Allure of the Seas....the good, the bad and the AMAZING

[kristinp36]

We took one of those group taxis into town to explore. I love how the islands have stores built into every nook and cranny.

 

 

 

 

[kristinp36]

Something I failed to mention early is another difference between the Hubs and me. He LOVES hot weather and I HATE hot weather. Walking around we saw an advertisement for an Ice Bar called Magic Ice….sounds interesting so we decided to check it out. I was intrigued with the idea of getting out of the heat! This place was small but fun. The two employees were great especially the bartender working in the great room of ice. Admission included parka and gloves to wear in the bar, a shot of alcohol and a souvenir shot glass. It was fun to take pics of the ice carving with and without a flash to see how different they looked.

 

Suited up

 

 

Looking a little too much like Flava Flav

 

 

Bartender

 

 

Without flash

 

 

With flash

 

[kristinp36]

Without flash

 

 

With flash

 

 

[Familygoboston]

 

You are probably too young to remember, but your mom and dad would; there was a show called " laugh in" in the 70s and Lilly Tomlin played a little girl character with a giant lollipop and white ruffle socks and black Mary Janes, and she sat in a giant chair like that and told little witticisms that kids say in a baby voice. Your mom looks like that character! I'm a decade older than you, and I can't remember the character's name, i want to say Emily Ann, ( but that might be the clifford stories;)) but i was young, and don't remember! Except ...it was funny!

 

Enjoying your review! I don't recall the blue neon at the Aquatheater and lining the balconies on Oasis, is it possible this is an Allure only thing and another minor difference?:confused: Looking forward to more!

[iceburg1]

You are probably too young to remember, but your mom and dad would; there was a show called " laugh in" in the 70s and Lilly Tomlin played a little girl character with a giant lollipop and white ruffle socks and black Mary Janes, and she sat in a giant chair like that and told little witticisms that kids say in a baby voice. Your mom looks like that character! I'm a decade older than you, and I can't remember the character's name, i want to say Emily Ann, ( but that might be the clifford stories;)) but i was young, and don't remember! Except ...it was funny!

 

Enjoying your review! I don't recall the blue neon at the Aquatheater and lining the balconies on Oasis, is it possible this is an Allure only thing and another minor difference?:confused: Looking forward to more!

 

I believe her name was "Edith Ann"....."and that's the truth.":)

[kath00]

Fantastic review so far! We are sailing in 10 days and cannot wait! Your pix and words have me super excited all over again...

[waseatravel]

Loving your review. We were on the Allure in Feb. keep it up

[kristinp36]

Back on board for some more exploration…..

Jogging track…it is designed interestingly. It runs full circle on deck 5. On the sides of the ship you have an ocean view. Some places even have chairs to lounge in. On one end of the ship it runs down a hall. The nice thing....it is a lot less windier then the ships that have tracks that are on one of the top decks.

 

I loved this part of the track with the cute saying to keep you motivated! “One Lap to Go, Or Maybe Three, Tonight’s Dinner, Can be Guilt-Free”.

 

Edited March 22, 2013 by kristinp36

[kristinp36]

The Life Boats…..

Inside

Directions

[kristinp36]

Some afternoon shots of St. Thomas before we sailed….

 

Hot tub overlooking the bay anyone?

 

Edited March 22, 2013 by kristinp36

[kristinp36]

Random wandering around the ship….

The Chapel – great view I would recommend checking this out sometime during your cruise. This pic is of the lobby of the Chapel.

Dazzles…if you look through the main window in the back you can see the RC symbol. This is the symbol that is on the rear of the ship above the Aqua Theater.

 

Signs by elevator to help get you around the ship

 

Central Park

There is a free tour given by the Head Landscaper for Central Park. If I remember this right…the tour was done 2 times during the cruise. My Dad went and liked the tour but he is a retired landscaper so I am not sure everyone would enjoy it.

[kristinp36]

Dinner....desserts!!!

 

 

 

The Promenade DOES get crowded but usually only in the evenings inbetween dinner services or when they have a big "sale". I think this pic was during both occasions.

 

Edited March 22, 2013 by kristinp36

[kristinp36]

Our entertainment that night was the headliner act “Mo5aic”. These guys were really talented and it was a great show. I think a person of any age would have enjoyed it. They are an acapella group that sings AND “creates” instrument sounds with only their voices. Similar to the TV show “The Sing Off” if you are familiar. I must say the entertainment on this ship is better than we have every experienced on a cruise. It was a wide variety of acts. Sorry the pics did not come out so good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Night time and our new towel animal!

 

[kristinp36]

The beauty of cruising…..we awoke in the port of St Maarten. Today we were all going on the same excursion together. We booked independently with a popular tour guide in St Maarten that picks you up at the port. The tour visited all the “hot” spots on the island. Went to an Iguana “farm”, stopped at a roadside beach stand to see some water creatures, Orient beach (boy was my dad surprised when a topless lady sat in the lounge chair next to him), market place in Marigot and finally Maho beach to watch the planes land.

 

 

 

Edited March 22, 2013 by kristinp36

[kristinp36]

The Iguana “farm”….farm is in quotes because it is really a sand pit where they conjugate because the tours stop there with food.

Why hello there?

The middle guy was huge

Mom loved feeding them!

[KGSB11]

Excellent review! Awesome photos, and kudos to the pre-planning to post so many consecutive entries. :D

[kristinp36]

Random stop to look at the view (I think it was of another island on the horizon).

Bay with fishing boats

Guy pulling various sea creatures out of the water for people to see

 

 

 

 

 

[bdpatrick]

Thanks for the review so far.

 

We are sailing on the Allure at the end of April. Looking forward to it more and more thanks to your review.

 

Sylvain

[kristinp36]

On to Orient Beach….we didn’t have the best weather this day (cloudy and muggy) but we were still able to enjoy the beach and water.

 

Beach Bar

 

 

They charged us $10 for 2 lounge chairs with umbrellas. Mom and Dad got a set while Hubs and I played in the ocean. We had never been to Orient Beach before so I do not know if this is normal but there were TONS of needles in the water. They looked like pine-needles but obvisouly there are no pine trees here. Wasn't the best experience for playing in the water but I don't know if it is normal there or we just got unlucky.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 22, 2013 by kristinp36

[kristinp36]

Marigot with a stop at Sarafina’s for some pastries….yummmmm. We only had about 45 minutes here so we had the option of Sarafina’s or shopping time at the flea market. We opted for yummm.

[kristinp36]

Off to the famous Maho beach….as I mentioned earlier Hubs is not impressed easily and this was no different. He was a commercial pilot for 18 years so he didn’t think it was a huge deal. But the rest of us thought it was neat and definitely worth the visit. It is a really small beach but the bar is decently sized. We saw multiple small planes and only 1 large plane land.

Dad starting to think he is a comedian

[kristinp36]

 

 

Keep in mind that is a road between the beach and the chain-link fence

 

[kristinp36]

She is BEAUTIFUL!

 

[Navigat8]

Thank you for this wonderful review and great photo's. looking forward to the next instalment!:)

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Wonderful review! Thanks a bunch. Your pictures are awesome. You have a wonderful eye and you have found views on the ship that I have not seen before - and I think I have seen/read every Allure review that has hit this forum in the past year. Whatever am I going to do with my time after I have completed my Allure cruise? My next cruise only sails 2X/year, so the reviews will be few and far between.