Just back from Allure Eastern Carrib

[Gabcruiser]

We stayed in Ft. Lauderdale pre cruise at Courtyard Marriott at the Beach. Very nice hotel. We left at 12:00 to go to the cruise terminal. Too many people at this time going to the terminal. Very long lines to check in. I would get there at 11:00 or at 2:00 to check in.

The ship is huge and fabulous. We have sailed on other RC ships but not as large as this one.

We had a ocean balcony on the 12 deck. The rooms are much smaller then their other ships. The bathroom is much smaller and the sink counter height is so short! I don't know what they were thinking! It is for a 7 year old. There are no outlets in the bathroom. They only provide hand soap and a shampoo dispenser in the shower. The closets are rediculous! They face into the room, where on other ships they were facing towards the bathrooms. There is a sliding door on the closet that is very annoying! There is a 3 plug outlet by the vanity in the room. The beds were very comfortable. You can change the foam cushion to soft or hard. Great idea from RC! You can not bring an iron or a surge outlet, they will be taken from you and given back at the end of the cruise.

Our first port was Nassau. A very short stop. We went to the Melia hotel by cab. A 15 min ride. We paid for a day pass at the front desk. It was $35.00 pr person. It would have been nice to had more time at the hotel. It was very windy. My husband is an avid snorkeler. He wasn't impressed with the area.

Second port was St. Thomas. We docked on the far left dock which is quite a walk to the town. We took the ship excursion to St. John. We went to Trunk Bay for a day at the beach. It was crowded, but with in an hour it had cleared out. The snorkeling wasn't as great as we had heard. The beach and water are gorgeous.

Third port was St. Martin. We went on the Suagoilo boat excursion you can find on Trip Advisor. It was the highlight of our trip! There were only 15 people on the speed boat. We went around the island and stopped at two snorkel areas and a beach restaurant for lunch. It was a very fun all day excursion!

We made reservations months ahead for shows and for our dinners. If you don 't have reservation the lines are very long!

We loved Mama Mia! Don't miss it, it was fabulous!! We saw a comedian who sang and played the piano like Elton John. He was great too! The Blue Planet show was not that great. We liked the water show Ocean Aria. The comedy live is great too. It gets sold out quickly, we saw the last show on our last nignt.

The food in the Windjammer was not all that great. We ate breakfast at Johnnie Rockets for breakfast and lunch. We also had dinner at Chops Grille. It definitely was not worth the extra money. You can order a filet off the menu in the dinning room for and extra charge. We were dissapointed in the fish menu choices and deserts.

We kept our luggage with us the night when we dissemarked as we had a flight at 11:10. I saw people getting off the ship at 7:00 AM!

Have a great cruise!!

[JustCruisin']

Thanks for the review. We will be sailing on the Allure to the Eastern Caribbean in September so I am trying to read everything Allure.

[Clarea]

Appreciate the report.