Just off Adventure: 5/16 - 5/23

[Ubiquitous Cruiser]

Not a full on review but just some casual observations:

 

Appearance: We found the ship to be in fine shape. Sure there was some cosmetic issues and the occasional furnishings that needed repair but the crew was active in cleaning, repairing and painting throughout the cruise.

 

Crew & Service: The crew was friendly and responsive. We had some concerns with our MTD wait staff and politely requested to be moved after the second night since we had made pre-reservations for the entire cruise. Upon arriving to the dining room on the third night we were quickly escorted to a new section and had fantastic service. The head waiter also followed us out of the dining room that night and double checked to make sure that our expectations were met. The Windjammer staff was very attentive and was always quick to bring drinks with your meals. They also quickly bussed tables and we never once had an issue locating a table when dining in the Windjammer.

 

Bar Service: The lines at the bars never seemed long and they usually had 2 bartenders at every bar. They also had the rolling drink carts on the pool deck and in the Windjammer. There were also roaming drink of the day servers on the pool deck for sea days with the customary rum shot on top. The bartenders all appeared to be measuring their pours.

 

Drink Prices: The prices were as we have all discussed ... quite high IMO. The drink of the day was the same price as any other drink ($10) and any special pricing (2 for 1 or % off wine) was advertised in the Compass and in a newsletter that was available in the Schooner Bar.

 

Beer Selection: The Duck and Dog had an IPA (Sam Adams Rebel) and it was priced the same as the other bottle beers ($5.50). There was also a Blue Chimay but I did not inquire to its price.

 

Food Quality: We found the food in the Windjammer and the Main Dining to be on par with all our other cruises. The Windjammer did provide 2 pre-made omelets (with and w/o cheese) and they were always present and hot, which helped shorted the line for the made to order egg/omelet station. The bacon was cooked more crispy than we have experienced in the past. The coffee stations offered ample supplies of milk, hot milk & half & half.

 

Entertainment: It was your typical variety but there were no really standout performances. The featured act one night was an Elvis impersonator, who we were admittedly not very enthused about. He was actually entertaining and did a spot on job while not taking himself too serious and thus made the show quite enjoyable. Due to the cruise departing from San Juan, PR there was a large Hispanic presence of pax on the cruise and we did stumble upon one lounge (forget the name of it) that was quite lively and seemed like a scene out of Havana nights. The greeter at the Windjammer that urges you to wash your hands was a kick too ... He enjoyed making up songs to popular hits like Michael Jackson's hit, Billy Jean washed her hands, and sang some tunes in Spanish ... He was a Pacfic Islander and him singing in Spanish made it all the more fun.

 

Disembarkation: The process was quick and timely. The only issue is that it appeared that they had Diamond (?) cruisers exiting from a different exit than the rest and this caused a little angst as they attempted to merge into the customs line with the rest of the pax.

 

All in all we had a wonderful time and found our first experience on AOS to be a total blast & would definitely sail her again. Feel free to ask questions and I know there was a large group of Cruise Critic members on this sailing ... so I'm sure your questions can be addressed.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Ubiquitous Cruiser
formating

[JimAOk1945]

Thanks for your observations. Which ports did you visit? Did you go off the ship on any excursions?

[Ubiquitous Cruiser]

Thanks for your observations. Which ports did you visit? Did you go off the ship on any excursions?

 

This was for the Southern Carib and departed from San Juan, PR. Here are the stops and things we did.

 

San Juan - Cab ride to Old San Juan, explored the forts and strolled around down town. The forts were really amazing and could have spent much longer there.Found a fantastic brew pub and sat and enjoyed our beers while watching the streets come to life in the evening.

 

St. Thomas - Toured with Godfrey on the full day shopping, sightseeing & beach time. Highlight was visiting the Banana Daiquiri Factory where that drink is amazing ... think grown up smoothie ... fresh bananas with a little cream and a rum shot mixed in a blender. Yummy! Also visited Meghans Bay, but it was closed due to prevalent rain and thus unsafe swimming water. So he took us to Conkell (?) and we had a relaxing afternoon lounging on the beach.

 

St. Kitts - Toured with Javin on a full day cultural, snorkeling, rainforest and black rock hiking tour. The black rocks were incredible as Javin has installed a path down to the rocks with a rope to ease yourself down the embankment. The rainforest hike was fascinating too and included some amazing meat and veggie patties. The beach time included free flowing rum punch and leftovers from lunch. Javin loves his homeland and shares much of the history and economy with you ... highly recommend him.

 

Aruba - Took the public bus to the beaches ($2.30 / person) at the high rises and enjoyed some cocktails at the Moomba Beach Bar. Took a nice long walk on the beach and then boarded the Jolly Pirate for a sunset sail to Eagle Beach. The bar was open the entire trip and many enjoyed the rope swing. It was a party atmosphere, however, no one got out of hand or crude.

 

Curacao - Booked an AI day pass at Santa Barbara Beach Resort through Resorts for a Day, which included transportation. Highly recommend this as the resort is stunning and the staff was most gracious and never treated us cruisers as second class. The lunch we had was fresh red snapper tacos with onion rings and the bar staff/service was top notch. Ended the day exploring a little bit of Willemstad, but could have used a few more hours to thoroughly do that.

 

Looking back we seemed to structure a lot of our activities around food and alcohol ... so now I have to visit my two least favorite women in the world ... Jenny Craig and Betty Ford ... :D

[JohnGaltny]

Looking back we seemed to structure a lot of our activities around food and alcohol ... so now I have to visit my two least favorite women in the world ... Jenny Craig and Betty Ford ... :D

 

Heyyyy, Sailor Jack an I are in charge of RCI funny. Welcome!!!!:):)

Edited May 24, 2015 by JohnGaltny

[JimAOk1945]

Ubiquitous Cruiser,

 

Thanks for answering my question. It sounds like you had a fantastic cruise and made good use of your time at each port. Wow! You did a lot!

 

How did you decide what you were going to do at each port?

Edited May 24, 2015 by JimAOk1945

[Ubiquitous Cruiser]

Heyyyy, Sailor Jack an I are in charge of RCI funny. Welcome!!!!:):)

 

Enjoy your observations and dry wit so birds of a feather and all that ... :D

[Ubiquitous Cruiser]

Ubiquitous Cruiser,

 

Thanks for answering my question. It sounds like you had a fantastic cruise and made good use of your time at each port. Wow! You did a lot!

 

How did you decide what you were going to do at each port?

 

Yes we were quite busy and looked forward to the sea days to vacate. I used Cruise Critic for much of the research and used the Internet ouija board (Google) to find the Curaçao AI, which is a new offering from what I learned on the port forum.

[Sunlovers_]

Just now reserved the Santa Barbara Beach Resort - Curacao..thank you..

 

Is it customary to tip anyone on this type excursion?

 

Also doing, http://www.trikes-aruba.com

Edited May 25, 2015 by Sunlovers_

[Ubiquitous Cruiser]

Just now reserved the Santa Barbara Beach Resort - Curacao..thank you..

 

Is it customary to tip anyone on this type excursion?

 

Also doing, http://www.trikes-aruba.com

 

You will not be disappointed! We did tip one particular server at the resort who provided us great poolside service throughout the day. However, upon checking in at the front desk you are given a fact sheet that notes that tipping has already been factored into your price.

[racerxspeedy]

This was for the Southern Carib and departed from San Juan, PR. Here are the stops and things we did.

 

 

Aruba - Took the public bus to the beaches ($2.30 / person) at the high rises and enjoyed some cocktails at the Moomba Beach Bar. Took a nice long walk on the beach and then boarded the Jolly Pirate for a sunset sail to Eagle Beach. The bar was open the entire trip and many enjoyed the rope swing. It was a party atmosphere, however, no one got out of hand or crude.

 

 

... :D

 

Thanks for the review -

 

Where did you pick up the bus in Aruba? Where does the bus drop you off?

 

Thanks

[Ubiquitous Cruiser]

Thanks for the review -

 

Where did you pick up the bus in Aruba? Where does the bus drop you off?

 

Thanks

 

You pick up the city bus (Arubus) across the street from the cruise terminal. As you exit the ship, you will enter a building. Exit that and pass the tour buses that all line up. Then you will exit the lot and cross the street. The terminal is visible from the street & the schedule is posted on a huge board on the left. The buses run about every 10-15 minutes and only run east & west. We told the bus driver that we wanted to get off at the Holiday Inn and he let us know when we approaching it. That was Palm Beach and is the hotel, shopping & casino district. Just before that is Eagle Beach and is less populated but beautiful as well. Either one will cost $2.30 / person. You then pick-up the return bus at any of the well marked Arubus bus stops.

[racerxspeedy]

You pick up the city bus (Arubus) across the street from the cruise terminal. As you exit the ship, you will enter a building. Exit that and pass the tour buses that all line up. Then you will exit the lot and cross the street. The terminal is visible from the street & the schedule is posted on a huge board on the left. The buses run about every 10-15 minutes and only run east & west. We told the bus driver that we wanted to get off at the Holiday Inn and he let us know when we approaching it. That was Palm Beach and is the hotel, shopping & casino district. Just before that is Eagle Beach and is less populated but beautiful as well. Either one will cost $2.30 / person. You then pick-up the return bus at any of the well marked Arubus bus stops.

 

Thanks!! Great description. I searched this, but couldn't find anything recent

[LeeW]

More details on bus - walk straight ahead as you leave the pier area for about one block until it ends on a major cross street (this is the road that goes along the coast). Across street on left is a craft market, on right is the bus station. You can buy tickets on the bus or from the kiosk. On the bus the driver will give you change in $US if he has it. One way is $2.30, round trip is $4 (prices last fall). To get to the north beaches take any of the number 10 buses, which have slightly different routes and drop off wherever you want (check aurbus.com web site for details). North bound buses do jog around a lake, so don't be concerned when it leaves the main road. You can walk the beach and then go back out to the road at almost any resort.

 

There are also lots of small private vans that act as buses for around $2 a trip. These can't enter the bus terminal in Orangestad, so they drop off between the bus terminal and the craft market.

 

You can walk to the beach, but you have to go around the cargo terminal and it is pretty hot for the first 1/2 mile. After that, all beach.