My review Allure May 1st Eastern!

[debshomespun]

Bill--From a fellow Ohioan, I am loving your review. We will be on the Allure the 2nd week of October, with the first week being on the Oasis. We are doing a B2B on Oasis, then Allure, with the Western Routes. We wanted to experience the entertainment on both ships, rather than do a B2B on the same ship. Oh, by the way, we are "Diamond" members, and after our B2B, we will only need 14 more days of sailing to make it to the great "Diamond Plus" status. (just kidding of course) :D The only thing I am looking forward to is being able to go on the behind the scene tours, mainly the bridge tour!

 

By the way, our daughter just moved from Hilliard, to outside of Cincinnati. We are in the NE corner, and she is now in the SW corner! :eek:

 

Keep up the great pictures! Loving them. Also, loved your comments on the "chair hogs"!

[justluv2cruisewithhubby]

Bill - I love the review its very entertaining. So are two days and I'm hooked can't wait to read about the other 5.

[cr8z4cruzn]

I mentioned day 1 ended with the Oceania show. I was very impressed with this show and it was a great start to the week The show is obviously based on diving and they work a show around it, but it is very entertaining. Turns out I don't have any good pictures of the show. Thats mainly because my 5 year old digital camera is a piece of crap. (More on that later) But you may have read that one of Allure's secrets is the balconies at the back of the ship that are public accessible. This photo below is a view of the aqua theater from the starboard deck 12 balcony.

 

Another spoiler, the pictures get better, this was our 30th anniversary and Gina said I could buy a new camera on this trip. I also mentioned I thought the room and balcony was a little narrower. Below is what a D3 balcony looks like. It maybe a little small, but we enjoyed it a lot!

 

Day 1 ended with our traditional hot tub soak. My wife and I enjoy a hot tub soak before bed. It really helps get to sleep. Well, as much as I love Royal Caribbean, their hot tubs leave a little to be desired. We started off on our ritual of trying to find an open hot tub that is also at least warm. We went up two decks to the cantilevered hot tub on the port side. As I almost could have predicted, it was marked CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE :mad: So we walked across the ship to the same tub on the port side. IT was open and a comfortable 100 degrees or so. (I can tell a hot tub's temp to within a half degree by feel alone) These tubs most noticably have large flat screens which that night were playing the Mavs/Lakers game) These tubs also have some contured seating that is great for couples vs the open seating of the same tubs on the freedom class. We were just getting comfortable when a crew member came up and told us we had to move to another tub because he was closing that one. Aggrivating, but we went back to the one we first tried to use. That ends day one, Embarkation day.

 

Day 2 - Nassau

 

On this itinerary, you wake up already docked in Nassau. Unfortunately the ship leaves at 1pm, so you have to be back on board at around 12:30. I think this makes the single most worthless stop RCL offers. We have been to Nassau 3 times, once on Voyager, and twice on Majesty so we decided to remain on board. At this point, it is worth mentioning this trip was to celebrate our 30th anniversary, and this was the day. Below is the message that appeared as a message on our interactive TV.

 

 

Wow, a complimentary 5 minute phone call! Actually we didn't have anyone in the outside world we could contact, but it was a nice gesture. I began our anniversary with 10 laps around the running track (4.3 miles) After a shower my wife and I had our first breakfast at Johnny Rocket's. This was another tip from cruise critic. We were seated outside on the patio and it was a wonderful morning and felt great to be outside. We ordered waffles and home fried potatoes. It was complimentary and a great time. A must do. Speaking of hot tubs, its time for us to go out to ours. I've got to stop for the night. More tomorrow.

 

Great gesture and they meant well, but it looks like they could use a 'lil spell check on their interactive screens. "As a small taken" and "congratulated by our". Lol...

[BillOh]

Great gesture and they meant well, but it looks like they could use a 'lil spell check on their interactive screens. "As a small taken" and "congratulated by our". Lol...

 

Reminds me of the cake we had on Freedom labeled "100th cruises" I also thought the "getting your picture taken with a Guest Services officer" was exciting, don't forget to bring your own camera! How many of you have had guests over and gotten out the slides to show our picture with the Guest Services officer! ;) I poke fun, but it was a nice gesture.

 

Day 3 was the first official sea day having left Nassau early the day before. Once again I started my day with 10 laps on the running track. Lets talk about the running track a little. Its .43 miles around, has two lanes, the right one for walking and the left one for running and I had very little problems with it. They put up plenty of signs around to entertain you and they do have 2 drinking fountains, so you don't have to bring your own water as I did the first day. You run in the same direction all the time to avoid accidents. I got my runs in early, a habit learned on RC to avoid the damm sunbathers who move their chairs out into the track lanes on Voyager and Freedom class ships. :mad: In the early mornings you do come across crew members out cleaning up the deck and doing maintenance on the lifeboats. These guys are use to runners and seemed to have developed a little courtesy by staying to the side and looking before they step out. I did have one near miss with a crew member who looked like he might be part of the guest services crew and should of known better. He was as big as me, so it would have been ugly. For those of you who haven't seen the track, it is on deck 5 on the outside of the ship there is a long straight up one side of the ship with a 1 foot hill and you go around the back of the ship where you have the only real view, and up the starboard side. At the front of the ship, you go around a narrow corner into a tunnel where there are stairs leading to the fitness center. I was on lap 10 this day and I was about 20 yards from making that left turn into the tunnel and this crew member came walking around that corner. I had plenty of time to just go around him, but if you are above rules because you are crew, walk on the outside of a blind corner so you don't kill someone! For the most part I enjoyed my runs as I do on land. There were a few other inconsiderate people on the track, but they were few and far inbetween. They really didn't bother me, but since running is a time for my mind to wander, they gave me something to think about. There was one older gentleman who was reading a book while walking and he couldn't hold a straight line. He would try to walk in the right line, but almost every time he would wander into the left lane just as I ran by forcing me into the bulkhead. There was another lady, one of those weird competitive walkers who seem to gyrate like they are having a seizure. (I have seizure disorder, so I'm allowed to poke fun at this group of disabled people) But this woman carried a pair of poles and she used them like ski poles and they stuck out at an angle taking up both lanes. I ran around her most times, but I would try and say "excuse me" in increasingly loud tones, but she couldn't hear me over her ipod. I considered stepping on one of them and snapping one, but on a cruise, I'm "Mr. Mellow, get along with everybody, I'm having a good time and you can't stop me" Can you tell I'm back in the real world now.

 

Since I'm talking about the track, I'll vary off slightly. I got through the whole week without seeing hardly any of the Dreamwork's characters. We had no kids and they had no interest for us. I'm glad they are there and help make the ship what it is, but we didn't seek them out so I can't tell you anything about them. I do know they had some kind of show in the aqua theater on Friday or Saturday. A possible secret is these characters dress in a room on deck 5 at the very back of the ship then they walk out that door, backwards against traffic on the track and then up a staircase to the stage. You could hang out in the chairs at the back of the ship and see the characters first. Some of the characters had escorts, others didn't. I had just finished my run and was sitting with my wife in the chairs at the back watching the characters come out and watching for a potential collision. They should either close the track, walk the other direction, or escort each character on the OUTSIDE of the track so you can see further around the corner and the people coming at you would be walking, not running directly at you.

 

Lunch that day was at the Park Cafe. I don't honestly remember what we ate, but it was good and the weather sitting out in Central park in comfortable chairs with a table to eat it was absolute heaven.

[BillOh]

Also on the first sea day was the meet and mingle. 97 people signed up for it. I think about 35 actually showed up for some horse doovers and lemonade. The Activities director talked about the sunshine class and that we probably knew more than he did. There was an IT guy there to ask questions if you were having problem with your wifi and about a dozen trinkets given away.

 

We also finally broke down and tried the cupcake cupboard. My wife had wandered by and seen the classes, but never bugged me to take one. We did buy a bananna cupcake twice, and a chocolate one later. We splurged, enjoyed it, something different.

 

I had booked Chicago for that evening. The show started at 7 and was supposed to end at 8:30 so I warned our waiter the night before we might be a couple of minutes late. This was a little more courteous than the family of 30 or so across the dining room that showed up anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes late every night. I felt sorry for those waiters. I'm not a big Broadway show kind of guy, but I enjoyed this 90 minute show. It was well executed, well sung and fun to watch and listen to. They very clearly say during these live shows not to use flash photography, which is for the safety of the performers as much as it is for the enjoyment of the audience, but it seems there are so many people with point and shoot cameras that don't have a clue how to turn off their flashes, yet they must shoot anyway. In the diving and Blue planet shows that really is dangerous to the performers, but they must learn to deal with it. With my crappy camera, I didn't get any photos from Chicago, but I did get several in Blue Planet. As I said the show was good, we knew the ship layout well by then so it was easy to get from the Amber theater to the dining room quickly and were only 5 minutes late for dinner.

 

Once again we enjoyed Oliver. Fortunately the table of kids never came back, so we had a nice quiet time in the back of the dining room. I had the NY strip, and it was just ok, but the service and dessert were good. Once again a hot tub soak at night and while we didn't do much, it was a very relaxing enjoyable day.

 

Day 4 ST THOMAS

 

On our very first cruise 5 years ago we were in St Thomas for our 25th anniversary and it was a fond memory. Sailing into port is very scenic so I got up and sat on the balcony as we sailed into port.

 

This alone is worth the cost of an ocean balcony. We booked a "Discover Scuba" excursion here in St Thomas, but it didn't meet until noon. I once again started my day with 10 laps around an almost empty track followed by a windjammer breakfast around 9am. It was still crowded in there. We got off the ship around 10:30 so my wife could shop in the port area. On Voyager we had docked at Havensite and Allure docks at the Crownbay dock. There is some shopping there, so it kept my wife entertained until we found a bench and waited for our excursion. There was an abundance of lizzards sunning themselves on the rocks at the pier. Here is one of them.

 

 

Back to scuba diving. This was the DISCOVER SCUBA course. You don't need any advanced training and you are given some quick lessons and then taken on an escorted dive. I've taken a similar course in a pool here at home and I took it a second time along with my wife so she could try it. I had hoped to get certified before this trip, but job cutbacks and my mom's death made me put that off. I left my camera on the boat, so no photographs here. The people of Underwater safaris met us at the pier right on time and they seemed very organized. After filling out the paperwork, we were given some instructions on the ride out to the dive area. I had heard if before so it was easy to understand. There were 8 beginners diving, so they took us out in 2 groups of 4 each. My wife and I were with another younger couple and the other lady couldn't swim at all. Why do you take scuba diving if you can't swim? As dumb as I think that is, its happen to them before. But it short changed us a bit. Still we were quickly fitted, suited up and in the water. That first time stepping off a boat with all that equipment on is pretty cool. I quickly demontrated the required skills, but had to hold on to a rope for 20 minutes while everyone else did the same before we finally decended about 40 feet. The instructor then led us on a tour around the bottom while towing the other lady by hand. That definitely limited what we could do, but it was still very exciting and fun. I could swim around and look around, but had to keep an eye on the instructor and stay wiht him while he towed that lady around. 20 minutes later, it was over. It was fun, worth the $80 or 90 bucks I think. Here I'll thow in one of the obligitory port arrival photos.

 

 

 

 

Sorry, I thought I reduced that more :)

We were back on the ship around 5. What little diving we did was exhausting. We made another trip to the Candy Beach and then sat out on our balcony and watched sail away. Now, I will mention again, I reserved all the shows online before the trip and that worked out well. We walked up to the entrance, saw a long line of people waiting. (apparently not everybody knew it was a good idea to reserve shows) But we could walk right in. That night after dinner we walked by the theater an hour before Love and Marriage and saw a huge line. I thought BS on that, I'm not standing in line that long for anything on a vacation, so we decided to skip the show. I did watch it later on TV, and I didn't miss much. Been there done that. I did find out from others here on CC that you could walk in right before the show and still get a seat, but I think as tired as I was from scuba diving that it was a good excuse to skip the show and head to the hot tub early.

[BillOh]

I'm taking a break for dinner, tomorrow is day 5 St Maarten, by far my favorite day. Here is a preview.

 

[CruiseSlacker]

Bill,

 

I enjoy reading your reviews. They sure make me want to return to the the Allure again. Did you do any flow boarding?

 

Thanks,

 

Tom

[BillOh]

Bill,

 

I enjoy reading your reviews. They sure make me want to return to the the Allure again. Did you do any flow boarding?

 

Thanks,

 

Tom

 

 

Yes, I did and my wife took 60 fast action photos with my new camera, so I have a few good ones. I always wait to the last sea day to ride the flowrider in case I get hurt :D

[BillOh]

Bill,

 

I enjoy reading your reviews. They sure make me want to return to the the Allure again. Did you do any flow boarding?

 

Thanks,

 

Tom

 

 

Yes, I did and my wife took 60 fast action photos with my new camera, so I have a few good ones. I always wait to the last sea day to ride the flowrider in case I get hurt :D

[BillOh]

A quick preview for Day 5 St Maarten. This is another area where cruise critic help us a lot. Besides here, I spent time in the St Maarten section of the forum. A lot of people just grab a cab and go to one of the beaches. Now after having been there once, I wouldn't hesitate doing the same, but for this trip I decided to book Bernard's tour based on many good recommendations here. You can arrange private tours, but we took the group one that drives around the island, goes to Orient Beach, and Maho beach, and some shopping.

 

We wanted to get off the ship early so I skipped my early morning run. (still tired from scuba) so we went to the Solarium Bistro, which may have healthy(ier) food, but its also quick and easy to get in and out. Once again, good food, but somebody needs to do some jail time over that turkey bacon. If you want to know what Turkey bacon is like, find any paper tablet, tear off the cardboard backing and chew on that.

[mommywholuvstocruise]

BillOh - Hate to ask this question before your review is completed but here goes....how formal were people dressed on formal nights on the Allure?

[AF-1]

BillOh - Hate to ask this question before your review is completed but here goes....how formal were people dressed on formal nights on the Allure?

Let me jump in here. In Jan on Allure we had men dressed in tux's, suits, jackets with no ties, shirt and tie, but no jacket. dress shirt, women were dressed in gowns, pant suits, and skirts. U can get a picture; there was a little of everything on both formal nights.

[debshomespun]

After being in St. Maarten for 4 or 5 times, we finally went to Maho beach this past Feb. from the Liberty. Thanks to all our CC friends that clue us in to all the great things to do. One of my favorite places to go now is Maho beach and watch the planes come and go. It was such a great day! I hope you have more pictures to post from your day there. :D

[Angel59920]

A quick preview for Day 5 St Maarten. This is another area where cruise critic help us a lot. Besides here, I spent time in the St Maarten section of the forum. A lot of people just grab a cab and go to one of the beaches. Now after having been there once, I wouldn't hesitate doing the same, but for this trip I decided to book Bernard's tour based on many good recommendations here. You can arrange private tours, but we took the group one that drives around the island, goes to Orient Beach, and Maho beach, and some shopping.

 

We wanted to get off the ship early so I skipped my early morning run. (still tired from scuba) so we went to the Solarium Bistro, which may have healthy(ier) food, but its also quick and easy to get in and out. Once again, good food, but somebody needs to do some jail time over that turkey bacon. If you want to know what Turkey bacon is like, find any paper tablet, tear off the cardboard backing and chew on that.

 

 

 

Bill, We really enjoyed our day with Bernard's too. Did you drink the Rum Punch?

[BillOh]

Bill, We really enjoyed our day with Bernard's too. Did you drink the Rum Punch?

 

Yes, which may have affected which way we went on Orient beach. :D

[Angel59920]

Bill, I don't know how you drank that stuff. It was so strong I don't think anybody on the bus drank it. It could have put hair on your chest.....lol

[BillOh]

Ok, sorry to keep you waiting, but its Thursday morning and we are in port at Phillipsburg. Here is the view out our balcony when we got up.

 

 

We did get off the ship and did the obligatory photos near the ship and a couple of our own while we shopped the area around the port. Just before 9am. the people from Bernards showed up and got organized. We were off around 9:20. Our driver introduced himself to us as "junior" Several people in this forum had said they had a good time with Junior. Assuming all, or maybe he is all of the drivers, aren't named Junior. :D Anyway, he was personable, and off we went with him giving us lots of local flavor and pointing out things. Our first stop was a semi secluded cove with a look out spot that was very scenic and you could see nearby islands. It was very pretty and the weather was perfect.

 

 

 

There was a couple of locals there so you some of the local reef life, like this creature.

 

 

We saw a few other things, and looking back, these guys might set up every morning and bring stuff from their aquarium, but I was enjoying myself and the view. After 20 minutes we were back on the road and junior broke out the rum punch, beer and assorted beverages. The punch was a little strong, but that was so you would have the courage to celebrate your birthday, as Junior calls it at Orient Beach, our next stop.

 

I'm trying to add some photos I haven't seen here in this forum, because at this point, my camera isn't up to snuff with what many of you have and I'm trying for originality. Well, here is a picture you have all seen many times, and proof we saw it too.

 

 

I have heard on this forum that there is a guy who stands just inside the nude section acting as the offiicial greeter on the nude side. He, or one of his colleagues was there that day. How do you get this job and how much does it pay? I think we were given about 2 1/2 hours here at Orient Beach. Which side did we go to? Well, what happens at Orient Beach stays at orient beach, or can't be posted here anyway. I was amused to see the so stereo typical group of 4 or 5 white 20 something males throwing a football on the beach, seemingly missing it and chasing it further and further into the nude side. As many have said, its $15 for two chairs and two drinks. Around 1:30 I think it was we went back to the van/bus and and headed out again. We didn't see anyone else from our excursion on the beach. ;)

[BillOh]

We next took a stop at an open air flea market that is reminicent of many caribbean straw markets, while junior ran an errand for the boss. He did pick us up and around 2pm we headed for Maho beach, the part of the trip I have been looking forward to for months. Have I posted any pics yet with yours truly? Here is another obligatory picture you have seen 100 times, but you haven't seen one with me in it.

 

I've always been an aviation buff and for a long time considered an aviation career, but my lazy eye and lack of depth perception killed that. Still I use to ask my parents to take me to Erie International Airport and watch the planes take off and land. This is like the holy grail of that persuit. I was about to cross the 2nd thing off my bucket list that day.

 

I had already taked my wife into letting me buy a new camera at the end of this day, but I was hoping to get some good photos here and I wasn't worried about hurting the old junker. However, I was more interested in experiencing this than getting photos or I would have thought this out more before hand.

 

Shortly after this photo a larger American Airlines, not sure, but I think it was a 2 engine Airbus, I think it was not a 757 or 767, but you tell me, I use to know all the airlines and what they flew, but that was when I traveled a lot.

 

Shortly after this we did witness from the side a Carib Airbus take off and blow people off the beach and into the water. I was going to try it next time, but there would be no next time, that was the only take off during our 70 minute stay at Maho

 

[debshomespun]

Maho beach is one of the best in the Caribbean. Not for the scenery of the beach, but for the activities watching the planes come and go. It is amazing, you are so up close and personal with the planes. This is definitely one of the most "unique" beaches in the Caribbean. Definitely worth the trip to this beach to watch the planes!

[BillOh]

Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked at Maho. Junior picked us up and after another interesting drive back to the port area, he dropped us off in the shopping area. We figured out where the port was from there, and it is an easy walk if you don't want to take the water taxi. We hit several stores, but I was interested in getting a new camera. I was looking at a couple of Nikons and the Cannon Rebel T31. I finally ended up finding the Cannon with a 18-135mm lens for $1000 and of course, no tax at a store on the main drag. For some reason, this is the only thing I remember about an hours walk on the entire street. We found the water taxi, but there was a long line and you can see the ship in plain site less than 1/2 mile away and there is a nice sidewalk and its a safe walk back, so that is what we did. With Orient and Maho, this was one of my favorite ports ever. And the photos from here out are going to get better!

 

Once back on board, we made another stop at Candy Beach. After a year of my wife and I avoiding sugar, we found ourselves here a couple of times. I think we only had 3 drinks the entire week, so the candy was our splurge. (And the cupcakes) While cleaning up for dinner, I of course got my new camera out and started to investigate it. Fortunately, I was able to plug the battery charger in at the desk and get the camera charging. I thought about moving my SD card from my old camera into this new camera, but its only 2GB and I figured I would fill it up fast as I already had 4 days of photos on it. I had a spare with me, buit was a 512mb card :D. I've had bad luck moving SD cards from one camera to another, so I decided to buy an overpriced 4gb card at the photo store on the ship. Good thing we were starting with $500OBC!!

 

Of course the first photo was of my favorite subject as seen below.

 

We had no entertainment scheduled for the rest of the night, with the exception of Quest so we walked around the ship taking pictures. I'll try to post a few of the good ones, especially ones you may not have seen yet. At Dinner, Oliver spotted the new camera and wanted to play with it, resulting in the picture below. Oliver was definitely one of the most personable waiters we have ever had and our favorite. You can tell the waiters are trained in techniques to make the passengers enjoy themselves, but it felt really genuine with Oliver, he really did seem to enjoy his job and liked making new friends each week.

 

By the way, we were at table 682 ;) I don't remember what we had that night as the MDR food continued to pretty much be the same old good enough food. I did have the sugar free key lime pie to balance the trips to the Candy Beach.

 

After dinner we did take a stroll through Central park. It was a cool night with a gentle breeze and the place was almost empty. Even the fake cricket sounds were pleasant, or maybe its just my mellow have a good time attitude I get on cruises that is so unlike the land me. I even enjoyed a walk into the Brito (I think that was the name) art gallery. It was colorful and nice to look at. Below is one of those pieces that is out in central park. If it wasn't so expensive and we already had luggage, I might have bought two pieces for cruising, it would be the easiest luggage to spot at baggage claim.

 

 

For more of the first photos with my new camera, I'll refer you to my MEET THE ALLURE CHAIR HOGS thread I did my first day back ;) That is also a preview of day 6. Gina and I were killing time before Quest, but we finally crashed and finished our day on another hot tub quest. Tonight I figured out how to turn the jets on and we spent a quiet 1/2 hour in the solarium. I heard quest was good, but we opted for relaxation over the fun for the night.

[BillOh]

Maho beach is one of the best in the Caribbean. Not for the scenery of the beach, but for the activities watching the planes come and go. It is amazing, you are so up close and personal with the planes. This is definitely one of the most "unique" beaches in the Caribbean. Definitely worth the trip to this beach to watch the planes!

 

 

The beach itself itsn't bad, nice clean and plentiful sand. I didn't have time to get in the water, but I would think the planes scare the sea life away.

[Angel59920]

Bill, that picture of u and gina is great. We didn't get into the water at that beach either we had more fun watching the planes..we liked standing there while that were taking off too.

[BillOh]

Sorry for the delays if anyone is still reading. We are up to day 6, the first of two sea days at the end of the cruise. This was the day I took the pics that are shown in the MEET THE ALLURE CHAIRHOGS thread. Overall the chair hog situation wasn't that bad, I had fun with that thread as I know many of you did reading it. It was only a problem if you wanted a prime spot right by the pool. It was fun to watch the people and the deck patrol. Enought of that.

 

Once again, I started my day with 10 laps on the track. Today it was a bit cooler than other days, with only a slight breeze in one direction on the track. One of the things I pondered while running was if the designers of this ship did windtunnel testing of the design. I'm guessing they did.

 

Next was breakfast at the Park Cafe and it was great. It was a wonderful day to sit in central park and eat in comfortable chairs. After catching sun some I set off to get a few more pictures with my new toy. I tried to find things that other people have posted pictures of yet. One of those was the Harpoon gun that Allure has mounted so it can serve as a whaling vessel when they are chartered out to the Japanese. I haven't seen pictures, or even hear it discussed here! :eek:

 

 

Ok, I was kidding, I am assuming that this is some sort of crane installed during construction that helped raise and lower equipment down into the canyons formed by Central Park and the Board walk. Maybe its still used to load in stuff? I don't know. Any comments? Am I the only person to wonder?

 

Keeping with the things others haven't posted yet, there is a lot of artwork on Allure, and some of it is pretty subtle and not easily found/noticed. Below is one I that caught my eye, and I guess its appropriately placed in Central Park.

 

 

Back to the chair hog thing, I found this picture which is taken at 11am on the Thursday so as you can see, chairs can be found.

 

 

The next event that interested me was "The Captain's corner" It was held in the Aqua Theater, but I have to imagine they move it to the Amber Theater if the weather is bad. However, it would be hard to ask for a better day weatherwise. At this event, Ken Rush the Cruise Director, Captain Zini, somebody from Guest Services, and somebody from the Engineering crew sit on stage and take questions from the audience. This was interesting and the ratio of good questions to stupid ones was about 50/50 ;) It was shown later on the ships TV.

[BillOh]

Dinner on day 6 for us was to be Samba Grill. This was a last minute addition for us. Reviews in early December were not that good, but I noticed a steady improvement in those reviews posted here. I made the reasonable assumption that they were getting the bugs ironed out. Many of you have tried this type of restaraunt on land before. We had not. You may remember in the beginning of this review I mentioned my wife and I are both sucessful weight loss surgery patients. Neither of us can eat that much, so on land, this would be a big waste of money for us (assumption) But with our OBC I figured the $25 each (I think that is what it was) would be a good experience at least. I didn't reduce the size of the menu photo below, as much as other photos, to make it easier to read. I hope it doesn't blow up your browser.

 

 

We started out the evening with a small salad and some bread balls that had some cheese inside, but I didn't eat much knowing I had to save room for the meat. The bacon wrapped chicken was the first thing to come out and it was excellent. It was the moistest white meat chicken I can remember eating. A couple of different cuts of tenderloin came out and I'd have to say OK, but nothing special. I was pleasantly suprised by the pork sausage. I expected something like what you would get at breakfast, but it was a much more densely packed pork and quite flavorable. Next came the Filet and they gave us each what I would guess was a 2 oz portion. (We could have had more) This did us in, we were stuffed. I don't even think we had dessert. We did sit, digest, and watch the entertainment.

 

We ended a very relaxing day by watching the Yogi Bear movie on the screens in the aqua theater. Burnt popcorn was available along with bar service. It was a pleasant night to sit outside, though I did find two screens confusing to a small extent :o

[Vanilla]

Loving you post and your pictures. Thank you to your and your wife for sharing.

I guess to use the chairs you really have to 'Love thy neighbor' - the chairs are REALLY CLOSE together.

I laugh at the pic of this man... he knows you are taking his picture - wonder if he is a member of cruise critic and sees himself as the star this week?