Allure 1-6-13 with pictures

[caneguy]

We are long time cruise passengers and travelers to Saint Martin/Maareten and your photos of the beach/airport area are beautiful. You might want to enter them on the airliners.net site for they have an awful lot of them for that area and thru-out the world. Again, Thank You for the review and photos, Ron and Carla M PS: I know what you mean about your ages, I'm 65 and my wife is 56, the only problem with that is this coming March I will start my monthly SSN benefits, with no plans for retirement and my wife who is to young for retirement benefits has just found another way to SPEND OUR MONEY!!!

 

Thanks so much for the compliment on the pictures. I will look up that web site. That is so funny about getting social security benefits. I was planning on retiring early at 62 this summer but my wife has talked me out of doing that. I guess she heard what a famous person once said, “retirement is very hard on the wife, she gets twice the husband and half the money.”

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thanks so much for the compliment on the pictures. I will look up that web site. That is so funny about getting social security benefits. I was planning on retiring early at 62 this summer but my wife has talked me out of doing that. I guess she heard what a famous person once said, “retirement is very hard on the wife, she gets twice the husband and half the money.”

LOL! My DH did that - retired at 62. Fortunately, he decided to start his own business plus get a part time job. So for me, half the husband, half the money.:eek:

[Quilting Queen]

Caneguy I love your review and pictures. We will be on Allure in April with other AZ Cruiser friends.

 

My DH is only 16 days older than me. He retired at 63 2 months after I was laid off my job. We did not collect SS for another 4 months but I was on unemployment for over 6 months. After a year in Calif. and him sitting on the couch watching movies I told him he could do that anywhere in the world. We bought our house in Arizona and sold our Calif house and moved lock, stock and barrel here. We love it and he is still sitting on the couch watching movies and playing computer games. We earn less but can manage on it.

 

Norine

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[ALSEAU]

Thanks for the review and great pictures.

It's always fun to hear other people talk about their cruise experience.

[janetz]

Great pics. I just grabbed your St.Martin pic for my background. Enjoying this thread...:)

Edited January 21, 2013 by janetz

[caneguy]

Caneguy I love your review and pictures. We will be on Allure in April with other AZ Cruiser friends.

 

My DH is only 16 days older than me. He retired at 63 2 months after I was laid off my job. We did not collect SS for another 4 months but I was on unemployment for over 6 months. After a year in Calif. and him sitting on the couch watching movies I told him he could do that anywhere in the world. We bought our house in Arizona and sold our Calif house and moved lock, stock and barrel here. We love it and he is still sitting on the couch watching movies and playing computer games. We earn less but can manage on it.

 

Norine

 

Glad you are doing well. I really just wanted to be able to do a few more cruises on last minute deals as we live about 30 minutes from Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale:) Wife said, "just take a few more weeks of vacation!" She is a smart women:)

[caneguy]

Great pics. I just grabbed your St.Martin pic for my background. Enjoying this thread...:)

 

Thanks for the compliment. Grab as many pics as you like:)

[caneguy]

Thanks for the review and great pictures.

It's always fun to hear other people talk about their cruise experience.

 

Your welcome. Thanks for reading the review. It is fun doing it and when taking the pics, thinking on how to use them in the review.

[caneguy]

DAY SIX, AT SEA.

BLUE PLANET BLUE PLANET BLUE PLANET BLUE PLANET -- lobster

 

Awoke again to high winds (cross wind of about 35 knots) and swaying boat. Even during the early spin class the instructor made a joke of us working the core in addition to spinning with the balance we had to do while spinning do to the sway of the ship. After exercising met my wife for breakfast and then off to the Solarium to find some lounge chairs for some sun and relaxation.

 

Infinity hot tub in/near solarium (I do not know these people, hope they don't sue me:))

 

Did some hot tub time and then went to Giovanni's Table for lunch. I loved lunch at Giovanni's! I think again that this is the best value to a specialty restaurant either for lunch ($15) or dinner ($ 20) on the ship. All of us really enjoyed the lunch. There is a very slight difference in the lunch and dinner menus but neither one lacked for variety or flavor. After lunch went up on pool/sports deck to relax in some sun.

 

 

Dinner tonight was at the MDR. It was the second formal night and the star billing entree was of course, Lobster. Dinner was fine, second choice "Semi"-Prime Rib.

 

Left to right, younger son 19, my Mom 87 and older son 22

[caneguy]

Day 6 at Sea cont:

Tonight's show was Blue Planet, by far my favorite show of the ship. Unbelieveable sets, wonderful songs (Beatle, U2,), just a terrific production. The most popular show is the 9 PM show on the first night of the show, so book this one ASAP!

 

After Blue Planet i did my second helping of the Comedy Show, this time with my son's and was just as funny. We all laughed so hard that we felt we did 500 sit ups! These guys are just plain funny.

[sonicbuffalo]

great review and pictures....thanks for the great memories of Maho Beach.

[BillOh]

Day 6 at Sea cont:

Tonight's show was Blue Planet, by far my favorite show of the ship. Unbelieveable sets,

 

Did they bring out the "rock formation" which has 3 trampolines built into it and use it for acrobatics?

 

I'm thinking about which shows to book for a 2nd time and which ones to skip. I agree Blue Planet was a great show. I had seen video of the trampoline act in this show and was hugely disappointed when they wheeled out that fixture and didn't use it! They never said, I assume one performer was injured or sick. It left a big hole in that section of a great show. If I go back, it will be for that part.

 

I will definitely do the comedy club again, I guess its luck of the draw, ours was so-so, but glad you had a great time.

Edited January 21, 2013 by BillOh

[caneguy]

Did they bring out the "rock formation" which has 3 trampolines built into it and use it for acrobatics?

 

I'm thinking about which shows to book for a 2nd time and which ones to skip. I agree Blue Planet was a great show. I had seen video of the trampoline act in this show and was hugely disappointed when they wheeled out that fixture and didn't use it! They never said, I assume one performer was injured or sick. It left a big hole in that section of a great show. If I go back, it will be for that part.

 

I will definitely do the comedy club again, I guess its luck of the draw, ours was so-so, but glad you had a great time.

 

 

They did the tamploine act and it reminded me of the Cirque show I saw in Orlando. Hope you get to see it the next time you go on the ship. I agree, the comdey is luck of the draw and we were lucky that both were very funny.

[ricardin]

Why can I never see the pictures that get posted on CC? :(

[caneguy]

Why can I never see the pictures that get posted on CC? :(

 

they should come up with no problem. I am not a computer guy but maybe something in your settings?

[johneeo]

Why can I never see the pictures that get posted on CC? :(

 

What browser are you using?

 

You should have no problem.

[BillOh]

Why can I never see the pictures that get posted on CC? :(

 

Frequently it depends on where they are uploaded to. If you can't see pics in a thread, try three things. 1. Use a different brower, 2 try again later, if your at work, try again at home (some employers block some photo sharing sites)

[Luma001]

Great review, Caneguy, good job. I just have a quick question, did you get a peek at the 150 Central Park menu? Just wondering if it has changed in the last couple of months.

Thanks for the review!!

[caneguy]

great review and pictures....thanks for the great memories of Maho Beach.

 

 

Glad my review can bring back such wonderful memories. And thanks for reading the review and looking at the pictures. It was fun doing the review.

[caneguy]

Great review, Caneguy, good job. I just have a quick question, did you get a peek at the 150 Central Park menu? Just wondering if it has changed in the last couple of months.

Thanks for the review!!

 

I am sorry that I did not get a chance to look at the menu of 150 Central Park. Most of our party would not have liked the set menu. I did google it and got quite a few hits. BTW, the menu and restaurant 150 Central Park on the Oasis is done by Michael Schwartz of Michael's Genuine in Miami. His Miami restaurant has been rated by the NY Times as one of the top 10 in the USA!!

[caneguy]

DAY 7 - AT SEA - LAST DAY ON THE ALLURE (FOR NOW) :(

 

I love days at sea. Time to just relax, walk around the ship, and people watch.

 

My son's and I started the morning going to the Flow Rider at 10 AM. No crowds and we went on many rides.

Younger Son

 

Older son

 

ME!!!!

 

Watched the "Best of the Best" stand up Flow Rider Comp.

 

 

The Judges

[caneguy]

DAY 7 CONT:

Had to have one more Roast Beef sandwich for lunch and then went up to the pool and Solarium area to relax and soak up some sun.

 

 

 

Solarium area

 

Solarium Hot Tub

 

Plenty of Chairs...

[caneguy]

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....

[whataboutport]

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?