AOS 7/19-7/26 - 1st time Cruiser Review with pics!

[DrmnOfMaui]

I am loving your review! AOS is my favorite RCI ship so far. We sailed the Aruba route in

March 2008. We had a pretty cool cabin, an aft JS:) Congrats on the upgrade, send me some of your luck!

 

We are considering this route for next year... what were your highlights?? Any "must do's"?

[DrmnOfMaui]

Dreamin of Maui-What an awsome cruise report!!!!-we were on the same cruise last month! Consol was awsome as well! We really loved St lucia-reminded of Hawaii -but better! Keep this report going...

 

Here's my trip video i did on St lucia-enjoy;)

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ProfileGallery-i19914910.html

 

 

Mex, I enjoyed your clips. It was fun to watch and say "I've been there!" Nicely done.

[DrmnOfMaui]

Did your daughter get to zipline? If you did already mention this, i missed it. Even though I'm devouring every tidbit of info you are giving! we have ziplining booked in St. Lucia but I am scared! LOL

 

Also, I have an Olympus underwater camera. Used it in the swimming pool at home to test it out...then too it to Hawaii...used it in their pools at the hotels. And low and behold went on one snorkeling trip in Maui and the next day the camera didn't work. Sent it back and they did replace whatever happened and I was able to get the pictures off the memory stick but I was still so angry that I didn't have the camera to use the rest of the week for snorkeling etc. Talked to another friend that has one and they said the same thing. Apparently the saltwater is supposedly bad for the camera. A lot of good that does me! haha. Now not sure what I will do for an underwater camera on this cruise. The Olympus has since worked but I haven't taken it anywhere in water either since then. hmmmmmmmmmm

 

 

Nope...she never got to zip, but she is already planning her return trip. Zipline and parasail are a must! Report back after you do it, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I've never done it either, but have heard that it is really fun. A friend of mine did it in Mexico and said it was fantastic. I'll bet you will love it.

 

We got our camera July 1, 2008... so we are just a few weeks out of warranty! I think you are right about the salt water. We've used it in the pool a few times without issue, and the one day in San Juan, but the dip in the water in Barbados did it in. Very frustrating as we bought it for a trip just like this... I'm still thinking about all the missed shots!

[Tropical Traveler]

Many thanks for your outstanding review and great photos. Love the AOS. We did the Barbados route in April '08 and will be doing the Aruba route in early October. In the past few years it seems the AOS has been the subject of a great deal of first class photojournalism. Kudos to Cruise Critic colleagues like you, Toonjie and BuyReallyLow (to name just a few) who have presented their experiences aboard her to us in such engaging words and pictures. :D

 

Jack

[DrmnOfMaui]

wow ive never seen such great pics in a review...you have us all hooked here waiting for more...thank you for taking the time to post all this information, i was going to do a sandals day pass in st lucia but the tour you took sounds amazing....

Which beach did u go to in st maarten? sorry if it was in your post, i missed it:(

 

Thank You! I really enjoyed looking through them all to get the best ones for the review.

 

There are a couple of tours to check out for St. Lucia... check the St. Lucia Boards. I know one called Spencer Ambrose was popular as well and similar to ours. Some of the people on our roll call did that one. There are some good threads over there to help you gather info.

 

What beach did you go to?

 

Really enjoying this review.

We are going to be back on the AOS in early October...can't wait! :)

 

I'm not certain what the beach is called, but it is just to right of where the water taxi lets you off, you can't miss it. It's right along the boardwalk area. There are a number of different outfits where you can get chairs, umbrellas and other "incentives":). The jet skiing was right off the beach and there was parasailing too. Also a guy was pulling people on one of those banana boats. Looked like lots of fun! The shopping area is directly behind the chairs.

[DrmnOfMaui]

Many thanks for your outstanding review and great photos. Love the AOS. We did the Barbados route in April '08 and will be doing the Aruba route on early October. In the past few years it seems the AOS has been the subject of a great deal of first class photojournalism. Kudos to Cruise Critic colleagues like you, Toonjie and BuyReallyLow (to name just a few) who have presented their experiences aboard her to us in such engaging words and pictures. :D

 

Jack

 

Thanks Jack! I have also enjoyed Toonjie's reviews. I will have to look for BRL's. I'm hoping to convince the family on the Serenade next year, so hopefully I'll have another review in a years time!

[DrmnOfMaui]

Thanks for the wonderful review. Did you see many Diamond Plus members in the CL?

 

Looks like you have wonderful weather.

 

We did have wonderful weather!

 

I think most of the guests in the CL were Suite, but I do know of a few diamonds. Most of the time the CL was fairly empty.

 

We really enjoyed it there! Moses was the server and as it was just us and him a few times we really enjoyed chatting with him as well.

[ken_nyc]

Wonderful review & photos! Glad you finally got to finish the review...kept on coming back anxiously to read more!

[DrmnOfMaui]

I am so happy for you and your family! You sound like great folks!!!

 

We have two balcony cabins booked on AOS for 10/18/09 (it will be the first time for my father-in-law who just lost his wife to cancer, and my 13 y.o. daughter). We're excited to show them the ship. My dh and I sailed on it last summer for the first time and we are "hooked." It's a beautiful ship and a fantastic cruise line!!

 

I have been dreaming of staying in a suite, and I'm wondering if you think the Grand Suite would be big enough for four? I know you didn't stay in it, but you had booked it for the four of you initially. Our four would be 3 adults and a pre-teen.

 

Using the senior rate, we can book the Grand Suite for only $300 more than the two E2 aft balconies we have booked now.

 

We're a very close family, so the privacy issue wouldn't be a big deal. We've shared hotel rooms with five of us before and we did fine.

 

Thanks for your input!

 

Karen in Kentucky

 

Karen... that's a tough one! I've heard that the aft cabins are pretty nice, but I have never seen one. We really enjoyed our balcony, and aren't the aft balconies bigger?

 

However.... we loved the suite and the perks, and the GS balcony would be larger than a regular balcony. We liked being together too. The kids slept on a queen fold out bed, and I had already researched that a rollaway was available for the GS. I didn't sleep on the pull out, but I did lie on it for a while and it was more comfortable than I thought it would be. I'll bet your FIL would enjoy being in the room with all of you. I would probably put your daughter in the rollaway (heard they are not the most comfortalbe) and put your FIL in the fold out.

 

I didn't get to see a GS, but I did talk to Karen, our room attendant, about it. I think a GS would be fine for 4. We only had one bathroom and didn't have any bathroom issues at all. I would say go for it! I think you will like it. If you have done 5 in a hotel room I'll bet the GS would be no problem. Let us know what you decide and how it works!:)

[DrmnOfMaui]

Wonderful review & photos! Glad you finally got to finish the review...kept on coming back anxiously to read more!

 

I see you have the hump cabin. This was another thing that I changed my mind about. I didn't see what the big deal was about... but after this trip I see it! I LOVED the hump and will look for them in the future.:D

 

Happy Anniversary!

[Ocean Boy]

Great review. I've sailed Adventure 3 times with a probably 4th coming up next year. I always enjoy reading other people's thoughts on the ship and itinerary. And I love seeing other people's pictures of places that I have been.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[63galaxie]

Thank you for the reply about staying in the Grand Suite. We're thinking about it.

Would you mind sharing how much you paid for the daypass at the Caribe Hilton? I'd also like to know how you made daypass reservations?

We've had great service in the past. I'm hoping they haven't gone "downhill" since our last visit!

We are doing the Aruba route in October. Let me know if you'd like us to report on anything specific.

Just FYI, based on your review, I believe you might want to try sailing on a Celebrity ship as well. The food is top-notch (in my opinion) and the service is equal to RCI. We've sailed on Zenith (no longer in service), Century, and Millenium. We really enjoyed both of these ships!

Also, another favorite port stop (for us) is Dominica. The whale-watching excursion is breathtaking, and seeing the island from the ocean is also quite beautiful.

I'll add my "thank you" for your review and your pictures. It was just like sailing along with you and your family!

Karen in Kentucky

[sandm]

DrmnOfMaui, I loved reading your review. We did the Aruba route in the Royal Suite for spring break. We loved the Royal Suite so much. We just came back from the Voyager in Barcelona and stayed in the RS there too.

It was so much fun to see your pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[Cruisinini]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience here in both words and photos! You did an absolutely fantastic job reviewing the details of your trip and the photos are just beautiful! I'm not sure I've ever read a review before and thought THIS is the cruise I should go on next but that's the way I feel now so I'm going to save this review for future reference. We almost went to the Southern Caribbean on our first cruise for many of the same reasons your family did but ended up making a different choice. I definitely think it's time I revisited that idea!

[cookie225]

Its over:(....why couldn't you do a B2B so we would have more to read & pictures to see.....Im glad things turned out so well for you and Thank You for a wonderful review.....Ill sail her in November woohoo!!!!

[Boo2]

I wanted to thank you for such a wonderful review! Both my husband and I have been following it for the last few days, me from home and him from work.

We will be on the AOS soon so we appreciate your post and your pictures so much.

[DrmnOfMaui]

Thank you for the reply about staying in the Grand Suite. We're thinking about it.

 

Would you mind sharing how much you paid for the daypass at the Caribe Hilton? I'd also like to know how you made daypass reservations?

 

We've had great service in the past. I'm hoping they haven't gone "downhill" since our last visit!

 

We are doing the Aruba route in October. Let me know if you'd like us to report on anything specific.

 

Just FYI, based on your review, I believe you might want to try sailing on a Celebrity ship as well. The food is top-notch (in my opinion) and the service is equal to RCI. We've sailed on Zenith (no longer in service), Century, and Millenium. We really enjoyed both of these ships!

 

Also, another favorite port stop (for us) is Dominica. The whale-watching excursion is breathtaking, and seeing the island from the ocean is also quite beautiful.

 

I'll add my "thank you" for your review and your pictures. It was just like sailing along with you and your family!

 

Karen in Kentucky

 

 

Karen, thanks for the Celebrity suggestion. You have echoed what others have told us about the Celebrity line. Definitely something we will look into!

 

For the daypass at the hotel we had gathered the phone numbers of a few hotels that offered the dayroom option (Caribe, Intercontinental, Concha). All of the hotels told us that we needed to call the day that we would be arriving to check availability. The Caribe was $79 for a double "non-ocean-view" room, I believe the ocean views were around $100. Mostly we just wanted a secure place to store our things, a shower and use of the grounds. Once we got the room, it worked well for us. It was nice to have a shower before heading to the airport. With taxes and resort fees it was $97 out the door!

 

I have heard wonderful things about Dominica! Currently, this itinerary is high on our list for our next Caribbean vacation (I'm pushing for next year... the kids are pushing for a stop in Nassau at Atlantis on the way!;)).

 

I would love to hear about the exursions that you have planned! I'm early in my per-cruise research for this itinerary and have only really looked at Dominica. I'm particularly at a loss for what to do in Aruba.

 

I see you are from Owensboro... we spent 3 years in Louisville a few years back (DH works for UPS) and have a few friends in Owensboro!

 

Good luck on the Suite decision. Have you done afts before? I've heard they have lovely balconies...

[Ocean Boy]

Karen, thanks for the Celebrity suggestion. You have echoed what others have told us about the Celebrity line. Definitely something we will look into!

 

For the daypass at the hotel we had gathered the phone numbers of a few hotels that offered the dayroom option (Caribe, Intercontinental, Concha). All of the hotels told us that we needed to call the day that we would be arriving to check availability. The Caribe was $79 for a double "non-ocean-view" room, I believe the ocean views were around $100. Mostly we just wanted a secure place to store our things, a shower and use of the grounds. Once we got the room, it worked well for us. It was nice to have a shower before heading to the airport. With taxes and resort fees it was $97 out the door!

 

I have heard wonderful things about Dominica! Currently, this itinerary is high on our list for our next Caribbean vacation (I'm pushing for next year... the kids are pushing for a stop in Nassau at Atlantis on the way!;)).

 

I would love to hear about the exursions that you have planned! I'm early in my per-cruise research for this itinerary and have only really looked at Dominica. I'm particularly at a loss for what to do in Aruba.

I see you are from Owensboro... we spent 3 years in Louisville a few years back (DH works for UPS) and have a few friends in Owensboro!

 

Good luck on the Suite decision. Have you done afts before? I've heard they have lovely balconies...

 

Aruba is a very interesting island topographically as it is a desert. This makes it very different from all of the islands that you have visited so far. We had a great time renting a jeep and driving to the back side of the island away from the capitol, Oranjestad. You can easily spend a day driving around the back side taking in the landscape. There are also planty of taxi (vans) that take people on sightseeing tours and cover some hightlight tourist spots. We did this on subsequent stops on Aruba but we saw much more on our first visit when we had the jeep.

[DrmnOfMaui]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience here in both words and photos! You did an absolutely fantastic job reviewing the details of your trip and the photos are just beautiful! I'm not sure I've ever read a review before and thought THIS is the cruise I should go on next but that's the way I feel now so I'm going to save this review for future reference. We almost went to the Southern Caribbean on our first cruise for many of the same reasons your family did but ended up making a different choice. I definitely think it's time I revisited that idea!

 

You are welcome. You made my day!

 

Its over:(....why couldn't you do a B2B so we would have more to read & pictures to see.....Im glad things turned out so well for you and Thank You for a wonderful review.....Ill sail her in November woohoo!!!!

 

I completely agree!!! One of the ladies from our roll call is still on the ship, she did get to do the back to back. I've been thinking of her every day and following along with the itinerary.

 

I wanted to thank you for such a wonderful review! Both my husband and I have been following it for the last few days, me from home and him from work.

 

We will be on the AOS soon so we appreciate your post and your pictures so much.

 

You are welcome! I am certain you will enjoy your trip. I know that reading reviews before we left just added that much more to the excitement. I think we were more excited for this trip than just about any other. Bon Voyage!:)

[sunrocket]

DrmnofMaui

Thanks for the great review of AOS. We will be doing this cruise end of August.

You stated you disembarked the ship at 8:15am. Do you know if you could disembark any earlier? Have a 11:00am flight on United out of San Juan.

Thanks again Sunrocket

[sailingawaysoon]

Awesome review! I loved the pictures and I loved the suite you had...it was incredible. I would be forever spoiled w/that room. My husband and I love Portifino's also. The pear gorgonzola salad is one of my all time favorites. We are going to try Chops on our Freedom cruise in August. We've been to Portifino's several times, and would like to try the steak house this time. Happy future cruising!

[masonpips]

Thanks for such a great review. 10 weeks from today we fly into San Juan to take this same itinerary. I'll be showing my children your review this weekend and we had already booked Shasa in Barbados (but the 3 hour version) so they will be even more excited after your review!

[CruisinManiac]

Thank You! I really enjoyed looking through them all to get the best ones for the review.

 

There are a couple of tours to check out for St. Lucia... check the St. Lucia Boards. I know one called Spencer Ambrose was popular as well and similar to ours. Some of the people on our roll call did that one. There are some good threads over there to help you gather info.

 

 

 

I'm not certain what the beach is called, but it is just to right of where the water taxi lets you off, you can't miss it. It's right along the boardwalk area. There are a number of different outfits where you can get chairs, umbrellas and other "incentives":). The jet skiing was right off the beach and there was parasailing too. Also a guy was pulling people on one of those banana boats. Looked like lots of fun! The shopping area is directly behind the chairs.

 

Thank you...I was just curious because when we were in St. Maarten last, we went to Divi Little Beach Resort (just around the corner from the port) and wondered if that was where you had gone. ;) On another note, our last stop (on the Liberty) we docked at a different pier and did not have to use the ferry. Walked right off the ship and down the pier to a new shopping village. ;)

 

Divi Little Bay Beach

 

You could see our ship from the beach resort entrance.

 

After reading your final comments about how you are port people and not sea day types, I think that you should try a Mediterranean cruise next.:) I sailed on the HAL Noordam last summer and by far it was my favorite of all 18+ cruises I have been on. We had 8 days of ports, and 2 sea days (which were needed for rest) and were able to see Italy, Greece, Malta, Turkey and Dubrovnik! Can't wait to take another cruise to the Mediterranean.

[63galaxie]

Karen, thanks for the Celebrity suggestion. You have echoed what others have told us about the Celebrity line. Definitely something we will look into!

 

For the daypass at the hotel we had gathered the phone numbers of a few hotels that offered the dayroom option (Caribe, Intercontinental, Concha). All of the hotels told us that we needed to call the day that we would be arriving to check availability. The Caribe was $79 for a double "non-ocean-view" room, I believe the ocean views were around $100. Mostly we just wanted a secure place to store our things, a shower and use of the grounds. Once we got the room, it worked well for us. It was nice to have a shower before heading to the airport. With taxes and resort fees it was $97 out the door!

 

I have heard wonderful things about Dominica! Currently, this itinerary is high on our list for our next Caribbean vacation (I'm pushing for next year... the kids are pushing for a stop in Nassau at Atlantis on the way!;)).

 

I would love to hear about the exursions that you have planned! I'm early in my per-cruise research for this itinerary and have only really looked at Dominica. I'm particularly at a loss for what to do in Aruba.

 

I see you are from Owensboro... we spent 3 years in Louisville a few years back (DH works for UPS) and have a few friends in Owensboro!

 

Good luck on the Suite decision. Have you done afts before? I've heard they have lovely balconies...

I have family in Louisville also! I'm originally from Northern California, but my husband is a "native."

 

We love afts. We've sailed in insides, oceanviews, balconies, one suite (an upgrade for 3 days while on the cruise), and six aft balconies. The aft balconies are so very peaceful, and we spend a majority of our time on the balcony. On AOS, deck seven corner afts are the largest balconies at a very reasonable cost. The Millineum (Century) also has an even bigger balcony (and a big cabin). Carnival also has large aft balcony corner cabins, but I'm not a Carnival fan.

 

We've been to Aruba once. We took a bus tour (our first) which turned out to be interesting. It took us into the desert, through residential areas, to a few shops which had nice Danish blue and white pottery (Delft) for next-to-nothing, to a stop at the lighthouse, and along the coast, among other things. Then we went back to the ship, had lunch, and hopped on a public bus which we took to the beach (very simple and inexpensive). We took a towel and some water and didn't spend a dime! The ocean is an amazing blue against the white sand. It's very hot, but the water was warm and soft. We took the bus back to the ship after a few hours. Many people were sailing boats, parasailing, and using wave-runners, so we had a lot to look at!

 

I think we'll repeat this tour again, or we may take one that has a few other offerings (butterfly farm for my daughter, perhaps) so we can show my fil and dd the things we saw.

 

We saw many people on ATV's, which looked fun (and hot) for those who are adventuresome.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Karen in Kentucky

[63galaxie]

Here's a sample of some pictures from our whale-watch excursion in Dominica. This can be booked through RCI. It was a fantastic day!

 

The catamaran also has a lot of covered seating, plus they serve unlimited beverages. The staff were local people. They were unforgettably great! Take your binoculars!! I'm not in these pictures (I'm taking them), but the one of the cat gives you an idea of what it looks like.

 

We also stopped at a spot that sold t-shirts and caps. Outside, it had a full-size display of a whale skelton suspended from a ceiling. The kids would love this (so did we).

 

This was one of the best excursions we've ever done.

 

Karen in Kentucky