Toonjie's AOS Review

[toonjie]

Toonjie-- Thank you for your wonderful review and congratulations on your beautiful baby! :)

 

I tried to private message you, but it says the administrator has disabled private messaging! I was hoping to get the menus from you if that's possible...let me know and I will share my e-mail.

 

I see we're cruising at the same time in December! I was wondering what your thoughts are for our formal nights since it is over New Year's....do you think they'll make the formal night Wednesday instead of Tuesday? My main question is with this holiday, when is the best time going to be to try Portofinos, if you have any opinion. My parents are reluctant to try it, so I know they won't miss a formal night since they enjoy the dining room so much...I'm hoping to find an off-night to get them to go.

 

I'm sure you have your hands full, but let me know your thoughts when you get a chance!

 

Thanks!

I wonder if the pm system was just down? I know they are adding some new stuff like the friends thing, maybe it only lets you pm friends now? Try again or just email my cc screen name at AOL and I'll send them to you. Normally the weakest night is Wed. IMHO. The formal nights are normally Mon. and Thurs. but, as you say, that may change since Wed. is NYE. I would hit Portofino on either Tues or Fri. since the food is usually better on formal nights and there will be a special menu for NYE. You will love Portofino, the food is just great! Tell your parents toonjie says you have to go! :D

[toonjie]

Thanks for the great review and pictures. I will be on her in a few weeks. Congratulations on your little one.

 

Thanks! I wish I were going on her in 2 weeks! The leaves are almost all down now here in CT and it is rainy and dreary, at least it's under 2 months until we hit the Mariner!

[weary traveler]

i know its a little late.. but i just wanted to tell you i am saving your thread.. i worked in condado for three years and lived in a waterfront condo right around the corner from the Marriott Stellaris.. i ate dinner weekly at the Marriott and my favorite pizza place across the street.. i never gave Puerto Rico a second thot until i had the chance to live there in Condado.. your pictures gave me a great smile and returned some lovely memories of a beautiful area and beautiful people.. congrats again and thank you

 

Paul

[toonjie]

i know its a little late.. but i just wanted to tell you i am saving your thread.. i worked in condado for three years and lived in a waterfront condo right around the corner from the Marriott Stellaris.. i ate dinner weekly at the Marriott and my favorite pizza place across the street.. i never gave Puerto Rico a second thot until i had the chance to live there in Condado.. your pictures gave me a great smile and returned some lovely memories of a beautiful area and beautiful people.. congrats again and thank you

 

Paul

 

Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it! I wish we were down there right now, we're having an awful winter with more snow predicted tomorrow. I just got back from a great cruise on the Mariner, but could use some more warm weather!

[NWSW]

I'm so glad this thread got brought back up to the top. I had the most enjoyable time this evening reading the reviews and looking at the pictures. Your last towel animal is now my computer background :)

 

This was the most thorough, well-written, fun review I have read. Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences!

[weary traveler]

Funny I did the same with her picture of the pool in the back of the Marriott.. it is amazing all the newly "reconstruction" since i was there last.. you didnt eat at the Caribe or Via Appia across the street did you?

The picture of the coffee shop was my favorite.. i remember ordering "cafe con leche" with my corn muffin almost every morning.. lol and the Pig Roast weekly was to die for out back. I suggest this place to everyone I know that is sailing out of PR for pre or post stay.. Thanks again!

Paul

[weary traveler]

I know toonjie i'm just above ya there in Plymouth MA so i'll get what you get.. only good thing is im outta here wednesday for a cruise out of Tampa... cant wait!

[toonjie]

I'm so glad this thread got brought back up to the top. I had the most enjoyable time this evening reading the reviews and looking at the pictures. Your last towel animal is now my computer background :)

 

This was the most thorough, well-written, fun review I have read. Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences!

 

Thanks so much! Was that the 2 swans with just the reading lights on them? If so, that was the most romantic setting we've ever come back to on a cruise. Glad you like reading it, I'm trying to get up the time to write up our Mariner cruise from last week, it's going to snow today, so that should motivate me!

[NWSW]

Thanks so much! Was that the 2 swans with just the reading lights on them? If so, that was the most romantic setting we've ever come back to on a cruise. Glad you like reading it, I'm trying to get up the time to write up our Mariner cruise from last week, it's going to snow today, so that should motivate me!

 

Oh good! I can't wait to read another....and no, it was the elephant (?) with sunglasses :D

[fungirl28]

Thanks for posting your review. You pictures almost made me feel like I was there(almost:p) and I can't wait to sail on Adventure.:D Do you have the compass from your sailing?

[toonjie]

Funny I did the same with her picture of the pool in the back of the Marriott.. it is amazing all the newly "reconstruction" since i was there last.. you didnt eat at the Caribe or Via Appia across the street did you?

The picture of the coffee shop was my favorite.. i remember ordering "cafe con leche" with my corn muffin almost every morning.. lol and the Pig Roast weekly was to die for out back. I suggest this place to everyone I know that is sailing out of PR for pre or post stay.. Thanks again!

Paul

 

Glad you like the pictures. We haven't eaten right across the street ever since we are always there for so short a time and we always want to hit our favorites in OSJ like the Parrot Club. Next time we'll have to try them.

[toonjie]

I know toonjie i'm just above ya there in Plymouth MA so i'll get what you get.. only good thing is im outta here wednesday for a cruise out of Tampa... cant wait!

 

Looks like more snow today! I've only been back from my Mariner cruise for a week and we've had a freezing rain storm, an ice storm, snow and now more snow. I'm ready for another cruise already! :)

[cruisinkitten]

Just had to say that I loved your review and it made me all the more excited for our cruise on the AOS in september. Can't wait to read your next review. I am dying to see what it was like to cruise with a baby. My DH and I are planning on starting a family next year and I hope that doesn't mean the end of cruising for a few years.

Rachel

[toonjie]

Just had to say that I loved your review and it made me all the more excited for our cruise on the AOS in september. Can't wait to read your next review. I am dying to see what it was like to cruise with a baby. My DH and I are planning on starting a family next year and I hope that doesn't mean the end of cruising for a few years.

Rachel

 

Thanks! We ended up not taking the baby mostly because of the way the cost broke down with the cabins. We had my mom and originally the 3 big kids in one cabin and then it would have been me, DW and Josiah in the other, but he, (we, :)) would have to pay $1,200 for him. We thought we would take him on a later cruise when mom would be in a cabin by herself and have to pay the single supplement, that way he would only pay $200. We wished we would have just splurged and taken him. There were tons of really small babies on this cruise, there may have been many like us that were grandfathered in and didn't have to worry about the new 6 month old to cruise rule, or else they were just smaller than Josiah is, which could be because he is pretty big for 4 months. (18lbs, 26 inches long) Anyway, thinking about it now, as long as you plan well, I think it would be no problem with a small baby on a cruise, DW would have probably just chillled on the balcony while he slept and kept him in the shade by the pool on sea days and maybe skipped the ports or some of them.

DW spent the vacation at her family's house in northern New Hampshire, at one point when we called from port, we were 100 degrees warmer than they were at -13! :D:D Boy did she wish she was there then!

[MARTYsmom]

Looks like more snow today! I've only been back from my Mariner cruise for a week and we've had a freezing rain storm, an ice storm, snow and now more snow. I'm ready for another cruise already! :)

 

 

I feel your pain we've had about 7 inches so far and they say we coudl have another 2 by Sunday am.

 

Hope dw and baby are well.

 

I passed on your review to another who will be sailing on AOS with us. She seemed to need help with hotels pre-cruise. You were such a great help with me getting my bid on priceline.

 

I will go over your review later today so I can get thru this winter. All the pics and info make the snow go away for a time.

 

Oh well back to my saturday chores - cleaning/dusting/laundy. That's why i love cruising - a week away from all the things we must do.

[alba216]

Wow...Im so glad I found this thread. Thanks for all the great info and images. Toonjie I had a question about you post trip. You mentioned you were going to Culebrita/Culebra with East Island Tours. I am thinking for our post cruise of staying in Fajardo and visiting Flamenco Beach & maybe the Reef at Carlos Rosario. Did you ever make it to Culebra, or visited it on one of your past visits. If so let me know what your thoughts were on the beach and the reef. Thanks

[toonjie]

Wow...Im so glad I found this thread. Thanks for all the great info and images. Toonjie I had a question about you post trip. You mentioned you were going to Culebrita/Culebra with East Island Tours. I am thinking for our post cruise of staying in Fajardo and visiting Flamenco Beach & maybe the Reef at Carlos Rosario. Did you ever make it to Culebra, or visited it on one of your past visits. If so let me know what your thoughts were on the beach and the reef. Thanks

 

Yes, we did and thanks to the weather we got to go to Flamenco Beach so I can tell you all about it.

First, East Wind Tours was great, they have a really nice catamaran that is totally enclosed and there is a bar that is available for any kind of drink the whole day. The weather was rough, even for the catamaran so after our first snorkeling stop of about an hour, we went to Flamenco Beach when the tour usually goes to Culebrita, a small island off of Culebra, when the weather is nice. Flamenco Beach is very, very nice, definitely one of the best beaches in the Caribbean. It is unbelievable that it was a bombing range for the navy just a few years ago! There are still a few vehicles around on the beach, like a WWI tank that were used as targets. It was definitely the nicest beach of our trip except for Anguilla.

We had a nice lunch on the boat and then we had around 2 hours to enjoy the beach before heading home. We had a really great day. Unfortunately, we were supposed to do East Islands biobay tour to Vieques, but it was cancelled because not enough people signed up. I would definitely take that trip the next time we are in PR, it's the only biobay trip out to Viques without staying on the island over night.

(Unfortunately, I didn't get any great pictures of Flamenco Beach because we had to swim to shore from the boat and I didn't want to risk the camera.)

[toonjie]

Thanks for posting your review. You pictures almost made me feel like I was there(almost:p) and I can't wait to sail on Adventure.:D Do you have the compass from your sailing?

 

I have the compasses, but you should be able to find more recent ones on cruisedailies.com. Let me know how you make out.

[billiebob]

We are booked for our second cruise on AOS in October and can't wait! Your review has been wonderful and your photos are amazing! Thanks for sharing. We loved our first cruise and all the friends we met through CC. We will be travelling with two of those couples on our next cruise too! Gotta love that!! :D We had a Promenade cabin last time but have a balcony booked this time around and are really looking forward to that. :)

[toonjie]

We are booked for our second cruise on AOS in October and can't wait! Your review has been wonderful and your photos are amazing! Thanks for sharing. We loved our first cruise and all the friends we met through CC. We will be travelling with two of those couples on our next cruise too! Gotta love that!! :D We had a Promenade cabin last time but have a balcony booked this time around and are really looking forward to that. :)

 

Thanks! You'll love having a balcony, there's nothing like eating breakfast out there while pulling into port!

[MomtoCCC]

First of all, congrats on your baby boy!

 

I loved reading this report.

 

We are going to PR for a land vacation next month and we are staying in a private condo at the Wyndam Rio Mar. We are going to do the rain forest, bio bay kayak, and a snorkel day. Plus just hanging out at the beach and pool.

 

Any other good suggestions for restaurants in the area? We will have a rental car. Is there a good grocery store nearby to get breakfast items?

 

Thanks.

[toonjie]

First of all, congrats on your baby boy!

 

I loved reading this report.

 

We are going to PR for a land vacation next month and we are staying in a private condo at the Wyndam Rio Mar. We are going to do the rain forest, bio bay kayak, and a snorkel day. Plus just hanging out at the beach and pool.

 

Any other good suggestions for restaurants in the area? We will have a rental car. Is there a good grocery store nearby to get breakfast items?

 

Thanks.

 

Thanks! You will love the Rio Mar Resort! There is a supermarket on route 3, if you turn right (towards San Juan) when you exit the resort it is about a 10 minute drive. There may be others as well, but we went there and stocked up on breakfast stuff and put it in the mini fridge. Go on to the San Juan board and ask- both RayinPR and Coquishideaway live in Rio Grande and they can recommend loads of places. There is also a bakery right on the corner of Rte 3 and Rio Mar drive where you can get breakfast , I forget if I mentioned it in the review.

[fungirl28]

I have the compasses, but you should be able to find more recent ones on cruisedailies.com. Let me know how you make out.

 

Thanks. I checked there but the compasses they had was for 2007.

[Linecas]

I found this review when I was searching to see if I wanted to keep 1688. Thanks for your input, I have decided to keep it. We will be on the AOS October 4th, 2009 for our 10th Anniversary. Also, we had a baby boy 8/28/08. Amazing how fast they grow. Good luck with your little one.

[toonjie]

I found this review when I was searching to see if I wanted to keep 1688. Thanks for your input, I have decided to keep it. We will be on the AOS October 4th, 2009 for our 10th Anniversary. Also, we had a baby boy 8/28/08. Amazing how fast they grow. Good luck with your little one.

 

Thanks and you are going to love 1688. We just returned from the Mariner and had a regular side balcony cabin again and they just can't compare! It is so nice to be able to see what is going on on both sides of the ship at the same time and to see the islands fade away into the horizon as you sail away. The extra space in 1688 really will spoil you, especially on the balcony. Congratulations on your 10th anniversary and your new addition and let us know any questions you have.