WOW First cruise AOS 03/05/06 - 01/12/06

[OUTOFNY]

I don't know what to say except for WOW! This was my first cruise and I had a blast. A very well run ship and a very professional and courteous staff, I tip my hat to RCI. Met lots of great people onboard and ashore. A big thank you to this message board for helping me get my sea legs so to speak. I was able to meat my goal and lay on a beach at every port of call. I am already trying to decide when I can swing my next cruise. If anyone has any questions about this cruise fire away and I will do my best to answer.

[missme2]

Glad to hear you had a great time. Now you're hooked!!! We will be on AOS next March. First time on Voyager class and can't wait. Which beaches did you go to?

[RN7997]

I will be on AOS April 2nd. Now that we are under the 20 day mark to leave every day is a preparation day for the trip. I sailed once before, but on a much smaller ship.

I want to hear it ALL!!! Where did you go, what did you do?? Any do not misses I should know about???

I pre reserved a car in St Maarten and in Curacao. Good idea??? Did you rent cars at all anywhere? If so where and if you don't mind how much did they charge you???

I am hoping for a complete review.

Thanks

[missme2]

Chrissy:

 

I'm so jealous. I wish I was leaving in 20 days. That's the problem with booking so far in advance. All you can do is read reviews and daydream about your upcoming cruise.....but then reality hits once more that it's so far away....lol. Have a great cruise and please post a review when you return so I may dream once more. Thanks.

[CentralMom263]

Yes..Yes..Yes...do tell ALL. I want to hear all about the beaches too! Which ones, how did you get there, what did it cost, transportation. Please....all the details!!

[OUTOFNY]

Hey, sorry it took a day to reply but that nasty four letter word with the ing added at the end got in the way........ you know working

 

I'm sorry that I can only answer one question since I have to get going to the job I will post again on Friday.

 

Glad to hear you had a great time. Now you're hooked!!! We will be on AOS next March. First time on Voyager class and can't wait. Which beaches did you go to?

__________________

 

 

Hey Lynn great time is an understatement it was awesome. Hooked, without a doubt. The group I was with is kicking around next March I am trying to see if I can squeeze one in before that.

 

Ahh the beaches

 

Puerto Rico Did not get a chance for any sand I was tooooo excited to get on the ship. My group lived dangerously we had a flight in that morning not the day before.

 

Aruba The whole group 16 of us took three cabs to Palm Beach. When you get to the beach look out for the steerers. Those are the guys that are going to engage you in conversation and lead you to the beach to try to sell you a chair, umbrella, and drugs. Just tell them no thanks and keep walking. They were the most expensive of all the islands. We walked down to the Radisson. Very important do not take out your yellow ship towel as they will ask you to vacate the chairs. We saw it happen to others from the ship. You can not blame the hotel as guests sign up for chairs and palapas as early as 6:30 and they are not very happy when they come out and see others camped out on what was reserved. We were able to get around this just by being generous and civil. Like I said 16 total in the group but we only used 8 -10 chairs. We ordered drinks right away and gave a very generous tip. The waitress tried to give some money back and we told her no it's for you, well the beach manager was observing us the whole time and came over. He asked us if we were from a ship and we said yes. He said thank you for being honest and nice with the waitress. He told us we could stay as long as we kept our towels in the bags and did not take any more spots. We said thank you and he left five minutes later he returned w/ eight towels we gave him a little tip and enjoyed the rest of the day. I almost forgot the beach was beautiful the water was blah. The sea was very choppy and you could not see your hand three inches under water, very murky.

 

Curacao This day the GF and I along with my friend and his 2 yr old daughter decided to do the sea lion encounter $65 a person inc taxi, the sea lions, and admission to the aquarium. The encounter part is over quick. They sell you pictures at $10 a pop or a whole cd for $20. We decided to split the cost of the cd $10 for as many pictures as you want! At this point the GF and I head out of the Aquarium to the beach next door. Now let me make something clear I am a city boy I can not swim my father hated the beach so my summers were spent under the fire hydrant. With that said I enjoy relaxing beaches quiet, clean sand, nice sights, and calm waters. This beach had that along with free chairs and lots of rocks and pieces of coral. You must have on your sandals or water shoes. Now let me draw you a picture. I am 35 look 27 5'09" and a little chubby, cant swim so I am trying to look cool walking out into the water. Every thing is great no waves clear water I have walked out a little bit and it's still only up too my knees when all of a sudden the bottom falls out. The next step I took put the water under my chin, well that was it for me back to the chair till it was time for my cab ride back to the ship.

 

 

Well that's it for know. I'll give you the rest later.

[missme2]

Outofny:

 

OMG.....thanks for the laugh!!!! You painted a very good mental picture :D . You are too funny!! Please, keep the review coming. I can't wait to hear more. I am sooo geeked about going next March. I don't know if I can wait that long, tho. What week are you guys looking at going next March and what ship? Forget about work and get back to your review ;)

[bambam2972]

I'm glad to hear you had such a great time!!

 

I'm also looking at AOS for next March (but also a few others too) I can't wait to read the rest of your review to maybe tip the scales in AOS's direction :D

[rokcop]

OUTOFNY, you left out the part about us drinking at the pool bar on the first "sea" day. I'm sure that day is a little fuzzy for you as it was for me.:) The bartenders Shaka and Andel were very friendly and great entertainment. My wife and I had a great trip, and although we didn't do the beach thing, we did enjoy a fabulous horseback ride in Aruba, a nice trip to the Hato caves on Curacao, a catamaran snorkeling trip in St Maarten, and a wonderful lunch at Paradise Point in St Thomas. Hard to believe its over, but definitely glad we got to meet the NYC crew. Our next trip will be to Alaska in June '07 unless I hit the lottery so we can cruise at least once a month.

[missme2]

What else did outofny leave out? Please, do tell all :D

[megessey]

WOW First cruise AOS 03/05/06 - 01/12/06

 

That must have been really SOME cruise, is the time travel included or extra? :p ;)

 

(I know it was a typo but I just couldn't resist )

[RN7997]

I am cracking up at the image you laid out. That is too funny. When u say Palm Beach is that the same as De Palm Island??? I am thinking about renting a jeep half a day and then going to De Palm Island for the other half.

Keep the review coming. I can't wait to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[missme2]

We're waiting......and waiting....and still waiting :(

[ramoss_jorge]

WOW I'm leaving in 3 days I know this is going to be a great weekend, so if anyone have suggestions jjust tell us. We are a group of 4.

 

 

 

Caribbean Travel Photos & Pictures

[OUTOFNY]

 

That must have been really SOME cruise, is the time travel included or extra? :p ;)

 

Hey megessey, the time travel was free. Just an added benefit of going into the stargate during a solar flare :D

 

 

Seriously I do that all the time I am always thinking of ten things at a time and sometimes I jumble them. :o Should I change it or leave it for $hits & giggles?

[OUTOFNY]

rokcop since you brought it up I will fill them in.

The bartenders Shaka and Andel are great guys and will look out for the customer. I will let everybody know what happened. The first sea day I do not have any breakfast or lunch. No snacks of any kind. The only thing I can seam to find to ingest is foofoo drinks. Not one type of foofoo drink but many many types all different shapes, colors, textures, and mixtures. While I am consuming these strange fruity concoctions with the most alluring names I in my great wisdom decide to stand/sit/lay in the blazing sun compounding the effects of the foofoo drinks. (This is for the gentlemen reading this. Do not under any circumstances underestimate the power of the foofoo. Men we may have our beer/scotch /whisky/bourbon and we can see the intoxication coming, but the foofoo she will wait until you are relaxed and not paying attention. Then she will get into a Mack truck and attempt to assassinate you. Men you are forewarned.) At this point on a ship of 3,000 people I seem to find Rokcop who is astounded that I found him seeing we have never met except for a post on the meet and mingle. We decide to enjoy a couple drinks together. As we are drinking we seem to grow into a big group at the bar everyone enjoying each others company and buying drinks for one another. At this point some JAss keeps ordering drinks on my card. The bartender realizing that he has never reciprocated nor do realize what is going on cuts him off and has my friend take my card. Thank you Shaka and Adel. Well at this point I go back to my room under my own power, thank you very much, escorted by my friend and GF who was wondering where I was all day. I apologized to her and stated I was an aminal yes aminal not animal but aminal. I am put to bed and miss the first formal night. Gf decides not to go w/o me so she has room service for dinner. I still feel bad about that. At 1 am I awaken from the attempted assassination by the foofoo drinks and order room service. That was the end of my buffoonery on this trip.

 

Oh did I mention I entered the sexy leg contest while I was consuming all the foofoo drinks.

[biledo]

We leave in just over a week on the AoS.....

 

CANT WAIT! Kudos (again) to this board for all the help and coaching along with ideas!

 

I laughed out loud at the mental image of "looking cool" until you sink! :)

[rokcop]

Since OUTOFNY gave his recollection of the events, let me see if I can recall my day. My wife and I found our way to the pool bar immediately after breakfast and I was pleased to see the problem with the Amstel tap from the night before was corrected and eagerly began consuming 20oz drafts. At 11am we slipped off to the scheduled M&M for which 72 people had signed up and only about 18 actually showed. Met some nice folks I had chatted with and then slipped back down to the pool bar where the ever alert OUTOFNY found us. We introduced our new friends to his friends and the drinks they kept coming. Lunch was completely overlooked. At some point my wife and OUTOFNY were seen playing the steel drums with the pool band. The afternoon hours disappeared into a yeast fermented amber color liquid and some "weasel" got a few freebies until the bar staff noticed the "weasel" was in fact a "weasel". About now, my wife and OUTOFNY's friends decided the two of us should be separated from each other and our drinks to save the group from having too much fun. My wife and I retired to our cabin for a much needed nap only to awaken at 7:45p and rushed to get showered and dressed for the first formal dinner. After dinner we hit the Duck & Dog pub for a couple more beers and headed off to bed. What a day!:)

[missme2]

You guys are way to funny! I wish I would have been on your cruise. As for miss foofoo, she almost got the best of me last year in Cozumel at Senior Frogs. My BF had an encounter with her that night as well......let's just leave it at that:D

[OUTOFNY]

RN7997 we did not rent cars. We made our way around the Islands by taxi. The taxi drivers are very friendly and will return for you at a time you request taxis are everywhere. They do charge by the person so a $10 trip is $10X the amount of people in your group, you can haggle with them that is not a problem and the price will come down. ( In PR seven of us decided to take a walk in old san Juan we knew it was a $20 ride to the airport for us w/ no luggage but the cab driver says $40 a little back and forth and it became $27 w/ tip )

 

 

 

ramoss jorge My suggestions drink/sun/drink/sun/eat/drink/nap/eat/beach/shop/nap/eat/drink/nap repeat.

 

biledo Yes this board is great I learned so much before this first cruise it helped me have a good time. I am glad I was able to make you laugh with that image.

 

rokcop Ahh the steel drums I forgot all about that. I remember taking your wife by the hand up to the stage but I don't remember if I asked for permission or I took the sticks out of his hand, no wait I definitely asked for permission since the gentleman was 6'09" and 300 lbs somebody in my group has a picture of that. Rokcop extra points if you remember what I said on the mike that became the catchphrase at the bar, it became so bad that any time they found me on the ship they would shout it out.

 

 

I promise I will get back to the beaches in a couple of hours.

In the interim HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!!

[rokcop]

...and there answer is - MORE FIRE, MORE FIRE - ding,ding ding, we have a winner!!!

 

ramoss jorge - I concur with my new friend's suggestion. Additionally, if you or anyone in your group enjoys horseback riding, I have to recommend taking the excursion in Aruba. Mind you, the closest I come to being a horse lover is listening to country music, but the ride was awesome through the rocky terrain, passing cacti, and looking out at the blue ocean. If you go, say hello to my horse "J-LO" and tell her she treated me to a great ride! Further, a great way to relax in St Thomas is a trip up to Paradise Point - you have to try their famous Bailey's Bushwacker while you enjoy the view. Don't miss the Duck & Dog Pub featuring Steve playing some great tunes on guitar and the very sweet & friendly barmaid Corinna (not Corona) from Romania. The Ice Show was, as always, simply amazing. The CD Richard Spacey is always smiling and full of energy - no way I could do his job - no way! Above all else, have a great time!:cool: