Just back from the Adventure - Wow cant believe the differance

[rokcop]

We must all remeber that AOS is essentially a floating city, and anything one might encounter in an area where large numbers of people gather can and does happen on cruise ships, hotels, all inclusives resorts, etc. Having sailed from San Juan several times, I can't say I've had any real problems with anyone on the ship, from the ship, or near the ship. Looking forward to AOS in March.

[bobbie0253]

Thanks to the OP for posting about her experience. I hope no one flames you for it :(

 

We have sailed the AOS twice. February 2003 and September 2003.

 

The February cruise was a nice mix of people from all different states and countries. A great cruise!

 

The Septmeber cruise was 2/3 from San Juan and 1/3 from other countries and states. The cruise was a totally different cruise from the one months before. No one was rude or fighting. If just wasn't as much fun. It was hard to find couples to talk to who spoke English. The shows were empty, the didning room was empty, the pool deck was usually empty.

 

To this day I am not sure where everyone was. There were over 3000 people on that ship but it was always empty. Just not a normal cruise for us.

 

All announcments were made in Spanish first, English second. I guess that's because the majority was Spanish speaking. Shows were in English, but most of the people there spoke Spanish. I felt bad for the entertainers because they didn't realize the majority of the audience didn't understand them. Until the one comedian said something in Spanish and then the audience started cheering and laughing. Poor guy, he must have thought he "lost his touch" at first.

 

I guess what I am trying to say is maybe it is just that time of year?

 

If we sail the AOS again, and I am sure we will. It will NOT be September again. Excellent prices or not, I want to be on a cruise that is fun and exciting. Not empty and quiet. But that's just me. For some people it may sound like the perfect cruise :)

 

Bobbie

[Tamhugh]

I know it drives people crazy to have a lot of unsupervised kids on board, and with good reason. But it seems from the OP that the serious problems on this cruise were caused by adults, not kids. It was women fighting, and adults getting involved and shouting inappropriate things. We are sailing on the AOS next July and I am really looking forward to the trip. Whenever I read a review that mentions how "bad" the people from San Juan are I panic a little bit. But then I remember that we have been to San Juan twice and it is one of our favorite ports. We have found the people we met there to be friendly and approachable. I am sorry that the OP had this bad of an experience. It would definitley turn me off too. I am just hoping that we will have a different one next year.

As a side note, this past year, we sailed the Carnival Legend out of NYC. The majority of the ship seemed to be filled with people from North Jersey and NYC. All week we heard people complaining about how crass and loud the passengers were and how they hated all of the New Yawk attitudes. I got a kick out of it because it reminded me of all my college friends from NJ. So I guess that any homeport can have its disadvantages.

 

Tammy

[CruisinRoxy]

Wow, we were on AOS in July and could not have had a better time. Maybe it's just the luck of the draw, so to speak. Hopefully, you all will have a good draw. Sure, there were people of different cultures as well as teenagers, but not so obnoxious-behaving that it would make a difference. We thought the ship was beautifully kept up, workers changing carpeting, painting, etc whenever in port. We also had a wonderful time in Old San Juan, and would sail out of PR in a heart-beat! Have a great cruise!

[herb]

I have read similar complaints of poorly behaved passengers on ships sailing out of San Juan on other cruiseline forums as well, not just Royal Caribbean.

[VacationNut]

I am so sorry that everyone had to witness such a terrible incident on this cruise. I guess with 3500 people in close quarters it is bound to happen occasionally. I do think that this is just an unfortunate incident and that those who are traveling on AOS soon should not worry. We were on the ship on August 21st. There were 700 kids on board (the CD told us)... my 17 year old was one of them. She said that some of them were a bit wild (let off the fire alarm in the teen center) but they were not a nuisance around the ship. It was actually the best cruise that we have taken out of the 5. I have sailed on VOS and EOS and to be honest I didn't notice that AOS was looking shabby.

SO.... those of you who are still to travel, I wish you as wonderful a cruise as we had. The Southern route is really great, the food was super and the staff could not have been better.

[cruisin-Trish]

My friend Kim just returned last week from the Labor Day (9/4) cruise on the Adventure and she experienced some of the same issues regarding children, rudeness, etc. as the OP. She wrote a great review and I have included the link. Thanks to the OP and to Kim and all of the other posters on this board who continue to give both the good and bad points of their cruises in the hopes of helping all of us on this board.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=229977

[longandfosterjames]

This was my 3rd Voyager class cruise, after the Voyager and the Mariner. I did not see more security on this cruise than the other ones and I also did not see the fight that was mentioned. Yes there were stains on the carpet and also the curtains in my Promenade cabin, but they weren't too bad. Overall, the ship was still impressive and clean. The plumbing was a bit off the first night, the cold water was brown and the toilet had no water. But that was fixed by the next day. BTW you can get a tour of the kitchen if you ask your head waiter. The tour is at 2PM on Saturday, during the sea day. The biggest disappointment of all is that only 1 other couple showed up at the Meet and Mingle, well another couple stopped by, but that was it, where are you all? I had an awesome time on this cruise, the table mates were great and the ports of call were fun, can't wait to book my next cruise!

[longandfosterjames]

BTW I forgot to mention that there was this guy named Jack who had a dinner table all to himself next to us. This was his 116th Royal Caribbean cruise! He was by himself all the time, never been married before. He cruises once a month and knows almost all the waiters. He distributes jogging suits out of Canada, in case you're wondering what he does. So what perk does he get? On the night of the Crown and Anchor Society Social, the Captain started out by telling people to stand up if they have been on 10 cruises, 20 cruises, 30 cruises, etc... Well this proud couple stood straight up and announced that they've been on 44 Royal Caribbean cruises! Then the captain takes out a bottle of wine and gives it to... Jack! It was almost like the captain said to the couple, "Sit your -ss down! Jack's been on 116 cruises with us!" Oh well, I guess 44 cruises is not enough to get a free bottle of wine;) Plus, Jack got a tour of the bridge, I saw him there:-)

[Alexis]

There have been several threads in the past on here about "Jack", the mystery man from Canada.

My husband and I cruised with him on the Enchantment. He is a very quiet man, and a loner who just keeps to himself. He knows all of the help on board and they sure know him. If you noticed he wears all RCCL T shirts and his luggage is a giant RCCL dufflebag. (We saw him board on our 2nd. week on the Enchantment. He was the first person let on the ship after it cleared.)

But to beat him, there was an older couple on one of our RCCL cruises who had done 148 when we saw them. They would not be hard to find. They entered the "Newlywed Game" and everything he gave for an answer, his wife said that's not true. The man would get on the floor, on his back, kick his legs and swing his arms and go around like a turtle. The man is a batty as a bed bug. Bless his wife.

[gerif]

I would think that if there was a port closer to all of us, we would get great deals and be able to cruise with all our kids and extended families as they do..

 

Gosh, we live within a 20 minute drive of the Bayonne port - DH is retired and my job is fairly flexible (read, we could be on the ship with less than 2 days' notice) - alas, no "deals" to be had!

[cruizeblues]

I researched prior to booking my trip since I had read on previous threads. I found a website that showed when the schools are out for San Juan. Thankfully, I had good luck in May of 04 on Golden Princess and in April on Adventure.

 

Might want to try going that route in the future and avoid holidays also.

 

Do you remember the sight?? I love the southern itin., but would like to avoid tons of kids:)

[maggieq]

The name of the website is www.sanjuan.edu

 

Go over the district information and the drop down menu will show. click on calendar and it you will see an option to see 2005/2006 schedule/calendar, etc.

 

I believe for next year the kids are off school the week before easter sunday.

 

Hope this helps.

[ellyzma]

I think this site is for San Juan County in California...

[hardingk]

My friend Kim just returned last week from the Labor Day (9/4) cruise on the Adventure and she experienced some of the same issues regarding children, rudeness, etc. as the OP. She wrote a great review and I have included the link. Thanks to the OP and to Kim and all of the other posters on this board who continue to give both the good and bad points of their cruises in the hopes of helping all of us on this board.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=229977

Thanks Trish for posting the link to my review. We were on the sailing before the OP and experienced many of these things. I too don't think we will be sailing out of San Juan again.

[CCCCreg]

I was also on the cruise and witnessed the fight at the pool. It was scary for a few minutes and could have quickly escalated out of control. Security was there very quickly. This is my third cruise out of San Juan and while we had a great time and thought the ship was well maintained, it was a different trip. I thought the difference in cultures was most clearly evident in the dining rooms. LARGE numbers of Puerto Ricans showed up as much as an hour to an hour and a half late for dinner. I heard comments from many of the RCCL employees on the ship that were not very positive. Even the assistant cruise director Robert said that this week(sailing 18-Sep) there would be over 3400 passengers on board and over 1700 would be from Peurto Rico and he was not smiling when he said it.

[mamabear5]

I was on this cruise also. I didn't notice the fight at the pool on Sat. afternoon, so I can't comment on that, however I did really notice alot of spanish speaking groups of people. I thought most people were very nice and polite except when trying to get an elevator. I was shoved out of the way a couple of times.

 

We had a great time on the ship the itenerary, service, food etc... was wonderful. My only real gripe with San Juan is the total chaos at embarkation. What a nightmare! When we arrived at the pier, it took over a half an hour to find a representative to get a wheelchair for my 89 yr. old grandma. We had been told there would be one waiting for us after our transfer. There were lines everywhere, but none were organized. People were yelling...it was awful. I worked crowd control at the Salt Lake Olympics and could see how this could easily be fixed with a few signs and rope lines, but I will probably not cruise out of San Juan again until they do something to fix it.

[Ericknow32]

I think this site is for San Juan County in California...

It is.

[MIcruiser99]

Website for San Juan, Puerto Rico schools:

 

http://www.am.dodea.edu/acss/Calendar/DSO-Calendar.htm

[thatbloominplace]

we have sailed on about 20 cruises, many out of san juan. we have also taken 2 1-week land vacations and several 2-3 day pre-cruises in san juan. i can honestly say that i have not experienced the kind of loud, rude disturbing behavior that has been described. as for cheap seats going only to the "locals", if you go to discount web sites you can often find cheap rates for these large ships. i doubt that they are being filled up by puerto ricans. i personally am going to chalk this up to an isolated incident and continue to sail out of san juan. by the way, noi line is going to give up san juan, it is the gateway port for southern itineraries. we will, by the way, be travelling on the aos in february. happy sailing!

[Ms.Fixit]

I was on the AOS back in October of 2004 with my husband and two boys. I can say that on this cruise there were hardly any children and the ones I saw were more behaved than some of the adults on the cruise!!! When my two boys took part in the Adventure Ocean club, they never had any problems or had seen any out of control kids. As I mentioned above there were some adults that really were very loud. As for the Puerto Rican culture, I am told they are loud and like to party. There is a large percentage of this on the AOS, but they did have their own area on the ship on some evenings where they listened to their type of music. We just went along and had the best time and did not get involved with those groups of people. I have to say that the ship was in excellent shape. Just before the cruise last year I had heard that they were refinishing some of the wood railings. I found the ship with no names carved, and the art work looked intact. I am surprised that RCCL would allow that many children on the ship, knowing that they were unable to control them. We enjoyed the ship so much as to rebook for this December. It sounds like the time of year definitely has an influence on how many children. This could change week to week.

 

My question is which itinerary was the OP on....the Aruba route or the other route??? I can only speak for the Aruba route for my given week. I just hope in December we do not run into this, because this probably would be my cruise leaving PR. PR is known for confusion as it is. Going through it once before, I hope not to encounter any problems this time.

[Dave4120]

Hello...My wife and I are both Diamond members and have sailed RCCL over a dozen times, and will be on the Radiance in December. We have been on the Adventure 3-times sailing out of San Juan. The first two times were picture perfect as far as we were concerned, however, the 3rd time, this past January was a bit different.

 

Yes, there were more children, but it did not bother us. A couple of times when there was an area with more young people than we were acustomed too, we just strolled to a different area which wasn't a big deal.

 

Yes, it is true that RCCL does provide discounts to the citizens of San Juan if the Adventure is not sold out, but we weren't bothered by anything. Just like some of our mannerisums may seem different to them, I am sure some of us might have the same feeling. In either case, I do not believe that anyone is doing anything intentionally to hurt or annoy anyone. I am sure however, there are some instances where some people might take things to the extreme, but hope that is only in remote instances.

 

Just my opinion and thanks for reading.

 

Regards,

 

Dave

[PTarbay]

The fight the OP experienced was very unfortunate and so was the yelling at other passengers.I don't think that it is because the ship was sailing from San Juan.It could happen anywhere.I have been to San Juan 3 times.I never had any problems and almost everyone we met was very friendly and accommodating.We have only witnessed one fight on a ship.It was on NCL out of Miami.It was 2 elderly women fighting over a lounge chair near the pool.There was shoving and yelling.I don't think you can judge a whole culture by a few people or let a bad incident involving a few people keep you away from a particular ship or port that most people enjoy.If you have a lot of people from PR you are going to hear a lot of Spanish because that is the language they speak.If you sail from France you hear a lot of French.It is probably difficult for people that don't speak English to board a ship in Miami.Again it's terrible that some people would behave this way and the OP had to witness it.

[Linda/Ohio]

I too have sailed from San Juan--and it is a different cultural experience. I did find it interesting that one poster said they couldn't find anyone who spoke English-as virtually all Puerto Ricans are Bi-Lingual.

 

When sailing from San Juan we have found people travel in large family groups, people rarely use the spa (so discounts are available), dinner times are ignored, crowds tend to congregate more.

 

That said--everyone I met was pleasant. The last night of our cruise we hit and storm and almost everyone on board was sick (including us). We did not manage to get our luggage out for pick-up. So the next day when we were hauling the stuff down a few flights of stairs etc.--I was still very ill. A local man and his family offered to assist us. The husband/father handed off his luggage to his children--and helped us tote ours.

[EmJakeBubbie]

DH & I always appreciate translations to our native "English" so no problem to hearing everything duplicated in Spanish. We are hopeful our kinder will "pick up a little Spanish" whilst enjoying Adventure Ocean (we've been trying to teach them simple words at home & kids do pick things up quickly, yes?) We travel with them for the cultural-learning experience beyond school books. We are hopeful our SanJuan cruise will be a positive experience.