Southern carribean cruise

[t_nix]

My DH and I havE done a southern carribean cruise with Carnival, and we encountered quite a few rude fellow passengers from San Juan. (example- your waiting for an elevator and when it comes, you get pushed out of the way so they could jump in front of you.) I was just wondering if the Royal Carribean guests sailing from San Juan experienced the same encounters. Thanks!!

[BroncosFan2010]

I believe there are rude people on every ship, every line, and from every culture. I have sailed out of San Juan on all of my cruises, all RCCL, and have not experienced this too much. I stick with the smaller ships (Radiance Class), which attracts less families with children.

[green eyed lady]

We were on Adventure of the Seas and at one point I almost cancelled my cruise because I had read so many bad stories of rude people when leaving from San Juan. It turned out to be the best cruise we've ever had...I would go again in a hearbeat There weren't any more rude people in San Juan than we see leaving from NY/NJ.

[alicam]

We sailed on the Serenade of the Seas last year out of San Juan...I didn't notice any rudeness from passengers in regards to this matter

[LBumb]

never let a rude person spoil your vacation. southern caribbean is so beautiful. well worth putting up with some aggravation.

[waterbugohio]

We just completed cruise number two. Both were Southern Caribbean out of San Juan. I don't think I can name one time we encountered a rude person. But then if we did, I am the kind of person that things don't bother me, I just go on with my vacation.

[printingchick]

Originally Posted by green eyed lady

We were on Adventure of the Seas and at one point I almost cancelled my cruise because I had read so many bad stories of rude people when leaving from San Juan. It turned out to be the best cruise we've ever had...I would go again in a hearbeat There weren't any more rude people in San Juan than we see leaving from NY/NJ.

I have to agree. We've cruised out of San Juan on Carnival Destiny and on Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas. In March we'll be cruising on Serenade of the Seas. The only issue we've ever had were with smokers on Destiny. That had more to do with a lack of enforcement by the cruise line. Our cabin REEKED of cigars. While our room steward did a good job of deodorizing the room, the response from customer service regarding the rule against smoking in the cabin was that the "Puerto Ricans love their cigars."

[bradleyd]

San Juan?
You should sail with the people from Miami. They make the folks in San Juan seem wonderful.

[cruiseguy1016]

We too, almost canceled a cruise out of San Juan because of the reports of rude people. We decided not to cancel and to just not let it bother us if we ran into some rude people. I can honestly say we never had an encounter with anyone that I would say was rude.

[KAWS]

We sailed out of San Juan last March and never encountered a single rude person. I wouldn't hesitate to sail out of SJ again. Not to get bashed, but we once sailed from NY and vowed never again, so it's all subjective.

If you anticipate rudeness you'll be watching for each small infraction. Just go and be in your polite vacation mode and wherever you're sailing from, you'll be fine.

[Jt4428]

We were on the Adventure last November. Love, love, love the Southern Caribbean Islands. We didn't encounter rude people. That said, however, I found that my 2 children did not meet alot of other kids on that cruise because of the language barrier. We just sailed the Liberty in November out of Miami and I did not see my kids the entire time because they met so many people.

[NordicPrince]

Originally Posted by t_nix

My DH and I havE done a southern carribean cruise with Carnival, and we encountered quite a few rude fellow passengers from San Juan. (example- your waiting for an elevator and when it comes, you get pushed out of the way so they could jump in front of you.) I was just wondering if the Royal Carribean guests sailing from San Juan experienced the same encounters. Thanks!!

First, I am not defending impolite and rude people in any way. There are louts and ungracious people everywhere.

Second, I have never been on a Carnival cruise but my 21 year old daughter went on Spring Break with Carnival. I think that speaks for itself as to what some groups of people may expect from a cruise. I'm sure my daughter and her 40 friends from the University of Michigan were perfectly behaved at all times (not). (They're not from San Juan and did not leave from San Juan).

Third, it seems to me everybody is in a hurry and under more stress these days and sometimes manners are the first thing to go especially in a crowd of people.

And you are going to meet people like this in any major metropolitan area, San Juan included.

Fourth, your offenders may not be sophisticated people. One thing that is
great about cruising is that it allows people from different regions and cultures to meet and interact. Hopefully your offenders may learn from
watching how other people act while waiting for elevators and act
appropriately by the end of the cruise.

Fifth, you don't mention how old your offenders were or what kind of
party mood they were in. Can't remember the last time I was thrown
off an elevator by an inebriated senior citizen but my guess is
that the odds of bad behavior go up as the age decreases and the alcochol increases.

For myself I choose not to leave from my home port so I can
purposely meet people from more diverse areas and cultures and maybe get some education along with a good tan for a week.

However, you may choose to leave from a regional port so you know
what to expect in the future.

Or you may choose another cruise line which has a reputation for a more sedate clientele.

Isn't choice a great thing?

I wish you many more happy cruises.

[tlund]

I, too, had read some reviews about problems with rude people ruining cruises out of San Juan. We cruised on the Caribbean Princess out of San Juan in January of 2009 and found the majority of the guests on board were middle-aged Canadians. We did not experience any problems. We again cruised out of San Juan on the Adventure in October. While there were more Puerto Ricans on this cruise, we found none of them to be rude to the extent of ruining our vacation. We Americans have to remember that there are people out there that are culturally different from us (and not only referring to the language), and that our way is not THE way. We did notice that the cruise line played it up a bit to the Spanish speaking cruises, but you have to assume that considering we cruised out of a Spanish speaking port. Sometimes it is the Americans that can be embarrassing. We had a great time and love the Southern Caribbean cruises for the islands they visit. Had enough of Cozumel, Grand Cayman and the rest of them.

[printingchick]

I wasn't traveling with kids, so the comment about the language barrier was interesting. Funny thing, on our Adventure of the Seas cruise out of San Juan, a couple of of our table mates were Belgian. That was OUR language barrier!!

The issue with the language thing becomes most obvious with announcements. Because half of the passengers are Spanish-speaking, all announcements - including the muster drill - are given in both languages. Makes perfect sense, but most people can't get done with the muster drill soon enough!

To the poster who asked us to specify incidents of "rude" behavior, I think nearly all of us have commented that we were surprised by the utter LACK of rude behavior on the ships. Like others, I read reviews on this site that were positively frightening.

It taught me not to listen to the nay-sayers. I avoided visiting Ochos Rios on seven cruises. Finally ended up there on the Freedom of the Seas last year. Had a WONDERFUL time! Yeah, high pressure sales people and I heard reports of people on our ship being offered drugs. (We were not.) But we knew to be careful and not wander outside the tourist areas. For years I was afraid of this port for no reason.

Always best to learn for yourself. Some people just LOOK for the negative.

[West Vancouver Cruiser]

We have cruised in the S. Caribbean out of San Juan the last two Decembers (this year we are off to the MR on the Mariner). I was just saying to my husband what fond memories I have of those two past cruises.

Many Puerto Ricans traveled in family groups and they seemed to be enjoying both the cruise and each other's company. Some brought their own guitars and wandered in groups on the open decks singing seasonal songs. Wonderful.

My husband claims to have been jostled in the cafeteria line by Puerto Ricans (I guess they, like the rest of us, love to eat), but I never had such an issue. Some areas of the ship (such as the gym) were underutilized during our cruise. I suspect the gym may much more crowded on a California departure.

I wouldn't hesitate to book a cruise out of San Juan again.

[henrygee]

Yes it does seem like there are a lot of rude people from certain places at times, however I've come to think it's going to be a like that everywhere.. it just depends who you happen to meet when you're on holiday and luck I guess.

It's really unfortunate that these kinds of unfavorable people do have to leave their homes and go on cruises and the like, but I guess there's nothing much we can do besides put up with it and not pay them much attention. Give them the time and energy they deserve and I find it is forgotten about much easier.

I've met people from all over and so feel it's just a kind of "you win some, you lose some" sort of thing. There's plenty of great people in San Juan.

Hoping every bit that your next cruise has more favorable people sharing the boat with you!

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