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My Comprehensive Memories of AOS 9/20/09

iambumbo

By iambumbo,
in Royal Caribbean International

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iambumbo

iambumbo

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This was the 7th cruise for DW (36) and me (37), 3rd on RCCL (3 previously with Carnival, 1 with Princess). We’d been on AOS about 6 years ago, with our other cruise on Explorer. I love the layout on this class of ships. It’s so easy to find everything, you never get lost, and yet there are a number of quiet nooks and crannies for those of us who like to explore the entire ship.

 

Precruise—We flew down a day early. We drove from Madison to O’Hare, leaving our house with plenty of time for our 1pm flight. No problem with the first flight, had a 1 hour layover in Miami, second flight left about 20 minutes late but arrived basically on time about 8:45. As has become the tradition when I fly American Airlines, our luggage did not arrive with us (last trip home from San Juan- no luggage). There were about 8 of us who flew from Chicago and evidently none of our luggage made it. I love paying $55 extra each way to ship luggage… which then doesn’t show up on arrival. I’ll be talking to American about that. Left our hotel info with the lost luggage clerk and cabbed it to our hotel, Marriott Stellaris.

 

This was our first stay at the Marriott, having booked via Priceline about a month ago for $91/taxes. They didn’t have a king bed for us on our late arrival (finally getting there around 10:45pm) so they gave us a 19th floor oceanview with 2 double beds. No problem at all, amazing views of the ocean from that height! Room was very nice and easily served our needs. They had a live band in the hotel lobby playing some Latin music which was very popular with several hundred people hanging out and dancing. We dropped our carryons in the room and grabbed a quick bite to eat. Walking around in our t-shirts and shorts (without our luggage, remember) we felt pretty underdressed as most people walking around in the Condado area were looking sharp. Picked up a few toiletries as we didn’t know when the luggage would arrive and went back to the hotel . We told the bell staff to call us anytime if the luggage arrived so we’d not have to worry anymore, got the call at 1:50am, never been so happy in my life to get a call at that time of the morning! The first day of our itinerary is at sea so we really didn’t want to go without our stuff until Aruba. Good lesson to pack extra in your carryon, I suppose.

 

Sunday/Sailaway Day!/Cabin/Dining—I’ll cover most of the recurring items like the food, room, etc. covering the entire week in this section and then go through the individual days in order.

 

I woke up first so while DW slept in, took a walk on the beach and grabbed some Dunkin Donuts just around the corner. When she woke up, we took another walk on the beach. The Marriott’s pool and beach area looked fantastic, too bad we didn’t really have time to use it. We checked out at 11:00 and took the bus to Old San Juan, 75 cents/pp is better than a cab and just as quick. We wandered through Old San Juan on our way to El Morro. To all first-timers in San Juan, definitely set aside some time to go through the old city and at least one of the forts. El Morro has some amazingly picturesque areas. Too bad it was raining most of the afternoon! (Fortunately that was the only rain we encountered all week.) We stopped and grabbed a quick bite to eat and cerveza, along with some t-shirts for the family back home. Took the bus back to the hotel and cabbed it to the Pan Am pier, a nice short 15 minute ride. We arrived at the pier around 3:45pm, line moved very quickly by that time and we were onboard within 30 minutes.

 

We were in cabin 7534, port/forward balcony room. This was our first balcony room in 7 cruises. We’ve traditionally done inside guarantees and been content with that, but I saw that the price of a balcony dropped to within $55/pp of what we were paying and were able to carry over the $100 shipboard credit, so we upgraded. I’d never really know that was an option before after final payment! I’m probably in the minority here, but I’ll have no problem going back to an inside cabin. We liked the balcony and it was nice to see the ports or spend a little time watching the open water, but it wasn’t a huge gamechanger to us. DW likes to nap and I’m always on the go, so we don’t spend that much time actually just hanging out in the room. If the price is right like it was this time, we’d probably do it but we’ll be fine going back to an inside cabin if that’s how it happens.

 

The cabin was adequate for our needs. The bed was OK, I don’t know if it was the bed or just me not sleeping in my own bed, but I didn’t sleep that well. Of course, I was fine with that because you can always sleep at home! One minor annoyance, the toilet paper was on an open rack so the roll would fall out if you tried using one hand.

 

For this itinerary, I’d recommend a port side balcony. We got to see the pier areas in Aruba, Curacao, and Dominica, and a nice view of the bay in St. Thomas. Our cabin steward, Elrid, was efficient and able to get you whatever you needed on a timely basis. He was hanging around at least ½ of the time I’d be coming or going from our cabin. There was a small leak in the hallway from the ceiling a few doors down from our cabin, but that was never an issue. In fact, throughout the ship everything looked very well-maintained. Service was also second to none as everyone greeted you courteously.

 

For those of you who like to bring small fans for sound conditioning as my wife does, take note. She carried it in her carryon and they took it at the pier, claiming it was a fire hazard, which is ridiculous. We’ve taken one on every prior cruise and it’s never been a problem and I’ve never seen anything in RCCL’s documents which prohibits them. We immediately went down to the service desk to try to get it back and they said security would have to handle it. DW went back to the room and started getting extremely upset because she can’t sleep it all without a fan and thought this might be the week from hell. She went back to the service desk to speak her mind one more time and evidently her tears earned some sympathy as they gave her the fan out of their own office to use. Now that’s service! So suddenly all was well again in DW’s world. She picked up the unlimited Coke card and then rested while I wandered the ship with a cerveza, and after awhile got ready for dinner.

 

For dinner we always choose second seating, large table. We were seated at table 315, right in the center of the Vivaldi dining room and literally next to the captain’s table. As told to us by our waitstaff, the captain only shows up at most once a week and did appear for the first formal night. Sitting so close to him meant we actually were served by the same team waiting on the captain so you knew they were good. Our waiter, Robert from Romania, was very professional and accommodating. Our assistant waiter, Riche from South Africa, was quite the jokester and always in good spirits.

 

We really lucked out with our tablemates. We were joined by a couple in their early 40’s from Texas and a couple from Venezuela in their early 30’s on their one-year anniversary. We complemented each other extremely well and shared many hearty laughs throughout the week. I don’t think we could ever switch over to My Time Dining and miss out on such camaraderie. The Venezuelan couple had only a slight language barrier. The husband spoke decent English, and his wife actually understood English quite well but was a little shy about speaking it. On around the second night, the husband realized his wife could understand what we were saying better than he did, much to his surprise! It was interesting learning that in their country, you get limited ability to travel due to government restrictions unless you buy additional credits on the black market. They also were required to prepay tips before their trip because apparently some of their countrymen are notorious cheapskates. Starting on our second night, we were joined by a couple in their late 40’s from North Carolina. They were somewhat shy and didn’t join us the last 2 nights. All in all, it was probably our best dining experience in 7 cruises.

 

On to the food! DW and I are somewhat picky eaters but always found something we liked. I had steaks every night but one, where I enjoyed garlic tiger shrimp. I always had 2 entrees every night, which became a bit of an ongoing joke at our table. Several of us were not fans of mashed potatoes, which seemed to accompany many of the entrees throughout the week. Everyone seemed pleased with the food, although personally Carnival’s food is a bit more to my taste. The dining staff sang O Solo Mio on the first formal night and then their farewell song the last night. They also introduced the chefs another night, with the Puerto Rican chef receiving a huge ovation from the Puerto Ricans onboard.

 

As to the Windjammer, they seemed to have a decent variety of food for breakfast, although I’m not much of a breakfast eater. Lunch food was average. We never ordered room service, although I thought about it once but didn’t see anything I really wanted from the limited menu. I had pizza and cookies in the Promenade Café virtually every day, and that hit the spot when I got the midday hunger pangs.

 

After dinner the first night, as became our tradition several nights, DW went to bed and I hit the casino. Blackjack was interesting in that they usually had $6 table minimums, never seen that before as I guess they really want the extra buck per hand of action. I played quite a bit of craps ($5 minimum), which tended to be pretty slow. A few nights they ran limited hours of $4 blackjack and $0.50 roulette. The casino bartenders were very friendly, although the waitstaff serving the tables tended to be pretty slow throughout the week. Most of the casino dealers were friendly and engaging, others more professional, i.e., stiff. No complaints—I was told it was a very slow week in the casino which explained the bored look many of the dealers had on occasion. Next day was at sea so I think I stayed up till 1:30am or so.

 

Monday/Day at Sea-- We woke up midmorning and had breakfast separately as DW slept in. We hung out by the pool most of the early afternoon. This is clearly the hottest time of the year to cruise the Southern Caribbean. DW put on sunscreen twice and took a few dips in the pool but still got sunburned pretty bad. I missed a spot on my tummy and it turned out bright red. They had a band playing some music and some poolside games which were fun to watch and listen to. Late afternoon I played in the volleyball tournament, where we encountered some language barriers as many of the makeshift teams were half English/half Spanish speaking, but seemed like most people had fun. And my team won!

 

Captain’s party was that evening. Contrary to rumor, they still had the free drinks. The captain, Ron Holmes, was Canadian and appeared to be as outgoing of a captain as I’ve seen onboard. The party was great and they had some pleasant “classy” music in the promenade. I didn’t notice any non-dresseruppers to formal night. Nothing else memorable that night.

 

Tuesday/Aruba—We had booked a 2-hour horseback riding tour through the Gold Mine Ranch. $50/pp through private excursion, good. $109/pp for same excursion through ship, bad. They picked us up at the pier right at 9am as promised and drove us to the other side of the island. It turned out to be just the two of us and we paid the same price as a private tour. The guys who drove us over were great and made sure they found us just the right horses. We generally only ride on excursions but it was fun to break into a gallop or even an all out run (once our guide realized we could handle ourselves OK). The guide couldn’t really speak any English but that posed no problems at all. We rode mostly along the oceanfront and watching the water smash on the rocks was very exhilarating. We made it to the ruins of a gold mine where we ran into a jeep tour. As we are moving along, who should we run into but our Venezuelan dinnermates in the middle of nowhere! That was also an ongoing joke throughout the week as we seemed to run into them everywhere. We also encountered a few other horseback groups which had anywhere from 6-10 people. Ours was better, ha ha!!!

 

Upon getting back to the ship, we cleaned up in the room and got out of our jeans, which you wouldn’t otherwise want to wear in 100 degree heat index weather. Had a quick lunch at Windjammer and went back onshore to pick up some more t-shirts for the family. This was our 3rd trip to Aruba so we didn’t need to stay in Oranjestad too long. Got some bad news on a phone call home—our son had caught pneumonia with Grandma but was OK. Seems he always gets sick when she visits us!

 

We went to the ice show before dinner. Compared to our previous trip on AOS, we thought the show was much improved and had more ice skating and less acrobatics. We got a front row seat—I recommend it highly as it gives you a better sense of the performers. There were a few slips and falls but that’s to be expected, still very entertaining.

 

Wednesday—Curacao—We booked a snorkeling trip through the ship which took us to the Tugboat. I would’ve preferred a private tour but we couldn’t find any that took you out on a boat. I was shocked to find only 1 snorkeling boat trip through the ship as Curacao has a great snorkeling reputation. The water was a little choppy but the snorkeling was pretty good, there were some pretty nice schools of fish we ran into. The boat was two-level and so it wasn’t too packed at all. The guides were OK, a little hard to understand but helpful. I was a little disappointed in that I thought the snorkeling was much better in Aruba and Bonaire, and the Tugboat was supposed to be “the” site, but it was a pleasant morning.

 

We went back to the cabin and changed, and then went back out to wander into Willemstad. We crossed the floating bridge and naturally they had to move it right after we crossed to let a ship through. Having never been there before, we were a little concerned and figured we should at least check out the ferry they run while the bridge is moved. No worries as those are big ferries and they run every few minutes. In any case, the bridge was back in place 20 minutes later. We picked up some more souveniers for the fans back home and I stopped for a few cervezas in the pier area while DW called home. There’s a nice little fort area near the pier where there are a lot of bars/shops, nice place to hang out just before the ship leaves port.

Got back to our room in time to watch a few runners trying to get back to the ship after all aboard time. We heard later that a couple people did get left behind but caught up in Dominica. They had the returning cruiser’s party that night, and again, contrary to rumor, they still had free drinks. We enjoyed some nice conversation and drinks and heard from the captain again. That was about the extent of our C&A benefits as the gold coupon book was basically worthless.

 

After dinner, they had a 70’s music show in the promenade that seemed to last forever. We were always among the last people to leave the dining room as we were having such a good time, and I was surprised to find the show still going about 40 minutes after its start time. It seemed like everyone enjoyed it.

 

Thursday—Day at Sea— After breakfast while the wife was sleeping in, I conquered the rock climbing wall. Then I went back and got her and we did the wall together. I was so proud of her as she made it all the way to the top after pooping out about 1/3 of the way on our last trip. After lunch, we played some shuffleboard on the promenade deck. They had another volleyball tournament, didn’t do as well as Monday but it was OK. I played for a bit in the casino while DW got ready for dinner, think I was the only one playing a table game for awhile!

 

The postdinner show was the original Drifters. I’m not a real fan of that era of music but DW wanted to stop by. After a few songs, she was bored and we left. Only getting 4-5 hours of sleep a night was catching up to me and I wiped out.

 

Friday—Dominica – We booked the River Tubing and Emerald Pool Adventure through the ship due to the tight timeframe for this stop (all aboard by 3:30pm). Because we figured we’d have limited time when we our excursion was done, we got off right at 8am and wandered the port area. Lots of open market sales areas and a gazillion cabs offering tours. You were constantly being asked for cabs/tours but the people were friendly and not pushy. Couldn’t find a phone to call home so we just picked up some touristy stuff (everything’s negotiable, of course) while ducking under umbrellas to avoid the very strong sun.

 

While waiting to get on the bus for our excursion, we struck up a conversation with a couple who had the exact same first names. First time that had ever happened in the 12 years DW and I have been together. Later on as we were all going down the river, everyone knew the four of us by name as we kept getting separated and calling out the same names! We had a nice scenic route around the island on the way to the river. The water level that time of year was pretty low so unfortunately we all got stuck on rocks from time to time, but they had assistants who’d push you out. Next was a 15 minute ride to the Emerald Pool, which was very beautiful but extremely cooooold. Of course, that didn’t deter us from going in the water and hopefully we’ll have some nice photos. The 10 minute walk back uphill warmed us up again, and they had a couple small sales areas outside where we mingled for a few minutes. They took us to another stop where they had bathrooms and a cold drink. After 20 minutes or so, they drove us back to the pier after driving through some very picturesque overlooks with about 40 minutes to spare before all aboard time. We picked up a few more cervezas and souveniers and boarded the ship.

 

I finally got some great sunset photos today. Every night the sun would be brilliant but then it would cloud up right before sunset and couldn’t get a good photo. Not tonight! I don’t know if a lot of people realize it, but you can go to the very front end of the ship by taking the promenade deck all the way forward and then up to deck 5. Great spot for sunset/island photographs. Don’t bring a hat though as it can get windy! I was up there as we left Curacao and it felt like 50-60 mph winds in your face. Great fun!

 

The show that night was pre-dinner for us and was a ballroom dance show. The featured dancers were extremely talented, the main dance crew weren’t too bad either. All in all, a very good show. We heard from our dinnermates that the Quest that night was pretty wild.

 

Saturday—St. Thomas—We booked the Turtle Cove Sail & Snorkel through the ship as it was reasonably priced. The Schooner catamaran took us on a great trip and its crew were a blast. We got to the site before a bunch of other boats arrived and I got some great pics of sea turtles and some interesting fish. After snorkeling, the crew came around to keep refilling your rum punch glasses and slap on some temporary tattoos. My wife wanted a water and she accidentally grabbed a rum punch, so she decided to have a few. Since she never drinks, it was very entertaining to watch her get punch drunk. It was a great time and I recommend the Schooner highly.

 

While DW took a nap after getting back on the ship, I wandered back in the port area and being a big college football fan, stopped in Hooters to see a few scores and enjoy a few cervezas. Got some bad news from our house back home, Grandma had dented the back end of our year old car by backing into the side of her new car. Oops.

 

We packed up the room/luggage before enjoying a very pleasant farewell dinner with our tablemates and then gave some money away at the casino for the last time.

 

Sunday/Disembarkation—This was by far our best experience disembarking a ship. You don’t have to leave your room really early and can saunter into the Windjammer until 9:00. You can even stay in your room until 15 minutes before they call your luggage tag color, and ours wasn’t until 10:15. We wandered around the pool deck one last time to enjoy the views and got off the ship very quickly. Easy to find our luggage and off the ship within 15 minutes. Took a cab to the airport 4 ½ hours before our 3:30 flight… to find our flight was delayed another 40 minutes. We made some of that back in the air, and hey, what do you know! Our luggage actually made it! DW and I were exhausted on the 2 ½ hour drive home and she had to drive the last hour as I was getting too tired.

 

All in all, a fantastic trip with no real complaints. Hope you enjoyed this lengthy review as much as I liked doing everything I just described! Any questions, feel free to ask!

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rummenroman

rummenroman

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I finally got some great sunset photos today. Every night the sun would be brilliant but then it would cloud up right before sunset and couldn’t get a good photo. Not tonight! I don’t know if a lot of people realize it, but you can go to the very front end of the ship by taking the promenade deck all the way forward and then up to deck 5. Great spot for sunset/island photographs. Don’t bring a hat though as it can get windy! I was up there as we left Curacao and it felt like 50-60 mph winds in your face. Great fun!

 

 

SHHHHHHH....Jeeeeez now everyone is going to know about my favorite place on a ship!!!!:D

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