Houston and Galveston
We flew in from Orlando the day before the cruise and met up with Thomas at the airport from his flight from Atlanta. Missy and Adrian met us at the airport and we drove out to Cypress to hang out with the Vuyk family. Alex and Bethany had to get their Covid tests for the cruise and then we watched movies and had dinner with the extended Vuyk clan before heading to our hotel.
Missy and Adrian met us in the morning at the hotel and gave us a ride to Galveston. We dropped off our bags and headed into the terminal. RCCL gave us a scare because one of the dates on Thomas' vaccination card was not on the card but the attendant eventually let him through, since it was the first date and he had his second shot and booster. The attendant also didn't like Thomas' negative test result because the negative result was buried in a block of text.
We stopped for the obligatory cruise photo and then went upstairs for lunch. The food was good but the constant requests from staff to make dining reservations at the specialty restaurants was annoying. We also learned of a Texas law that limited the alcoholic beverages that could be sold pre-sailing to only those purchased in Texas.
Sitting in the Solarium
Janie, Rebecca, Alex and Bethany changed into their swim gear to spend some time in the pools and the hot tubs in the Solarium. Although RCCL called this adult area a "solarium", it was not like it was on other ships where it was glass-covered, but rather open air, which meant you could see and hear kids running around on the upper deck. Thomas and J. R. found some seats and had some drinks.
Christmas decorations
We were happy to see the Adventure of the Seas was still decked out for Christmas with a large tree in the Promenade and a collection of gingerbread houses in the buffet and along the main deck.
Promenade
This was our first time aboard a Royal Caribbean ship with a promenade, so after dropping by our rooms to change and searching for our luggage down the hall, we went down to peer into the shops. We also picked up our Freestyle mugs, which we barely used.
On deck
We went back upstairs to the main pool deck to have a few more drinks and explore.
Sailaway
Galveston was one of the least attractive ports we have sailed away from but we amused ourselves looking at the trains coming and going as sail away was very delayed. Finally we were on our way out of the channel and into open waters towards Mexico.
Showtime
The evening show in the theater featured an 'observational comedian' which meant he would tell jokes about the differences between men and women packing for the cruise and on board the ship or differences between young people and old people on the ship, which were the same old jokes every comedian tells.
Dinner
We had dinner in the main dining room. Service got off to a rocky start as the assistant waiter forgot to ask Janie for her drink order. After J. R. corrected her, she asked Janie first the rest of the cruise and her service improved greatly. She was obviously new and didn't know the names of basic drinks like an "old fashioned" but she wrote things down and got them right. Our server was very good and the head waiter did a great job getting the kitchen to work with Bethany's allergies.