Photo Review: Allure Eastern 4/14/2013 The Good Karma Cruise

[Familygoboston]

Back on Board and teen tips

 

We made our way back to the ferry at 12:15 PM and were back at the ship in time for all aboard at 1:30. We made our way straight to the cantilevered hot tub for a quick soak, while in the tub my girls met a young man from Canada (by way of Texas) who they made plans to meet up with at karaoke later.

 

(photo of Atlantis from the hot tub)

 

 

 

I'll digress here to talk about the girls experiences and tips for finding buddies on the ship.

 

This was the start of their "gang" which would meet up at karaoke every night in On Air and my DH and I dubbed the Geek Squad. I say this was greatest affection...these were all really great kids!

 

(the geek squad)

 

 

 

Finding pals was a real concern on the first day, actual tears were shed...our girls are close to each other, and since neither was welcome in the other's age group activities (no over 18s in the teen center and no under 18's in the 18 + events), and they didn't want to separate, they were worried they would "miss out" on the all the fun. But we finally convinced them, they would find their "gang" and by the end of the week, the only tears were all about saying goodbye!!

 

The Geek Squad was a very nice mixed group of boys and girls, teens (under 17) and young adults (over 18), so they really couldn't participate in either the teen activities or the 18+ activities if they wanted to stick together, but they still found plenty to do each night. I was proud of this group because in addition to be being "caught" exhibiting good behavior many times a night, the older kids really looked out for the younger ones, including walking one teen girl who was on her own and whose mother wanted hourly checking ins, to find her mom before moving on to the next activity in the evenings.

 

I could certainly appreciate that since she was younger with 18+ boys and because she was on her own, I would have had a similar requirement in that situation. I've always felt fortunate that my girls always have each other, and that is my rule, I let them have a lot of freedom so long as they stay together and observe the family curfew we set each night.

 

On this cruise it was reassuring that we had a "village" watching; the younger girl's mom was regularly checking in, and DH and I often checked in either physically saying hello, or even occasionally surreptitiously seeing them on the Promenade from the Diamond lounge or Schooner bar above!) Also after Randy and Amy spent a whole day on our day sail with the girls, they were also seeing them around and Randy would give them the eyes, fingers, eyes "I'm watching you" gesture as a joke. So really we felt that they were responsible and had some good clean fun, but were never really as "unsupervised" as they thought they were!!

 

Teen Tip: CruisEm has some comments about where to hang with the mixed group. When you have youth who straddle two groups such as we did, it can be hard to find a place to hang out. Some bars and clubs are 18+ after a certain hour and in a discussion with the CD, Alan Brooks, he explained that he simply can't have 18 yo's in teen club. He certainly understood that this makes things challenging for mixed families, but I also have to say he does a great job of providing "family" venues at all hours where the mixed group is welcome. Here are some places that worked out well for the "geek squad".

 

Daytime:

 

The sports deck: is open to all ages, but the teens congregate here and our girls and their gang found plenty to do, flow rider, ping pong, zip line. It's easy to see the "whole" area if you are looking for certain people.

 

 

 

 

Pools: the beach pool is popular as are the hot tubs for the mixed group; and the Fro Yo stations there are popular. Em says despite being 16, an "legal", that the Solarium was full of "boring" old people:p

 

 

Night time:

 

On Air Karaoke is open to all almost all the time and sometimes 16 plus, this worked out well since there was an activity going on to participate in.

 

 

 

 

Sorrentos- is a very open place to see and be seen, and of course, free pizza is good

 

 

The Windjammer Cafe- again the attraction is food, but in the early evenings this is a good place for a pre dinner snack.

 

Em recommends that your "group" choose two meet up times and places a day, so there is a chance to find each other. The Geek Squad picked Starbucks (just cause it's small and you can't get lost) for an 11 AM morning meet up, then they'd head to breakfast together. And they had a standing date after 10:30 PM at On Air for karaoke. In this way the kids in her group could spend their evenings at dinners and shows with family and easily find each other in the evenings or on lazy sea days.

[tarajean1962]

Wow! That sounds like tons of fun and your pictures are gorgeous!!:D We actually booked the Aquaventure excursion for our upcoming cruise and now you have me rethinking it. When we went to Atlantis on our last cruise, we just took a taxi over and did The Dig tour. We thought the waterslides looked awesome, but you are right it is very expensive and I wonder how much time we will actually have at Atlantis. Was it just the amount of time you guys didn't like or was it the value of the package?

 

Tara

[Familygoboston]

After the hot tub, we went Sorrentos for a pizza snack, because we had a late dinner scheduled. We chilled on our balcony while sailing from the Bahamas to St Thomas, and got ready for dinner.

 

We had a 7:30 PM reservation for Ice Games at Studio B, then dinner at 8:30 PM and 10:45 Ocean Aria show.

 

 

Tips: Shows

 

This is a good place to discuss the shows that can be pre booked. We decided to book 2 shows per night because when we were on Oasis, DH did not like having to have "something" scheduled every night. He really wanted some nights "off" just to relax around the ship or take in the live entertainment that gets listed in the cruise compass, but is not pre booked.

 

So I took the approach of booking 2 shows on each of the formal nights and booked Chicago by itself since it's a long show. What follows is my advice about the shows...our review of the show, some ideas about where to sit, when to show up, things to think about when choosing times. We specifically, did not book a show on the first night because we like to explore the ship and didn't want to be tied down with a reservation.

 

You can book the shows on line about 100- 45 days in advance on the "Pre Cruise Planner" section of "My Cruises" after you log in and choose the cruise by reservation number. When they show up to book varies, so you just have to keep checking...if you set your Roll Call on instant notification, someone will usually post when they are open for booking)

 

You can see my Oasis review where I talk in the planning section about details of how to make a schedule for these ships, but generally, it requires you use the latest Showtimes At A Glance from the Royal site and thinking about how you can fit dinner in around the shows you are interested in.

 

(STAAG)

 

 

 

Don't panic if you don't book shows ahead, can't get your favorite or book the cruise after most of the shows are showing up as "full"- there are still seats left to book on board. You can do this by going to Studio B box office as soon as you board, or booking on your cabin TV. I'd recommend Studio B as soon as you board if you need to make a change or have your heart set...once you get to your cabin, more popular shows will be starting to fill up. Our Blue Planet show was mentioned as being "full" right on the Cruise Compass for the day!

 

I share both the length of the show, and the amount of time needed to score "great seats" or any seat, because most folks are looking for advice about how much time to plan for dinner and getting to a show. This way you can add the show time along with the arrival time and know when you need to get yourself to the theater and at what time you can expect to make a dinner reservation.

 

Also, you will see I don't include many photos of shows- this is because I think the shows are better enjoyed if all of the "surprises" aren't spoiled! And because outside of a flash-free snap or two, our family prefers to enjoy watching them not photographing them. We did see people using flash photography despite the prohibition, this is very unsafe for the performers but easily avoided- just learn how to turn off your flash. If you don't know how go to the Focus photo gallery and they will happily show you how!!

 

general tips for Amber theater shows...

-if there is a big line up outside deck 4 entrance, go up to deck 5 entrance. Both of these doors are staffed with crew to check you in and you can get in and down the interior theater stairs in less time than waiting in the line up at the door on deck 4.

 

-Just for comparison...all of the seats we got were great and we never lined up, but usually arrived just as the doors opened about 40 minutes to 1/2 hour before the show.

 

-It's a good idea to bring your drinks in from another bar if you are arriving later- the bar staff gets busy quick and we saw some upsetting behavior with people screaming and whistling for the waiters once the theater was pretty full.

 

 

 

ICE GAMES (52 minute show):

Our family loved this show based on a game of Monopoly where the "spaces" were neighborhoods on Allure. During the segment with each featured neighborhood, music related to the theme of the neighborhood plays and the skaters are have tireless energy, both in the skating and in the constant costume changes (I cannot imagine how they do it, but during a back stage tour on navigator, we were told that the dancers serve as backstage dressers for the skaters during the ice show and vice versa, so they are working even when they are not performing, helping the other entertainers in and out of costumes! We found this show colorful, and fun with a big variety of musical numbers to please everyone from kids to Grandma over the course of the show.

My recommendation is sit in the middle of the center section of Studio B facing the "curtain", most of the action is oriented that way, but the views are good from the side sections too. It's a big theater, so arrive at least 20-30 minutes ahead for the best seats, but you will find a seat even last minute. Avoid sitting behind the poles, which can obstruct your view

 

(Photo Ice Games)

 

 

 

 

 

OCEAN ARIA (45 minute show):

Wow! We liked this better than the Oasis Aquatheater show. Really colorful, humorous and at times "death defying". We had a pair of Romanian "strongmen" as guest entertainers and their act was incredible to witness! Again the divers and acrobats are full of energy and we found this show to have lots of "wow" moments. Plan to arrive early; 30-45 minutes ahead. The entire middle section of beach chars will be held for Gold pass holders (so they can arrive as late as 20 minutes before showtime) so this leaves very few seats in the center that aren't either in the splash zone (first 3 rows) or on benches rather than beach chairs. These rows will be opened at 15 minutes till showtime, so if there are not many Gold pass holders at your show, you can score one of these last minute or shuffle over. If you cannot get a seat you like, you can also see this show while standing in the back of the theater, or from the public balconies on decks 11 and 12.

 

(pano of AT)

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHICAGO (90 minute show):

Our family loved this (do you get the idea we like all kinds of shows?? Honestly, it's just this class of ship- on the other Royal Caribbean ships DH and I usually punt the shows entirely, but on this class, they are really a cut above!) This is a nearly full length musical (without the intermission) set during jazz age prohibition era, Chicago, featuring a jail full of scantily clad murderesses...so use discretion with the little ones. Some people don't like this show; it's very minimalist for Royal. There are no sequins or feathers to be seen anywhere, the stage is set with a pair of side towers, the tiered platform with the live band on it (which I love!) and chairs. The actors wear more or less the same costume through out with a few prop changes. But the vocal and dance talent is as good as anything I've seen on the West End or Broadway. Our favorite place to sit is in the Mezzanine between the floor seats and the Balcony upstairs. Any seat on the floor or mezzanine in the center is excellent. Plan to arrive 30 minutes in advance to get good seats, at least 20 minutes to get seats together in a decent location. If you think this show may not be for you or you know you have a member of your party who hears CHICAGO and thinks "naptime!, you might sit in the balcony for an easy exit. There is very little "black out" time in this show when you can slip out without disturbing people. Getting a decent seat last minute should not be a problem, lots of people skip this one since it's themes aren't appropriate for little kids and lots of guys bail (see aforementioned "naps")

 

(Photo Chicago)

 

 

 

 

 

 

BLUE PLANET: (50 minute show)

Another favorite and very popular! This cirque du soliel type show is a wonder; it's almost hard to know where to look, so much is going on. There is so much to see and with the bigger ship comes a bigger cast, so throughout the week, we have 6 singers and at least a dozen dancers, who are often augmented by the acrobats or divers in some shows...at times there appears to be a cast of thousands in this show! Arrive to this one early for best seats...45- 30 minutes in advance, 30 -20 minutes before show time you will have trouble finding center seats or more than 2 together. I recommend sitting in the balcony or the mezzanine for this one, much of the action takes place over head, and if you sit front and center on the floor, you'll need to crane your head backwards to see the action.

 

(Photo BP)

 

 

 

 

 

 

HEADLINER SHOW: (50 minute show)

This varies from week to week. You will need to book it ahead of time even though you don't know who it will be. Once on board, you will learn who it is (or you can email Royal a couple of weeks in advance and find out, though I've never bothered with this) There are times when the HL just doesn't interest us, and in that case we just skip it! This show is in the Amber Theater, so follow my advice for Chicago, the sight lines, and timing is similar! You should have no trouble finding a good seat 30-20 minutes ahead of time.

 

 

 

 

 

COMEDY SHOW: (60 minute show)

This is a very small venue; that holds about 90 people...that makes the experience really fun, but also hard to "walk in". Pre book this one, even if you don't feel like tying yourself down to other show times. The earlier shows are more "tame" and the comedians complain about how boring they are...so if you really want a fun time, try to book a later one! The show is a host, followed by two comdeians each doing a 20 minute or so set. Being that Royal is a family ship, and this can get raunchy...it's only open to adults 18+ (exceptions will be made for 17 YO's with their parents...enquire at Studio B box office when its open, they will book your 17 yo in.) You can arrive anytime about 20-15 minutes before show time. So after everyone is in, you'll notice that you are hermetically sealed into the room so that no dirty words accidentally float out onto Entertainment Place (where at any given time there can be 4 yo's posing with penguins). "you can check in, but you can never leave" No, really, unlike the Hotel California, you CAN leave mid show but you have to sneak through the service entrance to get out...and you should expect to be roundly heckled!! Don't sit near the front unless you enjoy being the butt of the joke. There are no bad seats in a room with 90 people, but if think you are likely to sit like a statue, best to sit near the rear, because nothing is a bigger flow killer to a comedian than some guy sitting stone faced in the front row

 

(pano of Entertainment place)

[Familygoboston]

back to our Day...

 

We took a few "formal" photos with the professional photographers.

 

 

Don't we clean up nicely! I particularly like my green dress, and the folks of my roll call will be happy to see I decided on the green shoes instead of the nude shoes!

 

I must digress here to tell you a funny Randy story...

During our role call I polled the ladies about whether it was ok to wear my "nude" pumps with a black dress, or whether I should wear black pumps. I posted a couple of photos of both pairs and the ladies weighed in and were very helpful! Then Randy posted a photo of 2 pairs of gnarly sneakers, one black and one white and asked for advice about which to bring:p I knew right then and there, we were going to get along just fine...and he hadn't even saved my luggage yet!

 

After our "formals", we started the evening with the early Ice Games show.

 

 

 

 

 

(spoiler alert- so I had to post! I don't know if this guest artist will be on your cruise, but she was pretty cool, so I had to share...not sure how anyone can do this!!)

[Familygoboston]

Dinner

 

This was our first dinner in the MDR. It was formal night. We noticed most people were dressed up in jackets and dresses at least, tuxes and long gowns were rare. We had MTD and had prebooked all of our dining times around our shows. We prefer MTD because we can sit as a family and share our days, and pace our dinner according to our plans. We usually sat in a section with Julio as our waiter. We never waited more than 3-5 minutes for a table, and one time we were in a hurry to make a show and we said we were happy to sit in another section other than Julio's if we could be seated right away. So we also had EJ and Lucille on two other nights.

 

Day 2 MDR Saffron

 

 

 

(the girls with our waiter and assistant waiter)

 

 

 

 

(Starters)

(chicken consume- DH liked this; soups are generally excellent; plenty of flavor and not to salty, they definitely taste homemade)

 

 

 

(lobster bisque- DD did not like this because it had a "fishy' taste because of the fish based bouillabaisse used that she's not used to, it's fine, just different from her cream based Maine bisques)

 

 

(bay scallops- all the girls had this, and the scallops were tiny and the sauce was garlicky and yummy! Escargot is still unavailable because of a worldwide and this was a nice substitute)

[funfamilyof6]

Blue Lagoon

 

After our encounter, we made our way to a few chairs under a palm tree and we all took a dip in the calm lagoon. Our good karma continued when a woman on her way out from the Beach Break (she was bailing to go to Senor Frogs) offered us 2 passes for the Beach Break lunch, which was great since our teens were already agitating about food! Who says there is no free lunch! More good karma! We got two lunches, which included a hamburger, fries, fruit and punch, and shared that and some nuts I had brought along.

 

(In review, we felt that the Blue Lagoon was a good value; we were able to enjoy a family friendly beach, have a dolphin interaction and a little cruise through the harbor. In a port with such short call time, being on a sanctioned RCL excursion, just felt safer. And the facilities and staff were top notch.

 

This is a private island, so it's pretty secure; only employees and other cruise passengers. There were no people wandering the beach to sell things or offering to braid the armpit hair of bald men. (Ok, I stole that joke from the comedian on board and modified it!) But you could go to a pavilion to get your hair braids if you like that!

 

We would probably do this again as the beach break if we ever sail to Nassau again, because there really is little else to do in this port except, city and land tours (which don't interest us and we have walked around town and done the pirate museum in the past), Atlantis, (which we found too expensive and didn't enjoy) and the Rainbow Reef snorkeling, which I reviewed in Oasis and we felt was too many people for a snorkel tour and not particularly great snorkeling anyway, although it was a reasonable price.

 

I think my butt will be stuck to my chair this weekend between your review and rsharp83's Allure reviews. The only thing that could have made them better would have been if you would have done the Western itinerary. ;)

 

We did the Blue Lagoon Beach Break with lunch in 4/2011 which at that included the water toys, our kids LOVED it and we were so happy that we steered away from Atlantis. We would definitely go back to Blue Lagoon again. The only negative thing I can say about the entire excursion was that once we got on the ferry to go to Blue Lagoon there was absolutely NO guide narration for the 30 minute ride there. This was a very atypical experience for us and only bothered us because we enjoy hearing about various island sites and histories.

 

Look forward to reading the rest of your wonderful review!!! :)

Edited April 27, 2013 by funfamilyof6

[Familygoboston]

Dinner

 

(Entrees and dessert)

 

(Shrimp Ravioli- DD's liked this dish, tasty and filling with a light sherry sauce. Be aware it is regular ravioli with little shrimp on top)

 

 

 

 

(grilled salmon salad- the salad was nice the salmon was dry)

 

 

 

 

(beef tenderloin- DH did not find it tender enough)

 

 

 

 

(Bittersweet chocolate soufle- DH loves chocolate and the new menus have introduced a lot more chocolate, which makes him very happy!)

 

 

 

 

(sadly we didn't photograph the desert menus; so I am flying without a net, but this was my DD's. It was strawberry mousse topped with jello...she liked it and it sure is pretty!)

 

 

 

Alert Alert- something negative!! (that turned out positive!):

 

I honestly felt EJ's and Lucille's service was faster because their assistant waiters were more involved with our table than our regular assistant waiter (who saw very little of till the very last night- also known as "optional and additional tip night")

 

I mentioned the lack of attention from the assistant to our waiter when he asked me, begged me, to tell him if everything was excellent. So I did share my concern, our first night (day 2) service that was a little slow for us from arrival to ordering, and waiting for appetizers and our water glasses went unfilled several times, which I attributed to the absent assistant. I know I was nit picking a bit, but at that point we thought we would request another team, because we prefer a quicker dining pace, so I had nothing to lose telling him. If he really meant he wanted to improve the service, I was willing to give him the chance.

 

He explained that the assistant has more duties in the kitchen and that he was ultimately responsible for the pacing, and he was glad we told him so he could improve it. The next night was much better and he again asked if we were happy and at that point I was happy he followed up and was happy to tell him I did feel the night was "excellent". We still didn't see much of the assistant, but the 4th night we had dinner with another team and the assistant was extremely attentive and friendly (maybe he was neglecting the kitchen, but it didn't seem like it!)

 

The last night (optional and additional tip night), I did give an optional, additional tip to Julio, because I appreciated his professionalism in wanting to ask about our experience and because he improved it and continued to check in. We also shared our WOW card at the end of the week, because of his responsiveness and professionalism!

 

 

Unfortunately, this was not our best night in the MDR; our felt our main courses were just "meh", we felt a little neglected and the pacing was a little "off" for us. We also had a lot of hormones at dinner...(maybe this why the assistant was avoiding us like the plague!) DD1's worries about meeting "other people" on board were blown into concerns about worries about "not being able to make friends" at college. DD2's worries about not being able to go to the teen center because her apparently dangerous or infectious 18 yo sister would orphan her with her sister all week with "nothing to do". Tears were shed, patience was advocated by parents, hugs were dispensed all around. Once everyone ate, moods were improved. We reminded them of their new hot tub friend and karaoke, there was an opportunity...they should seize it!!

 

They would not be in need of a "social host" all week, like two lonely widows on a Seaborn cruise!!

 

 

After dinner, we went to see Ocean Aria. I love seeing this show at night; there is something special about this space at night! The antics of the acrobats, divers, aerialists and guest Romanian strong men were completely entertaining! As a point of comparison, we enjoyed this show better than the similar one on Oasis.

 

 

 

 

After the OA, we went to the Karaoke at On Air, just in time for DD's to see their new friend from the hot tub sing "Living on a Prayer" and that was that...a rock star was born and groupies were collected...the Geek Squad was formed and just like that all the dread and worries were gone...as were our girls!

[Familygoboston]

Teen Contract

 

Sea day tomorrow...so a 1AM family curfew was set with a phone call check in. I had shared these rules I found and adapted from CC with the girls before we left, and because they followed them and were generally responsible, we had no problems all week.

 

I know that my girls are very responsible and mature for their ages, with clear ideas about what they want out of life and what kinds of behavior will get them there and what will not. Their behavior at home (or on other cruises and trips) has never given us any trouble and I wasn't expecting problems on the cruise. Our family policy has always been we will trust you till you give us a reason not to! So far so good, fingers crossed!

 

These rules are clearly adapted for my older teens, and when my girls were 13 and 15, or even 14 and 16, I would have different rules. Also, this original contract from CC had a lot "consequences" in it, for some families things work better that way with very clear negative consequences as a motivator; I removed the consequences, (such as being forced to stay in your cabin for 24 hours for infractions) because my girls are at an age where they generally respond better to high expectations and discussion about how to handle mistakes.

 

(scan of "rules"- with apologies to whomever invented them originally, a lady from the UK whose screen name escapes me now!)

 

 

 

 

 

Next up Day 3: A Sea Day which is a sad day

[AF-1]

nice set of rules. It is nice to see responsible parents who care and love their children so much that they take time to set rules and boundaries. Congrats

[Familygoboston]

Wow! That sounds like tons of fun and your pictures are gorgeous!!:D We actually booked the Aquaventure excursion for our upcoming cruise and now you have me rethinking it. When we went to Atlantis on our last cruise, we just took a taxi over and did The Dig tour. We thought the waterslides looked awesome, but you are right it is very expensive and I wonder how much time we will actually have at Atlantis. Was it just the amount of time you guys didn't like or was it the value of the package?

 

Tara

 

We did an Atlantis excursion with DCL. I would say #1 is the amount of money for the time, #2 is it was a little "glitzy" for our tastes, that's just not our "thing". And lastly, most of those tours you are paying a lot of extra for amenities you won't have time to use. It's entirely up to you, the toys and slides at the beach aren't as "wow" roller coaster exciting at BL as at Atlantis, so only you know which your kids will prefer. BTW, I've read that the amenities at Atlantis don't open till 10 AM, and all aboard is at 1:30, meaning you'd need to leave Atlantis by 12:30 ish.

 

I think my butt will be stuck to my chair this weekend between your review and rsharp83's Allure reviews. The only thing that could have made them better would have been if you would have done the Western itinerary. ;)

 

We did the Blue Lagoon Beach Break with lunch in 4/2011 which at that included the water toys, our kids LOVED it and we were so happy that we steered away from Atlantis. We would definitely go back to Blue Lagoon again. The only negative thing I can say about the entire excursion was that once we got on the ferry to go to Blue Lagoon there was absolutely NO guide narration for the 30 minute ride there. This was a very atypical experience for us and only bothered us because we enjoy hearing about various island sites and histories.

 

Look forward to reading the rest of your wonderful review!!! :)

 

Here is a secret...you could wait till the end, after we've both posted everything and then go back and read the whole thing...but I don't like to do this, I like to go along for the ride;)

Sorry your guide didn't give you a little history, ours was mostly all about "this is Beyonce and JZs house...that is Oprah's house...there is Tiger's house" etc, if that floats your boat...I wouldn't take this tour if that's a major thing one is hoping for, as you mentioned, it's hit or miss!

[Familygoboston]

nice set of rules. It is nice to see responsible parents who care and love their children so much that they take time to set rules and boundaries. Congrats

 

Thanks! We often cruise sans kids, so I totally get how unruly kids can ruin a cruise. I think it's not the kids fault...kids on a cruise are the same kids they are at home, and parents are checked in, or checked out. I try not to give parenting advice, but if your kids are out of control at home, no set of rules is going to make it better on a cruise, sadly.

 

I give a lot of latitude to kids too; more than once I've seen behavior we might see as "unruly" only to learn that it's a child with special needs on board. Those parents have a much harder job than I do, and I am not about to make it harder by casting dirty looks, or insisting my parenting would be "better" than theirs. I try to be sympathetic and understanding.

 

If I see kids on their own are clearly violating a rule, I do not suffer in silence, I use my preschool voice and state the rule "the rule is no playing on elevators, the security officers might see you on camera...I don't want you to have any trouble with them on your cruise!". You can even do this with adults, if in your nicest voice you say "you may not know this, but using tongs is required on the buffet" It gives kids and adults and out, "no, I did not know that" and makes them much more likely to comply. it's rare person who would say, "yeah, I know and I don't give a *^%&." :eek: And even if they do say that, at least you haven't created a confrontation, which is never pleasant!!!

 

Luckily, despite a large contingent of Massachusetts kids, they were all really well behaved, and I enjoyed their energy.:D

[labeachcomber]

Blue Lagoon

 

We were up early for an excursion to Blue Lagoon. We enjoyed room service breakfast on the balcony and were out on the pier for our only ship excursion of the week, Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter NS63 $130 pp. In all our cruises we have never done a dolphin interaction, we picked this one because it was about $50 pp cheaper than the Atlantis interaction, and we had visited Atlantis once before and just didn't find the experience worth the price for such a short day. The Blue Lagoon also included use of their beautiful beach with beach chairs and umbrellas. Also, to get to Blue Lagoon, you take a large ferry, and we always enjoy getting on the water in small craft whenever possible.

 

 

It took about 30 minutes to "check in" with at least another 300 people doing some kind of Blue lagoon excursion, then another 20-30 minutes to get to the Blue Lagoon via the ferry (though this is very pleasant and the guides will narrate the sites for you).

We are also looking at the Blue Lagoon dolphin experience over the one that they have Atlantis, although I think we're going to do the actual swim. I wasn't anticipating 300 people though, so I'm hoping that it was equally divided amongst all the various activities. Do you know approximately how many people were in each group?

 

Although it seems like you can save a little money by booking directly with Blue Lagoon, I think we'll do what you did and book through RCI as the security of getting back with such a short port time is probably worth the extra cost.

[tarajean1962]

This is a wonderful review and I am thoroughly enjoying it!!:)

 

Tara

[Familygoboston]

Day 3 April 16 Sea Day: A Day which is a Sea Day and a Sad Day

 

(Compass)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone slept in a bit, the girls later than we, and DH and I went to our favorite breakfast place - the Solarium cafe. We love being able eat with the sight of the ocean out the window. We like that the Solarium cafe is never busy, and that most of the foods on offer are most like what we normally eat at home.

 

This is advertised as a "healthy option", but for us it's pretty much how we normally eat, and the other venues offer a "splurge". We enjoyed the fresh cut fruit, variety of cereals and oatmeal, scrambled eggs, toast (white and wheat) English muffins, yogurt, waffles, pancakes, salmon, turkey bacon and sausage as well as grilled hot vegetables and specialty dishes. All the regular condiments are available (maple syrup for instance...so although you can choice healthier options, less "healthy" options are not banished!) Service was very good here and we never had trouble finding a table.

 

 

After breakfast we went to our Meet and Mingle which was scheduled for 9:30 at Dazzles. As soon as we walked in we saw Randy again- he was on his own being the lone CC'er in his group, and he asked me if I had seen all the "goings on in at the Boston Marathon". I had no idea what he was talking about!

 

When on vacation we never watch television (actually other than the NFL and the Amazing Race, we never watch TV at home either) Several passengers who had watched CNN or FOX on board explained there were a couple of explosions at the finish line of the marathon. Obviously, this was upsetting. The Boston Marathon is a major regional event, the kids and many businesses have a holiday "Patriots Day" on Monday. We know many people who run, watch or volunteer at the Marathon every year. The place where the bombing happened is a place we visit and dine nearly twice a month.

 

Unlike many regions, Boston is very balkanized, and so what appears to be suburbs or towns of other names, is really "greater Boston" and are closer to the "city" than many locations right in a city like Atlanta or Houston. So you don't need to be from "Boston" to be from Boston if that makes any sense at all! Most of us in Eastern Mass within 20 miles or so may live in towns with other names (none of which are easy to pronounce) and local governments, but we are still "from Boston". This even extends to much of New England...If someone in the theater is identified by the cruise director as being from RI or NH, anyone from NE will cheer. CT is borderline- if you are Red Sox fan we claim you- otherwise you are a Tri Stater,( NY, NJ, CT) and we have no use for you! I don't know how to explain it other than that despite the fact that we have a million little town governments in Massachusetts, we have a very strong regional identity!

 

 

I was a bit distracted at the M& M and didn't meet as many people as I would have liked. We met several of our Midwestern RC members, as well as some of the more experienced sailors on our RC, and we had a lot of laughs when Shelli from our RC was there with here 4 boys and they won every single raffle! Finally, Shelli started turning things down, because it was down right embarrassing!! But we all agreed she deserved it-cruising with 4 young boys!!

 

As soon as the meet and mingle was over I was anxious to get to Guest Services to activate our internet account so we could check in with home. We used our free 30 minutes we get with our diamond coupons, usually, just for a quick check in with family every other day or so. But this time we wanted to know what was going on, especially since we have a very dear friend who is a selectman in the town where the marathon starts and is often part of "ceremonial" activities.

 

At GS, we were immediately invited to make a free phone call, which I thought was very kind, but we put that off until after checking email, since we wanted to leave the phone free for anyone who knew they had an affected loved one at home.

 

Luckily, watching CNN and checking email we learned that none of our loved ones were affected. We did talk to one lady in the GS line who said a first responder relative had cared for the young boy who died, but that was obviously anecdotal. So far as we could tell, no one we met had a close relative affected, but again, we can't be sure someone didn't leave the ship once we got to St Thomas. The bombings didn't happen till after ship left Nassau and with a sea day, it would have been a long wait to get home in an emergency.

[Familygoboston]

DH and I headed to the gym, which was completely jammed at this point, so we walked the track to the rear of the ship and attended the Crown and Anchor recognition party in the Aquatheater. There were "morning drinks" and champagne offered, including some plain juice, we didn't partake and usually don't attend these things, except that we were hoping for news about Quantum which was (unfortunately for RCI) being announced that day.

 

The captain and hotel director were humorous and informative and had a few Quantum tidbits to share...by the end of the day the Quantum video was running on the cabin TV, and was really pretty cool to see! The Captain also made mention of the Boston Bombings, and made people feel both that they were sympathetic to anyone affected and they they were on top of security, should things become more wide spread. (at this point no one knew who was responsible or how widespread it might be) We did notice a very high level of uniformed security patrolling during our cruise.

 

 

After the C&A event, we went back to the gym where we worked out and caught up on more CNN Boston news while working out. After our workout we headed up to the Solarium to relax and process some of the upsetting events of the day before. We had no trouble finding front row chairs in the Solarium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(pano of Solarium out to sea)

 

 

 

 

(pano of Solarium upper level and Solarium bar)

 

 

 

 

Around 2 PM we went to the Park Cafe for lunch. Again, we had no trouble locating a table, even though there were a few people in front of us in line for Panini's (DH) and salads (moi!). We had set up a check in with the kids at PC for 2 PM and they joined us for lunch. After lunch the Geek Squad headed up to the Flow Riders and we headed to the Solarium and napped until it was time to get ready for dinner and Chicago.

 

(pano of park Cafe)

 

 

 

 

We had a few minutes before dinner, so we road the Rising Tide bar from Central Park to the Royal Promenade where we checked out our photos at the Focus Gallery. For those of you new to this class of ship. The ships photographers use your sea pass when they take your "welcome aboard" to enact "facial recognition" so that every photo they take all week will use this facial recognition to make sure the print will ends up in your folio, which is located on a carousel and in a binder at Focus. The location is noted right on your sea pass! The only photos that don't make it there reliably, are those where you are kissing (can't see faces) or wearing sunglasses (such as the port photos) but you can look for these on the wall in the old fashioned way, and put them into your folio.

 

 

 

 

 

It's a good idea to start thinking about what package or options you might want early in the week and begin planning, because on the last sea day the Focus Gallery gets very busy!! We decided to pose for formal pictures on both formal nights. My DH is the photographer, and we rarely get family photos done because of this!

 

We had hoped to have a sitting with a photographer friend of his as a family, but never got around to it. He did our daughters Senior Photos, but we never got the family involved the way we might have if we had hired a colleague and made an actual appointment. So we decided we would do some form of "Get the Picture" which is their digital packages.

 

For about the cost of a sitting fee here in the greater Boston area, he was able to get 15 digital images he can process the way he prefers and print in sizes and quantities we prefer (DH has a digital printing studio right in our family room and can print as large as 11x16 professional quality prints.)

 

We ordered our Get The Picture early on the last Sea Day and the DVD was in our folio by dinner time. We used the prints to make notes about which 15 we liked, so they would be easier to identify once he goes on line to select which photos you want...but you don't have to decide on the cruise, you can buy 10 or 15 or all the photos and then "select and download" the ones you want once you get home. We wanted to have a good idea of the 15 we would select because we had 3 freebies in our coupon book, and I wanted to make sure we took the 16th, 17th and 18th best prints, so I needed to know which 15 we were pretty certain to get!

 

After checking out photos we went to the Amber theater for the 7 PM show of CHICAGO. Because this was a long show we decided to go early and have dinner at 8:45 afterwards.

[Familygoboston]

Dinner

 

Night 3 MDR Pimento

 

(Day 3 menu)

 

 

 

 

(Day 3 Starters)

(Ceasar Salad)

 

 

(daily offered shrimp cocktail)

 

 

(roasted garlic soup)

 

 

(minestrone soup)

 

In general, our family decided that the things offered "daily" were a little less flavorful than once a week offerings. This may have been an effort to "keep it simple", but in our case we would choose from the unique menu rather than the every day items. The soups were again, spectacular!!

[Familygoboston]

Dinner

 

Tonight was Italian night- always popular with our family and the food and service felt vastly improved over the prior night.

(entrees and desert)

 

(chicken marsala-DD said it was tender and the sauce was flavorful)

 

 

 

(tiger shrimp- I had this and am very fussy about seafood; we have a home on the coast of Maine and I am used to fresh, fresh, fresh. I am understanding about the conditions on board, so I was delighted that shrimp tasted fresh - not fishy, and unlike the old menus, was not "baked" onto the shell to the point where you can't remove it. It was tender, firm and well prepared)

 

 

 

(lasagna al forno- DH 's favorite of the week)

 

 

 

(eggplant parm- DD liked this cheesy dish)

 

 

 

(sticky bread pudding- I had read this was great and DD had it and heartily agreed!)

 

 

 

(tiramisu- the rest of us had this too, a favorite of ours in the MDR and another example of more chocolate making its way onto the dessert menu!)

[Familygoboston]

After dinner we made our way back to the Amber Theater for the Love and Marriage game show hosted by CD, Alan Brooks. When we got there, there was a tense game of high stakes bingo going on.

 

 

 

(with Big Daddy Cash- he had quite a following on board and I have great respect for anyone who can spend hours just calling out numbers! Its a long hard road B4 you can become Cruise Director!!)

 

 

We liked Alan and found him to be very funny and witty, and you never know what the couples are going to say, which is always what makes these shows fun and different each time!

 

 

After L&M the girls went to meet the Geek Squad at Karaoke and we went back to the cabin to greet the latest towel friend and await the "I'm home" check in call from the kids.

 

(photo of towel animal)

 

 

 

(and finally some pins...we've scrapped and climbed our way up the C&A food chain and never got pins before. Now that I have them, not sure what I will do with them, but I have them!!)

 

 

Coming up: Day 4 April 17 St Thomas: A day when we are caught in squall and tossed from a small boat into barracuda infested waters

[Familygoboston]

We are also looking at the Blue Lagoon dolphin experience over the one that they have Atlantis, although I think we're going to do the actual swim. I wasn't anticipating 300 people though, so I'm hoping that it was equally divided amongst all the various activities. Do you know approximately how many people were in each group?

 

Although it seems like you can save a little money by booking directly with Blue Lagoon, I think we'll do what you did and book through RCI as the security of getting back with such a short port time is probably worth the extra cost.

 

Don't fear the 300...it's a combo of people for ALL of their excursions, so that includes the "Beach Break", the "Swim" the "encounter" and the Sea Lion Encounter. Once you get there off the ferry, they break you into small groups and it never feels crowded!!

We also looked into the "on your own" option, and certainly you can save a few bucks, but honestly, it wasn't enough for us, with the short day, and it's easy enough to do on your own, but you will still be with the hoards, since it is the same ferry- so you are not buying a more exclusive private experience, just saving a few bucks, and as I recall it was only a few dollars per person.

 

Up to you in the end!

 

This is a wonderful review and I am thoroughly enjoying it!!:)

 

Tara

Thanks Tara!! Another reader following the parallel threads from NE and Missouri!:D

[BecciBoo]

Nothing personal meant but I wonder how happy those Dolphins are, forced to do behaviors on a daily bases not associated with normal behaviors of their species. I'm willing to bet not very.

 

I have also been there and Actually, these behaviors ARE done by their species in the wild. And how could they be forced to do them? They do them or not, as they please. They often choose to ignore the trainer signals, as I have also witnessed at Sea World. They are animals after all and do have a mind of their own at times. I have witnessed these behaviors myself watching dolphin at sea in various places and seen it on many NatGeo specials, etc....as for their being happy, they didn't mention it to me;). But as in the top pic, the dolphins seem to enjoy doing these behaviors even in their off times. I caught one that just decided to take a walk on his tail for his own pleasure, without a trainer even there in his pen.

Of course I'm sure they would be happier in the wild...but they are part of ongoing educational resources and help to save lives...dolphin lives.:) Yeah yeah, man's exploitation of animals yadda yadda yadda etc. etc. :cool:

[chellecruise12]

7 short blasts followed by one long blast

 

Shortly after arriving at our cabins, most of our bags arrive, except for one of the black ones (oh oh!) and the large one with all my ...ummm, sunscreen) I'm nervous for about 10 minutes thinking one is still sitting on the sidewalk where it is now surrounded by a swat team and explosive dogs ( not so funny really given the events of the next day:() and the large bag, which, I'm sure was stuck in the naughty room where someone thinks I would actually go to the trouble of filling 10-12 tubes with alcohol, just to avoid having to pay on board for alcohol. In fact the tubes are filled with real sunscreen, and I will point out that at 10 bucks for 3 ounces, I am in fact carrying sunscreen worth more than I will spend in alcohol all week!:p

 

Luckily, the wayward bag arrives - thank you Randy! And so does the sunscreen- thank you bag screeners, paying 15 bucks a bottle on board shop would have me go out of my mind!

 

We spent a few minutes unpacking, made a stop at Guest Services to get extra keys made for each cabin and then prepare for the muster drill, and sail away.

 

We met Ligia, from Costa Rica, our cabin steward. She was very efficient, but she told us we didn't have our Diamond coupon books because they were "out in the office"; she suggested we go to the loyalty desk, which DH did, had she offered to get them- that would have been a "WOW" card moment. We didn't' have that moment, instead we had DH hoofing up to the LA office (on 6) to get coupon books. This will probably be our last experience with the "books" since they expect to put the "coupons" directly on the sea pass this summer before our next cruise in the fall.

 

 

 

(You can't think of your room stewards without thinking about their happy little helpers!)

 

 

 

(this is a rare view of the hallway without the carts and room stewards!!)

 

TIP: Prepare for the muster drill

The ship sails almost the instant muster drill is complete, so be prepared with your camera (and any flags and banners) ready in your cabin for quick pick up on your way to your preferred sail away location. You cannot bring these things to muster, so send one person to your sail away location, and the speediest member of the family back to the cabin for the items you need. Our muster station was F3 and held in the dining room on Deck 5.

 

Just curious..why can't you take your camera & flag to the muster drill?? I had hoped to do this to save some time running back to our room for it? yikes..

[Cruzin-K]

Subscribing :)

 

Your review is fabulous so far, and along with all the other reviews of the Allure we've had recently (Gambee, Kanscocoa, etc.) I am SO excited to get on this ship next January. Sigh. Just 274 more days.

 

I'm really really really trying to not plan ahead and just go with the flow but it's SO hard for a planner like me to do that, especially when there are so many activities that you MUST reserve in advance. Argh!

 

I thought I could get away with booking Chicago in advance and nothing else, but after reading all these reviews I'm having doubts. It would be different if I was sailing solo - then I could be as obsessive as I like, but going with someone else who might have different ideas of what to do and when, I need to be more flexible. Being flexible is not easy for an only child :D and I want to see the Aquatheater show from the splash zone, and a comedy show, and Blue Planet, and the prohibition party, and....

[flgojo]

Moving In

 

(photos of 8717 Boardwalk Balcony)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OMG I am in this cabin tomorrow! Finished packing and trying to relax so I of course came on cruise critic and now get to see a sneak peek of my cabin. :D

[Familygoboston]

Just curious..why can't you take your camera & flag to the muster drill?? I had hoped to do this to save some time running back to our room for it? yikes..

Well, they state pretty clearly to come with nothing but your sea pass, I suppose if you were pretty inconspicuous no one may call you out about it, but you definitely can't bring a back pack or bulky bag. They want your seapass card in your hand and for you to show it to the crew manning the stairways. In the event of an actual emergency, they say you should grab your meds and a warm jacket ( I'd also bring my ID) but they say don't go back to your room for those things in actual emergency, only grab them if you are already there.

 

Subscribing :)

 

Your review is fabulous so far, and along with all the other reviews of the Allure we've had recently (Gambee, Kanscocoa, etc.) I am SO excited to get on this ship next January. Sigh. Just 274 more days.

 

I'm really really really trying to not plan ahead and just go with the flow but it's SO hard for a planner like me to do that, especially when there are so many activities that you MUST reserve in advance. Argh!

 

I thought I could get away with booking Chicago in advance and nothing else, but after reading all these reviews I'm having doubts. It would be different if I was sailing solo - then I could be as obsessive as I like, but going with someone else who might have different ideas of what to do and when, I need to be more flexible. Being flexible is not easy for an only child :D and I want to see the Aquatheater show from the splash zone, and a comedy show, and Blue Planet, and the prohibition party, and....

 

Ho boy, this is going to be a challenge! I think there will be far more stress for your group of you have to do " walk in" for the shows. You need to be there earlier, and if not everyone is " ready" one or two will feel pressure to save or find seats for the others, and that causes its own challenges.

 

Could you maybe try our approach of " free nights" and "show nights"? That way everyone would know that 2 nights during the cruise your group will do 2 shows and a dinner, and the other nights everyone will be free to pursue whatever they feel like. Some of the lesser shows like the ice show or the headliner you could take in as walk ins or just do on your own if the others have alternate plans.

So the idea would be to book Chicago show one night; Blue planet and Comedy on another, fit dinner before or after those, and everyone knows that from 6:30- 11 ish on those two nights, you have " group" activities. You can easily walk into the Aquatheater show if you want splash zone, those fill up dead last. The other nights are freebies and you can do the other shows if you want.

 

My advice book it all and change it if you need to!

[Familygoboston]

 

 

OMG I am in this cabin tomorrow! Finished packing and trying to relax so I of course came on cruise critic and now get to see a sneak peek of my cabin. :D

 

Flgojo- This is just for you...have a ball!!

a view of your balcony from deck 15

 

your cabin is the one to the right of the JR clock!)

Sorry it didn't get turned for some reason:confused:

 

Have a great sail...look for Bill from Ohio...he will probably be at the M& M...can't wait to hear from you guys next week!!:D