Simply the Best! Allure of the Seas E. Caribbean March 3rd-10th with pics!!

[Kiwis Afloat]

I found this thread tonight and I have just finished reading it from the start. I am enjoying "going on this cruise" with you. Thank you for taking the time to write this! :):)

[HoneyBunny0811]

Hi Missy! I'm really enjoying your review. We're practically neighbors since I reside in Detroit :). My hubby and I are sailing on the Allure-Western on May 5th and have a Balcony Stateroom overlooking Central Park on Deck 10. I also always have Frosted Flakes with my potatoes, bacon, and sausage but only when I'm cruising.....so many coincidences :). Keep up the great writing!!

[texasgirl73]

Sounds like your man takes good care of you....he's a keeper. :)

[shaharis1701]

Loving your review! Great to hear someone so positive about their trip. My wife has a touchy stomach and gets a little bit seasick. We read years ago about taking ginger pills to prevent sea sickness. You start taking them before you get on the ship and keep taking them as long as you feel bad. Cheap and non-drug. Keep up the great review!! :)

[Colorado Babe]

Thank you so much for your review Missy. We are sailing on the

allure in September for my husbands 50th and your review is awesome.

 

I have a question and was hoping you could answer it? Did you make all your reservations to see the show before you boarded the Allure? If so, did you do it at the check-in on RCCL website? Thanks!

[Breelee88]

I know this may seem a little silly to you but I noticed you too were a vera bradley connoisseur..if you could could you tell me what bag you used to get off the ports..which ones worked best for the ship and so on..it would help me much ! thank you !:)

[tarheelblue55]

OH that is too funny!!! Just the laugh I needed this morning!!!

 

Welcome to any new readers and welcome back to everyone!! I have a question for my cruise critic family, I'm looking at planning a solo cruise for myself and being that I work part time in retail and am a college student, funds are a smidge tight but I'm looking to cruise again as a solo on a short trip and write another review (plus want to take Ziggy on another cruise as well!) I know its off topic, but what cruise line would you like to see me on with Ziggy next?

 

1. Smaller Royal Caribbean Ship (Jewel, Navigator, etc.)

2. Holland America Line

3. Carnival

4. Princess Cruises

 

Let me know throughout the review!

 

Should have some more posted later this morning or this evening (gotta go to this thing called work today)

 

<3 Missy <3

 

Both the Jewel and Navigator are not "small ships" nor are they cheap during times when school is off. You problaby will get a better deal off of the Jewel.

[cruisin_cutie216]

I know this may seem a little silly to you but I noticed you too were a vera bradley connoisseur..if you could could you tell me what bag you used to get off the ports..which ones worked best for the ship and so on..it would help me much ! thank you !:)

 

LOVE VERA! (How'd ya guess!!)I used the Hipster (I have two, the one pictured in my cruise photos is Island Blooms) and it worked awesomely! I put my wallet and lotion and small souvenirs that I would purchase inside. Plus it worked great for carrying my jacket on top of the bag while in port.

On the ship I used another Vera Bradley item. I used a wristlet called the carry all that was a wallet and could carry a phone. The outside phone pocket held my Sea Pass. Very handy!! For a beach bag, I had a foldable tote bag that I packed in my carry on and I used this for beach stuff, camera, cruise critter, snacks, and water bottle.

 

Both the Jewel and Navigator are not "small ships" nor are they cheap during times when school is off. You problaby will get a better deal off of the Jewel.

 

Ah! good to know! Rob and I are looking at CCL Breeze or Triumph whereas mom and I are trying to book on Allure or Jewel in Nov. Choices choices!!

 

Colorado Babe: we ended up being able to book only one show that we wanted to see before we boarded the ship and that was the Ice Games ice show (everything else was "booked" via the online check in portal). What we managed to do though was the first day onboard while everyone was down at Studio B (the ice rink) in line waiting to get show reservations, we headed to our stateroom and did it from the television and were able to grab the shows we wanted. The online check in and reservation service works awesome in the sense that you can print out a personal calendar with your show reservations along with the others on your reservation. Good to take with you so you can have an idea of what you've booked. If you don't print it out before hand, you can always obtain your personal calendar via your stateroom television (there's a menu for personal calendar in order to view show ressies). Hope this helped! Happy Cruising!

 

 

Shaharis: Thank you for joining in! I had heard about the ginger pills post cruise and wish I had known about them prior to getting on the ship. That and the dramamine patches! Those would have been a life saver (no pun intended). There's always next cruise, I'll be more prepared now that I know. And knowing is half the battle!

 

texasgirl: thank you! He does take very good care of me. I was sick recently (back to back in the span of a week. Had noro and dealt with a ruptured cyst) and he took very good care of me. He usually does anyway but he gets into a super concerned and caring mode whenever I've been sick. He's wonderful and absolutely a keeper. Love him with all my heart (he's currently sleeping as its just about 4 AM and I couldn't sleep so CC sounded like a fantastic idea!)

 

HoneyBunny: This is a small world indeed! Very coincidental! If you haven't been on the Allure before you are going to LOVE it!! I was so impressed with everything that I just could not believe at times that I was on a ship! Didn't even feel like it. I think what I liked the most was how it didn't even feel like there were thousands of people on board even on sea days. The ship was so spread out that there was something for everyone. Definitely a plus in my book. Enjoy your upcoming cruise!

 

Kiwis Afloat [love it!]: Thank you for joining in and for the feedback! Its been super fun reliving it as well! Not to mention sharing it with everyone here. I'm so glad I documented as much as I did, it made for reliving it so much easier!

 

 

to the PP whom said the review could be a cruise movie, that would be so cool! I wish it would be made into a movie just so I could re- do everything (minus the seasickness) all over again! Definitely felt like a movie at some points.

 

 

So everyone as promised, I have some more pictures of St. Maarten to tie you all over until my next review entry. Enjoy! <3 Missy <3 P.S. Please keep the questions coming! I will do my best to answer them the best that I can.

 

 

LOVE this shot!

 

 

Super hot weather! Notice I am now sans jacket in this photo..

 

 

Ziggy was a happy camper!

 

 

 

That wall got a bit toasty on my buns! (ouch!)

[Panda Monium]

Another Allure cruise review that makes me glad I chose it to cruise on next year. Thx for the many great photos!

[Eng23]

Hi Missie! I just noticed in those St. Maarten photos that Ziggy has a great smile! :D So do you and Rob! :)

[Eng23]

Another Allure cruise review that makes me glad I chose it to cruise on next year. Thx for the many great photos!

Nice dancing panda! :D

[Breelee88]

Thanks so much Missy..you have been a big help.. I have a miller bag and i figured it would be way to big to carry at ports of call... ill have to use my hipster! :cool:

[cruisin_cutie216]

Hi everyone!! thank you for the wonderful feedback (and the dancing pandas are a lovely touch as well!!!)! Will be posting more soon, its been a hectic week over here and its about to get crazier!

 

Oh, a bit of a plug, check out my fellow CC'ers reviews as well. KansCocoa did an amazing one on her solo trip onboard the Allure (middle aged drama queen). Very good to see the ship through the eyes of a solo traveller.

 

One last plug, check out Gambee's review on his recent sailing onboard the sister line to RCI, Celebrity X. He cruised on the sillouette and is writing yet another amazing review!!! Check them out as well.

 

More soon!

 

<3 Missy <3

[mszmek]

Thanks for your review Missy! I've really enjoyed reading it!

 

We were on the Allure this past February and we are looking forward to going back next year. We love that ship!

[cruisin_cutie216]

Chapter 11: Not what it seems.

 

 

After our rather eventful day in St. Maarten and our relaxing nap in the "BatCave" (so appropriately deemed by myself in reference to Rob's stateroom), I was ready to do the one thing on my cruising bucket list. I'm a competitive figure skater of 15 years, so much so that I am so addicted to finding an ice rink no matter where I am.

 

You can only believe how excited I was to find out that the ship had one!!!

 

 

 

The ice was super smooth and I could hardly wait to get my skates on the surface. Being the high maintenance skater that I am, I brought my own skates and my own really cute pink and white rhinestoned dress with matching scrunchie. I opted for wearing my team jacket down to the rink and pants underneath my dress. With my skating bag in hand, I headed down to deck 5 to Studio B for the open skating session.

 

This is where the plot thickens....

 

I was so excited to be in a rink, on the ocean, in the world's largest cruise ship and could hardly wait to show off. This would also be the first time I had been skating since my surgery in December so naturally this was a huge step for me.

 

I headed to the back of the rink and saw the crew members stationed to scan the seapass for proof of having a waiver signed. The conversation was very interesting.

 

Me: Oh I'm so excited to be here in the rink!

CM: Yes its an awesome experience (scans seapass).

Me: I"ve been skating for about 15 years and I cannot wait to spin!

CM: *Pause* Yeaaahhh...about that. No tricks.

Me: O_O.....excuse me?

CM: yeah, no jumps, spins, or tricks of any kind.

Me: Oh...okay, at least I can skate backwards and forwards.

CM: Yeah...only forwards skating.

 

....I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Feeling a bit "dumbed down" , I decided to head down to the rubber flooring and put on my skates. I got a few looks from on lookers that watched as I took out my perfect white skates from my bag complete with light up pink fiber optic skate guards (they were a bit jealous I think. NOt only that, Missy doesn't wear rental skates...period.) Skates on, I headed to put my foot onto the ice but was abruptly stopped by another crew member.

 

CM #2: Yes, we need you to wear pants on the ice.

 

.....You heard right! They wanted me to wear PANTS with a SKATING DRESS!!!. I have NEVER worn pants while skating because the ones that you typically wear are rather long and can catch on the bottom of blades and be a serious hazard. Socks are a no no as well due to them causing painful blisters. Dejected once more, I put my pants on under my dress and once again attempt to enter the ice surface. Sure enough, I was stopped by CM #2 again.

 

CM #2: Oh, you need to wear this helmet as well.

 

Well, that's just peachy.

 

Not only am I wearing pants with a skating dress, can't even do a spin or jumps, and now I'm wearing a helmet. Dream has been shattered.

 

So in my new "ensemble", I stepped onto the ice and did one lap around and decided that I had had enough. I turned in my "gear" took off my skates and headed back to my stateroom. Upon leaving the rink I got tons of passengers asking if I was an entertainer onboard the ship due to my outfit [i wish].

 

 

Upon heading back to the room, I changed out of my skating clothes, took a quick shower, and dressed for the ice show Ice Games. I was SUPER excited to see the show as this was something I was really looking forward to! Holly, Sarah, Sandy, and the boyfriends were all going to be heading to the show at 6:30 as we had reservations.

 

After my shower, I noticed that the ship had begun to rock and roll a bit more than my tummy liked and I begun to feel so very sick. I was fearing that something was very wrong but I was hoping that it was nothing serious. The rest of group would be heading to Rita's Cantina for the party that night after the ice show and wondered if Rob and I would join them. Normally I would have said yes to the opportunity for good music, mexican food, and one heck of a party but due to the current state of my stomach, I decided to pass and have my dinner in the MDR with the rest of the group.

 

Once we were all ready, we headed down to Studio B for Ice Games and we snagged some really amazing seats in the middle of the left hand side of the rink. The show was PHENOMENAL!!! It was a monopoly theme with current music and it featured different venues on the ship as the spots on the Monopoly board. The cool thing about it was the audience interaction when it came to the rolls of the dice! The costumes were also amazing! Gave me some ideas on future showcase costumes for my skating purposes!

 

 

After the show, we all parted our separate ways and Rob and I met on the Boardwalk where we had a quick ride on the carousel before heading to the MDR for dinner. I was NOT feeling very well at this point and was so very seasick that I just felt like crawling into bed and hiding in the darkness. Plus, given my other previous experiences at dinnertime and not being able to acquire the desert of my choice, I was less than enthusiastic about eating.

 

Rob and I headed to our seating and given the fact that most of the group were away at the Cantina, we had a whole table to ourselves to enjoy our meal. I opted for the cream of mushroom soup for an appetizer and a steak dish for dinner. I was keeping it rather simple due to the fact that I was so very seasick. Our ship's movement was so much so that on this particular night, we could see the water moving in the glass as we sat at the table.

 

The soup was not bad from what I could remember. Very creamy but not too rich. Not really my favorite but to each his own.

 

Next came the main course, the steak with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies.

 

 

I was good with the steak dish. Didn't have too much flavor and on this particular night, my digestive system appreciated the bland-ness of the meal. Any other night, it would have mattered.

 

During our main course, our waitress comes to our table and apologizes for not being able to allow me to have most of the deserts I wanted due to my allergy. She saw that I was so upset and getting a bit cranky each night so she and the maitre'd came up with a special desert prepared just for me. I was surprised and touched but felt bad cause it felt like I wasn't going to enjoy it due to my nausea and that Rob and I were going to skip out on desert this evening so I could have an early bedtime.

 

After finishing our main courses and Rob had his desert ordered (chocolate mousse), my special desert made its way to our table.

 

 

They were 4 super delicious chocolate fudge brownies with chocolate syrup garnishing. Despite being sick, I actually LOVED the desert. Had I known that we could have a carry out of desert I would have wrapped it up and taken back to my stateroom to enjoy later. I finished what I could and Rob could see that I was starting to look a little more green, so he escorted me back to the room to rest and head off to bed early.

 

Heading into the room, no sooner had I gotten into the bathroom to change into my pjs, I had to really vomit. I was severely seasick and was so ready for bed. Rob put me to bed and rubbed my back until I fell to sleep.

 

One of the more un-eventful evenings on the sailing and I was hoping that things would get better rather than worse. We have three days left and this is where the moments and memories would count.

 

Would I get better or worse?

 

 

So concludes.....

 

 

[swim13]

Loving your review! 86 days till the Allure for me and your review is just making me more and more eager to get on this beautiful ship! ;)

Edited April 5, 2013 by swim13

[cruisin_cutie216]

Loving your review! 86 days till the Allure for me and your review is just making me more and more eager to get on this beautiful ship! ;)

 

Thank you! You'll love it! So much to see and to do, its truly a destination in itself!!!

[swim13]

Thank you! You'll love it! So much to see and to do, its truly a destination in itself!!!

 

Woohoo! I've actually followed the construction of both Oasis and Allure, used to come home from school and check the web for any new updates! It just became a routine after a while! :D

 

I plan to write a review and it will definitely be influenced by you, KansCocoa, and Gambee!

Edited April 5, 2013 by swim13

[stahlee]

Hey everyone, decided to continue my review. Got some time to kill until the boyfriend gets up to get ready for work and I have to get food ready!! All in the day in the life of a busy military girlfriend.

 

So I had a funny moment, I got up this morning to make my breakfast and I stood by the kitchen counter holding my plate waiting for someone to put food on it. *sigh* PCD has kicked in.

 

Chapter 3: Welcome Aboard!

 

Once we got into Port Everglades, we arrived curbside to luggage drop off. This seemed like a big mess. Luggage everywhere and people everywhere. In spite of it all, the porters did a great job in ensuring that everyone's luggage ended up in the correct places/spots. As anyone would do, I did look back occasionally trying to see if my bag had made it onto one of the trolleys, but alas, didn't see much.

 

Arriving into the cruise terminal felt like a college student arriving onto campus for the first time. It was HUGE. SO many people and lots of different lines to get us processed and registered for check in on the ship. We were smart, and printed our sign and sail documents and had them signed that morning at our hotel. All we had to do was give our credit cards for room charging and pose for our seapass pictures. Seapasses in hand and excitement in the air, we were off to get our first photo together. There were several stations for taking onboarding photos and several backdrops of the ship. It was very interesting to see the photographer's eyes grow wide as all 9 of us attempted to crowd into the small photography space. ((**Disclaimer: tried to take pictures in the cruise terminal but was so excited that it just didn't happen. I'm sorry friends!! I'm still kicking myself over that)).

 

After the photo was taken we headed to the second level of the terminal for that special moment: we were boarding the Allure of the Seas. My heart was racing a million miles a minute and I was so excited! I could hardly wait to get onboard and explore this AMAZING vessel. Walking onto the gangway seemed like it lasted forever. It went up and to the side and up some more. I was so wide eyed at my first view of the ship from the gangway. In fact, it kinda hurt my neck to peer up at her. We all stepped through the door and we were on the Royal Promenade. It was even better than the pictures!!! Tons of stores, restaurants, and staff members dressed in their neat uniforms greeting us and welcoming us. It not longer felt overwhelming, it felt sort of calming. I knew we were going to have the best service possible.

 

It was about 1230 at this point and we still had a little bit of time until our stateroom would be ready so we decided to head to Central Park to snag a bite to eat. Let me tell ya, BEWARE! This was one of the food venues open for lunch upon boarding and it was PACKED! It was very hard for all of us to snag a table but that was to be expected. We also decided to check out our options for drinks during our cruise. Rob and I are occasional social drinkers but we decided collectively that we were more concerned about having soft drinks and juice rather than alcohol. We purchased our soft drink package at a set up counter in Central Park and also got our souvenir mugs to be used with the Coke Freestyle machines located throughout the ship. We could also use the mugs at various bars located in the ship. The price was $6.50/per day totaling (with gratuities)= $52.33. Not bad for the entire cruise!!

 

After purchasing our drink mugs we headed back to Park Cafe to meet up with the group for our lunch. After waiting for about a few minutes, we got in and ordered our lunch. I had the Egg Salad sandwich with cheddar/sour cream chips and an Arnold Palmer. Ziggy decided to join us for lunch, he wanted to share with me.

 

 

Buut Egg Salad wasn't his forte. So he politely declined and allowed me to shoot another shot of my lunch (sans Ziggy)

 

 

(you can see the drink mug I got for my drink package in the background)

 

The egg salad was yummy though it felt like more ended up on my plate than inside my bread.

 

After lunch, we decided to explore the floors above Central Park and we wandered our way to my stateroom (Rob was in another stateroom down the hall and on the other side of the ship). Low and behold it was ready and our luggage was being delivered! Hurrah!!! Being so excited, I didn't snap many shots of the room but I did catch Ziggy out on our balcony catching a snooze...

 

 

OH Ziggy....

 

None the less, the view was spectacular and beautiful both day and night.

 

 

I could hardly believe that this was happening, even today it still feels like a dream.

 

Since our baggage had arrived, I proceeded to get out the decorations I had brought for our stateroom door. I picked up some cute little nic-nacs at Hobby Lobby the day before and was just ecstatic about how cute the door was going to look!!! After about 10 minutes of decorating...TAH DAH!!!

 

 

 

Super cute!!! Pretty soon it was time to head to muster drill at our assigned station and then the fun could begin!!!

 

More soon!! Enjoy friends!!!

 

<3 Missy <3

 

 

You were a couple doors down from us, we were in 10601. I was hoping to run into whoever was in your room since I passed it 20 times a day. At least to say hello.

[cruisin_cutie216]

You were a couple doors down from us, we were in 10601. I was hoping to run into whoever was in your room since I passed it 20 times a day. At least to say hello.

 

That is too cool! Small world huh? We were in and out of the room so much during our cruise. Very awesome to know we were deck mates. It would have been lovely to meet you. :-)

[oracer]

Cruisin Cutie: Just wanted to verify, you can get Ruffles (Chedder Cheese) at the Cafe? Does it cost extra to ask for the bag of chips?

 

Great review so far and very helpful. We are on the Allure in June, so just checking the different writers (Kans and Gambe are really good) and yours.

[cruisin_cutie216]

Cruisin Cutie: Just wanted to verify, you can get Ruffles (Chedder Cheese) at the Cafe? Does it cost extra to ask for the bag of chips?

 

Great review so far and very helpful. We are on the Allure in June, so just checking the different writers (Kans and Gambe are really good) and yours.

 

Hello there, thanks for joining in!

 

The Ruffles most certainly are available at the Cafe! There was no extra charge for the chips, they're complimentary. They had Doritos, Lays, Ruffles, Sun Chips [i think] and maybe one other type as well. The flavors got a bit scarce towards the end of the sailing and I noticed that by about maybe the third to last day onboard, the Ruffles were pretty much gone. Great thing about them being complimentary (or about most of the things for that matter) was it helped when any of us wanted a quick snack to go in the midday.

[KrystalWaters]

I am old fashioned and am smiling from ear-to-ear. Love the way his parents think!:D

:

 

I'm in my early 30s and love love this! I was smiling from ear to ear too. It's so charming and romantic. I'm not done but awesome review.

 

Tell your sweetie thanks for his service and thank you & family for your sacrifice.:)

[cruisin_cutie216]

I'm in my early 30s and love love this! I was smiling from ear to ear too. It's so charming and romantic. I'm not done but awesome review.

 

Tell your sweetie thanks for his service and thank you & family for your sacrifice.:)

 

Why thank you. It certainly felt so special and a good kind of old school when he would come to pick me up for our adventures on the ship or to go to port. I loved it. Originally we had wanted to have our own stateroom but we agreed that it would be cheaper to room with the others and also we would still see each other everyday. Thank you for the wonderful comments.

 

I will most certainly thank him for you once he gets home today. He had some sort of thing to do today with his Army peeps so he left this morning in uniform (not gonna lie, but he looks pretty darn handsome in his ACUs. Woke up early just to get a glimpse of my handsome soldier :D:D).

 

For those of you with spouses/loved ones/significant others in the armed forces today is RED Friday [Remember Everyone Deployed].

 

More review soon to come! Thanks for tuning in!

 

xoxo Missy

[skittl1321]

Really enjoying your review!

 

What a bummer about the skating! I remember a few years ago reading that RCCL had special skate hours for people who brought their own skates, and hearing about people trying spins and small jumps (apparently it is kind of tough to jump on a ship!) but they must have discontinued that. A lot of public skating doesn't allow tricks, and on such a small rink, I can see why they wouldn't.

 

Bummer about the pants- it seems like if you were in tights they serve the same purpose (I always skate in pants, I've been a competitive adult skater for 5 years, not really that good though, but fitted ones so I can't catch my blade- did that too many times and stopped wearing track pants.) I do understand the helmet though. Even a good skater can't tell what's going to happen if a wave rolls the ship a bit.

 

But what a disappointment :( I'll know not to bother bringing my skates!

 

 

I think your next trip you should check into taking Ziggy on NCL Epic. It is becoming less expensive with their new Breakaway debuting, and they have special single cabins- all the other lines you'll have to pay a single supplement, so that really ups the cost for a solo cruise. Of course, if you're still on the 'must have balcony' that wouldn't work!