Jon in the ATL

On right now headed to Victoria.   Seas are 6-8ft according to storm surf-and you can feel the boat moving.  But honestly, the ship handles very well in these kinds of swells in my opinion. 

On the way up to Alaska, the seas were calm and didn’t feel anything.  It will just depend on your timing.   I read the same reviews about how the ovation sways etc.  I didn’t feel anything until today.   

Currently at the entrance to Dawes Glacier on Ovation.  Tons of ice not permitting the ship to proceed forward to see it up close.  A small ferry boat in front of us wasn’t able to navigate ice either.  According to staff, this is pretty much the norm.  Captain is rotating the ship 360 degrees to view the environment.  So make sure you see Mendenhall in Juneau and others along the trip so you are not disappointed. 

Trip has been fantastic other than that to this point.  Temperatures in the 60s on land and cooler at sea. It’s a great ship and Alaska is glorious.  

Was on harmony last week. Walked off the ship with no line, no one in elevators at 645 and was in the cab 10 minutes later. Made a 945am flight easily.  Had plenty of time to have breakfast in the Delta sky club.  

Early bird gets the worm folks.  

Playa Mia....great time for everyone.

My two boys have been cruising for awhile now. Stick with Freedom and Oasis class. Tons to do and you'll travel during school breaks, so there will be tons of families on there. Just off Harmony and we had so much fun!

Just dropped fuel via rescue boat. The distressed sailboat in question is continuing on its journey.

The captain did say they took them out a few pizzas as well. :)

Lots of cheers from for the rescue team

from the starboard side from us on the ship.

Doing 23.3 knots towards St. Thomas. Hope to make it there by our scheduled 10am arrival tomorrow morning.

Did Allure two summers ago with my kids. It was fantastic. The European trips are different from the usual Caribbean as your days are much longer out and about seeing stuff. But its great to come back to the ship and do the flowrider, pools, or whatever so they can just do what kids do. Highly recommend!

Lucky Jewelers in downtown. Go see Posh and Danny. They have been taking care of us for years. Beautiful pieces and top notch service. Never had a problem with dealing with issues from a far.

just saw them dock too. there are tons of pics being posted on the harmony facebook page.

It's called Integrity. Some people have it. Some people don't.

 

 

Ha! Looks like you have an opinion on everything with all your posts on here. So nice of you to declare your presence on this thread.

Anyone have experience with splitting the wifi signal using a travel router on a RCCL ship? Why pay for 4 device access when you can pay one. Just curious.

I was on this cruise too with my wife and our two kids. I echo many of the same sentiments of the above review. A few things stuck out to me..

Entertainment: Aside from the comedians, the entertainment was blah. I was pretty surprised how poor it was. And we cruise a lot and do not expect Broadway quality.

Food: right on target on the food. Specialty is ways ahead of the comp restaurants. All specialty were very good that we dined at. Garden Café had a nice selection and don't forget about the crepes at night all the way in the back.

Casino: Smoke isn't that bad. Was much worse on Getaway.

WOW factor: this ship lacks the WOW factor that many of the new ships have. The WOW factor is different for everyone so take it for what it is.

Movement of the ship: I have cruised over 20 times and some cruises had horrendous weather so you expect movement. On our sea day heading to Nassau, we were in 8 ft seas and the ship was rocking very considerably. It was a sunny day so it was not like there were any storms kicking up the wind, but just some chop in the ocean. All day it was going up and down and I couldn't believe how such a large ship moved in a very moderate chop. We were headed at 20 knots so that might have contributed to it as well. So everything that everyone has said about movement is true. The narrowness of Escape and its height is a large contributing factor I am sure.

Did we have fun? Of course, we did as we were on vacation! Try it for yourself and you can be the judge.

What is going on with the mega ships tonight? Allure turns around and now Oasis too

To answer your questions, yes. Yes, there is so much to do on Allure that if they didn't step foot in the kids clubs, they would have fun.

However, the clubs are fun for the kids if they have activities that appeal to them. If your 10 year old is like mine, he might think he is too cool for it. But if they have something he is into...look out we might never see him again! And if you are comfortable, your older one is able to check himself in and out IF you agree to it. So he can leave if he does not like something.

All kids are different, but hey if they want to check it out, they might actually like it. :) If not, no big deal...you are on vacation!

Sailed on both with my boys who are 8 and 10 now. We had fun on both of those ships.

Things to consider with Allure: Allure must more refined and has a WOW factor. My kids loved the kids clubs, activities/shows, and the pool areas. However, no waterslides, but the zip line and flowrider made up for it.

Things to consider with Breeze: Nice ship, but much more casual vibe. There is no WOW factor on this ship compared to RCCL. However, a friendly crew, great waterslides, and good activities and kids club.

If it were me, I would return to Allure in a heartbeat. Glad I went on the Breeze, but wouldn't rush back to it.

Was following that thread over on RCCL forum last night. It was incredible what they were going through.

Hopefully, they have a safe trip back to NYC and should arrive there Weds AM.

Thoughts with all those onboard and hope for a safe return. Just saw this posted on another website.

https://gma.yahoo.com/royal-caribbean-cruise-ship-rocked-hurricane-force-winds-130856716--abc-news-topstories.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory&soc_trk=fb#

Used UBER from Hilton at MIA to the port and was the same cost as a cab. However, it was Uber XL and the SUV was really nice. He was there in less than 10 mins.

According to him, they are prohibited to pick up from the Port of Miami, but they do anyways as they rarely get caught. It's really something hard to police as many of them do not attach the UBER sticker to their front windshield.

No reason not to use UBER if you have never used it before. There are tons of promos online to get a free first ride or at least have a chunk of it deducted with a promo coupon.

Let us know how it goes!

 

If you can send a note on how hard the mattresses are and the room temperature at night- those are the only things I'm feeling worried about right now.

 

We will be getting on when you get off. Hard to believe that we are this close to sailing!

Was on allure in Europe this summer. Air temp at night was fine and beds comfy. No worries.

Falmouth's secured port is very nice. We stopped there on a Allure of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas trip on RCCL. The secured area has lots of shops, entertainers, and a Margaritaville. However, when you go past the secured area you will run into the usual amount of hagglers and folks wanting to take you places and buy their stuff. The little town outside of the gates is run down and has nothing to see. Most people take shore excursions that take you to other parts of the island. This was a major issue with the locals as not much $$ actually gets spent in Falmouth by cruisers.

I'm not sure why Carnival would divert from using this port. Yes, farther away from the big attractions in Jamaica, but much nicer than any of the other ones.

Been to Cozumel a bunch of times and looking for something different to do.

Thoughts on this if you have done it before?

Booked it on my ipad as we were pulling into port. Sometimes you can save a few bucks by doing it on their website. Easy and we had a great day.

Did Playa Mia with my boys last year who were 9 and 6 at the time. Great place for them with nice pools, kids area, beach, waterslides. We spent the day there and had a great time.

You can buy per day or for the cruise. Very flexible.