Albrika

Age: 30
Occupation: Corporate Trainer
Number of Cruises: First Cruise
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean International
Ship: Adventure of the Seas
Sailing Date: May 19th, 2002
Itinerary: San Juan, Sea, Aruba, Curacao, Sea, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, San Juan

I really wanted to write this review as soon as I returned, but I was totally saddened to depart the AOS! It has taken me this long to come to terms with it and realize that this will be the 1st of many to come.

My boyfriend and I booked this cruise for my 30th birthday. What a present! This cruise has to be the best trip I have ever gone on! The ship, the crew and the itinerary were all awesome! My only regret was having to return (although I missed my 6-year-old daughter immensely).

Embarkation:

We departed a rainy New York City on 5/18 and arrived in a sunny San Juan, Puerto Rico. We arrived a day early, although AOS doesn’t depart until 10pm, I was nervous and extremely anxious. A wonderful evening spent in San Juan at the Inter-Continental Hotel. A nice and clean hotel, only drawback is the tiny closet space, but we definitely were not disappointed with our hotel choice.

On 5/19 we arrived at the pier – WOW WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SHIP!!! – at 2:30pm. A bit nervous about leaving our luggage at the curb, but I must admit we were pretty impressed by the process. Following a few minutes seated, a short line, review of our documents, a free rum drink, a visit to the duty free shop, the ever-important security checks, a picture (there will be many opportunities for this) and we were on the beautiful AOS!

The ship:

How can I explain how beautiful this ship really is? She is definitely an ADVENTURE you don’t want to miss. This was my 1st cruise and I believe that I am spoiled for life! AOS is truly a grand ship; the décor is absolutely beautiful. I found myself awestruck from the moment I boarded to the day I departed.

Our Room:

Our ocean-view cabin offered enough room for the 2 of us (well, we were looking forward to being close) and ALL of my luggage. My next cruise will definitely find me in a balcony stateroom. I’d love to sit on the balcony and watch as we pull up to the port. Well, now I have something to look forward to!

My mom had my room decorated for my birthday – SUCH A TREAT! Bathrooms are small, but workable. Janice, our room steward, was the BEST! So ATTENTIVE and she works so HARD! I travel often and never have I enjoyed the service provided and conversation of the room steward more.

The service and food:

Waiter, Murat (5th floor dining room), the Asst. Maitre D’ and the Asst. Waiter (sorry forgot their names) were all OUTSTANDING. Food was wonderful and plentiful. When I couldn’t make up my mind Murat brought me both entrees. Lobster was succulent, NY strip was delicious and desserts were scrumptious. My ice tea and water glasses were always kept full and I couldn’t have asked for better tablemates! The 2 children were adorable and well mannered. We never struggled for conversation and everyone was so pleasant it was hard to say goodbye.

I love the second seating – time to change and rest up for dinner. You are ALWAYS eating, there is NO WAY that I could have eaten dinner before 8:30pm.

So many dining choices, however, contrary to my pre-cruise plans, we ate 6 nights in the dining room. Only one dish my boyfriend thought was bland (eggplant), but he could have very well asked for something else. One night he selected something not on the menu and it was done without a PROBLEM! We ate breakfast (A FULL BREAKFAST) every morning at the Windjammer – something we very rarely do at home. There is something for everyone. We ate ALL DAY long.

The shows:

We really did not attend many of the shows; the ones we did attend were good. I hear very good comments about the ice-skating show and other shows. The casino is beautiful and lucky for my boyfriend, not so friendly for me.

The Cruise:

The itinerary offered the 2 of us an opportunity to relax – something we don’t take advantage of too often. We did not do any scheduled excursions – our focus was to relax and enjoy one another. Aruba was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. Rented a jeep and toured island on our own. View from the lighthouse was breathtaking! Only wish that cruise line could work out a deal with one of the hotels for passengers to be able to use their facilities for the day. Next time I would probably book either the booze cruise or the tour bus in Aruba.

Curacao was amazingly clean and colorful. We shopped around. Nice floating bridge down by the shops. Very interesting to walk over and to see it open up.

St. Maarten was my favorite stop. What a beautiful island!!??!! Relaxed on the beach and jet skied – what BETTER day could I have asked for! Great cigarette (for those who smoke) and alcohol prices – definitely better than in St. Thomas, but beware of US custom allowances.

St. Thomas began with an early morning customs process before departing the ship. Let me add – pulling into port is AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL! Customs process really goes pretty fast and considering all things a definite plus in my book, however, I was expecting greater detail. Anyway, St. Thomas is beautiful, we lazily went about the town…getting to close to the time to disembark and I was truly beginning to feel sorry!

Disembarkation:

I was in a totally bummed out mood! I really wanted to stay on….

This day seems like a total blur…we had a late flight, so we didn’t leave the boat right away. Easily found our luggage. Took a cab down to Old San Juan – small streets, stores and restaurants. I enjoyed looking around, however, my boyfriend could have done without it. Cab ride to the airport, checked in without any real security issues. Couple of drinks, visit to the duty free shop, lots of consoling me and we were headed back to the Big Apple.

Overall:

Kudos to Royal Caribbean. Going on your 1st cruise (maybe any) can be an extremely exciting and nerve-racking ordeal. Reading reviews can cause you to change your mind again and again. I am so HAPPY that I decided on the AOS! I’d tell anyone to book a cruise on this ship! If you don’t have a good time and enjoy this ship you need to look at yourself. There is no explanation for having a bad cruise on the AOS.

Suggestions:

Create a drink program for those who like to drink while on vacation and have no responsibility for driving. Drinks can really add up. Or allow passengers to bring aboard their own liquor (not that this stopped me…I actually brought my own and spent a huge amount on the ship.)

Update the music collection in the Disco. Experiment and be creative. I enjoyed the disco, but night after night seemed like the same tape was being played over and over.

Lids PLEASE for coffee cups. It upset me to see how so many people would spill their coffee on the beautiful floors (although the staff was more than adequate in cleaning messes up).

Picture packages PLEASE! Everyone loves to have pictures to show off, but give me a break - $10 or $20 apiece!!!

I am a late owl when I vacation – why not allow bars to be open ALL NIGHT LONG?

Can we extend the hours for the pools? What is the reason behind closing them? I would have loved a late night/early morning swim.

Last night should end on a BANG!! How about a MONSTER POOL PARTY JAM!!

Well, nothing is perfect, but this trip was extremely close!

ENJOY CRUISING THE BIG BLUE!

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