Overall on balance we liked the ship. I agree that the layout in some places is problematic, but so is the Wish class layout and Disney designed that one themselves.
The dead end of the Spa on deck 10 is particularly bad. And having to go all the way to the forward of the ship a deck above or below the Oceaneers club to gain access. As it's such a large ship it felt like running a marathon at times to go backwards and forwards to drop off and pick up.
The absolute worst problem for the layout though is Enchanted Summer restaurant. When it is functioning as a buffet the line for the buffet could extend towards the Royal Court stage, the guest service area and Spellbound bar. It made the whole area feel odd. We had rotational dining in the Maximus section of the restaurant and there was zero emersion because there was live lounge music at Royal Court, which was basically the same room. You could hear that there was some kind of Tangled style ambience music playing. Alongside the live singer on the stage round the corner, and it was just combined loud noise. I can imagine the Olaf dining room would have been even worse.
Positives though were that all the individual spaces were beautifully themed. The attention to detail I feel went above and beyond any of the previous ships. San Fransokyo street is genuinely jaw dropping. And we were on a full sailing, and for whatever reason it never seemed crowded in here. We have an Edge club age child and he thought he was in heaven in San Fransokyo and in Edge. We couldn't get him away.
Discovery reef and Imagination garden were also great spaces. They felt like the natural hub of the ship. I feel like that was what they were aiming for (or Garden Court area where Snow White statue is)? Regardless, it felt like Discovery Reef and Imagination Garden were the hub. And we enjoyed both areas very much.
Loved the escalators! Considering it's a 20 floor ship we didn't have much use for the elevators as you could whip up and down the escalators.
Pool spaces were a no for me. Not enough pool space for 6700 people (there were 6400 on our cruise, with fully booked cabins). It was basically chaos. We didn't go in any of them. Not even the children. They tried to use the large splash pad, but it was under 8s only (not the toddler one, the larger one) because it was in the sun with never any shade, it was underutilised by the younger children, so a shame they couldn't up the age a bit. Mine are 9 and 11, and it would be been a completely age appropriate space for them I think. They did enjoy the two water slides (as did I). They are nothing fancy, but did the job. No queues ever for these. As again, no shade in queuing area (it's HOT in Singapore)!!
A lot of the bars were great. And a lot of the clientele are from non drinking cultures, so the bars were a great break from the crowds. We got a seat at any of the bars, at any time very easily. Our two favorites were Buccaneer bar and Taverna Portorosso. Taverna didn't open til 4pm in the evening which was a shame, as it was one of the only outside spaces with shade and would have been a nice afternoon drink spot. Buccaneer bar was adult only after 9pm. It should have been adult only from open. It was a tiny bar, and I don't think it would have been a problem to have a single functioning adult only space on the ship.
Spellbound was beautifully themed, but surrounding area busy, if you got the right table it was great. Garden Bar was a good people watching spot. No shade during day and very hot, but nice for early evening.
Infinity bar was overcrowded. Lots and lots of tiny children dive bombing the infinity pools. It didn't appeal as a bar space to me for that reason. Also, very little of the bar seating was shaded. Wayfinder Bay bar was a bit further set back from it's respective pools so it didn't have the same problem. That was a better bet for a poolside drink.
Tiana's Bayou lounge was a pleasant place to be. Beautifully themed. Spacious. Never overcrowded.
As far as the rotational dining spaces were concerned. The buffet/rotational dining combos of Enchanted Summer and Pixar Market were a miss for me. I don't think they worked as buffets or rotational dining restaurants. Enchanted Summer was just an odd space overall. Including Maximus. And Pixar Market was so squashed in. The buffets took over the whole space so the tables were clustered tightly in what felt like thin corridors around the edges. It was claustrophobic and unpleasant.
Navigators club I liked. It was a well designed space and beautifully themed. It wasn't on our rotation, but we ate breakfast here each day and it was pleasant. Service was efficient and food was decent (at least at breakfast).
Animators Palate and Table were nicely themed areas. Same show as the Magic. Works well. Food was mediocre.
Hollywood Spotlight was incredible. Everything about it. The space, the theming, the dinner show. And the food. Huge win here. They don't need to change a single thing about this evening. And this was the only evening we didn't have a problem with our (incredibly overworked) servers (which I'll go in to). So they were obviously more relaxed here too! I have to say this was the only one of the 4 evening meals at the rotational dining venues we truly enjoyed. But, it was genuinely fabulous.
Buffets. Yuck. No. The spaces themselves were misfires. The hygiene was very questionable. Not a lot of handwashing going on onboard this ship (with exception to Oceaneers where the staff there were great at cracking down). And the food was awful at worst and only average at best.
Pizza planet was a huge hit on the ship and the pizza was very good. But it was a victim of it's own success. I'm not sure why they put such a tiny kitchen in here. The staff were doing their best. They were working incredibly hard and it must be so dreadfully hot making pizzas out on deck on the South China Sea, but if it was almost always a good 45 mins to an hour wait for a pizza. Really. We did it once because the children really wanted to try it, and we would have loved to have gone back, but. No.
Now is the Adventures time to shine!! Gramma Tala's kitchen. Mowgli's Eatery. Cosmic Kebabs. Stitch's Ohana grill. All 5*. We tried them all multiple times (we learnt very quickly buffets were a no go, and the rotational dining food was average at best). The food at all 4 is exceptional. We never had a problem with getting the food or queues here. They needed more seats in the A/C to eat, but we could always find a shady table outside. Loved all of them. Special mention for the buttermilk chicken at Gramma Tala's. I miss it.
Oceaneers is very similar to the other ships. My daughter enjoyed her time here. The staff were good. I thought the character visits could be upped a bit. Not a single princess the whole 4 days, but maybe that will come with time.
Entertainment team were absolutely on point. Couldn't fault them for anything. Character meet and greet (once you'd booked in) and interactions were good. They were friendly around the ship. We had lovely conversations with some of them. Especially as they were very honest about the state of the operations on the ship. They pointed out some things that we hadn't even noticed yet! We appreciated their honesty. And the shows were all wonderful. From the Moana show out on deck, to Remember in the theatre. They were all first class. Couldn't fault them. Duffy and Baymax were both fun. Marvel was wonderful. This ship really shines for entertainment. Which I guess it has to because you aren't sailing anywhere. But, they nailed it.
The rides. Groot Galaxy spin and Quantum Racers were a fun addition to a ship. They aren't anything hugely exciting, but we enjoyed them. Again, being outside in the full sun, it was hot!! There was never lines for either of them when we went.
And. We got on the Ironcycle Test Run. A++++++++. Absolutely loved it. One of my favorite couple of minutes of the cruise. Sadly though we were in a tiny percentage of guests to be able to ride. They obviously have huge issues. There were cast members in from the US overseeing the operations. Three of them it seemed like. Engineers/imagineers (both)?? There was a lot of frustration on the ship around Test Run. It was the most mentioned thing you heard other guests talking to each other about. I think lack of information really didn't help with that. I think most guests can understand a broken down ride. It's the absence of information and explanation which frustrates people.
Which leads me on to. Operations.... Ouch.
I think to sum up before I start it would be that the ship is huge, but it's still too small for the number of people it has sailing on it.
You feel every single one of those people far too often on that ship. It ruins the atmosphere when everyone is jostling each other for space, or competing for bookings, or trying to race each other to open tables in the limited shade. Or queuing for the buffet straight through the middle of the Origami class.
The ship can't physically cope with the people. But, neither can the crew. I can honestly say our service during rotational dining was awful. It was genuinely awful. We hardly got to exchange a word with any of our servers. They were sweating they were working so hard. We didn't get drinks one evening. On 3 of the 4 evenings they mixed up our orders (not with each other on the table - but just brought completely random things no one had ordered). On the evening of the fireworks the service was so slow, we had to constantly remind staff it was fireworks evening, and then miss desert and run out on deck to catch the beginning at 10:30pm. Our seating time was 8:15pm. So over two hours to eat two courses. But, they were overworked and stressed. On the last evening the Head Waiter looked on the verge of tears all evening. When my daughter found him to give him his tip envelope, he sunk to his knees and threw his arms around her. It wasn't theatrics, it was genuine emotion and exhaustion. We felt awful for them.
The app booking system is a nightmare. I understand the app booking system. It's fair. And it makes sense. But, not the way they've implemented it. Why, for example, can you not book the Royal Gathering 30 days out? Why do I have to do it on the ship? I also have to book Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Baymax, Shellie Mae and Duffy on the ship. And the Ironcycle Test Run. At least let me book Royal Gathering before I get on the ship like all the other ships!
And for the other bookings. Please give me a rough idea when I need to be booking these things. It was worse than WDW. You'd get a rough window. Oh, bookings will open between 11am and 4pm. 11am and 4pm?!?!? That's the whole day! So you have to start refreshing from 11am. And refresh and refresh. And the bookings would then drop at 4:22pm. Another day it was 2 something. Another day it was 11am. The children really wanted Duffy and Shellie Mae. And both the children and I wanted Iron Cycle. So there was no way round the endless rounds of refreshing.
There was no information on Iron Cycle. We were told on embarkation day it would be open the next day. And to keep an eye on the blasted app. So the refreshing for that started. The ride didn't open the next day. But, bookings actually popped up late day 2 when I was refreshing for other stuff - I never want to refresh an app ever again in my life - We got a booking for the following day. That an hour later disappeared from my bookings. Now as Disney Pro I let myself down here. I didn't take a screenshot. I was so excited to get the booking and put my phone down (I got a coverted Shellie Mae slot during the same drop) that I forgot. The first thing they asked me at guest services was if I took a screenshot. I had a quiet inner temper tantrum at myself. Anyway, all's well that ends well and my booking reappeared as if by magic a few hours later. Just at a different time. The Adventure works in mysterious ways.
Please communicate the booking system better to your guests guys. And drop availability at a consistent time each day. I guarantee you not a single one of your guests wants to spend 5 hours a day on their cruise refreshing your app.
Overall, would I go back on the Adventure? Yes. I would. Her interior is really beautiful. My son wants to go back to San Fransokyo street. I want more buttermilk chicken from Gramma Tala's, and I'd love another drink in Taverna Portorosso. But, I would need to know they had ironed out operations before then. I wouldn't touch it until they've hugely improved things. And I'm not sure that's possible with 6,400 guests on board. Maybe it is. Time will tell.
There is probably more to write. But, I'm sure that is perfectly long enough for most people! Please ask if you want to know anything else!