For all those who have booked or are going to book the AOS - read this!

[Lorey2007]

The entertainment (headliners and comedians) were different each week, but the RCI production shows and ice shows were the exact same. In fact, the ice show is the same one that has been running for the past 3 years, so I didn't bother going to see it.

Hope this helps?

 

Thanks Robyn, we'll be on AOS again next February so if the ice show and production shows are the same I'll have more time for relaxing.:) Not so much rushing around.

[mtu_huskies]

Hello....i haven't seen this on here but has anyone played golf in Puerto Rico post or pre cruise? We are spending 3 days pre-cruise and would like for the hubby to get some T-time, thanks!

 

I have not, but last month's Golf Digest magazine's destination review was San Juan and they review a few courses. One is even free until they get it completely up and running, but I'm not sure how far it is from San Juan. It had me thinking I should be finding time to do some golfing in Puerto Rico before our AOS cruise!

 

Golf Digest Link

[ckrobyn]

Robyn .... I'm ready to pack & feel for my coworkers as I'm in vacation mode but must work till Friday afternoon.

 

Were you able to get a picture of 8316? What is the story on the luggage valet program at end of the cruise? (I don't remember what we were told if we didn't use it .... and always have ...) Can you tell me what we do without luggage valet? Does RCI get our luggage tags for the airline & boarding passes still?

 

Unfortunately, the short list of pics I was supposed to take of specific cabins got lost somewhere in my luggage.....(I found it when I unpacked at home :() my apologies for not getting a pic for you.

 

I know absolutely nada, nothing about the luggage valet program as I have never used it.....

 

Have a fantastic cruise!!!! :D

[ckrobyn]

Thanks Robyn, we'll be on AOS again next February so if the ice show and production shows are the same I'll have more time for relaxing.:) Not so much rushing around.

 

If it's Hot Art, Cool Ice - then it is the same......yet again....*sigh*

[rupertfrog]

Robyn ... No problem at all .... I've enjoyed the pictures you've posted & now my cabin will be a surprise when I open the door which is not a bad thing!!!

[Ocean Boy]

The mini-golf course has 9 holes on the Adventure :o:p I know this because there was some serious whoooop ass going on when I played DH and DD!!!!!

 

Yeah, that is what I meant. I typed the 9 upside down.;)

 

If it's Hot Art, Cool Ice - then it is the same......yet again....*sigh*

 

And a very big *sigh* from me also. Now, just tell me that "Invitation to Dance" is still playing too.:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

[schmoopie17]

Here's a link to my AOS trip report from 2/27. It seems to have gotten buried on the board. Since Robyn didn't write a report, this may answer some of the questions on this thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1374830&highlight=

[pjcoach]

My family and I will be sailing on AOS, this will be my first time back with RCCL in awhile. Looking for advice on dining times. I currently have the late seating booked (8:15pm). We like to eat late so we do not have to rush back from any activities. However, if I switched over to My Time Dining, it is my understanding that I can pre-reserve dining times now for each day. Is that correct? Also, if I wanted to change my reservation time while on board, I could. Is that correct, and if so, when is the latest I can do that? Finally, what would be a good time to chose for our reservations to ensure that we can see teh shows going on that evening? Does anyone know what time the shows typically are?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Teeara]

I am SO sorry Theresa.......I didn't check in on the thread before you left on your cruise :(

I am sure you are having a fabulous time!!!! :D

 

Robyn, I don't leave for 3 more weeks, so go ahead and answer my questions ;):D

 

Here's my post again to help you out:

 

Welcome back! Have a couple of embarkation day questions for you.

 

1. What time did you arrive at the pier?

2. Since I'm assuming you got there early, was it hot and did they offer you water?

3. Are there bathroom facilities available outside if you need them before they let you inside or will they let you inside if necessary?

4. What time did they finally let you inside?

5. How long of a wait was it then until you were actually able to board the ship?

6. Are the cabins available at 1:00 or 1:30?

7. What did you do for sailaway? Topside? Inside? Your balcony?

 

 

Theresa

[schmoopie17]

Robyn, I don't leave for 3 more weeks, so go ahead and answer my questions ;):D

 

Here's my post again to help you out:

 

Welcome back! Have a couple of embarkation day questions for you.

 

1. What time did you arrive at the pier? 11:30

2. Since I'm assuming you got there early, was it hot and did they offer you water? It wasn't bad, you're standing in the shade. Didn't see any water.

3. Are there bathroom facilities available outside if you need them before they let you inside or will they let you inside if necessary? We weren't in line long enough to need them...didn't see any, though.

4. What time did they finally let you inside? We were on the ship by noon.

5. How long of a wait was it then until you were actually able to board the ship? 30 minutes

6. Are the cabins available at 1:00 or 1:30? Ours was ready by the time we checked it at 1:30.

7. What did you do for sailaway? Topside? Inside? Your balcony? Went to deck 12 outside

 

 

I know you asked Robyn, but thought I'd let you know our experience...;)

[TOlson70]

They do have a water station as you get closer to where the baggage porters are near the terminal entrance.

[Teeara]

I know you asked Robyn, but thought I'd let you know our experience...;)

 

Thanks Schmoopie ;):D

[Pricetag]

There is no luggage valet in San Juan. They are no longer running that program. We just got off AOS on 3/13 and were told there are no plans to bring it back. We took a taxi into OSJ, stored our luggage at Barrachina for $5.00 and walked around until we headed to the airport around 1:45. Enjoy your cruise!!!

[ckrobyn]

Yeah, that is what I meant. I typed the 9 upside down.;)

 

 

 

And a very big *sigh* from me also. Now, just tell me that "Invitation to Dance" is still playing too.:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

 

You are hereby given.....

 

AN INVITATION TO DANCE!

 

*sigh*

[ckrobyn]

My family and I will be sailing on AOS, this will be my first time back with RCCL in awhile. Looking for advice on dining times. I currently have the late seating booked (8:15pm). We like to eat late so we do not have to rush back from any activities. However, if I switched over to My Time Dining, it is my understanding that I can pre-reserve dining times now for each day. Is that correct? Also, if I wanted to change my reservation time while on board, I could. Is that correct, and if so, when is the latest I can do that? Finally, what would be a good time to chose for our reservations to ensure that we can see teh shows going on that evening? Does anyone know what time the shows typically are?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

If you switch to MTD a few things you should know...firstly, you have to pay your full gratuities upfront (some folks are not aware of this policy). Yes, you can pre-reserve the time you want to eat dinner - you just present yourself at the MTD desk on deck 5 and let them know. You can change that time once onboard as far as I know.

 

The shows are available for both early and late seating guests, so don't worry about missing anything!

[Ocean Boy]

You are hereby given.....

 

AN INVITATION TO DANCE!

 

*sigh*

 

Oh my......:rolleyes:

[rupertfrog]

Here's a link to my AOS trip report from 2/27. It seems to have gotten buried on the board. Since Robyn didn't write a report, this may answer some of the questions on this thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1374830&highlight=

 

 

Schmoopie ..... Thank you for reposting the link to your review!! I loved it ... So happy for Mrs. Schmoopie getting a lasting souvenier in St Thomas (I did on our first cruise when they gave my DH some free beer! - What a system!!)

 

We will be onboard with our first balcony this Sunday ... 3/20 ..... # more sleeps at home!

[Av8trNDancr]

Rupertfrog,

 

Any chance you could share the cruise compasses for your March 20th cruise? We are going on the April 3rd cruise for AoS and have been unable to find the cruise compasses on this board for the St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Croix, St. Marteen route.

[cookie225]

I have not, but last month's Golf Digest magazine's destination review was San Juan and they review a few courses. One is even free until they get it completely up and running, but I'm not sure how far it is from San Juan. It had me thinking I should be finding time to do some golfing in Puerto Rico before our AOS cruise!

 

Golf Digest Link

 

thank you sooo much for this info, ill pass it on to the hubby!

[cookie225]

Robyn.....did you get any formal nights pics????

[tatertot4]

We just got off the AOS on March 13 and had a blast. Stayed a day early in San Juan at the Intercontinental using Priceline for $120. Loved the place but the rooms are small and dated. We were upgraded to an ocean view. Our taxi driver took us to Old San Juan and there were long traffic backups because there was some street work going on. Looked like a variety of streets were affected with some sort of water/sewer work being done. Cars were making one big loop thru the area so our taxi driver let us off about 3 blocks from our destination...the Coach outlet. We had no problems walking to the store or finding a taxi later in the evening.

 

We went to the ship at 1230, stood in a 20 min line before we checked our luggage in.There were RCL staff members handing out luggage tags, health forms and selling cold water for $1 / bottle. Once inside the terminal we went to the right and got our Set Sail info completed at the checkin desks....took less than 5 min. Then we went to the little store in the terminal and bought water and Diet Coke/Diet Sprite for our cabin. They sold bottles of all types of alcohol as well as little bottles that we were told would go undetected thru the ships security. There was a final scanner once on the ship and we could have easily carried the smaller bottles in our pockets. The security guys even joked with us about bringing on alcohol. Had no problems bringing on the soda/water. Our cabin ( 1305 handicapped accessible, inside cabin and HUGE) wasn't ready but we were allowed to drop off our soda/water in our cabin.

 

Our ship stopped at Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, St Maartin and St Croix. I posted under the Ports of Call boards what we did on each island so I won't repeat it here.

 

We were on the Adventure last year and loved our waiter, Tyrone Davey. We found out he was doing MTD so we changed our dinner from the MDR to MTD with the host on Deck 4. There were no problems with our request and we had a great time with Tyrone and Merry every night.

 

RCL no longer does the Valet service of your luggage checked all the way thru to your destination. I was told by the staff that the customs agents didn't like that setup. We asked our cabin steward for the 'first off' luggage tags and put our luggage out the night before. In the morning we were told to go to the Lyric theater and wait to be called. We grew impatient so we just walked off with no questions asked, went thru customs and found our luggage all within 5 min. We were at the airport by 9:30 for a 12:30 flight home to WISCONSIN and colder temps.

 

I did save all the Cruise Compasses but have no idea how to get them scanned and posted on here. If anyone wants them...email me your address and I will mail them to you!

[rupertfrog]

Thanks for the comments Tatertot ... I'll be doing the same cruise on 3/20/11. Any other "hot" tips?

What did you do on each island (not necessarily a review .. just an idea of the activities)? We currently have nothing planned for St Maarten & St Croix so really curious what you did there!

Was there a Beatles show on your cruise? Where was the shop for water, soda etc pre-boarding? AND you could carry it on? Alcohol too?

[donovan52]

We just got off the AOS on March 13 and had a blast. Stayed a day early in San Juan at the Intercontinental using Priceline for $120. Loved the place but the rooms are small and dated. We were upgraded to an ocean view. Our taxi driver took us to Old San Juan and there were long traffic backups because there was some street work going on. Looked like a variety of streets were affected with some sort of water/sewer work being done. Cars were making one big loop thru the area so our taxi driver let us off about 3 blocks from our destination...the Coach outlet. We had no problems walking to the store or finding a taxi later in the evening.

 

We went to the ship at 1230, stood in a 20 min line before we checked our luggage in.There were RCL staff members handing out luggage tags, health forms and selling cold water for $1 / bottle. Once inside the terminal we went to the right and got our Set Sail info completed at the checkin desks....took less than 5 min. Then we went to the little store in the terminal and bought water and Diet Coke/Diet Sprite for our cabin. They sold bottles of all types of alcohol as well as little bottles that we were told would go undetected thru the ships security. There was a final scanner once on the ship and we could have easily carried the smaller bottles in our pockets. The security guys even joked with us about bringing on alcohol. Had no problems bringing on the soda/water. Our cabin ( 1305 handicapped accessible, inside cabin and HUGE) wasn't ready but we were allowed to drop off our soda/water in our cabin.

 

Our ship stopped at Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, St Maartin and St Croix. I posted under the Ports of Call boards what we did on each island so I won't repeat it here.

 

We were on the Adventure last year and loved our waiter, Tyrone Davey. We found out he was doing MTD so we changed our dinner from the MDR to MTD with the host on Deck 4. There were no problems with our request and we had a great time with Tyrone and Merry every night.

 

RCL no longer does the Valet service of your luggage checked all the way thru to your destination. I was told by the staff that the customs agents didn't like that setup. We asked our cabin steward for the 'first off' luggage tags and put our luggage out the night before. In the morning we were told to go to the Lyric theater and wait to be called. We grew impatient so we just walked off with no questions asked, went thru customs and found our luggage all within 5 min. We were at the airport by 9:30 for a 12:30 flight home to WISCONSIN and colder temps.

 

I did save all the Cruise Compasses but have no idea how to get them scanned and posted on here. If anyone wants them...email me your address and I will mail them to you!

 

Hi Tateertot, We are heading on this route the last week in April, and would love copies of the Cruise Compasses, as well as the menus if you have them. My addy is reg.donovan@ns.sympatico.ca

 

Many thanks,

 

Reg

[mtu_huskies]

I did save all the Cruise Compasses but have no idea how to get them scanned and posted on here. If anyone wants them...email me your address and I will mail them to you!

 

I wold appreciate the cruise compasses if you have them.... stevenc1000@hotmail.com

 

Thanks!

[CrusingJoe]

We just got off the AOS on March 13 and had a blast. Stayed a day early in San Juan at the Intercontinental using Priceline for $120. Loved the place but the rooms are small and dated. We were upgraded to an ocean view. Our taxi driver took us to Old San Juan and there were long traffic backups because there was some street work going on. Looked like a variety of streets were affected with some sort of water/sewer work being done. Cars were making one big loop thru the area so our taxi driver let us off about 3 blocks from our destination...the Coach outlet. We had no problems walking to the store or finding a taxi later in the evening.

 

We went to the ship at 1230, stood in a 20 min line before we checked our luggage in.There were RCL staff members handing out luggage tags, health forms and selling cold water for $1 / bottle. Once inside the terminal we went to the right and got our Set Sail info completed at the checkin desks....took less than 5 min. Then we went to the little store in the terminal and bought water and Diet Coke/Diet Sprite for our cabin. They sold bottles of all types of alcohol as well as little bottles that we were told would go undetected thru the ships security. There was a final scanner once on the ship and we could have easily carried the smaller bottles in our pockets. The security guys even joked with us about bringing on alcohol. Had no problems bringing on the soda/water. Our cabin ( 1305 handicapped accessible, inside cabin and HUGE) wasn't ready but we were allowed to drop off our soda/water in our cabin.

 

Our ship stopped at Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, St Maartin and St Croix. I posted under the Ports of Call boards what we did on each island so I won't repeat it here.

 

We were on the Adventure last year and loved our waiter, Tyrone Davey. We found out he was doing MTD so we changed our dinner from the MDR to MTD with the host on Deck 4. There were no problems with our request and we had a great time with Tyrone and Merry every night.

 

RCL no longer does the Valet service of your luggage checked all the way thru to your destination. I was told by the staff that the customs agents didn't like that setup. We asked our cabin steward for the 'first off' luggage tags and put our luggage out the night before. In the morning we were told to go to the Lyric theater and wait to be called. We grew impatient so we just walked off with no questions asked, went thru customs and found our luggage all within 5 min. We were at the airport by 9:30 for a 12:30 flight home to WISCONSIN and colder temps.

I did save all the Cruise Compasses but have no idea how to get them scanned and posted on here. If anyone wants them...email me your address and I will mail them to you!

 

It's people like you that cause long lines for the rest of us..... I'll bet your a chair hog to!