apierson23

For our group the head waiter came over at the end of the meal and took orders for the following night so we thought they would be prepped and ready to go with all the "regular" meals but that wasn't the case. The gluten free meals just always seemed to come after the other meals and some times it was much later.

We used Daniel Johnson's Monkey and Sloth Hangout in Roatan and it was a very well done tour of the island. I'd use them again. Not sure of the beach but I know it was $3 or $4 person to get a taxi over to beach. They had barriers up so you couldn't swim out too far and the beach was kind of dingy but not sure of the name.

I didn't really mind the current mandatory tip level on my recent cruise but I didn't give much more than the mandatory. I know the people in my group that got the drink package tipped extra at the bars since they consumed a lot of drinks but in general the $36 tip per day seemed sufficient considering the 1 per day cleaning and the less employees I saw cleaning and serving drinks around the pools. Stuff goes up in price including the tip but it did reduce any extra tipping for me.

I reread your post and I do not think we had to tender at any of the ports this trip. It was really early but you would think I would remember it lol

Getting off the Ship Day We all ordered breakfast in bed and finished packing and we all wore masks off the ship since we were now up to 4 people who where very tired and starting to have stuffy noses. I felt ok but we all wore masks just in case. The flight home was smooth and we arrived back into Cleveland at around 8:30 PM but the four sick people took test when they got home and all 4 were COVID positive 😞 The other 9 have all tested negative after a few days but 4 out of 13 isn't a very good ratio. I think all us had some form of stomach issues but we contribute that to all the booze and heavy food but may have been Rino. Overall we really enjoyed the Allure and we would definitely go back and enjoy it again and hopefully we can all come home healthy. Thanks for reading my not so brief review!

Last Sea Day Three stops in a row really tired my crew out and the last sea day was very laid back and a couple people stayed in their room due to exhaustion. I ended up getting some last sun rays and enjoyed the belly flop contest. The belly flop contestants were very good and the 2nd picture showed the clear winner. Dinner was very relaxed and then everyone went and packed. Couple people did complain about scratchy throats and tiredness which had all of us staying in our rooms for the evening.

Cozumel Day Two We did get back hungry and this was the famous lobster night in the restaurant. Everyone ordered the lobster even if they didn't like sea food which allowed some of us to have two tails and they were delicious. We ate way too much but I do remember anything else other than lobster take quite a long time to arrive which made dinner extra long. We did go to the big adult game show in the evening after the guys vs girls event (guys won!) and it was very cool. I was in group 5 and we came in 3rd place even though our group was on it to win it - very fun night to be sure which can't be missed.

Cozumel Day We had a tour planned out leaving Playa that was suppose to be a full day of swimming with manatees and swimming with turtles. The evening before we docked the captain changed the leaving time from 5:30 to 4:30 which did cause a lot of issues. We caught the 1st ferry over to Playa so we got in at 8:45 AM and proceeded to a deserted resort which had manatees and some great diving spots. One of the people in my party accidently flipped their paddle board and lost their cell phone which was in a water proof pouch but not around their neck (doh). Spent a good amount of time hunting for it but it was lost. We went to a turtle bay but they have really restricted access since we went 10 years ago. You could only go along a roped off area which made seeing turtles very tough. Some people loved it but I'd say it wasn't worth the trouble. We were suppose to go get a great lunch at a local hot spot but people wanted to get back on the 2:00 ferry due to the departure time being moved up. The tour cost $120 per person and it turned out to be kind of a dud and I'd just stay on Cozumel next time since there is just not enough time to experience Playa with the ferries and taxies necessary.

Costa Maya Day We were still a bit hung over this day so half of us took a cab to a beach just outside the cruise facility and the other half just hung out by the pool in the cruise facility. I'd say the pool people had more fun just because the beach area wasn't the best area in terms of getting bar service and the beach is just ok. Lots of the vendors at the beach were just gouging people and you needed to talk them down 70% before it became ok priced which was just exhausting. We did do the bird sanctuary at the cruise port and it was fun although probably not a great deal considering the $14 a person price. Everyone had a chill day which was nice after the previous day.

Honduras Part 2 That evening my wife put together a small 50th birthday celebration which included a cake and a sash and glasses for my outfit. This led us right into the 70s party which was a crowd favorite since they had people dressed up at the Village People and it went strong all the way to midnight. Very fun day!

Honduras Day We docked fairly early in Honduras and we proceeded to get off the ship and hop on a private tour bus which was booked by one of my friends. The tour took us to a chocolate and rum factory on the west side of the island which was nice but the biggest treat was being able to go to a wildlife facility where everyone got to hold a sloth and have a play session with some monkeys and parrots and lizards! Very fun tour and it only cost $50 a person. We got back on board a bit before dinner and it was one of the best experiences of the trip.

2nd Sea Day - Part Two Dinner started get a lot more tame at around this time which was probably good since the hang overs were starting to catch up with everyone. We did have a great sunset which was proceeded by a ton of lightning and a red moon. The diving show was this evening and I'm glad we got tickets for everyone since it was a great show all the way around. This is a can't miss event!

2nd Sea Day The second sea day was pretty calm with more sun to the point we started to attend a few trivia contests during the day and those turned out to be really fun. My only complaint was the planning seemed a bit off when it came to where events where held. The trivia put on by Super Mario was decently packed but it was held in the biggest hall in the place where the classic rock trivia was help in the tiny venue which was overflowing with people. My advice is to check out the venues and be ready to get there early if you want to do stuff like karaoke. The ship has a wide variety of stuff to do like the Central Park and the put-put area which has basketball courts and a couple flow riders. So many places to enjoy a day relaxing that there was only a few situations where we felt cramped which is a testament to the design of the ship. We found a great spot in the front of the ship which had a couple lounge chairs and it was mostly empty but the wind was pretty severe in the afternoons but this let us get some great pictures pretending we were in a hurricane. I think several old fashions were consumed prior to the shirt off pictures lol

We did have a stop in Roatan, Honduras and we had a fantastic time on a tour but that will be Day 4 🙂

I'll have time for maybe the rest tomorrow. Here is a picture of a mom and baby dolphin which was hanging along side the ship the 1st day. Very cool to see them so up close.