B2B Allure Of The Seas Pictorial Review - 31st March 2013 & 7th April 2013

[aalden13]

I did the waverunners in labadee with my best friend in '06 on Freedom, I ended up in the middle of the pack (they line you up 1-10 or however many are in your group....1 is whoever wants to go fastest and 10 is slowest) and didnt realize its not as easy as it looks to drive one of those if you don't have the experience. I ended up flying off in one direction and my waverunne going in the other.... by the end of the excursion i was 9 and my friend was 10. at one point they stop and locals on kayaks paddle up and trying to sell you some trinkets.. its fun and a great way to see other sides of the island and its pretty neat to drive by the ship too.

 

STILL very much enjoying your review!

[milpston]

I did the waverunners in labadee with my best friend in '06 on Freedom, I ended up in the middle of the pack (they line you up 1-10 or however many are in your group....1 is whoever wants to go fastest and 10 is slowest) and didnt realize its not as easy as it looks to drive one of those if you don't have the experience. I ended up flying off in one direction and my waverunne going in the other.... by the end of the excursion i was 9 and my friend was 10. at one point they stop and locals on kayaks paddle up and trying to sell you some trinkets.. its fun and a great way to see other sides of the island and its pretty neat to drive by the ship too.

 

STILL very much enjoying your review!

 

That sounds like a trip I would love!

Glad you are enjoying it. There will be more..... when I can get photobucket to stop freezing! :mad:

[milpston]

After resisting the temptation to sleep in the cabana after our exertions we went for another swim.

 

 

 

My Father-in-law is a bit of a dark horse. He never told us he was such an expert with a floating beach mat ;)

 

 

 

There really isn't any snorkelling at this beach or on any others on Labadee from what I have read.

 

This is about the closest I could find to a bit of life by the rocks. I think I saw about 2 fish.

 

[justschuttme]

My Father-in-law is a bit of a dark horse. He never told us he was such an expert with a floating beach mat ;)

 

 

 

 

Ha! Epic. Wonderful how you have this kind of relationship with your FIL...classic. ;) You would fit right in with our family. :)

[milpston]

I took my last few pictures from the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually, Sally must have taken these.... those aren't my toe nails!

 

[milpston]

Ha! Epic. Wonderful how you have this kind of relationship with your FIL...classic. ;) You would fit right in with our family. :)

 

I would say you are right...... but he hasn't seen them on here yet so I may be looking for some new in-laws :D

[rcrdale]

Actually, Sally must have taken these.... those aren't my toe nails!

 

 

Sure they're not!!! Come on, admit it. They ARE actually your toes! lol

[tarajean1962]

Paul, (now that we know your name, we may as well use it!;)) you have made me really excited to go to Labadee now!!:D What a fun day!! I would love a cabana, but I'm pretty sure I could never talk my husband into it.:( As always, great photos!!

 

Tara

[milpston]

At about 15:30 we decided to head back the ship. We deliberatley didn't go to the market. I had heard how pushy the sales techniques could be here and we knew we didn't really want to buy anything.

 

On the walk back this is the only picture I took across adrenaline beach. You can see the zip line wires at the top. You would have thought I'd have waited for someone to go by before taking the picture really :rolleyes:

 

 

 

 

Bag searches and everything takes place in that little building.

 

 

[milpston]

Sure they're not!!! Come on, admit it. They ARE actually your toes! lol

 

OK OK, I've been rumbled. I promise I only French polish them on a Tuesday though :p

Paul, (now that we know your name, we may as well use it!;)) you have made me really excited to go to Labadee now!!:D What a fun day!! I would love a cabana, but I'm pretty sure I could never talk my husband into it.:( As always, great photos!!

 

Tara

 

Haha. My advice is to just book one and don't tell him until you get there. I actually think Labadee was my favourite stop of the whole fortnight as it was so relaxing. The cabana was the cherry on top. The photos are still just fully automatic mode with no photoshop or anything at all.... partly because I wouldn't have a clue where to start :)

[rcrdale]

I would love a cabana, but I'm pretty sure I could never talk my husband into it.:( As always, great photos!!

 

Tara

 

My wife and I are crusing with my father, a friend of my father and my in-laws. We are suprising them with the cabana. They have no idea we rented one.

[milpston]

Whilst making our way along the pier I took my last few pictures of Labadee (I promise!).

 

 

 

 

There was a local group dancing by the entrance to the Allure.

 

 

[milpston]

My wife and I are crusing with my father, a friend of my father and my in-laws. We are suprising them with the cabana. They have no idea we rented one.

 

You will all be glad that you did.

[Bella O]

Thanks for all the great photos. We rented a cabana, and now I'm so glad I did! Perhaps you already mentioned this, but what camera are you using? I'm planning on getting a new camera for our trip, and I'm liking what I see here!

[miniwheat]

We are thinking of renting a cabana, when do u find out which one you get, do you have to be in a suite to get a good one over the water. And how much were the drinks that the attendant bought you?? Thanks so much !!:p

[milpston]

We are thinking of renting a cabana, when do u find out which one you get, do you have to be in a suite to get a good one over the water. And how much were the drinks that the attendant bought you?? Thanks so much !!:p

 

Hi, You don't find out which cabana you get until you arrive but when you book you can choose, beach, hillside or over the water. The drinks are the same prices as on the ship and the seapass card is accepted everywhere except when buying souvenirs from the locals at the market. Everywhere else is basically an extension of the ship.

[miniwheat]

Hi, You don't find out which cabana you get until you arrive but when you book you can choose, beach, hillside or over the water. The drinks are the same prices as on the ship and the seapass card is accepted everywhere except when buying souvenirs from the locals at the market. Everywhere else is basically an extension of the ship.

 

Yours was over the water one wasn't it, how far were the hillside ones from the water and how a hard was it to get to the water from them.:confused:

[milpston]

Yours was over the water one wasn't it, how far were the hillside ones from the water and how a hard was it to get to the water from them.:confused:

 

Yes, ours was an over the water cabana. To be honest I'm not sure which were the hillside ones. None were too far from the water but may just be the difference of whether you need to wear shoes or not to get there. From what someone said earlier it's $25 difference.

[miniwheat]

Yes, ours was an over the water cabana. To be honest I'm not sure which were the hillside ones. None were too far from the water but may just be the difference of whether you need to wear shoes or not to get there. From what someone said earlier it's $25 difference.

 

Is water provided for free or did u have to pay for that 2. What drinks are provided with lunch?

[cruzinlady1947]

Really enjoying this review. Your pictures are great. Why can't my pictures look that good? I guess it is the photographer and not the camera. :(

 

Those island people are really colorful. Makes for good pictures too. I like Labadee, but have been there several times, so I just usually stay on the ship. I am not a sun or water person. I just like to look at the scenery. And you were told right. The vendors on the island are very aggressive. It puts me into a panic when I walk by, so I just stay away. The craft building isn't as bad. Don't mind walking through there.

 

Keep up the great work. And btw, you sure are a very attractive family. And comical too.......:p

 

Gwen :)

[milpston]

Thanks for all the great photos. We rented a cabana, and now I'm so glad I did! Perhaps you already mentioned this, but what camera are you using? I'm planning on getting a new camera for our trip, and I'm liking what I see here!

 

I had to have a look at see what my camera was :p

 

I decided on my last cruise that I needed to get a new camera after I saw the pictures the guy on the balcony next to me was taking compared to mine.

 

I toyed with the idea of buying a DSLR so I could learn to take pictures properly but didn't want to carry a load of different lenses around with me. I only really take pictures on holidays so I decided to go for a Bridge camera.

 

I bought my main camera, a Sony HX100V, just over a year ago so there may be a new model now. It has a decent zoom, can do HD video and there is a fair bit of flexibility to play with settings if I ever learn what I am doing. I haven't got to that point yet so I just use it on auto mode and haven't photoshopped any of the photos.

 

My second camera (the one I used in St Thomas and the ones taken from in the sea in Labadee) is a Cannon Cybershot which I bought about 8 years ago along with the housing that I bought with it for scuba diving. It still does a job though.

[milpston]

Is water provided for free or did u have to pay for that 2. What drinks are provided with lunch?

 

The bottled water was provided with the camera free of charge. With lunch I believe there was just lemonade and maybe another couple of soft drinks. They still accept the soda package, if you have it, when on Labadee.

 

Really enjoying this review. Your pictures are great. Why can't my pictures look that good? I guess it is the photographer and not the camera. :(

 

Those island people are really colorful. Makes for good pictures too. I like Labadee, but have been there several times, so I just usually stay on the ship. I am not a sun or water person. I just like to look at the scenery. And you were told right. The vendors on the island are very aggressive. It puts me into a panic when I walk by, so I just stay away. The craft building isn't as bad. Don't mind walking through there.

 

Keep up the great work. And btw, you sure are a very attractive family. And comical too.......:p

 

Gwen :)

Haha. Thanks for the compliments.

As for the photos. Trust me, it is definitely the camera. Anybody could take pictures with it.

I had heard that about the vendors there. To be honest, it wouldn't bother me too much but I don't think Sally and Chloe would have liked it. They would have either ended up spending money they didn't really want to or got embarrassed by me :o I do tend to say what I think :p

[milpston]

Once back on the Allure we headed back to the cabin.... via Park Cafe for some beef rolls and crisps (chips). Afterall, it had been at least a few hours since we had eaten.

 

After this brief stop we went back to our balcony. I have written a note here saying, "sailed away early, about 16:05". Well if I got that right then it was really early as all aboard on the cruise compass was 16:30 :confused: Maybe everyone was on board early or maybe the excitement of the day had stopped me from being able to read my watch!

 

I took these two pictures of the Labadee coastline as we sailed along it towards Jamaica. I remember at the time that I couldn't decided if that was cloud or rain in the distance.

 

 

 

Every single one of you is probably thinking I'm as dim as what Sally did at the time. I'm sure it's clearer in the pictures than it was at the time but obviously it was just the smoke coming from the ship!

 

It was definitely cloudier than it had been most of the day but the sun was going down and it soon be ready to get showered and ready for the evening ahead. I'm always last to be showered which is why I end up on the balcony taking photographs... and keeping my nicotine intake up :)

 

[milpston]

This evening we were back to our usual 19:45 MDR reservation. As usual we only had to wait for a minute or two before we were shown to a table. This time we were on the far left side of the restaurant and it was nice to have a change from the first week.

Our Head Waiter here was an improvement on last week. I cannot remember his name or where he was from :confused:. He was not very chatty but he was certainly efficient. Our Asst Waiter, on other hand, could not do enough for us and was excellent. He was great with Chloe too and made a couple of things out of napkins for her. They weren't that impressive but it was a nice touch and he was entertaining.

For starter I had the garlic soup. It was really nice.

 

Sally had the Capri Salad. She said it was nice but you'll be surprised to hear I steered clear of that.

 

Chloe had the Minestrone soup.

[milpston]

For main course I had the Strip Steak from the classics menu for the first time.

 

To be honest it was very average. It was edible but it was a pretty poor quality piece of meat really.

Sally had the Tenderloin Pork.

 

Chloe had the Chicken Massala. I think this is a picture of it below.

 

For dessert I had the dessert sampler. It was a good choice as all three were quite nice.

 

Sally had the Tiramasu. She liked it but said it wasn't as good as the one they served in Giovanni's. Chloe had the same.

 

I managed to get my wine package sticker added to my seapass card this evening. Sally and I shared another bottle of the Kim Crawford.

These are the creations our Asst. Waiter made for Chloe. They were a man and a rose. I noticed them kicking around our cabin for the rest of our stay.

 

After dinner, at 21:30, we went for a couple of beers in Dazzles. It was the orchestra playing tonight.

At about 23:00 I saw Sally and Chloe safely back to the cabin and went to see if I could find a cash game of poker in the casino. I played until about 00:30 and after starting well didn't manage to win anything. I was disappointed with the poker facilities on the ship. I know it was the same as the Oasis but there just never seemed to be any players and when there were it wasn't very well run. It probably didn't help that it was the first cruise I have been on where I haven't managed to clear my account with casino winnings! I left and joined the others in bed.