AOS 10-14 Review (Short)

[scopewest]

OP, thanks for the review.

[CP3o]

Rude people are everywhere but it seems that this is a more common problem with ships that sail year round out of this port. Why not place a smaller ship that holds less passengers in this market? A Vision class ship comes to mind.

 

Seems logical. RCL can't like having a lot of fire sales either, wouldn't there be more profit if they had AOS in a market that didn't require fire sales? The southern route is so attractive to many, maybe RCL could more frequently fill a Vision ship w/o the need for fire sales. If being chosen mostly for the route, maybe the difference in amenities between Vision class and AOS would not impact sales. Better for RCL customers seeking non-fire-sale fellow travelers and more profit for RCL. The folks looking for bargains will go to Carnival. They are choosing on price over itenerary or amenities.

 

AOS can go to PC.

[Tranquil Waters]

You may be correct in your comments but as a customer of Royal Caribbean it is my duty to let the company know of my likes and dislikes. The folks that are filling up the ships with the low prices are NOT RCI customers. They are there simply because it was cheap. If Carnival had been dumping prices that week then they would have been on Carnival. The comments that I continue to read on this board is enough to make me think twice before taking a cruise on any ship out of SJ. Rude people are everywhere but it seems that this is a more common problem with ships that sail year round out of this port. Why not place a smaller ship that holds less passengers in this market? A Vision class ship comes to mind.

 

My Southern Caribbean cruise out of SJ on Grandeur was wonderful. So I would say your suggestion is a good one. :)

[rednancy1]

OMG :eek: all this rude behavior is scaring me. We will be sailing in Dec 2008 out of San Juan on the Serenade OTS for 7 nights to the S. Caribbean. Do they have this rudiness problem too? We are booked an early Dec sailing mainly because the cruise fare is really a great deal for a JS. Should I be worried?:confused:

[wolfganghowell]

I too agree that people should continue to address this issue with RCCL. We sailed out of SJ on Celebrity Infinity and did not have these issues. Ironically, I found more issues on our April 06 Millennium out of FL - the ship had a heavy Latin population and late dinner was moved later to accommodate them, the music was less Caribbean in nature and more Latin, and finding a lounger in the Solarium or pool deck - forget it. They were completely chair hogged - I sat on the side of the Solarium for an hour before I finally moved someone's towel to a ledge and sat down. I saw "empty hogged" chairs for 2-3 hours at a time every day. I have no issues with respecting cultural issues and diversities - what was a bit disappointing was the staff seemed to be accommodating one group of guests OVER another group. What has happened to equality for EVERYONE? I wish the cruise lines would enforce some levels of courtesy and passenger behavior - many of the absolute best and unique ports are accessible only from SJ. I wish every passenger no matter their culture, ethnicity, economic status - whatever - would treat others in a respectful fashion and I wish the cruise line staff were given carte blanche to treat each passenger equally and not turn a blind eye when one group manages to "control" the environment. Nor do I think Puerto Ricans should be the scapegoat on this issue - we see many of the same complaints from European cruises about various nationalities over there. Good manners should cross all cultural boundaries.

[Bakincakes]

Nancy..check the reviews..there might be something there???

 

The ones I've seen about these problems have all been for the AOS out of SJ.

[rednancy1]

Bakincakes...Thanks for the advice. I'll go read the reviews. Why didn't I think of that? Duh.:rolleyes:

[Aquahound]

Did anyone say anything to line cutters or was that useless?

 

Useless.

 

it's a little unfair to call the entire puertorrican contingent "bad-behaved".

 

I think you missed my point. All the problems on board were being caused by them. If I hated Puerto Ricans, I wouldn't have flown to Puerto Rico and spent two days there pre-cruise. It wasn't a genarlization, just a report on the facts of the behavior on board.

 

Wow. I do have one question. How was the poor lady suppose to know that your chair was not one of the dozens that are "occupied" by a lone towel and book for hours on end??

 

In my case, the pool chair was directly in front of the pool. She removed my towel, bag, and shoes from the chair so she could sit down. I'm smart enough to know the difference between an honest mistake and blatent rudeness.

[diamond girl 000]

Hey Paul -

 

I'm so sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience on this trip - I know that you were really looking forward to this.

I'm sad to hear that there is seemingly such a decline on AOS. We were just on a year ago and didn't encounter problems like this - either week.

 

There are always people on every sailing that cannot manage to behave in a public setting (have no social graces). It's unfortunate when it seems to lean to a certain group of people over and over again.

 

Our trips next year will be much better.:D

[Tranquil Waters]

....In my case, the pool chair was directly in front of the pool. She removed my towel, bag, and shoes from the chair so she could sit down. I'm smart enough to know the difference between an honest mistake and blatent rudeness.

 

I never questioned you about your experience. :) I simply responded to another post where the poster described a situation of a towel and book on a deck chair (something that you see dozens of - any time you happen by the pool decks ;) ), followed by supposed screaming across pool decks and insistence that the chair be moved back to its original spot (as if a return of the chair were not sufficient amends given the screaming, etc.) It just seemed a bit over the top.

[Sue L]

 

My humble suggestion for those who are hopping aboard the AOS soon, is this: do NOT be frightened by stories of this kind. People like this exist from every nationality and culture, and it's a little unfair to call the entire puertorrican contingent "bad-behaved". Yes, there are a lot of puertorricans that cause trouble, but there are a lot of puertorricans that believe in the values of respect, dignity and courtesy, too. Be open, evade trouble and remain cool...and don't let anyone ruin your vacation.

 

 

 

We ran into the same horrible behavior when sailing out of PR also, wild unruly gangs of kids running all over the ship, no parents in sight or doing any kind of control, line cutting, fights, pushing, shoving. I got pushed down the stairs.

 

Were these the same locals? NOPE, they were NEW YORKERS and NEW JERSERYANS all on February break. I am sure the few puerto ricans (very few) were probably horrified at the antics and situations caused by all the rude people. And for the record I am from NY.

[pwrbrok35]

Aquahound

 

I was also on this ship. I ran into the same situation as you. Very rude people. Loud, obnoxious. My parents had gone to the midnight buffet and were waiting in line to get one chocolate strawberry. Rude passengers cut right in front of them, took the whole damn platter and then piled on the shrimp until there was nothing left. I will never leave from San Juan again. I had read the reviews prior and thought that it might have been isolated. Not the case at all. I love RCL but will leave from some other port next time.:(

[Aquahound]

I'm so sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience on this trip - I know that you were really looking forward to this.

 

Hey Sande

 

Don't get me wrong. I still had a great time. I will not allow other people to ruin my long awaited vacation. Although, it could have been much better minus all the rudeness.

 

Luckily, I had a small group cruising with me and the ports were great. I can't say enough good about the service and the food. Excellent!

 

I never questioned you about your experience. :) I simply responded to another post where the poster...

 

Gotcha. Sorry.

[mjyanne]

We were on the 9/23/07 sailing (Barbados Route). There were over 800 people from PR (we know this because the cruise director gave the breakdown from each country). That said this was also my 4th time on AoS and the first time we noticed an increase in rudeness (over and above what we have experienced before on any other cruise) and a total disregard for fellow passengers. While I am hesitant to sterotype or label in almost every instance the people involved were of Spanish decent and speaking spanish.

 

I love this itinerary and will continue to sail this route but if RCI isn't careful they will start to lose a lot of loyal customers. As I am sailing Serenade in January it will be interesting to see if there is the same issue (I doubt it as the prices are higher and the ship is almost sold out so maybe no last minute fire sale). Serenade also seems to get a different demographic of people than AoS.

[travelqueen555]

all your posts are making me nervous also. We are booked on AOS next March 2008. It's funny how you forget with time. We were on a Celebrity cruise out of San Juan about 5 years ago and the exact same thing happened. We swore we would never sail out of San Juan again. Now five years later, we really wanted to take our adult children on a cruise that had an itinerary to Aruba, so after checking many cruise lines, decided on the AOS. Now I'm reading your reviews and it brings it all back.

 

If you experienced anything like we did, you are not exaggerating one bit. We did try to not let it ruin our cruise, and I have to say it really did not, but it still has a definite impression on your attitude about Puerto Ricans. We first experienced it at the airport upon arrival, while walking outside to our bus to take us to the cruise ship, a car full of locals started yelling at us "go home Yankees". There were also many other issues on that cruise, but the person that said that Royal Caribbean needs to enforce rules, is right on. On the formal nights, they came in with blue jeans with the crotch down to their knees and chains hanging from their waists, dressed as this they should have not been allowed in the formal dining room on the formal night, but not a thing was said to them.

 

I am hoping my next cruise out of San Juan in March will be a better experience, because in order to do the very southern Caribbean, you do have to sail out of San Juan. This is really sad that we are having to consider this when booking a cruise.

[allthatjazz]

I havent been on the message boards for months, and I just got finished reading about AOS, we are sailing her in February, now I am pretty worried! I have talked my whole family and friends to go on this cruise and they're not to happy that we're going out of San Juan. Should I be worried?:mad::mad::mad::mad:

[Bakincakes]

I havent been on the message boards for months, and I just got finished reading about AOS, we are sailing her in February, now I am pretty worried! I have talked my whole family and friends to go on this cruise and they're not to happy that we're going out of San Juan. Should I be worried?:mad::mad::mad::mad:

 

 

Well..there are plenty of posters who have had the same problems on different sailings. It seems if there is a "fire sale" the problems are of a greater magnitude.:eek:

 

I'd say there might be issues...how great will depend upon who is on the sailing with you.:(

[Sun Lover]

Aquahound,

 

I know exactly what you're talking about. We were on AOS this past April and had a great time, but we also encountered quite a few rude people, although not to the extent you did. I take it a lot depends on the time of year you cruise. I have teenage sons who tried to go to the teen club several times and said the whole thing was taken over by Puerto Ricans and that the DJ would play nothing but music they requested. They also noticed several displays of rude behavior on the sports deck when they were playing soccer and basketball. When the sports director ran organized soccer games, they were absolutely obnoxious. When we attended various shows, it always seemed like they were catering to the Puerto Ricans. I don't care that there's Puerto Ricans onboard and would certainly expect it since the ships leaves out of San Juan, but there was maybe 1/3 of them compared to 2/3 U.S. people on the ship and it felt like we were way outnumbered. At the chocolate buffet, there were older women shoving and butting ahead of people in line. Not to say that I didn't see this from all kinds of people on occasion, but it did seem like the Puerto Ricans were more rude and loud and had a very cocky attitude. The cruise would announce how many people were in attendance at an event and would say welcome to people from the U.S., England, etc., and when he announced Puerto Rico, the people would literally just scream and carry on like maniacs. People can say what they want, but I've read way too many complaints of this nature about this situation and I think Royal Caribbean should be made aware of the cicrumstances and try to maintain a little better control.

[BuyReallyLow]

Random thoughts....

 

We have sailed on both Serenade and Adventure. My opinion is that there were a few more natives on Adventure than Serenade. I believe it is due to the extra activities on Adventure that is attractive to the slightly younger crowd.

 

We are booked on Serenade in early December. We were on Adventure a year ago December. We had a great experience on both ships - and would never let the behavior of the minority to affect our trip. But you will likely see rude behavior from individuals - I just never noticed that they were entirely from one ethnic group.

 

You will notice a few changes from Miami based cruises... less classic dancing music and more salsa-style music for one. Also the dining room appears to be less utilized (especially the late dinner) and much more traffic in the Windjammer area for dinner. The pool area during sea days was not as crowded as I expected (but quite a few kids in the main pool area. But the Solarium got a bit more traffice than normal.We have only had cabins on deck 9 or 10, but have never had any complaints of noise, etc. But it would make sense that if rooms are being offered at low rates to fill in inside cabins, it may be more packed down low. I also observed more than the normal 2 per room while on some lower floors.

 

See my review of Adventure from last year for more details:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=449774

[mjyanne]

all your posts are making me nervous also. We are booked on AOS next March 2008. It's funny how you forget with time. We were on a Celebrity cruise out of San Juan about 5 years ago and the exact same thing happened. We swore we would never sail out of San Juan again. Now five years later, we really wanted to take our adult children on a cruise that had an itinerary to Aruba, so after checking many cruise lines, decided on the AOS. Now I'm reading your reviews and it brings it all back.

 

If you experienced anything like we did, you are not exaggerating one bit. We did try to not let it ruin our cruise, and I have to say it really did not, but it still has a definite impression on your attitude about Puerto Ricans. We first experienced it at the airport upon arrival, while walking outside to our bus to take us to the cruise ship, a car full of locals started yelling at us "go home Yankees". There were also many other issues on that cruise, but the person that said that Royal Caribbean needs to enforce rules, is right on. On the formal nights, they came in with blue jeans with the crotch down to their knees and chains hanging from their waists, dressed as this they should have not been allowed in the formal dining room on the formal night, but not a thing was said to them.

 

I am hoping my next cruise out of San Juan in March will be a better experience, because in order to do the very southern Caribbean, you do have to sail out of San Juan. This is really sad that we are having to consider this when booking a cruise.

 

I havent been on the message boards for months, and I just got finished reading about AOS, we are sailing her in February, now I am pretty worried! I have talked my whole family and friends to go on this cruise and they're not to happy that we're going out of San Juan. Should I be worried?:mad::mad::mad::mad:

 

If it makes you feel any better, we are booked on AoS for next September. So while there seems to be an increase in negative reports I think you can still have a good time. And hopefully RCI will get the point and take action when appropriate to control rude behavior (regardless of nationality).

[Cruising89143]

What I don't understand is why are these complaints only on AOS and not the Serenade?? I know the Serenade sails half the year but you would think once in a while you would read the same stories about that ship. Besides the Carnival Destiny, I rarely read any similiar experiences on other ships that sail from San Juan. Has anybody else? Why does it seem like the AOS is the most common ship for such large groups?

 

I am a executive travel agent for AAtours, the agency that sell Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises in Puerto Rico and the answer to your quiestion is easy, The Adventure of The seas is sold as the # 1 cruise out of San Juan-- and just to remind Puerto ricans pay the same prince you pay on any US State -- You have to know that Puertorricans love cruising and in fact the AOS is our favorite ship. Its common for locals to travel 2 or 3 times a year on cruises, and many of them choose the Adventure, because the is the more local friendly,. Carnival Destiny was one of the favorites but Puertorricans just get tired of her, thats why she is leaving, just like the Monarch Of the seas leave a few years ago. We try to sell and make to cruise appealing to locals because the cruise is sailing out of San Juan,and we always arrange activies onboard for our groups. :D \

 

Great Crusing.

 

The Destiny is leaving San Juan because she is the oldest ship in that class and next in line to take over the four and five night itineraries. It's not because the locals are tired of her.

 

There have also been local SJ travel agents post on here within the last few years about how low the prices are for the folks in San Juan so I don't believe for a minute that they pay the same price.

[red47]

I also sailed on the 10-14-07 out of PR on AOS. I honestly can say I had a wonderful time, the crew,the officers our state room attendant & dining room waiter were some of the best I've encountered in 18 cruises! The only rudeness I experienced was on the elevators, yes they were PR's, but I also had a PR man chase down an elevator and hold it for me! I did not use the pools, so I won't comment on them. but I did spend lots of time in the bars, casino and shows and never had a problem. Please don't let negative comments keep you from doing this cruise, go with an open mind and have a wonderful time!

[BrooklinNorth]

Well..there are plenty of posters who have had the same problems on different sailings. It seems if there is a "fire sale" the problems are of a greater magnitude.:eek:

 

I'd say there might be issues...how great will depend upon who is on the sailing with you.:(

 

Just a few weeks ago I was thrilled that RCI had discounted the JS and others allowing us to switch cabins and upgrade at no cost to us. Infact they had many discounts..... Stupid me ! They were burning down our 11/11 cruise. A FIRE SALE :eek: !!

 

I'm terrified now. I talked my SIL into her first cruise, for a girls week, no guys .

 

I guess I'm glad for the extra room on the JS balcony.

[Aquahound]

Just a few weeks ago I was thrilled that RCI had discounted the JS and others allowing us to switch cabins and upgrade at no cost to us. Infact they had many discounts..... Stupid me ! They were burning down our 11/11 cruise. A FIRE SALE :eek: !!

 

In case you're wondering, this is exactly what happened prior to the 10-14 cruise.

[Tex_Jen]

Go thinking the best and you might be surprised. I love going out of San Juan. I have decided that you can read reviews, but in the end it really is "to each his own." :D

 

Jen