you have crowds of people walking through watching you while you're eating, plus the tables are very close together. Easily the most "squished" of the restaurants we tried.
- In Hollywood Spotlight we were seated in the balcony section which gave us a great view of the stage. We were very lucky actually, as the balcony section is rather small with only maybe a dozen or so tables up there. The show featured a pianist and a singer, joined by Mickey and Minnie and later Donald and Daisy as they sing several classic Disney songs. The characters then mingle with guests for photos. We had Minnie and Daisy visit us on the balcony. My understanding is these same characters/performers then immediately go to the Navigator's Club restaurant, so if you're in Hollywood Spotlight your entertainment is in the first half of dinner, if you're in Navigator's Club it will be in the second half.
- Animator's Table (and Palate) offer the classic Animation Magic show. There is literally no difference between its format on the Adventure vs. the other ships.
- Seas the Adventure is offered for viewing in the theatre on a first-come-first-served basis, while Remember is allocated to you in the Navigator App which you show to the crew for entry at your allocated time. Without spoiling anything, all I'll say is the puppetry and technology behind the main characters in Remember is amazing.
- The maiden voyage required reservations to be made in the app for the rides, character meet and greets and night 1 shopping. My understanding is reservations opened as soon as the muster drill was completed. They tweaked this for our voyage, no reservations were required for the shops, the only characters offered were Mickey, Minnie and Baymax (which opened after the muster), and ride reservations opened at the start of day 2.
- No other traditional character meet and greets were offered, instead characters would spontaneously appear someone and you could get photos on your own device. They also offer "Selfies at Sea" with Moana, Duffy and Friends, Mickey and Pals and the Princesses. These have the character(s) either at Wayfinder Bay or on the Garden Stage and they will pose so you can get photos or selfies with them behind you.
- Our voyage had more guests than the maiden, but a lot of the time crowds weren't much of a problem. The only times we really felt that there were thousands upon thousands of guests was when the upper decks were absolutely jam-packed for the fireworks. Certain times in the afternoon were also very busy in Imagination Garden and Discovery Reef with guests lining up for the quick service dining venues.
- The only quick service place we ate at was Mowgli's Eatery, the quality of the Indian dishes was very good. We also bought a bubble tea each from Bewitching Brews (matcha with milk and brown sugar boba) which was also very good.
- The Duffy Friendship show was very cute and absolutely caters to the Asian guests (and people like me that are Duffy and Friends diehards). The Moana show at Wayfinder Bay is the first movie compressed into a 15 minute show, I probably wouldn't see it again. Avengers Assemble is very similar to what I'd previously seen on the Wonder when it was sailing in Australia, just kind of on steroids in comparison.
- Sadly it's true that there is no adults pool area. The Infinity Pool and Bar area would be perfect for it as it's located directly next to the smoker's area.
- There are beverage stations scattered throughout the outdoor public areas.
- They have done away with the traditional "breakfast at your previous night's dining room", instead we were informed by our service team on the final night that we would be dining at Pixar Market which was set up with a buffet breakfast instead, how early you're asked to be there is still influenced by whether you are early or late seating.
- Disembarkation took the longest out of any Disney ship I've been on, sometimes there were gaps of 10-15 minutes between each luggage tag announcement. This didn't really bother us as we had late breakfast and our flight wasn't until the evening. I believe it was well after 9am before our luggage tag group was called.
- The shops had a great variety of merchandise, to the point we found it very difficult to decide how to limit ourselves!
- The bars are beautifully themed, our favourite hangout was Tiana's Bayou Lounge which is where a lot of the trivia was held and there would be live music in the evenings. Wayfinder Bay also had a singer perform at nighttime on the first two nights.
- Buccaneer Bar and Taverna Portorosso were the main venues for beverage tastings. Marvel Style Studio was used for our late night tastings (cognac and whiskey), as the venue turns into a "speakeasy" at night.
- For the most part the crew were great. Our assistant server was on his very first contract and was still trying to find his feet. Our main server had worked on other ships and was fantastic.
- We always carry our beer mug cards, which are still the "classic" ones that can be used between ships. The Adventure has a card specifically branded for the ship, which is something supposedly being rolled out fleet-wide. Bartenders have been told that the old cards are still to be honoured, and when we used them they did give us the choice of getting the old cards vs the Adventure-only one back. Despite the instruction, a couple of bartenders still checked with their manager before accepting our old cards and on embarkation day one bartender on the pool deck outright refused to take them (it was an experienced crew member previously on another ship that later told us this has been a recurring issue, and they are absolutely meant to be accepting the cards).
- The rollercoaster was still out of action, a photographer told us she heard it may not be running until April! Guests on the maiden voyage received $100 OBC per stateroom for the inconvenience, our voyage received $50 OBC per stateroom.

At this stage we are likely to book for a 4-night cruise in October. Pretty much any "negative" we had with the cruise revolves around things that can be solved relatively easily - crew experience, tweaking things based on feedback (adult pool!), etc. Except for Enchanted Summer Restaurant, that one needs a complete overhaul

Let me know if there are any questions!

 

[Ifernbol]

Is the Oceaneer Lab "open house" when the Oceaneer Club is closed? Our daughter doesn't like to go by herself, so we would just switch between them as the "open house" times were complimentary (i.e. one closes, the other opens).

It will not be great if she can only go to the clubs with us for three hours a day! Especially when there are minimal character meet and greets or ad-hoc / roaming experiences like story time with a princess, etc.

Yes, in this case the club is closed (I mean not supervised) for 3 to 6, so families can use it during those hours. The whole Club is closed since the way it is designed there can’t be 2 separate areas, one open and one closed as in the other ships. There is only one check in/out area with about 8 desks.

 

[Ifernbol]

Thanks you for sharing your experience we are also booked on the Adventure. Were the clubs really full? Were the kids splash areas really full, especially when the club is closed? Was t hard to get a quick service reservation?

Thanks

The clubs did not look crowded to me. But we had only 65% occupancy on our sailing. Kids had a great time in there (as they always do on Disney’s Oceaneer Club”)

The splash area we only used once. But did not look crowded either. I guess most Asian guest try to avoid direct sunlight, so main pool and splash zones were somewhat quiet. By the way, on the splash zone with the slide an adult must be inside with the kids (not only in the troddler one)

Quick service did not have any reservations system. You just line up. On the Ohana’s grill you get a buzzer. Took about 30-35 minutes to get the food (not not really quick )