whataboutport

Pics from the ship, port side. This is my fave part of Nassau.

You guys still with me? Am I boring? Shall I go on? LOL

And directly across the street from the church was the Pirate Museum.

Now I am a big pirate fan, and I love history too, so I was excited to come here. In retrospect, I would not come here unless you are with kids. This was not any better than the displays at Disneyland. In fact Disneyland is better bc there are Johnny Depp replicas at least. :D It's $12 a person, and I expected to have more antique artifacts and such, not just replica display and dioramas. There was a tiny room at the end with a few antique weapons and a cool chest with a very intricate lock. However bc of the glass it was impossible to photograph :( and that was my fave part of the museum.

After that then it was lunch at Athena's. They really have cut back on the size of their octopus in the past year or so, but I have not had octopus like how they make it here, so I begrudgingly paid $18 for a tiny plate of grilled octopus, and a huge plate of conch fritters that weren't very good. :(

I liked the $3 for 8 pcs of conch fritters I got last time at a stand called Linda's Place inside the building before you exit into the city, but she was closed that day. I thought maybe it was just too early when we first got there, but at almost 1pm on the way back in she still wasn't there.

On our way back into town we walked by the governor's mansion.

A really cool and well kept church.

So Day 2 was Nassau. Last time I was here we had weird hours too, and this time was no different. So let this be my first complaint. Many people don't like Nassau and wonder why they even keep it as a port. I know these big ships can't go to as many ports as the smaller ones, but what I don't get is why they give us hours from 7am-2pm? Most of the shops don't even open till 9:30-10, so that doesn't give you much time at all! I say scrap Nassau all together and give 3 more hours each at St Thomas and St Maartin! Just my opinion though.

Anyway, we ordered room service the night before and it worked just fine as a wake up call. In fact they do call you on the phone to confirm before they deliver it. The food was just so so, but we had planned to eat more later anyway. The eggs were strange. The sausage and roasted tomato were good, so were the hash browns (when they showed up hot at least), and the fruit plate was hit or miss. Some of the fruit was very sour!

Our plan for the day was to walk to Fort Fincastle, Water Tower and Queen's Staircase. I had missed it last time I was in Nassau. The fort was very small, but the staircase was very cool and looked much more impressive in person, not usually the case with anything. We took a few wrong turns bc many of the streets don't have street signs. I had a map and still got lost but it wasn't too bad. Keep in mind the walk isn't long, but it is a bit hilly, so if you think you can't do it, take a cab or van. I thought we needed the exercise so we walked. A lot of the locals stop to help you and tell you where to go. There was a guy in a wheelchair at the top of the Staircase that told us to do the fort first then go down the staircase and it leads straight back to Bay Street. He asked us if we knew the history of the stairs (I did) so he didn't tell us the story, but later I did see him telling the story to some other tourists later. I am sure he does this for tips.

Very good review so far!! I am doing a review at the moment, check it out!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1805969

Awesome! You are much farther ahead than me. I've got some catching up to do!

So we got ready for dinner after muster. We had early seating, and our request for a table for two was honored. Bf was very happy about that. If you want to request a certain size of table, I emailed rcldining@rccl.com about a month and a half before sailing. Too far out and I don't think they will try to accommodate you. We got table 666 (eek!) nice table by the railing, and our waiter was Austin from India. Our asst waiter was also from India but I forgot his name. :( They were both great.

I can't remember what this soup was. Obviously wasn't TOO memorable. If I am correct, this was the coconut soup with seafood?

However this was totally yummy. The fish rillettes/pate app. Bf is just starting to get into seafood and even he thought it was yummy. We thought about ordering another one, but we actually didn't gorge ourselves on food, which I guess is a good thing.

We salmon was very moist. I usually only eat salmon as sashimi bc usually it's overcooked to my liking, but this was perfect!

Also we were very happy that we got a perfectly med rare prime rib just like we asked. It was SO tender. Great flavor, we literally didn't need a knife to cut it.

For dessert, sorry guys, I have to admit we did not stay for dessert even one night. We're just not into sweets. I'd rather save my calories for booze. LOL

The cabins were opened promptly at 1pm. We actually didn't realize this, and saw the doors to the cabin hallways were still closed around noon. Well, us wanting to go out to the Sun deck first thing, went to the port side on the 14th deck and tried to open of the those doors. Oh man are they heavy! I was wondering why they were closed. DUH! bc we weren't supposed to be there yet. Oops. After wrangling with that thousand pound door, we got spotted and a cabin attendant shooed us away. But very quickly after that all the cabins were opened and we got to ours. I didn't take many pics of the cabin but it's your basic ocean view cabin, lots of pics of the size on this forum. We got the bed by window configuration. Also, no need to bring extra hangers! I brought three slim hangers and didn't need them. I ended up ditching them before flying home.

We got our luggage very quickly and I was very happy all our RRs got through (shhhh!). I think we got our luggage about 2pm!

Ok, so once we got on, we poked around for a bit. Bf asked why the front of the ship looked so warehouse-y and they should have made it more prettier. LOL He didn't realize right away that what he was looking at was the dock!

Anyway, here are some shots from the first day.

Coast guard showing off doing some donuts.

I loved these crystal dresses.

I don't know where everyone is here!

I was on your sailing too!!! So cool to see the cruise from another perspective.

Cool! Let me know what you think. Are you going to do a review as well?

Trying again.

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Ok that worked but I gotta figure out a faster way now bc I gotta resize all my pics. :( Stay with me here, I swear I got some tips and inside info coming up later. :)

So we got caught with tiny airplane size bottles of Bacardi at security! LOL We had some left over from the plane (one of the flight attendants kept hooking us up!) so they got put in our Contigo travel mugs and went through the x ray. The guy screening them had the most serious face on like we were trying to smuggle in drugs! This then led to a thorough bag search, and a very nice lady asked us if we wanted these returned to us on the last day. Of course we said yes. I just assumed anything confiscated on embarkation day was lost forever. Anyway, it was funny seeing these four tiny bottles getting seized. After that we went to check in, and even being a lowly Gold, we still got to go in a very short Gold line and check in was a breeze. After that we were off! I think from getting dropped off by the cab to getting onboard was only about 30 mins. These people have their stuff together and know how to do their job. :)

View from onboard of Ft Lauderdale. Let's see if this works.

oops WAY too big. Hold on. Let me try something else.

Hello all, this is my first review. Just got back a few days ago. It was nice to get away, but I guess I just had too many expectations. Don't get me wrong, the ship and the crew are wonderful. I still feel I was a little let down with the ports. I know the Oasis class ships are more about the ship than the ports, but still there's part of me that didn't feel OMG wowed.

Anyway, both me and bf are in our mid 30s, and we work 6 days a week. We were really looking forward to and needing a relaxing vacay. I've been on cruises before and for the most part I'm easy to please. Bf had only done a short Carnival cruise before and doesn't like the "trapped on a ship" feeling so that was why we chose the Oasis class of ships. Also I chose Allure, bc being a fan of Chicago I wanted to see that show as opposed to Hairspray. So we booked very late, Jan 3 for a March 3 sailing, so we had to pay everything up front. Eek. We got a great cabin 6580, deck 6, starboard side mid ship, ocean view balcony. I had never had a balcony before and know I don't know how I'd ever get a cabin without one now! Our stateroom attendant was Michael and he was great.

Ok so let me back up. We're from CA so we flew out Sat night's red eye. Got to FLL at 6 am and rented a car to kill time. Really what ended up happening was we parked in a shady lot and took a nap. We rented from Dollar. Do not rent from Dollar, they don't have a free shuttle to the port! I originally had reserved with Alamo, but rebooked with Dollar bc it was a bit cheaper. Also I had an incident with Avis before when I showed up a tiny bit late and they would not honor my reservation price. So that's why I rebooked with Dollar at a later time 7am instead of 6 with Alamo. Well that change ended up costing us an additional $16 in cab fare bc Dollar didn't have a shuttle. :o

Once the cab dropped us off, we tried to find a porter for our bags. It was a mad house out front! They way the ports ask for tips is a little confusing, esp if you are someone who's first language isn't English. They said, Do you want to leave a donation for the porters? I already had some money out for them, but I noticed a family nearby that was a little confused by how he worded it. Anyway, after dropping off our bags we went inside to the security line and check it. Something a bit embarrassing happened to us during the security checkpoint. LOL See next post, this one is getting long.

Lmao. $650 is super weak. My last 7 day cruise I spent $1500 on drinks. And I still brought rum runners.

In this case wouldn't it have been better for you to get the alcohol package?

Ugh auto belays. I love rock climbing but i'm afraid of heights. I couldn't get myself to let go of the wall for the auto belay to work. =/

Therein lies the problem. LOL. I booked with two different TA's. The first cruise is with my regular awesome TA and the second is with an online discount cruise outlet well known on CC. The online TA was offering an AWESOME package of OBC and other freebies that was too good to pass up.

 

I don't want to call my regular TA because then she'll know that I cheated on her :o I guess I can try calling the other one but I didn't get the impression that they'll make any extra effort to help me w this since I didn't book cruise no. 1 with them.

 

I wonder if calling the B2B (or C&A) desk would work :confused:

If the online TA had that awesome of a deal, then maybe you can just suck it up and pay for a hotel in FLL for less than $100. That's what we found. After debarkation, it was cheaper for us to stay one more night including a night's stay in FLL at a hotel than to fly out that day. There are many no frills hotels in the area. If you still come up ahead then why not? I mean if not confessing to your current TA is that big a deal to you.

Join our roll call! A good time is to be had by all! And having read this EPIC, what's not to love?

I've never done a Roll Call before. I"ll go check it out! Whoo hoo! Two weeks and a bit and we're there!:)

I have been raptly reading you EPIC. I sail on allure in 19 days and can not wait. I recommend the lovely musical "once.". It is interesting, dynamic, sweet and has great music! I am a lifelong New Yorker, and can't recommend this one enough! As to your work, I live in one of the boroughs most affected by Sandy, and with so many friends directly impacted, I am grateful to you and all the other folks who have helped them and are helping them to renew, rebuild, and recover. Thank you.

Hey I'm on the same sailing as you! :)

Okay will try this again with picture

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That looks terrible! If I had paid the extra money for a GS and got this, I'd be beyond pissed!

Quick question. Which nights are formal nights on the Eastern route?

It's the 2nd night and 6th night. So Mon and Fri if I"m not mistaken.

The showers are in the locker rooms (which are on Deck 5 - but you access them from the Spa on Deck 6 and go down a flight of stairs)...the showers are available to everyone, even if you don't purchase the Thermal Suite package.

 

The steam rooms are in the Thermal Suite, so you have to purchase the Suite access...there were 4-5 different rooms - dry heat, wet heat, scented heat, etc.

Ah, ok thanks for clearing that up for me. We are staying on deck 6 so those nights where we get back late from port but have an early dinner those showers will come in handy. :)

I guess you answered your own question...sad to say, it's completely auto-mechanized now.... :(

Dammit I am screwed. :o

And now…the Vitality Spa.

 

The Spa…ahhhhh…..

 

 

I loved the spa. I love any spas, for that matter. And I used this spa extensively…not just for treatments (of which I had two – reviews & information to follow), but I also used the Thermal Suite and the Relaxation Room.

 

 

The Vitality Spa is huge, with solo and couples massage rooms, a youth spa, a thermal room, acupuncture, a mud lounge, and a thermal suite with a rain forest shower and steam chambers.

 

Here is a menu of the offerings, as well as the prices (that are always subject to change):

 

 

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As you can see, it can get pricey…on port days, they would often offer a special, that would look like this:

 

 

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And GUYS, we don’t want YOU to feel left out, so here’s something for you:

 

 

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On boarding day (Day 1), there’s a special going on, as well:

 

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The Thermal Suite…which is actually located down a deck on Deck 5 – was relaxing…however, instead of large glass windows that overlook the ocean, they offer you a relaxing view of....doors…of the steam rooms. Bleh. I was disappointed in the Thermal Suite, having been spoiled on the Radiance class. However – I will say that it was a nice end to my day, relaxing on the heated chairs…it was normally empty (I would go every night from 9:00 pm – 10:00 pm).

 

 

 

 

The Spa would open every day at 8:00 am and close at 10:00 pm.

 

Is this also where the free use showers and steam rooms are as well?

Hey - I'm glad to help! You will LOVE the "secret" balcony on Deck 11! And I am really hoping to get as much posted as soon as possible - but I also want to make sure its worth your while to read... EPIC WRITERS writing EPIC reviews need time. Hee hee.

 

 

 

Good question!

 

You are correct in that there is no "human" at the bottom, belaying you up...it is completely done now by the auto mechanism. That threw me - as the staff on the Brilliance had...ahem..."helped" me a bit on my own climb up by hoisting me when I got stuck, so to speak. That doesn't happen on the Allure. You don't get any assistance or a free "hoist" by a staff person at the bottom. However, there are staff at the bottom that get you into the equipment & harness, obviously. I don't know if they shout encouragement, like they did to me on the Brilliance, since I didn't climb on the Allure. I hope, perhaps, another reader can chime in with how much assistance/encouragement/etc you will get...but it sounds as if your son doesn't need any assistance! :)

Oh no!!!!!

Finishing up our tour of Deck 8:

 

Dazzles

 

 

 

Towards the back of the ship on Deck 8, there is a music & dancing venue called “Dazzles.” It offered a wide variety of music during our cruise, including Country & Western, Big Band, Rock 'n Roll, Orchestra, as well as Motown. There were also some musical-related trivia contests held there, as well as the Majority Rules Game show. These will all be listed in your daily Cruise Compass.

 

 

A view from the stage/dance floor looking out to the seating....

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Moving down to Deck 7…the only public area on Deck 7 is one that is found waaaaaaaaay back at the back of the ship – the famous Rock Climbing Wall. However, in the case of the Allure, there are TWIN Rock Climbing Walls – one on either side of the ship.

 

 

So…climbing the wall is free…but you MUST be age 6 or over, and wearing socks and dry clothes. On sea days, the schedule would something like this:

 

Beginners Session 9:00 – 10:00 am

Open Climbing 10:00 am – Noon

Bouldering Session 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Open Climbing 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm

 

For days that the ship is in port, it would most often be closed during the day, but would open up for Open Climbing from 4:00 – 7:00 pm. Periodically, there would be Climbing Under the Stars, from 10-11:00 pm in the evenings….

 

A view of the wall from the Boardwalk, on Deck 6...

If you've never climbed before, you might want to attend the "Introduction to Rock Climbing" class on Day 1 from 1:00 - 2:00 pm. On Day 2, there was a Kids Learn to Climb class at 5:00 pm.

 

I did not do this on this particular cruise (can I blame my broken foot?!), but I did climb the wall a few years ago on the Brilliance of the Seas. It does take some work, but the payout is incredible – when you finally reach the top and ring the bell! From what I could observe, the lines to climb were never really long…and they moved quickly.

 

The "secret" balconies on Decks 11, 12 and 14 will offer incredible views of the climbers coming up the wall....

 

That finishes up Deck 7...so, we're now moving on to Deck 6...the Spa, the Boardwalk and the Aqua Theater...some of my other favorite places onboard!

Are there "belayers" at the bottom of each climber? I've done indoor climbing with an auto belay and those things creep me out. I can never get myself to let go and just jump off.

Really loving this review so far! Great sense of humor and you are an EPIC writer! :)

Sherri, I am absolutely loving this review. I surprised friends on the Allure last summer. As someone who writes reviews, I will tell you: you have me entirely beat to heck! And I would gladly cruise with you any day. :)

 

Just had to chime in here that this paragraph shows how utterly and entirely clueless some of the "RC agents" are.

 

If you had brought a driver's license and your social security card, you would have been waving good bye to the Allure from the pier. :cool:

That's what I thought too when I read that! I went to the RCCL site to log on and double check just to be sure, and of course, the site's not working for me again.