KGSB11

Woke up with room to stretch this morning as I chose to explore the ship while many cruisers were still nestled all snug in their beds…Okay I’ll admit that the coffee and breakfast pastries were calling, but I managed to at least spend some time on the track; my running friends would be proud (SPOILER ALERT: I wasn’t exercising) :p

After hitting up Café Promenade around 7:15am, I enjoyed some time to admire the ship in its ‘empty’ state.

 

After this I made it outside onto the track to get some fresh air as I made my way back to the aft-stairs; the weather today was very overcast, not too hot, but very humid. You know that feeling that the clouds WANT to precipitate (SPOILER ALERT: It would rain a decent amount around lunch) – it was a few minutes in that I realized among the few runners that were out this early, I was the only guy walking on the track with a plate full of pastries – oh, the irony :cool:

 

A view from my balcony

 



 

DW woke up shortly after I returned and requested a breakfast sandwich from Park Café – I went out to round up the requested item and brought back a few extra choices that looked good as well (yogurt parfait, melon medley, and a chili-egg-burrito)

 

Up Next: CruiseCritic Meet & Mingle and a drinking class!

And the D.O.'s

Up Next: First Day at Sea! :D

Compass (in advance no less)!!! [APPLAUSE]

Attached is a 'blank' copy of the Countdown Planner Sheet. In order to set the countdown, scroll to the right to cell columns AC & AD -- Here you enter the date and time of the flight/cruise departure

RCCL_Cruise_Planner.xls

Sorry folks for the apparent leave of absence! I will get started on posting Day 3 shortly.

I have figured out a work-around for the Google Photos issue, albeit still not as easy as before, but much better than what I initially found -- plus this saves the hassle of having to move everything! :eek:

So I had a scare this weekend when my cell-phone (a.k.a. Where all my notes for the cruise are stored) broke on me -- rather, I should say I broke it :rolleyes: -- but those are details which I care not to discuss henceforth! All you need to know is that I THANKFULLY was able to recover my photos/data/contacts and most importantly CRUISE NOTES from the internal memory whist it lay in despair.

Actual Photo -- Not a Dramatization :o

The D.O's:

Aaaand, the compasses for the day just ended...

Bob, what a wonderful review. I love the Allure of the Seas. Cannot wait to be on its sister ship next May 2014 (again). I need a cruise! :p

Thank you for the compliment!

Nice review so far...subscribing for the rest as we are going to be on Allure B2B in Jan/Feb 2014.

Awesome! Thanks for following along on my endeavour...I'm sure being a B2B qualifies you for more discounts/freebies, but I know Giovanni's Table offers something special to B2B's on turnaround day. :cool:

Bob, i'm loving reliving our cruise through your review!!

as always i LOVE your writing style!!! you're a hoot!!!! :)

 

i'd like to add to anyone who hasn't met you, you're just as nice in person as in writing. And you have a super sweet and adorable wife!!!!! And a lucky one to be married to a planner who takes care of everything!!!!!! :)

 

regarding My Time Dining - i reserved all our dining times in advance. After i set our schedule (shows, games, etc) i figured out how MTD could fit in.

It turned out that 6 PM worked every night, so i booked the same time every night. As a result, we had the same table and same servers every night. It worked out really well! Even on the night that we ended up being about a half hour late.

 

We also were scheduled for the second show of OceanAria on Sunday, but i ended up crashing in the room before it started. ("i'm ssoooooooo tired....i have to sleeeeepppppppppp"....and then i was asleep)..

the rest of the family went and LOVED it. I saw it the next night. DH and i waited in the standby line and ended up sitting in the VIP seats, which are opened up at the same time as the standby line. It worked out great!

 

just coming back to add that i like your spreadsheet better than mine - so i'm going to steal it for our next cruise!! ;)

Thank you Beth for such nice comments - it was a pleasure to meet you and your family as well.

If you would like I can include the actual file so you don't have to re-create it. Just let me know! :D

Hi all!

 

KGSB11 ~ loving your review & pictures especially since I'll be going on Allure in 61 more days! What is the name of the app please that records

the distance you walked?

 

~ Jo ~ :)

Thank you, regarding the app, I use Accupedo. I know it is available on Android, but I have no idea on the availability on iTunes.

I like it because you can calibrate it to your individual step length and sensitivity -- makes for much more accurate measurements compared to the standard "clip-on" one-size fits all pedometers.

Thanks for the tip for lunch!

 

LOL @ "review all your notes". I can only imagine the magnitude of this project! Thanks for all your hard work! I am loving it. Your humor & writing style is very enjoyable!

I board the Allure in 4 1/2 days. This has been such a fun read as I anticipate my departure! Also, I too am a beach bag/tote lover! :) Your wife has great taste! :D

I hope that I can get through it before you sailaway! And thank you for your compliments.

Loving your review! Thanks for the 'tip' about eating at Giovanni's on boarding day (it is now another one of those CC secrets that only we know about...:cool:). Would you recommend booking or could you just turn up?

I would recommend just turn up. We were the only people eating there for lunch with the exception of a few B2B couples that had a snack special; so it may be best to keep your options open in case something else comes up.

Also, if you make a reservation ahead of time, you may pay full-price ($15pp) whereas I was able to eat for $10pp -- this may be a mistake on their part, but it is worth a try! :D

Once we shook out the glaze that had formed on our eyes from admiring the Royal Promenade, we made it up to Central Park for lunch at Giovanni’s Table. This lunch was well worth the $15pp charge – Here is a link to the menu posted by Familygoboston http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=38152637&postcount=23

We had the Antipasti per Due, Lasagna Tradizionale, and the Gamberoni al Forno – Also tried their cannolis and the chocolate hazelnut fudge cake…the cake was the winner in that head-to-head matchup.

 

Another thanks to Familygoboston for the Giovanni's tip!

So, here is another tip...be sure to review ALL YOUR NOTES before posting in a review. I just noticed that although it is stated that Giovanni's Table is $15pp for lunch, we paid only $10pp for this fabulous lunch!

I don't know if they have changed the lunch price or if it is a Embarkation Special. :cool:

I'm in total agreement about Nassau.

 

Ick.:rolleyes: I don't know why they keep it on the itinerary. I know Oasis class can only go to certain stops, but still!!

I think this was my fifth visit to Nassau - or rather docking at Nassau.

The past few times i haven't gotten off the ship.

 

But this time we did something that's really nice to do and worth the effort of getting off the ship - The Blue Lagoon Dolphin Swim.

 

DD, DSIL, DH and i all did it and had a wonderful time!! We thought it was very well run and worth the money!

Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed our time in Nassau...we just found that aside from Atlantis, there is plenty of time to do what you want to do and still have a good time -- I would assume that those people who enjoy Atlantis would wish to stay longer!

It was on to Park Café for Beef Sandwiches for lunch; I also had the veggie pita which was excellent...fresh greens and sautéed bell peppers stuffed inside a whole-wheat pita drizzled with olive-oil based vinaigrette.

The Solarium would be our residence for the next 5 hours plus or minus a few minutes. Books and music were our choice of pastimes – while I intermittently explored the offerings of decks 15 and 16 until it was time to drag DW away from her book and get ready for the first formal night.

We missed the Captain’s reception, but made it down to the Promenade while the free champagne was still being carted around – DW’s favorite part of the cruise experience. We strolled the length of the Promenade a few times before we decided to head to the MDR where we (rather I, the wine-o) had the biggest disappointment of the cruise.

I had the Lobster bisque soup and Caesar salad appetizers and DW had the Caesar salad again…BTW, the Caesar salad was VERY good! For the main course I had the roasted duck and she had the Salmon – not overly impressed with either dish, but both were good in their own right. We had the bittersweet chocolate soufflé, strawberry cheesecake, and lemon meringue brought table-side. I will rank them in the reverse order in which I just listed them (lemon meringue being the better).

Now the disappointment…the wine!

I had wanted the Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Cabernet with dinner; one of my favorite wines overall, and one bottle I expected to have a few times this week…well they did not have it onboard during this particular voyage. Instead they replaced it with an offering from Michael Mondavi, Napa County…I got caught off guard and accepted the bottle when in reality I should have went with a different selection off the list – Michael does not make wine as good as his father!

After dinner, we retreated to the room as DW was very exhausted from her day in the sun – I decided to take a stroll through the mostly quiet ship now with one of my good late-night friends Johnnie Walker. After unsuccessfully trying to go out on the deck 14 bridge wing, now dubbed the “moon-deck”, I headed elsewhere.

A stop at Café Promenade for treats (cookie and brownie) and it was to our balcony I went to finish the evening whilst enjoying the sounds of the ocean.

Day 2: 3.15mi walked

Up Next: Day 3, At Sea

More pictures as we headed back to the ship:

While admiring the back end of the straw-market where many hand-carved items are on display or in-the-works as the artist carves in front of you, I found THE gift – I was able to negotiate a price of $13 down from his initial offer of $30 and DW agreed it was perfect…In fact, she found it so perfect that she had to leave she was laughing so hard as to not embarrass us…she found solace in purchasing a beach-bag while I negotiated for the new houseware item for her brother :rolleyes:.

After a brief blue-sky drizzle and stopping in a few shops, we found ourselves at Senor Frogs. This was our first experience here and we were more in for the people watching than the participation in various “games” they played. We were there for a while and enjoyed Mojitos and Bahama-mamas.

Approximately 45min before the All-Aboard time we headed back to the ship – through the bottle neck in the small building/gift shop.

“Well that was a nice hour and a half!?” :rolleyes: – This was the sentiment of comedian Phil Tag when we saw him later in the week.

I really couldn’t disagree with him, but I will have to admit, unless you plan to go to Atlantis, the few hours that you are here is plenty! And I don’t mean that negatively; there just isn’t whole lot to do in my (& DW’s) opinion.

The day started with me waking to the ALLURE already docked and the second ship of the day, the Carnival Fantasy, pulling in beside us. Our plans didn’t necessitate us to be up early, so I elected to get a few more hours of shut-eye and woke 45min to an hour later as the Disney Dream came in beside the Fantasy – at this point I began to move about and brought coffee, fruit, and pastries back from Park Café to enjoy on the balcony as DW slowly came to.

After we got ready to go portside, and I wiped the condensation of my camera lens (sorry for the fuzzy pictures above), we went up to the WindJAM for a more substantial breakfast – I use the term WindJAM more as a colloquial metaphor that has come to resemble the Windjammer Marketplace aboard the Oasis Class ships here on CC – in reality, we found that:

a) Yes it is busy pretty much all the time – but then again, what buffet isn’t -- The Solarium Bistro was a great alternative if the line was longer than we cared for

b) We ALWAYS found a seat – near a window, no not always

c) Depending on the time of day, or more importantly I submit, time remaining in “open-hours” – temperature of the food varied

Now if the CVS pukeboy wasn’t enough to have us on edge looking for HAZMAT suits, we ended up sitting next to a family, where either the Dad had bad manners or a severely clogged nose/throat as every 30sec, he snorted in such a way that made your food begin to come back up…and the two little girls with him would cough into the air so as to share it with all of us around…anyways, suffice to say we made that a quick breakfast and quickly headed ashore – I didn’t record any times, but I’d imagine at this point that the time was close to 9:45-10:15am.

Once ashore I had two things planned, straw-market and Senor Frogs.

We trolled through the straw-market looking for nothing in particular; DW has an unhealthy obsession with beach-bags and tote-bags so she was enjoying looking :cool:. Now, if you ever wonder where used-car-salesmen learn their trade from, it is from these people here in the Bahamas – they know how to sell and know exactly what to say, so don’t anticipate to shop in silence - they are like predators, they look for the slowest moving prey, and strike :p.

However, I confess, that I was secretly looking for a gift for DW’s brother and sister-in-law – it all started 5 years ago on our honeymoon when we brought back an outrageous gift from Hawaii that her brother admired so much (partly because of how “ugly” it was) that we started a sort of white-elephant vacation gift exchange each time DW and I or he and his wife go on vacation…the resultant gift must be “proudly” displayed in the others’ home for no less than one year!

Okay, so I have had all my photos uploaded to my Google+ page and that is where I have been pulling the links to display my photos - easy-peasy...apparently just when I get into the swing of this review, Google changes the coding on their website and I can no longer "Copy Image URL" for the normal sized pictures :rolleyes:...only the full-size, ginormous ones that are difficult to view without a 63" monitor.

So until I figure out a way to easily copy the image url (I tried until 1am last night), this review will be pretty labor intensive -- look for Day 2 within the hour!

The 16 day dance!!:D! And loving your review!!! Great pictures btw,, 3 miles!!! I better bring some comfy shoes!!:)

Congrats on your 16 day countdown!! Bring comfy shoes for sure - 3.7 may have been the longest we walked during the cruise, but every day was over 2 miles. :)

One more thing I will add to Day 1 and continue through each day. I carried my phone with me at most times throughout the day -- for recording purchases/budgeting and such...and as a result it recorded majority of my walking -- except quick trips for beverages or the last part of the evening if my phone died. :rolleyes:

Day 1: 3.70 miles walked

Loving the review. And totally agree about the degree needed to uninstall and reinstall car seats!

No easy task when it comes to car-seats...and it also seems like just for fun, the industry makes toys that much of a pain to remove from packaging...I mean, COME ON! How many Kevlar-ties, screws, and padlocks are needed to secure a teddy bear to the cardboard display box! :eek:

I am the same as your wife! My husband plans everything and I enjoy the vacation. I can't wait to read the rest of the review and I may send DH to this review.

DW says that I plan too much, but I know deep down, she enjoys herself. Especially when it comes to navigating the ports and ship -- that is where the planning pays off.

I am subscribed & loving the review!

Thanks!

What a great start to a very interesting review.

Thank you!

Really enjoying "re-living" the cruise with you! :)

 

Great photos!

Thanks for the compliment...I am still trying to get through all of the photos you posted on TripAdvisor.

Oh how long a week can feel. We board Sunday and so far the last two days felt longer than the 700 since we booked this cruise.

I know the feeling; stay strong my friend, for me the latter part of the week went by much quicker!