Just back from AOS last night.

[Karencruiser43]

Would be happy to answer any questions.

[em_in_murphy]

Which iteniary were you on? Did you do the Antigua route or the Aruba route? I am trying to decide what to do in Antigua and Barbados and wanted to see what you did if you were on this iteniary.

[janep]

Curious about checking bags in for flights home directly from ship? Did you do this and if so on what airline?

Hope you had a wonderful cruise:D

[CentralMom263]

what beaches did you go to?

[Karencruiser43]

The itinerary we did was the Barbados itinerary. In Barbados 21 people in my group swam with the turtles with Ocean Thriller Tours. They had a fabulous time and Steve was wonderful. Then in the afternoon we all met at the boatyard. It is only about an 8 min ride to the ship which was nice. We didn't pay the $12.00 entrance fee except for the kids as they wanted to use the swing rope, trampoline and iceberg, they also got a chair and a drink, so it's not a bad deal really. We stayed over to the side of the Boatyard where there was no charge, but if you wanted a lounge chair they were charging $5.00.

 

In Antigua we went to Dickenson Bay Beach, it was beautiful. All 41 people in my group loved it. Some of the kids did tubing and some of the older kids rented jet skis. It was a pretty beach and would go again.

 

The beach in St. Maarten we went to was Great Bay Beach which was really nice as it was about a five minute water taxi ride from the ship and was $5.00 for all day and the beach was right near the shops. Some other people went to Orient beach which they also enjoyed, that is about a 25 min ride to the beach. I went there on my last cruise, so wanted to try somewhere different, thoroughly enjoyed Great Bay Beach.

 

We were told by some other passengers that Jolly Beach in Antigua was also very nice. That is a little further out from the ship. Therefore more taxi fare.

 

In St Lucia we did a tour with Cosol he was fabulous and also some other people in our group went to Reduit Beach and they said they really enjoyed it there.

 

Hope this helps you all and if you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. Have a great cruise.

[bankofdad]

How was your embarkation experience? Can you please tell us a bit about that (i.e. what time you arrived, lines, how long it took you, etc.). I just spoke with DW yesterday (she's on Carnival Destiney with her Mom and Aunt, and sailed out of teminal 4 in Old San Juan), and she felt it was the worst embarkation experience of her twelve cruises. I'm hoping Pan Am pier might be better!

 

Did you pre-cruise at all? If so, where?

 

Thanks for posting!

[Karencruiser43]

My group embarked at noon, although some of the group embarked at 11:30. We were not able to get to our cabins for a while, but had lunch and settled down on a lounge drink for an hour or so then we were able to get into our cabins. We pre-cruised in San Juan for 5 days and had a great time. We stayed at the Embassy Suites and loved it. No complaints.

[em_in_murphy]

Karen, how many vans did your group have with Cosol? Were there other groups besides yours. I have Cosol book and so does everyone else on my Roll Call and a couple of us are worried that he might have overbooked since my group alone is 17. Just from Roll Call alone, we counted about 30 people. Should we be worried? What all did you do on this tour and what beach did he take you to? Thanks.

[Davb6354]

Curious about checking bags in for flights home directly from ship? Did you do this and if so on what airline?

Hope you had a wonderful cruise:D

 

Janep,

 

I just got off the Adventure of the Seas this past Sunday. We flew American Airlines and we checked in our bags on the ship. It went very smooth.

 

Here's the details of my experience:

On Wednesday I got the form from the customer service desk. They were sitting in the rack where they keep extra copies of the daily compass. It states that to be eligable for the program you need to have a flight on either American Airlines or United Airlines to the U.S. departing no earlier than 11:00 am and no later than 11:00 pm. I filled out the form entering my flight infomation for both myself and my wife and also the total number of bags that I will be checking in. Then later in the day I submitted it to the customer service desk. The charge is $10.00 per person.

 

On Saturday evening they delivered our boarding passes and the temporary Airline luggage Tags to our cabin. I attached the airline tags along with the RCI color coded tags to the luggage before putting them in the hallway. My Sail & Sign account was not charged until Saturday night.

 

On debarkation morning, we still had to find our luggage and bring it thru customs. (There's no way around this, it's the law.) Once thru custom's both American and United agents were setup at counters. We gave them our bags and that was the last time we saw them until we arrived in Boston. They changed the temporary tags to regular airline tags.

 

When we got to the airport we went thru security and directly to the gate. We got on the plane with no problems.

 

Seeing how crazy the airport in San Juan can get I felt it was well worth the $10 per passenger charge.

 

Dave

[dawne577]

Just booked an aft corner balcony. Any info on the ship or itinerary would be great!!!

[Schasz]

Dave,

Thanks for the tip on checking bags through on AA. We are on a June AOS cruise and our flight to Tampa does not leave until around 5:30 PM. We have time to kill in San Juan so it will be nice not to hassle with our luggage. What would be the latest we should get to the Airport? I am not too sure what kind of hassles to expect getting out of PR.

 

John & Shari

[CruisinTwo]

Janep,

 

I just got off the Adventure of the Seas this past Sunday. We flew American Airlines and we checked in our bags on the ship. It went very smooth.

 

Here's the details of my experience:

On Wednesday I got the form from the customer service desk. They were sitting in the rack where they keep extra copies of the daily compass. It states that to be eligable for the program you need to have a flight on either American Airlines or United Airlines to the U.S. departing no earlier than 11:00 am and no later than 11:00 pm. I filled out the form entering my flight infomation for both myself and my wife and also the total number of bags that I will be checking in. Then later in the day I submitted it to the customer service desk. The charge is $10.00 per person.

 

On Saturday evening they delivered our boarding passes and the temporary Airline luggage Tags to our cabin. I attached the airline tags along with the RCI color coded tags to the luggage before putting them in the hallway. My Sail & Sign account was not charged until Saturday night.

 

On debarkation morning, we still had to find our luggage and bring it thru customs. (There's no way around this, it's the law.) Once thru custom's both American and United agents were setup at counters. We gave them our bags and that was the last time we saw them until we arrived in Boston. They changed the temporary tags to regular airline tags.

 

When we got to the airport we went thru security and directly to the gate. We got on the plane with no problems.

 

Seeing how crazy the airport in San Juan can get I felt it was well worth the $10 per passenger charge.

 

Dave

Thanks for explaining your experience with this in such detail. We will be utilizing this next week and this will help.

[lauren0309]

How long did it take to get off the ship in Puerto Rico? We have a 1:00 and all I've been hearing about customs, I hope we dont miss our flight home.

[robinm918]

We did the Aruba route April 16-23 and had a great time. Would do this cruise again in a heartbeat ... if only the Freedom sailed the Southern route!

 

Lauren - you will absolutely make your 1:00 pm flight. Our flight was at noon and we got the airport in plenty of time. If you are flying American or United, take advantage of the luggage check-in from the ship - it was well worth the $10 per person.

 

I do wish RCCL would improve the disembarkation process - it can really ruin a great vacation - everyone huddled like cattle waiting to get off.

 

Robin