AOS/San Juan vs VOS/Bayonne

[hokie78]

Man! Talk about stirring the pot, but I just can't resist. We're scheduled for AOS many months from now, but have done some soul-searching lately due to reviews and comments posted--not about the ship, but about the port and clientel (sp? Better at least acknowledge the possibility of a spelling error since you can get flamed pretty good for that here too). While it remains amazing to me that in this day and age such disparaging (sp?) comments about an entire country (OK--territory) and it's citizens would be made in a public forum such as this, it did (shame on me) give me pause about this cruise. No need to repeat, but clearly many folks who travel from the US mainland to board at SJU are taken aback--if not down right miffed--to find (shock of shocks) Puerto Ricans sharing the cruise with them. The nerve of those people boarding a ship docked right in their own backyard! But the more I hear/read about Voyager and all the upstanding citizens that board her, the more relieved I am to be sailing with the locals from SJU than the ones from some of our own eastern states. My roots are in the east, so it's not without a bit of knowledge of the area that I make these comments. Between the raucous (sp?) displeasure voiced over being re-routed to Canada (yes--that sucked), complaints about nearly everything, rumor of sexual assault, and wild and pot-smuggling teens, I think I'll take my chances with the Puerto Ricans. I've sure read stories of language differences (DUH!) and some rudeness and pushing and shoving, but nothing like what I've been reading about Voyager. Hmmm . . . .wonder if THAT ship is full of people who come aboard from THEIR own backyards?!?! Not even sure what the point of all this is except to point out how quick some are to blame the national origin of the passengers for behavior problems they see on trips out of SJU, yet when more serious problems surface on a cruise leaving from a US port no one seems inclined to point out--or at least wonder if--the origin of THOSE passengers has anything to do with the behavior. So while many have said they'd never cruise again--or ever--out of San Juan, I for one would never get on a ship that leaves from Bayonne. Too many "bad" people there, don't you think? Of course I shouldn't pass judgement on an entire regional population based on a few posts should I? It's tough to live down a bad rep once the rumor gets going, huh? How does it feel gang?!?!?!

[BS_Outwest]

Well said........we are AOS - San Juan in Nov and are not worried about anything.

[vacation lover 26]

Just got back from AOS last night and it was great! Originally was trying to decide between an all inclusive and a cruise for a vacation this summer and opted for the AOS because of its itinerary (with stops in st. thomas, st. maarten, antigua, st. lucia and barbados). Then I discovered this site about a month after booking and I kept reading was how horrible this cruise is and the rudeness of the "locals" on the ship. I honestly started to worry because everything I read was awful and it seemed that no one had anything good to say (and I like you was incredibly shocked at the all out stereotyping in the comments). I cannot even begin to tell you how wonderful this cruise was! Sure, were there puerto ricans on board? yep! but there were also people from 40 other countries on the ship. We ran into very few rude peope (all of them Americans, one man threatened to beat up another man at the theater one night because he was holding seats for his three daughters who had just gone to the restroom), no rouge kids pushing all of the elevator buttons, and very few incidents with loud teenagers. The diversity on the ship only added to the overall experience