M&JfromSDL

Are you going to be trying chops?

 

 

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We are headed there tonight. I will let you know how it goes.

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Day 1 Compass

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Really enjoying your live review. Thanks so much for giving us all a much needed fix till it's our turn! If it's not too much trouble, even though you don't have plans to go to the MDR, could you ask someone about the MDR menu rotation. I read on these boards that the Western itinerary is mojo, saffron, pimento, basil, jasmine, shiitake and pomodoro. I'm trying to plan which night to go to Giovanni's. Thanks.

The menu is listed on the daily Compass. I will post them in a bit.

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Day 4 - March 8, 2017 - at Sea

Not much to report on yesterday. It was a nice, lazy day at sea.

We enjoyed breakfast in the Solarium Bistro then put on our bathing suits in search of an open chair in the Solarium. Unfortunately the chair hogs were out in full force and we ended up on the sun deck for a few hours.

Then down to our balcony for a bit of relaxing until our neighborhood chain smoker started up on his balcony. Can't figure out which cabin it's coming from.

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Have you ate in the main dining room yet?

 

 

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No. I don't think we will make it to the dining room this cruise.

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Starting to wonder about RCCL. Giovanni's tonight was not the same restaurant we ate at last night. Between Sabor, Giovanni's and some of the other stuff we've run into I'm beginning to scratch my head a bit.

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We capped off a perfect dinner with two awesome desserts: olive oil cake with lemon sorbet and 2 cannoli. We also ordered the signature drink but the name escapes me.

Our post-dinner time was spent on the Rising Tide Bar where they now remember our preferred martinis, then to Boleros for a little Latin music and a quick stint in the casino where I made my nightly donation.

We stopped at Sorrentos on the way back the cabin for 2 slices of over cooked pizza. We realized this afternoon they do custom individual pizzas and will probably give that a whirl.

Well that's enough updating for now. We had a great day at sea and have to make a dinner decision in for tonight. I will recap it tomorrow.

Thanks again for all of the follows!

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Soon the pianist's time was up and a percussion band took the stage.

Then entrees arrived.

We both ordered ossobuco and shared an order of Linguini with clams. The ossobuco was very good. The linguini was also good but there was something not so fresh about the clams.

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After sail away we walked down to Central Park with plans of having dinner at Vintages. There was a great pianist playing right outside and the weather was perfect. I could tell my wife really wanted to sit outside and eat at Giovanni's instead of inside at Vintages.

So she asked the host if we could grab an open table right near the pianist and eat. They cleared off the table and we sat down to one of our favorite meals on a cruise ship of all time.

The food was good, service was fantastic and the ambiance was almost storybook.

We started off with beef carpaccio.

And grilled octopus.

And lots of people watching!

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Our time in the water was cut short by this guy. He wasn't aggressive and seemed to be on the hunt for birds. Nonetheless it was pretty funny to my wife run from the water when one of the guys yelled 'Alligator!'

At 2:45 I walked out to the parking lot to see if our taxi was honest. No sooner did I hear a whistle and sure enough, our driver was sitting under a palapa waiting for us. Right on time. We piled back in the cab and headed for the pier.

We arrived just in time to watch our fellow Allure passengers navigate security with plenty of tequila in their systems and balloon animals on their head courtesy of Senor Frogs.

We showered and headed up to deck 16 to catch the sunset and sail away. We were also treated to music from the Soul Train cruise which was docked next to us.

Azmara Quest getting ready to dock in Cozumel.

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Out of the blue this cat appeared from behind the bar. She looks exactly like our cat back home.

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Tuesday, March 7th - Cozumel, Mexico

Cozumel is one of our favorite ports. This year we decided to head to the other coast for the day and enjoy a primitively bar we love called Mezcalito's Last Frontier.

After a quick breakfast at Solarium Cafe we walked off he ship, through the maze of schlock shops and into a cab.

Drive time to Mezcalito's is about 30 minutes. It is $26 one way.

When we arrived our cab driver mentioned it can be difficult to get a cab back (which we remember from last year) and offered to have his buddy pick us up.

In order to do so you pay roughly 50% of the return fare upfront. This made me pause for a minute but I decided to go ahead. I find most day to day Mexican people extremely honest and figured I'd go with the flow.

I can't say enough about how much we enjoyed our day. Mezcalito's is not your typical all-inclusive resort. It's a primitively bar with rough waves, rocky beach and they don't take credit cards. Why do we like it? Well we had the place to ourselves for a good part of the day. The drinks are cold, people are friendly and the food is decent.

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@M&JfromSDL can you share which hammock you have?

Yes, more info on the Hammock and more pictures (especially how you have it secured).

 

Thank You in advance.

I purchased this hammock from Amazon.com.

Winner Outfitters Double Camping Hammock - Lightweight Nylon Portable Hammock, Best Parachute Double Hammock For Backpacking, Camping, Travel, Beach, Yard. 118"(L) x 78"(W), Sky Blue/Blue Color

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GCKAPLK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_rRhWybT4D18X0

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How are the waves?

 

 

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Smooth sailing since we left Port Everglades.

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We struggled with what to order for entrees. Our waiter made a few suggestions then suggested a 3rd to make up for our wait. He appreciated our patience but we really enjoyed the fact they were busy and not rushing the experience.

I wanted to try the scallops. They were good.

Our waiter suggested the cod which I wasn't so sure about at first but ended up enjoying.

My wife ordered the Lamb Duo and we both agreed it was tops but I did really enjoy the cod.

My wife ordered a selection of cheeses for dessert and I stuck with the Bourboun Tart.

Overall it was a very nice experience. We wish Royal had not done away with the chefs tasting menu as it seemed to make 150CP something special. Not it just seems like another upcharge restaurant. That being said the room is beautiful and the service was perfect.

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150 Central Park was lovely. They were incredibly busy but the service was very attentive.

I loved the signature martini so much I bought the cookbook for the recipe and even scoured eBay for similar martini glasses.

My wife and I started with 3 appetizers at the suggestion of our waiter.

Tuna Tartare. The highlight.

Lobster Gnocchi. Not bad but lacked flavor.

Duck Confit. Also very good.

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What a perfect, lazy day.

After a little more napping on the balcony it was time for dinner. Tonight is formal night and we are headed for 150 Central Park.

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Monday, March 6th - at Sea.

There was a thread on here about a guy on Allure last week who had a banging noise in his cabin. He was still in the cabin so he didn't mention the number but based on my 9am wake up I think I found the cabin. Hopefully this doesn't last all week.

With that we headed up to Solarium Bistro for breakfast. Not sure how much "healthier" it is but it beats the frenetic pace of the WJ and the views are nice.

On the way back I scored a donut from the Boardwalk.

We also checked out the Top Tier Event. There were people with 1300+ points. Wow!

We wandered around the ship and eventually ended up back in the room. My dry cleaning had arrived as did the shoes I rented for formal night.

I also took the time to setup my hammock on the balcony. My wife grabbed our bottle of champagne and we sat out on the balcony and watched the sea pass by. This is what cruising is all about.

I know why people become balcony and suite snobs and it's because of days like today. My wife read, I updated this thread and we eventually took a quick nap. Sooooo relaxing.

After our nap we realized we had been onboard for 24 hours and had not had a beef sandwich from Park Cafe. So we grabbed a few drinks at Trellis Bar and enjoyed our lunch.

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We accomplished quite a bit on our first day so with that, we grabbed a slice of pizza and headed back the cabin for some sleep.

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I've given up trying to pack dry cleaned dress shirts for a cruise. Now I wash my dress shirts at home and have them pressed on board. Not much more expensive than having them cleaned at home.

I did have my tux shirt dry cleaned but at $4.99 in the future I will just rent a shirt ($12).

Current price list:

On our first Allure cruise, Rita's Cantina had a sail away party. We walked past it and it looked like a blast but was sold out. So this time we made sure to reserve Sabor for the first night thinking it would be casual and have a lively atmosphere. Couldn't have been any further from the truth.

We were literally the only people eating there.

Every pull into a restaurant parking lot only to find it empty and think, is this place open or is it open and just terrible?

Well it was open and terrible. The guac tasted like it came out of a plastic container and is eerily similar to the guacamole served in the Windjammer. We also ordered a snapper ceviche but after the first bite e decided to finish our margaritas and abort the rest of dinner

a+ for presentation. C- for flavor.

After dinner we rode the rising tide bar for close to 2 hours sipping excellent martinis and enjoying great conversation with each other. I also threw $50 in a $.01 slot machine and walked away with an additional $70.

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We are having a great time! But i owe you all an update. Mrs. M&JfromSDL is getting ready for dinner so now is a good time. Here are a few sail away photos. It was incredibly windy!!!

Just happened to catch ourselves on the Port Everglades Webcam.

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After a quick walk through the boardwalk and refill of our drinks we headed towards our cabin.

By now it was about 2:30 and we were getting a bit hungry so we swung through the windjammer for a quick bite.

With a couple of minutes to kill before muster we stopped off at the Champagne Bar for a glass of Champagne. We toasted to our vacation, love of cruising and to my sister who sent us some onboard credit as a Christmas present.

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Great review so far, really enjoying it. I am just curious never been on NCL what are VIBE passes

VIBE is a fee-for-entry adults only area on NCL Getaway ships. You can purchase a cabana for the week or passes to the area. It is space limited, has its own bat and hot tubs. I'm glad we purchased the access because the general pool areas were packed and IMHO not very relaxing.

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We spent quite a bit of time exploring the ship. First the promenade, then Central Park and up to the 15th deck. Due to the wind we spent just enough time up there to grab our first drink.

We checked out the gym. They have the 3 things is use (treadmill, rower and TRX suspension system).

Took a quick walk through of the spa. We had thermal spa access on the Getaway last year and their setup is much better. I can't see myself paying for access to the thermal suite on the Allure.

The couples treatment room did look nice albeit a bit anemic.

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We checked out around 1115 and found an UberX within 2 minutes. Our driver was an incredibly nice guy and got us to the port within 30 minutes.

Tip: have your SetSail Pass and Passports available for presentation while entering the port. Ours were checked in order to proceed to terminal 18.

There she is. The excitement was incredible at this point.

We dropped our 2 suitcases to a porter who let us know he would handle our bags and appreciate a tip.

No suite for us. Maybe next time.

We proceeded inside through security and then over to the Platinum Check-in desk. There was no line at this time of the morning.

Quick time line

11:13am - left hotel in Uber

11:43 - arrived at port

12:08 - Took a selfie on the gangway.

I have to say, this was single handedly the most stress free check in process I've ever experienced. I kept saying to my wife how relaxed I felt and we had just gotten on board. Nothing like last year having to get up at the crack of dawn to get to the port early enough to secure Vibe passes on NCL.

At the top of the gangway as you cross the running track and enter the Promenade, it finally hits you. You're on vacation. And the sheer size of the Allure hits you.

I'm glad we ate a big breakfast because we were able to skip the craziness of the Windjammer and enjoy exploring the ship.

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