Live Allure Review 7/7-7/14: Vegetarian, gluten free, disabilty inclusive

[CatLadyFemme]

Hey all; I apologize for disappearing again. We did the island tour of St Maarten via bus (which was nice and chill) on Day 4, but when we got back on the ship around 12:30, we had messages that Jasper wasn’t doing well. Although the internet has been touch and go around some things (including being super challenging to upload pictures here), we were able to spend an hour with him on Facebook messenger video chat. It was time, and so a close friend took him to our vet, and we were able to talk with the vet via messenger too, and also be with him while he passed. 

 

We have be alternating between sobbing in the cabin, walking around numb, and trying to carrying on and do normal things.  I have pictures of everything, but because the internet makes me compress them all before posting, there may be a little delay in catching up. So sorry. Will work on it though!

 

Hug your fur babies a little tighter for me please.

[CatLadyFemme]

Here is the day 5 cruise compass

[CatLadyFemme]

Here is the cruise compass day 6, as well as the American icon lunch menu day 5 (not sure if it changes) and dinner menu for day 6.

[CatLadyFemme]

A few other things either in response to questions or that I wanted to capture.

 

1) Have not seen anything yet about a drink card. Did see something for 10% or 20% off Giovanni’s or Sabor.

 

2) these are the cups we were giving; one blue and one red/yellow (nice to have differing ones so we can more easily remember whose is whose.

 

3) Someone (guest ) departed via ambulance in San Juan.

 

4) All soda fountains were down yesterday so they served us canned soda in the MDR. Cannot imagine what that cost Royal.

 

5) Internet was down for several hours last night. Not slow but completely down.

 

6) About 11:30 pm there was a call over the loudspeaker that someone was critically injured and needed type O negative blood. As that is me, plus I was awake and sober, we headed down to the medical facility. Turns out, they needed male donors (and MrCatLady doesn’t know his type) and they said they needed at least 5 donors worth. We left our number in case they didn’t have enough people so he could be typed. When we left, there were 2 men down there and a woman coming to check if she needed to wake up her husband since he was O negative, and they didn’t call us, so I hope that means they got all the donors they needed. Five pints worth is a LOT (half or more someone’s total blood supply). MrCatLady pointed out it might have been a performer who got injured (I hope not) or an intoxicated guest. Whoever it is, I hope he was stabilized and air lifted to wherever he needed to go.

[sellwingri]

I’m so sorry about Jasper. I can only imagine how you’re feeling.   I’m on Allure in 16 days and Lucy, our cat who will be 19 next month, is sick.  We’ve got a former Vet Tech to come and visit her for a couple of hours every day and will send us pics.  I hope to see (and hear) her, peeking around the stairs when we return. 

 

[nalatrixie74]

so sorry about jasper!! i've been on vacation when my dog needed to be put down. it was before modern technology. i didn't get a chance to say goodbye. i'm glad you were able to spend time and final hours with the little one. thank you for answering questions. we all understand if you aren't able to keep up with this. take care of yourself and hugs to you both! 

[cruisetimeforme]

So sorry to hear about your kitty.

Question regarding your port visits and time. Did you change any ports ar scheduled times in the ports due to propulsion issues with the ship as as been reported previously? We don't sail till November with a stop in CoCo Cay which my SIL and GD and DD are Really looking forward to. Any info would be appreciated. 

[greykitty]

I am so sorry for your loss.

[DancerMama25]

I’m so sorry for the loss of your fur baby.   🌈

 

As someone that needed two pints of blood a while back to save my life, I want to say a special thank you for your willingness to donate. I didn’t realize until then how very, very important donating blood truly is.  I now know that it is because of the kindness of strangers that I am still here and able to enjoy cruises and read review like yours.   Again, thank you.

 

I hope the bus tour was great and relaxing!   Were they able to accommodate your mobility issues?   Was there air conditioning?

[CruisinCons]

Aww big hugs to all of you.  We've gone through that twice, so very hard. 

 

OMG that poor person needing that much blood.  Yet you didn't need to airlift them out or make an emergency stop anywhere so that seems weird.  And why male blood?  I didn't think there was a difference.

[RazorbackIslandGirl]

So sorry to hear you lost your sweet Jasper! I'm sure the sound of your voice was was everything to him in that moment. I'm glad you were able to have that time with him! I hope you're able to enjoy the time you have left on the ship!

[CatLadyFemme]

6 hours ago, cruisetimeforme said:

So sorry to hear about your kitty.

Question regarding your port visits and time. Did you change any ports ar scheduled times in the ports due to propulsion issues with the ship as as been reported previously? We don't sail till November with a stop in CoCo Cay which my SIL and GD and DD are Really looking forward to. Any info would be appreciated. 

Thanks everyone for your kind words. So appreciated.

 

We were originally scheduled in San Juan till 3pm and they bumped it back to 1pm, but that was over a  month ago. No other changes!

3 hours ago, DancerMama25 said:

I’m so sorry for the loss of your fur baby.   🌈

 

As someone that needed two pints of blood a while back to save my life, I want to say a special thank you for your willingness to donate. I didn’t realize until then how very, very important donating blood truly is.  I now know that it is because of the kindness of strangers that I am still here and able to enjoy cruises and read review like yours.   Again, thank you.

 

I hope the bus tour was great and relaxing!   Were they able to accommodate your mobility issues?   Was there air conditioning?

 

I will always offer to help however I can. I read something when I was 10 about Kitty Genovese in NYC and how no one called for help because everyone else assumed someone would, and her boyfriend came back and killed her. Sound dramatic, but really informed my life view on the bystander effect. If I am able to help, whether calling in an accident, donating blood, checking in on someone crying, etc., I will ALWAYS do it.

 

Bus tour was great. Bus had about 4 steps, which is about my limit. Both stops we had (one on each side of the island) were fairly accessible and thank goodness the bus was super air conditioned. It was about 3 hours, which was a perfect amount of time.

 

54 minutes ago, CruisinCons said:

Aww big hugs to all of you.  We've gone through that twice, so very hard. 

 

OMG that poor person needing that much blood.  Yet you didn't need to airlift them out or make an emergency stop anywhere so that seems weird.  And why male blood?  I didn't think there was a difference.

 

I was wondering all of this too, esp since MrCatLady is trans and so we did a bunch a research. Apparently, folks assigned female at birth who have been pregnant (including resulting in miscarriage and abortion) have something different in their blood that means assigned male donors have a lower chance of survival in the first 3 years. There is an article in JAMA if you are interested.

 

as far as airlift, it might have taken a while to get to us and they needed to stabilize him. Looks like the nearest flight for life cooters are in San Juan and we had left there more than 10 hours prior. Nearly level one trauma center is Miami. The Medical bay was definitely a bit discombobulated; my guess is that it was a bit more intense than they were used to.

 

also, attaching a  photo of Jasper from last fall.

[RoperDK]

10 minutes ago, CatLadyFemme said:

 

So sorry for your loss.  Jasper is a beautiful kitty.  A difficult time.  Sending hugs your way.   

[SenatorsFan]

What a beautiful cat. I'm so sorry for your loss and share your pain. Our 16-year-old tuxedo boy was sick while we were cruising in April and we had to put him to sleep 2 days after we returned home. The house is not the same without him.

Your review and pictures are enjoyable.

Heather

[perfect match]

On 7/10/2019 at 8:37 AM, CatLadyFemme said:

 

I loved Brilliance and Enchantment; cannot wait to try Rhapsody. I actually really like the Centrum model and didn’t miss the Promenade as much as I thought I would.

 

 

I think at least as far as decor and fun live music playing all over the ship, Brilliance as my favorite ship I have been on so far! I hope you love it.

 

I really am looking forward to all of the glass on Brilliance!  The Solarium looks beautiful, too.  I am not looking forward to shows in the Centrum because my 2 replacement hips and my 2 replacement knees do not like standing to watch those shows, and I haven’t seen much potential for seating there. We have sailed on ships on other lines that have a centrum, or whatever they chose to call it and I was never very comfortable there. Hopefully, I’ll do better with the standing activities when we finally get on Brilliance. 

 

13 hours ago, CatLadyFemme said:

Hey all; I apologize for disappearing again. We did the island tour of St Maarten via bus (which was nice and chill) on Day 4, but when we got back on the ship around 12:30, we had messages that Jasper wasn’t doing well. Although the internet has been touch and go around some things (including being super challenging to upload pictures here), we were able to spend an hour with him on Facebook messenger video chat. It was time, and so a close friend took him to our vet, and we were able to talk with the vet via messenger too, and also be with him while he passed. 

 

We have be alternating between sobbing in the cabin, walking around numb, and trying to carrying on and do normal things.  I have pictures of everything, but because the internet makes me compress them all before posting, there may be a little delay in catching up. So sorry. Will work on it though!

 

Hug your fur babies a little tighter for me please.

 

When I finished reading this post about your beautiful Jasper, I had to stop here for a few minutes and go hug both of our furbabies. I’m glad you have a good friend who was able to take him, and an understanding vet along with the ability to facetime and see Jasper one more time. I’m sure by now Jasper has crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. 🌈  I imagine you’re already familiar with the Rainbow Bridge as it relates to our pets. If not, a quick search will work. I don’t want to divert away from your excellent thread to post it here. 

[CatLadyFemme]

13 hours ago, perfect match said:

I really am looking forward to all of the glass on Brilliance!  The Solarium looks beautiful, too.  I am not looking forward to shows in the Centrum because my 2 replacement hips and my 2 replacement knees do not like standing to watch those shows, and I haven’t seen much potential for seating there. We have sailed on ships on other lines that have a centrum, or whatever they chose to call it and I was never very comfortable there. Hopefully, I’ll do better with the standing activities when we finally get on Brilliance. 

Not sure if I helps, but I also can’t stand much of the time, and never had trouble finding a seat in the Centrum (def much easier for me than the Promenade. Seats on the main level and lots around the upper levels, esp by the cafe. Hope it works out for you!

[CatLadyFemme]

Cruise compass for Day 7

[CatLadyFemme]

Some thoughts of entertainment:

 

Regarding the ice show, this was my last favorite ice show I have seen. I used to be a competitive figure skater, and so I understand how difficult it must be, both to skate on a rink that small, and at sea. The skaters were nothing besides badass. However, the theme was so odd, and felt really like a RCCL ad; and now! Giovanni’s table! And now! Challengers Arcade! It was cheesey and I didn’t like that one skater wore a low key fat suit (padded pants) to mimic a tourist. I DID love their featured guest who did aerial ring acro on skates; never seen that before and it was amazing. Overall, C.

 

the Edge Effect acapella group were headliners and they did a total of three (all the same) shows and this was FANTASTIC. Fun, engaging, nicely choreographed. We loved it, the in laws loved it. Great for everyone. A+

 

Blue Planet; I haven’t seen anyone here say anything negative, but I saw one review that posted it wasn’t as bad as people said. I don’t think it was bad at all, and I enjoyed parts of it much more than Mamma Mia and certainly the ice show. Not quite as in your face epic as Ocean Aria, but really beautiful costuming and clever stage/lighting design. I especially loved the tree, the underwater, and the rock climbing scenes. My second favorite RCCL show on here after after Ocean Aria, third favorite overall after that and the Edge Effect. I would pay to see any of those three on land. A- 

 

Music wise, we most enjoyed the Sarah Hayes Quartet in Jazz on 4 and all of the music played nightly in Boleros. We ran across pieces of the orchestra at various times across the ship, but missed their main shows unfortunately as they happen at times when we were grieving pretty strongly.

 

[perfect match]

10 hours ago, CatLadyFemme said:

Not sure if I helps, but I also can’t stand much of the time, and never had trouble finding a seat in the Centrum (def much easier for me than the Promenade. Seats on the main level and lots around the upper levels, esp by the cafe. Hope it works out for you!

 

Thanks for the info! It does help a lot knowing that you were able to find seating for shows in the Centrum. Not only do I have trouble standing for long periods of time, I’m also shorter than many people so if everyone is standing and I’m not in the front, all I can see is the backs of the people in front of me. That’s why I love stadium seating! I’ll scout out seating in the Centrum on boarding day so I’ll have an idea where to find it come show time.  😀

[Ellanora]

Thank you for your review, I really enjoyed reading it!  The information about vegetarian food and the vegan menu were very helpful.  I'm taking my son and his girlfriend on Harmony in December and she is vegetarian and I'm trying to plan our meals so she has as many options as possible.  

[MommaBear55]

On 7/12/2019 at 6:17 PM, CruisinCons said:

Aww big hugs to all of you.  We've gone through that twice, so very hard. 

 

OMG that poor person needing that much blood.  Yet you didn't need to airlift them out or make an emergency stop anywhere so that seems weird.  And why male blood?  I didn't think there was a difference.

The difference us that in this case they are using emergency blood and cannot crossmatch and  women who have been pregnant may have Rh incompatibility, which would make that blood harmful to anyone with Rh positive blood. 

[katiel53]

On my last three cruises there have been pages for blood.  Up until then, I'd not heard any and I've been on many cruises.  

[DaNana]

On 7/2/2019 at 7:15 AM, sellwingri said:

I’m on Allure at the end of July.  I too walk with a cane and am curious how easy it is for you to get around.  I sailed on Oasis a couple of years ago but rented a scooter.  This time, I’m not because I’m in a regular balcony and the scooter won’t fit.  (We were in a GS last time.). 

We were on Symphony in ocean view balcony and hot one that fit. The basket came off. Parked inside near the door. 

[tomservo]

How was Central Park 150? How well do they accommodate vegetarians? What items did you end up getting?

[zencruisers]

I just found and read your review. Great pictures. Sorry for the loss of your kitty.