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Live - Allure Simulation Cruise July 27, 2021🛳


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Sail away time lapse from a deck 14 balcony.

 

 

I normally wouldn't pick this location due to the overhang.  The time lapse would be better with a full sky but I wasn't about to whine for a better cabin for the simulation cruise so it is what it is.

 

Shot with a 360 camera and edited later in software adding the pan, tilt and zoom movements as I was off somewhere else during sail away.   

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4 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

The issue in PC was they didn't have marked ques. But they did have a que. And shoreside personnel just directed everyone to the same place. Now multiple time slots in same line

 

Easily solved with seperate lines by time slot. They definitely have room for it. The staff in garage were clueless 

When we arrived we were asked what our boarding time was and directed to a line. Others with a later time were directed to a line next to us. Maybe they started that right after you went thru? The lady with the barking dog was at the entrance when we arrived and they didn’t let her in until almost the time we were about to go in.

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2 hours ago, twangster said:

 

Generally pleased but the software can be flaky at times.  This camera requires a workflow in software to produce results. 

 

It literally captures everything in 360 then you have to decide what you want to show.  It's very particular on memory cards because it's writing a bunch of data when shooting 5K video.  Even the recommended cards sometimes let you down.  

 

It's a solid feeling camera but a lot of the finishing is done in an app on a phone so that's interesting at times.  Video files are massive.  Need a beefy phone with lots of storage to do it right.  Android support is typical hit and miss, it won't run on my Galaxy Tab for example so I'm left doing it on the smaller screen of my iPhone.  That gets tiring after a while with my old eyes.  

 

Of all the 360 cameras out there this one is getting rave reviews but you need some patience being on the bleeding edge.  I bought two.  I set one on my balcony to capture time lapse of sailing away and the other I carry around.  I'm working on putting a video together made up of smaller segments but that some work so it will be a few days.  

 

Here is a video clip I did on board of the Flowrider:

 

 

 

That video kind of gets me dizzy when showing that 360 views.  Regular pictures aren't that bad doing the 360 shots.

 

Really though I think I liked your regular photo's better on your other cruise reviews. 🙂

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17 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

It felt like we were getting off as soon as we got on. Very short, but was very happy to be on a ship again.

 

I was outside of John’s. 😁 His ringer thing wasn’t going thru to them. 

Hubby always says on a 3 nighter, it’s the ‘Welcome aboard, get the flip off my ship show’ on the first night.  Fit everything in quickly.

Erika

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As I am still experimenting with 360 photography I captured a video of Central Park just to gain more experience and see what this camera can do.

 

I don't normally do a lot of vertical video but for Central Park with the tall sides it sort of worked.

 

 

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@twangster, add me to the list of people thanking you for all your photos and videos.  I'm almost down to double digits on my countdown until my next cruise, and I'm 118 days from stepping aboard Allure, and the pics and videos are helping to keep me grounded in the meantime.

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9 hours ago, twangster said:

As I am still experimenting with 360 photography I captured a video of Central Park just to gain more experience and see what this camera can do.

 

Your 360 videos look great and have me really intrigued.  How much "automation" capability does the software have?  Can you pick your view for one frame and then your view for 100 frames later and have it automatically pan/zoom in between or is it a manual process?  I saw a slight bounce as you were walking with the camera...can it do stabilization in software?  Can Premiere or Final Cut Pro handle the video straight out of the camera or do you have to use their proprietary software to initially create a "normal" video?  So much potentially with all of that footage available to play with.  Looks like it requires a different kind of creativity in post.

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11 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Your 360 videos look great and have me really intrigued.  How much "automation" capability does the software have?  Can you pick your view for one frame and then your view for 100 frames later and have it automatically pan/zoom in between or is it a manual process?  I saw a slight bounce as you were walking with the camera...can it do stabilization in software?  Can Premiere or Final Cut Pro handle the video straight out of the camera or do you have to use their proprietary software to initially create a "normal" video?  So much potentially with all of that footage available to play with.  Looks like it requires a different kind of creativity in post.

 

I don't want to sidetrack this thread and turn it into a 360 photography thread.  Try looking at this YT which is one I used when I first got mine.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-kjaKe0BWM

 

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23 hours ago, cruisegirl1 said:

 

They need to create a separate line for each check in time slot so those of us that already are assigned  the 1 o’clock check in times don’t have to wait in line behind those that have later check-in  times. 

I'm not in USA, but I agree, unfair if you stick to  the rules and turn up at the correct time, only to find a long line of people with later slots already in front of you 

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11 minutes ago, sgmn said:

I'm not in USA, but I agree, unfair if you stick to  the rules and turn up at the correct time, only to find a long line of people with later slots already in front of you 

 

They also need to do a better job announcing departure times if they want us to wait in our cabin.

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12 hours ago, twangster said:

As I am still experimenting with 360 photography I captured a video of Central Park just to gain more experience and see what this camera can do.

 

Were those stowaway birds I could hear chirping in the background?  It sounds so peaceful.

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26 minutes ago, derorim said:

 

Were those stowaway birds I could hear chirping in the background?  It sounds so peaceful.

 

7 minutes ago, truffles2 said:

While there are often live birds in Central Park, the chirps are piped in.

 

Along with the crickets that can be heard at times... 🙂 

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21 hours ago, twangster said:

 

If you are getting one buy it soon and practice.  It does have a learning curve and can be mildly frustrating while learning.

I'm sold. I'll get some retirement cash before my November sailing and I am going to buy one. I will take your advice and buy early and practice. I've got an iPhone 11 Pro Max with 256gb. Will that be enough? Also you talked about finicky storage cards, do you have one you recommend? Love the look. I saw some underwater footage where it acts like you have a dome housing for that cool half above and half below the water surface. That will save me from buying a dome.

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7 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

I'm sold. I'll get some retirement cash before my November sailing and I am going to buy one. I will take your advice and buy early and practice. I've got an iPhone 11 Pro Max with 256gb. Will that be enough? Also you talked about finicky storage cards, do you have one you recommend? Love the look. I saw some underwater footage where it acts like you have a dome housing for that cool half above and half below the water surface. That will save me from buying a dome.

I do photography/video part time. 256 gb? Depends what you are recoding in. At 4k you might have 8hrs (if phone was empty)but you also have whatever else is taking up storage on your phone.1080p you will have much much more room

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20 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

I've got an iPhone 11 Pro Max with 256gb. Will that be enough? Also you talked about finicky storage cards, do you have one you recommend? 

 

That's what I have.  The Insta360 captures what they call 5k but that's for all 360° being captured.  With a 256GB phone I need to manage storage wisely and my 360 workflow involves moving the 360 files on, working on them and getting them off to make room for the next round.  

 

I backup the files on my laptop and subsequently to a storage NAS for archival so I have them for long term purposes but with "only" 256GB on my phone I find I do need to work on my immediate project then get them off my phone.  

 

Getting used to this workflow is part of 360 photography which is why I suggest you get comfortable with it before a big event such as a cruise vacation.   You'll learn to capture more efficiently and only exactly what you need to help reduce the raw volume of material in the process.  All part of the learning process.

 

Edited by twangster
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7 minutes ago, twangster said:

All part of the learning process.

I watched your YT link and I can see the learning curve. As Bob asked about editing in Final Cut or Premiere I researched and there does look like there is a plug in for Final Cut X and Premiere. How well it works I don't know. How is it for mounting? I'm curious how did you have it mounted on your balcony for the sail away?

 

Also Apologies for hijacking John's wonderful thread. Twangster feel free to email me to talk off forum about this and other great things you are doing at gpsteele@gmail.com.

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Time to wrap this up and recap highs and lows, sorry I'm a day behind. I really do have a life outside of CC

 

I'm breaking it up by the various aspects of this voyage from start to finish.

 

Invitation - All I can say is that it eventually worked, but it was beyond stressful. The three broken links, the movement of cabins, and the cloud of being chosen as unvaccinated were all a little to much. Not to mention the extremely short notice. They knew for weeks what day they were sailing.

Oh well, it was free.

 

Boarding - Honestly did not mind boarding by groups, but the process needs tweeking. Hopefully it will improve by the time she sails with passengers on August 8. Create some ques for goodness sake. I'll be interested to hear how the CDC evaluated that.

Once inside terminal it went very smoothly. The only glitch was we tried to use printed set sail passes, and Laura had wrong cabin, so we had to go to desk and get a new one. Then the ticket taker didn't see that she had been moved. Took a few minutes to straighten out. I'm sure it would have been fine if we had used the app. My bad.

 

Cabin access - Headed straight to cabin, no need to wait for cleaning, big plus. However that will likely only happen again on the first revenue cruise. Once they start doing turn arounds, I'm sure they won't be available as quickly.  Not sure I mentioned, but we had a little magnet on our cabin doors indicting they were sanitized.

 

Windjammer lunch - It was phenomenal, it appears the other simulation cruises are doing a similar spread. I could have stayed all day and had dinner. It was that good. Shame it never opened again except for breakfast. Guess they used entire budget on one meal. Scanning to go in and out was no big deal.

 

Staff - They were beyond friendly, and I believe it was sincere. They seemed to enjoy having people on the ships. Be prepared for a ton of cheering and welcome backs. But it is odd seeing them in masks 24/7, and accents and masks do not pair well. You may find yourselves asking them to repeat things, it's all good.

 

Food - it was hit or miss. But they would make it right if you asked. Damn, I miss that Windjammer lunch. I'll include QR code menus here. I see lots of problems. From folks not wanting to carry a phone, to finding out your battery is dead. Not even sure the purpose if this virus is airborne and not surface. Should work well for Noro, though. And I hate to gripe about this, but the CK dinner invite was botched in my opinion. Phone message sent out at 11:30 am the day of while we were all at Coco Cay. Not sure why they couldn't have left a form in the cabin on boarding day like they do with the Bridge or Galley tours. Oh well, sour grapes I guess.

 

Entertainment - They had plenty for us to do (except Mama Mia 😥) but with reduced passengers the shows and activities were all virtually empty. I felt bad for the performers to tell you the truth. It is what it is so they say. I did try and clap extra loud at the ice show.

 

To be continued......

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On 7/31/2021 at 11:17 AM, John&LaLa said:

 

It's a challenge to arrive exactly on time, so there needs to be lines associated with your slot. We had 12:30, arrived around 12:10.

 

Folks with 1:00 were allready there, and some 1:30 arrived while we waited. And then 12:30 folks arrived about same time, so they all got mixed in. Not the fault of passengers, blame fully on Royal and there shore staff

John, Any idea now that they are sticking firm on boarding times what the earliest slot is for check in? Never got the email notification to check in for our August Symphony sailing and just happened to notice it was open on the app. But 1 pm was the earliest I could choose then, with slots as late as 5 pm 

 

Chris 

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Wrap up continued.

 

Coco Cay - While I didn't mind Coco Cay being virtually empty, I think the food suffered due to little turnover. That was a shame, but they made things fresh when they could. Free pass to Thrill Water park, instant shuttles, no lines, no need to worry about finding a lounger, were all fantastic. Imagine swimming up to Oasis Bar and finding a seat waiting. It was awesome.  

 

Overall Ship condition - While it didn't get the planned amplification, there were several other things done and she was in tip top shape. Can't wait to come back and sail her again in 63 days. It will be nice having more time to enjoy all she has to offer.

 

Covid Protocols - I'm fine with what we had to endure, however with limited passengers I'm not sure how it will scale. 4 in an elevator is no big deal when they are almost always empty. Never really saw the 6' spacing staff having to do anything. Masking as I traveled from one location to the next was no big deal. Of course that could change, who knows what the future has in store for us.

 

Departure - It was easy enough with only 650 passengers, but I must have missed the directions to keep TV on to see your departure released, or they need to work on how they announce your number is cleared to leave. I'll put the blame on me for now. Immigration/customs with facial recognition was flawless, but it was before Covid.

 

So that's it. Would I do it again? Yep, and not just because it was free. It was an adventure that I was glad to participate in and thankful that I could help Allure get back into the swing of things. I enjoyed sharing with you all and am grateful for the other contributors. If anyone has any further questions or thoughts, let me know. If not, I'll see y'all in October. Either here, or onboard.

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17 minutes ago, niksmom630 said:

John, Any idea now that they are sticking firm on boarding times what the earliest slot is for check in? Never got the email notification to check in for our August Symphony sailing and just happened to notice it was open on the app. But 1 pm was the earliest I could choose then, with slots as late as 5 pm 

 

Chris 

 

Ours was 12:00, but as I mentioned above there was no turnaround involved.

 

The early ones go fast, you may have missed an earlier time. I'm told the app opens up for check in before the web page does.

Edited by John&LaLa
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43 minutes ago, niksmom630 said:

John, Any idea now that they are sticking firm on boarding times what the earliest slot is for check in? Never got the email notification to check in for our August Symphony sailing and just happened to notice it was open on the app. But 1 pm was the earliest I could choose then, with slots as late as 5 pm 

 

Chris 

 

Here's a guess. Go to the app and see when your safety briefing shows up in your calendar

Screenshot_20210801-162334_Royal.thumb.jpg.65a485df5b15a5fd6a8357438b85d6b2.jpg

 

We have 2pm for boarding slot, being Pinnacle I may show up at 1:00 since we get an hour cushion. It should/may correspond to the first slot. 

 

From what I can tell so far, the briefing seems to correspond with boarding time

 

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