Allure of the Seas - Feb 17: Review with some pics

[redsoxfan79]

Love the teen compass and your entire review!

We are boarding the lovely lady next Sunday!

 

Is there anyway you can post all of the other nights' teen compasses?

 

Thanks so much.

 

 

Sure. I'll scan them in when I get home from work today.

[BearBear69]

Oh thank you so so much! You dont know how much we appreciate it!:D

[kiminshawnee]

Thank you so, so much! My teenagers will be thrilled!

[kiminshawnee]

Does anyone have the compasses for 14 year olds too?

[wnycruisefam66]

We'll be sailing on the Allure on 3/31. Your kids remind me very much of mine- 17 (almost 18yr old) DD & almost 12 year old DS. My DD loves the teen club! She met great friends on our cruise last year, but I can't get my DS near his club. So I imagine my days will be spent like yours, DD spending the days/nights w/new friends, while my DH & I take turns relaxing and spending time w/our son. Thanks for the review!

[redsoxfan79]

Here are all the teen compasses from our trip...sorry it took me so long to post. I've been really busy at both work and home. I'm almost done with writing up last two days of our cruise so I'll be posting those reviews soon.

 

 

day 1:

 

 

 

 

 

day 2:

 

[redsoxfan79]

day 3:

 

 

 

day 4:

 

 

 

 

day 5:

 

[redsoxfan79]

day 6:

 

 

 

day 7:

 

 

[redsoxfan79]

I found it strange the the first day's compass (the large one) says that the curfew is 1am (on the 3rd page). But all the smaller compasses say 2am. Confusing :confused:

[BearBear69]

I really appreciate you taking the time to post those! THANKS A BUNCH!!!!

[Familygoboston]

Thanks for posting...my girls have to see if anything on here looks interesting enough to see if 18 yo wants to appeal to be included. Not sure they won't want to just hang together on their own anyway!

[redsoxfan79]

Day 6 - Day at Sea (part 1)

 

I woke up early, woke up DH and DS next door (love the connecting door!) and told them to meet me at the pool deck in 15 minutes. I got to the pool deck by 7:30. I grabbed some chairs in the front row by the jacuzzi. I like the chairs by the railing so I can lean on the railing and put drinks there. DS and DH soon joined me. It was still pretty quiet up by the pool deck. They read for a little while and then decided not to wait for DD so they went to get breakfast at the Windjammer. I told them to bring me back some sausages and milk.

 

While they were gone, I heard some yelling behind me and saw one guy (with a foreign accent) yelling that there is a sign that says "you can't leave your chairs for 30 minutes". A lady was upset because all her stuff was gone. She had just gone to shady area to talk with her husband who was sitting in a chair about 10 feet from her chair. This guy and his wife (or girlfriend) took her things and threw them on the ground and was sitting in her chair (and the one next to hers). People felt bad because she was just there and those two didn't care. It was early enough that I know she didn't even have her chair for 30 minutes so she didn't leave her stuff for more than 30 minutes. They were very rude and wouldn't get off her chair. What was frustrating is that there were still some empty chairs in this nice section since it was still early. But they wanted her chair (and the empty one next to it) because they were nice aisle seats. This lady had chosen this seat so she could sit near her husband who wanted to be in the shade today. Everyone was on the woman's side, but the other two didn't stop yelling, and wouldn't get up so she finally gave up. Her husband felt bad and he came over to her and they picked two chairs (in the same section) in the sun so he could be near her. I heard him say "these chairs are better anyways" to try and cheer her up.

 

Right after the all commotion, DS and DH came back with my breakfast. Yum! And it was so nice and warm already. Almost too warm for about 8:30 in the morning. I was sweating and knew I'd be in the water a lot today!

 

Around 10am some guy plopped 2 lounge chairs and a regular chair right in front of the front row, between the hottub and our chairs. And I mean right in front! His chair was almost touching my feet...about 1/2 inch from my chair. If he reclined the chair, he would have been sitting in my lap. I was trying hard to relax so I didn't let it bother me (much!). But there was no way I was going to let him recline. And I didn't want to move my chair back since that would be rude to the people in the row behind me. I guess it's nice to get out of bed at 10am, find lounge chairs on the upper deck and walk them down to the jacuzzi section and plop them where they don't belong, blocking people (who got up early) from getting out of their chairs. Everytime I left my chair, I had to bump into his, but he didn't care.

 

DD finally showed up...well, I feel bad that her lounge chair was empty all this time. She wanted breakfast so I went with her. I do love how fast the Windjammer is. It only takes about 15-20 minutes for breakfast. After sitting in the sun without her sunglasses for 20 minutes, I could tell she was unhappy so we decided to shop around the ship for some. We ran down to the promenade to check out the sunglasses in Guess and the other store, Willow. The glasses were designer and DD knew they were too expensive, plus she didn't really love any of them. I remembered the shop on the pool deck so we went up there. She found a pair that she loved for $29. Success! Now we can finally enjoy the sunshine again!

 

 

 

 

DD with new sunglasses :) ......

 

 

When we got back, the guy (in front of us) was gone and his family wasn't there yet either. His family (of 4) showed up about 1 1/2 hours later to squeeze into the 2 loungers and chair. So all these lounge chairs, blocking us in weren't even used for about 2 hours. They seemed like a nice family, but I still didn't like this guy's tactics.

 

 

We had a nice leisurely morning, baking in the sun and swimming in both pools...too hot for the hot tub today! The DS got hungry so I decided to take him to his favorite place to

eat... Johnny Rockets, again! I had DH and DD take our stuff off our chairs since I knew DS and I would be gone for a long while. I think DD and DH grabbed something at Sorrentos or the windjammer They put our stuff on one very out-of-the-way chair for the rest of the day so we could keep coming back during the day. DS and I went from our lunch to the belly flop contest where DD and DH met us (only 2 minutes before show). The men that do this contest are hilarious and this group of guys were by far the funniest I'd seen in a belly-flop contest. We had two men that really stood out, Jiggly and Mr Belly. The rest were funny too. Jiggly shook his belly so much that I think

it was going to fall off. And Mr. Belly had his wife draw a face on his belly so he could wiggle it. They took over the show. I think a young, skinny guy won and he was the best. Nice form!

 

After this, we went back to room to get our sneakers since the zip line opened up at 2:15. We went back to our lone chair again to make sure our stuff was still there. It was in a sea of empty chairs so no one would care that we had our stuff on it. Then we were off to the zip line. It didn't open for about another 20 minutes, but there was already 2 people in line so we jumped in too. The line started to fill up so I'm glad we got in it. My kids argued about the order we should go in, and they looked a little scared so I told them I would go first.

 

 

After the zip line, we went back into bathing suit mode and tried to convince DH (who is afraid of heights so no zip-line for him) to do the flowrider. He loves to body surf in the ocean so it didn't take too much convincing. The flowrider line was long, but we enjoyed watching people on the flowrider and we'd given up our nice pool chairs so we sat in the sun and watched until it was his turn. DH had such a look of concentration on his face and this was just boogie-boarding. He really had a bad wipe-out...spun around and landed on his head. It was good for a few "Oh's" from the crowd.

 

DD's friends from last night showed up and watched her dad wipe-out on the flowrider and then they all left to walk around. DS and I stayed to watch DH try again. Then we played some mini-golf while DH went back to the pool area. Pool chairs were plentiful now since it was almost 4pm. We saw Mr. Belly and Jiggly doing bellyflops into the beach pool and Jiggly was yelling "Bellyflop" as he flopped in. I saw DD walking around and reminded her that this was formal night so she needed to make sure she had time to get ready. I gave her her seapass so she could get back to the room. DS and I didn't need more than 30 minutes to get ready so we thought we'd watch the flowrider for a while longer. We spent a lot of time watching people on the flowrider. We enjoyed the surf-side more than watching the boogie-board side. It was more exciting to watch novices successfully stand up for a few seconds.

 

I really enjoyed seeing someone who couldn't stand on the board the day before do better the next day. I love it when people clapped for someone that did well. It was actually boring watching the 'pros'. They could stay on the board all afternoon..still nice to see, but it got boring after a few minutes. One of the more interesting newbies on the flowrider was a deaf 20-something year old guy. He had his translater stand near the lifeguard and translate the instructions to him. The lifeguard was holding his hand and kept pointing to his own eyes, telling the guy where to focus. After a few minutes, the lifeguard let go and the guy stayed up for about a minute and we all clapped and cheered for him. Then he fell and came up with a big smile on his face.

[redsoxfan79]

Day 6 - Day at Sea (part 2)

 

 

We went back to the room and changed for our previous formal night. No long gowns tonight, but I knew it would still take a little time to get ready. The last formal night my son got away without showering. He is 13 and hates to make the effort of getting in the shower, and it slipped by my DH so his hair didn't come out as nice in those pictures. So this time, I told him that he was getting in the shower! As we were heading to the MDR, DD asked if it was OK if she didn't go to Blue Planet with us. She knew that I spent time figuring out each night and booking the shows. A group of friends were meeting at 8:30pm to hang out for the night. I told her no problem... I was just happy that she was having a good time. We stopped at one of those photo areas in front of the MDR to get some pics. Again, I told them that we just wanted simple poses. Dinner was the good as usual and the kids were acting silly so it was a fun dinner.

 

 

 

After dinner, I wanted some pictures in the promenade so we headed there. The line for the pictures by the staircase was long but it seemed like a good background. It was fun, people watching and talking to people in line so the time went by fast. The group ahead of us had 27 people in it, but when it was their turn, they told us to go ahead of them because they still couldn't find one couple in their party. They thought they were off drinking. So we got our turn.

 

 

 

Then right next to the stairs was a little alcove behind the Champagne Bar, and a photographer was taking pictures there with a solid white background. Sorry kids, one more line! As we were in that line we saw the party of 27 getting their picture taken on the stairs...funny...one couple was holding their drinks and really stood out amongst the rest ...must have been the couple they were waiting for :)

 

DS got a little nervous while we waiting in this line because they had some kids doing silly poses. When we got up there, I let the photographer choose some poses that weren't too silly, but looked a little awkward. I ended up loving a few of them!

 

 

 

We all headed back to the room to change and DD flew out the door to meet up with her friends. DS and I went to Blue Planet and we wondered why DH (who we left in the bathroom) wasn't right behind us. He showed up about 5 minutes later. We sat in the back section of the bottom floor to get a nice view of the show. I thought it might be like the Oasis's Come Fly with Me, where you might not want to sit up close since there were aerial-type acts. DH showed up and then ordered a drink....mind you, we are dead center with people all around us. The server didn't look too pleased with him. I left to go to the restroom and then I decided to stay in the aisle waiting for his drink. I saw the server heading back with drinks on the other side so I made a mad dash to stop her before she tried to squeeze in with all those drinks on her tray. I caught her in time and grabbed the drink and seapass and it made her happy.

 

Blue Planet was what I expected, similar to Come Fly With Me, but also very different. What was similar was the basic format. They had the singers: Come Fly With Me used the leads from Hairspray and Blue Planet used the leads from Chicago. There was the ensemble who danced around them while they sung. There was the big trampoline act, which is always fun to watch...except it was late so DS missed it - asleep again! :( And there were the spinning aerial kind of acts. The lead singer was Velma who just kept switching costumes throughout the show. Billy Flynn, Amos and Roxie also sang a lot. We all enjoyed the show...I especially liked the dancing, trampoline jumping and other acts since I'm not a big fan of watching a singer stand and sing. I love to watch movement. I liked the cool tree and long dress acts (but I really can't say more or it will spoil it for others).

 

Well, since DS didn't make it through this show either (I think Velma keeps putting him to sleep), we went back to the room. DS and DH decided to stay in, but I stay out and enjoy the ship on my own (yet again!). I walked around and checked out the lucky slot machine again...darn, this one always seems to have someone camped out at it. I decided to waste $5 so I hit another machine. The money lasted a while so it was worth the $5. I felt a little funny walking around in my casual shorts since there were still people dressed up in their formal attire (especially on the promenade). I checked out the photos on Deck 6. Tonight's formal pics weren't there yet, but there were some good ones to choose from already so I knew we would have to buy some pictures tomorrow. I grabbed a drink at a bar and sat at one of the tables in front of the Bow and Stern. There was some fun music being played inside the pub and it was a enjoyable

atmosphere.

 

I went back to the room around 11:15pm and DH told me that DD flew in the room, grabbed her bathing suit for the hot tub and ran back out. Looks like she took my beach bag since all the stuff that was inside it was thrown all over the sofa. Well, she is having another fun night!

 

I figured she would be out a while so I went back out myself, after checking out the ship in the distance on the balcony. So pretty all lit up. I was nervous out on the balcony at night on my very first cruise. I would have my mother hold on to my arm while I approached the railing. I thought it would be so peaceful outside...well, it really is peaceful, but it was so dark and you can hear the water that I was nervous about being out there especially if the boat was rocking. I did finally find a light to turn on on the balcony tonight(after almost 3 cruises were over). It did make it less dark, but I didn't think the neighboring cabins would be happy so I left it off. I was able to go out to the balcony all by myself now (in the dark too!). It just took some getting used to.

 

Back to walking around and my favorite past-time... people watching. I took the glass elavators down to the promenade, trying to find DD somewhere, but never did. She later told me that she saw me walking out of the casino area while she was on a glass elevator. Doesn't help me much if she knows where I am, but I don't know where she is. Oh well.

 

After much people-watching, I was getting tired and decided to head back to the room. Oceanaria was still on the 24-hour feed so I turned it on and watched the endless loop of diving. I was slightly dozing waiting for DD to come back to the room. OK...after the 3rd Oceanaria started, I looked at the clock and freaked out. It was 2:25am! And no DD. Should I tell DH and freak him out too! What to do? I didn't know. I decided to throw on a sundress and go out looking for her. I looked like a mess. My hair was all over the place and I didn't put my make-up back on. I didn't care...I was a mom who needed to find her kid! I first went to pool deck since that's where all the teenagers were. No one there but a couple workers. I walked by the teen club and it of course was closed. No one around at all! It would have been cool to be out this late, except I was almost shaking. Darn DD! I walked the whole length of the pool deck and even checked the solarium area. Nothing. I took a glass elevator down to the 5th and there were only guys vaccuuming. I walked down to the 4th and saw the disco. Maybe teens were allowed in their tonight. It was still open so I walked over there and chatted with the guy guarding the door. He told me that no teens were allowed in and that they should all be back in their cabins. Curfew, you know? Then he says, "Have you reported her to guest services?" Oh, great! I'll get her quarantined to her room for the rest of the cruise. I responded that I have been away from the cabin for a long time so she was probably already there. Well, I didn't think that was true, but I decided to see if she was there. I went back....to an empty room.

 

It was 2:50am now. OK ...I'm flipping out. Wake DH? No, I'll give it another try. I went to the boardwalk/aquatheatre area. Maybe there were a bunch of teens hanging out in the aquatheatre seats. The seats were roped off and I ran into a nice security deck patrol guy. He asked who I was looking for. I think he has seen the 'crazed-mom at 3am' look before. I decided to tell him that I was looking for DD and he said he ran into a few teens a little while ago and sent them to their rooms on the 7th floor. I was optimistic until he told me that it was a different room number. Well, seems like there were a few teens out and about so I assured him that she was probably back in the room and I headed back there myself, feeling defeated. I never mentioned our room number or names, but I was getting more and more nervous so it might just come to that. As I was walking down the long, long hallway, I was DD way far away approaching our room from the forward side. It was 3:05am! My heart was light again. I tried not to be angry cause it is vacation, but I hugged her and told her that I was nervous and asked where she was. She was in a cabin of 2 sisters with a few other teens just hanging out. Seems like they ran into security themselves a few times and kept telling them they were on their way back to their rooms. DD said one of the kids that she was with that night was worried that his parents would be concerned about him. A few minutes later they heard his name paged to report to the 10th floor. I guess I wasn't the only nervous parent that night! I asked her where my beach bag was and she said it was left in some cabin and she could get it the next day. I didn't care...just happy to get her back. She told me she was really very safe the whole night was her big group and not to worry. I probably should have scolded her more, but it was vacation, she was having a great time. So instead I told her that I won't worry the next night.

 

What a push-over I am!

 

[akcruz]

Day 6 - Day at Sea (part 2)

 

 

 

After much people-watching, I was getting tired and decided to head back to the room. Oceanaria was still on the 24-hour feed so I turned it on and watched the endless loop of diving. I was slightly dozing waiting for DD to come back to the room. OK...after the 3rd Oceanaria started, I looked at the clock and freaked out. It was 2:25am! And no DD. Should I tell DH and freak him out too! What to do? I didn't know. I decided to throw on a sundress and go out looking for her. I looked like a mess. My hair was all over the place and I didn't put my make-up back on. I didn't care...I was a mom who needed to find her kid! I first went to pool deck since that's where all the teenagers were. No one there but a couple workers. I walked by the teen club and it of course was closed. No one around at all! It would have been cool to be out this late, except I was almost shaking. Darn DD! I walked the whole length of the pool deck and even checked the solarium area. Nothing. I took a glass elevator down to the 5th and there were only guys vaccuuming. I walked down to the 4th and saw the disco. Maybe teens were allowed in their tonight. It was still open so I walked over there and chatted with the guy guarding the door. He told me that no teens were allowed in and that they should all be back in their cabins. Curfew, you know? Then he says, "Have you reported her to guest services?" Oh, great! I'll get her quarantined to her room for the rest of the cruise. I responded that I have been away from the cabin for a long time so she was probably already there. Well, I didn't think that was true, but I decided to see if she was there. I went back....to an empty room.

 

It was 2:50am now. OK ...I'm flipping out. Wake DH? No, I'll give it another try. I went to the boardwalk/aquatheatre area. Maybe there were a bunch of teens hanging out in the aquatheatre seats. The seats were roped off and I ran into a nice security deck patrol guy. He asked who I was looking for. I think he has seen the 'crazed-mom at 3am' look before. I decided to tell him that I was looking for DD and he said he ran into a few teens a little while ago and sent them to their rooms on the 7th floor. I was optimistic until he told me that it was a different room number. Well, seems like there were a few teens out and about so I assured him that she was probably back in the room and I headed back there myself, feeling defeated. I never mentioned our room number or names, but I was getting more and more nervous so it might just come to that. As I was walking down the long, long hallway, I was DD way far away approaching our room from the forward side. It was 3:05am! My heart was light again. I tried not to be angry cause it is vacation, but I hugged her and told her that I was nervous and asked where she was. She was in a cabin of 2 sisters with a few other teens just hanging out. Seems like they ran into security themselves a few times and kept telling them they were on their way back to their rooms. DD said one of the kids that she was with that night was worried that his parents would be concerned about him. A few minutes later they heard his name paged to report to the 10th floor. I guess I wasn't the only nervous parent that night! I asked her where my beach bag was and she said it was left in some cabin and she could get it the next day. I didn't care...just happy to get her back. She told me she was really very safe the whole night was her big group and not to worry. I probably should have scolded her more, but it was vacation, she was having a great time. So instead I told her that I won't worry the next night.

 

What a push-over I am!

 

 

Wow, your pics are great, especially love the one above. They look so nice and innocent, then they make you do that long walk around the ship at night. Been there done that. The only difference was it was our last night on the ship. DS has been on many cruises before and punished for coming in past curfew (sometimes the ship, sometimes ours). So, he knew to wait until the last night so wouldn't loose his ship privileges. Anyway I did that walk but after my first pass came back to the cabin and there he was "sound asleep". He saw me from a distance and high tailed it back to the cabin.

 

Loving your review, good work!

[redsoxfan79]

Wow, your pics are great, especially love the one above. They look so nice and innocent, then they make you do that long walk around the ship at night. Been there done that. The only difference was it was our last night on the ship. DS has been on many cruises before and punished for coming in past curfew (sometimes the ship, sometimes ours). So, he knew to wait until the last night so wouldn't loose his ship privileges. Anyway I did that walk but after my first pass came back to the cabin and there he was "sound asleep". He saw me from a distance and high tailed it back to the cabin.

 

Loving your review, good work!

 

It is comforting to know that I am not the only one that has been worried by a teen staying out late, without checking in. Glad both of us had happy endings to our nights!

[kiminshawnee]

THANK YOU SO, SO MUCH FOR THESE! Helps so much in planning shows, dinners, etc.

[shaharis1701]

Loved the review! We are leaving on the Allure next week. Can you tell me if there are regular travel coffee mugs with lids available in cafe promenade? I don't want to take travel ones from home if they have the coffee shop types there. I always get coffee for my wife in the morning and its hard to bring those small coffee cups from the buffet back to the room.

Thanks

[Nolefan95]

Enjoyed the review.

[bluecruisin]

I hope you are able to resume your review soon! Enjoying what you have written so far.

[joand452]

That photo of your children is wonderful! They probably felt like dorks having the photos taken, but I'm sure they'll be so happy they have it when they're adults!