Lisa353

21 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Ish. It was one of the few that had a room for 5 and it was spacious. Breakfast was good. Great pools and beach access. We wouldn’t stay there as just two of us. 

Thanks.  Our plan is to stay in Orlando first because I want to hit the shopping outlets and then stay the 1 night before the cruise in Cocoa Beach.

1 hour ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Good morning! It’s cruise day. We are all caught up on sleep and headed to breakfast here at the Best Western Cocoa Beach. Let’s get it. 

Would you recommend this hotel?  We will be looking for a hotel in that area when we are cruising from Port Canaveral in February 2026.

Looking forward to this.  I will be on Allure next year so will be good to hear your thoughts on the it.

12 hours ago, DbPA said:

Geez. Both TA ships have emergency detour stop. Wonder how often this happens?  Hadn’t thought about this when considering 9 days in middle of ocean. 😯. Hope they will be ok. 🙏

I think this actually happens a lot.  Last year we did a TA on Anthem and we were 24 hours into our journey and they announced they were having to return to the US as someone as someone was going to be airlifted off.  When that happened, people we were talking to said that this happens all the time and one time they were on a TA, someone died while on the ship and they had to stop somewhere for that.

4 hours ago, OrcaGirl said:

Recapping yesterday in Alicante:

 

Woke up, headed to Taste for more Eggs Benny.

 

 

Then up on deck for my first look at Alicante. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Wish you were here.

 

 

At 9:45am I met up with some friends and we headed off the ship. First step on land in 10 days? Weird.

 

 

We made the long walk down the pier, stopping for photos along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

Walked along the beachfront to the lift up to the Castillo de Santa Barbara. 

 

 

 

I didn’t track how long we waited, but it was longer than I expected. I thought I read that the lift capacity was 90 people, but I guess that was just for the tunnel? The elevator itself was small, maybe 10 people at a time?

 

We were popped out into one of the castle buildings. We poked around for a few minutes, but really we were here for the views.

 

 

 

 

So gorgeous, and perfect weather. Lots more pictures in my Instagram Stories (erin_braincandy).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped at one of the cafes for a ‘glass’ of wine, served in a paper cup because of wind? More people had their paper cup of wine blow over (including on me 🤣; my shorts now smell like a full-bodied red) than would have likely spilled in a heavier glass. At least it was funny.

 

 

And then what happened next was not so funny, as least to me, although I’m sure it appeared comical to others. On my way to the bathroom, my flip-flop caught on the stone steps and down I went. I hurt a couple toes and my ankle pretty bad, and scraped up my legs and arms. (At the time, I was more embarrassed than hurt, but as the day wore on, it really started to hurt.)

 

Those of you who followed my last semi-live from the Bliss should appreciate the sense of deja vu and irony I was experiencing. 🤣

 

So anyways, I cleaned myself up in the bathroom and thankfully my friend had a couple of band-aids in her purse, as I had left mine in my cabin.

 

We continued on our way down from the castillo into the city, albeit walking a bit slower.

 

We wandered our way through some beautiful pedestrian streets, until we found El Carrer dels Bolets, aka Mushroom Street.

 

 

 

 

It was so adorable.

 

 

 

We stopped at a little restaurant for some tapas and sangria. The food was soooooo good. I wish we had bigger appetites and could have tried more things, but as it was we couldn’t finish it all.

 

 

 

 

After stuffing ourselves, we wandered back to the ship via the lovely esplanada.

 

 

We got back to the ship around 3:45pm, and my excursion had a meeting time of 4pm. So I hustled up to my cabin, dropped off my shopping bag of souvenirs, re-cleaned and re-Band-Aided my wounds, and hobbled back off the ship to meet my group.

 

I was the last one on the bus and looking forward to just sitting for two hours of ‘Panaoramic Alicante’ sightseeing. But no. 🤣

 

The bus took us the length of the pier and then parked. We then had to walk ‘5 minutes’ back up the esplanada to a cafe for our complimentary horchata. So I was right back where I had just been.

 

Spanish horchata is made of tiger nuts, and is sweeter than the Mexican style of horchata that I’m more accustomed to.

 

 

And then the tour guide tells us we have an hour of free time to explore. Like me, most of the group had already been here and explored to their hearts’ content. I guess someone negotiated her down to 45 min, so we had instructions to meet back in this spot at 5:30pm.

 

I was so tired and my feet were really starting to hurt so I went up a block to the Starbucks I had seen earlier and just chilled there for 30 minutes.

 

Finally we reconvened and the guide led us back to the bus. Except the bus wasn’t there so we stood around for a bit waiting.

 

 

Finally the bus arrived, and we were on our way. The bus portion was… fine. But maybe the tour companies have a different understanding of the word ‘panoramic’ than I do. 🤷‍♀️ 

 

 

I was just glad to not have to walk anymore.

 

We got back to the ship around 7pm (all-aboard was 7:30) and I headed straight back to my room. I was so tired, I didn’t even make it up on deck to watch for pier runners. 🏃‍♂️ And there were a lot of names given when they made the ‘if you’re on board, please contact guest services’ announcement around 7:45pm.

 

I rested and elevated my poor feet for an hour, and then somehow mustered the energy to limp down to the theatre for the finals of Dance Fusion and Superstar Karaoke.

 

 

 

 

And I’m glad I did, it was a fantastic show. And the right contestants won. 🏆 

 

 

One standout of the show was the entertainment team administrator who was brought out to sing. Amazing voice.

 

 

And then I headed to bed.

 

 

Random observations 

 

I couldn’t use my Starbucks app at the Alicante Starbucks. And they were out of the caramelized macadamia macchiato, which sounds amazing.

 

If I had paid full price for the ‘Panoramic Alicante’, I might have been upset at what we actually got out of it. But with the FAS discount, it was fine for the price.

 

Apparently you can get a beachfront condo north of Alicante for 200,000 euros? Tempting.

 

Bridge officer Enzo (one of the Dance Fusion judges) looks soooo much like the most recent Bachelor, Joey, that it was really creeping me out.

 

 

I was telling someone about the themed cruises that are often on NCL ships, and in going through the list, I discovered this cruise that I desperately want to do. 🎄 

 

We have done a couple of Panoramic tours with NCL and each time it has just involved being on a bus for 2 to 4 hours and only having 1 or 2 stops to get off to take photos.  I think both times, we complained once we were back on the ship because of how bad they were.

16 hours ago, OrcaGirl said:

After the tour and some coffee, I went to the Local for some French toast with a side of eavesdropping on but not playing the morning trivia. 

 

 

I did some work in my cabin, watched a bit of the cha cha cha dance class in the Atrium, and wandered back to Spice H20 for some wake views.

 

 

Grabbed a quick bite at the Garden Cafe and ate outside in the sunshine. Interestingly the pool bar couldn’t make me a BBC today, even though they did yesterday. 🤷‍♀️ So I settled for a mudslide.

 

 

 

Pool was still closed but I enjoyed watching the water slosh back and forth.

 

During the afternoon, I joined one of the progressive trivia teams as a ringer. My big contributions were knowing the name of Bermuda’s international airport, the name of a crappy George Clooney romcom, that Norway is known as Land of the Midnight Sun, and how many provinces are in Canada. 🇨🇦 

 

Post-trivia I headed back to the cabin to rest; the time changes are kicking my butt, and we’ve got another one tonight.

 

 

Random observations

 

Apparently there was some drama at the progressive trivia yesterday, and some **** made the trivia hostess cry? I’m definitely picky about poorly designed or just plain wrong trivia questions, but don’t yell at the staff! (Also, the recent degradation of Google search paired with the rise of AI-generated web articles with false information has definite consequences for trivia enthusiasts. Just because something is the top result on Google doesn’t mean it’s true!)

 

What’s the point of having my Do Not Disturb on my door if the steward is just gonna call me (interrupting my nap) to see if I want my room cleaned? 

 

People really just don’t wanna believe that Scotland’s national animal is the unicorn. 🦄 🤣

 

Anyone else see a clown ghost face in the carpet? Or am I hallucinating again? 🤡 

 

I am Scottish and can confirm that our national animal is the unicorn.

I have been quite lucky that every time I have sailed the Med in October it has been mostly sunny and between 20C and 27C.  It has been warm enough to wear shorts and t-shirt.  I live in Scotland though so anything about 20C is warm for me.

8 hours ago, Deep-Blue-Iris said:

I’m interested in this too - but as I’m from the UK I’d want to do an eastbound because then I don’t have to deal with the awful jet lag. 
 

I’ve cruised twice before, but I’m doing my first Royal cruise in May. If I’m enjoying it by midway through I’ll look at speaking to NextCruise about a TA as I booked direct with them. A TA has been on my list since I started cruising but with that many sea days I want to pick the right line. 

If you are thinking of doing one, then I would recommend doing it eastbound.  It was so good having the long flight there but then by the time you are back east, you are back in our time so don't have jet lag.  We sailed on Anthem last May from New Jersey to Southampton.  We had 3 ports and it was a 10 night cruise.  Each of the sea days they just moved the clock forward by a hour at lunch time so you didn't lose sleep.  It was so good when we got back to Southampton and only had the short flight home.

1 hour ago, CruisingWalter said:

I think one of the best itineraries in Europe is one you didn't list. Starry Nights in Greece and Croatia. An amazing 10 night itinerary as Croatia has become a major destination of late in Europe. https://www.virginvoyages.com/itinerary/europe/greece-croatia-cruise

I agree.  Croatia is a beautiful country.  We stayed in Dubrovnik and from there we also had a day trip to Kotor and to Bosnia.  I really want to go back again to see Split.  Also if you are a Game of Thrones fan, parts of this was filmed in Dubrovnik.

15 hours ago, zumbaqueen1 said:

Thank you all for the input.... any specific Ramblas hotel recommendations?  Has anyone ever heard of Praktik Bakery for a stay?  Thanks again! Mary

We are staying at Casa Camper for our next cruise in October.  We have stayed there before.  It is right next to Las Ramblas.  They do complimentary snacks 24 hours a day.  The rooms are funky as you have two.  One of your rooms has your bed and bathroom and then you have a second room across the hall which is like a lounge area and it has a hammock.  

https://www.casacamper.com/en/barcelona/hotel.html

13 hours ago, The Med said:

I phoned my TA, he was appalled, he said that was a bad data breach and there was obviously a glitch in the system. He gave me a phone number to ring, he said it was better if I made the call as I knew all the details.

 

We were just on our way out so I left it until I came back but oddly before I phoned them I opened the app again and it’s reverted back to me again.

 

Strange. 

What did Virgin say when you phoned them?

That's very strange it has reverted back to you again.  They must have some glitch on their system for this to happen.

16 hours ago, The Med said:

My TA isn’t available until tomorrow but I will fill him in on this.

 

What I can’t understand is why the app is thinking that I am someone else who wasn’t on the same cruise as me, was in a different cabin to me and lives in a different country to me.

 

I’d say this is serious considering I can view her private information including her next of kin, her e mail address, her passport details.

 

I can’t see the payment information thankfully.

 

I did delete the app and reinstall it, it still thinks I’m her.

 

 

It would be good to know what your TA thinks.  My TA is still waiting to hear back from Virgin's Privacy team.  It is weird that we are both from the UK and both having issues.  There must be some sort of glitch with Virgin's app.

Just now, CineGraphic said:

 

This happens when your agent,or the agency they work for has you booked into a "circle" (group booking) https://www.virginvoyages.com/firstmatesahoy/latestnews/circles-group-bookings

 

 

Our TA has not booked us into a circle.  They don't do that.  Our cruise was booked separate as we booked through our TA and our friends booked directly with Virgin.  Also we are based in the UK and our friends are based in the US.  Our TA has no idea who any of the names were.

1 minute ago, cantgetin said:

The problem is that when this happens, those people can change you dining reservations, etc.  Delete everyone you don't know/didn't add

That's what I was thinking.  As Virgin are blaming our TA, they won't speak to us anymore about it so our TA is chasing it up with Virgin and with their privacy department.  Thankfully we haven't reached the point yet where we can book dining as our cruise isn't until October.

Last week I was in the app and I had all these people who we don't know, linked to my account.  My partner and I are linked to friends who are coming on our upcoming cruise in October and we asked them if they knew who these people were and they didn't so it was just random people.  Virgin are blaming our TA but our TA says that it wasn't her that added them and we believe her because she is one of our friends.  I would hate to think that some stranger has my private details in their account.

16 hours ago, bajathree said:

Yes....in the past when I have usually done a GTY...closer to the sail date after final due date if I didn't like what was assigned to me I would usually see a price drop to the point that I could just make a change to an assigned category for the same price I had paid or maybe for $100/pp or less. No more...it seems that Royal is mostly keeping their assigned category pricing high and stable and just putting out GTY's at a very discounted rate compared to assigned cabins. Also in the past I have always been assigned a cabin when booking a GTY within days to a few weeks....even if the sailing was months out...not anymore....at least with this Wonder sailing and from what I have been reading....they aren't assigning GTY's till much closer to sail date now. Or they are assigning them but aren't telling you what the cabin is....as I have been hearing from people that once you check into your sailing and download your sea pass to your Apple wallet you will find coding and be able to often see what your cabin is going to be even though when you look up your sailing in the app or on-line under your account it will still show as a GTY....sometimes till a week or even days prior to your sailing.

If you remember....spring break last year it was Wonder that had a few overbooked sailings....effecting people mostly that did GTY cabins. I am now wondering....no pun intended....that they used Wonder for a new pricing strategy going to this new pricing model....and working the kinks out lead to the overbooking that seemed to only been effecting Wonder.

Thanks for all of the information you have provided.

1 hour ago, kruzerci said:

It will be refurbished (hopefully) before your sailing but I do not recommend it in the current state. We were onboard last week and it just felt yuck. Our stateroom was very old, musty, and worn, as were the common areas and soft goods throughout. 
 

That said, when they re-did Oasis they didn’t touch the hallways or cabins. That would be a deal breaker for me on Allure. It just felt grungy. 

Thanks for the information.

1 hour ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

19 october 2025. Its school holidays for our daughter here in lincolnshire. 👍 Will book the flights to barcelona late dec 2024 as thats when the best flight sales are on for october 2025 flights. 

The 19th October is actually the date we were looking at. That is the cheapest week in October other than the first week but the first week isn't suitable for us.

2 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

We enjoyed Allure immensely the first time we were on her two years ago. It was our first time on an Oasis class ship and they are impressive. (We didn't enjoy her as much last year, our second time on her, but that is a different story). The aqua show was fantastic and many people like Mamma Mia as the Broadway production. All of the staff were fantastic.

 

Our room felt a little dated and we had some mold in our shower. It was a rounded door so they put a little extra bit of wall there and moisture got trapped in between, causing the mold:

 

     

 

     

That's not good about the mold in the shower. Hopefully they have sorted it now.

Mamma Mia is one my favourite musicals. The Aqua show looks amazing.

2 hours ago, bajathree said:

On my upcoming Wonder sailing GTY cabins in all categories have consistently been running a 40% savings over an assigned cabin....HUGE price difference.

That is a huge saving. 

32 minutes ago, HicksRA said:

On most gty’s I’ve done, I’ve gotten good locations. My thought is that a lot of the cabins that come up around time to assign gty’s were booked early on in the best locations and are cancelled later on. (At Final Payment time)
Saving 15% is a no brainer for me…

I didn't think of it like that.  I suppose it is possible that can happen.

I know, 15% is a big saving.  I do prefer being a bit higher up but if it did end up being a lower deck, then we have still saved a lot.

10 minutes ago, ATG said:

We frequently do the guarantee suite.  Most JS are in good locations.  The most recent ones we got on Oasis class were 12236 and 10236.  About the middle, so lots of walking.  One was not assigned until a week out, the other at 30 days.  The only one that was somewhat less desirable was on Freedom - we were a deck below the Solarium and right off the stairs, 9244 I think.  One morning we heard the chairs being moved, but that was the only day it happened.  I figured we have saved enough to cover an additional cruise!

Thanks for the information.  You have had good cabins then.  For the cruise we are looking at, if we went with the guarantee JS, then the money we saved would cover the price of our flights.  It is a 15% saving which I think is very good.

51 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

The JS can be anywhere. If location matters, a guarantee is not a good choice. If it doesn’t matter, it can be a good way to save a few $$$.

m

Have you did a guarantee before?  It looks like all Junior Suites are mid ship.

Has anyone ever booked a GTY Junior Suite cabin on Allure before?  If so what deck did you end up getting?  The GTY cabin is a lot cheaper than selecting our own cabin but we have never done a GTY cabin before.  Right now if you pick the option to select your own cabin, the lowest deck available is deck 7.  I know there are Junior Suites on deck 6.  Does that means these cabins have sold already or would they not be available because they are being kept back to be used as GTY cabins?

2 hours ago, AndyLovesCruises said:

I have sailed Anthem and Allure, on a port intensive Europe Itinerary you will find it hard to enjoy an Oasis Class Ship (if your like me and want to experience it all) ! Or it may leave you wanting more so you book another trip. I loved both ships for different reasons but if I had to book one again id book oasis class trips where the ports are not 'must get off' locations and just enjoy the ship.  

 

Either way you will have a great time on RCI.  

Thanks for the information. We are from Scotland and have sailed the Med a lot of times so we have been to all of these ports many times. So we will be spending a lot of time on the ship. Also the sailing we are looking at will have 2 sea days.

We do really like Anthem and will be on Anthem again in February next year.

After everyone's comments, I think we will give Allure a go.