ALLURE EASTERN REVIEW 9/30/12 w/pix (Family Perspective)

[Eng23]

Hi eng23 - trying not to highjack this great review, but what's the latest time that you suggest we leave Maho by? We will be there on Thanksgiving (not that it would make a difference as its not a recognized holiday for them).

Hi. No later than 2:30pm. On the day the Allure ports the last aircraft really worth watching comes in between 1:30pm and 2:00pm (American Airlines 737-800). After that there are mostly small commuter type planes that go from island to island. Right now it's still kinda low season so there are not as many jumbo jet flights coming from Europe (the 747's, A340 size planes). Traffic gets pretty heavy heading back to Phillipsburg between 2:00pm and 2:30pm especially in the Simpson Bay area. I headed back around 1:30pm and the ride took about 50 minutes due to traffic. The later in the afternoon the worse the traffic gets.

[Eng23]

I've been out of town this week and unable to check the boards or update my review, but I just caught up on yours and it's great! I love the Orient Beach photos, and I think you could still use the Maho one for your Christmas card. Time is getting away from me and my memory is getting foggy. You are helping me remember the rest of our cruise so I can finish out our report :)

HI Susan. What is it with you and this foggy memory stuff??? :p

[Wildcatfish]

This is a great review! Sorry that we're coming to the end. Had to laugh about your DH buying the $10 watches. I did the same thing this year on Freedom. I certainly didn't need them, but I kept saying, "They're only 10 bucks"!

[swwake]

HI Susan. What is it with you and this foggy memory stuff??? :p

I could blame it on one of two things: age or alcohol. I choose alcohol. I'm never growing up!

[Familygoboston]

Senor Frogs was a blast. Total fun and a total party atmosphere. The emcee was hilarious and the bartenders made you feel like you knew them forever. Did I let DD2 have a drink? Ok, maybe one. No flamers please.

 

 

 

Hey it's legal- it's not like you posted a pic of the 11 yo drinking;) looks like you had a great trip! I think ST John will be our favorite on this next Allure cruise too. We have private sailboat charter planned with sailing, swimming and snorkeling in St John. I love ST John!

[noshoobie]

RE:cool:: your cabins- Which room # had the bed closest to the balcony window...

 

When you docked in Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten how were your views from your balcony..were you facing the Atlantis, land or out to the harbor...

 

Was it a major hassle to get to and from St. John.. we were planning on doing the same trip to Trunk Bay when we take the allure next year.. How long was the ferry ride to and from St. John.... and roughly combined time total each way from ship to St. John and return trip....

 

About St. Martin.. we used Bernard tours the last time but was thinking about just taking a taxi to the beach near Maho and then walking 10-15 minutes over to Maho to see some of the bigger planes come in...how long did it take you to return to the ship from maho beach....

 

Thank you for your review.. it was excellent... went on oasis last October and doing allure next October... hope you all had a great time... Thanks.

 

The room to the right, 7576 had the bed closest to the balcony. Getting to see both types of rooms first hand, I would say I prefer the bed closest to the balcony. For some reason, the room seemed bigger.

 

Our starboard view on all 3 islands was of the island so in Nassau we could not see the Atlantis from our balcony.

 

I don't think getting to St John on our own was a hassle at all - it was like an adventure. Here is a fantastic link as to the pros and cons of doing it on your own or going through the ship excursion. It also tells you how to get there and the costs if you go on your own. It's quite lengthy but well worth the read:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1196166

 

Thanks Eng23 for giving the information about Maho.

[noshoobie]

DAY 7 - (con't)

 

On to the rockwall. Technically, I did not chicken out because I never intended to do the rockwall in the first place. I just went to be a cheerleader for DH and DD2. One of the attendants at the rockwall looked very familiar to me . . . hummmm . . . . where had I seen him before?? It took me a few minutes but then I realized he was one of the Village People from last night's 70's party. I called him out on it and he denied it, but the other attendant was very quick to rat him out. In fact, the proof was showing on the big screen in the Aquatheater as we were talking. Yes, they were showing the 70's party and, yes, there he was. We all had a good laugh except for the sailor who was :o. The sailor and the other attendant were roommates and the roommate said he came back to the cabin with lots of dollar bills :cool:.

 

 

DD2 didn't make it as far up as she wanted. She said her nails prevented her from getting a good grasp.

DH made it to the top and said it was pretty scary up there.

 

 

After we were done with our activities, we went to the Schooner Bar for Movie Quotes Trivia. We're movies buffs so we thought we would give it a try. We got 8 out of 20 wrong :(. The winner only got 2 wrong.

[noshoobie]

One thing I forgot to mention about this morning. On Allan Brooks morning tv segment (Babbling Brooks) he will mention your name for a b'day, anniversary, etc. if you put a note in his box at the Guest Services desk. On Friday night me and DD2 put a note in for a shoutout to DS who was going to be turning 12 the following week. We watched the tv segment this morning and sure enough he gave DS a shoutout and spelled his name out. DS thought that was the greatest.

 

At dinner tonight we again requested Juanna and assistant waiter Kadyek. They were great and helped make our dining in the MDR a memorable one.

 

When we got back to the room we had to finish packing and get our bags in the hallway before the 10:30 comedy show. Geez, how did we accumulate all this extra stuff? After our mission was accomplished, we all went to the Amber Theater for the PG rated version of the comedy show. No reservations needed. They changed it up a little bit and deleted the cursing and sex jokes. DS loved Mike Wilson's spot on impressions of Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock and he loved Steven Thomas' jokes about cruising. He also did some humor about toilets/farting which makes any young boy totally crack up. I think he laughed more during the show than any of us.

 

It was a great day . . . . . we were sad to see tomorrow come!

[noshoobie]

DEPARTURE DAY -

 

When I booked our flights, our choices were either 9:30am or 8:30pm. I really, really, really, struggled with what to do in this situation. Do we request self-departure and go with the 9:30 flight or do we request late departure and just hang in Ft Lauderdale for the day? Upon reading the plethora of posts that doing the 9:30 flight was conceivable but not recommended in case of some unforeseen circumstance, we decided to just hang in Ft Lauderdale for the day. In hindsight, we could have definitely made it for the 9:30 flight. A lesson learned.

 

We requested a late departure and got a 9:20 departure time. We went to the Windjammer at 7:30 and it was packed, probably the most packed we ever saw it. We then did a quick last time stroll around the ship.

 

Disembarkation would have been easy BUT when I went to disembark they said I still had a balance I owed. On Friday, I had gone to Guest Services and given them my debit card for any last minute purchases. I was assured I didn't have to do anything else. I distinctly remember asking, "I can just walk off the ship?" and the concierge said "yes". So what was the problem? The concierge never linked the card to my seapass account - just my DH's. It didn't make sense to me b/c we were in the same room. Isn't that just common sense :confused: . Anyway, I had to go to Guest Services and get it straightened out while the rest of the family had to wait at the gangway. It was a little aggravating but once we got in the terminal everything was a breeze. The luggage areas were very clearly marked and the line for customs moved quickly. I still can't believe how RCL moves this many people around so quickly - it's amazing to me. Once outside, the line for the taxis was clearly marked as well and also moved quickly.

 

Up next, what we did with all that extra time . . . . . . . . .

[noshoobie]

I wanted to book a hotel with 3 criteria (criterion??). 1) I wanted one that offered a day pass. 2) I wanted to be on the beach. 3) I wanted to be within walking distance to shops/restaurants since we were not going to rent a car. Well, I got 2 out of 3. I could not find any hotel that offered day passes with the other 2 options so, upon recommendation of a friend, we stayed at the Sheraton on 17th St. It was on the beach, had a sweet pool (which we never used) and was walking distance to shops/restaurants, but, it was a VERY LONG walk.

 

We got to the Sheraton around 10:15 and they put us in a room immediately. The room was very clean and comfy. It was an overcast day so we didn't even go on the beach or use the pool. We took our LONG walk to some shops and had lunch at an outdoor mexican cafe. It seemed a little weird that we had to pay a bill when we were done after being on the ship for the week. You mean, we couldn't just walk out?? :rolleyes:

 

If you are looking for the same kind of accomodations, I would check out the Bahia Mar or the Marriott Courtyard. I believe they were around the same price (we paid $160) and they were closer to the action.

 

When we got back to the room we watched a few movies and I think we all ended up falling asleep at one point or another. At 5 we went to the beach to watch sail-away.

 

 

As I've said before, she is such an amazing sight. We wished that we were on it!!

 

We left the hotel around 6:30 for our 8:30 flight and everything went smoothly.

[noshoobie]

FINAL THOUGHTS

 

Thanks for posting all the nice comments and I apologize that the review took so long. I thought I was going to be able to finish it in a week and didn't realize how long it would take to organize my thoughts/notes/pics.

 

When I read reviews where people say "I didn't have time to do this" or "we never got to do that", I always wondered why. Now I know why!!!

You cannot possibly do everything this ship has to offer in a week.

 

 

Some examples of things we had planned but never did:

• Izumi for lunch
  
• Ice Skating
  
• Rising Tide Bar
  
• Yoga
  
• Love and Marriage Show
  
• Quest
  

And that's just a few examples. One of the biggest tips I would like to offer is don't over-schedule yourself. You'll just end of driving yourself crazy. Take each day as it comes and if you don't get to do something, oh well.

 

 

Here are a few tips that I would like to offer:

• If you are a splenda fan, bring your own. They do not have it on the ship. They have yellow packets but they are not splenda.
  
• Do yourself a big favor and bring a highlighter with you for the daily compass. The compass has SO many things listed. If you highlight the things you may want to do for the day, it's so much easier on your eyes. You will spend much less time constantly looking at the compass.
  
• If you miss some of the shows like Love & Marriage, the Capt/Engineer Q&A, the 70's dance party, they show them on your stateroom tv at a later time.
  
• If you're in the mood for a little water and don't want to open your $4?? bottle of water in your stateroom, Sorrento's has ice water all day and night.
  
• If you are considering Walkie Talkies, it's much easier to bring post it notes with you and just post them on your mirror to let everyone know where you are.
  

I will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. Thanks for reading!!!

[swwake]

Awww, so sad to watch Allure sail away and not be on her. A back-to-back on Oasis class is on my bucket list.

 

Those are some great tips, and some that I didn't even know! Thanks for the review. I'm still on Day 6. It takes a bit of time.

[alaska_planner]

thanks for your review!!! :)

[alaska_planner]

Day 2:

I was planning to wake up a little late this morning but for some reason I woke up at 5:45. I went on the balcony and could see Nassau in the distance. The sea was still calm and the moon was shining brilliantly. Even though it was still dark, I could see a rain cloud ahead. Sure enough, it started to rain but lasted only 10 minutes. We docked as the sun was coming up. When it got a little lighter I decided to take advantage of the peace and quiet (and the kids sleeping) and journal. Here I am with our view of Nassau in the background:

 

 

Until this pulled in to block the view (Carnival Ecstasy):

 

 

And then this one (Disney Dream):

 

 

I must say I was very impressed with the Disney Dream. It really is a beautiful ship. I took a closeup shot of the (movie screen??) because you could hear Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck's voices coming from it. It was hilarious. Even with our balcony door shut, you could hear it. I imagine it would get highly annoying after awhile. The water slide on the ship looks incredible. The heck with Mickey Mouse - you would never be able to get me off of that!

 

 

I was really excited about going to Nassau because I always wanted to see the Atlantis. I figured we could go over and spend a good part of the day there. Upon investigation, I discovered that the day passes there were REALLY expensive and the waterpark doesn't open until 10am. We were leaving at 3pm so it really didn't make sense to go. We just ended up admiring the Atlantis from afar:

 

 

So the only thing we planned for Nassau was to get off and walk around a little. Unfortunately, the weather that day was on and off rain so I felt bad for those who had big plans that day.

 

 

The disney dream is a gorgeous ship, no question about it.

I was on her last october (during Sandy).

But my next cruise is on the Allure (woo hoo!!!)

 

by the way, why would anyone flame you about DD2 having a drink on nassau? if the legal drinking age is 18 then she's allowed - right?

she was legally entitled to a drink. :) nothing wrong with that.

she wasn't driving anywhere, so no problem!!

(or in short, when in rome)

[noshoobie]

Just thought I would shamelessly plug my review of the Allure from last year since one year ago today was the first day of this wonderful cruise. I remember when I was researching our cruise, I could not get enough of Allure reviews. I still read them to live vicariously through others.

 

If you have not read this already . . . . ENJOY!

[seaboat]

Just read your great review.. Thank you! I will be on Allure in 5 days and I can't wait! My 1st time on a RC and of course on Allure! I am so excited but kinda nervous..lol Yay!!!:):)

[noshoobie]

Just read your great review.. Thank you! I will be on Allure in 5 days and I can't wait! My 1st time on a RC and of course on Allure! I am so excited but kinda nervous..lol Yay!!!:):)

 

Thank you. That's exactly how I felt! You will love this ship and I hear that Allan Brooks is aboard. He is great! Have fun :)

[mirage2u]

I'm glad you bumped this back up. I really enjoyed reading it and it has made me consider going over to St. John's.

[swwake]

Oh I miss that cruise! And we don't have another planned as of now. :( But I suspect we'll take a cruise in 2014. If not Oasis class, we may just hop on Navigator out of Galveston after April when it gets its flowrider!

[noshoobie]

Oh I miss that cruise! And we don't have another planned as of now. :( But I suspect we'll take a cruise in 2014. If not Oasis class, we may just hop on Navigator out of Galveston after April when it gets its flowrider!

 

I know, I do to. Every once in awhile I'll read the review to re-live it. We had so much fun. We're doing the Explorer to Bermuda in 5 days!! I'm sure it won't compare to the Allure, but I'm just as excited to be experiencing a different class ship. Good to hear from you!

[Jazzzy]

Just finished reading your review. Great report with lovely photos.

 

You have a beautiful family!

 

Thanks for sharing

:) Jazz