AOS 12/12 Bummer...

[puertorican]

Ok, so most of you said "that you will not take another cruise from SJ" because there are too many "locals" in the ship. So we all can understand that you would not ever sail from a ship leaving from Spain, because there is cheaper for the Europeans to take a ship than you? It is packed with people from different places of Europe. Lot of cultures.

 

If you see, the only difference in a price for a cabin here in Puerto Rico is the air transportation, the cruise fare still the same. About the cultural thing, yes, we are very cultural different than you but for worse or good we share the same citizenship.

[skiiergirl]

We love sailing from PR. We have done it for many years (except this year) and plan on doing it again twice next year. Yes, there are generally quite a few locals on board. I have no problem with that. I do agree that rather than selling higher category cabins at hugely discounted prices they should upgrade people who paid the higher prices and then resell the lower categories at the cheap rates. To be honest, yes we have encountered rude PR people on the ships that probably got reduced rates. (Don't flame me yet...) We have also encountered rude people from Great Britain and most definitely from the mainland US. I do believe that people from other places do tend to let their children go in pools they shouldn't. I have also seen adults (from many places) reach into the buffet and pick up food without tongs. Gross!!!! Again, we love sailing out of PR and have no problem with locals being onboard. The only thing I didn't like about it (don't know if they are still doing it or not) is delaying late seating until 9 pm to accomodate the PR passengers. We have sailed this itinerary many times with late seating at 8:30. Last yr RCI switched it to 9 pm and when I inquired as to why I was told because the PR passengers eat later and this is to accodate them.

[abridalmaven]

We sailed on the AOS from San Juan and LOVED it and plan on the Serenade from San Juan in April. But then again I am from NY and we are not the types who are so isolated from ther real world and get offended when people other than they are used to seeing everyday are around:rolleyes: . And then again when I was in a certain state one year I was apalled at the the inabilty of 90% of the store clerks ability to get anything right. And if you repeated your request, they got nasty, now that is what I call RUDE! But hey I am from NY and the whole world thinks we are rude ( wanna bet?) HEHEHE;)

 

I am sorry and I am sure this will start some flaming but some people are so intolerant that they should never leave their own neighborhood, lest they meet others who are brought up differently. FOR INSTANCE: If smoking really offends someone NEVER go to Germany, there are cigarette machines on the corners and ash trays everywhere.

And as for prices, it is none of your business who paid what, if you paid too much, then blame your TA. And Fla. residents get a discount too, so do not sail from there either! And NEVER ask what someone next to you on plane paid for theitr airfare, you will have a heart attack!

My husband just got his cruise consultant license and one of the perks is that we can book last minute at reduced rates, would that also offend you?

[happysinglemom]

We sailed AOS in August out of SJ, and we had an awesome time. Dirty bathrooms???? Never saw a dirty ANYTHING on that ship - it was sparkling clean the entire cruise. The staff were awesome, the meals were outstanding, and our cabin was perfect. The other pax were terrific. I'd do the same cruise over in a heartbeat.

[steve & judy]

We are signed up for the M&M party, I think we were around 28 and 29 to sign up, see you on the ship.

 

Hey Steve & Judy,

 

 

There are several of us that have "met" via the following board. Weare all on the 1/23/2005 AOS sailing. Please join us there and also sign up for the Meet & Mingle.

 

AOS 1/23/2005 Board: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=15800&page=3&pp=25

 

 

Meet & Mingle sign up:

 

https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/ccEntry.do

 

Mark

[lschrage]

We, too, were just on the AOS (12/5 sailing). San Juan was fine. We arranged our own pre/post cruise hotel and our own air. Old San Juan was very beautiful as was El Morro. My only complain about the city itself was the slow service you encountered everyplace you went.

 

The ship itself was fine. The service was great, as always. The public bathrooms were always clean or being cleaned. Yes, there were large congragations of local puerto ricans each evening in the lobby bar (which were generally pretty loud), but if you didn't want to listen to it, there are plenty of other places to go. The windjammer was always crowded, but my beef with the windjammer is with Royal Caribbean, not with the local puerto ricans. If the windjammer is going to constantly be that busy, then put the staff up there to deal with it so that they can keep things restocked, including dishes and silverware, and while you're at it, see if you can make your food a little more appetizing.

 

The pool decks were fine. We never had problems finding chairs. Yes, there were the ocassional conga lines going on, but you could tune it out if you didn't want to listen. They weren't any more annoying than listening to the Bingo announcements.

 

And as far as what the local puerto rican paid for their trip...who the heck cares? I don't need to know what my neighbor paid, and they don't need to know what I paid. The important thing is that I enjoy the vacation that I paid for. If your enjoyment of your vacation is based off what the person paid next to you, then nothing will make you happy. When I go to Disneyworld, I don't stop to ask every third person if they are Florida residents and what kind of deals they got. I enjoy the parks for what they are, not how much I got in the gates for. I also know that there will always be resident discounts of some sort wherever I travel to. That's great for those that can make use of the discounts. Unfortunately, I am from Michigan, and we have no discounts, travel or otherwise (although I did attend the University of Michigan which gave me an in-state tuition rate which is half that of out-of-state tuition). Maybe I'm just used to the fact that there will always be inequities in life, but what a local puerto rican paid for their cruise isn't something to me that rates up there as something worth worrying about...

 

We liked our cruise, and the itinerary, so much that we re-booked the same cruise for the following year. For those that prefer not to travel out of San Juan, so be it. Enjoy whichever cruise you go on next, wherever it may depart from.

 

Lynne

[mammallama]

We also sailed on the AOS out of SJ twice, loved it so much the first time we did it again. Yes there were alot of people from Puerto Rico on the ship, 2 of them were our tablemates. I enjoyed them immensely in spite of the language barrier. One year the families were celebrating the daughters 'coming out' party on board the ship, must have been 500 beautifully dressed young ladies filling the stairwell one evening. The second time we went, there was a group of high schools having their prom on board the ship. These kids saved and held fund raisers all 4 years of school in order to be able to go on the cruise.

[celtic selke]

I sailed on the AOS out of San Juan twice. Both times I had a fabulous cruise. I loved the ship, the crew, and my fellow passengers. I will say that on the first cruise, the majority of the passengers were Puerto Rican (10/03). The second cruise, (3/04), the majority were American.

 

I am confused by this. Aren't the people of Puerto Rico also Americans?

 

celtic

[antomoli]

Suzie500K,

 

My post was not specifically addressed to you and I did not mentioned your name on it. I´m sorry if you felt alluded.

 

My experience in this ship has been somewhat different from other´s. In all my cruises the ship has always been clean (bathrooms, cabin, hallways, etc.), although some areas, like carpeting, are begining to show some wear. The crew have always been corteous and willing to lend a helping hand, but, in my last cruise, our cabin attendance was like a movie character, the invisible man; never to be seen.

 

The Windjammer was always very crowded, but food was always readily available. Lines were inevitable, but you have to expect them, after all, there are 3,200 passengers aboard and most of them use the Windjammer for breakfast and lunch.

 

I did not encounter any rude, obnoxious, passengers and, if there was any, I did not notice him/her, since I bought my cruise ticket to enjoy my cruise, and not to have it ruined by anyone.

[hstrybuf]

I am confused by this. Aren't the people of Puerto Rico also Americans?celtic

I believe that is technically correct. I'm still debating about whether or not to take another cruise out of San Juan. Our last cruise from there was a good one. The locals did take over some of the public areas for private parties and we had more rude people in general on that cruise. It's the long flights that really bother me. I got a price I was happy with for the cruise, but the cost of the flight was the killer.

[Heidict]

I was on the AOS on the 12.5.04 cruise and loved it. I saw staff everywhere, including the windjammer. Yes, the windjammer could be busy at times, but so is any buffet you go to in Vegas, or here at the casinos in CT. As a matter of fact the windjammer had a smaller line then the buffets at the casinos and alot more people working there.

 

I never experienced a dirty public bathroom on the ship. And I enjoyed my fellow passengers, regardless of where they came from. As a matter of fact we ran into people from all over.....Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Canada, Europe and other carribbean islands. Everyone was relaxing and having a good time. Unfortunalty some people define a good time differantly. I'm not talking about getting drunk and causing a scene. I'm talking about the conga line in the pool area. Seems some of the "americans" had an issue with that. Go figure.

 

I love Puerto Rico (we were there 9 days prior to the cruise) and the Puerto Rican people. My husband and I would go back in a heartbeat.

[Aldeya]

Ok, so most of you said "that you will not take another cruise from SJ" because there are too many "locals" in the ship. So we all can understand that you would not ever sail from a ship leaving from Spain, because there is cheaper for the Europeans to take a ship than you? It is packed with people from different places of Europe. Lot of cultures.

 

If you see, the only difference in a price for a cabin here in Puerto Rico is the air transportation, the cruise fare still the same. About the cultural thing, yes, we are very cultural different than you but for worse or good we share the same citizenship.

AGAIN, and AGAIN, and AGAIN... Where in the world did you see in the OP ANY mentioning about "locals" ? How in the world did you get to the "racist" conclusions???

 

UNREAL, as OP said...

[FinelyCruising]

Here we go again...

 

There is no doubt there are issues with RCI and the sailings out of SJ. This appears to be a practice they use to fill the ships.

 

Simply put, it is well enough known around here on these boards that it should suprise no one, and anyone who thinks they will not have a good time or be comfortable in a particular environment ought to sail out of other ports with a different demographic entirely. ;)

[everyotheryear]

Suzi,

I just wanted to say thank you for your opinion. I am sorry others don't like to hear opinions that differ from their own. I don't understand why people get so upset. It would be nice if everyone would just say their opinions without bashing the other persons. This is not the first thread on this subject. And like you, the others that had the same opinion has you, also got bashed on their threads. I am going on the AOS in March and appreciate all the input I can get, so I will know what to expect.

Thank you again.

[jouset_1345]

Here we go again...

 

There is no doubt there are issues with RCI and the sailings out of SJ. This appears to be a practice they use to fill the ships.

 

 

This appears to be a practice they use to fill the ships :

 

Ok , Just want to say that not all the Puerto Ricans or Locals onboard paid less for the cruise that what you do , the last minutes come one or two weeks before the cruise and many many puerto Rican clients book their cruises up to one year in advance ,. There are last minutes deals But the ones we have here are the same someone in chicago can have at the same time . an example , not all the cruises have cabins avaible for those last minutes deals . and if there was one its ok you cant have it . but think cant 2 or 5 cabins fill the ship and ruin your vacation ? .Many Puerto Ricans read this Forum and believe they are calling to see whats happening .

 

There are Yes rude people that get onboard but not just locals .

 

Great DAY !"

:cool:

[xpcdoojk]

Rhetorical question time.

 

Why do people go on a cruise in the Caribbean? Is it because it is exotic?

 

Why don't people go on cruises between say Savannah, Daytona, Wilmington, Williamsburg? (all nice places I might add) I just don't hear a lot of clamoring for those cruises.

 

Then some people go somewhere exotic and they are shocked they are not in Little Rock Arkansas, I am always bemused by those that are shocked.:D

 

I am not even going to go into the discussion of how much somebody else paid because that has zero relevance to your experience. Unless, of course you are implying that those that paid less are of a lower class. FYI, we don't have a class system in America. You are probably thinking about India where they have different classes of which the lowest called pariahs are, also, called the untouchables. Surely that is not what you are talking about right?;)

 

jc

[AV8OR]

Rhetorical question time.

 

Why do people go on a cruise in the Caribbean? Is it because it is exotic?

 

Why don't people go on cruises between say Savannah, Daytona, Wilmington, Williamsburg? (all nice places I might add) I just don't hear a lot of clamoring for those cruises.

 

Then some people go somewhere exotic and they are shocked they are not in Little Rock Arkansas, I am always bemused by those that are shocked.:D

 

I am not even going to go into the discussion of how much somebody else paid because that has zero relevance to your experience. Unless, of course you are implying that those that paid less are of a lower class. FYI, we don't have a class system in America. You are probably thinking about India where they have different classes of which the lowest called pariahs are, also, called the untouchables. Surely that is not what you are talking about right?;)

 

jc

 

JC,

 

Just as an FYI, it's a caste system in India...not class.;)

[xpcdoojk]

JC,

 

Just as an FYI, it's a caste system in India...not class.;)

Thanks so much, and you are so correct, caste is the proper term... so let me rephrase

 

If someone pays less than you does that mean that they are of a lower caste than you are? Is that better Aviator?

 

jc

[AV8OR]

Thanks so much, and you are so correct, caste is the proper term... so let me rephrase

 

If someone pays less than you does that mean that they are of a lower caste than you are? Is that better Aviator?

 

jc

 

JC,

 

Just thinking that you may be using a poor example. I've worked with an Indian owned contractor, providing IT services, for the last couple of years. Now I could be mistaken on this but as I understand it they are actually born into a specific caste so one cannot move from one caste to another regardless of what one achieves in life. Given that I suppose someone from a lower caste could actually wind up paying more than someone from a higher caste.

[xpcdoojk]

JC,

 

Just thinking that you may be using a poor example. I've worked with an Indian owned contractor, providing IT services, for the last couple of years. Now I could be mistaken on this but as I understand it they are actually born into a specific caste so one cannot move from one caste to another regardless of what one achieves in life. Given that I suppose someone from a lower caste could actually wind up paying more than someone from a higher caste.

Again, you are correct! You are very good at this! You are absolutely right. You could invent something to win the nobel prize and still be a pariah.

 

Technically though I sometimes think that some people feel that they are allowed to move up socially, but no one else is....

 

jc

[nrdsb4]

I did not SAY RCI sold cheap cabins to people just from PR,,I did not say people from only PR did not leave tips..I didnt mention ONE word about the people from PR...I did say RCI sold cabins at a very reduced rate last miniute..,that the Windjammer was a joke,,that kids were in adult pools..PLEASE READ again,,I didnt say they were kids of any race or ethnicity.I said bathrooms were dirty....,that I enjoyed my waiter,,my cabin attendent..by the way I love PR,,just wont sail from there,,some of you make a mountain out of ONE persons' opinion,and don't even read things precisely & properly,,but comment on them..,,,,This quote from this thread... is as far fetched as they come,,," As for those not being comfortable in "multicultural" groups, well, I´m so sorry for you, since the only consequence that a multicultural experience will have in your person, will be to enrichen your personal culture. If your choice is to deny yourself of that enrichment, it is your choice" WHERE DID I SAY A THING ABOUT not being comfortable,,you don't even know what race I am..HELP~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

I believe this is what caused people to make assumptions about what you meant in your post:

 

"I do not think I will ever sail out of SJ again,,RCL sold off cabins..for $310 for 2 people....reach your own conclusion,,"

 

You told people to reach their own conclusions about your statement, and many people did. Apparently they misconstrued your meaning when you yourself basically asked them to read between the lines...

[celtic selke]

The caste system in India has been legally abolished. But I think it still applies, especially as to how the lower castes are treated.

Hey, that remainds me. I just got my DVD of Gunga Din from Amazon!!!

Back to the days of the Raj tonight.

 

celtic

[QueensChick]

I absolutely loved my cruise on Adventure of the Seas out of San Juan. I would gladly do it over and over again.

[FinelyCruising]

This appears to be a practice they use to fill the ships :

 

Ok , Just want to say that not all the Puerto Ricans or Locals onboard paid less for the cruise that what you do , the last minutes come one or two weeks before the cruise and many many puerto Rican clients book their cruises up to one year in advance ,. There are last minutes deals But the ones we have here are the same someone in chicago can have at the same time . an example , not all the cruises have cabins avaible for those last minutes deals . and if there was one its ok you cant have it . but think cant 2 or 5 cabins fill the ship and ruin your vacation ? .Many Puerto Ricans read this Forum and believe they are calling to see whats happening .

 

There are Yes rude people that get onboard but not just locals .

 

Great DAY !"

:cool:

My reponse had less to do with the price anyone paid, although some do take exception to last minute deals for the 'locals', since it may deflate their feeling of economic or social superiority. It had more to do with the comment/accusation of racism by a precceding poster, when relating to the perceived overrun of the the ship by 'locals'.

 

I agree there are rude people everywhere, but do understand that some are sensitive to demographics, and IMHO with good reason, which this is really all about. I personally tend, for comfort reasons, to want to be around people who are more like me than less like me. Just a better fit, just as many prefer to avoid cruises where the ages are either tilted younger or tilted older.

 

Even though the world screams tolerance, in the end it's about personal choice, and last I checked there was no crime in having one.

[Badlands99]

Why don't people go on cruises between say Savannah, Daytona, Wilmington, Williamsburg? jc

 

I'd love to go on such a cruise. If I understand correctly, the fees for such a cruise would be much higher for some reason. Cruise ships have to make a stop in a foreign port to avoid some sort of penalty, right? There are many coastal places in the US that I've never seen. I'll get to see Nassau in a few weeks, but honestly I'd rather see New Orleans.

 

Just to remain on topic...

 

I can't understand why the OP hates all people from SJ :->

 

Obviously I'm kidding, I understood what you meant Suzie, and didn't read too much into it. If people keep getting hassled about their opinions, we'll get less and less honest information here.

 

Best regards,

Michael