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Spring break on the Allure...a photo review


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I would like to know the name of the guy whose job it was to clean that up. THAT GUY deserves a wow card.

 

On to the Solarium where we played another round of steal-the-chair hog-seat, which worked beautifully, as always. One thing we noticed, in the solarium and EVERYWHERE else, were lifeguards.

 

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Which job is worse...sucking up puke with a vomit vacuum, or staring at an empty solarium pool for two hours? Hmm...

 

Fun fact: RCCL lifeguards wear white crocs!

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I work near you two, but live in Northland, buying a NY style pizza tonight from Borgata :) By the way people, the made fresh personal pizza at Sorento's on the Oasis class isn't too bad.

Borgata is good... And I like Giordano's!

 

(I like them all, honostly, just some a little more... I'll eat Any pizza! Lol)

 

Sent from my Galaxy S7 Edge using Forums App

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So after a couple hours napping/baking/dipping/reading in the Solarium, the family moved into the shade adjacent to the Solarium cafe. What a nice, uncrowded spot this was! I went down to the promenade to buy a deck of cards, and we set up shop at our table. First we got some lunch (the solarium cafe had a nice, uncrowded buffet with some pretty fantastic chocolate cookies, although I also made a trip to Park Cafe for a salad).

 

We sat there for a couple hours playing cards. Our son taught us a new game called President. (And then after a few hands, both our kids taught us another new game, called If You Don't Stop Fighting Over the Card Game We Will Go On The Next Cruise Without You). Fun family time- it turned out to be a lovely day in the solarium!

 

I hit up the casino later for an hour or two of slots. I was pretty lucky in Vegas last year but yikes...the machines on Allure were STINGY! I don't think I hit for more than $10. Bummer. I gave up and figured we'd return another night, but we couldn't.

 

You see, every night in the casino you can gamble on more than just tables and slots...you can gamble with your health by inhaling about 50 packs worth of second hand smoke! Yep, I'm one of those people. The smoke is disgusting. You can't even breathe in there (yes, even on the hilariously 'non-smoking' side...smoke doesn't know how to stay on one side of a room, RCCL!)

 

RCCL should learn a lesson from Celebrity here and make the casinos non-smoking. Go ahead and flame me, smokers, #sorrynotsorry as the kids say!

 

So we left Nicotine Night in favor of the Jazz Club. This tiny venue on deck four turned out to be one of our favorite little spots to hit up for a drink - the Jazz musicians onboard were really good- kudos to them for keeping us well entertained!

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You have never seen anyone move faster on a ship than the RCCL hazmat crew. They had red bags and EVERYTHING from the table went into those bags. Is that just to get them out of the room? Or do they incinerate stuff? Why is there no behind the scenes tour of the hazmat stuff?

 

I would totally burn some of my OBC for that tour.

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So after breakfast, we'd head to the Solarium to relax, read, nap, hot tub, dip in pool. And to get to the solarium, you walk past the pool decks where there are a lot of open chairs. There are also a lot of chair hogs, but there are still spots to sit down.

 

But in the solarium? That's a different story, guys. You walk in, and picture maybe 25 people in the whole place. But every chair has a towel on it. Some chairs have one flip flop. An old book. A stupid towel clip. Several clever folks took a towel, folded it lengthwise, and used it to knot two chairs together, saving TWO chairs with ONE towel! Now that is chair hog efficiency.

 

None of these "occupied" chairs have a wet butt print on them, or a tote bag that actually looks like someone is using it...signs that the chair is actually being used.

 

So let's try to do this right. I march over to the pool attendant. Tell him we'd like 2 chairs, and point out all the towel chairs. He says, "well, they're probably in the bathroom or getting food." SERIOUSLY. Sigh, okay.

 

At the risk of being flamed I'm gonna tell you guys how I handle this. I've been honest to this point, why stop now?!

 

THWART THE CHAIR HOGS USING THE MMM Method (Micmacmissy Method):

1. Find chairs that are obviously not really, truly occupied. I picked a set of two that had a towel on one, and a Pepsi tshirt so old and dirty it was clearly a rag, but still had a crease in it and didn't look like it had been worn.

2. Ask adjacent lounge chair occupants politely, "Have you seen someone actually sitting here?" If it's a real chair hog seat, they will say no, I promise you.

3. Plop yourself down and use the chair. I neatly folded the towel and placed it next to the chair, and just tossed the Pepsi tshirt next to the chair.

4. The end. The chances of someone actually coming along to confront you are slim to none, because I promise you, these people are gone for HOURS.

 

MMM Method Variation: Once you have been in that chair for at least 30 minutes, take the towel and Pepsi tshirt over to the pool attendant and say, "Someone left these behind. Do you have a lost and found?" And they will take them and put them wherever that stuff goes.

 

MMM Method Emergency Plan: You've followed the method and moved someone's stuff aside, and they come along within 1-29 minutes and say, "Hey! You took my chair!" You say to them, "My gosh, I am so sorry. I didn't think anyone was sitting here." And then you get up and move quickly. (I have NEVER had to do this.)

 

MMM Method Emergency Plan #2: Someone comes along within 30 minutes to six hours and says, "Hey! You took my chair!" You say to them, "This chair was vacant when I got here two hours ago." Then you pick up your book, start to read, and the conversation is over. Over, you got it?! Meaning if they continue to rant and rave you ignore them. You don't respond. You just keep sitting. Calmly. (I had to do this once, on Independence.)

 

Now, keep in mind that your comfort level with executing this plan may vary. I know lots of people (including the other 3 members of my family) who are appalled that I would touch anyone's towel or tshirt because it is not mine. And they won't do it. But they'll happily sit in the chair I clear for them. Guess what? Chair hogs are counting on you having that ridiculous fear...that's what keeps a front-row lounger available for them from 9:00am until they wander down at 1:30pm...or later!

 

I used the MMM Method on all three sea days...with no problems.

 

I wish folks would realize that if everybody only claimed a chair when they were actually using it, and then vacated, no one would have a problem finding a chair. But humans are humans and that probably won't happen, so instead, RCCL would police this a little better.

 

 

 

I hate the chair hogs, we go to the pools early to avoid crowds and frequently see people come drop a towel, leave and never come back. We actually had someone take our stuff off our chairs while we were in the pool on our last cruise. And not only did they put our stuff on the ground, but they took the actual chairs and moved them to the other end of the row leaving two open spots! This was on the Allure near the kids pool where they have a couple kid size lounge chairs, they took one regular size lounger and one kid size lounger and put them on the other side of the row down near the hot tub leaving one lone kid size lounger at the end of what was a single row of chairs. We had a bunch of stuff on those loungers too, between our two chairs we had 4 pairs of shoes, two cover-ups, a pair of sunglasses and a backpack filled with our belongings. It was early in the day (like 9am) with plenty of chairs (not loungers) open on the other side of the pool against the railing, they just really wanted those loungers I guess. My husband just picked our stuff off the ground and moved it to the chairs on the other side. We saw them, but didn't confront them.

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Lots of alcohol, slippery surfaces, accidents can happen.

I wonder if it's some kind of statutory thing, as in you can't just have a lifeguard at the kids' pool- if you're going to have them they need to be at every pool?

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I wonder if it's some kind of statutory thing, as in you can't just have a lifeguard at the kids' pool- if you're going to have them they need to be at every pool?

Not sure there are any statutes that would apply. Lifeguards and kids life jackets seemed to start after a child drowned in one of the circular rotating flow pools on a Freedom class ship. Might have more to do with reducing lawsuit payouts than statutes. As long as they have crewmembers watching pools, why not watch them all.

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Whew - Just found this review and have spent two hours reading every post :o - what a great review

 

We are sailing in September and are officially excited thanks to your review!

Thanks

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While true, you'd have to make a concerted effort to do so in that pool.

 

I work in the lifeguard industry. Last year a lifeguard in Michigan had to go in and save a gentleman that was the state high school champion 40 years prior. He obviously knew how to swim very well.

 

Had a heart attack while doing his lap swim. Never know when crazy things might happen.

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I work in the lifeguard industry. Last year a lifeguard in Michigan had to go in and save a gentleman that was the state high school champion 40 years prior. He obviously knew how to swim very well.

 

Had a heart attack while doing his lap swim. Never know when crazy things might happen.

I was a lifeguard in my younger years and I am still an excellent swimmer. I would never get in water without a "buddy" who I trust and with whom I have an arrangement with for us to look after each other. Water demands respect.... including that puddle in the Oasis and Allure solariums.

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I work in the lifeguard industry. Last year a lifeguard in Michigan had to go in and save a gentleman that was the state high school champion 40 years prior. He obviously knew how to swim very well.

 

Had a heart attack while doing his lap swim. Never know when crazy things might happen.

 

You never know what is going to happen. Just last year, a lifeguard drown while he was doing a test swim with a whole bunch of other lifeguard candidates for a summer lifeguard position. This young man had worked the same job the year before, so he had the skills. He went under and no one noticed until it was too late.

 

My son used to lifeguard at our local YMCA and he had to stand at the bottom of the inflatable slide outside during the summer to make sure no one drown in the little "pool" at the bottom.

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So after a couple hours napping/baking/dipping/reading in the Solarium, the family moved into the shade adjacent to the Solarium cafe. What a nice, uncrowded spot this was! I went down to the promenade to buy a deck of cards, and we set up shop at our table. First we got some lunch (the solarium cafe had a nice, uncrowded buffet with some pretty fantastic chocolate cookies, although I also made a trip to Park Cafe for a salad).

 

We sat there for a couple hours playing cards. Our son taught us a new game called President. (And then after a few hands, both our kids taught us another new game, called If You Don't Stop Fighting Over the Card Game We Will Go On The Next Cruise Without You). Fun family time- it turned out to be a lovely day in the solarium!

 

I hit up the casino later for an hour or two of slots. I was pretty lucky in Vegas last year but yikes...the machines on Allure were STINGY! I don't think I hit for more than $10. Bummer. I gave up and figured we'd return another night, but we couldn't.

 

You see, every night in the casino you can gamble on more than just tables and slots...you can gamble with your health by inhaling about 50 packs worth of second hand smoke! Yep, I'm one of those people. The smoke is disgusting. You can't even breathe in there (yes, even on the hilariously 'non-smoking' side...smoke doesn't know how to stay on one side of a room, RCCL!)

 

RCCL should learn a lesson from Celebrity here and make the casinos non-smoking. Go ahead and flame me, smokers, #sorrynotsorry as the kids say!

 

So we left Nicotine Night in favor of the Jazz Club. This tiny venue on deck four turned out to be one of our favorite little spots to hit up for a drink - the Jazz musicians onboard were really good- kudos to them for keeping us well entertained!

 

I need to get your secret for keeping your kids with you. Ever since my kids went on their first cruise with us at ages 14 and 12 and discovered the teen club we get on the cruise, they meet kids, and we don't see them for the week. Other than dinners which are mandatory (albeit they leave as soon as they can for some teen activity) and getting off the ship.

 

This is our first cruise on one of the bigger ships. The other 2 (Freedom and Adventure) it was pretty easy to find them if we needed. Now they are 17 and 14 and they're already talking about the teen club and the kids they'll meet. I would love them to see the shows and spend time at the pool with them a little........ *sigh*. If you have any suggestions.....

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Seriously, you have never seen it lit up at night?:o

 

My gosh, now that you mention it- NO!

 

After dark, we were in Central Park, on the Boardwalk, in the Aqua Theatre, in that cool aft seating area one deck lower than the Aqua Theatre...but never made it up to the pool decks. Now I'm bummed! I had no idea the pools/hot tubs would have been open a tight...otherwise we might've taken a dip!

 

Oh well...next time!

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I need to get your secret for keeping your kids with you. Ever since my kids went on their first cruise with us at ages 14 and 12 and discovered the teen club we get on the cruise, they meet kids, and we don't see them for the week. Other than dinners which are mandatory (albeit they leave as soon as they can for some teen activity) and getting off the ship.

 

This is our first cruise on one of the bigger ships. The other 2 (Freedom and Adventure) it was pretty easy to find them if we needed. Now they are 17 and 14 and they're already talking about the teen club and the kids they'll meet. I would love them to see the shows and spend time at the pool with them a little........ *sigh*. If you have any suggestions.....

 

 

No, you have this all backwards. I am the one who needs to get YOUR secret! Seeing only the kids for an hour at dinner sounds fantastic! :'):')

 

Actually, we found out that on our first cruise, our kids far preferred to hang out with us at the pools (no solarium that time as they were underage) and just pal around with us.

 

They had no interest in the kids clubs- that time OR this time. Not sure why...they tend to fall into relaxation very easily...like their mother! ;p

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My gosh, now that you mention it- NO!

 

After dark, we were in Central Park, on the Boardwalk, in the Aqua Theatre, in that cool aft seating area one deck lower than the Aqua Theatre...but never made it up to the pool decks. Now I'm bummed! I had no idea the pools/hot tubs would have been open a tight...otherwise we might've taken a dip!

 

Oh well...next time!

OMG yes! It's really pretty at night with soft multicolored lighting.

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