Allure Sept 30, 2012 - The Most Disorganized Review Ever

[Steppy08]

I was beginning to wonder if anyone is still reading! Thanks for reading along and checking in.

 

That sounds like something we need to do. I'd love to go back to that Oyster Bay or Westin resort. Maybe spend a little more time at Maho and definitely spend more time at Orient Beach :)

 

You're welcome. We're winding down...

 

I highly reccommend a week in St. Maarten. We did that a couple years ago and LOVED it. You really get a feel for the island and people.

 

Our upcoming cruise is actually my first trip there via cruise ship. It will be hard to only spend 8 hrs there! Somehow I'll manage.

 

We've also been to Garmisch, loved it there too.

[out2sea]

Thanks for posting the 2 ships photos. Way too many people to get them when I got off the ship so I said I would grab them when I return to reboard while grabbing a final Amstel Bright! Well we know my ending :( those pix didn't happen -ended up on little tram after ferry ride since I could no longer walk. Glad I could capture these 2 from you :)

[ZimmCouple]

I highly reccommend a week in St. Maarten. We did that a couple years ago and LOVED it. You really get a feel for the island and people.

 

Just wondering where you would recommend to stay in St Maarten? I looked into that before booking the Oasis for May 2013 - but I couldn't find any great reviews for any properties...

[sparkx]

Hey Susan (& Chris)!

 

I've only just gotten round to reading your great review from Allure ... We were were sat on the same table as you during Rita's Fiesta - had lots of fun that night (but I agree the food/service could have been a little better). Looking forward to reading the rest of the review!

 

Marcus

[Steppy08]

Just wondering where you would recommend to stay in St Maarten? I looked into that before booking the Oasis for May 2013 - but I couldn't find any great reviews for any properties...

 

We stayed at Azure Beach Studios in Simpson Bay. Quaint and pretty. There are only 5-6 studios there, it's owned operated by a couple of ex-pats, Michael and Fawnette.

 

Great value for the price and it is right on the beach. It's close to the airport (very close, this was a bonus for my airplane-crazy husband). http://www.azuresxm.com

 

We would definitely stay there again.

[swwake]

Congrats of winning the cruise!

Nice to know that you really can win a cruise, never won nothing more worth than $100.

Thank you for the great review and photos, wish I were onboard right now.

Thank you - so do I!

 

LOL! I'm still following along! :)

Thanks for hanging in there with me!

[swwake]

Originally Posted by Eng23

Hi Susan. I'm still reading. You still have 2 sea days to go. I'm hoping you will have your perspective on the night on the Rising Tide, Quest, and How I got David's hat on my head!? :D

My perspective will be limited to my foggy memory ;)

 

Ask Chris, his memory might be less foggy. :D

Highly doubtful. I'm surprised we found our cabin that night. ;)

 

I highly reccommend a week in St. Maarten. We did that a couple years ago and LOVED it. You really get a feel for the island and people.

 

Our upcoming cruise is actually my first trip there via cruise ship. It will be hard to only spend 8 hrs there! Somehow I'll manage.

 

We've also been to Garmisch, loved it there too.

We must have a lot in common! Wow - your cruise is coming right up!

[swwake]

Thanks for posting the 2 ships photos. Way too many people to get them when I got off the ship so I said I would grab them when I return to reboard while grabbing a final Amstel Bright! Well we know my ending :( those pix didn't happen -ended up on little tram after ferry ride since I could no longer walk. Glad I could capture these 2 from you :)

You are welcome! Feel free to download them and use as you wish. How are you healing?

 

Hey Susan (& Chris)!

 

I've only just gotten round to reading your great review from Allure ... We were were sat on the same table as you during Rita's Fiesta - had lots of fun that night (but I agree the food/service could have been a little better). Looking forward to reading the rest of the review!

 

Marcus

Ok remind me which end of the table you were on. I bet you were on Chris's end of the table. Thanks for the compliments.

[swwake]

Hi everyone. Sorry I have been scarce. I have spent at least 2 days each of the past 3 weeks in Washington, D.C. and haven't had time to write and post.

 

I plan to post my next update tomorrow night and try to finish out my review this week. Thanks for hanging in there with me!

[ronandcarla]

Just wondering where you would recommend to stay in St Maarten? I looked into that before booking the Oasis for May 2013 - but I couldn't find any great reviews for any properties...

 

For us we stay right on Orient Beach (no we are not into topless/nudity, but if it bothers you, don't go there) at a hotel called Alamanda Resort, this coming February will be our 6th trip back to the same hotel/location. The staff and the hotel location couldn't be any better. Of all the beach vacations we have taken thru-out our lives, these have been the best and most memorable.

 

Have a Great Cruise, we did. Ron M

[out2sea]

Susan I was coming right along (thanks) but went back to work last week and apparently overdid it and now have a set back :( severely swollen foot, ankle and leg. Back on couch rest for now - walking boot even too tight. Back to Drs again tomorrow. Bummer as I was hoping for this long weekend to try walking a little without the boot. Ugh

I will copy those 2 pix - TY. I really want to get back to scrap booking even tho I'm about 3 albums behind. I think my Christmas cards may even be pix this year I'm so far behind :(

Cannot wait to read your wrap up!

[Wildcatfish]

Really enjoying the "Most Disorganized Review Ever"! The 'disorganized' is an everyday thing in my life too. Looking forward to the rest of your review!

[swwake]

Susan I was coming right along (thanks) but went back to work last week and apparently overdid it and now have a set back :( severely swollen foot, ankle and leg. Back on couch rest for now - walking boot even too tight. Back to Drs again tomorrow. Bummer as I was hoping for this long weekend to try walking a little without the boot. Ugh

I will copy those 2 pix - TY. I really want to get back to scrap booking even tho I'm about 3 albums behind. I think my Christmas cards may even be pix this year I'm so far behind :(

Cannot wait to read your wrap up!

Oh no! I hate to hear about the setback. Dr's orders. Rest, rest, rest. Maybe you can sneak in some scrapbooking while you're resting.

 

Speaking of scrapbooking, I am super bad about it. I have tons of stuff and photos saved from my only daughter's every single year (she is 20) and the running joke between the two of us is "we'll put this in the scrapbook box/file" and she adds "for the scrapbook you'll never make me". One day, I will. I promise.

 

Really enjoying the "Most Disorganized Review Ever"! The 'disorganized' is an everyday thing in my life too. Looking forward to the rest of your review!

Oh thanks so much for following along! I know it hasn't been too disorganized, but I suspect it will end that way.

[swwake]

Back on board, we (of course) went to the flowrider. We stayed there until it closed at 6pm.

 

We didn’t have dinner plans this night, and it was Smart Casual dress. We decided to have tapas and wine at Vintages.

 

We cleaned up and had some pictures made on the Royal Promenade before our dinner. (I was wearing white and was afraid of spilling wine on my outfit before we got pictures.) We were actually both wearing white, and I thought it would be neat to have pictures made in front of the black background I had seen, so we headed that way.

 

After those pics, we decided maybe the white background would be cool, but we weren’t really sure if our white clothes would blend too much.

 

As it turned out, the background that I thought was black was really a funky blue and I didn’t like the photos. But we had fun at the white background photo shoot and ended up buying this one.

I have to throw in an aside here. On the evening of Day 7, we picked up this photo and were sharing with all of our new friends. Dave and David took one look at it and said (I am typing to insert my best British inflection here) "it's a grite phutoh, but..." Wow. I was floored. My new friends were bold enough to tell us our flaws? He continued with "...the wheyete flureyedeh (that's flowrider in Texas speak) bonds (wristbands)..."

 

Hey, it's Chris and Susan. What do you expect? At least we coordinated our outfits to match our wristbands. We all got quite a giggle out of that.

 

Back up to Deck 8 and Vintages. We walked in and the entire restaurant and bar were empty. Out on the patio, one table was seated. We decided to also sit on the patio. This ended up a great choice, because it was beautiful in Central Park, we could people-watch, and we chatted with a few of our new friends who stopped by from time to time.

 

Our waiter was great, and he gave us advice on a wine flight and some good tapas pairings to go with it. I can't remember what we ordered to eat, but I can tell you we ordered 4-5 small plates and none of them had olives. That narrows it down a little. ALL of them were delicious. There were a couple that we selected that our waiter talked us out of, due to the pairings, and I don't think we missed anything.

 

We decided at the end to order one last glass of wine each, and we picked a Mondavi Reserve (which was pretty expensive, in hindsight, making up almost half of our bill for the evening). With it, we ordered a couple of dessert items, and our waiter brought us a surprise (“something I think you will like”, he said) of chocolate lollipops. They were outstanding!

 

This was my 2nd favorite dinner of the entire cruise (2nd to 150 CP). It was so nice to go at our own pace, enjoy the atmosphere, sip REALLY good wine and have some great tapas. I recommend Vintages for a change of pace, and a meal as light or heavy as you’d like. It’s also a good place to stop in before dinner for a quick appetizer (which we had done on Oasis).

 

After dinner, we didn’t have any plans. At least until Quest. So we decided to visit the Rising Tide Bar at Deck 8 and ride it down to Deck 5.

 

When we boarded the bar, we saw our friend Harold sitting in the center. We went over and sat with him and just had a great time chatting. Not long after that, our friend Dave from the flowrider showed up with his partner David and their friends Christy and Mark. Then a few minutes later, up walked our new friends Brett and Jessica. And suddenly, it was a party on the Rising Tide Bar!!

 

We had a great time there for a good long time. We must have gone up and down 3-4 times. At about 11:30 we all decided to go to Quest together, so we headed down to Deck 4 to Studio B.

 

We ended up all sitting together in Section 1 for Quest. It was a great time, and almost everyone from our group participated at one time or another. I really don’t remember much about the Quest, after a few cocktails at Rising Tide. Our team didn’t win, but we had a great (ahem) showing.

 

After Quest, we walked down the hallway to Blaze for the Quest Afterparty. I think this night was the most crowded I saw Blaze. Not only was our group there, but we ran into the couple who had sat at Chris’s end of the table at Rita’s Fiesta, so the party kept growing.

 

At one point Allan Brooks, the cruise director, showed up. He was super friendly and approachable. We chatted with him for awhile, and some people took photos, and I began to wonder if this guy ever sleeps (remember, he does a 6am show every morning, and it’s approaching 1am now).

 

At some point, Harold reports that he was wearing someone else’s hat. I really don’t remember that. But I’m sure it was fun and I’m sure there are pictures somewhere.

 

A great night on Allure of the Seas! And tomorrow is a Sea Day, so we can sleep in.

 

Let’s visit today’s pre-cruise calendar plan:

 

9am-2:30pm – Bernard’s Tour Done (til 3:20)

3pm – 6pm – Flowrider Done, but started late

9:30pm – Ice Games (show) Oops. Completely forgot this. We must have been “stuck” on the Rising Tide Bar.

11:45pm – Quest Done (and fun!)

Edited November 13, 2012 by swwake

[Eng23]

Back on board, we (of course) went to the flowrider. We stayed there until it closed at 6pm.

 

We didn’t have dinner plans this night, and it was Smart Casual dress. We decided to have tapas and wine at Vintages.

 

We cleaned up and had some pictures made on the Royal Promenade before our dinner. (I was wearing white and was afraid of spilling wine on my outfit before we got pictures.) We were actually both wearing white, and I thought it would be neat to have pictures made in front of the black background I had seen, so we headed that way.

 

After those pics, we decided maybe the white background would be cool, but we weren’t really sure if our white clothes would blend too much.

 

As it turned out, the background that I thought was black was really a funky blue and I didn’t like the photos. But we had fun at the white background photo shoot and ended up buying this one.

 

 

I have to throw in an aside here. On the evening of Day 7, we picked up this photo and were sharing with all of our new friends. Dave and David took one look at it and said (I am typing to insert my best British inflection here) "it's a grite phutoh, but..." Wow. I was floored. My new friends were bold enough to tell us our flaws? He continued with "...the wheyete flureyedeh (that's flowrider in Texas speak) bonds (wristbands)..."

 

Hey, it's Chris and Susan. What do you expect? At least we coordinated our outfits to match our wristbands. We all got quite a giggle out of that.

 

Back up to Deck 8 and Vintages. We walked in and the entire restaurant and bar were empty. Out on the patio, one table was seated. We decided to also sit on the patio. This ended up a great choice, because it was beautiful in Central Park, we could people-watch, and we chatted with a few of our new friends who stopped by from time to time.

 

Our waiter was great, and he gave us advice on a wine flight and some good tapas pairings to go with it. I can't remember what we ordered to eat, but I can tell you we ordered 4-5 small plates and none of them had olives. That narrows it down a little. ALL of them were delicious. There were a couple that we selected that our waiter talked us out of, due to the pairings, and I don't think we missed anything.

 

We decided at the end to order one last glass of wine each, and we picked a Mondavi Reserve (which was pretty expensive, in hindsight, making up almost half of our bill for the evening). With it, we ordered a couple of dessert items, and our waiter brought us a surprise (“something I think you will like”, he said) of chocolate lollipops. They were outstanding!

 

This was my 2nd favorite dinner of the entire cruise (2nd to 150 CP). It was so nice to go at our own pace, enjoy the atmosphere, sip REALLY good wine and have some great tapas. I recommend Vintages for a change of pace, and a meal as light or heavy as you’d like. It’s also a good place to stop in before dinner for a quick appetizer (which we had done on Oasis).

 

After dinner, we didn’t have any plans. At least until Quest. So we decided to visit the Rising Tide Bar at Deck 8 and ride it down to Deck 5.

 

When we boarded the bar, we saw our friend Harold sitting in the center. We went over and sat with him and just had a great time chatting. Not long after that, our friend Dave from the flowrider showed up with his partner David and their friends Christy and Mark. Then a few minutes later, up walked our new friends Brett and Jessica. And suddenly, it was a party on the Rising Tide Bar!!

 

We had a great time there for a good long time. We must have gone up and down 3-4 times. At about 11:30 we all decided to go to Quest together, so we headed down to Deck 4 to Studio B.

 

We ended up all sitting together in Section 1 for Quest. It was a great time, and almost everyone from our group participated at one time or another. I really don’t remember much about the Quest, after a few cocktails at Rising Tide. Our team didn’t win, but we had a great (ahem) showing.

 

After Quest, we walked down the hallway to Blaze for the Quest Afterparty. I think this night was the most crowded I saw Blaze. Not only was our group there, but we ran into the couple who had sat at Chris’s end of the table at Rita’s Fiesta, so the party kept growing.

 

At one point Allan Brooks, the cruise director, showed up. He was super friendly and approachable. We chatted with him for awhile, and some people took photos, and I began to wonder if this guy ever sleeps (remember, he does a 6am show every morning, and it’s approaching 1am now).

 

At some point, Harold reports that he was wearing someone else’s hat. I really don’t remember that. But I’m sure it was fun and I’m sure there are pictures somewhere.

 

A great night on Allure of the Seas! And tomorrow is a Sea Day, so we can sleep in.

 

Let’s visit today’s pre-cruise calendar plan:

 

9am-2:30pm – Bernard’s Tour Done (til 3:20)

3pm – 6pm – Flowrider Done, but started late

9:30pm – Ice Games (show) Oops. Completely forgot this. We must have been “stuck” on the Rising Tide Bar.

11:45pm – Quest Done (and fun!)

This was a fun night. The report of the hat was true and there are pictures to prove it. :D

[noshoobie]

That picture of you and Chris is great!! Perhaps a photo Christmas card in the works???

[out2sea]

Great pix - glad you got the memo, always coordinate with the ships bracelets ! Lol

Did a little card making. Haven't dived into the scrap booking. Too overwhelming as I just have so much stuff to gather together right now. Need to focus on the Christmas Cards soon!

Back to work part time for a few weeks with PT. need to heal for next cruise.

 

Didn't get to dine at Vintages. Should add that to my list. Love the Rising Tide tho. Not sure why. Maybe the people watching on/off the bar or just something different. Glad there isn't a charge like other novelty bars on other ships!

I could hang out all the time in CP and I think we at least cut thru a minimum of 6times a day (lunch, drinks, sodas, people watching , getting to the front of ship etc).

On our last Oasis cruise it rained heavy the 2 nights we had dinner in CP - looking back what a pix to see everyone waiting for umbrellas to walk the park or get to the Rising Tide!

[swwake]

This was a fun night. The report of the hat was true and there are pictures to prove it. :D

Indeed. I would say super fun! The report is true and the report that nobody knows how you got the hat is also true :)

 

That picture of you and Chris is great!! Perhaps a photo Christmas card in the works???

I love the photo. We will likely frame and display it, but our Christmas card will more likely have family photos to include Katie and the doggies :)

[swwake]

Great pix - glad you got the memo, always coordinate with the ships bracelets ! Lol

Did a little card making. Haven't dived into the scrap booking. Too overwhelming as I just have so much stuff to gather together right now. Need to focus on the Christmas Cards soon!

Back to work part time for a few weeks with PT. need to heal for next cruise.

 

Didn't get to dine at Vintages. Should add that to my list. Love the Rising Tide tho. Not sure why. Maybe the people watching on/off the bar or just something different. Glad there isn't a charge like other novelty bars on other ships!

I could hang out all the time in CP and I think we at least cut thru a minimum of 6times a day (lunch, drinks, sodas, people watching , getting to the front of ship etc).

On our last Oasis cruise it rained heavy the 2 nights we had dinner in CP - looking back what a pix to see everyone waiting for umbrellas to walk the park or get to the Rising Tide!

Oh yes, add Vintages to your list. Excellent. Just be careful not to run up your tab on expensive wine like we did. And I may not have mentioned that the tapas is priced a la carte, so that could get expensive too if you don't watch it. They aren't expensive, but I always calculate in the fact that there was some amount of my cruise fare paying for the dining room dinner I didn't eat.

 

I also love Central Park, and we took a greater liking to Rising Tide on Allure than we did on Oasis. On Oasis it seemed like a novelty. On Allure, we actually enjoyed the setting, bartender, wait staff, the "ride" and the company.

[swwake]

Today’s plans per my pre-cruise calendar:

9a-6p – flowrider (ride sporadically throughout the day)

8p – Chops

11p – Blue Planet

12a - twenty

 

We slept in a little bit this day, then up and to the flowrider around 9:30 or so. They ran advanced from 9 to 10, and open riding from 10 to 6.

 

Here’s Dave pulling off his signature move. I don’t think he named it. I give it a 10.0

 

and Dave wiping out

I give this a 7.5 on the wipe-out scale.

 

While we were surfing, the staff told us, and announcements were made over the intercom, that the port side flowrider would be closed on Day 7 and they would be running a “Freedom Class Schedule” the next day. That meant they would alternate between stand-up and boogie board all day.

 

Although we had made a pre-cruise pact not to be “slave to the flowrider” on this cruise, we somehow managed to surf almost all day on Day 6. I think part of that was because we knew our time would be limited the next day and that it always gets crowded with people finishing out their cruise bucket lists on Day 7. Part of it was, simply, there was no place we’d rather be.

 

We did take breaks throughout the day for food and other things.

 

Here are some photos I took of the ship’s model on the deck below the Windjammer.

 

 

And the obligatory flowrider pic

I like how they put fake plastic water in the flowriders.

[swwake]

Back at the (real) flowrider (the one with real, not plastic, water), at some point mid-afternoon, someone in line said something like “call me crazy, but I just saw a motorcycle in the reflection of the Windjammer windows”. Surely not. On a cruise ship?

 

Next thing we knew, up rode Captain Johnny on his bike. Right to the flowrider.

 

The next day, while I was watching Captain Johnny's daily noon address on the stateroom TV, he talked about his bike. He said "the bridge is 213 feet wide and sometimes I need to get from one end to the other very quickly. So I use my bike." Very cool that Captain Johnny is so visible and personable during the voyage.

 

After the flowrider closed at 6, we had a little time before our dinner at Chops. So we stopped by the Sand Bar (we had stopped here a couple of times before during the cruise and the bartender was super) and got a couple of cocktails. Then we wandered the deck above the pool deck, found a couple of loungers, and enjoyed the sunset.

 

Chris took a few photos of the sunset and the ship.

(That’s not me)

 

Nothing like being out on open water during sunset. Breathtaking.

 

And then there were only clouds

 

A few others had the same idea. It was a nice evening.

[swwake]

6200+ passengers, you say? Where is everyone?

 

The “Main Pool”. This is where they had non-sports pool games.

 

This was one of those “take time to slow down and enjoy the vacation” moments that we have a hard time making. So glad that we did.

 

Having finished our drinks, we headed back to the room to clean up for dinner at what was our favorite restaurant on Oasis – Chops!

[out2sea]

Nice pix with The Captain! What a site that must have been. Wish I would have seen that!

I know 6200 pax and sometimes you never saw anyone!

Agreed Chops was our favorite as well.

Making me want to rebook (now) as I keep reading :)

[Eng23]

Indeed. I would say super fun! The report is true and the report that nobody knows how you got the hat is also true :)

 

I love the photo. We will likely frame and display it, but our Christmas card will more likely have family photos to include Katie and the doggies :)

Here is the evidence that is available about the hat actually being there even if we cannot prove how it got on my head! :D

 

[swwake]

Nice pix with The Captain! What a site that must have been. Wish I would have seen that!

I know 6200 pax and sometimes you never saw anyone!

Agreed Chops was our favorite as well.

Making me want to rebook (now) as I keep reading :)

Thank you. It was pretty fun. Another thing that makes it so different - on a smaller ship, more people would probably have caught Captain Johnny on his bike. Oh you don't know how badly I want to rebook! But I just can't right now - we have some other plans in the works. Hang with me and I'll share after I finish my report.

 

Here is the evidence that is available about the hat actually being there even if we cannot prove how it got on my head! :D

 

Is that photo blurry, or is it my memory? Haha. I love it!