JupiterTwo

Well, that's certainly one way to keep costs down...

A lanyard is a must for my wife. It keeps her from walking away from a slot machine with her keycard still in it.

I make a point of walking by one of these every day. I usually end up with about $5 in quarters by the end of the cruise.

The new terminal is one mile from the old terminal. Are you prepared to walk a mile with your luggage?

I was always amazed at the incongruity of this "tradition" of singing, dancing, and waiving one's napkin in the air on the last evening of the cruise. With all the concern over norovirus, COVID-19, masking, social distancing and the like, and hand sanitizing stations all over the ship, swinging one's dirty dinner napkin in the air to spew food residue and spittle all over the tightly packed dining room seemed in stark contrast to the "safety" regulations regarding the spreading of germs and other biological contaminants into the air. It's no wonder that people tested positive for COVID-19 after leaving the ship; they probably got it during the last night's dinner party!

My one thing was going to be to have a shawarma stand on the pool deck like Disney has. Royal doesn't need another pizza, burger, or hot dog offering. Shawarma is easy to carry in a pita, slice a few cuts from a meat on a rotisserie, add some veggies and sauce, and walk away.

Now I understand why Royal got rid of the free chips.

Yes, but the one's I've seen had them all dress up as The Village People. That's why I asked who would they dress up as for an 80s party? Michael Jackson? ABBA? KISS?

Just out of curiosity... what would be the "iconic" group, song and costume to theme these parties around? For the 70s parties, it's clearly The Village People and YMCA. 80s? Queen? Michael Jackson? Journey? 90s?

I didn't use "have to" in the legal sense, I used it in the humane sense that it's in their interest to feed people who are on an airplane for 12 or more hours. I suppose you'll come back and say that in Europe, international flights don't take 12 hours, so let me prebut you and say that in trans-ocean flights it is in their interest to feed people who are on planes for 12+ hours.

They have to offer food on long-haul flights. People have to eat. Usually the food and drink are free on international flights due to currency exchange issues -- simply put, people might not have the cash in the airlline's home currency to pay for the stuff, and we can't assume that people in foreign countries have the same credit-card culture as other countries.

Does anyone remember the days when airports used to check the baggage claim receipts with the tags on the luggage before letting you leave the carousels? Yeah, that was so 40 years ago...

When I was on Allure in April, I recall the Wipeout Cafe had long lines out the door and down the deck. My wife and I were celebrating our 25th anniversary and had our dinners planned, so we didn't waste valuable stomach space on this venue. I do recall that Disney ships had great poolside quick-serve restaurants, including pizza, hot dogs, and shawarma (for the Iron Man fans).

We did Izumi Hibachi on the Allure in April. We liked it a lot. We have a local favorite family-owned Japanese steakhouse that we frequent, so we are well acquainted with the experience. As with all things shipboard that recreate land venues (e.g., Samba Grille), there are compromises. The hibachi is practically the same experience I'm used to on land. Regarding the schtick, to me it's like when I go on the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland... you know what to expect, you know all the jokes by now, but it's still a fun ride for five minutes. It's the same with hibachi, except that I always refuse the rice toss -- they always seem to hit my eyeglasses.

If Royal wants to look for a new casual dining experience, I'd recommend a shawarma stand somewhere. Disney has (had?) this on the pool deck as a part of Pete's Boiler Bites. They had a skewered meat and about a dozen different sauces to put on a pita wrap. THIS they could even charge for.

You can only get the UTAP if everyone in your cabin gets it, too. No sharing!

I always told my wife that I'm not going to spend $10,000 on something and then start nickel-and-diming the rest of the experience. It's an "in for a penny, in for a pound" when it comes to exceeding a certain dollar threshold. I'm not going to spend Big Bucks to get in the door, and then go cheap from that point on. That said... I do worry about the business that takes my $10,000 and then still nickel-and-dimes me after that. I'd rather they charge me $10,005 than tell me that I'm buying a luxury experience and then make me pay extra for the amenities. It's a mixed message that ultimately will cut against them. They will be the ones who cut off their nose to spite their face if they start taking their customers for granted by charging for an "enhanced experience" and then expecting to continue to "enhance" it slice by slice.

I'd like to make one small clarification. The shuttle at the Johnson Space Center is a real-size mock-up; JSC was not awarded an actual shuttle for reasons off-topic at this site. An actual Boeing 747 that carried the shuttle is what is on display at JSC, with the mock-up attached to it the way an actual shuttle would have been.

The Suite Lounge on Allure shares a space with Coastal Kitchen, which is the private Suite restaurant. You have a full-service breakfast menu (same daily), plus different lunch and dinner menus each day. Reservations are required (perhaps not for breakfast) but they might be able to squeeze you in at certain times.

It takes about a week for your new points to post, so you may have to call C&A to expedite the process if your next cruise is too close to your qualifying cruise.

Jose Padilla is still on the Allure of the Seas. His partner is now Nadia Escobar Paez. Both were fabulous during our 25th anniversary cruise in April!

It's one free device per person (username) at one time. Each person can log out of their device and then log onto a different device. In fact, logging onto a second device will ask if you want to log out of the currently logged in device.

When I tip at a specialty restaurant, I usually tip as if it were a land-based restaurant. I don't tip based on the upcharge amount, but that's just me.

My wife and I ordered a cake through the suite concierge for our 25th anniversary on the Allure last month. She brought a special cake topper and we gave had our cabin steward send it to the kitchen staff to put on the cake. The cake was $20, and we could choose vanilla or chocolate. We had it delivered to the Samba Bistro, where we chose to have our anniversary dinner.

Allure also has mini-golf.