AOS Review- 6-4/6-11

[hawkfish]

I think it's like the Theme Parks in Orlando. They have their "SLOW" periods and want to fill the ship so they dump the cabins at a "LOCAL PRICE!" End Result.... we ALL get to cruise taking SJU in TOW! Some of us WANT a vacation from all of this! Cost of doing Biz I guess. If we want to go we just have to Grin & Bear it! For the times they are a changin'

 

Just...wow. I have to say that I find this comment so offensive, and I can't stand that puertorican is having to defend his/her whole island (which is a US territory, BTW) alone. I guarantee that if you and puertorican were sitting in the same room together, you never make this kind of comment to his/her face.

 

My DH and I are taking our first cruise in a couple of weeks and, frankly, it's this kind of attitude that has kept us away from cruising before. We been on too many islands where people spill off, act rudely toward the locals, demand that they get the same service/food/activities/behavior that they would get at home, then pile back onto the ship, never having experienced anything of the local culture.

 

Now, it would be rude of me to judge all cruisers based on the actions of some I have seen, don't you agree? If you don't like experiencing other cultures, or being around anyone who is different from you, why go anywhere.

[cruisecookie]

What do you mean when you say, drop your bags first? When we embarked from SJ in January 2005 the long line was to drop off your bags. We will be on the Adventure again this August. Is there a separate line for bag drop off and a different line to enter the port terminal? Also, is there a good place to stop and shop in San Juan for bottles of water and diet soda to bring on board? Thanks.

[nigelsmom1]

Well said hawkfish:

 

"Puerto"....I know it's difficult not to get caught up in the stupidity..but it is what it is...I understand your need to defend...

 

I'm looking forward to my cruise.. on the Adventure...experiencing different cultures, people, food, drink..

 

I use the boards for specific information, stuff that's important to me and will make my trip easier. I've gotten a lot of useful tips and will continue to do so, even if I don't agree with some of the opinions. And if I've got some knowledge to share, it's only fair I give back.

 

Tips are priceless, opinions come a dime a dozen.

 

Keep it movin baby.

[puertorican]

What do you mean when you say, drop your bags first? When we embarked from SJ in January 2005 the long line was to drop off your bags. We will be on the Adventure again this August. Is there a separate line for bag drop off and a different line to enter the port terminal? Also, is there a good place to stop and shop in San Juan for bottles of water and diet soda to bring on board? Thanks.

 

Cruisecookie:

 

Once you get to the pier you will see a line that may be form close to the wall of the building, but at the right if it just at the door you will see the porters receiving the bags just go to them and give them your bags they will put them in the baggage cars. Don't keep your bags with you in the line; just give them to the porters. When I said "May be a line" is because it depends on the time you get there.

 

For the water, there is a Duty Free store at the pier where you can buy liquor, Soda or water, you can bring the liquor to the ship if it is in your carry on baggage, don't take it in the plastic bag because it may be taken by the crew and store it until the cruise ends. Let me know if you will travel to SJU a day before and where you will stay to recommend you places to buy the water outside of the pier.

 

Hope this helps

 

Hawkfish and Nigelsmom1 Thanks for your understanding.

[Schasz]

puertorican,

We will be making our very first trip to San Juan on Friday and we are very pumped about seeing San Juan. We are seriously thinking about doing the Bio Bay excursion...have you ever been on this tour? We also plan to explore OSJ. Then it will be on to the AOS on Sunday for a 7 day party.

 

John & Shari

[puertorican]

puertorican,

We will be making our very first trip to San Juan on Friday and we are very pumped about seeing San Juan. We are seriously thinking about doing the Bio Bay excursion...have you ever been on this tour? We also plan to explore OSJ. Then it will be on to the AOS on Sunday for a 7 day party.

 

John & Shari

 

 

John & Shari

 

Here in Puerto Rico we have three Bio Bays, one in the South West coast, one in the small island of Vieques and the last one in Fajardo in a Natural reserve area, I believe that the one you are referring to is the last one, Fajardo, or the right name for it is the "Reserva Las Cabezas de San Juan" http://travelandsports.com/ldsj738.htm

 

This is a beautiful place, if you like the nature off course, If it is the same tour I know, it is in Kayaks and they start in the beach of "Las Croabas" very close to "Las Cabezas de SJ" and they commence close to the sundown, they will take you through the "Manglares" (Sea water trees) water canals up to the Bio Bay where you will see this tiny but beautiful organisms in the water around you!!! Remember, since it is in Kayaks it will demand some effort from you. If this is for you, go ahead, is a good experience. Just call time ahead and double check the times and capacities, also, Fajardo is 1 hour away of San Juan, with lot of traffic lights in between, so plan ahead the time to get there, unless you buy a tour from SJ.

[surfnsun]

John & Shari

 

Here in Puerto Rico we have three Bio Bays, one in the South West coast, one in the small island of Vieques and the last one in Fajardo in a Natural reserve area, I believe that the one you are referring to is the last one, Fajardo, or the right name for it is the "Reserva Las Cabezas de San Juan" http://travelandsports.com/ldsj738.htm

 

This is a beautiful place, if you like the nature off course, If it is the same tour I know, it is in Kayaks and they start in the beach of "Las Croabas" very close to "Las Cabezas de SJ" and they commence close to the sundown, they will take you through the "Manglares" (Sea water trees) water canals up to the Bio Bay where you will see this tiny but beautiful organisms in the water around you!!! Remember, since it is in Kayaks it will demand some effort from you. If this is for you, go ahead, is a good experience. Just call time ahead and double check the times and capacities, also, Fajardo is 1 hour away of San Juan, with lot of traffic lights in between, so plan ahead the time to get there, unless you buy a tour from SJ.

 

puertorican - we met a couple at the Hotel El Convento who highly recommended (in fact I think they were honeymooning) on Vieques, but they were not a resident of PR. We also spoke with another visitor who highly recommended Vieques. Can you please share why one would want to go there? Would you recommend it? We may take a trip there on our next visit. Thanks for any information.

[Schasz]

puertorican,

You are very helpful about your wonderful home. Here is the scoop on the Bio Bay tour we are looking at...perhaps you can give us a comment on it.

 

http://kayak-pr.com/biobaytour.html

 

Thanks again for your advice. We are new to San Juan and want to see some sights that are not possible at home...by the way we enjoy a little adventure, so a kayak will not scare any of my party away.

 

John & Shari

[puertorican]

puertorican,

You are very helpful about your wonderful home. Here is the scoop on the Bio Bay tour we are looking at...perhaps you can give us a comment on it.

 

http://kayak-pr.com/biobaytour.html

 

Thanks again for your advice. We are new to San Juan and want to see some sights that are not possible at home...by the way we enjoy a little adventure, so a kayak will not scare any of my party away.

 

John & Shari

 

Yes, this is the same one I was telling you before!!! Plan your time very well and go ahead with it. Just remember the distance between SJ and Fajardo and you will be ok. If you will be here only one day before the cruise, then you can't combine the visit to Old San Juan and the Bio Bay, if you travel two days ahead then you could do it. Any way, when you return from the cruise, if your flight is late, then you could go to the Old San Juan, your luggage can be one of two; if your airline is at the pier receiving bags, you can check in them, if not then you could go to the Barrachina Restaurant Jewelry, and they will store it for free. Just go and sip one of their Pina Colada and that’s it. If you flight a day after then you are set, one day for Bio Bay and one for OSJ.

 

 

puertorican - we met a couple at the Hotel El Convento who highly recommended (in fact I think they were honeymooning) on Vieques, but they were not a resident of PR. We also spoke with another visitor who highly recommended Vieques. Can you please share why one would want to go there? Would you recommend it? We may take a trip there on our next visit. Thanks for any information.

 

Go to Vieques is a little tricky, I have to check for you tomorrow in the morning if there are flights from the SJU area that you could take to go there, In the past there was an airline (Small one) that flight from the Isla Grande Airport (the one in front of the AOS Pier) to Vieques, the Biobay in vieques is more Virgin than the others in the island because it is located on an ex navy property. Here is more information on the Vieques BioBay tours and the Bio itself. Also they have a moon calculator there where you can see if an specific date is without moon, this is important because the bioluminescence is better in total darkness. http://www.biobay.com/

.

[grfg8r]

I travel the world and Lv to exp other countries & cultures. I just don't like having them SHOVED DWN MY THROAT! I hv to live w/ that crap everyday @ home! I don't want to pay for a vacation to exp the same. "I've always tried to spk the language of the country I'm in. I've always helped the local economy out by patronizing something other than the local Tourist traps. If you venture out off the beaten path you'll find that the T-Traps down have a trickle dwn effect for the masses.

 

And as far as speaking my mind in the same room...your's is the type of reaction one would expect.

 

Yes, PR is a "Commonwealth" of the US. Can you inform everyone why when voting for Statehood is on your ballot in PR it gets voted down everytime?! The REAL reason!

[Annefran]

Hi,

 

Are the shops open on Sundays in Old San Juan? I thought they were closed.

 

Anne

[Schasz]

We are planning on getting off the ship after we get our boarding pass and exploring OSJ a little, so I would hope some shops would be open.

[puertorican]

Hi,

 

Are the shops open on Sundays in Old San Juan? I thought they were closed.

 

Anne

 

They do open from 11:00am to 5:00pm.

[Annefran]

Thanks Puertorican,

 

I've been to PR several times and seen most of the island. My ex was from there and we spent every vacation visiting his family. Taking an excursion would be wasted on me since I got to see the island through my ex and his family. Much better, lol. I may take my daughter to El Moro since she was too little to remember it. I just couldn't remember going shopping on Sundays. At least we can walk around OSJ if our flight is late in the day.

 

Have a good weekend

[Daycare Provider]

:)

Puertorican:::::

 

I will be traveling on the AOS Aoril of 2007. I was just reading some of the suggestions for getting on and off the ship. I really liked the one about putting my duty free alcohol in my carry-on verses the plastic bag.:D

Have you ever thought about being a tour guide for some of the cruise critic members? You sound as if you would give a very informative tour of Old San Juan and the surrounding areas. I know my group would love to hire you for your services.

We are flying in the day before and flying home the day after. I don't know flight times as of yet. We booked everything through RCI. We will be staying at the Courtyard by Marriott in Isle Verde. Can you give us any suggestions for sights to see around the hotel?Thank you very much for all of your help. If you would rather communicate through e-mail instead of the boards, please contact me at angelaandjohn@charter.net :)

[Annefran]

I just read another review of AOS and the cruiser said the beds weren't very comfortable, thin mattresses. She also indicated that you could request the egg-crake type mattresses. Does anyone know how you would go about doing that? Is it through RCL when you board or your travel agent before you board?

[cruisecookie]

Cruisecookie:

 

Once you get to the pier you will see a line that may be form close to the wall of the building, but at the right if it just at the door you will see the porters receiving the bags just go to them and give them your bags they will put them in the baggage cars. Don't keep your bags with you in the line; just give them to the porters. When I said "May be a line" is because it depends on the time you get there.

 

For the water, there is a Duty Free store at the pier where you can buy liquor, Soda or water, you can bring the liquor to the ship if it is in your carry on baggage, don't take it in the plastic bag because it may be taken by the crew and store it until the cruise ends. Let me know if you will travel to SJU a day before and where you will stay to recommend you places to buy the water outside of the pier.

 

Hope this helps

 

Hawkfish and Nigelsmom1 Thanks for your understanding.

 

Puertorican -- We will arrive the morning of our cruise (Sunday). We plan on taking a taxi from the airport and making a stop to buy bottled water and caffeine-free diet Coke. We have read on the boards that Walgreen's is the best place to stop, but I have no idea where Walgreen's is located. Can you recommend any other places to stop between the airport and the pier? Obviously, we are trying to buy these things inexpensively. I am assuming that bottled water sold at the pier would be almost as expensive as the bottles sold on the ship. Also, we do not speak Spanish. Is it hard to find a taxi driver that speaks English? Is such a request considered rude? Last time we had a taxi driver that didn't speak Engllish and he could not understand that we wanted to stop at a grocery store. Thanks for your help.

[LLSullie]

Personally (and that is what I really mean, personally) I loved the Serenade much more than AOS. Here is what I liked. On the Serenade which is a smaller ship there was the feel of always being "on the sea". There was glass everywhere.

 

Janep - Thanks for the great review.

 

I went on my first cruise in April on Rhapsody of the Seas and just loved it. Being a "smaller" ship I too enjoyed the feel of large glass windows/at sea feeling, and what seemed like personal care from the crew.

 

I will be traveling on AOS in December and will be curious to see how a larger ship compares. As I am not a "crowd" type person, this will definitely be an experiment. ;)

 

I'm new to cruising so I figure I have to give it a shot ... LOL No expectations, however loving the Rhapsody as I did, I foresee another vacation after she's dry docked.

[LLSullie]

I just read another review of AOS and the cruiser said the beds weren't very comfortable, thin mattresses. She also indicated that you could request the egg-crake type mattresses. Does anyone know how you would go about doing that? Is it through RCL when you board or your travel agent before you board?

 

The mattress' on Rhapsody were the same ... not too uncomfortable though. All you have to do is make a request for the egg crates with your steward. Ours were on the beds the same night we requested them. (Second Day)

 

The do make a difference.

[Annefran]

LLSullie,

 

That's good news. I have sleep on a featherbed at home because of arthritis in my hip. The eggcrates should make it more comfortable for me, definitley. I wish I had known that on the cruise we took on the Radiance in April. Beds were absolutely horrible!

[puertorican]

Puertorican -- We will arrive the morning of our cruise (Sunday). We plan on taking a taxi from the airport and making a stop to buy bottled water and caffeine-free diet Coke. We have read on the boards that Walgreen's is the best place to stop, but I have no idea where Walgreen's is located. Can you recommend any other places to stop between the airport and the pier? Obviously, we are trying to buy these things inexpensively. I am assuming that bottled water sold at the pier would be almost as expensive as the bottles sold on the ship. Also, we do not speak Spanish. Is it hard to find a taxi driver that speaks English? Is such a request considered rude? Last time we had a taxi driver that didn't speak Engllish and he could not understand that we wanted to stop at a grocery store. Thanks for your help.

 

It just depends on the time you arrived to SJU, and the time you take the taxi, if it is after 11:00am then you can tell the dispatcher at the airport that you want to go to Pueblo supermarket at the Ave De los Gobernadores, it is right at the exit of the Airport, very close, then after the supermarket that you want to go to the Panamerican Pier to board the AOS, then if the driver don't speak fluent English then you have your trip pre-negotiated and made by the dispatcher, this will help you a lot. If your flight is very early of that then I think that your only solution is to go to Walgreens since they open 24 hours, the one that is closer to your route is the one at el Condado. If the time is very early tell the Dispatcher that you want to go to Walgreens on El Condado and the to the pier.

 

Any way the price at the pier is not equal to the one on board, so if for any reason you can't make it to any of the two stores, then you have the option at the pier.

 

English, most of the Puertorican naturals, at least understand English, they speaks as well, but some are afraid of doing it because they think that they will make mistakes speaking.

 

Hope this helps you!!!

[happy cruzer]

I have experienced this too out of Acapulco. The cruiseline (not RCI) ran a very deep discount 20 day roundtrip Holiday/Christmas cruise out of Acapulco. There were many issues which resulted in the some cruisers receiving a 50% discount off of a future cruise. So if some want to pretend that the culture clash/discount clash CAN NOT exist go ahead. I agree it does not have to but sometimes it does and is a very bad experience. If anyone wants details, start another thread somewhere. I just wanted to add my two cents so that OP knows at least one person understands what was meant.

[36kruzes]

We agree there can be difficult times aboard ship when cultures collide due to a huge contingent of non-English speaking guests -- especially when they are all speaking one other language in particular -- aboard a sailing that normally carries mostly English speakers.

 

We heard about the Acapulco problems some time ago. It was talked about quite a lot in the cruise community in Southern California. The same situation arises in Miami with the Cubans, who, by the way, get mistaken for Puerto Ricans by other passengers and want to make sure everyone knows they are from Cuba originally, not P.R. Every group is very proud, and it can get VERY uncomfortable, whether people wish to believe it or not. You have to be there to get the full flavor of it.

 

But it's really no different than when some group has purchased a large segment of cabins as happened to us in the Mediterranean. About a third of the ship was booked by a group of minority businesspersons from all over the U.S. This was not a problem at all; everyone spoke English, of course, but there was a feeling among some other people that they were being edged out of the various lounges and deck space by the "group."

 

We think that's all that's really meant here; and that racism is not the issue at all. Like someone else said, even those from the New York area can make others feel pushed aside when they are aboard in great numbers.

 

Travel requires everyone to adapt for the duration, anyway, so the best thing to do is just grin and bear it. We've had some really great conversations (in English) with Cubans and Puerto Ricans and many others -- and it's all fun. It's no different than sailing with hundreds of kids aboard, as we are about to do this summer. You pay your money and you take your chances -- that's the way it is.

 

 

 

 

I have experienced this too out of Acapulco. The cruiseline (not RCI) ran a very deep discount 20 day roundtrip Holiday/Christmas cruise out of Acapulco. There were many issues which resulted in the some cruisers receiving a 50% discount off of a future cruise. So if some want to pretend that the culture clash/discount clash CAN NOT exist go ahead. I agree it does not have to but sometimes it does and is a very bad experience. If anyone wants details, start another thread somewhere. I just wanted to add my two cents so that OP knows at least one person understands what was meant.