Just Off AOS (Oct 8 2006 sailing) Review

[rlthng]

Hi,

 

I did speak to several guests on the ship from Puerto Rico and they did say that they paid a rate of $299.00 per peson. I'm not saying all people from Puerto Rico paid this rate but many of them did. I do think that if people in the United States were offered a last minute rate of $299.00 they would go even if the air fare were high. I paid $600 + dollars per person to fly from the United States and did not receive a discounted rate. If RCCL's ships are so empty that they offer $299.00 they should offer to all. Maybe if they lowered there prices the ships would be at full.

[cesarrcabrera]

I will look into that $299 thing... I've honestly never seen prices like those for the AOS; but I will scan the newspaper travel section each Sunday (which is from where most people get prices here) to see if I find something like that.. .

[LNDRN]

I would just like to put in my 5cent. LOVED the cruise (our honeymoon). In our opinion, the food was great (I guess because it's alot better than I can cook, LOL) in the Dining room, and Portofino's. The Windjammer is just cafeteria food, you have to expect it. We had a great room (7672/balcony_aft/port) with the room cleaned 2x day. Service was great. Every question answered. Only a couple minor problems....they missed delivery of our tickets to Aruba excursion (they fixed it right away), and didn't get our gratuity vouchers, and that got fixed also. We found you have to have a bit of patience with long lines, and crowded public areas at times, but we had a great time regardless.

Shows were real good, and we met GREAT people! (everyone at 2nd seating/261)

Loved shopping at St Maarten, best prices. Turtle Cove snorkel was great, as well as tour of Curacao. Next time we are going to pace ourselves, we wore ourselves out. We'll spend more time just relaxing at ports rather than try to do too much.

We won't hesitate to travel again with RCCL. I read a previous post that said you have to have an open mind and focus on fun....That's absolutely right. We anticipated it wouldn't be perfect, but they got real close...for us anyway. RELAX....Don't sweat the small stuff, and enjoy the vacation. Worth every penny.:)

[mjyanne]

Let me try to respondo to everyone who has posted...

 

To: nrdsb4

 

Here is my experience on each port:

 

Aruba: We talked with the tour guides right out of the ship... They offered a tour that included the rock formations, the natural bridge (the one that remains), the gold mine ruins, and we also drove by the beach area and the lighthouse (good photo oportunities)... They started at $20; but since we were eight, we were able to get them to $17... if you make a larger group of people from the ship, you could get it even lower..

 

Curacao: We basically walked to and around the Punda area. Just as in Aruba, the weather was VERY hot; therefore we thought that staying close to the ship and going back when we got tired was the best. However, I was offered a tour of the island for $15, and some friends of ours who took it said it was better than the Aruba tour.

 

To All:

In general, I feel the cruise experience was below what I've had previously with Royal Caribbean. I did not mention it on my first post; but this was my fourth cruise with Royal Caribbean, and my 7th overall (3 previously with Carnival)... So I'm not new to cruising or Royal Caribbean, and I have what to compare this experience to.

 

First, a news flash: If you sail to the caribbean the weather will usually be HOT. Why is that always a shock and a comment?

 

Second, I have sailed AoS 3 times (and RCI 9 times) and would sail her again in a minute. Maybe I've been lucky on RCI (my only truly worst curise experience was on Carnival (of which I will never sail again)) but I have never encountered anything close to this issues on any sailing. I'm not saying they were perfect but all in all not bad cruises and certainly not any problems across the board (as this review implies).

[cruiselover48]

Just want to put my 2 cents in-We had the best trip ever. We are plat members and have also cruised Princess and Disney. We had the best service in all ares. Why do people care where other people on the ship come from and how much they paid. We love talking to people from other places and any port you sail from will have alot of people from that area. Some of the best prices come at the eand when the ships are not full. I saw a prmowave today on Explorer for 9 days 399 pp PR. THats life-I don't have any vacation time left or we would be on that ship. Anyway AOS is a wonderfull ship with a wonderful crew:D :D :)

[OSU MOM]

My family and I just got off the ship too and we had a fabulous time.....i thought the lobster dinner was a 10...It was the best meal that I had the whole time on the ship..The french toast in the morning was to die for and the lunches were superb..Make sure you go to the Vivedeli room at lunch and get the pasta bar.....It is fabulous...you get to pick the ingredients and they make your pasta dish right in front of you.....The main waiter, noticed early on in the cruise that I wasn't eating as much as everyone else (because I am worried about gaining weight) he asked me what he could do to make my dining experience better..I told him I liked Shrimp cocktail..After that night, Shrimp Cocktail was given to me as soon as I sat down for dinner......The dining staff was wonderful. We didn't go without anything.

 

This was our first cruise with Royal Caribbean and I assure you, I will not go to another cruise line..We will stick with Royal Caribbean from now on....We had a balcony stateroom (Rm 7244) which was right near the elevators and we never heard any noises....Our room was plenty big for the three of us and we ate in our room every morning (coffee and cinnamon rolls) before going to the gym...we were actually impressed with the room size as we usually book suites and this was our first balcony..So not sure why cesarrcabrera siad it was small....

 

The casino was great. I won 750.00 on the first night and never went back because I didn't want to give back my winnings. We thought the shows were fabulous. We even signed up for the mystery dinner show at Portofino's and had a wonderful time. The waiter was so nice, he gave us a free bottle of wine after the dinner.. When we took it to dinner the following night, they didn't charge us to uncork it either..

 

The pool area, basketball court, ice skating rink and ice show was great....Not sure why cesarrcabrera didn't get tickets for the show because the cruise director, Richard, announced it at least a million times and it was posted in the cruise paper when you had to pick them up. We spent everyday by the pool and our daughter lived at the basketball court...She won so many prizes we didn't have to buy any sourveniers..(three sun visors, a sports bag, medals, (Gold, silver and bronz) and a tshirt....Royal Carribean is very generous with their give aways.....

 

Oh, forgot to add. On the first day of the cruise, my family and I took the spa and gym tour and were offered the chance to raffle for a massage for 1/2 off...We decided to try it and I won.I received a 75 min stone massage for 70.00 and it was the best one I have ever had. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask..I have nothing but great things to say about this ship and its crew....If you are booked to go on the Adventure of the Seas you will not regret it..

Colorado Babe, Boy am I glad to read your experience being positive. We are sailing on AOS in March. We have also sailed on the NCL Wind around Hawaii and to the fanning islands. Can you tell me how the 2 ships compare?

[momofslg]

I was on the October 8th sailing as well. The cruise did have some ups and downs. Mostly ups. I'm still trying to settle in to the reality of being at home but I will post my review in a couple of days. Watch for it.

~Lisa

[eloyps]

Ok, I was not cutting on Puerto Ricans. I was just saying that they received better rates. I was only trying to say that if people in the United States were offered $299.99 as the residents of Puerto Rico were they would surely jump at the chance. If we are all equal as we should be rates should be the same across the board. People always jump to the wrong idea and have to play the race card. This is a board to post comments and not to judge opinions. They of course are just opinions.

 

I am from Puerto Rico,and I am getting a little bit tired of hearing this non sense about us getting better fares.IT IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE!!!!I have booked for thanksgiving week and we got a discount for people over 55 .ANYBODY,ANYWHERE in the world could have had the same discount.It was certainly not an offer only for puertorricans over 55 !!!!As a matter of fact,even if I got my tickets from a local agency;most of the people from my group got the tickets directly fron RCC,or online,available to anybody that wanted them.Granted we had the benefit of not having to travel to get to San Juan,but other than that.....and by the way,we payed $950p/p ,way more than the $250 somebody suggested.And beleive me,if tickets were available to us for that tiny amount,it wouldn't be 2,000 pr's per cruise,but rather 3,000 of us on board !!!!!And given the fact that the cruise starts from San Juan,how could anybody be surprised by it???So let's get serious,people !!!!!!

[Colorado Babe]

Colorado Babe, Boy am I glad to read your experience being positive. We are sailing on AOS in March. We have also sailed on the NCL Wind around Hawaii and to the fanning islands. Can you tell me how the 2 ships compare?

 

Actually, there is no way to compare the both. The Adventure of the Seas is so much bigger, more to do and much newer than the wind. You will fall in love with the AOS as soon as you board her...Trust me.

[Colorado Babe]

Hey girl. Rory and I couldn't find you after we purchased our souveniers on St Thomas...Please email me the photo's you took on the sail boat. My email is RoryHisel@aol.com...

take Care

 

Bernadette

[transam84]

We were on AOS this past June and had a great time. We were in a hump GS number 1324 on deck 10 and thought it was a great location. The cabin hallways are seperated from the elevators. We were right near the entrance and never had any problem with noise. I will always try to get this location on voyager class from now on. It was perfect. Very convenient. Since we were on the edge of the hump our balcony was larger than average. We were also right below the Windjammer and right above the conciege lounge. This was great when we wanted to run out for quick snack. We had a great time on this cruise. I did feel the menus were a bit strange (we had tortellini with blue cheese one night, I love blue cheese but it just didn't make it with tortellini). The quality of food we felt was great, but we just weren't thrilled with the selection. Not bad by any means just not always to our liking and we are not picky people. Other than that the cruise was wonderful. The ship is beautiful, the shows were great (we always enjoy the Royal Caribbean shows) and our cruise critic friends made it very specieal. Attached is a link to my pictures which show great details of the cabin. I'm always very curious about cabin and ship details so I really went out my way to take lots of pictures with details of the ship. Please take a look and please don't anyone think of cancelling a cruise on AOS. You will have a great time.

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/551922080kouTEb?start=12

Enjoy. Laura

[Eagle1]

Hi, We were on this cruise and would only rate it as good. It was our 6th cruise fourth on RC and two on Celebrity, never been on a bad cruise but would rate four of them great. Getting off this cruise was the worst, very unorganized, RC really dropped the ball, I think they gave most of the Crew the day off. We paid to have luggage transfered to the airport but the truck left before we got off the ship,we were lucky to make our flight.

[cesarrcabrera]

To mjyanne:

I mention the heat as a comment, since I am from Puerto Rico (which happens to also be in the Caribbean), and here it wasn't as hot as it was down there...

 

To all:

As far as the $299 (or $250 for that matter) for PR people; I just think people giving out that information are highly confused... I've gone through two different newspapers (and I check every Sunday), and I didn't find anything even close to that... The closest you can find to that is cruising the 4 nighter in the Empress of the Seas, which is less popular in that itinerary (Mon-Fri).

 

Also, please be sure that we did our best to have a great time... However, things just kept happening that took away a lot of the fun... I've enjoyed all of my past cruises, and to date this was our worst experience...

 

I always board a cruise ship with high energy and fun levels... I go all out to have fun, and make an effort so that everyone in my group does...

[Colorado Babe]

Perhaps the third and fourth passengers in a cabin paid 299.00. My daugher was a third passenger in our balcony cabin and we only paid 379.00 for her. Perhaps the people who said they paid 299.00 were in inside stateroom cabins which are alot cheaper.

[Nurse Daybreak]

Can anyone here give me some info on the balconies on Deck 6? I've seen that they have metal railings instead of plexiglass. Is this true and does it block the view if sitting down??

 

Any help will be appreciated!!!

 

These are my pictures from cabin 6236. I never noticed the metal railing as the bars are apart and you are usually standing at the rail while looking overboard, It was a fablulous location.just up/down a flight or two to all activities.

 

[bgomes]

We were on this sailing as well. Let's remember that this started as a review of THIS particular sailing. What happens on other sailings is other sailings. If yours was a good one: great. If not a good one: maybe the next one will be better.

 

Everyone we talked with (including us) had an okay time. It was not a bad cruise, nor was it the best we've ever had. We had issues as well, the same ones as others. We sailed out of San Juan last year, it was great, this year was not. Will we sail from there again? Who knows.

 

Everyone is entitled to their own feelings about THEIR cruise. No one can tell me that I should have enjoyed myself if I did not.

[mjyanne]

We were on this sailing as well. Let's remember that this started as a review of THIS particular sailing. What happens on other sailings is other sailings. If yours was a good one: great. If not a good one: maybe the next one will be better.

 

Everyone we talked with (including us) had an okay time. It was not a bad cruise, nor was it the best we've ever had. We had issues as well, the same ones as others. We sailed out of San Juan last year, it was great, this year was not. Will we sail from there again? Who knows.

 

Everyone is entitled to their own feelings about THEIR cruise. No one can tell me that I should have enjoyed myself if I did not.

 

Valid point. However, someone who reads just this review may get the impression that every sailing on Adventure will not be up to par (so to speak). By others commenting on their particular cruise on the same ship it gives a better sense of what may be an isolated incident or a consistent problem on that ship.

[mjyanne]

To mjyanne:

I mention the heat as a comment, since I am from Puerto Rico (which happens to also be in the Caribbean), and here it wasn't as hot as it was down there...

 

I know where PR is (been there many times and love the island). My comment was that I always seem to read or hear how hot it is in the islands (especially when sailing during summer months).

 

There were several people who were shopping in Antigua on our August sailing who were looking for any store that had AC. They kept saying it is so hot (Hello, we were sailing mid-August). Frankly, I would have been upset if it had been cold. I understand your comment now that it is context as the temperature related to the temperature in PR.

[tootsieh]

We were on the Oct 1-8 sailing---------------it was incredible!!! We were in Cabin 9624 and never heard one noise from the elevators. We are Diamond Members (22 cruises on RCCL) and our second cruise on the Adventure. It is our favorite ship with the best staff. We talked to alot of people on the ship and at the airport and did not hear one bad comment. If anyone has a trip planned on the Adventure expect an outstanding cruise!!!

[cesarrcabrera]

As it was said by bgomes... I'm just talking about my particular experience, on my particular sailing...

 

Maybe people who had no kids in the Adventure Ocean program didn't have a problem with them... And the people who ate mostly chicken or fish didn't have a problem with red meats as I did... and maybe those who loved the lobster didn't get one with the intestinal vein (which is where all the excrement is held) still in; which was even my case with the fist lobster I was served (I ordered two, and the second one was the nasty one)... And if you had no reasons to complain, maybe you didn't go by Guest Services to speak with Venus as I did, so no issue there either.. .

 

So it is truly a matter of each person's experience on the cruise... mine was inferior to what I expected; but I'm sure there were people who loved the cruise...

[syndyj]

To mjyanne:

I mention the heat as a comment, since I am from Puerto Rico (which happens to also be in the Caribbean), and here it wasn't as hot as it was down there...

 

.

 

I live in the Caribbean as well, Trinidad and Tobago and yes it is HOT here but I found St. Maarten was hotter than I am used to. So even though you live in the Caribbean some islands can be hotter than others.

[Ellie]

we were on the adventure both weeks we did a b/b as we always do in october we had a wonderful time and love the ship and i think the crew on the adventure from the captain on down are outstanding however the 2nd week was a little trying to say the least my husband who is the most laid back person in the world was having a hard time i tthink if his toes got steped on one more time he would have ended up in the brigg!! will it stop us from cruising on the adventure again noooooooo we already have it booked next year but for 3 weeks instead of 2 we love the ship and the crew and we make our own fun where ever we are

[marthatravels]

Glad you liked the Adventure - we are in 7660 in November - and it appears that it is across from the service area - how was that area for noise? Every cruise has its ups and downs but if you remember that they are serving between 2,000 and 3,000 people on these ships every day, it amazes me that they can do such a good job.

[ajbrath8077]

as bgomes stated - everyone has their opinion and shouldnt be trashed on for having a bad experience. Cruises have their bad moments as well where things dont go as smoothly as planned. Unfortunately the cruisers pay the price. I know that if i have a bad experience on my cruise on AoS next year, i may question ever going back on that particular ship.

[Colorado Babe]

Fo all those people booked on the AOS on future cruises, please don't forget that other passengers had a wonderful time on this particular sailing and didn't have any problems so to speak. I just wanted to respond to one of the complaints about the buffet...My family and I don't like to eat buffet so we eat primarily in the Vivadeli dining room for sit down meals...I think there were a couple of times when we had to eat at the buffet (lunch time/port days) and thought the food tasted like any other buffet that we eat at when we have to..I don't know how anyone could make a buffet any better than the one they had during our cruise. In regards to the Puerto Ricans on board, there were some that were rude, loud and obnoxius but then again there were other people on board that were also...I am an obtimistic person by nature and I never let the small things bother me....Again, I would rate this cruise a "10" and I would definitely do it all over again.