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

Hi there! It was just a month ago that my family and I were sailing along on the wonderful Allure of the Seas....and I wonder, how could time have gone by so quickly? Reality has set back in already and it's almost as if we never were on board. So, that must mean it's time to relive that vacation, and what better way, than by sharing it with those here in a hopefully, super detailed trip report! I tend to get wordy with my reports, and share lots of pictures, so I hope you don't mind. That's just my style! I write my reviews as a story of our daily events with the details of the ship and ports as we go along. Please feel free to ask questions along the way, otherwise I feel like I'm just rambling along to myself and that gets a bit lonely!

But first a bit of background. Sailing along is myself (Shelley) and I'm 45, and I'm totally addicted to traveling. I'll pretty much go anywhere and it really takes quite a lot for something to make a vacation go wrong for me. I tend to roll with the punches, go with the flow. Of course, there will be issues, but let's work them out and move on! That's just how I am. Then there's my husband, Keith, he's 48, he absolutely hates to go on cruises. Funny right? But he tolerates them because that's what works well for our family. As much as in his mind he says he hates them, every single time we're sailing, he has a good time. I think it's more the concept of a cruise that he doesn't like and it would not be his vacation of choice, than actually being on the cruise. My son, Alex is 15 and he loves cruises. He keeps asking when we're going to go on a Baltic cruise, or maybe one in Asia. He's got big cruise dreams! And then Megan, she's 13 and she loves to travel in any form, but enjoys cruising a lot too.

You can see by my signature, we have cruised a fair amount, and don't really have any loyalty to any particular cruise line. We tend to sail based on itinerary and the ship that suits us at the moment. I've done trip reports for our last few cruises if you're interested in seeing our thoughts on the various cruises, but after we sailed on the Navigator in Europe, the Allure kept calling out to us! This was when the Allure was a newer ship - it was "THE" ship to sail on at that time. Not to say that it's still not pretty exciting, because it's very unique! So, this past May, plans were set in motion to sail on the Allure!

It was a total surprise to the kids...which was pretty cool! In November, the 4 of us had just sailed on Celebrity on one of their Top Chef cruises. That was very cool! The kids knew I had another vacation planned for winter of 2015 and that they would be missing a week of school. But they had no idea what and they had no idea where we'd be going. I had planned this in May 2014 when there was some great pricing, and I decided it would be their Christmas present for 2014. So, once i figured out how I would "give" it to them, the plan was set in motion. They never dreamed it would be another big vacation, let alone a cruise, especially since Keith is so not thrilled with cruises.

I came up with a picture scavenger hunt where they had to find clues all around the house on Christmas morning. Each clue led them to an envelope which they gathered and then once they collected them all, they opened them and had to figure out where they clues told them we'd be going! I had pictures of things relating to the Allure. I couldn't make it too easy since they are 15 and 13, but things like the Boardwalk piece from Monopoly, a picture of Central Park, the Chicago skyline, the Madagascar Penguins, a picture of a carousel, all in all I had 10 pictures I believe.

Here they are when they figured it out, they were shocked!

So now we all know about the cruise and we just had to wait until February to go! It was so hard for me to not say a word to them from May until February and I now could finally start telling them about the excursions or the ship or whatever! One of the hardest parts was when we were on our cruise in November, the Oasis was docked in port at the same time as we were - here it is next to one of the Carnival ships

and the kids would say things like "I wish we were on that ship, it looks so cool"....and I just had to keep quiet or say something like, well, maybe someday we'll go on it! HA HA!

We counted down the days, and finally, it was time to go on the long awaited, surprise cruise on the Allure!

Love it so far. We have surprised the kids with cruises a bunch of times also. One time we didn't tell them until we arrived at the port...boy were they surprised. I love doing that but I agree it's soooooo hard to keep it a secret! :)

We flew out of BWI the Saturday before the cruise left, stopping for lunch at the airport!

We flew Southwest, and had a bit of time at the gate before boarding. The flight was on time and from BWI to FLL was a quick trip.

We booked the Residence Inn Airport and Cruise Port Hotel. I picked this specifically because they indicated they had rollaway beds available. At this age my kids won't share a bed at all. Not even for one night. So when I can find a rollaway, it works out best for all of us. I also got a really great rate. We left the airport, and took a cab, although I later found out the hotel offered a shuttle, which I didn't see offered on their website. But again, I heard from other guests the shuttle ended up taking them more than an hour due to heavy traffic.

So, we arrived at the hotel only to be told that no they don't have rollaways, they never have and it's not on their website. This made for some cranky people in our group. So, the people at the front desk tried to be very helpful and I offered to show them on their website where I saw this information, and they were shocked to see it there. They said it needed to be removed. They asked if we wanted to go across the street to the Courtyard Marriott, but the rate would be double, and I said no. They offered to see if the Courtyard had a rollaway they could bring over, they didn't. They offered to see if they had a 2 bedroom they could give us, they didn't. So in the end - they gave us a one bedroom and my kids made do with the sectional sofa - which was really just fine! Not what we expected, but it was fine!

Notice, Megan has the double bed, and Alex is on the long part of the sofa, with the cushions wedged between the bed and the sofa. He had a little cubby area. Although he seemed to like it just fine! Kids!

But backing up a bit! The hotel is in Dania Beach, not really Ft. Lauderdale. Nothing is in walking distance....but they have a free shuttle that will take guests to one of maybe 5 restaurants and also to a Publix in the morning. So, we chose the Rendezvous Restaurant for dinner.

It was good enough. We sat outside on the deck, overlooking a canal and there was a band playing. It was actually a bit chilly outside. But it was a decent meal. Typical of bar type food. Afterwards they called the hotel for us and our shuttle came to pick us up.

Then, as only could happen in a 13 year old teen girl's world - her fake thumbnail broke off. She put on fake nails for the cruise but didn't bring nail glue. So the crisis of the trip began - she had to find nail glue. Well, no car, nothing within walking distance....what to do! Would the cruise on the Allure be tarnished because her thumb nail wasn't pretty?

Lol. Love it so far. Wanna read the rest of the nail adventure.

Cindy

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Love the bed divider !

Lol. Love it so far. Wanna read the rest of the nail adventure.

Cindy

 

 

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Thanks! I hope to continue with the nail saga tonight! We'll see if I have time after dinner.....

Love the bed divider !

They're nuts aren't they? First Alex was going to take those cushions and sleep on them on the floor under the desk! :eek: I thought this was a huge improvement!

I'm in! We will be sailing soon with 4 teens :eek:. Be interested to know if you did any of the beverage packages, soda or other. Thanks for the review.

We also booked during May 2014 and it was for Christmas. Looking back, I think we did good!

Love your review so far..and please, all details are great. We are booked on the allure April of 2016 with our kids so understand how hard it us keeping it a secret. The other day my kids were watching Shrek and so wanted to say something.

Looking forward to hearing more and seeing pictures. You have a lovely family.

Great review so far! We were on Allure in January and I can't believe it's been 2 months already. :(

I had planned on doing a review but after looking through all bazillion pictures I took I decided they didn't turn out review worthy! I'll relive my cruise through your pictures!

I'm in! We will be sailing soon with 4 teens :eek:. Be interested to know if you did any of the beverage packages, soda or other. Thanks for the review.

My kids don't like soda, so no packages for them. My husband and I had the premium drink package on our recent Celebrity cruise. We booked during a promo when the Classic was included and upgraded to the premium. I definitely didn't make use of it. While it was nice to have, and I tried a lot of drinks I normally wouldn't have if I didn't have the package, I decided it wasn't something I needed to pay for this cruise. He's a beer drinker and while he did drink some on our sea days, didn't really see the value in spending so much for the full package on the Allure. We decided to wait until we were on board and if after a couple of days he thought the package would be worth it, he'd get one. And if so, it would be less than paying for the full trip. In the end, he never got one. I did however end up getting the soda package on day 2 or 3 I think. But regardless of which day you get the soda package you still pay for the full cruise. I wasn't aware of that, so I should have just got that from day 1! I definitely made good use of it though, I'm a diet soda junkie!

We also booked during May 2014 and it was for Christmas. Looking back, I think we did good!

I love the Christmas cruise idea! :D

Love your review so far..and please, all details are great. We are booked on the allure April of 2016 with our kids so understand how hard it us keeping it a secret. The other day my kids were watching Shrek and so wanted to say something.

 

Looking forward to hearing more and seeing pictures. You have a lovely family.

Thank you! I was so afraid I'd slip up! It's definitely challenging to not talk about for such a long time!

Great review so far! We were on Allure in January and I can't believe it's been 2 months already. :(

 

I had planned on doing a review but after looking through all bazillion pictures I took I decided they didn't turn out review worthy! I'll relive my cruise through your pictures!

Time goes by so quickly after coming home doesn't it? I hope my pictures can help you relive your cruise! :D

After returning to the hotel after dinner, the kids worked on a bit of schoolwork. They both go to Cyber School, which means that they can do school on the road, so in theory taking them out of school for a week might not be quite as difficult as if they were in a traditional school. However, they still have to turn in assignments to stay current with their work! Would they? Likely not. But they both had their laptops with them, so the thought was there!

We decided to use the hotel shuttle to get to the Port and were scheduled for an 11:30 pick up. And off to bed we all went - nice and cozy! I had checked with the front desk and they had a 9:00 am shuttle that went to Publix, the local grocery store. So I decided to wake Megan up at 8:00, which to her might as well be the middle of the night! But when I told her that if she got up, got showered and dressed and was totally packed, we'd go to Publix and look for nail glue - that girl moved!

I was packed, so Keith and Alex just had to pack their stuff up while Megan and I were gone. I told them to go ahead and get breakfast at the hotel. They have a full breakfast included. We probably wouldn't make it back in time.

And off Megan and I went! We were on the little shuttle with about 8 other people, all heading out on various cruises and mainly all were looking for wine. Here we were looking for nail glue, and they were looking for wine! So, hey - I might as well get some wine too right? The Publix was about 5 minutes away and it was tiny! The driver let us out and told us he'd be back in 45 minutes! FORTY FIVE minutes??? It would take about 2 minutes to shop in this store! But look what we got

Crisis averted, we can rest, the teenage beast has been tamed! For now!

So, we swing past the wine aisle and wouldn't you know it, this particular Publix doesn't sell wine until after noon on Sunday! It's only 9:30 am! Well, darn! So what about all of those other people on our shuttle? And what are we going to do for the next 40 minutes? We go outside and they're on the phone with the hotel. They're trying to get them to send a different bus. The shuttle we took is actually a third party company they use as a contractor that shuttles their clients to the restaurants and grocery store. But could they please send the hotel shuttle to pick us up and by the way, is there a different Publix or store that we can get our WINE? They were really pretty funny. Of course, now that Megan got her nail glue, she was in no mood to go racing around Ft. Lauderdale so a bunch of people could get wine....she wanted to get back to the hotel for breakfast.

Sorry dear, mommy is getting some wine! :D

A wonderful driver picked us up and took us to a different Publix. Apparently the other service is contracted with this county, and the hotel could go anywhere. Ok....so, we went to a nice, new store. Huge wine/beer section. We all found what we wanted and this guy even waited for us while we shopped. We got back to the hotel just as breakfast closed. No food for us! Oh well, soon enough we'd be on the ship, right? We found Alex and Keith, finishing up their breakfast. We went up to the room and made sure we had everything, put our Allure luggage tags on and went down to wait for our 11:30 shuttle....with HOLY COW.....about 100 people??? WHAT???

We waited, and waited, and waited.....what was going on? 11:30 came and went. 12:00 came and the 12:00 people came out with the 11:30 people who were also with the 11:00 people. The 12:30 people came out too! We were still there. No one knew what was happening. I looked into Uber and they even had no uber cars....no taxi's. Was anyone moving in Ft. Lauderdale? Well, we found out that no, no one was! Apparently there was a race or a marathon or a bike race or something. I can't exactly remember now. But roads were closed and detoured all over the town! So traffic was diverted everywhere!

Finally, a bus pulled up with cruisers getting out who just got off their cruise and they said it was a nightmare getting there. Took them forever!

But finally it was our turn to get on the shuttle. I want to say maybe we got on around 12:30 or 12:45. But once we were on, we were moving! Off to the port we went!

Check in was painless! There were no lines and we breezed right through...this was it! We were finally going to be on the Allure and officially starting our cruise!

My kids don't like soda, so no packages for them. My husband and I had the premium drink package on our recent Celebrity cruise. We booked during a promo when the Classic was included and upgraded to the premium. I definitely didn't make use of it. While it was nice to have, and I tried a lot of drinks I normally wouldn't have if I didn't have the package, I decided it wasn't something I needed to pay for this cruise. He's a beer drinker and while he did drink some on our sea days, didn't really see the value in spending so much for the full package on the Allure. We decided to wait until we were on board and if after a couple of days he thought the package would be worth it, he'd get one. And if so, it would be less than paying for the full trip. In the end, he never got one. I did however end up getting the soda package on day 2 or 3 I think. But regardless of which day you get the soda package you still pay for the full cruise. I wasn't aware of that, so I should have just got that from day 1! I definitely made good use of it though, I'm a diet soda junkie!

 

 

 

Thanks for the reply. I think the beverage package may be something to decide on onboard.

Looking forward to more of your report and photos.

LMAO. I can't wait to read the rest of your review. I love you style :D

Cindy

Love it so far. Wanna read the rest of the nail adventure.

Notice, Megan has the double bed, and Alex is on the long part of the sofa, with the cushions wedged between the bed and the sofa. He had a little cubby area. Although he seemed to like it just fine! Kids!

 

 

Then, as only could happen in a 13 year old teen girl's world - her fake thumbnail broke off. She put on fake nails for the cruise but didn't bring nail glue. So the crisis of the trip began - she had to find nail glue. Well, no car, nothing within walking distance....what to do! Would the cruise on the Allure be tarnished because her thumb nail wasn't pretty?

LOL...okay, now you're describing my kids....my son will do anything to avoid sleeping in proximity to his sister!

And absolutely, a broken nail can wreak havoc!!! :eek:

Fun review, great start...

Following!

I remember reading your European story! We followed your footsteps on Navigator on Oct 2013. I so envied your photos of Acropolis, since mine did not do so well because it was raining heavily when we were there.

I hope no more nail problems happen! Gotta love your teens!

Looking forward to more of your report and photos.

Thanks! Hopefully I'll be able to add a few more posts in today!

Love it so far. Wanna read the rest of the nail adventure.

Thanks! Those nails, while they looked pretty, boy did Alex not let her live down the trouble they were! Ugh~!!

Following!

 

I remember reading your European story! We followed your footsteps on Navigator on Oct 2013. I so envied your photos of Acropolis, since mine did not do so well because it was raining heavily when we were there.

 

I hope no more nail problems happen! Gotta love your teens!

Welcome back from the European story! I hope you had a great time on the Navigator! I can't imagine climbing up to the Acropolis in the rain, but I'd imagine it was still pretty amazing just to be there! :) Thanks for reading along!

You're a great story teller. I can't wait to read more.