My AOS 6/5-612 Review

My new husband and I went on the AOS for our honeymoon from June 5th-12th. Overall it was an awesome trip. I will try to break down my review into sections, but if anyone has any questions I don't answer feel free to ask. :)

Embarkation: Since we were married the night before, we had to fly into San Juan the day of the cruise. We arrived at the terminal around 4 pm and waited for about 30 mintues to board the ship. They checked our luggage before we boarded the ship and we recieved it around 8:00 that night.

Cabin: We had cabin #9692, an E1 (I think) aft cabin. Although the room was fairly small, the balcony was great!! If you don't mind the long walks from one end of the ship to the other I would definitely recommend an aft balcony. It was wonderful to have the balcony to walk out onto every morning we arrived on a new island. Our cabin steward was great and made some really cute towel animals.

Ship Appearance: This was my fourth RCCL cruise and my second on a voyager-class ship. I thought that overall, the ship looked great. There was a little wear and tear in places, and the carpet could stand to be replaced but nothing big enough to take away from the beauty of the ship.

Entertainment: Our cruise director was Ashley Kerr. I think that this was one of her first weeks being a cruise director, and she did really good. She was at all of the events and kept us entertained without being cheesy like so many of the other cruise directors. The nightly shows on our trip were two comedians, a temptations tribute band, a husband/wife acrobat show, El Gaucho-the South American Cowboy, and two production shows. We went to all of the shows except the second production show. The guest entertainers were great but I thought that the production show we did see left a lot to be desired.

Food: I was worried about the quality of the food after reading so many negative reviews but I was pleasantly suprised. The buffets in the windjammer were very good and almost everything I ordered in the dining room was very good as well. Our waiter was great about letting us order more than one thing and would often bring us two desserts or two appetizers without even asking.

Ports: All of the ports were beautiful, I can answer specific questions on what we did if anyone has any. I would say that our least favorite port was St. Thomas and our favorite was Barbados. I love St. Martin but had been before so we didn't do much this time but shop and St. Lucia was absoultely gorgeous but I don't think I would want to spend more than a day there because there would not be much to do.

Overall, we had an amazing honeymoon on the AOS. The only two negative things I can think of were the weather (it rained at least once a day and normally more on all of the islands and it rained all day on our only sea day) and the number of Peurto Ricans on the ship. I had read reviews about the large number of Peurto Ricans and I did not think it would bother me but I was wrong. There were 900 on our sailing and most of them were rude and obnoxious. If anyone has any questions I would be glad to answer them!

Glad to hear that you enjoyed your cruise. We were on the May 15 sailing and found it be one of our best cruises thus far.

There were over 800 Puerto Ricans on our cruise, and found them to be no different from the other passengers, except for the fact that they spoke another language. The young girls were always well dressed and very respectful of their parents and the other passengers. The gentlemen were polite and well mannered. My feeling was that those passengers were a good representation of the middle & upper class Puerto Ricans.... no riff-raff that I could see.

Too bad that your experience was not the same as ours.

Too bad you had bad weather-especially on the sea day. Did they have many activities since the weather was bad?

We are going on June 26--Sorry to hear the people from PR were unpleasant--after some of the posts here I am concerned about that. None of the entertainment sounds too great to me. I guess we'll see.

Thanks for the info.

They did have some entertainment indoors but it was not the same. They moved the horse races indoors and also had a circus that the kids in adventure ocean put on, but that was really all I saw.

what is considered "offseason" to the point that the cruise is offered to those in PR? I myself have no issue with Puerto Ricans, heck, I live in a city where there are many. I have even heard from my g/f that most of the puerto ricans from the actual country are actually civilized, and don't even like to be compare to their american counterparts.

Having lived in Puerto Rico and been an Americano in the 70s, as my screenname may imply to some, the citizens of this island are no different than anywhere else in the US-friendly world.

Keep in mind that most have complete command of TWO languages, and yes, have some cultural differences. But that's what makes travelling to these places so darn interesting!

Next time you go to a Latin country, speak a few words in Spanish to them, with a smile on your face. "Gracias, pordoneme, por favor y de nada" can go miles toward bridging your perceived "differences" with them.

I have heard too many times from US friends who go to a foreign land and their largest complaint is that the locals wouldn't speak English to them! Get over it. Broaden your horizons. Embrace the diversity.

Perdoneme :cool:

I loved the international feel of the Adventurer of the Seas as well as the Monarh of the Seas when it was sailing out of San Juan. I had 2 fabulous cruises and the international group on board made it even better!

I will be sailing this same itinerry for my honeymoon in august. What did you do on the islands?

I heard alot of negative things about PR's on the ship too before I booked. I keep hoping my cruise will be full so they won't give the discounts. Please don't get me wrong I am not prejudice...I just keep hearing the type of PR's that go are not the nicest or most respectful and i don't want my not so cheap cruise ruined! I

cruisechik66..

First, Congratulations on your wedding and thank you for your review! Sorry about the weather. I never read much about the AOS and usually most reviews are the Aruba route (we are doing the same cruise as you did).

if you don't mind a few questions I would appreciate it....

I was wondering which Pier did the cruise leave from? My family will be staying at the sheraton old san juan and was curious to know how far away the pier would be since i am traveling with older relatives (in their 70's)

What can you recommend doing at each port? For the younger (my husband and I are in our early 30's) and older crowd?

How did people dress for formal and smart casual? We had to talk my father into having to wear a tie:eek:

Thanks

leaving from San Juan....the ship was predominately Puerto Ricans. I never had any problems, but the Ship definitely catered to them. The airport is a mess--our flight was at 5:30 so we had to spend the day in the airport, the bathrooms were filthy there. Expect long lines at check in as well....horrible way to end such a great cruise.

As far as dressing for dinner, on the formal nites we wore sport jackets with a shirt and tie...we asked the waiter would we be denied entry on formal nite with no jacket and tie, he said no...as long as you have shoes and a shirt on you are OK...Formal is just recommended dress. The second formal nite we skipped and ate at the Windjammer

I will be taking my honeymoon cruise on the AOS next June, same itinerary as yours. Many congratulations to you and your husband. I'll be following this thread to see what other great details you have to share!

Ashely Kerr was the cruise direcrtor when I was on AOS in december...we had a great cruise and glad to hear tyou enjoyed yours. alex

We had a blast on all of the islands. We went into it knowing that we were paying more to go on a southern caribbean cruise and I was hoping that the islands would make up for the cost difference and they did! Heres a brief rundown of what we did....

St Thomas: I had been to St. Thomas before and for some reason was never that impressed with the island. It was also our first stop and my DH and I were still exhausted from our long weekend (wedding was saturday night) We decided to take it easy and just go on the island for about half the day. We ended up taking a short tour around the island and then going to Sapphire Beach. Our tour guide recommended Sapphire Beach because it was free as opposed to the fee you have to pay to go to Magans Bay. Sapphire Beach was beautiful but next time I think I will go to Magans Bay because everyone on the ship was talking about how great it was.

St. Marteen: Again, I had been to this island before and was pretty familiar with the island. We planned to take a taxi over to the french side of the island since it is less hetic over there but we ended up getting caught up shopping and did that almost all day! St. Marteen does have great shopping though. All the stores are duty free and many will bargain with you for the price.

Antigua: This started out as a sad day because it was pouring down rain when we got off the ship. We spent the morning looking around the shopping area of St. Johns and dodging the rain. That afternoon we took a cab to Dickinson's Bay and rented a jet ski which was really fun. Dickinsons bay is the same beach that Sandals Antigua is on and was a gorgeous beach! It is also free to get in and they have a bar with pool tables and stuff right on the beach. I would definitely recommend this beach!

St. Lucia: One of the major reasons I booked this itinerary was to go to St. Lucia. I had heard great things about the island. We ended up taking an all day tour here. We took a water taxi from Castries to Soufrie which is where the Pitons are. When we docked in Soufrie we went to see the volcano and the water fall then our water taxi guide took us to Anse Chastenat (I think) beach to snorkel. This was a great day and the tour was well worth the money we spent. It was probably our favorite memory of the trip. The tour guides name was Gideon and he was advertising his tour in the shopping area where the ship docks. There were about 8 couples on the tour and it was a great way to meet people. One piece of advice I would give about St. Lucia is go away from Castries! It is not nearly as pretty as the rest of the island and does not give the real feel of St. Lucia. I have been to over 10 caribbean islands and after seeing Soufrie in St. Lucia I have to say that St. Lucia is the most beautiful island I have ever seen!

Barbados: We loved Barbados, it was a beautfiul island and we are hopefully going back for our one year anniversary. We spent the morning in downtown Bridgetown looking around and exploring. That afternoon we took a wonderful tour with a man named Clyde. He was a native of the island and took us to see Bathsheba and all up and down the coast.

We did not do any ship-sponsered excursions on our trip. I felt like many of them were over-priced for what you were getting. I think by doing everything on our own we saw more of what we really wanted to see on every island. A couple at our table at dinner did do two RCCL shore excursions and enjoyed them but did not really feel like they were worth the money. If anyone else has any questions feel free to ask!

Hi. thank you for posting. Also, best wishes for liftime of happiness. My husband and I are cruising on AOS July 31st. I have a couple of questions.

Re: the midnight buffet. How many and what nights are they on? Did you bring any liquor with you or buy some on the islands? How were the shows? Which dinner did you have, the first or second? Did it take you a long time to board? When did your suitcases arrive? How was the dress code? What nights were the formal ones? How was the casino?

Thank you for any info that you can give me.

Mary

I'd like to know about the buffets too--also what is available from room service?

Has anyone gotten a day pass at any of the islands? I understand you can get them for Breezes in Curacao.

thanks for any help--we leave on Sat.

Beth

I hoping my cruise will be full so they won't give the discounts.

Just to Say ... As a travel agent working in Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans pay the same price you pay for your cruise but the eception they not have to pay for air. There are no discounts on summer cruises. and At this time there are no discounts on any cruise from now till July 2006.

if you want to track the prices we have here in Puerto Rico check this web page.

http://www.cruceros.com

Compare it whit

any travel agency.

Remeber the price listed is + the port charges . the port charges are bellow all the sailings .

For example the June 26 sailing """cuad""

1,075.00 p/p

+ 165.05 p/p

_____________

1, 240.05 p/p (4) = 4,960.20 Total for the cruise .

Interior Cabin Cat Q and N.

Maybe there are rude or something but believe they have the money to go on a cruise. The Adventure is the Most popular Ship in San Juan but the most expexive . At this time whit those prices and someones more expexive we have an average 400- 500 puertorricans on any AOS sailing for this year.

Great DAY !

I thought I read many post that said the reason there were so many Puerto Ricans on the ship was because if they can't fill the ship they give heavy discounts to the locals. Maybe this was done in the past and they changed it. Sorry I guess it is my mistake. Thanks for clarifying.:o

I have never been to Puerto Rico but I have lived in Spain for a very long time. Do you think that maybe what you are seeing is the abruptness of their culture and not rudeness at all?

I think being on AOS with multiple nationalities is what I am looking forward to the most. (And to practice my Spanish.)

We have a foreign exchange student that will be sailing with us on FOS in June 2006. When she first arrived (she is a native of Brazil) she thought Americans were quite rude. She was used to hugging friends parents etc when introduced and us not doing so seemed rude to her until I explained the culture difference and how Americans are pretty much of the feeling nobody gets a hug unless you know them and well.

Another thing I found interesting. She went to the High School prom and thought the suggestive nature that American teens dance was "gross" her words not mine. (I wasn't exactly thrilled that "gross" and "what ever" were the first expressions she learned either lol.)

Just a thought.

HI !

In the past before the pricing polycity from Rccl International. They do give discounts on their sailing.

For example if they have 25 cabins avaible , Rccl told us to sold 10 on lower prices. and on the lowest category. The prices were low but not so so. If I remeber for the Dec 5, 2004 sailing on the AOS. I sold 2 ( Q) cabins for

$ 1,578.20 (cuad) ... the correct price was $ 1,878.20. A $ 200 discount. but there were just 10 cabins avaible at that price. maybe 20 to 35 puertorricans have that once in a lifetime price .but not all of them. many of them buy cruises up to one year in advance and in diferent categories. including balcony and suites.

Later on whit the pricing polycity ... all the prices are the same.

Hope you Understand in my not so good Inglish .

Great DAY !

Who were the entertainers or headliners on your cruise? We are leaving tomorrow for San Juan.

Beth