Musings from the cruise I just returned from

[Pattycruise]

I just got home today from my August 7 Adventure of the Seas out of Bahamas.  It was great to be on a ship again.

I heard we had 1,000 passengers.  The ship never felt crowded. Masks were mandatory for venues unless marked otherwise. Some venues were vaccinated only. (My understanding is Only kids under 12 were unvaccinated)

it was great to walk into CoCoCay after noon and be able to find a front row seat at the beach…I actually plopped down in the second row figuring the front row was taken!

shows were not crowded.  I did find out if you booked the headliner for his first show you couldn’t go to his final show.  I imagine it was to avoid additional commingling if guests for contact/exposure purposes.

windjammer-you had to be scanned in and they scanned you out.  I asked on the way out as to why and she said “contact tracing”.  Well after that I scanned in, grabbed breakfast, scanned out and ate elsewhere.  Yes, you scan into shows too….idk how they determine who exactly to contact trace , but I figured I could easily avoid the “windjammer nonsense” by scanning out quickly!  Subsequent visits to windjammer they did not say contact tracing, they just said “necessity”.

LOVED LOVED LOVED 2 days at CoCoCay.  The “kids” and hubby did the empty water park and then bellied up to the pool bar on day 1. 2nd day hubby and I went to the beach and the “kids”did the pool bar and then the floating bar at Chill island.

(my “kids” are 18, 20,22,29)

Very easy to get loungers poolside.

birthday dessert-we had a celebration onboard and they can no longer do anything “big” but they did carry a slice of cake with a lit candle and our 2 waitstaff and dining room manager sang with us.  I can’t believe they had a lit candle! I was ecstatic !

royal up.  Nice idea, doubt I’d do it again.

I did go from junior suite to owners suite.  Bonus was suite lounge from 5-8(as shown in the cruise compass) but it was actually from 4:30-8 for complimentary drinks.  YEAH!   So this was a nice benefit.  Also breakfast at Giovannis. 

The owners suite on Adventure was beautiful BUT it’s right below the pool deck-so party at pool deck at 11:00pm, sing along to the song!  Dragging and pounding of chairs and whatever occurred at midnight/1am (not bad for me I’m a late night person) AND at 7am.  Room attendants or others  were slamming doors as early as 6:30am.  (Stateroom 1292 on deck 10)

why I wouldn’t do it again.  I could have spent that money on other items. I really don’t spend a lot of time in the stateroom.  So for me, it was nice, but I doubt I’d do it again.

casino allowed 4 players at the 3 card poker.  And it was limited at other tables too.  It was nice to not be packed in and there weren’t too many smokers, so another benefit! (Mind you this is the first time I’ve actually engaged in long term play-usually I walk through, find it crowded and Smokey and keep moving)

main dining room was very empty.

easy to get off the ship. We could go have breakfast and we were told to wait in our stateroom to leave (no herding in a theater!)

most seemed to mask as they were required. Some lady was at guest services loudly complaining that more than 4 people were getting on an elevator. I was guilty of inviting a party of 3 to join hubby and I.  My own family is a party of 6-so IDK if she saw 6 and assumed it was just rule violators?  Whatever, with so few people on the ship there was no elevator nonsense of packed elevators and “long” waits.

below are pics of main dining room 5:30 seating and Chill Beach-sorry they are out of order. It shows how much space there was.

my “kids” enjoyed this cruise.  They understood the pluses of reduced capacity (no wait at water park, a lot of room in the CoCoCay pool bar, not crowded at silent disco) but they also realized they were fortunate to make friends within the “limited supply of people their age” 

 

 

 

 

[smokeybandit]

There's a whole PhD research project on elevator behavior on these cruises waiting to be done.

 

On some, people wouldn't dare step in an elevator with anyone else on it. Others, people would pack in like the good ole days once they got the nod that those already in the elevator were cool with it.

 

 

[BrianB]

Good info. I wondered how the contact tracing worked. I guess they just keep scanning cards. Thanks for the report!

[smokeybandit]

I thought they were scanning as not to have "too many" people in the WJ at once.

They didn't scan you out at shows and didn't scan you in the MDR.

Then again just saying "contact tracing" is something that probably doesn't need further explanation. Easier that way.

[jticarruthers]

11 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I thought they were scanning as not to have "too many" people in the WJ at once.

They didn't scan you out at shows and didn't scan you in the MDR.

Then again just saying "contact tracing" is something that probably doesn't need further explanation. Easier that way.

Yes something we have learned not to question ...

[Matt]

Great report, thanks for sharing it!

[CrznTxn]

Was also on this cruise and liked the less folks on-board and the multitude of open beach chairs on CoCo Cay. Was easy to find the perfect spot on the beach and spent large amounts of time snorkeling and taking pictures until my camera memory ran out (inadvertently removed the memory card and the in-camera memory is small) . Going to the shows was great and the reservations through the app worked great. The elevator behavior was different, had one gentleman see I was the only one in the elevator and refuse to get in and others pack it out. There definitely was no social distancing in the shops and in some of the other areas and other than the masks, seemed like old day cruising. They did send one family home down the hall from us after the COVID testing but there was no hoopla made of it and it was done quietly and discretely. Did see where others received a second test due to close contact but came back negative. Overall a fantastic experience and the staff was exceptional. Can't wait for the next one in October.

[cocptca]

Great review of the cruise and COVID protocols. This has me rethinking if I should save the $200 bucks on a day bed. It shows Adventure Of The Seas as having 3200 guests at full capacity, if there was 1000 on yours that’s super light. Wondering what Allure in September may look like capacity wise.

[CrznTxn]

According to the cruise staff, the passenger load for this week's cruise is 890 guests. This is super light and they said there were approximately 180 kids on-board, so only about 600 adults. That is super light. Another great thing about this past week's cruise, NO CHAIR HOGS!!

[Pattycruise]

26 minutes ago, CrznTxn said:

According to the cruise staff, the passenger load for this week's cruise is 890 guests. This is super light and they said there were approximately 180 kids on-board, so only about 600 adults. That is super light. Another great thing about this past week's cruise, NO CHAIR HOGS!!

Oh there were chair hogs, but since it was a reduced capacity of cruisers there were plenty of chairs!

if you think about those 160 kids a lot of adults will be “stuck” with them unless they are opting for adventure ocean, which means less adults in the solarium and the shows!

[teddy]

Less than three weeks till we’re aboard her. 

[Fairlynew]

Thank you for taking the time to share this.