soccerdad72

My family did the Western Med route on Allure two years ago - we did go out of Civitavecchia and spent a couple days in Rome ahead of time. I think you and your kids would love the cruise from either port, but we had the same thought as you - for a first trip to Europe, our boys would love to spend the extra time in Rome. Not to say that Barcelona isn't a great city, BTW.

I might just keep an eye on that cruise for a while and see if one of the RCL specials doesn't lower the price some. I wouldn't hesitate going out of Barcelona, and probably wouldn't pay $5,000 more to go out of Civitavecchia. I don't think your teens would be as interested in Jewel or Vision, although the cruise is very port heavy, so you're not on the ship as much as, say, a Caribbean cruise.

No Angus Beef Sliders yet.

No chilled soups yet, either - my boys will be bummed. :(

To be honest, I'm not sure why I've not brought my tux on the cruises we've been on? I own one and wear it usually once or twice a year (charity benefits), but have always brought a nice suit for formal nights in the past. Maybe just because I knew that the other men we were going to be cruising with weren't going to bring a tux, so I didn't want to be the only one at the table wearing one?

I don't have girls, but our boys have always generally worn nicer casual clothes (golf shirts and either nicer shorts or khakis) to the MDR for dinner.

Following along - we're on Navigator this summer in Europe (our first time on a Voyager class) so I'm looking forward to all the pics of the ship (and tips).

Yeah, yeah. It's slow. I know. As I explained above (not sure if you read replies I give to others), my employer decided that Cruise Critic is now a restricted site. And I am crazy-busy after work with my son's after-school activities. So my updates have slowed down considerably these past few days. But glad you are enjoying! I will post again today!

Time to find a new job :p

Adventure had 4 stations on the outside deck, only 1 was completely stocked and ready to use. I couldn't get Gina away from the pool. I was the 6th grade champion of Wesleyville, PA.

Completely unrelated to shuffleboard or solo cruising - but I grew up next door to Wesleyville (on the western edge of Millcreek). :)

By the way - enjoying the trip report, slow going as it's been. ;)

I think we had a 10:30am flight and had plenty of time to spare. FLL is really close to the port.

There will be a turkey and stuffing choice in the Main Dining Room.

Been on two Thanksgiving cruises and I have to say, the MDR's turkey and stuffing entree was really good both times - better than I actually expected.

Park Cafe will be open - that's been our usual stop for lunch after embarkation

To be honest, even though we've made reservations in the past, we've never had a problem just walking in for most ice shows (Oasis, Allure and Freedom). They seem to be the one type of show that people no show on reservations the most.

Thanks Bob for the link - good info there. :)

Thanks everyone - glad to know there isn't much of a difference.

As of right now, price and schedule isn't a factor - the best flights out of Cleveland (Iceland Air) are the exact same price and nearly the exact same flight time (they arrive about 10-15 minutes apart). We might go with Gatwick, just because it's smaller. :)

Working on booking flights for our June cruise out of Southampton and was trying to figure out whether we should fly in/out of Gatwick or Heathrow?

We're (my family of 4) planning on flying in a day or two ahead of time, staying somewhere in central London and heading to the port the day of embarkation, then likely flying home the same afternoon we disembark.

Any thoughts on the two airports? I've only been to London once, just for a couple days for a business trip, and I honestly forget which airport I even flew into and out of back then.

Thanks for any advice you might give! :)

'bout time! :cool:

Navigator - June 15, 2018. Northern Delights cruise out of Southhampton

Yep, no problem. Just keep your luggage in your stateroom the final night and once the ship has cleared customs you can disembark.

We were on the Allure for Thanksgiving week this year and disembarked a little after 8am. Even with a sold out ship it was no problem getting off, getting a cab and getting to the airport in nearly no time. We had a 10:20am flight out of FLL and had plenty of time to spare. :)

Is it on the Boardwalk?

Yes, next to the ice cream shop - it's called 'Pets at Sea'

When booking on the Allure a couple weeks ago, we were told March 2017. For now, we have June 2017 booked, but we are planning on switching to 2018 when they're available.

I guess I will start with the odd question and work backwards...

Offhand, does anyone know if RCCL refreshes (for lack of a better word) the ping pong equipment between cruises?

The reason I ask is my observation from our Thanksgiving Allure cruise. My boys and I played a couple games on embarkation day and it became a go-to activity whenever we had some free time (and could get a table).

What we noticed is that as the week went on, the carnage of that area kept growing. By the last sea day, there was no more than two or three unbroken paddles, few uncrushed balls and even a broken table on day 5 or 6 (which they must have been able to repair). The one table we played on had craters on both sides where people had clearly slammed the paddles repeatedly.

I assume that they replace all the paddles and balls in between cruises, but do they swap out tables as well? I figure this was somewhat of an exceptionally bad cruise, given the 1,500 kids on board, but I was amazed at how much damage was done in one week.

Lol! Any specific club?

Younger son (11) just joined Pennine this winter (previously with Whitecaps). Older son (16) has played recently with CVSA, but is now looking at Cleveland Futbal Club.

Soccerdad from Ohio (other side of Cleveland) following along...

My boys are 11 and 16. They both spent hours a day at the Flowrider, but mostly boogie boarding. Stand up surfing was usually a good 30 minute wait so they only went a couple times. That's why they wanted to try stand up during a private lesson. 11 year old was a little more shaky on the surfboard, but my 16 year old is an experienced snowboarder, so that helped

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We did the $69 lesson this past week - technically it's semi-private. It's for a small group of 4-6 people, minimum of 4. For $352 (I think that was the price), you can have an hour to yourself (and up to 5 friends), but with no instruction.

My boys got a lot out of the $69 version - there were 6 total in the lesson, so they each got 6 or 7 runs on the Flowrider with instruction. They were wanting to learn more stand up surfing and both of them were considerably better at the end of the hour.

Were the characters from the Trolls Movie on Allure? Going in February and my kids would love that.

I did not see any Trolls characters on board - they did show the movie twice in 3D in the Amber Theater, though.