jacketwatch

Hi guys. What do you think about this. Frankly we are very happy with the service on Princess, esp. as it pertains to how they have consistently gone well out of their way to meet our special requests for Indian food for my wife and our friends. We are really thinking of trying Royal Carribbean next yr. on one of those fantastic Voyager class ships. The Adventure of the Seas seems to have a perfect Caribbean cruise next yr. to several places we have not been BUT do you think they will be as accomodating for our special food requests as Princess has been? Actually this is an important factor for us to weigh in our decision. Thank you. Larry

spurs

In my experience, Princess service and food are better than on RC. Not a big difference, and Voyager class ships beauty will make up for a little lack of service. RC takes special food requests too. Don't know specifically about Indian food but I think they will do their best.

jacketwatch

I completely agree. In fact I just heard on another board that RCI did indeed provide Indian food on the Adventure and those who got it said it was better than Delhi. .

kfusto

Larry, we were seated next to 2 couples from India on a recent RCI and they were well provided for at dinner. It smelled so good I asked my waiter to bring me that they were having one night!

AOS has a really great crew and I think you will find the food requests not to be an issue but do make certain to contact "Special Services" 30 days prior and then note whom you spoke with and get some kind of confirmation.

Have fun and don't miss a night at Portofino...superb!

jacketwatch

YES! Invigorating reply K! Thank you. I just hope we can get the vacaton period needed. I do look forward to this and I will contact them ahead of time. BTW we have cruised with them once B4 and I got my past passenger number to enroll in their C+A society but was told their computers are really out of whack ad it was take maybe 10 days to fix. Yikes! They do have my # on record it when I enter it to enroll it won't be accepted. Hopefully this will straighten out soon. Cheers, Larry

jacketwatch

Actually I came across this email address for RCCL, sent an inquiry and already received a reply. It seems quite simple really. You send them your info specific for the ship, date and your name and they forward it to the ship. When on board then just tell the Maitre'D.'[email protected]'

kfusto

Good news, Larry!

Hope you get the time off for this cruise. The Southern route is my personal favorite~

jacketwatch

Thank you. Thats the route we are shooting for.

emd

jacketwatch, I am also looking at Adventure of the Seas for the S. Carib. route next spring, after being on an Eastern Carib. itinerary on Voyager of the Seas and a Western Carib route on Freedom of the Seas this yr.

On both Voyager and Freedom our dining rm. managers were from India. My daughter is a vegetarian and they both came over every night and made sure there was something on the menu she liked. The dining rm. manager on Voyager told her if she wanted some Indian food he could arrange that. It wasn't needed as she found a veg. entree every night that she liked on the regular dining rm. menu. But it was offered.

I think they will try to accommodate you, just call or email and check.

I don't think anything can compare to the Voyager class ships for WOW factor and shopping and adventure on the ship. I've looked at all the other lines and I just really can't get past my love for the Royal Promendade, the variety of music and club offerings, the adventure stuff for the teens, etc. I am looking forward to Adventure of the Seas and the southern route.

kfusto

JMO, but I much prefer Serenade of the Seas doing the Southern Route. Gorgeous ship, fewer kids and families, and I prefer the openess of the Centrum design and the smaller number of passengers.

I am not a fan of Voyager or Freedom class overall and much prefer the Radiance family.

Serenade has my favorite RCI Captain at the helm as well, Capt. George, and that makes it even better!

jacketwatch

Our cruising friends were over last night and one look at the RCI catalog evoked the "wow" factor when they saw the Royal Promenade. That did it for us too. We are looking forward to seeing it for ourselves. Kfusto what class in the Splendour? Thats the only other RCI ship we have been on. what ship a person takes is personal preference I suppose but it seems we can agree about that southern route. Cheers, Larry

kfusto

Splendour is Vision class, which is one of the older style ships and without some of the newer amenities. If you enjoyed Spendour, and the RCI product, then you will likely be very happy on AOS.

I totally agree that the WOW factor is different for all of us; for me, it would be a small ship catering to adults and offering open dining (Azamara, Oceania). I am not a bells and whistles kind of gal and am more interested in overall traditional ambiance and service. I like boutique hotels and same for ships.

Of my 5 big ship experiences, AOS was my favorite. She was well run and had a great staff and crew. Of course, the ports were terrific as well so trying to find a chair by the pool was not as big as challenge with no sea days!

Nice that there are so many choices out there

FainaAgain

I took only one cruise with RCCL - out of LA to Ensinada. Next to our table were vegans. The cook even came out to talk to them to make sure all their requirements are met. Everybody was very accomodating.

I made my reservation with RCCL directly, on their website, and then called with the credit card number instead of posting there - that guy on the phone asked several questions about my vegetarian food request, like if dairy, eggs, pasta OK or not.

jacketwatch

Thanks again for all the replies. They are most reassuring and I appreciate them. K if you ever cruise out of Seattle there is a neat boutique hotel right downtown called the Hotel Vintage park. We stayed there three nights after out Alaska cruise. I'll bet you would like it and the location is terrific.
http://www.hotelvintagepark.com/

kfusto

Larry, I cruised out of Seattle in May and will do so again last year. We noticed the hotel on one of our walks around town and it looked very cool.

I will check it out next trip. Thanks!

jacketwatch

You're welcome.

Reisender

You will enjoy AOS. We did the Southern Carib. out of San Juan last fall and it was one of our best cruises hands down. Great ship and good service and excellent food in the dining room. I will say that we did the extra cost dining in Portofino and while it was good, it was not that much better than the main dining room to justify the cost. The food and service we had in the main dining room was as good as Portofino.

jacketwatch

we will probably ty it if we get on that ship. BTW how does it work? For Sabatinis from Princess you pick an entree and get a small sampling of everything else which comes to about maybe 15 different items.

LLindaC

I've cruised the Voyager, Navigator, Mariner and Freedom. All except the first had an area in the buffet line called "Jade" where they served several excellent vegetarian Indian entrees and salads. They are very accomodating on the cruise. The big difference is that the various cuisines usually aren't very spicy. I understand that, too..