ALLURE EASTERN REVIEW 9/30/12 w/pix (Family Perspective)

[noshoobie]

We had breakfast this morning in the Solarium Bistro. That ended up being my favorite breakfast place. It is roomier then the Windjammer with a nice selection of items minus pancakes and french toast. Plus it had a lot of windows with a nice view and was less crowded. We got off the ship around 10ish. We walked around the straw market and shops along the main drag.

 

 

After I took that picture, DH and DS decided to go back to the ship because they didn't feel like walking around anymore. The D's and I decided to continue shopping. We went back to the straw market and meandered around. It's a good place to haggle if that's your thing. My daughter bought a $25 bracelet for $10. What a deal!! She later saw the same bracelet in a different store for $8. LOL.

 

Before heading back to the ship we decided to stop at Senor Frogs to get a few munchies. Just as we got to the door, it started to pour. It was really packed in there but we only waited a few minutes for a table. As soon as we sat down DD2 made sure to point out this sign to me.

 

 

Time to get the party started . . . . . . . . .

[noshoobie]

Senor Frogs was a blast. Total fun and a total party atmosphere. The emcee was hilarious and the bartenders made you feel like you knew them forever. Did I let DD2 have a drink? Ok, maybe one. No flamers please.

 

 

Oh yea, and I forgot about the conga line. The reward for that was a free shot at the end - no glass - just a shot from the bottle right in your mouth. We were getting ready to leave but noticed it was really pouring outside. We took a seat at the bar and we HAD to order something, right?That's where The Yard glass came into play. I am not a big drinker but I just had to have another mango margarita - I think this was my third. DD1 got roped into playing a game by the emcee. Here she is racing around the bar with a balloon between her knees pouring beer into a shot glass.

 

 

Of all the accomplishments in her life, I would say that this was my proudest moment :rolleyes:

 

 

There she is . . . . . the winner - on top of the bar with the emcee! And her prize?? A Bahama Mama in The Yard. She ended up giving it to a woman sitting behind us . . . . she was VERY happy. The rain had finally let up so we went back to the ship with our souvenir Yard and the coconut. Unfortunately, they would not let us on the ship with the coconut so we had to ditch it.

[noshoobie]

We got back on the ship around 2pm and I intended to watch the sail-away but I fell asleep (too much alcohol perhaps?). I woke up at 4:15, went on the balcony, and wondered why land was so close. We didn't end up leaving until 4 because of a medical emergency or so we assumed because of the ambulance that pulled up as we were boarding. We decided to go to the Ice Games Show at 5pm (which you don't need reservations for). It was pretty good. We all enjoyed it.

 

Tonight was formal night. There were photo ops all over the promenade including with Capt Johnny. We got to the MDR around 9 and waited 20 minutes for a table. We were seated tonight with Lucille from the Phillippines. She was great but we didn't particularly care for the section we were in. It was too crammed. I had made reservations for the 10:30 Chicago show for me and the DD's. I knew DH and DS wouldn't be interested at all. It was very good and we all enjoyed it. When we got back to the cabin, DH and DS were sleeping like babies.

 

Next up . . . . . Day 3.

[swwake]

I'm here and enjoying! Your DH must have been on the flowrider at one of the few times we weren't. :( We didn't go back after muster that day, because we had dinner at 7:30 and had to get ready.

[mchin]

Great review. Thanks for sharing. Look forward to more.... :D

[letscruiseasap]

Thank you for sharing your great review! Subscribing now...:)

[Princessdimd]

Day 2:

 

 

And then this one (Disney Dream):

 

 

I must say I was very impressed with the Disney Dream. It really is a beautiful ship. I took a closeup shot of the (movie screen??) because you could hear Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck's voices coming from it. It was hilarious. Even with our balcony door shut, you could hear it. I imagine it would get highly annoying after awhile. The water slide on the ship looks incredible. The heck with Mickey Mouse - you would never be able to get me off of that!

 

 

I just want to say I am truly loving your review! It really is refreshing. We' ve sailed the Disney Dream three times, and it is indeed a beautiful ship. As for the movies on the screen......you just sort of get used to it, the audio almost becomes white noise.

[partridge4ever]

I'm enjoying your review! You said you arrived at dinner at 9 and had reservations for the 10:30 show. Did you feel rushed or worry that you'd be late? Dinner on our past cruises (not RCCL) have been up to 2 hours.

[noshoobie]

I'm enjoying your review! You said you arrived at dinner at 9 and had reservations for the 10:30 show. Did you feel rushed or worry that you'd be late? Dinner on our past cruises (not RCCL) have been up to 2 hours.

 

Good question because I was a little worried about that. We let the waiter know that we had the reservations. We didn't feel rushed but I think they picked up the speed a little bit. DD's and I skipped dessert which I really didn't want to but also didn't want to get there too late. We arrived at the Amber theater at 10:20 and (naturally) it was pretty crowded. We found 3 seats but my view of the stage was partially blocked by a pole. In retrospect, I would have given ourselves more time for dinner and arrived at the show at LEAST 20 minutes ahead of time.

[noshoobie]

Day 2:

 

 

And then this one (Disney Dream):

 

 

I must say I was very impressed with the Disney Dream. It really is a beautiful ship. I took a closeup shot of the (movie screen??) because you could hear Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck's voices coming from it. It was hilarious. Even with our balcony door shut, you could hear it. I imagine it would get highly annoying after awhile. The water slide on the ship looks incredible. The heck with Mickey Mouse - you would never be able to get me off of that!

 

 

I just want to say I am truly loving your review! It really is refreshing. We' ve sailed the Disney Dream three times, and it is indeed a beautiful ship. As for the movies on the screen......you just sort of get used to it, the audio almost becomes white noise.

 

Thank you very much :). It's good to know that you get used to it. LOL.

I'd love to go on it one day!

[Carguylee]

thanks for the review, can't wait for more

[noshoobie]

DAY 3 - Sea Day

 

This morning, me, DH and DS went to the Solarium for breakfast again. DD1 went to the gym and DD2 decided to sleep in. We were at the beach pool by 10:15 and the DD's came up around 11:30. They had gone to Park Cafe for breakfast. At 12:30 we strolled to the main pool (across the deck from the beach pool) and watched the pool games. They picked two teams - men on one side and women on the other and did a variety of funny activities.

 

We decided on the Park Cafe for lunch for those tasty roast beef sandwiches. The line for salads was very long so I decided to just go for the roast beef. Yes, I would say they lived up to all the hype. There were not any tables inside so we decided to dine al fresco.

 

 

 

After lunch, we went to the Flowrider to watch DH take another ride or two. None of us wanted to do the stand-up, so we just watched. We saw some really good riders and we saw some funny wipeouts.

 

At 3:30 me, DH, and DD1 went to the Amber Theater to test our luck at Bingo. Boy, was that an expensive loss! The card packages were either $55 and $35 (or something in that area). All I know is that it cost us $90 to play Bingo and there was a ton of people there (so what were the chances of winning??). We would definitely skip bingo for the rest of the cruise. I left a little early because I wanted to go to our roll-call Meet and Mingle scheduled for 4:30 in the Comedy Club.

 

I arrived a little late. They gave raffle tickets and a little door prize when you entered. They had cheese/crackers/fruit to pick on. The activities director spoke a bit and they raffled off some prizes. The biggest prize went to one of the two roll-call coordinators, Al (Alseau). I was glad to see him win that. Al and Harold (Eng23) then got up and spoke. They were coordinating a slot pull and cabin crawl but I had to leave so I didn't stay until the end. I am glad I went. It's very nice to put faces to the names that you have been posting with for months.

[out2sea]

I was on your sailing as well .... Enjoying your review!

[partridge4ever]

Good question because I was a little worried about that. We let the waiter know that we had the reservations. We didn't feel rushed but I think they picked up the speed a little bit. DD's and I skipped dessert which I really didn't want to but also didn't want to get there too late. We arrived at the Amber theater at 10:20 and (naturally) it was pretty crowded. We found 3 seats but my view of the stage was partially blocked by a pole. In retrospect, I would have given ourselves more time for dinner and arrived at the show at LEAST 20 minutes ahead of time.

 

Thanks! I'd actually rather that the meal was paced a little faster. Sometimes it seemed that eating took up most of our evening. BUT I definitely don't want to have to skip dessert. :)

[noshoobie]

I realized last night that all of my pix are downloaded on my computer at work and I left my journal there. I'm off today and tomorrow due to Sandy. I'll try to start posting again on Wednesday unless Sandy prevents me from going to work again.

[swwake]

I realized last night that all of my pix are downloaded on my computer at work and I left my journal there. I'm off today and tomorrow due to Sandy. I'll try to start posting again on Wednesday unless Sandy prevents me from going to work again.

Stay safe up there!

[noshoobie]

Thanks. All safe and sound here. We only lost power for 15 hours and we were lucky. Our neighbors on the barrier islands didn't fare too well though. One of my co-workers is not allowed to leave her house or the island. She has power and plenty of food and water. Thank goodness for that!

[noshoobie]

Moving along with day 3 . . . . .

 

Tonight the MDR was really empty compared to last night's formal night. We requested Juanna and we were seated immediately. I think we got there around 8pm. We had no show reservations tonight so were just going to "wing it" after dinner. The kids were tired after dinner and wanted to go back to the room so me and DH decided to go and try to find some music. We went to Dazzles. A band was setting up so we took a seat at the bar, ordered a drink and waited. It ended up being big band music. It was fine at first but after 3 songs it started to get a little too Lawrence Welk"ish" for us so we left. As we walked along the Promenade we heard music coming from the Schooner Bar so we went in to take a look. It was Matt Yee and his adult sing-a-long. Thank goodness we stumbled upon this. He was very,very funny. The Love and Marriage Show was tonight and I thought we would pop in but it was just too difficult to leave Matt Yee. His entertainment was a combination of singing, comedy, and poking fun at people. For those of you familiar with Matt Yee, all I have to say is Oy! Oy Oy! Oy Oy Oy! He had a Divas Live Show the following night but we just couldn't make it. As for the Love and Marriage Show, they showed it on the stateroom television several times - so we were able to see it. That was very funny too - and Alan Brooks does a wonderful job as emcee.

[noshoobie]

Day 4 - St Thomas/St John - THE BEST DAY EVER

 

Today we were up early for a 9am arrival but on the Babbling Brooks tv segment, Alan Brooks announced that we wouldn't be arriving until 10am due to the lost hour leaving Nassau. DARN! Our plan was to take the 10am ferry to St John - now we would have to wait until 11 - cutting our time short in St John. It all worked out fine though. I thought it would be nice to order room service for breakfast and eat on the balcony. It was a nice experience but I decided not to do it again. The food was cold and other then the fruit plate (how can you screw fruit up, right?) I wasn't too impressed.

She would be horrified if she knew I posted this picture of her with her glasses on and no makeup.

[jonath]

The food was cold and other then the fruit plate (how can you screw fruit up, right?) I wasn't too impressed.

 

Exact same problem we had with room service. Complained and no response.

[noshoobie]

After we exited the ship, we followed the crowd and found the taxi stand. It was very chaotic and there seemed to be only one man who was "in charge". It could have been worse as we were the only ship in port that day, and I'm sure it would have been total insanity if there were more ships docked. Silly me - I thought it would be a New York City style cab. This is what it looked like:

We loaded in along with a very nice couple from Scotland that we ended up seeing several more times during the cruise. They were dropped off before us at a different place. It took about 35 minutes from the dock to Red Hook. The ride was adventurous - a little bumpy, a little fast, twists, turns, and hills. Since we were not staying on St Thomas, I thought getting to St John from Red Hook (as opposed to Charlotte Amalie) would be a good way to see some of the island. How do I put this nicely?? It wasn't exactly the "scenic" part of the island. But I'm glad we experienced it anyway.

 

We arrived at Red Hook in plenty of time to catch the 11am ferry. The ride was only 15-20 minutes. We hit a little bit of rain but could see the sun shining brilliantly over St John. Once in Cruz Bay, we took a cab to Trunk Bay. We stopped at a few scenic outlooks on the way. This is Trunk Bay from above. Does this look like a postcard or what?

 

Because Trunk Bay is a national park they charge $4pp to get in. The snorkel gear rental is $5pp. I can't say enough about this beautiful place. The water was crystal clear, the beach was small but beautiful, and all surrounded by lush trees. If you are heading to St Thomas and are not sure what to do . . . . consider making this trip . . . .you will not regret it!

[noshoobie]

Here are some pictures of our adventure in St John:

 

 

Trunk Bay has a marked snorkel trail. You can just follow these signs and it gives you interesting information about the sea life.

 

 

 

[noshoobie]

.....and some more:

 

Is that water incredible or what?? BVI Jost Van Dyke in the background.

 

 

 

Those pictures describe why this was the best day ever for me. I will definitely be back there some day. If you go to St John everyone recommends that you take the ferry back at least 3 hours before departure time - so that's what we did. We got back to Cruz Bay at 2:30 and had a little time to walk around the shops close to the dock.

 

I would normally never post such an unflattering picture of myself, but this was seriously how I felt leaving St John:

[LROB2433]

Really enjoying your review and I am counting the days until I am on the Allure (44 to be exact) :)

[noshoobie]

When we got back to the pier we hung outside for a bit looking at the iguanas sunning themselves on the rocks.

They blend in with the rocks so well that sometimes you think you're looking at one and then you see others move. I've heard that they are attracted to red (a good idea not to wear red nail polish on your toenails). A local bartender confirmed this for us. When we were talking to him, he threw a small cup of maraschino cherries on the ground and a few came over and gobbled them up. He also told us of an interesting fact that we didn't know. Even though the USVI are owned by the US and the locals have to follow federal laws - they are not allowed to vote in the Presidential election. Interesting, huh?

 

It's very hard to take a picture of the Allure in one shot because of it's size. It's such a beautiful ship that you just want to keep staring at it when you're off of it. It truly is a modern marvel.

 

You know when you get off the ship and you try to figure out which cabin is yours by counting? DH had an idea for another great use for those bright green t's.

It was much more visible in person. :o