Simply the Best! Allure of the Seas E. Caribbean March 3rd-10th with pics!!

[Chisusie]

Glad you are feeling better. Sorry I am a bit late to the party, just found your review today and I am loving it!

 

We too travel with someone, meet Elliot the Moose!

[cruisin_cutie216]

So glad to see some new faces and critters!!

 

KansCocoa: Welcome!! Thank you for the wonderful compliments!! I'm really enjoying seeing your review on the same ship through the eyes of a solo traveller (not to mention, the towel animal adventure gave me a chuckle as well!!)I really did want to try Izumi while I was onboard (I'm a HUGE sushi freak. Cali King and Avocado/Cucumber rolls are my favorites) but never got the moment or time. The "free" options caught my eye many a time. Yes, I can't tell you how happy I am to be out of the boot! I broke my left foot and had a titanium pin put in to repair a ruptured tendon (my the scar is just lovely) and boy does it hurt on many an occasion! None the less, very happy the doc approved no boot cruisin!

 

Cybil: Same reason I take Ziggy. I nanny for a few families and the kids like seeing where he goes and guessing along with mom and dad. Makes it fun for them!

 

Chisusie: Elliot is adorable!!! Such a cute critter. No worries on being late to the party! This party never stops!! *does very awkward yet seemingly appropriate party-esque dance*

 

So friends, you've all waited long enough! Time for another installment (now availible in Technicolor!)

 

Chapter 9 [i think] Rain Rain Go Away, Come Again on a Sea Day!

 

Not to worry friends, things didn't get 'series of unfortunate events' bad, just got a bit uncomfortable and inconvenient. Being seasick is absolutely no fun and honestly, I wish I had headed my mother's warning pre cruise about the very good possibility of this happening. I get the motion sickness from my dad. The strange thing about is that I didn't start to develop it til my adulthood.

 

Being the wonderful boyfriend he is, Rob headed to the bathroom to retrieve my motion sickness pills. We picked up the chewable kind from the airport back home and the were the most convenient thing. We decided to have a bit of R & R before dinner time` and when the rest of the bunch would return back to the room. We took the opportunity to explore the television a bit.

 

**For those whom are first timers onboard the Allure, this one is for you guys!**

 

The stateroom televisions onboard Allure and Oasis are interactive when you turn them on. On the screen you have some options:

 

Stateroom Account View: View account balances for yourself and others in your stateroom. (great way to keep track of OBC spending in families or for your self.) This saved the headache of having to run about finding an empty kiosk that worked or waiting in the guest services line.

 

Safety Video: If you didn't really catch it the first day during muster, they kindly offer you a refresher throughout the cruise.

 

Inbox: Messages about specials, departure information, surveys, events, etc.

 

Room Service Order: Order breakfast for the next day or order room service through out the day. WONDERFUL system!

 

Show Calendar/Reservations: View personal calendar of show reservations for yourself, others in your stateroom, and make reservations for shows that you weren't able to book pre cruise or the first day onboard. (**TIP:while everyone is crammed in line at Studio B the first day on board, once your stateroom is open and ready, go to the television in your room and book the shows there. leaves you more time to explore the ship and have fun)

 

Feeling a smidge hungry, Rob and I decided to order something light from the room service menu. Let me tell ya, room service was complimentary (until about 3AM then there was a charge) and wonderful! Rob ordered a bowl of garlic soup and I ordered a simple caesar salad. We placed the order on the TV and was quoted a wait time of 30 -45 minutes. For one bowl of soup and a salad!? Eh, I wasn't complaining, I was on vacation.

 

No sooner had we placed our order (about 5 minutes after), our stateroom phone rang and it was room service confirming our order and that we would be in the room for delivery. We settled on the couch and watched some of "The Captain's Log" while we waited for our food. Soon enough, our food had arrived (in 15 minutes, not bad).

 

So nicely presented on its lovely tray. We noticed that we had 3 plates but had only ordered two things. Curious, I opened the topmost plate with the note on it and found some lovely deserts.

 

 

Compliments of the room service staff. This girl never says no to a free desert. Not knowing what was in them, I erred on the cautious side and left the cookies for the girls to have once they returned back to the room. Rob and I immediately began to eat our food and it was simply delicious! The caesar salad was perfectly crisp with croutons and shredded cheese. The dressing was packaged caesar dressing but it was still very tasty. Rob really enjoyed the soup and was pleased with the flavor. It was the perfect way to hit the spot before dinner.

 

Now here's where things got a bit "worse". Rob and I had done alot of walking that day and I had participated in the flash mob dance class, but me being stubborn and having so much fun didn't bother to take a look at my bad foot. It was swollen and the site was a bit angry looking. Immediately, Rob grabs some ice from our ice bucket and places it in a ziploc bag on top of my foot. My foot was a bit warm to the touch and I was worried about the possibility of infection. I decided to let it rest until dinnertime, and take it easy tonight.

 

Tonight was a casual dinner night so dressing up wasn't going to be necessary. We all got dressed and headed down to dinner for our usual seating. I was extremely excited because they had some favorites of mine on the menu tonight and I wanted to give them a try.

 

For the appetizer I ordered the Caprese Salad and Rob had the garlic soup (of course). The Caprese was simply wonderful! I loved the vinagarette that came with it and the mozarella complimented it nicely.

 

 

I decided to switch it up a bit tonight, and ordered two appetizers. In addition to my salad, I ordered a chilled strawberry soup with a mint garnish in the middle. It was very yummy and tasted a lot like a strawberry mint smoothie. So good that I was surprised that it wasn't a desert!!!

 

 

Now came time for the main course. I noticed tonight in the dining room that they were a bit slower than usual. Made a mental note but it didn't deter my experience so much that I didn't enjoy the meal. For the main course I had the chicken marsala and it was good. I'm used to the marsala not being breaded but grilled to a point so it was done a bit differently than I was used to. Not a huge fan of asparagus or cherry tomatoes so I kindly set those off to the side. The mashed potatoes however were delicious.

 

 

During our meal, there was a very interesting soundtrack of music played during main course service. Quizzically, I asked what was going on. Our assistant waiter informed us that it was a signal to the dining staff that they have to prepare for a special performance. I'm thinking 'Oh man! Dinner and a show!'. They did a song and dance to some italian song (I forget which one it is) and boy did the napkin swinging ensue. Hey, I know the restaurant it nice but we're on a cruise and I can be whimsical if I wanna!!! It was quite the show and rather entertaining!

 

Once the main course and the show were over it was time for desert. I really really wanted to have the Tiramisu and it was one of the deserts on the menu tonight that I was "allowed" to have. This is where I was a bit disappointed. The tiramisu was not the best. I've had quite a few and none of them tasted like this one. It was SWIMMING in espresso. So much so, I couldn't really appreciate the flavor of the cake itself. Didn't end up finishing it...

 

 

Once dinner was complete, we went back to the room to change for the 80's dance party at Dazzles. I am a HUGE 80s fan and I really wanted to see Dazzles and go dance to some awesome 80s music. Rob isn't a huge fan of dancing and says he has two left feet (and he does!) but was willing to go with me to check it out. I brought some really cute black paint splatter shorts that my mom bought me and paired it with a hot pink tank top and some electric orange otritch hair feathers and a side pony, I was good to go!

 

We headed off to Dazzles for the party and I know I should have expected an older crowd but it was fun! the music was a bit of a disappointment as I wanted more 80s dancey music and it was an odd mixture. Plus, Dazzles didn't have a lot of actual "dance" space so we ended up awkwardly dancing in the walkway leading to the dance floor in front of other people's booths.

 

After about an hour of that, I decided to call it a night and head off to bed. The next day was St. Thomas and I was super excited to be going to the beach. Really hope that it doesn't rain on our parade. None the less, Rob and I had some super special things planned for our anniversary tomorrow and I could hardly wait.

 

And that was my

 

 

<3 Missy <3

 

P.S. As promised, here's a video tour of our stateroom and some other stuff on our deck too!! Forgive my camera skills and commentary. Enjoy!!

 

Edited March 25, 2013 by cruisin_cutie216

[Tough as Leather]

Thanks for the tour!

Funny you should be watching "How to Train Your Dragon'! I know the guy who co-directed it. I'll have to watch it again when I'm onboard the ship! :rolleyes:

[Shilky]

Great video! Where did you get the stuff on your door, it was so cute :)

I will be on the Oasis in May, can't wait...

[cruisin_cutie216]

Great video! Where did you get the stuff on your door, it was so cute :)

I will be on the Oasis in May, can't wait...

 

Hobby Lobby! The fish, palm tree, and flip flops are wooden pieces that came pre fabricated and I took a fine point sharpie and wrote the details on them. The flip flops were flip flops on a fishing line that I took them off and wrote letters on each flip flop (it spelled out BEACH BEAUTIES) and then on some of the extra ones I wrote out each port of call that we were going to visit. I had plenty of flip flops left so I could make replacement letters and such in case some of ours grew legs (which two of them did; not to worry, I made more!).

 

The print outs I got from cruise critic and the one towards the bottom of the door I had made on the DIS boards by a lovely lady named Amy [DIS name: M_I_C_K_E_Y] and she did a wonderful job. I had a bunch of other signs that she had made but for some reason I got paper piles mixed up when we were packing and I forgot to pack the rest of them *head desk*

 

As far as getting them to stay on the door I used tape on the backs of the flip flops and then adhesive magnet squares for the wood fish and the palm tree. Originally, all the magnets were on our door but Holly moved them to the inside of our stateroom so that they wouldn't be stolen (smart cookie!).

[Familygoboston]

Your video cracked me up!! (17th floor for the "rich people":p) I love that you even introduced your cabin steward!! I have never seen so many toiletries in one cabin:eek: Honestly, I thought it was a Walgreens!!;) That must have been a tight fit at "getting ready" time, but the next time some one asks if you can fit 4 adults in a cabin I will refer them to your review to get an idea about that- seems like you did it and are still talking to eachother.:D

[mrlddst]

Loving reading your review...makes me want to cruise again. I hope you feel better.

[cruisin_cutie216]

Chapter 9 cont'd: Rain Rain Go Away, Come again on a sea day;

 

Today was the day that we would dock in St. Thomas. I was super excited to get off the ship and explore the island. Rob and I had planned to meet up with the family to go to the island of St. John for the beautiful white sand beaches that I had heard so much about.

 

Buut of course, mother nature decided to put a damper on things. Literally.

 

When we awoke that morning, it was rather gloomy and overcast outside. Was going to complicate some things a bit when it came to taking photos. The girls had already gotten up super early and were out of the room already. Rob and I met up at our usual meeting time and decided to head to Windjammer for our breakfast. We were still coming into port so we were able to catch a glimpse of the charming harbor and the boats in the water around us. It was a very pretty site.

 

Time for more food porn! I had yet to take a picture of my meal in the WJ and now seemed like as great a time as ever. The breakfast buffet at WJ did not disappoint and it was constantly kept clean and stocked. Sea Days are the best time to come for breakfast a little bit later as everyone is on the lower decks close to the gangway levels in order to be first ones off and not be caught in the traffic jams. Another good tip, if you purchased the soda package at the beginning of your cruise and have your drink mugs with you at breakfast, fill those with beverages at the beginning (the Freestyle machines are at the entrance to WJ) and then snag a table and use the cups as a seat holder for when you return with your food,

 

We were able to snag a table by the window and frankly this became a bit of a competitive game to see who could snag the best window seat. Rob knew how much I enjoyed the picturesque view plus it made our casual meal a little bit more romantic.

 

We went through the buffet and chose our options. I chose a modest smorgasbord of sausage, bacon, potatoes, Frosted Flakes, milk, and some other offerings. Very filling and tasty meal!

 

 

This particular morning I opted for chocolate milk rather than my usual Dasani sparkling water.

 

After our breakfast, Rob and I had arranged for some much needed relaxation in the spa. We had stopped by the night before to inquire on what specials they would have for port days.

 

***HUGE TIP: If you're going to spa, do it on a port day. These days fill up last compared to sea days and they tend to have some specials that are cheaper than any other days in the sailing***

 

We elected to do the couples relaxation package with massages, facials, and then hand and foot treatments. We arrived at the spa around 9:20 for our 9:30 appointment and after filling out a spa "survey" we were led to our treatment room by our maseuses and the relaxation began. We had a couples suite with subdued lighting and very relaxing music.

 

Some critique about the spa: It was set up nicely, but I was a bit disappointed in the couples suite. I was hoping for an ocean view massage suite but nope, no ocean view. Bummer.

 

The massages were WONDERFUL. They seriously felt like heaven and apparently we both had quite a few knots to be worked out. I joked with my massage therapist that each knot was for each naughty thing our dogs do in a day.

 

The facials felt pretty nice. Rob sweared that he wasn't going to have cucumbers on his eyes but I'm pretty sure he got them. I wanted to lift mine and get a glimpse at his "diva tastic" look and have a chuckle but was far too relaxed to care.

 

Hand and foot massages were okay. My foot was questionable due to the fact that the surgery site was still very aggitated. None the less, the spa experience was relaxing.

 

It got a bit awkward at the end. Our treatments were complete and our therapists wanted to give us some time to relax and enjoy the moment.I remember a rather awkward "THWACK!" sound as our massage therapists tried (emphasis on try) to make us have a couple-y moment by having us awkwardly hold hands. They then left the room.

 

...............

 

 

ooookaaaayyy......

 

 

 

Not really knowing what else to do, Rob and re clothed ourselves and waited for our massage therapists to return. Now this is the one part of our experience that I DID NOT care for but should have expected. They proceeded to give a sales pitch about products that we "needed" to have for our skin. Mind you, I had been using dermatologist recommended/prescribed soaps and such for years and not had a single problem with my skin. We were less than pleased with the sales pitch and decided to pass on the options politely.

 

I managed to grab a few shots of the spa before we exited

 

 

 

We then decided to head to the gangway and off the ship to explore St. Thomas. I headed back to the room to grab the beach bag and other essentials on the way to the gangway. Wanted to into how the gangway and debarkation at ports works:

 

1. On port days, there's a dock time as of to when the ship is docked at port and guests can leave. This is announced on the PA and can be found in the cruise compass.

 

2. Make sure you have a watch that is on SHIP TIME. Obviously the crew will be using this as a way to keep track of port time. Don't want anyone left behind.

 

3. When ready to get off the ship, proceed to the level that's the gangway (on the elevators there's a button with a star that says "GANGWAY". Once at the gangway, there will be signs that direct you to kiosks where you scan your SeaPass card to get off the ship [its cool to watch because your picture pops up on the screen].

 

Thats it! Simple as that.

 

Once off the ship, Rob and I explored St. Thomas a bit. I wanted to get a souvenir from just about every port of call we visited and couldn't resist the fact of there being no tax.

 

Because it was a bit of a walk from the ship to the shopping, we had to take a taxi from the dock to the town. The taxi ran us about 18 bucks for the both of us one way. I was a bit concerned for my life due to the fact that the sides of the taxi were open. Ziggy was a bit scared and was holding on for dear life.

 

 

Ziggy was so excited about exploring that he almost ended up running for the wrong ship.

 

 

I promptly snatched him back into the taxi before he fell off and got lost. He was a bit defeated when he couldn't go on the HAL ship [i will never understand his logic].

 

The taxi ride was about 15 minutes into the town. There were tons of shops and boutiques to check out. Walking down the street I saw my favorite color blue and then lo and behold.....

 

 

TIFFANY'S!!!

 

I couldn't run there faster. Another woman in front of us said "outta her way! she sees a Tiffany's!"

 

Now you would think that after all the commotion I caused that I actually went ahead and bought something from there....NOPE! My budget consciousness and my wallet knocked some sense into my head and I did manage to keep my self control and leave the store with nothing.

 

I should point out that Rob has a thing with watches. Every watch store he has to go and look. We went into one watch store with these super fancey watches on black pedestals. Rob was so intrigued that he wanted to touch one. No sooner had he reached for it... POOF. It disappeared into its pedestal to reappear again.

 

O_oooo

 

That's a neat way to be secure but a bit to odd for our taste.

 

After our adventure through downtown, the haze starts to get thicker and soon the rain began. We decided that we weren't going to make it to St. John to the beach as we didn't want to be soggy and wet and covered in sand and rain. So cutting our visit short, we caught the next taxi back to the ship.

 

Getting on the ship is much like going to an airport. They have security check points and screening. I really liked knowning this because it made me feel so much more safe getting on and off the ship.

 

We were fortunate enough to get back on the ship soon enough to be able to use the coveted escalator (for those of you whom have seen Gambee's review, he posted a photo of the escalator) that leads back into the ship. Not alot of foot traffic was coming on board so this made for an easy descent.

 

I wanted to head back to the room to nap for a bit by myself before we headed to lunch at WJ so Rob went to his room to nap and I headed back myself. We agreed to meet up in an hour for lunch.

 

More to follow soon!!!

Edited March 26, 2013 by cruisin_cutie216

[cruisin_cutie216]

Some more photos of our day in St. Thomas!

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisin_cutie216]

just trying to keep the thread alive! anyone out there?

[Familygoboston]

Just waiting for you! :D

[SolsticeAZ]

Eagerly waiting to read more!! Your review is helping to keep me sane until my Freedom B2B next month...

[fldogmassage]

not posting but reading....and waiting

[joand452]

Waiting for your next day's adventures!! Keep 'em coming!!

[cruisin_cutie216]

good stuff! I'll have more this evening for you all (had another medical scare last night and am taking the day to recover. was in the ER last night for severe abdominal pain. I just keep drawing the short straws lately :-/). Thanks guys!

[dbernard]

Enjoying, waiting to hear more. But have to ask, i noticed in your original post the picture is that out side LeaderDog in Rochester. I belong to the LIons and live across the river in Windsor??

[cruisin_cutie216]

Enjoying, waiting to hear more. But have to ask, i noticed in your original post the picture is that out side LeaderDog in Rochester. I belong to the LIons and live across the river in Windsor??

 

Yes it is! That is a picture my best friend took of me the day I got my first Leader Dog puppy in training. I raise for them and I volunteer at the Leader Dog campus in dog care. Very fun organization. Daisy and I did a lot of appearances with our local Lions clubs. Waiting to receive another future leader dog pup for this spring/summer.

[SueBabe]

Loving your review. You are such a great writer, this could be a script for a cruising movie! Looking forward to more.

 

Sue

[cruisin_cutie216]

Chapter 9.B [cont'd]

 

After a much needed nap on both our parts, Rob and I headed to our now favorite spot to grab a bite to eat, Windjammer. We were very interested to see how empty it still was considering the generous amount of people that were now making their way onboard the ship. We grabbed our usual table by the window and proceeded to get our food in the buffet line. It had changed over to lunch fair and the selections were quite tasty!

 

 

I opted for a cheeseburger from the burger bar, grilled chicken breast, pasta shells with sauce, and some french fries [with a side of ranch of course!]. Rob wanted to give the black bean soup a try since he is the black bean soup conousier of the house! He was okay with the soup, said it had some weird spices in it that kinda threw off his taste buds.

 

We decided to take in the scenery outside our window seat and relax with our Kindles before taking our leave and heading back to my stateroom to meet up with the rest of the group. It proved to be a rather relaxing spot for sail away from port and also for just kicking back and enjoying the serenity of each other.

 

Once we had noticed that the WJ had picked up a bit, we took our leave and headed back to deck 10 to my stateroom. Upon arrival we found the rest of the gang in our room preparing for the afternoon/evenings activities. Rob and I had wanted to get some nice professional pictures taken of us while on the cruise and I saw that there was a studio in Central Park that would take some really awesome shots. We set up an appointment for 6:30 that evening. Sandy, the girls, and the boyfriends would be heading to the Promenade for a calypso band performance at around 5 and we decided that we'd join them before heading to CP for our photos. We also saw a Madagascar/Dreamworks character photo op and the girls and I couldn't pass up the opportunity! I had elected to look a smidge fancy tonight so I wore a really cute blue dress with flowers, white legings, pearls, matching accessories, and some flip flops. Decided that this would be perfect since Rob's favorite color is blue. He complimented me nicely with a blue shirt and khaki shorts.

 

After doing our "vanity shuffle" us girls were ready to head down the the Promenade for the calypso band and some light snacks before dinner. We grabbed a few tables by Sorrento's and had a very good view of the band on the stage above the Cupcake Cupboard. Rob and I grabbed some slices of pizza from Sorrento's and we sat down to enjoy the band. They were fantastic!!!

 

 

The crowd agrees!!! We all look so happy!

 

It was about 6:15 at this point and Rob and I said goodbye to the family and headed to Central Park for our 6:30 photo session at Picture This! I was very excited as to where we were going to be taking our photos and how they would turn out. Plus, I got to walk around the world's largest ship with my best friend/love of my life and take amazing pictures together. Rob isn't a huge photo person so he wasn't too excited about it but said that he was willing to partake because its something that would be special for us.

 

We started in the photo studio taking some studio shots, some solo and some together. After our studio shots we went outside into the park to take photos around the park. We had an interesting time when we went into Vintages; the wine bar onboard the ship. The photographers had the onlookers convinced that we were newlyweds on our honeymoon! I was deeply flattered but we aren't even engaged [yet ]. We both giggled to each other and took in the moment. The photoshoot was ever so fun, and with two photographers following us around, we felt like celebraties. We moved from Central Park to the Boardwalk and got some shots on the Carousel and in the AquaTheatre. After our shoot, we arranged to meet with our photographers tomorrow around 9 to look at the proofs and make our selections.

 

Giddy as young school children, we made our way to the Adagio Dining Room for dinner, and arrived a little after our party was seated at the table. I was very impressed that the wait staff already had two Sprites waiting for us once we arrived at the table. Pretty snazzy!

 

As I had mentioned earlier, the girls and I had wanted to go to the Boardwalk to see the Madagascar characters and grab photos. Tonight we would be seeing King Julian the Lemur King and his sidekick Mort. For those of you with little ones or Madagascar fans in your home these DW meet and greets are an AWESOME Photo op! The characters are pretty cool too! However, the meet and greet would be happening during our dinner seating. How on earth were we going to make this work?!

 

Back to dinner, I was super excited for the spinach dip on the menu and could hardly wait to give it a try! Rob and I both ordered the spinach dip and I also ordered the shrimp cocktail as my appetizer.

 

 

The spinach dip was amazing!!! Wish I had the recipe. Plus it had the perfect amount of chips to the amount of dip that was served. Perfection all the way.

 

Tonight was lamb night so I wanted to get the broasted lamb chops. I was very excited as I had never eaten lamb in a "fancy" manner so this was an interesting feat for me. Since the meet and greet was taking place during main course service, we ordered our main course but requested if our waitress could hold off on serving it until we got back. Luckily, she agreed and would keep it warm for when we returned. We RUSHED to the Boardwalk to be first in line for King Julian.

 

We arrive.....

 

 

.........

 

No King Julian.

 

Hmm...the Compass said the meet and greet started at 9:15. Where is he?

 

9:20....

 

No King Julian.

 

9:30

 

No King Julian.

 

FINALLY, at 9:45 he arrives.

 

We scurry to form the front of the line and get our amazing shots taken by the photographers and then once pictures were completed,we scurried quickly back to the MDR to finish up dinner.

 

As promised, our dinners were served perfectly warm and ready for us to eat.

 

 

The lamb was very tasty! I thoroughly enjoyed my meal! That is until Rob asked me how I liked eating Lamb Chop. This prompted me to shed a few tears and I lost my appetite *grumble grumble*.

 

Now to desert....notice there's no picture due to the fact that I didn't take one. This being that I didn't actually have desert. They had super delicious sounding chocolate cake on the menu and I was craving this cake all day. When it came time to order I was told that I could NOT have the chocolate cake.....

 

Why you may ask? I was told that it COULD contain nuts. Now mind you, I'm allergic to PEANUTS which are a BEAN. I can have walnuts, cashews, pistachios, etc. but of course people flake out and assume I can't have any nuts at all. Frustrated and deflated, I was ready to call it quits on even having desert. They brought out a few "substitutions". A mango cake that wasn't very appetizing and some other odd tasting desert. Nothing appealed to me. Of course Rob got the chocolate cake and when it was brought out....there were NO nuts. Not a single nut was on the cake. Rob even reported that there were no nuts on it nor did he taste any. I was fed up and firmly done with trying to even order anything. I understood that they were being cautious but sheesh!!

 

After my rather frustrating dinner fiasco, I wanted to call it a night rather earlier than normal. Rob had a huge day planned for us in St. Maarten the next day so he told me to get some rest. As if I felt that my night couldn't get any worse, I was greeted by a friendly friend upon my bed.

 

 

Those room stewards know just how to make you smile.

 

 

Tomorrow would be St. Maarten, and I could hardly wait for the time of my life. We drifted off to sleep. Out of our day. The day of...

 

 

 

<3Missy<3

Edited March 30, 2013 by cruisin_cutie216

[cruisin_cutie216]

Just wanted to know, would anybody like anything specific that would like to know more about the Allure? Wanted to take this moment to do a first timer's type Q&A session. Ask away and I'll do my best to answer!!!

 

<3 Missy <3

[bluecruisin]

I'm glad you are feeling well enough to continue with your review. Can't wait to read abut St. Marteen.

[chuckrock12]

Looking forward to the St Maarten part of the review!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Flynnlives]

Just wanted to know, would anybody like anything specific that would like to know more about the Allure? Wanted to take this moment to do a first timer's type Q&A session. Ask away and I'll do my best to answer!!!

 

<3 Missy <3

Can you recommend a place to get real Cuban cigars? Do they have them on the ship? If not will they let us bring them on the ship?

[cruisin_cutie216]

Can you recommend a place to get real Cuban cigars? Do they have them on the ship? If not will they let us bring them on the ship?

 

From what I could see, it appeared that they sold cigars in The Shop onboard the ship. The Shop is on the Royal Promenade on deck 5. It sells souvenirs that are cruise line related but its split into two halves. The other half being where you could purchase alcohol and cigars. As far as we saw there wasn't anywhere to get them onboard the ship [The Shop didn't have them].

 

You can quite possibly purchase them in port but be careful that they are authentic Cuban cigars. Don't know how you would be able to check for this. Plus, check with customs regulations before purchasing and bringing them onboard. I know that US citizens cannot bring Cubans into the United States so if you do purchase them in port, you can smoke them onboard the ship [just finish them before you disembark at port on departure day].

 

Before I cruised I read up about them on the US Customs website (Rob was looking at buying and smoking a cigar while on our cruise), here's a link if that helps.

 

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/36/~/importing-cuban-cigars

 

I'll see if I can find out anymore information. If any of my fellow CC'ers can chime in their input/assistance, that would be great!

 

 

Missy

 

[cruisin_cutie216]

Please keep the questions coming my friends, I'll do my best to get them answered as soon as I can!!

 

Here's wishing a Happy Easter to everyone! Spend some good time with friends and family today! Its one of my favorite spring holidays! I will be doing another tips and tricks section for St. Thomas shortly after my next review entry. I'm feeling much better and the review will be continuing forward as planned.

 

Chapter 10: That one's as big as my head!

 

Something that had been quickly becoming a favorite of mine was awaking to find that we had docked in a completely different land with so many different surroundings. It was so surreal to fall asleep on the ocean and wake up and be in a totally different country. I have to admit, during the first port of call, it was a bit scary to have this happen to me, but after a while it got to be so cool. I felt like a time traveller that traveled through the space time continuum to end up in a different place.

 

I was so excited about St. Maarten but didn't have my hopes up too high given the rather iffy weather conditions we'd been having for the last two ports. I got dressed and prepared to meet my honey for our breakfast and shopping adventure in port. I was feeling especially depressed today as it would have been my grandmother's birthday. I usually am at home with the family to reminisce and visit her at the cemetary but I was on a cruise ship. In return I ended up being a bit moody, displaced, mopey, and at times tearful. Rob noticed and attempted to make me feel better all while giving me the space I needed at times.

 

We headed down to Windjammer for our usual spot at breakfast. Now I should have realized that we had gotten up a bit later than previous mornings on port days and what a difference and hour can make! WJ was packed this morning but given the cycling that people were doing, it didn't appear as bad. We were able to score a table near the window due to some fancy foot work and team work on our part. We settled in for breakfast and at this point I had become a creature of habit when it came to my morning meal [i.e. the potatoes, frosted flakes w/milk, bacon, sausage, etc. appeared each morning of my cruise] so I fixed my plate as usual but this morning opted for some pancakes and a slice of french toast. Given my emotions, my taste buds were unable to give the meal the appropriate justice it deserved so everything was just okay to me.

 

 

 

Once breakfast had been completed, we dropped off drink mugs in the room and headed to the gangway to make our way off the ship and into St. Maarten. BOY did it heat up quick! It was rather toasty this morning and both my body and my hair realized it very quickly! I was extremely happy due to the fact that it was simply gorgeous outside and it would make for taking some good pictures.

 

As soon as we stepped off the ship, we saw some super fancy yachts docked next to us in the pier. One was a private yacht/cruise company and the other was the famous "A" yacht owned by a Russian billionaire and worth 300 billion dollars. HOLY COW! It was a gorgeous looking vessel and Rob and I contemplated on how it must look on the inside. Given that we were far too busy drooling over the vessel, I neglected to snap a photo of "A" at her dock.

 

Once we were a good amount of feet from the ship and heading into town, we decided to check out some of the shops in port and they actually weren't bad. Several vendors had small stalls set up with some local art, foods, and typical tourist fair [shirts, hats, jewelry, sundries, etc]. I had been on the fence about going to the beach today but Rob decided to let me pick where we wanted to go. His family would be spending the day at Le Gallion beach but we were wanting to do some water sports so we searched for a beach with water sports. We walked a little more ways and found the taxi stalls for taxis to various beaches and venues in St. Maarten. The taxi driver suggested Orient Beach for the water sports we wanted. Why not!? We piled into the taxi with our beach things [we ran back to the ship before hand, I didn't want to bring Ziggy and risk leaving him behind on the beach] and made our way to Orient Beach.

 

 

The ride to Orient took a good 30-35 minutes from the dock so we had to make a mental note to leave with plenty of time to make it back to the ship before departure. I had a watch with me that I had set to the ship's time so we would be set as far as being on time with things.

 

After our scenic drive to the Orient, we had finally arrived at Orient Bay/Bikini Beach. It was such an adorable beach with charming grass looking set ups that housed a restaurant, shower facilities/restrooms, and even water sports options. It was heaven!

 

 

 

We snagged two chairs by the water (costing us 12 dollars for both of us) complete with a small table and an umbrella for our relaxing afternoon at the beach.

 

Now Rob and I were looking to do something fun, and what could be more fun than jet skiing in the ocean!?

 

 

We decided to give it a try! Jet skiing at Orient was not a bad price, $60/half hour ; $120/hour and they didn't charge a per person charge. SCORE! We were fitted for life jackets and then we walked our way into the water and onto the jetski. I was a bit afraid at this point and didn't want to go flying off into the water, get eaten by a shark, or get stung by a you know what. After Rob's constant reassurance that everything was going to be okay, you would think that I would have had a change of heart....

 

WRONG!

 

Going out into the shallow mellow parts of the water were absolutely fine, its when we got out to the DEEP water when Missy flaked out BIIIIG TIME! I was screaming at the top of my lungs, flailing, hitting Rob, making his ears ring, etc. Imagine calm beach waters with laughing people enjoying jetskiing and then there's us. Just about the entire exchange on the middle of the ocean, on a jet ski went like this.

 

Me: BABE DONT LET ME FALL!!

Rob: I'm not just hold on!

Me: WATCH OUT FOR THOSE PEOPLE!!!! O_O

Rob: I see em babe!

Me:OH GOD WE'RE TIPPING! WHY ARE WE TIPPING! STOP TIPPING IT!

Rob: Its not tipping babe!

Me: SLOW DOWN!

Rob: I'm going 10 mph babe!

Me: SALTWATER! AH! *sploosh* *gets saltwater in face, eyes, and hair* *spits it out* Lovely....

 

Yeah, to say the least, I was clinging on so much that I could have sworn that my nails left marks in the life vest. I should have known that Rob wasn't going to let anything happen to me and that if I fell off I would float and he would come back to get me. But being such a worry wart, I screamed my head off and may have cried a few times. But it was interesting, the times I wasn't paying attention and he went faster on the jet ski were the times that I didn't seem to mind being in the middle of the ocean and scared of the speed.

 

Mid rental, Rob dropped me off at the shore so that he could really stretch the jet ski leaving me to bob pitifully in the water. After about 10 minutes or so, he returned back to give me another ride before our rental was up. This time out wasn't so bad but I was still a bit scared. Upon returning back to the beach, we had to dismount the jet ski and head back to return our life vests. Thinking I could just slide off the jet ski gracefully and land in the water, I slid off but caught my bad foot on the jet ski and thwacked it a bit. OUCH did this hurt! Shaking it off, I hobbled back to the beach and back to our chairs.

 

We decided to rest a bit and found out that the restaurant had service from the restaurant stall to the beach chairs. Rob and I requested a menu and ordered a light lunch to eat while we were on the beach. I ordered some mozarella sticks and Rob elected for a beef kabob with fries.

 

Now because I wanted to do some isalnd-y things and be a bit touristy, I was very tempted to get a coconut drink. I had already achieved the pineapple drink earlier on the ship and was dying to drink alcohol from a coconut. Rob asked our cabana boy how we could get a coconut drink and he said that we would order the rum from the bar and then there was a vendor selling coconuts where he would cut it open and then you could pour the rum in with the coconut juice. Fine by me! So Rob and I ordered rum for me and a Smirnoff ice for himself and he headed to the vendor for my coconut. Now I was expecting modestly sized coconut with a cute little umbrella. What I really got was this....

 

 

Sweet fancy moses was that thing big!!! It actually hurt my hand to hold it!! I poured in the rum with the coconut juice and took a sip. It wasn't that bad but I found that coconut juice wasn't a taste that set well with me. I had Rob play coconut babysitter as I went into the ocean to frolick and lay in the waves. Ahhh...it felt like pure bliss.

 

In about no less than 15 minutes, Rob signaled back to me that our lunch had arrived and I made my way back to start eating. The cheese sticks were very tasty!! Rob was alright with the beef kabob, he said it had an odd taste. The fries were yummy though!

 

 

After enjoying our lunch, we had a few very cute and fluffy visitors that made a stop at our cabana! Apparently there were two very adorable dogs that would wander the beach and visit with the tourists. They were very friendly and being the dog lover that I am, I HAD to get a picture of these guys. There was a lab and a pitbull mix and they were so sweet. So sweet that the lab followed Rob and I back to the taxi.

 

At this point, it was getting pretty late and Missy had gotten rather tispy (drank that drink a biiit too fast!) and we had a half hour drive back to the ship. We packed up our things, double checked that everything had been taken care of and accounted for, and we sadly said goodbye to Bikini Beach.

 

We waited about 10 minutes for the taxi to take us back to the Allure and arrived back at around 4:00 for our 4:30 departure. We used this time to grab the souvenirs that I had scouted out earlier that day and once that was done, we headed through security and onto the ship. I'll have to admit, I was a bit sad to be leaving St. Maarten because we had such an amazing time there together and it was my favorite port, but all good things must come to an end.

 

We headed to the Sun Deck for sailaway and to see if there were any pier dashers rushing back to the ship (alas, there were none that we saw) and as scheduled, the ship's horn sounded and we pulled away from the port of St. Maarten. Rob and I waved farewell to the town and the memories as we watched the island disappear into the sunset.

 

Now because I had had a bit much to drink on the island, and had alot of sun, I wasn't feeling the greatest [AGAIN], so Rob offered his bed in his stateroom for me to be able to relax and nap in the darkness. He took the couch and we then laid down to rest for a bit before meeting up with the gang in my stateroom.

 

 

Gonna stop here for now and have some more pictures up after this post! More coming soon!

 

<3 Missy <3