MrSmoofy

Mr. Smoofy, a look at my AoS review from May 3 (last one in my sig).

 

I'd be really interested to compare notes. I had PLENTY of drugs but, other than Jack Daniels, they were all anti-cholinergics for motion sickness.:D

NAILED IT! :) While I can't say I had toilet trouble like you I agree with you on the food and condition of the boat. Also just like you our room steward who was awesome at his job and kept our ice bucket fresh and got the extra tip he deserved but not very personable either.

I found the toilet seats in the staterooms absolutely disgusting, even our stateroom attendant was embaraced, however RCL does not see the need to replace them. Also the carpets in the stateroom really are due to be replaced, however it looks they will do everything to keep the ship as is until the major dry dock planed for 2016 when all staterooms etc will be redone and new features such as the Flowrider will be added. For some reason all those things were planed for the dry dock last year but were later cancelled.

 

The Windjammer experience at lunch I found the worst on all ships I have been in. The variety was the most limited I ever experienced, however I hope this is more due to the crowd who unfortunately prefer to focus their eating habits on hot dogs and burgers. Can't judge the Windjammer for breakfast or dinner as I never end up there for those meals.

 

Lastly, the disembarking of the ship in San Juan is the slowest and most unorganized process I experienced.

Agree about the condition of the carpet and the state room furniture is very worn out. Also agree about the Windjammer

As for disembarking, what part was slow and unorganized? We had the Old/New San Juan excursion so we were in the Imperial Lounge by 7:45 we sat maybe 30min there and then went down and got off, got our bags but we paid a porter to help with them and in doing so we did not have to wait in line there was a special line for them so it took maybe 5 min.

Who, exactly, was bashing the original post? Most were thanking the poster, one person who was on the same cruise basically disagreed- but considering that the original post bashed people who didn't notice problems as being on drugs, it was barely being bashed.

 

Then again, I find it amusing that people say it's more honest that you have some negative, which implies that someone who had just a wonderful time and didn't notice one bad thing is lying.

I'm referring to other threads not this one. I've posted about my experience with RCI during the whole process.

MrSmoofy,

 

Thanks for your honest and well balanced review. I'm glad you are going to give RC another try. I have discovered, from my own past experiences, that sometimes my first impression of things does not live up to my expectations.

 

Have you considered booking a balcony room or a junior/mini-suite? I think you would enjoy it very much.

 

I hope you will post another review when you return from you next RC cruise. Happy sailing!

We do have a balcony room booked for the next trip as my understanding is there will be lots to see as we sail in and out of port so we opted for that.

Thank you for seeing that the review is not all negative. I did have a good time I liked the beach in Aruba better than Curacao and I had been to St. Thomas and St. Kitts before (and San Juan) so knew what to expect there.

Like I've said it wasn't that the cruise was bad it just didn't not live up to what my expectations were based on everyone telling me how great RCI is. To me it was just another average cruise line not necessarly bad they did do some things better but they did some thing worse then others.

Glad to see some people reply that seem to be level headed about things compared to other threads where I'm immediatly attacked by what I call are cheerleading RCI people that have never been on another cruise line before and have nothing to compare to. My cruising started back in the day with Premier Cruise Lines no longer in business since 2000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_Cruise_Line) so it's not like this is my first dance.

Some of the items you noted seem to be safety-sensitive issues such as light fixtures falling out of walls or ceilings, buckled flooring, and the assertion that the medical staff mishandled your GF's care. Some of the items you listed were related to service such as the Future Cruise rep and the medical staff having less than a pleasant demeanor. Did you notify anyone at Royal of these issues either while onboard or once your cruise ended?

 

I did note them in the post cruise survey they sent. However based on my experience with their customer service staff prior to the cruise in trying to get information about the cruise the ports and the excursions I don't think they really care about their customers opinions as I spent hours a day for weeks trying to get answers. I posted about this and the general tone of everyone was to not expect anything from their customer service people because they don't know anything about the ships or cruises they are selling and to do your research online and not ask RCI questions directly. I disagreed with everyone about that and bascially got roasted for disagreeing with them.

:eek: Thanks for all the replies. Will try to cover all the questions here.

1. Reason to book a second was this was first with RCI could just be bad luck. Also the price/timing is right and getting your deposit ($200) back as on board credit on the current cruise was a good deal. We still had a good time we were on vacation for a week no work and relaxing so I don't consider it a bad cruise I just think that RCI does not live up to the hype people give it. Maybe the Europe cruise in 2016 will change my mind and if not then I'll try another cruise line or just go back to booking based on price and destinations.

2. We were in 7587 and had no toliet problems. I did see where the speakers were under some windows on Deck 6. We picked 7 thinking it would be further away from the music/crowd noise. We didn't hear crowd noise just the loud music. While at the customer service desk we did see about a dozen people complaining about oder on their floor. The only times there was a bad oder were at port a couple of times smelled it on the ship and outside the ship. I really have no complaints other then the medical staff. Everything else while not living up to the hype that RCI gets I found it to be on par with every other cruise I've been on.

3. As for noticing things. When your siting waiting for a show or bar service you tend to look around. I look at everyone and eveything. The dining room floor 3rd deck where it had problems was when you went in and went to the right and just before you would go left after going right there was a large area where there was something wrong with the floor felt like wholes or something under the carpet at one point they did use masking tape and tape off the area maybe to repair it.

The windjammer food to me reminds me of the food you get at Golden Corral. I expected better on RCI with all the hype but again it's no better and no worse then any other cruise line I've been on.

The below is my honest opinion of RCI and AOS. Most will not agree as I've seen people state the complete oposite of my opinion about RCI and AOS.

This will be more like a summary review if you want to know my opinion on something specifically just ask.

I have been on many cruises with several cruise lines. This was my first with RCI and from the beginning it was a mess starting with the staff that books your cruise which I've been told it's to be expected which I complety disagree with. I took this cruise because of the BOGO 50 and I wanted to see why everyone I spoke to said how great RCI was.

As for the AOS the and pre and post cruise here is what I think of the process and the condition of this boat.

1. Arrives in San Juan the day of the cruise and paid for the transfer service which I had no problems with other then you have to walk around a while before you find an RCI rep they need to have more signs posted.

2. Check in and boarding the boat was A+ think we waited 5 min to get on, went up and got something to eat in the Winjammer and rooms were ready right at 2pm and our bags arrived shortly after really impressed with that as I didn't expect to see them till after dinner.

3. Windjammer food overall I give it a D, most foods were either cold or over cooked and not eatable. Breakfast foods were a little better. Their toast even freshly toasted was if the bread started out stale it just was not eatable. Average service in the Windjammer.

4. Bar service is very very slow even at the bars with no lines. The bar drinks were good though.

5. Main Dinner room service was awesome. Food I'll give a B to B+ some nights better then others.

6. Giovannies worth the $25 and then some the quality and amount of food will blow you away would of paid double for that experience.

7. Stateroom Steward was as expected and awesome!

Now onto the state of the ship which people seem to think it's in great shape they have really been drugged or something because I disgree. I counted dozens of light bulbs burt out all over the ship. Light figures falling out of furniture, out of walls and out of ceilings.

Carpet so warn it's nearly warn through and faded to have no color. Wood furniture so worn out the finish is gone. Places in the floor where it buckles and gives when you walk across, was so bad in 3rd deck main dinning you felt like you would loose your balance.

While I understand it will be dry docked soon it's still in really bad shape. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking it's in GREAT shape because they obviously have never been on a ship that was in great shape before to make the correct comparison.

The casio while it was awesome they had a $5 blackjack table the tables are so close together and so close to the walls it's almost impossible to walk around them without asking someone to move. If you are in a wheel chair then you can forget visiting the tables at all.

The tables in the casion are very warn and faded. The poker chips are also very warn with most of them so warn you can't read their face value.

Breakfast in the main dinning room while better then the windjammer the service is very crappy and very very slow compared to dinner service. We did not try it for lunch.

The staff on the ship gets an overall awesome rating from me except for the medical people.

On day 3 in St. Kitts when my GF was coming down the stairs on the Senic Rail Tour excursion she folded over her foot but it didn't really bother her and we kept going. 2 Days later in Aruba I notice at the beach her foot is very black and blue but again wasn't bothering her the next day in Carucao it started to swell so we decided to have the onboard dr. look at it.

IS this guy a real doctor. First off with only 2 other people in the waiting room we waited and hour before she spoke to anyone. While we were waiting to be seen I took our stuff up to our room and left her on the couch with her foot elevated. When I get back she said she got yelled at by someone because she had her foot elevated and was told it looked back and she shouldn't do that. We later learned that person was the actual doctor. Some standard medical things they should be doing they don't do for example they asked if she was on medication which she is but then they never asked which ones. They also took exrays but didn't ask if she was pregnant before hand which is a standard question that is always asked, she is not but if it had been someone pregnent that could of been bad. Luckly it was just a very bad sprain and nothing broken. The dotor's attitude and bed side manor is horrible as he was the one that told her not to put her foot up to later tell her she should be keeping it elevated and iced.

We did make an apointment with the NEXT Cruise people to talk to them about other cruises with RCI. Our experience here is an F they person here is very rude and shouldn't be selling cruises to people as she offers nothing to the experience. We didn't know where we wanted to go next other then to some place we hadn't been. The girl working the desk couldnt offer any help on suggestions she acted as if we were inconviening her and that we should already know what we want before talking to her which is not how this service is advertised.

So as far as my overall opinion of how great RCI is I would say they are no better and no worse then any other cruise ship out there. We did book a cruise for Sept 2016 out of Barcelona Spain for 12 days so I'm willing to give them a second chance but again I don't see all this greatness people say about RCI and their ships they are again no better and no worse then any other cruise line I've been on.

Almost forgot DO NOT LET ANYONE tell you that the Promonad rooms with the windows are muffled and not loud at all THAT is a complete lie. Even being on the Deck 7 (2 up from the Promonade deck) it was loud enough to make the bed vibrate and when on until midnight about every night. While the room was big I will never book that type of room again. It also didn't help we had the loudest neighbors in the world we could here every conversation and argument they had.

No problem bring hair appliances.

Maybe it depends on the size/wattage of them. I've seen them confiscate them before.

Hair dryers are in all staterooms.

Beat me too it. Believe this applies to most if not all cruise lines. This item is provided and if you try to bring your own it will be confiscated and returned to you when you disembark.

There are many things like this including like a travel iron. Basically anything that could cause a fire.

I am just now scanning the Compii...and I see

7 Days 209.95 for 2 devices at a time.

7 Days 179.95 One device at a time

then there is a 5, 4, 3 ,2 and 24 hour for 1 device and 2 devices, but the shorter plans are consecutive days starting later in the cruise. and hourly plan, which can be used as individual minutes adding up to the hour (s) throughout the cruise. I'll post the sheet in my review!

Thanks, could I get a link to your review when you post it.

The WiFi on Adventure is all over the ship.

Thanks, do you know the costs?

WIFI, crowds and passenger mix

 

-We bought an unlimited WIFI package or 2 devices at a time. This was the best WIFI service I have ever had on a cruise ship, certainly, the newly upgraded service is excellent! I was able to see Face Book with all it's photos, and I was able to download my full color newspaper daily within 20 minutes (at home it downloads within 10-30 seconds, so I think that the internet might be optimized for uploading in order to get all us happy customers posting pictures of our fun cruise to our friends, vs downloading movies;). I was able to update my blog with photos in a matter of seconds! It is slower than at home, obviously, but I was very pleased and found the package well worth it for people who need to work on board. I'll post the whole list of available packages and prices on my blog when I get everything scanned.

Thanks for your feedback, we go on 5/16

The WiFi, what was the cost of unlimited for 2 devices and where was WiFi available?

It's also possible that a ship from another company had first rights of reservations for the train on that date and it wasn't released to RCL until they thought the other cruise line wasn't going to fill the train. Just guessing why it showed up so late.

RCI said it was their own ship not another company. Also the port athority confirmed they are the only ship.

I would guess that like too many companies, they have contracted out their reservation system for excursions and those people do not have a clue of what is going on. Try this:

contact the railroad and tell them that you are a guest on the island and are wanting to go an the train on the day you are there. You would need to get to the train which is near the airport by taxi and they would bring you back with there bus or they may drop you off at the port. It might work & it may be worth a try.

No need for that as I said it now appears on the available list.

In Jan '15, we booked a late June '15 AOS cruise with a stop in St. Kitts. We wanted to book the railway excursion at the time we booked the cruise, but it was not listed in shore excursions section of the planner. I contacted the tour operator directly who informed me the tour can only be reserved through RCI. Discouraged and believing it was either sold out or not going to be available, we booked another tour in St. Kitts. Fast forward to the first week of April and two different railway tours showed up in the planner. We canceled the tour we initially reserved and reserved the railway tour.

 

Keep checking the planner, it may show up. But, being this close to your sail date, I wouldn't be too optimistic. I don't have a lot of faith in RCI's ability to communicate between internal groups or some of their reservation technology; who knows how accurate any of the info you are getting is.

The excuse RCI gave me was because they had another ship at port at the same time which was a straight out lie.

You are exectly correct this is what just happened while it's not even shown up as being availabne and RCI had no clue why it is now listed and I've booked it along with others.

Would be nice if their staff actually knew anything instead of just lying to make excuses for it not being listed.

So here is what I've found. Chase (who I bank with) does offer travelers checks. If you have a premimum checking account with them they are free. Additionally you will have to call around as not all branches have them or the donomination you may want. They are not able to order them. They get them from American Express and are sent when and whatever American Express feel's like sending them.

So while one branch I called had $250 in $50's another branch I called had $2000 in $100's.

So think I'll be doing that.

Unfortunatlly AAA no longer sells TC's they only offer a visa debt card which kind of defeats the purpose of avoiding what could be high ATM fee's

First off thanks for all of the replies. Also thank you to those defending what a lot seem like a stupid question, however in my aprx 65 posts on this board I'm already used to all the trolls and rude people here so no worries.

Many of you people seem to get it. I have a Chase Bank account (debit) and Capital One (Credit)

Past experience has shown that the cruise ship itself your pretty safe when using debit/credit but so far I've not been lucky when using credit cards in ports, especially mexico. While the credit card company does take care of it I'd rather avoid any issues.

So the cash for me would be at ports and the casino and like others I'm ok with 100-200 on me it's a matter of how much your willing to lose it's just like gambling, so that was why I was thinking of Travelers checks and cash them on board as my cash got low and that would avoid ATM fee's and casino 5% fee.

Thank you to the person that mentioned AAA for getting them for free I didn't know that, Chase charges 2% but I am a AAA memember so I will be looking into that.

We always did you travelers checks up till a year or so ago, but since you change almost everything on the ship and any big items on land , we recently stopped. No problem getting the traveler checks cashed on board but banks normally charge a fee to buy them.

Yes my bank will charge me 2% to get them so was trying to way that against just using the ATM on board.

Anyone done it? Is there a fee? Was there any problems?

I'd like to bring some cash with me however since I must fly to San Juan for my cruise I'd rather not be walking around with a bunch of cash on me before I have to get on board and into my room where I can put it in the safe.

SO I was thinking Travelers Checks and then cash them on board as I needed more cash.

What are everyones thoughts on this? I know there is an ATM but what are the ATM fee's that are charged for getting cash?

I called RCI to ask but the person seems to not fully know and was just guessing it would be OK since they couldn't find anything about my question.

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Now I just get that when trying to look at excursions. What a joke of a company this is. Can't believe it's so bad and people defend them like it's to be expected.

Thanks for trying. Sorry it didn't work. I'm kind of out of ideas. But the train is going to be pretty empty n if RCI doesn't fix this. I don't think the Railway will be happy about that.

Also now it's show most of the excursions for our cruise are not available so that totally sucks because I had some in my cart but now they are gone and I can't add anything. Ugg

So would you be willing to try this experiment?

 

Go to the link you gave me above.

Click on "find cruises that feature this"

Click on the second listed cruise April 12, April 26

Click on "Shore Excursions"

Find the Caribbean Scenic Railway Tour KT-15

Click on "View Excursion"

Click on "Book this Excursion"

 

You will then be asked to log into your reservation. Log in and see if it lets you book the tour for your reservation. I hope you try. I'd be very interested in the result.

Hadn't of thought of that, but very good idea on your part, unfortunatly it didn't work.

I just checked the cruise port calendar and found the same info as was stated above. Adventure is the only ship in port that day. You could call the railway and just make sure that they are not down for maintenance or something that week. If they are running then I would call RCI and try again. Your other option would be to book when you board the ship though I understand wanting to have everything in order ahead of time.

I've actually called the rail company already they are the ones that said I could only book through the cruise line but couldn't tell me why Royal was not offering it.

I've probably spoke to 10-15 people at RCI about this and have not gotten really anywhere with them.

But have you tried going into your reservation, going into the excursions, and booking it yourself?

Yes it's not listed. RCI Customer service doesn't know why they passed me on to a Resolution Team Member who said they contact the Excursion People for RCI who told them it was because there was another RCI ship at port that day as well.

So based on your info and the fact that the port authority there says that's a lie that we are the only RCI ship there that day. It seems everyone at RCI has no idea and they just make stuff up. It's very frustrating.