A toddler takes her parents cruising: Allure of the Seas June 24, 2012

[troyandcarol]

Looking forward to hiking with El Scream O, haha ;)

[SarahGT]

Looking forward to hiking with El Scream O, haha ;)

 

El Scream-O's adventures will have to wait until this evening as I left my files at home. But they're good adventures - and she only screamed for one way :)

[SarahGT]

I just realized that some of the photos that I posted earlier aren't showing up. Here they are reposted.

 

Our stroller rests in Central Park after a long day of hitting the hallways (please note that the stroller is fully licensed and registered). (First Years Ignite umbrella stroller - comes complete with a partial recline and retractable shade)

 

Baby in Ergo baby carrier, mama with back pack to balance baby - in St. Thomas before our excursion

 

Folding bathtub (Prince Lionheart) in the shower of our stateroom - it folds up small enough to fit in a large suitcase 3"x9.5"x25.5".

[nancydru]

Thank you for your review. We will be heading out on the Allure for Thanksgiving. As with your family, my father is taking my sister and myself along with our families. I have two kids 11 and 16 but my sister has a toddler (they have already taken her on the Oasis.) This sounds like she could be writing this! I'm looking forward to hearing more about your adventures!

[SarahGT]

Here's the evening cruise compass for Day 4 - sorry I must have left the main Day 4 compass on the ship.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?pid=explorer&srcid=0Bxl8YO3Odzt4UDJKRGVYNzYycWM&docid=df9b42cb2585892386b95f7d02988418%7C59aa6e4b066d0a1a2cf1020d3aaea3ab&a=bi&pagenumber=1&w=825

 

Today we had booked the excursion Destination St. John: Coastal Cruise. This was one of three Destination St. John excursions offered (the others were a shopping walk and a historical walking tour). All three involved a boat ride from the dock at St. Thomas to Cruz Bay on St. John. The Coastal Cruise was then to go on a short cruise along part of St. John's coastline, then you would get around 3 hours of free time on St. John before boating back to St. Thomas. I think this is the excursion I was most looking forward to.

 

This tour didn't leave until 10 am, so this gave us some wiggle room to have a leisurely morning and not be rushed trying to get somewhere. We had no problems disembarking and had a brief wait on the dock for the tour to leave, but we managed to amuse ourselves by visiting with a friendly lizard.

 

 

The ride over to St. John was pretty choppy and pretty windy, with running commentary from the captain on the various islands we were passing and local lore. The trip over wasn't too long - maybe 30-45 minutes. We sat near the prow of the boat to enjoy the breeze and Samara fell asleep soon before we arrived in Cruz Bay - drat.

 

As we were nearing the end of our trip to St. John, the captain mentioned that if passengers just wanted to skip the next portion of their excursion (boat tour, shopping, or walking tour), there would be taxis available at the dock to take you to whatever destination you wanted. I think that most of our fellow passengers did this. On the trip over we'd decided to do the same, as we wanted to maximize our time in St. John.

 

Once at Cruz Bay we stopped by the National Park Service Visitor Center for trail maps, post cards, and restrooms. Then we went in search of an early lunch. We ate at Jake's - up the hill from the dock. Nothing special, just sandwiches and wraps, but the view was pretty neat - that and we got to watch Cruz Bay traffic jams on the one-way street below.

 

The view from our lunch table

 

After lunch we headed off on our adventure: hiking to Honeymoon Beach. We took the Lind Point Trail (from the parking lot behind the NPS Visitor Center), which took about 30-45 minutes. It was a rather hot and sticky day and the trail didn't offer much shade - the vegetation we passed through was pretty cactus-like and arid. The trail was a little steep at the beginning and end and rather rough in places - definitely not a trail wearing flip-flops on. We did not take the route that went by the Lind Point overlook - we were looking for the easiest route to Honeymoon Beach because Samara was not a happy camper. Here's where La Scream-o makes her appearance. As we hiked, I carried her in the baby carrier (Ergo) so she was facing me, and as she would scream, she tried to push off of me. Fun times. She was in no danger of falling out at any time, she just made it not very much fun. Fortunately, I don't have any pictures of this splendid behavior. I think she was just hot and tired and was expressing her displeasure in the best way should could, since her vocabulary is rather limited. She normally likes to go on walks in this carrier - I'd been "conditioning" her to it on weekend morning jaunts around our neighborhood. So we made it to Honeymoon Beach, which is only accesible via this trail or by swimming in from offshore. There are no facilities here, so it was all pack in, pack out. It looked like the perfect beach - white sand, turquoise water, three palm trees. We settled in, under our own palm tree (the middle one). The water was gorgeous - so warm and clear.

 

Samara chilled out a bit once she got into the water. She didn't like it however, when her dad or I left her with the other to go swimming. So we ended up sitting in the shallow surf picking up shells and rocks. It was fantastic. This is one of my best memories from the cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

Part II to follow to accommodate additional photos

[SarahGT]

Salomon Beach is just around the headland and reachable by a spur off the trail we took. My husband said that it looked even more perfect (and less crowded) than Honeymoon Beach from his vantage point as he swam out further into the ocean. There were maybe 20-25 other people on Honeymoon Beach by the time we left. My husband thought it was getting a little crowded. We probably stayed at Honeymoon Beach for 2 - 2.5 hours. The hike back was uneventful. My husband took a turn with the baby carrier and Samara fell asleep quickly.

 

We got back to Cruz Bay with plenty of time to spare and were able to pick up some cold water and juice before boarding the boat. Rum punch was plentiful on the ride back - I thought it was some very strong rum punch, so my second glass was rum-free.

 

 

As we neared Charlotte Amalie, I kept trying to spot the Allure, thinking they can't hide a ship of that size. As we rounded a bend, there she was - and then there was a random pirate ship in the water as well!

 

There she is!

 

Random pirate ship sighting!

 

There was a bit of a line to get back on board, but there wasn't any problem - just a lot of people trying to do the same thing at the same time. We ended up late to meet the rest of the family for dinner in the main dining room, but no worries.

 

I think that it was an early evening for me as I wasn't feeling very good and wanted to catch up on sleep.

 

My SIL-1 and her family toured St. Thomas on their own. Here's what she has to say about it: St Thomas was good but expensive to get around. We visited the steps there and the pirate castle which was okay - pricy and minimal history but neat. They had colorful tour guides and neat statutes. We went to Magen's bay beach which had no waves and palm trees everywhere. It was picturesque and fun but Oriental Beach on st martins was better.

 

The remainder of the family did some shopping on their own in Charlotte Amalie. They've cruised and stopped at St. Thomas before so they knew where to go for some nice jewelry.

 

Up next - St. Maarten or you know where the best-laid plans go

[newbiecruiser09]

The hike back was uneventful. My husband took a turn with the baby carrier and Samara fell asleep quickly.

 

 

Of course she did--sleeps peacefully and calmly for dad and screams and kicks mom!;):rolleyes: Moms always seem to get the short stick.

 

Really enjoying your review. Thanks for taking the time to post. :D

[SarahGT]

Of course she did--sleeps peacefully and calmly for dad and screams and kicks mom!;):rolleyes: Moms always seem to get the short stick.

 

Last night at least, she screamed and was demonstrating the awesome flexibility of her back when her dad was holding her. The reason - her favorite baby sitter - really, a favorite teacher from day care - showed up so we could go see John Prine in concert. Silly kid. She was good 2 minutes after we left. Silly kid.

[lady_cruiser]

Don't you just hate it when a review with photos is so great it brings tears to our eyes. :p.

 

Thanks for posting this.

[bionicman97]

Enjoying the review! :)

 

Question coming from a dad (who doesn't know the correct terminology of this kind of stuff). At home we have two play yards. One is quite a bit taller than the other. My wife is kind of short and prefers the shorter one. Would you consider the play yards provided to be more toward the taller side or shorter side?

[SarahGT]

Don't you just hate it when a review with photos is so great it brings tears to our eyes. :p.

 

I hope those were good tears and I'm glad you're enjoying the review. It's been fun to relive it by posting it here.

 

Sarah

[SarahGT]

Would you consider the play yards provided to be more toward the taller side or shorter side?

 

Since we have just the one play yard at home, I don't have a good point of reference. I'm 5'8" and the play yard in our stateroom didn't seem super tall. I didn't have any problems reaching in for Samara and it wasn't so low that she was able to escape. I'd say that the top rail was lower than hip-height - maybe mid-thigh? Hope this helps. Sarah

[CTcruiserAD]

Here's the evening cruise compass for Day 4 - sorry I must have left the main Day 4 compass on the ship.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?pid=explorer&srcid=0Bxl8YO3Odzt4UDJKRGVYNzYycWM&docid=df9b42cb2585892386b95f7d02988418%7C59aa6e4b066d0a1a2cf1020d3aaea3ab&a=bi&pagenumber=1&w=825

 

Today we had booked the excursion Destination St. John: Coastal Cruise. This was one of three Destination St. John excursions offered (the others were a shopping walk and a historical walking tour). All three involved a boat ride from the dock at St. Thomas to Cruz Bay on St. John. The Coastal Cruise was then to go on a short cruise along part of St. John's coastline, then you would get around 3 hours of free time on St. John before boating back to St. Thomas. I think this is the excursion I was most looking forward to.

 

This tour didn't leave until 10 am, so this gave us some wiggle room to have a leisurely morning and not be rushed trying to get somewhere. We had no problems disembarking and had a brief wait on the dock for the tour to leave, but we managed to amuse ourselves by visiting with a friendly lizard.

 

 

The ride over to St. John was pretty choppy and pretty windy, with running commentary from the captain on the various islands we were passing and local lore. The trip over wasn't too long - maybe 30-45 minutes. We sat near the prow of the boat to enjoy the breeze and Samara fell asleep soon before we arrived in Cruz Bay - drat.

 

As we were nearing the end of our trip to St. John, the captain mentioned that if passengers just wanted to skip the next portion of their excursion (boat tour, shopping, or walking tour), there would be taxis available at the dock to take you to whatever destination you wanted. I think that most of our fellow passengers did this. On the trip over we'd decided to do the same, as we wanted to maximize our time in St. John.

 

Once at Cruz Bay we stopped by the National Park Service Visitor Center for trail maps, post cards, and restrooms. Then we went in search of an early lunch. We ate at Jake's - up the hill from the dock. Nothing special, just sandwiches and wraps, but the view was pretty neat - that and we got to watch Cruz Bay traffic jams on the one-way street below.

 

The view from our lunch table

 

After lunch we headed off on our adventure: hiking to Honeymoon Beach. We took the Lind Point Trail (from the parking lot behind the NPS Visitor Center), which took about 30-45 minutes. It was a rather hot and sticky day and the trail didn't offer much shade - the vegetation we passed through was pretty cactus-like and arid. The trail was a little steep at the beginning and end and rather rough in places - definitely not a trail wearing flip-flops on. We did not take the route that went by the Lind Point overlook - we were looking for the easiest route to Honeymoon Beach because Samara was not a happy camper. Here's where La Scream-o makes her appearance. As we hiked, I carried her in the baby carrier (Ergo) so she was facing me, and as she would scream, she tried to push off of me. Fun times. She was in no danger of falling out at any time, she just made it not very much fun. Fortunately, I don't have any pictures of this splendid behavior. I think she was just hot and tired and was expressing her displeasure in the best way should could, since her vocabulary is rather limited. She normally likes to go on walks in this carrier - I'd been "conditioning" her to it on weekend morning jaunts around our neighborhood. So we made it to Honeymoon Beach, which is only accesible via this trail or by swimming in from offshore. There are no facilities here, so it was all pack in, pack out. It looked like the perfect beach - white sand, turquoise water, three palm trees. We settled in, under our own palm tree (the middle one). The water was gorgeous - so warm and clear.

 

Samara chilled out a bit once she got into the water. She didn't like it however, when her dad or I left her with the other to go swimming. So we ended up sitting in the shallow surf picking up shells and rocks. It was fantastic. This is one of my best memories from the cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

Part II to follow to accommodate additional photos

 

I booked this excursion simply for the transportation as well for my Allure trip in September, just wondering what time you needed to be back at the ferry to go back to the ship? Trying to figure out how much free time we will have on St. John. Would like to do some shopping at Cruz Bay and then head over to Trunk Bay Beach. Thanks for any info!

[lady_cruiser]

I hope those were good tears and I'm glad you're enjoying the review. It's been fun to relive it by posting it here.

 

Sarah

Those tears were exactly that - wonderful tears that are shed when something wonderful happens.

[SarahGT]

I booked this excursion simply for the transportation as well for my Allure trip in September, just wondering what time you needed to be back at the ferry to go back to the ship? Trying to figure out how much free time we will have on St. John. Would like to do some shopping at Cruz Bay and then head over to Trunk Bay Beach. Thanks for any info!

 

I don't remember the exact times, but I believe that we had to be back at the dock in Cruz Bay by 3:30 pm. We got into Cruz Bay around 11 am I think. Enjoy your visit to St. John.

Sarah

[CTcruiserAD]

Thank you!

[jimmbrooks]

I cant wait to read the rest of the review. My wife and I will be celebrating our 5 year anniversary and renewing our vows onboard AllureOTS September of next year. Our daughter will be almost three by then. Your review thus far has been fantastic and my wife and I are looking forward to hearing the rest.

 

PS

I give you Mom's credit, Having daddy's little girl is great, always behaves for me, a terror for her mom.

[troyandcarol]

Still loving it :D We have less than 2 weeks, I CAN'T WAIT!!!

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review and your nice photo's. Thanks for posting.

[SarahGT]

I cant wait to read the rest of the review. My wife and I will be celebrating our 5 year anniversary and renewing our vows onboard AllureOTS September of next year.

 

Thanks for your kind words and spoiler alert: there's another surprise for my MIL coming up on Day 6 that you may be interested in!

[SarahGT]

Still loving it :D We have less than 2 weeks, I CAN'T WAIT!!!

 

I hope I've finished this by the time you leave! Hopefully I'll be done by next weekend as Samara and I will be heading out to my parents farm for a week of R-n-R (and pets and chickens and cows). There's only dial up available at their house, so I don't think I'll be too active online that week. :D

[SarahGT]

Enjoying your review and your nice photo's. Thanks for posting.

 

Thanks for reading along. The photos from our visit to St. John are some of my favorite from our trip. It was just such an awesome afternoon on the beach there.

[eleang]

Loving your review... very helpful!!! we are sailing 8/25 with our 12 mths old baby, crossing our fingers all will go well!!!... waiting for more of your review and pictures!!! :)

[newbiecruiser09]

Thanks for your kind words and spoiler alert: there's another surprise for my MIL coming up on Day 6 that you may be interested in!

 

Soooo? Anxiously awaiting more of the review (especially more surprises) :p

[SarahGT]

we are sailing 8/25 with our 12 mths old baby, crossing our fingers all will go well!!!

 

Happy packing and travels. I hope that you have a fabulous time. Some more unsolicited advice - bananas are available in the Park Cafe as well as the buffet and milk is usually available near the coffee - Samara had many glasses of milk from a coffee mug :) Those were two staple foods during our trip.

 

Sarah