Aos 11/21/04

[MikeBetty]

Last week's cruise out of San Juan on AOS was our first on RCCL and might be our last. Was it the holiday week? What did others think? Too many unsupervised children and rude people.

[VABeach]

There's quite a few posts on that one... Many others seemed to have felt the same way already. (you're late.:o ) Six or seven threads now....

[lsc]

Mike,

Check out the following to get some opinions of the cruise the week before on the AOS. Go to Royal Caribbean International, currently on page 5 is a post began by DMorris and appears as Aos, 11/14/04. A lot was posted about the rude and obnoxious people on our cruise. Some very interesting comments.

[megr1125]

check out my review too....we had the same rude people, all 800 of them from san juan area....loved the cruise, and ship, hated SJ. not too many kids though, that was probably due to you being there over turkey day!

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=98213

[DMorris]

We experienced the same rude people on the sailing before yours. Sorry you experienced it too. We didn't let it ruin our cruise, but it did have an impact on us slightly. We won't cruise out of San Juan again because of it.

[atonal1]

I was on the Nov 21 sailing too. There were a lot of loud and obnoxious people, and a few rude ones too. I didn't notice the kids that much (maybe because I mainly cruise holidays & summers).

 

I didn't let it affect my cruise and booked another out of San Juan next year. I'm just going to brush up on my Spanish first.:D

[alexkrn46]

Going on AOS next week, are rude people the norm on this ship?

I am looking forward to the cruise but anxious about leaving from San Juan, alex

[Seaside2358]

Alex---please post when you get back. If I keep reading posts about this I may consider changing my AOS cruise since it is still way out there. Anyone with any good experiences sailing out of San Juan?

[atonal1]

I don't think my post was too negative. As I said, it didn't affect my cruise, and I plan on leaving from San Juan again.

 

You will find rude and obnoxious people on any ship, you just can't let them ruin your cruise.

[raerae]

Just back from the AOS today! Will NEVER cruise out of San Juan again. We had 1800 Puerto Ricans and 750 kids. I am usually not a negative person and we had a good time, however, I was never pushed out of the way, bumped into (with no apology) and cut in front of in lines as much as this past week. And yes, RCI catered to the Puerto Ricans. Everyone we talked to expressed the same discontent including the staff. I do have to say that the staff and crew worked very hard to make our trip exceptional. I will try to post a review later! Too tired!

 

Cindy :eek:

[bobbyd6363]

raerae - sorry you had a bad experience on the AOS but like you, we had a rough time dealing with the rude people, the kids and the staff catering to the PRs. Sad to say I will NOT cruise out of PR on RCI again. You should read all about our discontent on DMORRIS' thread AOS 11/14/04

Looking forward to your review!

[DMorris]

Looks like this is the norm from here on out... wonder if the last few weeks were the exception or what is to come.

[bobbyd6363]

Dee - I was wondering the same thing!! Also what do you think the cruise line is doing about it or HELL do they even know people are upset and threatening to NEVER sail RCL out of San Juan again!?!!

[DMorris]

They probably don't know anything. I will be writing a letter to Richard Fain shortly letting him know about my feelings.

[raerae]

DMorris,

 

Everyone I talked to wrote about our concerns on the survey. I wrote a book. I filled the comment section and also the entire back page. I talked to people in the elevators, at the airport, in the halls & at the pool and they all were including their dismay in their surveys. I hope someone at RCI is listening. My DH is also composing a letter to Mr. Fain. We booked another cruise on board and also let the loyalty ambassador know that we won't be sailing out of San Juan again. She said she had heard that from a few people on our cruise. Maybe she'll pass the word?!?

I had read your reviews and also the pounding you took from some readers and I am so sorry that you had to take that. I also wish that those people that gave you such a hard time had been on my cruise and experienced what we did. Maybe their tune would change. :confused:

Cindy ;)

[bobbyd6363]

 

I had read your reviews and also the pounding you took from some readers and I am so sorry that you had to take that. I also wish that those people that gave you such a hard time had been on my cruise and experienced what we did. Maybe their tune would change. :confused:

 

Cindy ;)

Cindy - I totally echo your comments (above)! Its a shame people can throw stones until they have experienced something!

[DMorris]

That's ok... I am a big girl and words don't hurt. I believe in opinions and not everyone will agree.

[yarcraftman]

I've been on the AOS now twice and loved both times (going back again in January). I agree that there many there have been some rude people on that ship from the PR area and also Mexico in my experience. But honestly, there are rude people everywhere in the world--no shortage of them exist. All the islands are great though and all the locals on all the islands love our American dollars. I think the key to avoiding a lot of rude folks is not to go during hurricane season. RCCL does not sell a lot of rooms during this period and sells out cheaply to locals to cover their fixed costs.

 

The key is to put these rude folks on ignore and not let them impact your trip. If someone is rude to me consistently then I'm just rude back. If they want to bad mouth me in Spanish then I just say a few words to my better half in German and have a laugh which usually tones it down pretty quick.

 

All in all though we should all try to get along first--we are all Americans including the folks from Puerto Rico. We all deserve to be treated with respect and treat others with respect as well. But hey being from Detroit, if someone throws the first punch well then all is fair game.

 

Good Cruising

[LouinMA]

My wife and I commented to our selves that the people on our AOS cruise from, San Juan on 10/17, had a great number of rude passengers. This was the worse cruise by far.

 

Their elevator manners were terrible, not only didn't anyone ever say hello, but soon as the doors opened, people rushed into the car, never once considering the passengers who were trying to depart. By the end of the week I found myself saying, “Let em off please", at most every floor

 

The food court line manners were just as bad.

 

Never again from San Juan.

 

Lou

[DMorris]

It is hard to ignore the rude people when the shove and push... that is my limit. I have never encountered this type of rudeness on any of my other cruises.

[Seaside2358]

I hope RCI reads the letters you send and checks out the threads on this board. If I don't hear some positive feedback within the next couple of months I will be changing my AOS cruise.

[GMC]

I hat to say it but I am considering cancelling my May 2005 cruise on the AOS and rebooking some other port of departure and destination. I know that those who have posted are only a small fraction of those that have sailed from this port however, most all are negative.

 

That bothers me :(

[sayhello]

I was on the 11/28/04 sailing of the AOS, and found the Puerto Rican passengers fun, gregarious, engaging, and sweet. I found no more rudeness from any of them than I did from any of the non-Puerto-Ricans. I had 4 Puerto-Rican women in the cabin next to me, and they couldn't have been sweeter or nicer to me, introducing me to their family and friends, who all paused to say "hello" to me if we passed on the ship, or to express concern when they saw me with my eye patch. I guess everyone's experience is different. The only reason I would consider not booking out of San Juan again is the airport. Leaving from there was definitely anti-climactic.

 

But in my experience -- the Puerto Ricans on the ship were no more rude than any other group on the ship. Maybe just a bit more identifiable...

 

sayhello

[atonal1]

But in my experience -- the Puerto Ricans on the ship were no more rude than any other group on the ship. Maybe just a bit more identifiable...

sayhello

My thoughts exactly.:) In fact, in a store in St. Maarten, there were comments from one of the workers how rude some "Americans" were. I witnesses several customers throwing dollars on the counter for post cards. They just couldn't wait their turn.:eek:

[nrdsb4]

They probably don't know anything. I will be writing a letter to Richard Fain shortly letting him know about my feelings.

 

 

Okay, so what exactly is the solution to this problem? Is RCI supposed to exclude Puerto Ricans from this sailing? Prescreen potential passengers for "rudeness?" I'm wondering what the cruise line could possibly do here that would not get them in major trouble for discrimination. They could raise the rates, but that just eliminates a certain socio-economic group. Are people on this thread and the other one mentioned stating that rudeness is a function of income? I've seen a lot of complaining on these two threads but no real solutions offered. What is to be done about this problem?

 

I can certainly understand feeling a distaste for "rudeness." I would not appreciate being physically shoved or pushed by anyone anywhere. What I really don't get is the annoyance people verbalize for announcements being made in both English and Spanish. How does this cause a problem for anyone? When I flew to and from Paris this summer on American Airlines, all announcements were made in English and French. No big surprise there and sure did not cause me any hardship. I would assume that a cruise which departs from a largely Spanish speaking territory would of course include that language in its announcements, just as I would assume that a cruise leaving from Galveston would make announcements in English. Don't cruises which depart from American mainland ports "cater" to those populations as well?

 

I truly don't understand this mentality. If I travel to a distant land to take a cruise, I would appreciate being in an environment which highlighted the culture, music, and language of the host port. It would just seem logical that the "locals" would be "catered" to, particularly if they were the majority on the ship as people have described in these two recent threads.

 

When I sailed the AOS, the passenger base was 60-70% PR. We had a blast. We noticed that they tended to speak louder than we do, but I do not neccessarily associate loud conversation with being rude, I think it is more a cultural difference. I noticed the elevator nonsense as well, but frankly, I've been annoyed by that syndrome on every cruise I've ever taken. We did observe that there was a latin music bar, which we enjoyed a couple of times, but there were certainly other alternate venues available as well. We sailed the AOS Thanksgiving week 2003. Have things changed so radically? And again, what is the solution that people are seeking from RCI?