JosieRhodes

9 hours ago, time4u2go said:

Are you saying the person went overboard because the prices went up, but that they were asleep when they went overboard?  Confused.

Ha, wow when I reread realized how my use of pronouns was very bad!  Sorry, my only excuse that battling bronchitis myself right now.  So I meant that my parents were asleep when the incident occurred, and my parents heard multiple stories from others the next day regarding what happened, so they weren’t sure which story was correct.  I asked them how the cruise was going, and their perspective was based on comparison to other Royal Caribbean cruises only.  My parents felt prices had gone up a lot for like ship tours, steam/sauna, etc so their onboard credit wasn’t covering what they used it for in the past.  Before my Mom got quarantined, she said they were really enjoying some sort of show about presidents that had crossed the ocean.  Sounded like a series.

About person overboard, said many stories going around ship in terms of how happened.  They were already asleep at time of incident.   Their general feeling is that the prices for “add ons” onboard have gone up compared to cruise last year.  Pretty much only cruise  Royal.

6 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

This is still a thing?

I’m not sure how discovered had covid, whether self test or did at medical dept.  My parents are in 80s.  But all of a sudden was getting emails from her due to free wifi.  Mom wrote getting free bottled water, free wifi, and free movies and confined to cabin until Friday,  My dad is free to to leave cabin at will as he has tested negative.

On 11/1/2023 at 6:04 AM, bucfan2 said:

Good for them.  We just got off Symphony in Barcelona on Sunday.  Got home, pulled phone out of safe, and looking fwd to cruising again so I can put phone back where it seems to belong (for me).

Yeah unfortunately now they have free wifi, as mom tested positive for covid and quarantined.

Yikes, my parents on this cruise. They refuse to get wifi package!

Thanks very much for all the wonderful info!

We walked from one fort to another on sidewalk parallel to water.   I think it was about a mile or so.  Pic of other fort taken from fort.   Admission to one fort covers the other.   This pic is zoomed a bit but we really enjoyed walking between the two - also go right by La Perla.  I actually enjoyed the walk between the forts as much as the forts themselves.

1 hour ago, jdcml said:

 

Welcome back!  We have a private island tour arranged and we are trying to figure out where we want to go and what to do.  We can just leave it up to them to take us to the highlights, but from experience is there anything we shouldn't miss? Anything we should leave out to save more time for something else?  We've got like 6 hours on the tour itself. 

Like mentioned in my other post, we did enjoy wandering thru the fort ruins, but doesn’t require too much time to do this.  If I did go back, I think would of tried to do a coastal hike to Back Bay Pools or Guana Bay.  But again, ended up not doing it this trip so can’t say much about it.  I think some others may have mentioned it in the forum, may have more details.

1 hour ago, jdcml said:

We have a private tour scheduled as well and are working on what we want to do.  Any advice on what not to miss and what might be worth skipping?

So, sorry, don’t think I can help you too much this time. As originally, I had booked a private driver so could do some hiking and be assured of easily finding the trailheads and having a guaranteed pick up😊.  I did have a list of potential hikes but ended up not doing any.  As woke up on Christmas, and just decided not really feeling the urge to hike so changed plans last minute.  I do think the two forts (Louis And Amsterdam) worth seeing, but we like exploring ruins like that.  In general, really enjoyed seeing the French side and Marigot.  Because it was Christmas, most stores closed which meant very minimal traffic, especially on French side.  We also had Fort Louis almost completely to ourselves.  We skipped the plane beach because wasn’t really interested in seeing...  and that seemed very crowded, maybe due to much of the shopping closed.  If the family had wanted to see that, I think I would of checked the airline schedules in advance for when bigger planes coming in.

Enjoy your trip.  I can’t remember all the beach names, but they all seemed quite nice.  Also the guava rum was good!

Sorry don’t have more specifics.

1 hour ago, luckyfincruiser said:

Thanks for the review.  Get on allure this Sunday and will check out those chairs you mentioned!

Again, when they weren’t holding rock climbing session, it was nice to grab a chair there when the upper decks were quite crowded.  I guess u can still get some sun too, but I was actually trying to avoid the sun as already had mild sunburn😳.

56 minutes ago, CaribbeanCrushed said:

 

Nice pics! And unfortunately the Steelers game was not worth watching. I wished I'd have been on a cruise and could only hear the outcome...

 

Thanks.  Ha, well at least I was in the air for the Ravens game and heard that sad outcome later.  I will have to check what “Pittsburgh Dad” said about the game.

3 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Fixed

Thank you 😊.  Happy New Year!

Ps. Also have no idea how to delete my double topic post which did by accident...

A couple pics from cruise had on iPad.  One is from Fort Louis on St. M.  I still have a ton to go thru.

 We arranged for a private tour with Dexter Tours/Mr. Bow Tie. Very flexible and will customize tour based on interests - highly recommend.  Went to both sides of island.  One of the places we visited was Fort Louis and got beautiful photos/view from top

We were on French side on Christmas, and it was fine.  Had a private van tour.

Hi,

Not a full review, but since find cruise critic so helpful, thought I’d put down some thoughts for others.  If I get around to it, was going to post some pics but has been such a long time since posting pics here, would have to figure out how to do it again.

 1)  Starting at the end, disembarkation was really easy.  First time walking off our ship with our luggage shortly after 7am, and it was a breeze.  We went right out to taxi line and got one to FLL for $13 plus tip.  Believe we were thru security check point shortly after 8am for our 10:45am flight.  I think could of actually taken the 9:45am flight if really hustled, but felt we had some wiggle room if there had been unexpected delays.  What was nice was finding seats and grabbing coffee while airport relatively empty as it became extremely busy/crowded as morning progressed.  Also (and not that we were up this early), the windjammer opened at 5:30am.  Other places were serving breakfast too.

 2) Embarkation was a little more confusing - maybe because hadn’t cruised in a while, as I missed the expedited entry line which think could have used.  It was right in front of us, but I wasn’t quite sure about it.  However, the general line moved at a good clip so didn’t worry about it, and we were on ship around noon.

Note:  We originally had three cabins for six people - 2 in each cabin.  One of our family was unable to make cruise.  The cruise was booked so far in advance (at very good rate) that took advice from these boards, and just checked in five people, didn’t mention that one was going to be no show.  Automatically removed from cabin after sailing with no additional effort on our part, and no single occupancy supplement was charged.

3)Just booked traditional early seating and have to say it was peaceful just to walk to our table each night.  If it had been port intensive, would have used MyTime to eat s bit later.  I did have to scramble to get sunset pics on one night.  I know food is so subjective, but we had no issues with eating in MDR each night.

4)Solarium Bistro was a good choice for breakfast for us.  I found more peaceful and enough selections available.  However, I did venture into Windjammer for the made to order waffles (that loved with chocolate syrup and whipped cream).

5)I’m usually pretty easy going related to food but have to mention that the free coffee seemed worse than our last cruise, so even I ended up breaking down and using some of our OBC for Starbucks coffee by mid week.  I will say I also paid about $3 for hot chocolate in Promenade Cafe.  It was excellent/worth it.

6)When rock climbing not in session, I liked grabbing a chair on that small deck in back, very peaceful.

7)Two onboard activities really enjoyed included a free “captain/senior officers” talk that was held in comedy club venue (extremely interesting and funny) and a behind the scenes kitchen tour, including brunch.  Signed up for it right at dinner table when offered for the next day.  Very interesting and loved the discount 😊.  Maybe not enough people booked it online?

8)Finally, in St. Martin arranged for a private tour with Dexter Tours/Mr. Bow Tie. Local number 1721-5227551.  Very flexible and will customize tour based on interests - highly recommend.  One of the places we visited was Fort Louis and got beautiful photos/view from top.

so that’s my quick review😊

ps. Sad that couldn’t see Steelers game onboard while still in FLL port.

Happy to answer any questions if I can.

Hi,

Just curious, if anyone knows of any options for watching the Steelers game from Allure of the Seas.  This will be at 1pm on the day we depart from FLL. 

Thxs.

5 minutes ago, nalatrixie74 said:

yes, 5:15 is awful early, but i told my family we can have second dinner later in the windjammer...  the menus don't appeal much to us in main, but for some reason, with tradition my family insists that is where we are to eat every night. so i might nibble then head to wj and give it a try

 We usually do the same thing some nights if can work it in with show schedule  😊.  Actually, I end up really craving the little sandwiches at the various other little meal venues which names escape me right now as haven’t had my morning coffee yet!  Sometimes I find them more appealing than dinner menu.  

Just now, Host Clarea said:

 

I think they are trying various methods to reduce the wait time for MTD guests.

Yeah, I have to say it was slightly chaotic one one or two nights of our Anthem cruise in 2016- hopefully they worked that all out by now.  We did that all MTD or whatever they called it at the time as can’t remember now.  The other thing is this upcoming cruise I can tell just tell my college ages kids to show up at this table at 5xx for family dinner.  I know sometimes MTD can be as consistent if book reservation same time each night, but sometimes hiccups😳 with that.

Oh, thanks😊.  About where MTD sometimes is.

Ps. I thought on Allure, that traditional vs MTD was separated by decks?  No?

Never thought about it being an impact of more MTD.  That’s interesting.  For our upcoming cruise, decided to give myself the planner a break, and just booked early seating.  My parents like to eat early and not a port intensive cruise so thought would be simplest.  I’m ok with early dinner as we usually go somewhere to snack after show, though when really interested in maximizing port time - like late or MTD.  5:15 is going to be a little tight with changing clothes, especially on one of the port days but guess will manage.  Off tangent, I just booked the shows and seems like one or two nights, we end up show free...  so wondering what other entertainment will be available on those nights.  Guess will need to look at old planners.

Thanks, but wow...  I didn’t think it was ever earlier than 530!

Quick question - what time is early dinner seating on the Allure?  We will be on her in December.

thanks.