Is it Live or is it Memorex?- Allure of the Seas Review September 18-25 with Pics!

[NeuroQueen]

The adorable picture of Sarah crashed on the couch in complete exhaustion with her blanky is EXACTLY how we felt after our cruise on Oasis. We tried to do it all and we are way too old for such behavior!
I totally agree With you regarding Chops. We had a so so dinner in there as well. Our service was lousy at best and the steaks were like shoe leather. Our dinner in Giovannis, however, was just like yours, exceptional. I was so disappointed in Chops as I had looked so forward to it. The next night back in the MDR the head waiter came over and asked where we were the nite before and we told him Chops. He asked how it was and my friend gave him the scoop. He immediately had our sea passes refunded. I was mortified but it shows what great customer service RCI provides. Hate to see your review coming to an end. I have thoroughly enjoyed it. The kids are precious and it's obvious you all are cruisers at heart!

[Raybettn]

Thanks so much for your wonderful narrative. We're sailing on the Allure in October 2012 BTB, so hoping to do everything twice! And I know we'll be referring back to your blog. You and your family are troopers!

Thanks again!!

[CamaCama]

Looking forward to more!!!

[nenner1]

Thanks everyone for your patience! I will be back with more tomorrow, working on the next part now!! :D

[1stTimeCruiser2008]

Awesome review!!! I'm hooked on your Disboards review too. Great job...can't wait to hear more:D

[Animal Rescue]

[quote name='nenner1']More general pics of Turtle Cove:

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They let you snorkel for quite a long time. Well over an hour I’m sure. This was just a terrific excursion for the money! We loved it!

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When it was time to head back, Mermaid Dawn mixed up a batch of their Painkiller punch. According to their site the juice mixture is 4 parts pineapple juice, 1 part orange juice, and 1 part Coco Lopez (coconut milk). She mixed all of that very imprecisely with generous pours of this very interesting Brazilian Rum:

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Boat Drinks, waitress we need two more boat drinks….

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Sounds like you and the family had a great day here. Could you tell me approximately how deep the water is there? Our DD doesn't like deep water to snorkel in, and if I'm understanding correctly, you can go more towards a beach area where the water is more shallow? Also, were there only a handful of turtles or were there many? She would love to see the turtles, but we would hope that we'd see quite a number of them instead of just a few.

[Animal Rescue]

[quote name='livingis2me']Loved Capt. Alan's. Definitely want to do that again on next year's cruise!:D

Ron[/quote]


I have a few more questions for you. Could you provide more details of Capt. Alan's excursion? How did you book it originally? What mode of transportation did you use for getting to his location (and then back to the pier) and how much per person did it cost? What were the times for arrival and departure for this excursion? After checking out his website, there aren't any prices for snorkeling trips unless there's a minimum number of people. Do you remember an approximate price per person for the tour? Again, could you give me an estimation on water depth at each snorkeling spot?

Thanks for the info. Great review, by the way.

[livingis2me]

[quote name='Animal Rescue']I have a few more questions for you. Could you provide more details of Capt. Alan's excursion? How did you book it originally? What mode of transportation did you use for getting to his location (and then back to the pier) and how much per person did it cost? What were the times for arrival and departure for this excursion? After checking out his website, there aren't any prices for snorkeling trips unless there's a minimum number of people. Do you remember an approximate price per person for the tour? Again, could you give me an estimation on water depth at each snorkeling spot?

Thanks for the info. Great review, by the way.[/quote]

We booked Captain Alan's through his website captainalan dot com. The prices are listed in the ask and book section. $69 per person and $39 for under 12. I think it was free for Sarah (3 y/o). The transportation was arranged through Captains Alan's and it was $12 per person round trip. We had to pay a $14 per person deposit via paypal and the balance in cash at his dock. Very reasonable in my opinion.:cool: The pick up time was a half hour prior (8:15am) to the excursion time usually 8:45 am local time. But they will usually adjust to the arrival time of the ships in port. Sometimes they also do a trip at 9:45 am or 1 pm local time if they need to do a second trip because they are full on the first trip. They have a calendar with excursion start times listed on their website.

Depth of snorkeling stops on Capt. Alan's was about 6-10' around Creole Rock and the other snorkeling spot was 8-12'. There was no where to stand on the bottom and the shallower ares had coral that you could not stand on. He will provide a noodle to hold you up if you'd like. Hope this helps.:)

Ron

[livingis2me]

[quote name='Animal Rescue']Sounds like you and the family had a great day here. Could you tell me approximately how deep the water is there? Our DD doesn't like deep water to snorkel in, and if I'm understanding correctly, you can go more towards a beach area where the water is more shallow? Also, were there only a handful of turtles or were there many? She would love to see the turtles, but we would hope that we'd see quite a number of them instead of just a few.[/quote]

The area where they anchor is a sandy/grassy bottom about 10-15' deep and that's where the turtles are. I saw about six turtles. I never saw any of them together, only one at a time. Every 20 yards or so I'd spot one. The crew will help you spot them. The turtles were really cool!:cool: They hang out on the bottom and eat grass. From time to time they surface for air. You can actually hear them gasp as they inhale.

The area close to the island was not a beach area it was a mostly coral reef. That area is somewhat shallow, maybe 4'-6'. But it is all coral so you can't stand on the bottom. They provide snorkel vests on this excursion.

Ron

[nenner1]

[B][U]Friday September 23- At Sea[/U][/B]

Somebody stop time right now! It’s

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We were up bright and early with no immediate plans this Friday morning. The sun was shining and we were ready to relax! First though, breakfast in the Windjammer. We had great plans to try out all of the great breakfast options on Allure: Johnny Rockets, Park Café, Solarium Bistro…but with kids, let’s face it the best option is still the Windjammer. It was not very busy either, as you can see in the photos. Tables were plentiful and access to the buffet stations was wide open.

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Ron was in a hurry to get to the advanced stand up surfing session. Prior to the cruise we weren’t really sure what would qualify someone for “advanced” surfing but we have come to conclude that if you can get yourself on the board and maneuver out into the wave without help then you qualify as advanced. Meanwhile I got the girls off to the clubs, where they were very excited to meet up with their friends. Ron and I were excited to enjoy a little adult R&R.

Some photos of the ship I took on the way to meet up with Ron.

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[nenner1]

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It was a gorgeous day..where the heck was everyone?


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[nenner1]

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Found Brendan, over on the Boogie Board Flowrider:

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More empty deck space!

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And I found Ron over at the Stand-up Flowrider. Advanced Session was over but most of the participants were still going. Lines are not bad this early in the morning:

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[nenner1]

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I decided to give it a try. Why the heck not, right?

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Yeah, it’s harder than it looks!!!

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We bought Brendan an arcade card-that’s what he wanted in lieu of the cupcake decorating class the girls took earlier in the week. We sent him off to have fun and headed off to the Solarium! Yay!

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On the way, we ran into these:

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[nenner1]

Even the Solarium seems relatively empty, except for the pool:

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Gorgeous surroundings! A little warm, but a lovely, tranquil place to finally relax a bit!

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After chilling in the Solarium for a while, we decided to head out to one of the main pools to be able to swim a bit. The Solarium pool was a bit too crowded for any actual swimming.

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[tampadee]

How early were you up for breakfast? I keep hearing how crowded the Windjammer is.

[nenner1]

And, of course, there were these.

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Pineapple chair hogs. Whattya gonna do, right?

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As morning turned to afternoon, we dried off and dressed, collected the kids from their clubs and headed down to Studio B for the How To Train Your Dragon ice show. Arrive extra early for this one, folks. Even though we arrived almost as early as Ice Games, the seats were quite full. There are no reservations for this show.

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The stage setup:

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I didn’t get many pictures because my new camera doesn’t do dark and movement with no flash very well. But here is a little taste of the show:

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[nenner1]

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It follows the movie plot exactly, so if you’ve seen the movie you know what to expect. It was pretty good though. I loved the part when this guy popped out, totally was not expecting that!

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After the show, Ken Rush invited us to walk through the Casino and head straight to the Boardwalk for the Belly Flop contest. We took him up on his offer:

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We tried to get hot dogs from the Boardwalk Dog House to take to the show, but be aware you are not allowed to bring food into the Aquatheater, and if they see you with it, they will stop you. I did not know this and they did not see my hotdogs so I got through but Ron was surprised when they stopped him and made him eat his hot dog prior to entering the seating area. FYI.

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[nenner1]

Of course my kids will be in the splash zone! Sarah was pretty cranky and had a mini meltdown waiting for the action to start.

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[nenner1]

The LCD screen “jumbo-trons” show cute info on it about the contestants:

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I really wanted to try out the hurt box!

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[nenner1]

The belly flop contest was a lot of fun. Not sure if I prefer it in the Aquatheater vs poolside. Seating is more comfortable but it loses something- intimacy maybe?

I do love the walk of fame: (Video- click picture to play)

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And the best part was when the guys threw Ken Rush in the pool. LOL. Do they do that every time? He seemed genuinely surprised!

(Video- click picture to play)

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Coming up: Cupcake Cupboard, Ice skating session, Blue Planet and Formal night fast track dinner!

[livingis2me]

[quote name='tampadee']How early were you up for breakfast? I keep hearing how crowded the Windjammer is.[/QUOTE]
It was about 8:15am. Windjammer never really seemed all that busy except on embarkation and debarkation days. The restaurant crowd meters that they show on the flat screen information stations lie.;) The meter always had Windjammer in the red and most of the time it should be in the yellow. Park Cafe was always slammed except very early in the morning. That one should always be red on the meter. At least on or cruise...

Ron

[Mama2Tay]

Jen,

You mentioned buying Brendan an arcade card. Is it different on the Allure because on the other ships we just added money to the kids seapass card for the arcade.

Thank you!
Laurie

[Babyberger]

[quote name='nenner1']And, of course, there were these.





Pineapple chair hogs. Whattya gonna do, right?

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As morning turned to afternoon, we dried off and dressed, collected the kids from their clubs and headed down to Studio B for the How To Train Your Dragon ice show. Arrive extra early for this one, folks. Even though we arrived almost as early as Ice Games, the seats were quite full. There are no reservations for this show.


[/quote]

LOVE the pineapple chair hogs!!! No one better mess with those pineapples :D

Thanks for the heads up about the How To Train Your Dragon ice show. When I realized there were no tickets for this show I immediately started to worry if we would have a hard time seeing it. I will make sure we get there nice and early!

Thanks once again for sharing you vacation with us! It really amps up the excitement level!!!

[livingis2me]

[quote name='Mama2Tay']Jen,

You mentioned buying Brendan an arcade card. Is it different on the Allure because on the other ships we just added money to the kids seapass card for the arcade.

Thank you!
Laurie[/quote]

Actually it was on the sea pass card. I handled that for Brendan while Jen was busy taking photos of the arcade. I think she got confused with all our disney trips where they use a play card in the arcades.:o

Ron

[yj2cute]

I can't believe how empty those decks are. What time was that? No chair hogs? Unbelievable.