Allure of the Seas-Sept. 30, 2012 My Experience

At least I understand the sign. Nothing coming in or leaving at this moment.

Heading back to the ship....

Another view of Saba Island. Anyone see a big monkey over there?

Back at the port...

One last stop for a Carib Beer before boarding the ship.

Beautiful pictures love the Maho beach ones!!

Great review so far!!! Thank you for doing this, we're cruising on the Allure Dec. 9th...SO excited! :D

We'll be on board on the 9th too. I went with my mom last year and told my husband that he had to see it to believe it! I can't wait and wish now I had booked B2B :)

Thanks for the info on viewing the port/ships from the Embassy Hotel. We will be there in July, and will check it out. I will especially enjoy my first view of the Allure. I also would like to watch the sail away of the Oasis on Saturday afternoon.

For all you photog folks out there I just wanted to say all of my photo's were taken using a Nikon AW100 camera. This is the waterproof (down to 33 feet), shockproof (up to 5 feet), and freezeproof (down to 14 degree's F) compact camera. That's if any of you were interested. :cool:

Thank you for the info --- You have taken beautiful pictures, it's not always the camera but your own lens that takes the great pictures.

We'll be on the Allure December 9th. Your review is awesome. :)

Good morning folks. I'm getting ready to start my shift at the firehouse. I'll be back with more of my review later today. Have a nice day! :)

Enjoying your review. My husband is a retired firefighter. We sail in December on Allure.;)

Hello to everyone following my review. Once again thanks for your comments. I'm going to be a little busy today so it might be later this afternoon before I pick up from where I left off yesterday. Enjoy your day! :)

Harold,

Loing your review. Helps to pass time til my cruise in Dec. We were on the Oasis last year although it was on the Western Route. We also went to St. Martin and watched the planes come in. Got a video of that but your pics are way better than my video.

I'm from VA Beach! Have you heard of the VA Beach Monster Fire Truck? My dad was involved with that when we were growing up. Do you know any of the Moss family that is involved with the VBFD?

Michelle

I'm enjoying your review! I'm a newbie and have a few questions.

I'm really interested in seeing Oceanaria, but in looking at the schedules that are posted for cruises over the next 6-8 weeks they only have Oceanaria scheduled the first few days of the cruise. I was wondering if they offer additional times once you're on the ship, particularly for at sea days, or do they really only offer the show at the beginning of the cruise?

You mentioned making sure to stay on ship's time. Is ship's time Eastern Standard Time? Sorry if this is a really stupid question.

Final question, we are considering staying at Embassy Suites. Would you return? How was the breakfast? Is it in a decent area of town? Plenty of places nearby to eat? I'll be traveling with DH44, DD11 and my parents who will both be 70.

I am really enjoying your review! I will be on the Allure in February doing the same itinerary!

Loving your review Harold! I started mine a little before you and I'm still on Day 2!! Particularly love the picture of you on the jetski with the Allure behind you. That must have been awesome. We went to Maho also but because we were on a tour, only got to see one big plane land :mad:

Looking forward to more!

Harold,

 

Loing your review. Helps to pass time til my cruise in Dec. We were on the Oasis last year although it was on the Western Route. We also went to St. Martin and watched the planes come in. Got a video of that but your pics are way better than my video.

 

I'm from VA Beach! Have you heard of the VA Beach Monster Fire Truck? My dad was involved with that when we were growing up. Do you know any of the Moss family that is involved with the VBFD?

 

Michelle

Hi Michelle. If Don Moss is your dad then yes I know him. I volunteered with VBFD a long time ago at the Thalia fire station.

I'm enjoying your review! I'm a newbie and have a few questions.

 

I'm really interested in seeing Oceanaria, but in looking at the schedules that are posted for cruises over the next 6-8 weeks they only have Oceanaria scheduled the first few days of the cruise. I was wondering if they offer additional times once you're on the ship, particularly for at sea days, or do they really only offer the show at the beginning of the cruise?

 

You mentioned making sure to stay on ship's time. Is ship's time Eastern Standard Time? Sorry if this is a really stupid question.

 

Final question, we are considering staying at Embassy Suites. Would you return? How was the breakfast? Is it in a decent area of town? Plenty of places nearby to eat? I'll be traveling with DH44, DD11 and my parents who will both be 70.

Hi. Oceanaria had multiple shows throughout the cruise. The times that are listed are pretty much the ones they stick too. One thing to keep in mind is that the shows are subject to change or be cancelled based on the weather and sea conditions.

Ships time is generally the same time as the originating departure port. So ships time will be based on where you left from. The reason you stay on ships time is that some of the countries the ships visit have different time zones.

I would definitely stay at the Embassy Suites again. It is in a safe area of town very close to the port. There are ample places to eat and shop within walking distance. The breakfast in the hotel is good. It is a typical buffett including made to order eggs and omlettes.

Hi Michelle. If Don Moss is your dad then yes I know him. I volunteered with VBFD a long time ago at the Thalia fire station.

He's not my dad but a close friend of the family...My parents actually bought Don's parents house (Bozo).

Small world!

Great review! We are sailing Allure next April, doing the Eastern itinerary. Love the pictures and your narration. We are also staying at Embassy suites pre-cruise. I assume there are rooms that have views of the pier...I will call and put in my request now.

Thanks for taking the time to share.

P.S. We are neighbors...we are in Williamsburg. :)

Hello from another Virginian - Waynesboro!

I'm really enjoying your review. I'm planning on taking this same cruise next May, so I'm getting some good ideas from you of things to do. (cough, Senor Frogs, cough!)

Keep 'em coming!

Hi Harold,

we are sailing a week before you next year. We are a group of 22 and we are loving your review...I kind of wish we were on the other sailing now because watching planes take off and land is one of my favorite past times. I even bought my house because it's near an airport and on the flight path! -I am now adding Sunset/Maho to my "bucket list" this is a must-do for me, now!!

Harold - great job on the review ... Love the pix too. Nice to see different perspectives from the same cruise week! Cannot be everywhere at once ;)

I apologize for being absent yesterday and most of today. When you work for a fire department, especially for the Navy and a hurricane approaches things start hopping! It's been a busy couple of days around here for me. Tomorrow I will be evacuating Virginia to avoid the hurricane. So I will try and squeeze in a little more tonight. Oh, and hello to all my neighbors through out Virginia who have commented. :)

Enjoying your thread so far, keep up good work.

I was just looking at your signature, and see you will be sailing the Allure 2 months after us........you must really enjoy her.

We live in the snow belt area of the Great Lakes, and when we built our house and moved in when it was 1993 we had a Halloween Snow Storm:eek:.

So as well as you battening down the hatches, we too shall be preparing.

Try to get some rest.

Stock up on firewood, water.

Be safe

Safe travels.

Sue and crew

So after a great day at St. Maarten it was time to sailaway into the sunset. I even got to see my first pier runner of the cruise. It seemed as though most people were good about making it back to the ship with time to spare this trip except for one person in St. Maarten. Here we go:

Phillipsburg

I wish I lived there!

:o Sorry about that snafu....

Continuing on:

Another nice place to live!

And here he is! Our St. Maarten pier runner anout 10 minutes from sailaway! :eek:

Did it again. Moving on:

Flowrider sailaway wipeout!!

Bye bye St. Maarten!

I'm sailing away!

One last shot of St. Maarten:

Days 6 & 7 were our at sea days with Day 6 also being the second formal night with lobster on the menu in the MDR.

Thursday night there was a Top Tier Event for C&A Platinum and above folks in the Amber Theater with a performance from the cast of Chicago doing some singing. The top cruiser's on this sailing were recognized and a nice time was had by all. After that it was time to bar hop. I bumped into Susan and Chris at the Rising Tide Bar and had a few drinks and also met some of their Flowrider mates which led to unwittingly becoming part of a Quest team (drinking included) and then more shenanigans in the dance club.....

Top Tier Event.

After Quest in the Dance Club. Susan, do you recall where the hat came from? I don't?????? It looks like I was having fun! :D

So after a late night of partying I decided enough was enuff! Bedtime!

Great review! ... and nice hat:)

Stay safe during the storm!