whataboutport

Ohh he's beautiful! Great shot!

Hi everybody, I am yet another one of the JoCo group that will be on board. If anyone is still scared or concerned, maybe hearing from one more person will ease some fears.

 

I was on the "same" cruise last year, JCCC2. We were on HAL's Westerdam, and our group was roughly the same percentage of the total passengers as we will be this year. There's a few more of us this year, but we're on a bigger ship. JCCC2 was my first cruise.

 

So who are we? If you really want to stereotype us, you can call us nerds or geeks. But you might be surprised at how much variety you will see. We're a pretty even mix of men and women, from all over the US and other countries. There's probably a few more computer programmers than average, but there are a wide variety of other professions represented as well - last year I met an accountant, several musicians, game designers, authors, a sculptor, 2 NASA scientists, school teachers, retired folks, and a high school student there with her father. Some of us are super duper 5 gold star cruisers who got free upgrades to the fanciest suite on the Westerdam, while others (like me) were sharing a porthole room with 3 strangers to make the trip affordable.

 

Last year, on HAL, our group felt "younger" than the other passengers. (People who know more about the cruise industry told me that HAL tends to have a slightly older, slightly more conservative crowd.) I have to believe them, because the Westerdam didn't have a rock climbing wall, ice skating rink, or surfing simulator :eek: This year I think our mix of ages will be closer to the rest of the passengers - mostly middle age, good amount of 20 somethings, some older folks, and some families with small kids. I know there was at least one family with 3 generations represented last time.

 

Now the real question is how will we be screwing up your vacation right? ;)

 

Here's some idea of what venues we'll be using:

 

• We will be hogging the conference center 24/7. Hopefully no big deal for anyone.
  

 

• We will be hogging the main theater for the shows included in the entertainment package we paid for. most of these are in the afternoon before dinner, which for us is at 5:30. Last year they were very strict about ending the shows on time to make way for the normal shipboard shows. This made me sad, as it meant no encores, but it means you don't have to worry about missing out on the shows you would normally get to see, because we'll all be eating or doing something else.
  

 

• Last year we were all in the same seating for dinner, but we didn't have the *entire* dining room -there were tables for other folks as well. I don't know about this year. If you are in our seating, you can expect loud applause and cheering when the performers who played their set that afternoon arrive. (We also cheered the heck out of the waiters when they did their parade thing. Not sure if that's typical cruise behavior or not.) On the formal nights, you will see a wider range of formal wear than you typically would - there will be at least a few formal kilts, a Victorian style ball gown, a corset or two, top hats, and yes, one or two Star Trek uniforms. Feel free to compliment people if you like their outfit - a lot of the items are probably hand made. On the first formal night, you will see a lot of fake mustaches and fezzes. If you enjoy people watching, try to get in this seating with us. Or bring your own mustache and join in the fun. However, if you like your formal nights more conservative, I would suggest another seating ;)
  

 

• We will take over a venue like Studio B or the On Air Club at certain times. Based on last year's experience, we'll be packed in that particular venue like sardines, leaving everything else relatively empty.
  

 

• Someone earlier in the thread was worried about WiFi. Some of us will definitely be on their gadgets the whole time trying to keep their businesses afloat. But plenty more of us stare at a computer too much at work as it is, and are there to relax, tune out, and enjoy a week away from screens, keyboards, and stress. Plus internet is expensive on a boat - I'd rather save my money for frosty adult beverages!
  

Damn this sounds like a LOT of fun!

No. The site allows you to look at the deck plans and drag them over each other. Anything more than that I think they charge.

 

Go to the site and follow these directions:

- pick the the cruiseline from the list on the right.

- pick the ship

- once the next page opens you should see three tabs: Navigation,

Staterooms, and Deck key

- click Navigation

- click Drag decks

 

The decks should appear starting with top deck. Just click and drag the deck you want.

Thanks for pointing that out. I was completely blind to the little tabs, that's why I kept getting directed to the pay page.

 

Seeing as you asked, I just checked Adventurer. Deck 12 lined up with 11 but 8 was a little off from 7. It must vary ship to ship and deck to deck.

So I just did the Allure, and deck 6 and 7 were almost spot on, but the deck above and below them weren't even close.

If you look up a Freedom Class ship Deck 10, drag over Deck 11 and lineup the forward elevators, the hot tubs lineup over the wrong cabins. This site is totally inaccurate. If you scroll down to the aft elevators, you'll notice they don't lineup either.

I went to the site and it said I have to pay for a membership to look at the deck plans. Did you pay just to look at the Freedom class ships or did you already have a membership? If you already had a membership, were any of the other ships accurate?

I'm sorry to hear this! If I was lucky enough to get a GS, or a suite of any kind, and to find I have NO sun on my balcony I would be very upset. A GS is not a GS, even though it's the same class. Anyone if given the choice between the one you got and one without the higher obstruction would have chose the latter. It IS an obstruction. Shame they don't tell you.

I have a question. You did the Bernard's Tour right? the ship got in at 8am, but local time that's 9am right? I just got an email confirmation from Bernard to meet at 9am LOCAL TIME, then I realized I said we got into port at 8am SHIP TIME. Did you meet at 9 or 9:30?

Day 7

Dinner

 

Goat cheese and tomato

 

The fried seafood

 

K’s dish

 

K’s dish 10 minutes later

 

Scallops

 

Apple Pie dessert

 

Oooh looks so yummy! Except the fried seafood.

After reading many reviews, I heard Monarch was the stinkiest, and oh boy was she stinky last Feb! I hope all the refurbishing before being sold will help it. It was in the lower decks where I was (maybe 3? can't remember) and forward. It was terrible. If I didn't have the great idea to blame it on the people walking in front of me (got a few laughs), it would have been completely unbearable.

Yes, it is. The inside is lined with plastic, and there's a plastic lid and straw.

 

The drink was just some fruity, frozen concoction, with a little rum poured on the top. All those drinks taste the same to me. I prefer wine or a Captain Morgan and Diet Coke!

I really don't like frozen drinks either. I prefer my rum with just a bit of juice or coke. But I really like the container! thanks for answering my question tho! :)

I still fall 90% of the time. It's normal. you just lose your balance and fall. If you don't want to fall, just sit down where you are. You'll just be gracefully glided up to the top of the wave.

Awesome! Thanks :)

Hope you don't mind, Chrystal, that I'll answer the question about the bamboo container. I hope you're busy nesting!! I do hope you'll come back and tell us about the happy event.

 

We were with friends on our Allure cruise, and all of a sudden it became our quest to get all the different drink containers (and we usually never buy those or drink during the day). IIRC, the drink with alcohol was $11. Probably a couple bucks less without.

 

But.............if you just want the container, wait until the end of the week. All the different beverage containers will be for sale on the Promenade! Prices are reasonable. The fancy martini glasses, the plastic ships, the drink of the day ones, etc. I just measured mine and it holds just about 16 oz. liquid.

 

Have a wonderful cruise!

Cool thanks for the tip! So the Bamboo is real bamboo?

Oh my goodness, this is the funniest thing I've read in a long while!

But it could possibly happen! :eek: So I WILL wear a tank. How many times did you go until you didn't fall anymore?

Isn't it fun to see those "celebrities" in real life? We keep the cruising shows on our DVR and return to them every now and then for our cruise fix between cruises.

 

You are welcome. Yes, poking out the eyeballs is exactly what I meant (haha - never heard that one before, but I love it!)

HAHA!! I didn't even mean it that way, but now that I re read it, :eek: LOLLLLL!

Hi Chrystal! Great review! Congrats on the baby!

I have a few questions for you. That Labadoozie drink you had in the Bamboo container. Was it really bamboo and how much is the drink? Was it less with no alcohol? I just want the container. LOL

Also, I did email the rcl dining people to request a table for two, and I got no response. I sent it to the same email address as you did. Did you know a particular person's name there, or do you just have a knack with email requests? ;) I would like for them to let me know either way, but so far they didn't reply at all. :( It's been about a week and half.

We sail on Allure on March 3 and we're super excited! :)

The only reason you may want board shorts is to avoid a "wedgie" WHEN you fall :) Other than that, I'm more worried about my top than my bottom. Unless you have a racer-back style one piece, I'd still wear a t-shirt or rash guard. Things have a way of finding their way out of swim tops on the flowrider.

 

The surface is a tarp, stretched tight, much like a trampoline. It is a little bouncy and gives a little. So you won't scrape your knees on it. You may scrape your knees on the plastic grating at the top, once you have been swooshed up there by the water. I recommend rolling up into a ball when you realize you are falling, and trying to get onto your back. This saves knees and elbows from scrapes and bruises at the top.

 

P.S. Everybody falls. It's almost the only way off the flowrider. Have fun out there!

 

Thanks for the compliments Harold! I do hope we get to cruise with you again sometime - maybe 2014?

 

As hard as I've tried, Chris won't accept any additional crew members on our sailing excursion. (I think he's trying to be romantic!)

 

Thanks for the tips! I"m always afraid of poking out my eyeballs. LOL I guess I'll wear a tank or something.

Susan, since you are the Flowrider Queen, I wanted to ask you. What do ladies usually wear on the FR? I have a one piece that I'm bringing. Would that be ok, or should I get board shorts? I'm afraid if (when) I fall if I'll scrape up my skin on my knees or whatever, and I bruise very easily. Should I be worried?

um...yeah, I ate 4 lobster tails :)

How many did K eat then? :eek: Did you order them all at once? I'm always embarrassed to order more than one entree, but usually order more than one starter. Maybe I should be ordering more? ;)

DAY 7 CONT:

A beautiful last day on the Beautiful Allure

 

Went around and took a few more pictures before getting ready for dinner.

 

Everyone's favorite silver dog

 

Blue Birds of Central Park

 

Had a final dinner at Chops. Even better than our first night. Great service and food, Barramundi was outstanding selection as recomended by our server.

 

After dinner, walked around and then went back to cabin to pack:( So sorry to be leaving tomorrow morning.

 

Leaving the ship: Since we live in the Ft. Lauderdale area we elected to have breakfast in the MDR, and try to leave between 9-10. Debarkation was a little disorganized but I guess trying to get off 5,500 passengers within 2-3 hours is a little difficult. I did notice that U.S. Customs only had two lines open for US Citizens while they had 4 lines open for Non US Citizens.

 

Well that is all for this review. I hope you enjoyed reading it as I had writing it. It gave me another week to remember what a great time our family had on this amazing ship

 

The "End" of the Ship and the end of this review.

 

P.S. If anyone would like me to post some of my favorite non-cruise pics I would love to do so....

Great review! Thanks for taking the time to do this! How did you get that last picture though?

This was quite helpful to me, as I'm deciding between two RCCL sponsored bike excursions, one from Phillipsburg and one from Marigold. thank you, you helped me make up my mind. Plus I'm not into pastries and carbs, so Serafina's isn't really a big draw for me. :)

[quote name='mlbcruiser']FYI - The following was posted on this same board by Catcruiser on Dec. 27. I agree the ride from Charlotte Amalie (or Crown Bay as the case may be) is enjoyable. At least it was to us even though we weren't on this excursion & we went out of C.A. a number of yrs. ago:

We went on the [B][COLOR=#de203e]St[/COLOR][/B]. [B][COLOR=#de203e]John[/COLOR][/B] [B][COLOR=#de203e]Coastal[/COLOR][/B] Cruise a couple of weeks ago. This is a great way to go to [B][COLOR=#de203e]St[/COLOR][/B]. [B][COLOR=#de203e]John[/COLOR][/B]. Highly recommended. Captain Jack (not THE Captain Jack Sparrow from the movies!), is a great narrator, and does a narration of the history of the islands and some of the houses along the way. He does narration on the first half of the trip, but not the second half. It starts a short walk from the ship on a boat the size of the typical people ferries. The trip to [B][COLOR=#de203e]St[/COLOR][/B]. [B][COLOR=#de203e]John[/COLOR][/B] takes about 40 minutes. We dropped of the shopping and the town walking [B][COLOR=#de203e]tour[/COLOR][/B] folks (and for the people who didn't want to do either one, there are cabs waiting to take you to wherever you want to go) before proceeding to the [B][COLOR=#de203e]St[/COLOR][/B]. [B][COLOR=#de203e]John[/COLOR][/B] part of the trip. The extra cruise around the western part of [B][COLOR=#de203e]St[/COLOR][/B]. [B][COLOR=#de203e]John[/COLOR][/B] takes another 40-50 minutes. We ended up with about 3 1/2 hours of free time on [B][COLOR=#de203e]St[/COLOR][/B]. [B][COLOR=#de203e]John[/COLOR][/B][/quote]
Perfect info! Thanks so much! :)

[quote name='janetz']Thanks for this information. I dont mind a longer ferry trip. We are going to opt for the RC trip over. We will get 3.5 hours at the beach..Plenty of time. :)[/quote]
I think that's what we're gonna do as well. Are you doing the coastal cruise or the walking/shopping ones?

Just google your ship and date. I'm sailing with a bunch of Beatles fans. LOL Shouldn't be too bad.

LOL! I'll tell you one thing, if it were my boyfriend there, he would have JUMPED on that offer! He loves eating ANYTHING and trying new foods. He probably would have shot his hand up in the air and jumped up! I'm surprised K didn't take up an opportunity to get something inside his stomach! :)

OMG I'm with him on that! i LOVE eating uni, so much in fact I named my dog after it. I'm thinking about booking the Bernard tour just bc of the sea urchins. :D

Ok I think I've read enough to make my head spin! LOL
I'm leaning towards a ship sponsored tour, the "St John Coastal Cruise tour" (which is in conjunction with the Historic walking tour, and the leisurely shopping tour). These I guess leave out of CB and are $40pp.

I was thinking about the DIY method, but after having a quick check, we are docked that day with the Epic and Eurodam, and are last to arrive (they at 8am, us on the Allure at 9am). I would assume the ferries and taxies would be busy by then. Add to that the additional cost:
Taxi to Red Hook: $20 RT (plus tip)
Ferry to St John RT: $12
Taxi to Trunk Bay (where I want to go) RT: $14 (plus tip)
Total: $46+
(not including the $4 entry fee and snorkel rentals that would be the same either way I assume)

Now here's my question. The RCCL sponsored excursion is from 10:30am and says it's 6.5 hours, meaning we would get back to the dock at approx 5pm. I assume they would drop us off right at the ship, but is that cutting it too close? The ship leaves at 6pm. Ship sponsored excursions should be more on time right? I've had more than a few bad dreams lately about missing the ship at a port.

There was another RCCL excursion that's "St John on your own" that runs $34pp from 1:30pm and for 4 hrs. I thought that must have been a typo! Why so late?

<snip>

 

I think it was because you were not expecting the rock to be there. It is very much the same thing that petrifies me, it is the unexpected. I have yet to encounter a shark out in the water, I have seen plenty of mantas and every time I see them I freeze in panic. I know they are harmless (even though Steve Irwin died from one), but I think it is the size and the fack that they are in their natural environment and I am not. Even though I have this phobia, I am not letting it stop me, I am actually upgrading my very old P&S underwater camera for a new one. Maybe it will be what takes to make me enjoy the ocean a little more, since I am so passionate about photography.

 

March is around the corner, you will have a blast. I am having a hard time with the idea that our next cruise is in May, I think I look at the calendar in average 4 times a week. Luckily until now, time seems to be going fairly fast, I can only hope it stays that way. Have fun reading the rest of the review, thanks for posting.

 

 

<snip>

Thanks for replying! I think we are going to use bf's GoPro. It has a waterproof case so I can take vids, and I think it can do pics too. Quite honestly I have never used it! :eek: But I try to overcome my fear too. I'm afraid of heights, so going on the ski lift for snowboarding is terrifying for me but I do it! :o And I am really psyched to try out the zip line onboard. Another thing that scares me, but I want to do. Also the rock climbing wall! LOL I am starting to sound like a wuss.