Allure Halloween Cruise Photo Report Oct 28th 2012

[Hacky202]

 

I'd seen most of the work already on the Navigator in June and Lowry was only interested in looking at the art, not buying it. Here's Michael Godard.

 

 

Firstly- Great review, Secondly thank you so much for answering a question I have been searching everywhere for. My partner and I love Godard's work and Have bought 4 so far off each of our Princess cruises. This will be our first time on RCL coming up and I thought we would need to find a new Souvenir, but now we can add to the collection.

 

Loving the Review.

[Sinppu]

Firstly- Great review, Secondly thank you so much for answering a question I have been searching everywhere for. My partner and I love Godard's work and Have bought 4 so far off each of our Princess cruises. This will be our first time on RCL coming up and I thought we would need to find a new Souvenir, but now we can add to the collection.

 

Loving the Review.

 

I'm so glad I could help (even if you didn't ask ;))

 

Thank you very much for all the other compliments and nice things you have said. Makes a modest girl like me blush :D

 

More coming soon!! (ie when my boss isn't watching what I'm doing on my computer...)

Edited November 7, 2012 by Sinppu

[Sinppu]

Sinppu, I LOVE your sense of humor!!! This is an amazing review!!!!

 

Would love to cruise with you one of these days!

 

Barb

 

No doubt we might someday... I've got 14 different cruises on my bucket list at the moment... Might take a few years to go through them all -and then we can start from the beginning!! :cool:

 

Really enjoying your highly entertaining review!!! Your wit and your pictures have me riveted to this thread! I am so looking forward to our b2b on the Allure in January, especially after reading this...... Please keep up the good work!!!!

 

Thank you. More is coming :eek:

[Sinppu]

My thoughts exactly about the OSU fan, glad you said it first.

 

:eek:

I'm so sorry. I'll use my nationality as my defense. We just play ice hockey. And ski. Not many teams in the latter sport, anyway. Sorry :o

 

OMG We are sooo alike. I want to try it all and yes, I have mapped out a course. :rolleyes:

 

Lowry tells me I'm not adventurous if I choose my courses ahead. Yes I am! I'm just adventurous in advance.

[Sinppu]

I thought I had been waiting for my sea lion swim long and patiently but of course my (quite competitive) husband had to outdo me in the "Who has waited the longest?"-competition.

 

He first saw a photo from Maho Beach 15 years ago and has wanted to visit ever since (his 15 years compared to my 9 months? He won by a scratch. A scratch.) Being the smart man he is, he married a woman who took him there ;)

 

 

We (OK, OK, I) really went crazy for cruising last year on the Oasis. We wanted to try the Allure and I specifically picked this itinerary because it went to St Maarten.

 

We met Karen, Glenn, Rob and Lori at the Sunset Bar.

 

I had fortunately explained my airplane-loving husband's tendencies before-hand so no one was offended whenever he just rushed away from company yelling: "There's one!! There's one! Airplane coming in!!!"

 

 

 

[Sinppu]

It is a mighty feeling watching them getting closer and flying by. Definitely worth a visit, but do stay away from the fence and planes taking off. Jet blast is not like a big hair dryer (unless you have one that might throw you into the concrete fence head first). People have been hurt. (I think it's called "natural selection". Sorry, but it is.)

 

 

Lowry was as happy as he got on this vacation. He took some great photos while we were there.

 

 

 

We didn't get to see the big jets coming in as we had to leave early.

We are coming back to St Maarten on the Jewel in May and then we get to stay longer on this amazing spot with the loveliest turquoise water (no, of course I didn't pick my dress by chance :rolleyes:).

 

 

Phillipsburg is a very pretty town and I'd definitely like to explore the shopping some day.

 

[Sinppu]

This evening we had one of the most beautiful sunsets.

 

 

 

We had Rita's Mexican Madness for dinner this evening. Check out the hombre in the sombrero, eh?

 

The party is fun but the food has received mixed reviews. We found that everything was edible but not very memorable. The margaritas were completely drinkable but also non-memorable (Lowry forgot very quickly he'd had three already).

 

 

[Sinppu]

It was a lot of fun to shake our maracas on the Boardwalk.

 

 

 

 

We also had a dance competition for both ladies and gents. The first winner was from our very own Roll Call. Carol shook her maracas like there was no tomorrow! (after three or who knows how many margaritas some might have actually slept right through to day 7...)

 

The other winner wouldn't even have needed competition. He was cute enough to win just by showing up.

 

This evening was also the Mr. Gold's 20's party. We didn't attend but saw many dressed up and being asked the password.

 

Next up two sea days!!

Edited November 7, 2012 by Sinppu

[Angelsea57]

It is a mighty feeling watching them getting closer and flying by. Definitely worth a visit, but do stay away from the fence and planes taking off. Jet blast is not like a big hair dryer (unless you have one that might throw you into the concrete fence head first). People have been hurt. (I think it's called "natural selection". Sorry, but it is.)

 

 

Lowry was as happy as he got on this vacation. He took some great photos while we were there.

 

 

 

We didn't get to see the big jets coming in as we had to leave early.

We are coming back to St Maarten on the Jewel in May and then we get to stay longer on this amazing spot with the loveliest turquoise water (no, of course I didn't pick my dress by chance :rolleyes:).

 

 

Phillipsburg is a very pretty town and I'd definitely like to explore the shopping some day.

 

Thanks, great post and photos.

This is Maho beach, when we were there we sow lots of people holding on to

the fence. Crazy!!

[Sinppu]

Thanks, great post and photos.

This is Maho beach, when we were there we sow lots of people holding on to

the fence. Crazy!!

 

We shared a taxi with a family that had about an 11-year old boy. When we drove past the warning sign he read out loud:

"Jet blast may cause extreme bodily harm or even death...COOL!!"

 

Errr, NOT.

 

We saw one guy get hit by an umbrella which flew off from the jet blast impact on the beach. He did keep walking, but his head was surely sore later :rolleyes:

[Sinppu]

If you haven't had a chance to explore the ship yet, you'll have two whole days at the end to do so on the Eastern itinerary.

 

 

The jogging track is on deck 5. I went running twice during the week and it was quite nice. The deck can be wet though, so do be careful.

 

The elevators have the weekdays on the floor and also very helpful icons on the deck buttons, like the Car on Promenade deck, carousel horse on the Boardwalk deck, umbrella on the pool deck, trees on the Central Park deck and our favourite: Dice on the casino deck (also the Jazz on 4 club has its icon.)

 

There are many cute things around the ship.

 

 

An interesting trivia in the hallway leading to the casino.

 

 

To us Finns this statue in the casino is quite funny. We have a very iconic statue in Helsinki called "The Three Smiths statue" and this one resembles it a lot.

[BillOh]

My thoughts exactly about the OSU fan, glad you said it first.

 

Now, now, PSU fans can't be bad mouthing OSU fans, especially after last month and especially after,......... I don't even have to say it.

[Sinppu]

Remember the part about me not getting along with heights?

Lowry doesn't have a problem with them. He wanted to impress me and went on the Zip Line.

 

 

 

 

Now if we had been dating for a few months I would've probably been starry-eyed and fascinated by his courage.

After almost nine years together of which four years married, I just wanted to strangle him for nearly giving me a bloody heart attack!!

(I guess that was his payback from the "dress around my ears"-incident on Day 1...)

 

Show-off.

 

I had to calm nerves with a glass of wine (I have many nerves and they all needed to be calmed down). We had a tapas lunch at Vintages in Central Park. The tortilla and paprika aioli were absolutely delicious. Cab croquetas and veggies were also nice, as was the red wine. It wash alsho veerry shhoothing on my nervesh.

 

[Lisa-UK]

Hi Sinny

 

What a fabulous report, loving it so far.

 

The Halloween photos are brilliant!

 

thanks for sharing.

 

Lisa

[Sinppu]

This post contains explicit opinions. Parental guidance is advised.

Now remember the young lady dressed as a zombie?

 

We went to see the Quest last night. It was our first but thanks to YouTube, we knew what to expect.

We had a good time and plenty of laughs but we found it strange that Ken Rush the cruise director said at least three or four times that people should not go to Guest Services and complain the next day.

 

"This is the Quest and it's supposed to be fun. If the other people aren't bothered to be doing this, don't you dare to be bothered watching this."

 

One quest was to bring a piercing that is not in an ear and the first person to come on the stage was this aforementioned young lady who had piercings on her (the n-word is too bad, I suppose) chest. She ran to Ken Rush, flipped her cleavage down, shocked the heck out of Ken Rush and ran back.

 

As can be expected, Ken Rush asked her if they could show the tape, she agreed and then it was replayed maybe 10 or 12 times.

Here's where the cultural difference kicks in. The whole crowd went insane and roared with laughter and screams for minutes. A lady who sat in front of me almost dropped on the floor from laughing so wildly.

 

Seriously? Over a pair of boobs? :rolleyes:

Do remember that we invented the sauna, people. We are as liberal as it gets about nudity. ;)

 

So although we thought she was a real good sport, we didn't find it funny. People going out of their minds over it, now THAT was funny :D

 

One of the funniest quests was getting a preservative on stage. One guy brought his wedding ring, other his mother, third one his face and a lady herself (I'm menopausal! she said).

 

As we were having our lunch today we overheard a couple talking about the Quest to their friends who hadn't seen it. Now we understood why Ken Rush emphasized the "being bothered"-part. The couple was quite offended and disgusted with how the Quest was "just an excuse to get people undress themselves". They had however enjoyed the comedy show where the material was a lot worse. Go figure :confused:

 

No photos of the incident, I apologize. Not worth it to be get thrown out of the boards :p

[Newwbeee]

 

I had to calm nerves with a glass of wine (I have many nerves and they all needed to be calmed down)....... It wash alsho veerry shhoothing on my nervesh.

 

 

You are so super funny! Thanks for the smiles :D

Jenn

[Sinppu]

After lunch it was time for a slot pull arranged by two ladies from our Roll Call (thanks D&D)!

Everybody brought $21 and got seven pulls on a 3 buck maximum machine.

 

We were 15 participants and we started with $315. We tried three different types of slots and the lowest we got to was $49.

 

 

After we had played for an hour and 10 minutes, we got a big win and were back at 300 dollars. We decided that it was a really slow death and the jackpot just wasn't favouring us today, so stopped there and gave everyone back their 20 dollars.

How often do you get to play for 70 minutes with just one dollar??

 

Overall we spent quite a lot of time at the casino. Lowry ended up winning over a $1000 by playing the slots and poker.

Someone asked me that don't I mind him spending that much time in the casino.

Not really, no. I got myself a new Guess handbag and a pair of earrings straight out his winnings. :D

 

I wondered if there is a place no one had posted a photo yet on CC. Winner?

[FionaMG]

Great review Sinny, really enjoying it. Thanks for sharing. We will be doing this same route next month on Oasis.

 

We just play ice hockey. And ski.

 

And you have some of the world's best javelin throwers. Looking at the photos, Lowry reminds me a bit of Tero Pitkamaki.

http://www.london2012.com/athlete/pitkamaki-tero-1017574/

[Sinppu]

You are so super funny! Thanks for the smiles :D

Jenn

 

You made me smile right back :)

 

You're from San Francisco? I'd love to see it one day.

West Coast cruise, anyone???

[Sinppu]

Great review Sinny, really enjoying it. Thanks for sharing. We will be doing this same route next month on Oasis.

 

 

 

And you have some of the world's best javelin throwers. Looking at the photos, Lowry reminds me a bit of Tero Pitkamaki.

http://www.london2012.com/athlete/pitkamaki-tero-1017574/

 

Oh my Lord. You know that's a sport? I salute you!!

He does a little, above the shoulders anyway :D

[Sinppu]

Today was the second formal night. We made a hasty change of plans earlier about where we would eat (from Izumi to the MDR) and went to ask when they could seat two people. They had two choices: 5.45pm or after 8.45pm. We took the earlier option as we had booked Blue Planet at 9pm.

 

Glammed up again.

I love bright colours and wearing blue has a very special meaning to me as my name means "Blue" in Finnish. (My Mom always tells everyone that my Dad picked my name. Considering that blue is my mother's fave colour, I can say I have a very smart father too).

 

The MDR has a different feel on the Oasis class than the Voyager class (these are the only two we've been on). The floors are not open in the middle but there are a lot more smaller tables, at least in the MTD section.

 

Today was lobster night!!

 

 

Beef for the hubby.

 

This was also a towel animal before it was ALSO sat on. I would just like to point out that no one saw me sitting on it. It could have been anyone.

 

Blue Planet had great acrobatics, dancing and singing. It is worth seeing but I did like Chicago more. Ah heck, I loved Chicago.

Edited November 7, 2012 by Sinppu

[BillOh]

I wondered if there is a place no one had posted a photo yet on CC. Winner?

 

I know what you mean, but winner? Nope, seen this bathroom before. Here is a unique bathroom I posted a pic of back in 2006. Its so unique a few people will instantly be able to tell what ship and where it is.

 

 

Enjoying your review, pardon my interruption.

[Sinppu]

Now if you can't find anything to do on sea days, blame yourself. You are just not trying hard enough.

 

This morning we woke up early because if there are two things this girl loves, it is chocolate and... oh. Now what was the other thing...Hmmm.

Let's just say chocolate, then. And that is what you get at the Dreamworks Character Breakfast.

 

 

Now this reminds of the other thing I love... nope, still don't remember it.

 

Fluffy animals!! That's it. Like Mort and Skipper!!

 

 

[Sinppu]

Nope, seen this bathroom before.

Enjoying your review, pardon my interruption.

 

BILL! I hope you mean you saw it on CC and not on board... It is a ladiesroom , after all ;)

Edited November 7, 2012 by Sinppu

[Just The 3 Of Us]

Hilarious - I just love this review and your pictures are awesome, too!!!

 

:D

Barb