AOS Aruba Questions ?

[sixthree]

Has anyone done the Adventure of the seas, Aruba , Curaco, St. Marteen, St. Thomas itenerary ? How is the Aruba 1 day lay over ? The Ship ? Any reviews ?

[TAG2424]

I did that same cruise 3 yrs ago and it was my 1st cruise and OMG it was unbelievable.......You definitely have to do it.....Aruba was awesome and you definitely have to go to Carlos and Charlies...The other 3 ports are wonderful too...I would definitely go again......If you do decide to go on this one go down 2 days early and stay in San Jaun, It's like a vacation before the vacation...

Terry

RI Clan

 

4/07/02 Adventure of the seas

4/17/05 mariner of the seas

[ab1881]

I've done this cruise twice and loved it both times. Aruba is one of our favorite islands.

We just got back two weeks ago. The ship is incredible, clean and staff is very friendly. We rent a car just as you get off ship and go to baby beach for some snorkling, then usually drive around and go to a high rise hotel for the rest of the day. They usually let you use the pools and beach since you order food and drink from them. There is a lot to see on the island also, ex: natural bridge, california lighthouse and there is good shopping too.

[Cy_MO]

Has anyone done the Adventure of the seas, Aruba , Curaco, St. Marteen, St. Thomas itenerary ? How is the Aruba 1 day lay over ?

I've seen other confusion on this, but, the AOS just leaves Aruba very late in the evening/early in the morning (I think it's 1:00 a.m.). So it's not as though you'll be in Aruba for two days. Not sure if you understood it that way or not, but just in case!

[ab1881]

that's correct, the aos leaves aruba at 1:00am you must be onboard by 12:30

[sixthree]

That makes sense. Get there early the first day, leave late the second, I still think that's a wondeful stop, I wonder why they're not more stops like this?

[QueensChick]

Hi there...

 

I did this itinerary on Adventure of the Seas last year. She is a stunningly beautiful ship and the staff is wonderful, very attentive and friendly. Aruba is gorgeous, dry and desert-like with incredible beaches. St. Thomas and St. Maarten are also very lovely islands. We actually missed Curacao, due to Hurricane Ivan and had St. Lucia (lovely) substituted. So,the obvious remedy is to book this cruise again... and soon. ;)

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[QueensChick]

That makes sense. Get there early the first day, leave late the second

 

Actually, AOS arrives in Aruba around 8AM on Tuesday and leaves at 1AM in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. In other words, you only have one day in Aruba and the ship leaves late Tuesday night.

 

I hope this makes sense... :o

[sixthree]

Oh, ok . . .. that makes better sense . . . .

[pltag]

We were on the 1/30 - 2/6 sailing. We loved the evening in Aruba! I wish more itineraries included nights in port. Here is my review if you would like to read it.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=132941

[sixthree]

Wonderful review, I like the format it was written in. Raining sideways is never good, lol. Thanks for the review.

[TXRoo]

Does anyone know if there are any direct flights from Houston to San Juan? I REALLY want to book an AOS cruise, but I don't want to fly to NYC to get a direct flight to PR.

[lmmn]

Has anyone done the Adventure of the seas, Aruba , Curaco, St. Marteen, St. Thomas itenerary ? How is the Aruba 1 day lay over ? The Ship ? Any reviews ?

 

If you like Carlos and Charlies, you'll love the 1:00 AM departure time. C&C is super close to the ship! These are some of the best ports! I would rate this cruise very high, mostly because of the itinerary. Do you have any specific questions?

 

pltag - We were on the same AOS cruise....who says it doesn't rain in Aruba!!! We still had a blast on the ABC jeep tour. Got two flat tires....LOL! Unfortunately, natural pool was too rough to swim and, can you believe it, a bit too chilly (for me) to snorkel at Baby Beach. Going back to Aruba next year on the Celebrity Constellation.

[sixthree]

TXRoo, I have a friend who lives in the Houston area and goes to Puerto Rico all the time, she tells me that she has to get a connecting flight in Miami, to get a reasonable airline ticket price.

I really like this AOS itenerary, and I'm thinking about going in December, we'll see.

[TXRoo]

Great! Thanks sixthree for the info!!!

[2VaCruzers]

So exciting to read such upbeat reviews on this AOS itinerary. A bunch of us are going summer of 2006. Any suggestions of what to do would be greatly appreciated. :D

[Kruzfamily]

My wife, two children (13 and 11 at the time) and I took this cruise in

August, 03. We loved everything about it. The ship is fabulous and the staff, food and entertainement were all first rate. We almost always do our own excursions, choosing to save money on packaged excursions. While we're a bit adventurous, they've always worked out well and we think we get a lot more out of each experience by not having to share it with so many other travellers.

 

In Curacao we took a cab to see the caves in the a.m. It was worth the trip and the tour. We had a group of about 10 people and learned about how they used the caves to protect escaping slaves. The bats, the caves and the history were all interesting and worth the small price we paid. Later that day we did the dolphin encounter and swam with the dolphins. While it was a bit pricey, it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance and the trainers/dolphins were great. We'll always enjoy the pictures we and they took. If you do this, make sure you ask for/get a life vest as the tank is quite deep and it makes it much easier.

 

In Aruba, we decided to lay fairly low and took a cab to the local beachfront. The hotel there (may have been the Radisson with Casino) was relaxed about letting cruise passengers use their beach. Beach attendants rented us (and setup) lounge chairs for the 4 of us and it cost about $10. We enjoyed sharing the beach with 4-6 foot iguanas, topless tourists (only a few but sure opened my teenage son's eyes!) and conures (small parrots native to the area). When we were there (August) is was dry, hot and breezy (as it almost always is). The water was crystal clear and the beach was beautiful.

 

St. Maarten was spent snorkeling. Again, a cab ride to a local beach/inn where they rented us equipment for $5 each. We snorkeled right off the beach and saw a giant sea turtle swimming below us as well as hundreds of other fish, coral, etc. We were back early enough for the ladies to enjoy the afternoon shopping in town.

 

In St. Thomas, we immediately cabbed to the other side of the island and ferried over to St. Johns. We'd heard it has one of the top-rated beaches in the world as well as an underwater, snorkeling course. While the trip over took a bit of our more adventurous spirit (cabbing around the island, getting tickets, ensuring we were headed to the right place and breathing some diesel from the ship's engines in a slightly choppy 20 minute trip), the effort was completely worth it. I can't recall the name of the beach (I'm sure it's listed repeatedly under ports of call - St. Johns). We loved it.

 

Mark

 

Ask any questions you have and my wife and I will be happy to try to answer. Hope you get to go and hope you have a great time if you do!

 

p.s. - We stayed in San Juan for a couple of days before sailing and a couple of days after. We're booked on the explorer July 3rd (headed to the Western Caribbean for the 2nd time).

[lmmn]

So exciting to read such upbeat reviews on this AOS itinerary. A bunch of us are going summer of 2006. Any suggestions of what to do would be greatly appreciated. :D

 

I've got all kinds of recommendations:

 

Aruba - We did the ABC Jeep tour. Loved it!!! Fairly tame in the AM, stop at a local place for lunch, and then the adventure begins!!!! The terrain going to the natural pool was 10x rougher than I imagined....we had a blast! Also stop at Baby Beach for snorkeling.

 

Curacao - Someone had recommended the RCCL snorkel. It was only $35, but unfortunately it was cancelled. We decided to rent jeeps for the day and try to find the snorkeling spot on our own. Turned out one of the jeeps got a flat tire...no proper tools to fix it. We left the jeep...went to Plan C and went to Kontiki Beach. Loved the resort...had a great beach day!

 

St. Thomas - We went on a day sail. I highly recommend doing this!!!! We went with Pat & Tina on the Independence. They took great care of us. We had Bloody Marys, a few rum punches, a snack after snorkeling, and the best lunch and dessert.

 

If anyone in your group is interested in a tour. Godfrey's $20 tour is highly recommended on these boards.

 

St. Martin - Americas Cup is awesome!!! I've been to Orient and Dawn Beach.

Orient is a beautiful large beach best known for naked people. Dawn Beach is a smaller beach...food & bar....75 cent Caribes!!!! If anyone is into watching planes, Maho Beach is another option. Great bar...no place to sun...but a good swimming beach.

 

All of these ports have lots of shopping....but they all sell the same thing!!!

[2VaCruzers]

Mark...thanks for the wonderful description and ideas!! Got me all pumped and we haven't even been able to book yet since the June/July bookings haven't even been released yet. :(

 

I have to ask...where in St. Maarten did you go snorkeling? We are going to the Eastern caribbean in 2 weeks and will be in St. Maarten. I bet the beach in St. Thomas that you're talking about is Trunk Bay, right? When we visit St. Thomas in 2006, I plan on going there.

 

Aruba sounds fantastic (except for the 4 - 6 ft. Iguanas :eek: ) Something tells me that if I were laying on the beach, I'd have one eye open at all time..LOL.

 

Immn...we're going to be in St. Thomas in a few weeks and have Godfrey booked :D Thanks for all the other suggestions. I'd read about Kontiki Beach Club.

 

Again...thanks a bunch!!

[OCruisers]

sixthree .... Carlos'nCharlies in Aruba is so very FUN in the evening! Best of all it's in "Crawling Distance" of the ship! :D

 

Here's a good one for DayTime:

 

DePalm Island Review "Ticket to Paradise" (Click Here)

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[mom2b41]

When we did this cruise last summer we took our small hand held GPS unit with us and before we left for our trip we downloaded the coordiantes on GEOCACHE.com and we rented a 4 wheel drive jeep,then spent the whole day in ARUBA seeing parts of the ISLAND that most tourist never see or know exists...It was fantastic!! I have some great pics if you would like to see them email me ...samm37@hotmail.com...In case you havent heard of geocaching it is called "modern day treasure hunting". They have it all over the world and whenever we travel or just want to spend a pretty weekend hiking around our hometown we go on the website and look up different Cache sites...the Caches are set up by locals...so alot of times you will see places that most tourist dont know about...and that is the best part...because who better to show you an unusual part of the country than someone that lives there....Good luck if you decide to try it...Carol

[sixthree]

sixthree .... Carlos'nCharlies in Aruba is so very FUN in the evening! Best of all it's in "Crawling Distance" of the ship! :D

 

Here's a good one for DayTime:

 

DePalm Island Review "Ticket to Paradise" (Click Here)

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

 

Crawling distance. .. . . my type of establishment. lol

[judy&steve]

Does anyone know if there are any direct flights from Houston to San Juan? I REALLY want to book an AOS cruise, but I don't want to fly to NYC to get a direct flight to PR.

 

I know American goes direct from Dallas

[Kruzfamily]

Hope you get the cruise booked, you'll love it. By the way, where in VA? I'm from Northern Virginia, grew up in the Tysons Corner area, last house was in Burke before I moved to PA 5 years ago....just curious.

 

I'm sorry I don't recall the beach in St. Maarten. We took the advice of the cab driver. I can tell you it was basically a "private" cove/beach at a hotel spot. I don't know that we ever got the name. However, a good cab driver will know where good, safe snorkeling can be had at bargain rates..there are plenty of spots close by.

 

It was definitely Trunk Bay. Keep in mind, it's actually in St. Johns...I think you know that. If I remember, partially correctly, it's listed on National Geographic's top 10 list of beaches (again, getting old, could be someone else's list). Regardless, definitely worth a visit.

 

The good news on the iguanas is that they seem to hang out on the rental shacks, hut roofs, etc. at the top of the beach. Plus, they move around pretty slowly in the heat. So, if you want to see them (and they're worth seeing), you visit them, not vice versa (usually). I've had them come right up to the edge of our pool at the Ritz in South Florida. That excites some of the guests a bit..... :o)

 

Hope I answered your questions....

 

Mark

[2VaCruzers]

Mark...I grew up in Vienna, but now live in Centreville, VA. Lived in Vienna from '64 til '78. Husband's family are all from PA..outside of Pittsburgh area.

 

Thanks for all the info on the AOS cruise. Very helpful indeed.