Adventures on the Allure, Teen family! 2/8/15, Western Caribbean, LOTS of Pictures!

[whitshel]

 

It was a great night sleep, and as I always seem to do on vacation, especially on a cruise, I wake up bright and early! I guess part of it is that I usually crack the curtains a bit the night before. I love waking up to the sunshine (hopefully!) on the sea. But more than that, I love starting the day on vacation! It's not so much that I have to be busy, but I'm also not one to spend my vacation sleeping in a ship cabin or hotel room. If I wanted to just sleep, I could do that at home.

 

 

 

So, first up for today, I knew I wanted to to the Central Park Walking Tour. I wasn't sure if anyone was going to join me since it started at 9:30 am, but I was going! Keith decided to come along, and I decided to wake the kids up so at least they could start getting up for the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They told us to go ahead and get breakfast and maybe they'd meet up with us for the tour. I really didn't think we'd see them again until at least lunch. They seemed pretty out of it!

 

 

 

Keith and I went to the Windjammer for breakfast and much like lunch the day before, we really weren't impressed. Again, nothing really bad, but just not really good either. Much of the food wasn't really hot and I do like an omelet for breakfast. Keith likes salmon and capers, and unlike almost every other buffet we've been to, none of that was available. So, we decided to try other food venues going forward. No problem - plenty of choices!

 

 

 

We got to Central Park a few minutes early and waited for our tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our tour started and was really quite interesting. I'm not 100% sure on the title of the crew member who gave it, but he is up there on the horticulture staff. He was involved directly in creating the Central Park on the Oasis and was part of it's development and installation and then of course on the Allure as well. He really overseas both Central Parks and everything about them. Everything that goes into maintaining the live plants in the ecosystem on a ship was fascinating!

 

 

 

This Living Wall was one of the most ambitious features on the ship - and how they maintain that was pretty interesting as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At some point during the tour, the kids actually popped by! I was shocked. They had gone and had breakfast, were totally dressed for the day and everything! They were heading up to go play shuffleboard I think. We told them we'd meet them for the Move It! Move It! Parade....and back to the tour we went!

 

 

 

These birds are really pretty, and adding to the bird theme, during the day you actually hear bird sounds. At night, crickets. You really feel like you're in a true park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of birds, we were told they have had several stow away birds over the years as well. Especially during major storms. The birds will come and live in the trees or the living wall for a few weeks. They just hitch a ride and then off they go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great review! We'll be on Oasis in January for a family cruise. About the Central Park tour, is that offered in the compass or how did you find out about it. Also is there a cost?

 

Thanks for the review, really enjoying it

[ShellDil]

Great review! We'll be on Oasis in January for a family cruise. About the Central Park tour, is that offered in the compass or how did you find out about it. Also is there a cost?

 

Thanks for the review, really enjoying it

 

The Central Park tour is listed in the cruise compass. So check each night for when it's offered the next day. I think it was offered on two different sea days. And it's free! :D

[ShellDil]

We made it back onto the ship with plenty of time. Remember Alex and Keith went back before us. Since we didn't really have a true lunch, and we had quite an active day, Megan and I stopped at the Central Park Cafe for a bite to eat.

 

Megan had a panini of some sort, and I have to think she's holding her arm up to show her new Alex and Ani bracelet! What a kid!

 

Then we went back to the cabin and watched sail away.

 

 

 

 

 

Then the kids wanted to finally go ice skating! There was open ice time, so off we went!

 

 

 

Remember, you have to have long pants to ice skate! And it speeds things up if you have presigned the waiver!

 

Skating is not one of Alex's strong skills! But he did eventually let go of the wall!

 

 

 

 

 

[ShellDil]

Tonight for dinner, we were going to Rita's Fiesta! We had 8:30 reservations...

 

 

But on the way, a few more ship photographer photos! Oh the family loves me!

 

 

 

 

 

You can see the look in Alex's face here - "why am I standing here with my hand on this car taking a picture?"

 

 

 

 

 

And then we arrived for the Fiesta!

 

 

 

[ShellDil]

Keith and I booked the Fiesta with the alcohol, which is 2 drinks per person, and the kids obviously booked without alcohol. We each had 2 margaritas, which for me was PLENTY!

 

The food was fine. Was it great? No, was it good? It was ok. I love Mexican food and it was good enough. There was some variety, it was served family style. We were seated just the 4 of us at our table. And we had a blast! Although, maybe it was the 2 margaritas talking?

 

It's time to party!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, maybe he didn't have a blast! But he's not going to get up and dance no matter what!

 

 

So, the staff gets the diners up and out on the boardwalk for some traditional line type dancing...

 

 

 

Another super, fantastic day! Jamaica, ice skating, a fiesta! What a great vacation! Tomorrow would be our next sea day...time to take it easy? Hmmmmm....is that possible?

 

 

Tonight we had this guy on our bed! Guess he was watching some tv!

 

 

[LuCruise]

Your review makes me smile...great as always.

[ShellDil]

Your review makes me smile...great as always.

 

Your comment made me smile! Thank YOU! :D

[ShellDil]

The time is flying way too fast! It's already day FIVE! Today is a sea day. Relaxing by the pool, hanging out....we do have a bit planned, but nothing like our past two days full of adventure! This is part of just why the kids and I love cruises so much. There are those days of island or port adventures that are so unique, and then you have the sea days to just hang out. And on a ship like the Allure, you can't possibly be bored!

 

After breakfast, we started out up by the Beach Pool. This was definitely our favorite place to be! We went to the Main Dining Room for breakfast and enjoyed that. By the time we got to the pool, it was fairly crowded and there were only "sitting up" type chairs left.

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually there was some space in one of the hot tubs and we all went in and decided to play around with my water camera

 

 

 

 

 

 

A photobomb by Alex going on here!

 

 

 

 

[ShellDil]

 

Definitely a rough life, someone has to live it I suppose!

 

 

And then we moved over to the regular pool for some underwater fun!

 

 

 

 

 

For some reason this boy did not want a picture with his mother, no matter what! Hmmmm....not too nice of him!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ShellDil]

The kids and I went to Johnny Rockets for lunch...

 

 

And we brought back a hot dog from the Dog House for Keith.

 

Today was the Walk For Wishes day. For those not familiar with this, Royal Caribbean partners with the Make A Wish Foundation to raise money for them. This is a foundation that is very near and dear to me. Very coincidently on the day of the Walk for Wishes, my very dear friend was participating in her son's WISH with the foundation. He was diagnosed with leukemia last year and while he was in remission at the time of the cruise we were on, and had an amazing wish thanks to the foundation, just two weeks ago he relapsed and has to fight this battle again. It's heartbreaking and touches me quite a bit as her son is Alex's age and she and I have been friends for more than 25 years. So, while I didn't do the walk this cruise, I have done it on past cruises, and this cruise I made my donation and I know that Royal Caribbean and its passengers raise quite a bit of money for this organization that really puts smiles on these kids faces! And that really is a great thing!

 

[VPIcruiser]

I am really enjoy your review, especially the details and pictures of Blue Hole.

[ShellDil]

I am really enjoy your review, especially the details and pictures of Blue Hole.

 

Thank you!

[ShellDil]

After our lunch at Johnny Rockets, which by the way was pretty much as you'd expect a Johnny Rockets lunch...cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings...tasty, filling and too much food! You do pay a cover charge, $5 I believe, but then can order off the menu for what you want, with the exception of the milk shakes, which are an additional charge. They will bring you refills on the onion rings or fries, and I would assume more than one burger if you'd want one. We didn't!

 

So, moving on - after lunch, we had our Cupcake Decorating Class at the Cupcake Cupboard! The kids and I were looking forward to this! We arrived and were all set up at our table. I think there were 6 or maybe 7 people in the class and we had decided to do the "Puppy" cupcake.

 

 

 

 

Our instructor was very thorough and went through the steps to decorate the cupcake slow enough so that no one fell behind. She was there to help out if needed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ShellDil]

Our finished cupcakes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well now, that was a fun way to spend some time! Well worth it in our opinion! We went back to the cabin and got ready for dinner. Tonight was the 2nd formal night!

 

Here's a picture from the kid's cabin looking out at the Boardwalk - it's one with the "miniature" filter setting used on the camera....kinda a cool effect!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[amarantha7]

I just stumbled on this review and caught up with your current posts. This is a fabulous review with fantastic pictures! We'll be on this cruise with the same itinerary next year, with our daughter who will be fifteen and our son who will be thirteen. She is already complaining about sharing a room with him and his talking, chewing, making noises (like breathing), etc. So, I'm especially loving the kid/sibling angle of your reviews. Great job!

[ShellDil]

I just stumbled on this review and caught up with your current posts. This is a fabulous review with fantastic pictures! We'll be on this cruise with the same itinerary next year, with our daughter who will be fifteen and our son who will be thirteen. She is already complaining about sharing a room with him and his talking, chewing, making noises (like breathing), etc. So, I'm especially loving the kid/sibling angle of your reviews. Great job!

 

Thank you! Traveling with teens is a challenge in itself isn't it? For the most part they are a total joy, but those little things, like the one complaining that the other breathes, yup - I totally get that! There were several times where Alex just went back to the cabin for an hour or so, just so he could have some alone time without Megan existing at all in his space! He would be so annoyed when she would come back in the cabin! :rolleyes: And she would constantly complain that their cabin smelled like BOY.....Thankfully for the most part, when we're on vacation anyway, they do tend to get along. Knock on wood!

[DarthGrady]

 

 

 

Cool picture! She makes the Splendor look almost tiny by comparison. Which is no small feat, as Splendor is a fairly large ship in her own right. Thanks for sharing your review and pictures!

[ShellDil]

Cool picture! She makes the Splendor look almost tiny by comparison. Which is no small feat, as Splendor is a fairly large ship in her own right. Thanks for sharing your review and pictures!

 

Thanks for reading! It sometimes is just shocking how big the Allure is! Megan kept saying "it's not such a big ship"...and then when we'd see it docked next to another ship, yup, she'd change her mind pretty quickly!

[ShellDil]

So, after the cupcake decorating class, and before our formal night dinner, there was one very important thing the kids and I just had to do....

 

 

That's right, we had to get our pictures taken with these adorable penguins! The timing really couldn't have been better. Megan and I had seen the movie just a couple of weeks before, and darn if now they weren't above the minions on my list of characters that I would stand in line to get a picture taken with!

 

They were true to character, I mean, they were the real penguins, right? Giving Alex high 5's and everything!

 

 

And no, we weren't the only people there over 7 years old getting our pictures taken!

 

Of course, I wanted one with just me, I mean I was getting the photo package right? Why not!

 

 

And just Megan and her penguin friends!

 

 

And Alex, can you just stand how cute they are? Then penguins that is!

 

 

So these photos with the Dreamworks characters....they are listed in the Cruise Compass. And there are two types of photo ops. There are the photos with the ship photographers, which this was. So, yes you can bring your camera. And the crew will even use your camera if you ask them and it's not too crowded. So we do have photos with my camera. But there are also professional photographers there and they will take your picture if you want to purchase them later. Then there are just meet and greet type photo ops, which are also listed in the Cruise Compass. For those, there isn't a photographer. So bring your camera if you want a picture! As some point I do think all of the characters had a photo op, but you'd really have to schedule your time to make it convenient! And they don't last long. Maybe 20 minutes at a time, so you do have to get there when it's scheduled!

[ShellDil]

And then it was time to head to dinner...formal night in the Main Dining Room. It was the often talked about "lobster night". I did get the lobster, and it was ok...a bit overcooked, but nothing to complain about. I honestly have no memory of what everyone else got, but I'm fairly certain Alex got a fish dish. Sometime on this vacation or the last one, he started eating fish....

 

And one of us had Baked Alaska for dessert!

 

 

 

 

After dinner Alex wanted to go to the Classical Concert in the Park. This was honestly one of the coolest things to experience on a ship. Picture this scene...you are sitting in what feels like a park, let's say "Central Park", at night, under stars, with a String Quartet, or maybe trio, playing Classical Music. It was truly an amazing end to the night. And I love, absolutely LOVE that it was the choice of my 15 year old son to spend the evening doing that....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yet another pretty fantastic day aboard the Allure wasn't it? Tomorrow would be Cozumel....

[disneykins]

Loved the concerts in the park. Nice spot to sit after dinner. Usually go for a walk around the open deck after dinner and look at the ocean but nowhere to really do that on Allure. Central Park concert is a nice compromise.

 

Hope they do this on our October TA on Allure.

 

Tony and Debbie

[10th Anniversary]

I have really enjoyed your review so far. Thank you for taking the time to write it. I can't wait to read about Cozumel.

[NightOne]

So after our adventures at the Blue Hole, we all piled into the van and drove just a short distance to the next stop, our tubing location.

 

 

 

Could you tell me if this is the same place as the one in this video (starts at about 2:30 mark of video)?

 

 

and does it also look to be the same as this one (short <1 min video)?

 

 

We have a private tour scheduled again but try to nail down the specific rafting operations so I can pick the one I think I would like best.

 

For example, I notice that one (maybe Chukka) uses yellow tubes and everyone has helmets and life vests. They are also all tied together. I would not be interested in that one. The one your were on used the black tubes (the same as the videos) but I don't know if multiple operators use the same.

 

Any additional info would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

Edited April 30, 2015 by NightOne

[Nccruiser01]

Really enjoying your review! We were on the Allure last year, Eastern Caribbean, and are leaving on the Oasis next week, Western Caribbean. Can't wait to hear (and see) what you did in Cozumel!

[ShellDil]

Could you tell me if this is the same place as the one in this video (starts at about 2:30 mark of video)?

 

 

and does it also look to be the same as this one (short <1 min video)?

 

 

We have a private tour scheduled again but try to nail down the specific rafting operations so I can pick the one I think I would like best.

 

For example, I notice that one (maybe Chukka) uses yellow tubes and everyone has helmets and life vests. They are also all tied together. I would not be interested in that one. The one your were on used the black tubes (the same as the videos) but I don't know if multiple operators use the same.

 

Any additional info would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Hi! Yes, these videos are definitely the place where we rafted! Very familiar! :D