Nov 4, Allure of the Seas, Western Caribbean - A Review and Complete Pictorial Guide!

[gambee]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Gambee, hope you have a wonderful day today! Rest and enjoy and looking forward to Cozumel tomorrow.

 

Patty

 

Thanks Patty, I am working on the pictures right now. :)

 

Gambee,

Just wanted to take a moment to thank you for all the effort you have put in here. I (like many others who have commented) am sailing on the Allure on Dec. 2nd. This will be my second trip on her. Your review is doing so many things for me, feeding my cruise junkie habit, bringing back memories from last year, getting me even more psyched for this year... well you get the idea.

 

Anyway, great review. Really appreciated!!!

 

Rich

 

 

Thanks for the comment, I hope you have a blast on you trip.

 

Happy Thanksgiving day

[gambee]

Go see 'Flight' it will make you forget everything...even to breath some of the time.

Happy Thanksgiving to you, bf and Mom!

Becky

 

Is it really that good? I saw the trailer for it yesterday and it did not look that good. Then I came home after you mention it I checked the reviews and noticed it did good. I might go and see today, thanks for the tip.

 

Happy turkey day to you too :)

[MrFunInTheSun]

My first cruise was with my mom too, most likely one of the best memories I have. I bet you guys had a blast on that cruise.

 

I am really happy you enjoy reading my review that much, thank you.

 

 

 

I LOVE your post, it was sooo funny, thank you for taking the time to post. You know the sharing thing actually works for us, she kind of keeps off the carbs, lol.

 

Have a happy thanks giving. :)

 

My first cruise was with my mom too. I took her on a 2nd cruise back in 2009. Am taking her on her 3rd cruise in 11 days and she doesn't know it yet. She's down here visiting in Florida for the winter. We are going on the very first ship we both sailed back in 2000. We sail on December 3rd. Figured I'd tell her on December 2nd? :rolleyes:

 

You got your next cruise planned or booked yet? :)

[MaryAnn&Don]

Gambee- I go to CES every year and will check out that new 10-18. I can tell you that the 18-210 lens is very fat and very heavy. But for out and about, that will handle all I need for the day. BTW- I do 3D so I generally have to buy double. I have two 16's and two fish eyes which get me the 10mm if I need that wide.

 

I will certainly be thinking about you on the ship next week. I hope I can do 1/10 as well with the NEX as you did.

[gambee]

My first cruise was with my mom too. I took her on a 2nd cruise back in 2009. Am taking her on her 3rd cruise in 11 days and she doesn't know it yet. She's down here visiting in Florida for the winter. We are going on the very first ship we both sailed back in 2000. We sail on December 3rd. Figured I'd tell her on December 2nd? :rolleyes:

 

You got your next cruise planned or booked yet? :)

 

Omg you're going to give her a heart attack, that is so Awesome of you, I hope you have a blast.

 

No, not yet. I have to plan one maybe for April, but not sure on which cruise line yet. Like I stated before, I want to try out all the lines to see which one fits me best.

 

Have fun on your cruise :)

 

 

Gambee- I go to CES every year and will check out that new 10-18. I can tell you that the 18-210 lens is very fat and very heavy. But for out and about, that will handle all I need for the day. BTW- I do 3D so I generally have to buy double. I have two 16's and two fish eyes which get me the 10mm if I need that wide.

 

I will certainly be thinking about you on the ship next week. I hope I can do 1/10 as well with the NEX as you did.

 

 

I never 3D, something I might be interested in. I will read into it.

 

Yeah the 18-210 is way too big for me, that is why I did not get it.

[gambee]

Day 6

Compass

Cozumel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

Day 6

Cruise Specials

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

Cozumel Shopping Map

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

Day 6 Cozumel :-)

 

 

We had been looking forward for Cozumel for a long time, it was the first time for both of us there and we had heard wonderful things about it. Let me tell you one thing, it did not disappoint. As a matter of fact you know how Disney has claimed that term "The Happiest Place Earth", well I think Cozumel has a good chance at stealing that term. I have never met so many happy people in a single place like that and they are not directly getting paid to be happy (although I guess indirectly they are), unlike Disney pays their employees to smile at me ;). Now don't get me wrong, I love Disney more than any 7 year old does ;), but Cozumel had the happiest locals we had ever seen. I guess I can be more specific by explaining all the different details here and there. I will try to do so as the day in Cozumel progresses.

 

Another reason why I loved Cozumel so much was because I re-lived some of my childhood that day and that was something that I was purposely looking for. When I used to live in Colombia we used to visit a very small island in the Caribbean called San Andres, I have some my best childhood memories in that island. Although San Andres had nothing on Cozumel, it did however provided me with a very similar feeling. Maybe it had to do with all the rock formations around the western side of the side island, which by the way did not used to be like that, I will explain later on for those who are not aware. And also by the overall feeling of the island. I have to thank my uncles for all those childhood memories, without their help and support my childhood would of been much different. Mom was pretty much a single mom struggling to give me everything that I needed and wanted and trust me I WANTED everything and GOT everything, spoiled I know :D. Thanks mom.

 

It also helped that mom could communicate with ease with all the locals and she enjoys asking them about their lives and such. She is soooo nosy :rolleyes: and the apple does not fall far from the tree :(, lol. I could easily see us coming back to Cozumel in the future many many times.

 

 

All in all, I learned that Cozumel is now our FAVORITE PORT, not that we have experienced that many, so that really doesn't say much, but still, we loved it :). Oh I forgot and I have to bring much more money next time, that was a slight miscalculation from my part, ooopppsss. Sorry mom, "you were right", ouch that just hurt, lol, I am always supposed to be right ;-).

 

 

[gambee]

We woke up to this beauty that day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather was a little on the chilly side, but we thought it was going to be perfect, after those two sauna weather days in Labadee and Jamaica we were ready for a cooler day. This time we immediately walked out to the balcony before turning the tv on, we were that excited, as we walked outside this was our view.

 

 

 

 

 

So my thought was that we were coming in from the south side and we were looking at Cozumel, "it was beautiful" I thought. Mom went to check the tv really fast to verify our position, that is when she noticed that we were not looking at Cozumel. The ship entered the canal through the north side so we were actually looking at Playa Del Carmen, it was a nice view non the less and we sat there and enjoyed it for a little while.

 

My throat was a little scratchy from all that yelling the night before at the karaoke contest, but that was a very small price to pay for the excellent time I had. Once again I checked over my pictures and video and made notice that everything was there, a quick smile confirmed that.

 

Mom as usual was looking around for other people in balconies and made a comment "I think we are among the group of people that uses their balconies the most". We did indeed use that balcony a lot, I mean every morning and night at least. And if we were in the stateroom other than sleeping, we were outside, well at least mom and I. My bf got good use out of the room, I think he stayed in the stateroom more than any other passenger in the ship :rolleyes:, I am not sure if you noticed that by now.

 

But anyway back to the story, as she browsed around for people, I checked her email and replied it for her. That became normal, I just replied all her email as I could do much faster than she could. Anyway so yeah she looked at me and says "you are always in your underwear, what if someone looks?" what do you mean someone looks? they better not be looking into my balcony, who is going to look? The people from Playa Del Carmen? they better have some superman kind of eyesight for that... some of that was thought and other said, I just rolled my eyes and kept on working on the computer. moms... lol.

 

No worries, it is not like I am an exhibitionist, I am actually a very reserved guy, but we were all the way out in the middle of the ocean, who would be able to see?

 

It was just a funny episode and a quick laugh now that I remember.

 

[gambee]

As we got closer to the international pier, that is where these large ladies dock by the way, I took a few more pictures. Mom was already getting ready to leave, I told her to get ready first and I would follow after she was done. I can get fully ready in about 4 minutes :D and no worries I am squeaky clean, lets just say that I am great at multitasking. Mom is pretty fast too, but not as fast as I am. My bf on the other hand, dear lordy lord, well… um… lets see… he likes to pamper himself, maybe on average one hour. Remember at the very beginning of the review that I said that sometimes we don't travel well together? (I am sure most of you skipped through all that ;)) Well this is one of the reasons, you have a time control freak like me and someone that likes to take his time, so yeah, not a good equation to have, lol.

 

The night before he decided he was not going to come with us because we wanted to go Chankanaab and he did not, I believe he wanted to go to the shopping district and nothing more. If I remember correctly by the time we were leaving the room he just getting out of bed. Mom and I wasted no time and headed to the windjammer for a nice breakfast. Like I said on day 5, we had yet to try the windjammer for breakfast and that is something that I was really looking forward for. So we said goodbye to the bf and headed upstairs.

 

I took these pictures before we left, the ship was just starting to dock.

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

 

 

 

Important!

This was straight down, fellow CC member balcony4u asked if the life boats block the view directly down? He likes to look straight down, that is something that I also take pleasure on. Unfortunately for the Allure the lifeboats stick out and prevent you from seeing the direct wake on the ship contact. You can however get rooms that have gaps in between and still have complete view. I guess it just takes a little more research.

 

 

Look how clear the water is.

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

 

 

Once we got to the buffet I was very impressed with the display, to the point I regretted not visitting it earlier during our cruise. The food was great and there was such an impressive variety of it, I just wanted to eat it all. I grabbed a table while mom got her plate, soon after she came back and I left to get my food.

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

 

 

 

 

Those are just some of the displays, I failed to get them all because I was starving and ready to hit Cozumel.

 

 

 

This is what I got. Mom got a fruit plate.

 

[gambee]

 

 

After we finished eating a delicious breakfast we went outside to get a picture of the NCL Star that was coming into port. We had 4 ships in port that day, 2 NCL ships, 1 carnival ship and lady Allure. I got pictures of all of them but for now it is just the star.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we rushed downstairs to the gangway to exit the ship, there was rarely anyone leaving that early. I think we were the only lunatics that were in such a rush to get off the ship. The pier walk felt considerable shorter than the one in Labadee, there were a few different factors in play there, shorter pier and the ship was backed in favoring our aft cabin.

 

 

On my way out I took a picture of this boat, he was just leaving.

[gambee]

There is a small market in the pier and you find several items for sale, this area is gated. I got a few pictures and mom window shopped a little.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't miss page 38! the set begins on that page, it includes compasses and some important funny notes. It did not resize the window because the compasses are tall and not wide.

 

 

 

That's it for this set, hope you enjoyed.

Edited November 22, 2012 by gambee

[TNcruiser829]

On my way out I took a picture of this boat, he was just leaving.

 

 

Thanks so much for this review, as many have said the pics are great. Any idea what this boat is, perhaps an excursion of some kind?

 

And I'm guessing your a fan of the fedora? I just bought a new one and I keep seeing better ones than the one I got in your pics.

[raerom]

On my way out I took a picture of this boat, he was just leaving.

 

 

Thanks so much for this review, as many have said the pics are great. Any idea what this boat is, perhaps an excursion of some kind?

 

And I'm guessing your a fan of the fedora? I just bought a new one and I keep seeing better ones than the one I got in your pics.

 

I could be wrong..but I believe it is the Ferry Boat to Playa Del Carmen.

[raerom]

Oh no Gambee...it is Day 6....1 more day left. Depression is setting in. I don’t want your cruise to end! I am loving it so much!!!

[vickie_bernie]

I know I have thanked you before, but you have to realize how excited I get when i wake up and then see you have posted for the day. I too love Cozumel and well Mexico in general great people.

 

Vickie

[gambee]

On my way out I took a picture of this boat, he was just leaving.

 

 

Thanks so much for this review, as many have said the pics are great. Any idea what this boat is, perhaps an excursion of some kind?

 

And I'm guessing your a fan of the fedora? I just bought a new one and I keep seeing better ones than the one I got in your pics.

 

Yeah I think it's the ferry.

 

You know the funny thing is that I had to google "fedora" lol, yes I LOVE THEM! my bf says I look pretentious :D

 

These are the only two that I have and I did not buy more in the trip.

 

I used the blue one mostly because it's cool and the air goes through it easy. The other one I used at night.

 

Oh no Gambee...it is Day 6....1 more day left. Depression is setting in. I don’t want your cruise to end! I am loving it so much!!!

 

 

I know, I realized that earlier today, I was pretty bummed out as well. But there will other in the future :)

[gambee]

I know I have thanked you before, but you have to realize how excited I get when i wake up and then see you have posted for the day. I too love Cozumel and well Mexico in general great people.

 

Vickie

 

Happy to still see you here enjoying my trip :)

 

Cozumel is fantastic.

[gambee]

Thank you- Gambee's mom for the additional info on the parking. We will try to get an earlier start Sunday AM ( 5 hr drive ) and then spend the time taking pictures as we wait for boarding. We have starboard ocean view JS cabin.

 

Gambee- That new 10-18 lens is great. But the 16 makes the NEX package very small. So, it's kind of an ergonomics thing too. I also carry a monopod which is also great for getting the camera up in the air over crowds. (TIP)

 

Enough photo speak: Now back to cruise critique speak... ;)

 

 

I wanted to ask you for a favor. Is there any way you can send me a couple pictures take with fisheye adaptor on?

 

I have read reviews were people claim that the fisheye adaptor does not help that much, that is the only reason I have not bought it yet.

 

if you can and it is not much of a bother, can you please send them to my email, it is right there on my signature.

 

Thank you so much.

[modes]

Yeah I think it's the ferry.

 

You know the funny thing is that I had to google "fedora" lol, yes I LOVE THEM! my bf says I look pretentious :D

 

These are the only two that I have and I did not buy more in the trip.

 

I used the blue one mostly because it's cool and the air goes through it easy. The other one I used at night.

 

 

 

 

I know, I realized that earlier today, I was pretty bummed out as well. But there will other in the future :)

 

Great review but its just strange that you take pictures of your hats but never of you in them, wierd!!!!