AOS The good the bad and the ugly!!!

[Scorpiorose]

A long review - submit questions and I'll be happy to answer.......

 

Flight - Spokane-Salt Lake-Atlanta-San Juan.....do I need to say it was a killer!!! Arrived 8:00ish in San Juan and stayed two nights at the Normandie....ok....basically this is a motel Six - San Juan style. It wasn't clean is my beef but was kind of cute, not a bad location, and if you stay there, go down to Reds (bar) ask for a real martini and it's a killer! Went next door to the Hilton - beautiful beach there and free to use, no on bothered us!!!!

 

Walked around OSJ - can I say.....wear tennis shoes, we both got blistered due to the uneven brick streets. Loved the shopping, toured the forts, fun and very interesting.

 

Found the Coach and DB outlets, found a good purse there and wallet in DB, not great deals over all but and sale table with some good barguins. This isn't a mall per say as I had pictured, but to stored tucked in with all the rest of the little operations and side walk cafes!

 

I didn't feel comfortable running there alone, but some ppl were running together there. Take water and an umbrella, short but heavy rain fall does happen!

 

Embarking: went early 11:00 got right on, our room was ready.....had lunch windjammer (always ok) good service.

 

First day Aruba - let me say, I had a cold this day so I might be grouchy but....did not enjoy! Everyone said rent a jeep, so we did, everyone said rent from royal, so we did! When we got there, no royal ppl at their stand, everyone else was open. The gal next to their stand called them and they guy talked to me and said this other guy would rent of a jeep! HUH:mad: , so we went with him. We waited for 1 1/2 hrs. while everyone rode away in a beautiful jeep. I finally said, we are giving up on you.....they yelled at eachother for a while in spanish and produced what can only be described as a jelopy! Check engine on, no turn signal, ripped seats, dirty dirty dirty.....we took it! I wasn't happy, this wasn't what I had signed up for.....it did get us back in the end thank goodness, had to pay the $85 though. The comp that took over for royal was top car or something like that. We drove around, the map provided was, a joke, we got lost, no street signs, very very poor, scary poor actually. We've both traveled a lot and this was, we could be robbed here. I wasn't comfortable in the inner part, which we never intended to go to. Anyway, near the living areas we were always offered drugs. We did manage to find the light house, nice little sight with a fine restaurant near it. We rode down to the better beaches and swam there too. We stopped and found a road side area that sold ARUBA rum.....get it, it was the best coconut rum we've ever had - we brought some on board without a problem and drank it the whole trip.

 

Curacao - love love love this lsland....Our private tour "Bounty" did not show up as they had told us! They said they'd send a taxi and didn't so we hopped on a taxi and asked to go to San Jon??? beach resort on the dutch side. You had to pay $3per person to get in, $3 per person for a chair but it was worth every penny and guider (they most often prefer Dutch money at this resort which thru us a bit because we didn't know the exchange or money)!!! It was beautiful, not crowded, the best snorkeling right off the beach, water toys available and a great bar/beach resort area! Some, ok, a bit of topless sunbathing but so what. We sat and sipped our expensive mojitos, yummy, DH snorkeled.....loved this place. Taxi ride was I think $20 or so! Nice relaxind day. They called for a taxi from the bar for us. When we were done we went back to town to shop, oh my gosh, the best beach is right down town, clean beautiful, right next to the board walk and fun out doors restaurants and bars. This was a fantastic beach area, loved it. We went to the fireman's bar, not so good food, but cheap beer.

 

Sea Day - love AOS - so big, clean, friendly staff, impressive. Not as much good shopping on board but that was ok. The ice show was fantastic and very different, didn't make it to the other shows. Ate in the dinning room, others at our table said the food wasn't as good, but I beg to differ! I had fish every night, one night not so good, rest great! So basically some great, some not so great a few sent back! I always ordered the sugar free and they we always good. The service was fantastic, friendly, helpful! The pool area was always crowded, go early to get a seat in the solarium, I never got a good spot there, no kids, nice adult relaxing place there. I ran on the tread mills, saw ppl running on the track, 20 laps = 1 mile. The tread mills arent as wide as mine at home, but ok, once you get used to it. Seek out the drinking fountains, they are there but hard to find. I tried to go at odd times like 4:00 during early seating and before my late seating and that worked well. We liked the partied in the center area of the ship. They had the captains party there and everyone was walking around all dressed up with champange(sp) it was fun. Ppl really dressed up this first night, I'd wished I had dress up more that first night, they were dressed to the nines! The second night as well though. Lots of spots for pictures. There is one photographer who takes different pictures all they time. It seemed many brought certain clothes and had group pictures like you'd have in a studio taken. He had a white back ground and some families all had white on and jeans and bare feet, very cool. I wished I had know and I would have brought something like that to have a studio type picture taken.

 

On board I bought a watch, anne kl., not much else really to buy on the ship. Jewelry wasn't that impressive when you saw all the offerings in port.

 

St. Martin - the best ever!!! We took everyones suggestions and went to orient beach, taxi depends on how many ppl you have in the cab, they have it all set up so you don't have to ask ppl to ride with you, you just go to the sign that is for orient and who ever is standing there too can go with you. We got off at Kokoi, saw how beautiful it was and stayed put. $3 per person for a chair, we drank our rum, no one seemed to mind, walked down to the nude beach, i! yi! yi!.....doggie, that was weird seeing totally naked ppl walking around, sunning, so dark and exposed, no one seemed the least bit worried about sun cancer! We didn't stay long there and near Kokoi there was some topless but nothing like further down. We stayed 3 hours, put on sun screen, but that night DH was burned soooo badly, I have one word for you.....reapply!!!! We are home now and still peeling. When we were done we went shopping and instead of going into one of the nicest and fancy jewelry stores I go into the mom and pop stores, believe me, they have the same pieces, they just cost less. We found a great story owed by a married east indian couple! I was looking for a certain diamond ring to match my wedding band and they had it, very good price, great ppl, DH bought a great silver chain, great price, real stuff too, so dont be afraid to try some of the lesser "out there" jewelry stores! She sized it for me too in 20 min. Of course I watched it being done, never allow anyone to take your newly purchased stuff in a back room, that is just wise. They had no problem with me doing this and even said good for you. While we waited they served us rum, of course....:D

 

St. Thomas - We were just so tired by this point we didn't go to the beach, three beach days was all DH could stand and he was so badly burned. We walked all around the stores, took a taxi $3 per to the shopping area! We went into nearly every store, but it was 80% jewelry stores. Look around and you'll find in the inner part of the shopping area, small brick pathways lined with finer shops and some cool cafes, go up and down those, it's the heart of an older building structure, cool stuff to see. Main stores I found were Black Market White House, Chache....a few artsy type places.....we went back to the ship and just sat by the nearly empty ship sitting in the most beautiful bay dotted with sail boats.....we sat on the deck, had drinks (we hadn't done that with all the ppl but that day with everyone out we had it to ourselves!!!) We sat in our balcony too and sipped rum and enjoyed watching the ships come and go.

 

We took off at a snails pace for San Juan that night, it's very close so no hurry. When we woke up we were there. Disembarking was the best ever!!! We had to go through the show your passport the day before when entering St. Thomas so customs hardly looked at anyone, they just collected our forms. Our luggage was there, we requested early section 1 8:00 call for getting off the ship. We were in a taxi by 9:00 it was so easy. The hardest part was that instead of going to their assigned places to wait, ppl were lined up everywhere in the halls, on the stairs, blocking the way. They didn't move either and when our section was called we had to exit nearly single file, couldn't believe ppl can be so dumb.

 

We arrived at the SJ airport very early, dont forget to have your luggage screened for product and a sticker on them before trying to check your bags. We then had a 3 hr wait, in that time the placed filled up like crazy, all seats taken, but.....it was ok and all went well with the flight home.

 

HIGHLIGHTS - No babies with diapers seen, no mean or rude PR's, some were loud at dinner, but hey, it didn't offend too much. I wouldn't want to be on a cruise that was all quince celebrations though, I could see how that would annoy. Loved the ship, staff, ports in all!!! Speaker system was bad, couldn't every hear the captain! The pool side music was fun!

ADVISE - Take it all in stride, go with the flow, enjoy the beauty, the ship, relax (this can be exhausting cruise)! I'd go again and do and see different things, it's a great ship and intin.

 

Questions anyone!!! I'll post the pictures tonight so they should be up tomorrow. :)

[mckinna]

Thanks for the review. We're going on Adventure in August, though it is the Barbados, Antigua, etc route, but just reading it is getting me excited about our trip.

 

Regarding Aruba- sorry you didn't have a good day there. DH and I think Aruba has been our very favorite and most beautiful stop in all the cruises we have done. We did an organized jeep tour through RCI and had a blast. I'll keep those vendors you mentioned in mind if we ever go back.

 

Don't you hate to be back home?!

[bethaniesmom]

how were the crowds trying to exit the ship on port days? when we did explorer several years ago the first port day was murder, people jamming the stairs and halls to get off...it got better as the week went on....i am thinking we might try to book excursions so that we won't be in that kind of rush!

 

what kind of lines to go thru customs in st thomas?

 

glad you said about the agricultural inspection at the airport, i had forgotten about that.

 

WE GO SOON!!!!!

 

Beverly

[Scorpiorose]

Alicia - wow, I am actually glad to be home, even if it snowed on me today....:( but can't get those beautiful beaches out of my mind!!!

 

Our poor puppy broke a leg while we were gone, it's so sad seeing her with a cast on.

 

We've been through enough now that if something goes wrong in port we always have a plan B - usually grabbing a cab for the beach!:p

 

Beverly - we didn't experience bad lines at all while getting off in ports. I have learned either books with the cruise line so you get off easier and it's all organized for you OR just get off when you get off and go have breakfast and dont be in a rush. If you book private tours have the ones that at at 9 or 10 so you dont have to be rushed, I think this is why we didnt encounter any crowds. A more relaxed way to start the day too! It may have been crowded at 8, not sure as I was having breakfast then usually!:p

 

When you go to St. Thomas you have to show the port authorities your passports, dont be in a rush to do this either. Theyy do it at 8 - 9:00 am. You go to the dining area, they will announce where, and if you go at 8:45 like we did, line wasn't bad at all and we went in showed our passports and walked out.

 

Customs in San Juan was a matter of giving a guy our customes paper and walking out, kind of surprised us really! Of course your luggage is drug and bomb sniffed before you can pick it up as always.

 

Yep, we waited in line to check our luggage only to find out that it had to be produce checked first....so back, but as we were there so early no one was there really.

 

You'll have a great time, a cruise is what you make it!!! Dont sweat the things that go wrong and bask in all that goes so right!!!

 

Pictures up to morrow so check back to this thread and I'll have a web site, I took lots of the ship.

[lauriedun]

Thanks for the review! We are going in March 2009-same itinerary. I appreciate the tips! We loved Aruba and can't wait to get back-I hope you get a chance to return and have a good experience.

 

I had to laugh about the part about the poor sound system. It seems every cruise I have been on-between a poor sound system and heavily accented captain-all I hear is "blah blah blah blah..Have a blah blah day" :)

[Scorpiorose]

I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself, this ship is amazing really!!! I forgot, free champagne at the art auction....dont skip that!

[Martin and Lindsey]

Thanks for the review. We're going on Adventure in August, though it is the Barbados, Antigua, etc route, but just reading it is getting me excited about our trip.

 

Regarding Aruba- sorry you didn't have a good day there. DH and I think Aruba has been our very favorite and most beautiful stop in all the cruises we have done. We did an organized jeep tour through RCI and had a blast. I'll keep those vendors you mentioned in mind if we ever go back.

 

Don't you hate to be back home?!

 

Can you tell us more about the RCI jeep tour that you did in Aruba. We are wondering about doing a jeep tour there in the morning and then going to Eagle Beach to relax in the afternoon.

[mckinna]

Can you tell us more about the RCI jeep tour that you did in Aruba. We are wondering about doing a jeep tour there in the morning and then going to Eagle Beach to relax in the afternoon.

 

There were 4 people to each vehicle- open-type Jeeps. We did an island tour, stopping at different points along the way. Saw the lighthouse, etc. We really enjoyed it- it was a good tour. Don't remember how long it lasted- it was several years ago, but I would recommend it.

[txskier]

thanks for the review

 

we are on AOS in almost 5 weeks!!

[maggieq]

Just want to let you know (unless someone else caught this)...if you keep your cruise tags on your luggage, you do NOT have to go thru the agriculture inspection as suggested in original ops post. We learned this after our second cruise from PR.

[mchin]

Thanks for the review. Sorry to hear about the problems in Aruba, but sounds like you made the best of it and had a great vacation. We are leaving in less than two weeks. Can't wait to see the pictures!

[Chappers149]

my family also encountered problems on aruba with a jeep safari. One of our jeeps couldn't get past 2nd gear and the other ones roof came off. wasn't awful but made it more intresting, just a warning

 

Also very bumpy tracks, not for people with bad backs, my mum was stiff the next morning

[Scorpiorose]

ours wasn't a tour, we rented the jeep on our own.....from Royal Rental.....they stood us up and passed us off to Top Car which was who gave us the jelopy! We paid the same 85 that we originally agreed to for a new jeep. We didn't feel like we had a choice really.

[Sports Dr]

Was there a poolside sailaway party with the grills, ribs, etc?

Was luggage express on debarkation an option?