Live from Allure of the Seas - August 25, 2013

[100viper]

No way! I watched you guys leave port yesterday from Boca Raton 20+ miles away! I have the pictures to prove it to.

[IrishLassie]

Loving your review & we watched you set sail today on the webcam. We usually watch the ships every wk.end depart. Those tugs did bring in a cargo ship & we saw the pilot boat pick up the pilot off of Allure. Enjoy your cruise & looking forward to pictures! :D

[joand452]

Just found your thread today and subscribing! Love Live reports and this will help pass those long days until our cruise on Quantum!

 

Have a wonderful time!

[sleepless]

What kind of crafts do you do? I love crafts, but, I don't think I'm very creative. :o

 

 

My favorite is painting. I paint burned out light bulbs, turning them into Christmas decorations - Santa, snow people, gingerbread people, angels, toy soldiers, etc. I also paint various shaped patio pavers and terra cotta flower pots. I make a wide assortment of Christmas decorations, and also paint on canvas. I work with paper - cards, note books, magnets, etc. I also create with polymer clays, making my own beads, earrings and necklaces. And, I still enjoy working with yarn - plastic canvas tissue boxes and coasters. This year, I have started to make those ruffled scarves that are so popular.

[Coralc]

No way! I watched you guys leave port yesterday from Boca Raton 20+ miles away! I have the pictures to prove it to.

 

Oasis is Sat. to Sat. Allure is Sun. to Sun. If it was yesterday...it was Oasis of the Seas. :)

[TXMary]

I'll be cruising along with you as well! We'll be on her in October...six weeks from today!! I also watched you sail away on the web cam. Have a wonderful trip and thanks for doing this!!

[mkmom514]

Does that Hampton Inn also have an airport shuttle, or is that why you have the rental? I need just a place to crash before my December cruise, landing at about 9 pm so I won't be exploring FLL.

 

Edit : I love Oasis and Allure threads, very excited to hear about your trip!

 

Yes, it has an airport and port shuttle. We stayed there last summer.

[maureencruiser]

My favorite is painting. I paint burned out light bulbs, turning them into Christmas decorations - Santa, snow people, gingerbread people, angels, toy soldiers, etc. I also paint various shaped patio pavers and terra cotta flower pots. I make a wide assortment of Christmas decorations, and also paint on canvas. I work with paper - cards, note books, magnets, etc. I also create with polymer clays, making my own beads, earrings and necklaces. And, I still enjoy working with yarn - plastic canvas tissue boxes and coasters. This year, I have started to make those ruffled scarves that are so popular.

Wow, you are busy!! :)

[Cruisin Oma]

Great read. I'm another one on the Oasis in May, 2015. I'm in cabin -11327. Can't wait to see pictures from your balcony. Wanted the very aft cabin, but Ginny grabbed it :D. Hoping we still have a good view from the second cabin.

 

Curious to see the divider pictures.

 

Thanks for the info on your keyboard case. I'm cruising to Hawaii in less than 2 months and I've been thinking of getting one for my iPad.

[riclop]

 

I'm currently sitting out on our balcony, enjoying the unlimited wifi and relaxing while Bryan gets ready for us to head out and explore more.

 

We have a fantastic view of the starboard-aft section and behind the ship, as well as other parts of the Boardwalk including the left half of the Aquatheater.

 

I'll note that the cabin's left balcony divider is only about half as wide as the rest of the balcony dividers. For some reason, there's more of a metal structure separating the balconies here. I'll try to remember to take a picture to show how it differs.

 

We've gone through our dining plans and made the rest of our Allure Choice Dining Package reservations. We're going to be so full of good food by the end of the cruise!

 

We've not yet seen our stateroom attendant, but we're sure we'll see him soon enough. Our bed was pushed together (despite the reservation preference), so we'll get it separated before tonight.

 

For Club Royale members, I'll note that typically I've had a letter from the casino host welcoming me onboard, but not this time. I hope they haven't forgotten I'm here... they owe me money! :D

 

For my LGBT friends, the Friends of Dorothy (LGBT) meeting is scheduled daily at 5:00 in the Champagne & Martini Bar. Obviously, I doubt anyone would be there this afternoon since that's sail away time.

 

Coupon books are still printed. No sign of electronic coupons here.

 

The Coke package cups are different on this ship. They've finally upgraded to a new style. I'm actually looking forward to taking this tumbler home. I'll get a picture of it later.

 

Well, that's about as much as I can remember I wanted to share right now. I know many of you are jealous of me, and that's okay... Cause I'm on a cruise! :p :D

Thats the best upside down picture i have ever seen.:D

[elktoncruiser]

Just subscribed to your thread. We are leaving in October and are really looking forward to your live review.

[Familygoboston]

I give you credit, Brian, doing a live thread! I have done a pre boarding "live" , but Ive never been willing to 1- pay for the Internet and 2- use my vacation time to report...unless someone is willing to pay me:D;) As long as my travel is still vacation time with people i love (and want to give my full attention to) Ill stick to reviews. So thanks for doing this!

 

Hope you enjoy your vacation first, we can always hear all about it when you get back! Bon Voyage!:D

[rosebud1g]

Thats the best upside down picture i have ever seen.:D

 

When I viewed it on my IPAD, it was the correct orientation, but on my desktop it is upside down.

It must be the taptalk app gone haywire!

[Daghis]

Does that Hampton Inn also have an airport shuttle, or is that why you have the rental? I need just a place to crash before my December cruise, landing at about 9 pm so I won't be exploring FLL.

 

Edit : I love Oasis and Allure threads, very excited to hear about your trip!

 

I see that someone else already commented on Hampton Inn's shuttle. I'll add that we got a rental car so that we could drive ourselves around during the day on Saturday. We got in about 11:00 AM and wanted to be able to go do things (like watch Oasis set sail), have lunch and dinner, and stop by someplace to pick up some wine to bring onboard. Having a car makes all of that much more convenient. Plus, with a one-way rental, it's pretty easy.

 

Looking forward to reading your live review Marc. I'm with SunnyAZGirl (Ginny) on deck 11 aft on the Oasis in 2015. We were also on the Allure last May and loved the ship so much so we booked the sister Oasis. As Ginny said, we all got OTW cabanas at Labadee. What I'm interested in and hope you take good pictures is the entrances into the water from the cabanas. I know some of them have ladders into the water and I can't do ladders. Some have stairs into the water. Can you specify and take picture of cabana's to avoid so I can tell the cabana attendant to avoid them for me?

 

I'll see what I can do. I'll note that the cabana they gave us is "wheelchair accessible", so it might be somehow special. It is considered an over-the-water cabana, so I'm assuming it's relatively similar, but there may be some differences. We'll see tomorrow!

 

Thats the best upside down picture i have ever seen.:D

I wondered whether it was going to be upside down. It's right-side up on my iPad, but when I saw the thumbnail in my gallery, it was upside down. Oh, well!

 

I just went into the gallery's photo editor and had it rotate the picture. Maybe that fixed it.

[Daghis]

Good morning from Allure of the Seas!

 

After sail away on our deck 11 aft balcony, we went to the main dining room for dinner. Since it was (mostly) my special day, I ordered the "Surf & Turf" (whole Maine lobster and 10 oz. filet mignon). The price was up a bit since I last looked. It's now $37.50 (plus 15% gratuity, of course). It was quite good and I was very stuffed afterward! Dessert was the sugar-free strawberry charlotte. That was a nice, light dessert to cap off the meal. Service was a little slow. It was strange sitting down but not seeing our waiter for nearly fifteen minutes. The assistant waiter was quite prompt, though, so that was okay.

 

After dinner, we went down to the casino so I could pick up my rebate and meet the casino host (JJ). She told me that, indeed, they had raised the cash-from-Seapass fee to 5%, but Club Royale members still got that for free. I played in the casino for a while, but the machines weren't full of love for me. Maybe today's slot tournament will do better. After all, what's better than being on a cruise? Winning another free cruise while you're on one!

 

Then it was off to Jazz on 4. I think that this may be my favorite lounge on the ship, but it's still early this cruise and we have so many to explore! The music was very enjoyable.

 

So, Bryan's off at the spa this morning getting a men's package of some sort and I'm here getting ready for breakfast and the Meet & Mingle (at 9:30). So many choices for breakfast! What will I do?!

[crackycruiser]

Great read. I'm another one on the Oasis in May, 2015. I'm in cabin -11327. Can't wait to see pictures from your balcony. Wanted the very aft cabin, but Ginny grabbed it :D. Hoping we still have a good view from the second cabin.

[crackycruiser]

Great read. I'm another one on the Oasis in May, 2015. I'm in cabin -11327. Can't wait to see pictures from your balcony. Wanted the very aft cabin, but Ginny grabbed it :D. Hoping we still have a good view from the second cabin.

 

I had this exact same cabin on our Oasis cruise in 2010. You can see everything. Loved it and so will you. Great view of the water and the aqua theatre. I went in March of 2010 and one night I went out on the balcony late and the Academy Awards were playing on the big TV screens. As I looked around, I was the only one on the entire Boardwalk balcony out there watching them. So surreal. I am thinking of booking the Allure and going for an ocean view balcony this time, hopefully deck 6 near the elevators.

 

Thanks for the review and enjoy your cruise!!

[debshomespun]

Thanks Marc for doing this live from the Allure! We will be back on her in April. We will be doing Samba Grill. Let me know how your dinner goes there. If you can...post pictures of the dessert there. If I remember, they have some type of trio that was fabulous!

 

I didn't know where your hometown was, so I looked it up. We do alot of shopping at Robinson Mall...was just there Saturday...then down to Meadows! I would assume you visit Meadows too? We are about an hour north of the airport.

 

Enjoy your cruise, as we will be enjoying all of your live reports!

[debshomespun]

I had this exact same cabin on our Oasis cruise in 2010. You can see everything. Loved it and so will you. Great view of the water and the aqua theatre. I went in March of 2010 and one night I went out on the balcony late and the Academy Awards were playing on the big TV screens. As I looked around, I was the only one on the entire Boardwalk balcony out there watching them. So surreal. I am thinking of booking the Allure and going for an ocean view balcony this time, hopefully deck 6 near the elevators.

 

Thanks for the review and enjoy your cruise!!

 

We had 9727 on Allure and it had a great view. The week before our Allure cruise, we did an oceanview balcony on Oasis. While it was fun to try the boardwalk balcony on Allure, we missed the total oceanview and peacefulness and are going back to oceanview facing balconies for our Allure cruise.

[wmp.dll]

I'm glad to of poked into your thread. I didn't know you could get an adapter that allows you to plug your camera into your ipad. Definitely going to pick one of those up before my next vacation! Have an excellent cruise! Look forward to reading the rest.

[Angelsea57]

Wow!! The lobster meal did go up, it was not as expensive when we

were there last. I'll have a lobster meal anytime though. That strawberry dessert

sounds so yummy, got to try it the next time around.

We sow your ship living port on the webcam.

Wished we were there!!

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

I see that someone else already commented on Hampton Inn's shuttle. I'll add that we got a rental car so that we could drive ourselves around during the day on Saturday. We got in about 11:00 AM and wanted to be able to go do things (like watch Oasis set sail), have lunch and dinner, and stop by someplace to pick up some wine to bring onboard. Having a car makes all of that much more convenient. Plus, with a one-way rental, it's pretty easy.

 

 

 

I'll see what I can do. I'll note that the cabana they gave us is "wheelchair accessible", so it might be somehow special. It is considered an over-the-water cabana, so I'm assuming it's relatively similar, but there may be some differences. We'll see tomorrow!

 

 

I wondered whether it was going to be upside down. It's right-side up on my iPad, but when I saw the thumbnail in my gallery, it was upside down. Oh, well!

 

I just went into the gallery's photo editor and had it rotate the picture. Maybe that fixed it.

 

From what I have seen in my research, cabanas 9 & 10 have a wheelchair ramp vs stairs for the others or ladder. So I think those are the only handicapped cabana's but I'm not sure of that.

[Lionesss]

How does one become a club royal member in the casino??

Thanks

Sea Ya

[Clarea]

How does one become a club royal member in the casino??

 

Thanks

 

Sea Ya

From what Marc has posted, you have to play some minimum amount of money (forgot the number) throughout the cruise, and then the Casino Host will invite you to join.

[Daghis]

How does one become a club royal member in the casino??

Thanks

Sea Ya

 

If you're a slots player, you need to accumulate 2,000 points in order to be invited to Club Royale. I don't know the play requirements for table players.