Review: Allure Western 5/18/14

[erries]

About us

My group consisted of myself and DH (both 31) and both sets of parents (late 50s, early 60s). DH and I and the in-laws live in southwestern Pennsylvania, and my parents live in West Virginia. DH and I had been on five previous cruises, all with Royal, all Eastern or Western Caribbean itineraries, two on Oasis class. My in-laws had been on four altogether, three with us and one on their own, all Royal. My parents, on the other hand, had gone to Myrtle Beach, SC for every single summer vacation since they got married 39 years ago and had never even been to Florida, let alone on a cruise on the biggest ship in the world. I knew it was going to be outside their comfort zone, but they’d heard us talking about it for years and had finally decided to give it a try.

 

Pre-cruise

We flew out from Pittsburgh on Saturday morning with a layover in Atlanta. We arrived at Fort Lauderdale early afternoon, collected our bags, and caught the hotel shuttle from the airport to the Holiday Inn Express on State Road 84. The location wasn’t the best, but we had waited too long to book the hotel, and there weren’t many choices left in our price range in a better area. It wasn’t dangerous or anything, and the hotel itself was perfectly suitable for a one-night stay, but it was on a busy major road that wasn’t very pedestrian-friendly, and there wasn’t much around there anyway. We got wine for the cruise across the street at a Winn Dixie, and we took the hotel shuttle to Las Olas Blvd. for dinner at a really great Italian place called Caffe Europa. I wrote a little more about the hotel and restaurant here on the Florida board if you’re interested:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2048772

 

Embarkation

We caught our hotel shuttle’s first run to the port at 10am. Some people were heading for the Carnival Freedom, so we stopped there first and dropped them off, but we were soon on our way into Terminal 18 after dropping off our bags with the attendants at the curb. As we were walking into the terminal, I looked at my watch and said to DH, “Help me remember that it’s 10:30, because I want to time this.” I was thinking of reporting back to you fine people about the breakneck speed with which we would undoubtedly get through and board the ship, especially since we were Platinum for the first time and would have boarding priority.

 

I should’ve known better. :rolleyes:

 

Something I should’ve mentioned at the beginning: I’m currently 21 weeks pregnant. When we approached the check-in counter (no line at all for Platinum that early) and got started with registration, the guy handed us the standard health forms (with questions about whether we’d recently been sick or exposed to anything), and he casually asked, “Anybody here pregnant?” This will be our first child, and I’m not going to lie: I’ve really been enjoying the attention. :o I’d like to say I assumed he’d just have an extra form for me or something, but honestly, my reaction was so instantaneous that I didn’t have any time to think about it at all. I cheerfully said, “I am!” and then watched as he froze and eyed me up. “Do you have a note from your doctor?” he asked, and I started to feel nauseous.

 

So here’s something everyone here should know and shout to the heavens so some poor idiot like me won’t have to go through the same thing I did: If you’re more than 24 weeks pregnant, you can’t go on a Royal Caribbean cruise. If you’re less than 24 weeks, you have to have a “fit to travel” note from your doctor stating how far along you are and confirming that your pregnancy is not high-risk. If you go to Royal’s site and search the FAQs for “pregnant”, it comes right up:

 

Q: Can I cruise if I am pregnant?

A: Royal Caribbean International cannot accept guests who will have entered their 24th week of pregnancy by the beginning of, or at any time during the cruise or cruisetour. A physician's "Fit to Travel" note is required prior to sailing, stating how far along (in weeks) your pregnancy will be at the beginning of the cruise and confirming that you are in good health and not experiencing a high-risk pregnancy. The "Fit to Travel" note should be faxed to the Access Department at 1-954-628-9622. Please contact us at 1-866-592-7225 or at special_needs@rccl.com if you have already booked a cruise or cruisetour and do not meet this requirement.

 

So it’s clearly stated in the FAQs -- if you search for it specifically. We’ve never come across this policy before in seven years of cruising, and there was no indication at any point during our reservation process that clued us in. I’m not blaming Royal at all -- I just want to be clear that this wasn’t very well advertised. Ultimately it’s entirely my fault for not thinking to research it ahead of time, but like I said, this is my first pregnancy, and it simply didn’t occur to me to seek out their policy about it.

 

My doctor’s office is not open on Sundays, but it is affiliated with the local hospital, so I started by calling the hospital. I was eventually put in touch with a random nurse (after whom I should name this child, ha ha) in Labor & Delivery who listened as I explained the situation and agreed to try to find a doctor who could access my medical records. I gave her the fax number we’d been given, and she said she’d call me back. During this time all six of us (the other five were checked in, SeaPass cards in hand) were taken to an out-of-the-way corner of the terminal and told to wait there until we got this straightened out.

 

Long story short, after over an hour of pacing and waiting impatiently, multiple phone calls back and forth with Super Nurse, and a few botched faxes (it didn’t come through clearly enough the first two times), we FINALLY got everything worked out. The staff members who worked with us were ridiculously patient and kind, given that I was practically on the verge of hysterics a few times, and the woman who served as our main point of contact personally escorted us to the front of the line when I finally had my SeaPass card. They had already started boarding, so we didn’t get to take advantage of our Platinum status, but we ended up boarding the ship soon after noon. So it didn’t end up delaying us too much in the grand scheme of things, but man, what a stressful way to start our vacation. It wasn’t until we were seated on benches outside Giovanni’s in Central Park, sipping pina coladas and balancing plates of roast beef sandwiches from Park Café on our laps, that I finally began to fully relax. We were finally on a cruise!

 

To be continued.

Edited May 29, 2014 by erries

[goneclear]

Good information to share, I am sure many people do not think about this especially if they are in their early stages of pregnancy.

I can imagine the anxiety you must have gone through waiting on the Fax.

Glad it all worked out.

Looking forward to the continuation of your review.

Thanks for sharing.

[erries]

Day 1 continued

By the time we were finished with our roast beef sandwiches, we could see people out on their Central Park balconies, so we knew the rooms were open. This was one advantage to being delayed earlier: we didn’t have to lug our bags around the ship while we waited for our rooms to be ready. We had three Central Park balcony rooms; mine and DH’s was next to my parents’ (though it wasn’t connecting), and the in-laws were a few rooms down. My parents’ room had the bed near the balcony; we had ours near the closet. The funny thing is that I entered my parents’ room from the balcony (we had our stateroom attendant remove the barrier) more often than not, so to me both rooms felt equally crowded, because I was always entering by the bed. :rolleyes:

 

We spent the afternoon taking my parents around to show off all the parts of the ship we’d been talking to them about for two years. They were overwhelmed but excited, and I was pleased to see how quickly they learned their way around. We employed a post-it note system on all three stateroom doors throughout the week; when you get up to go to breakfast or whatever, just put up a note with the time and where you went. This made it easier for us to find each other on the ship without having to wait around and go everywhere together.

 

We ate dinner in the main dining room every night (late seating), as we always do. I guess I’d like to try specialty dining someday, but after how much we pay for the cruise itself, it’s hard to pass up “free” food. ;) Unfortunately the dining experience this first night didn’t live up to what we had described to my parents; the service was, to be blunt, pretty awful. Our assistant waiter didn’t seem to know what she was doing, so our main waiter was running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to refill drinks, offer bread, and so on in addition to taking our orders, delivering our food, etc. I think from the time we walked in, it was over an hour until we actually had our meals. Our main waiter seemed nice, but she was clearly overwhelmed and stressed out, and it showed. We found out much later in the week what may have contributed to this: the assistant waiter told us that the assistants rotate every week, so every Sunday she’s working at a new station with a new main waiter. I’m not sure why they do it this way, but we chalked it up to the two of them getting used to each other and the way they both operate, because service the rest of the week was impeccable. We actually ended up really liking them both, especially the main waiter, who was always quick to tell us if we were making a mistake and ordering something that wasn’t that good. I eventually gave up and just ordered whatever she recommended. :D This first night I had the seafood spaghetti.

 

A note on main dining room dinners in general: I never had a “bad” meal, though by far my least favorite was Day 6, when I had a Caesar salad and the pan-seared fillet of sole. I remember the Caesar salads being fine on previous cruises, but this one tasted strange. The fish was okay but not very flavorful. Other than that, I loved everything I tried: lobster bisque, beef tenderloin, caprese salad, chicken marsala, crab cake, orecchiette pasta, creamed wild mushrooms, fisherman’s plate, and so on. My favorite desserts were the sticky bread and butter pudding (seriously, skip the tiramisu on Italian night and get this!), cherries jubilee, warm chocolate cake and key lime pie. They only offered escargot one night, but every night they had baby scallops in the same butter garlic sauce, and it tasted nearly identical. My dad got that the first night and loved it so much that he ordered it every subsequent night, regardless of whatever else he got. He dipped his bread in the butter garlic sauce after he ate the scallops. We also had a couple picky eaters at our table who got the chicken and/or steak from the non-changing menu multiple times, and they reported that these were good too.

 

After dinner we went to the aqua show, which was just as awesome as I remember. The ship was rocking a little bit, and I was worried they might cancel, but they didn’t. This show was a great way to say “Welcome to cruising!” to my parents -- they were very impressed with the high dive acts -- but next time I don’t think I’ll schedule anything for the first night. Considering the stress we’d gone through at check-in that morning on top of it just being a long day in general, we were exhausted.

 

…which made our last snafu of the day into a bigger deal than it would’ve been if we were more rested. :mad: DH and I went back to our stateroom after the aqua show, and it was sweltering in there. We had turned the AC down as cool as it would go, and it was comfortable when we left for dinner several hours earlier. We called maintenance, who said they’d look into it. After about 15-20 minutes, we heard a clicking sound and were able to feel cool air coming out from the vents above the closet. We waited a while longer, but no one came, so we finally called maintenance back. Turns out they don’t need to actually come into your room to fix it, and that clicking sound had been them “flushing” and resetting something. They were monitoring it from their end and confirmed that the temperature was dropping in our room. We had to wonder whether they ever would’ve contacted us if we wouldn’t have called back! So just FYI, if you’re having AC problems, don’t assume that they’ll need to come into your room… and I guess you’ll just have to guess when it’s fixed. :confused: But to their credit, we didn’t have AC problems (or any other stateroom issues) the rest of the week.

[JohnGaltny]

Nice job on this review.

 

I have zero interest in the "mega ships" but I am seriously enjoying this.

 

AS for the document dance, WHEW I'm glad you got that worked out. On our Explorer cruise last month we took my son, DiL and granddaughter. My DiL's passport is still in her maiden name and the baby has our name. We had their certified marriage certificate AND the baby's certified birth certificate ready and guess what? Nobody asked. LOLOL

Edited June 3, 2014 by JohnGaltny

[LMaxwell]

Something I should’ve mentioned at the beginning: I’m currently 21 weeks pregnant. When we approached the check-in counter (no line at all for Platinum that early) and got started with registration, the guy handed us the standard health forms (with questions about whether we’d recently been sick or exposed to anything), and he casually asked, “Anybody here pregnant?” This will be our first child, and I’m not going to lie: I’ve really been enjoying the attention. :o I’d like to say I assumed he’d just have an extra form for me or something, but honestly, my reaction was so instantaneous that I didn’t have any time to think about it at all. I cheerfully said, “I am!” and then watched as he froze and eyed me up. “Do you have a note from your doctor?” he asked, and I started to feel nauseous.

 

So here’s something everyone here should know and shout to the heavens so some poor idiot like me won’t have to go through the same thing I did: If you’re more than 24 weeks pregnant, you can’t go on a Royal Caribbean cruise. If you’re less than 24 weeks, you have to have a “fit to travel” note from your doctor stating how far along you are and confirming that your pregnancy is not high-risk. If you go to Royal’s site and search the FAQs for “pregnant”, it comes right up:

 

 

 

So it’s clearly stated in the FAQs -- if you search for it specifically. We’ve never come across this policy before in seven years of cruising, and there was no indication at any point during our reservation process that clued us in. I’m not blaming Royal at all -- I just want to be clear that this wasn’t very well advertised. Ultimately it’s entirely my fault for not thinking to research it ahead of time, but like I said, this is my first pregnancy, and it simply didn’t occur to me to seek out their policy about it.

 

 

Excellent advice. Thanks

[LMaxwell]

Nice job on this review.

 

I have zero interest in the "mega ships" but I am seriously enjoying this.

 

AS for the document dance, WHEW I'm glad you got that worked out. On our Explorer cruise last month we took my son, DiL and granddaughter. My DiL's passport is still in her maiden name and the baby has our name. We had their certified marriage certificate AND the baby's certified birth certificate ready and guess what? Nobody asked. LOLOL

 

More good tips here. My wife is terrified to update her passport that it won't be back in time for an OCTOBER cruise:rolleyes:. I switched the res back to her maiden name just in case.

[JohnGaltny]

More good tips here. My wife is terrified to update her passport that it won't be back in time for an OCTOBER cruise:rolleyes:. I switched the res back to her maiden name just in case.

 

That works. We only got concerned because we were taking their daughter out of the country. I am POSITIVE if I wasn't ready, it would have been a major issue. I'm lucky that way.;)

Edited June 3, 2014 by JohnGaltny

[erries]

Day 2 -- at sea

DH and I had been on five cruises before this, all Eastern or Western Caribbean itineraries, all the third week in May, same as this one. Unfortunately I think I can safely say this was the worst weather we’ve ever had on a cruise. Spoiler alert: our first real, hot Caribbean day was Day 5. :( We woke this morning to clouds, rain, and temps in the 70s. After the horrendous winter we had, it was a slightly disappointing way to start our first sea day, but we made the best of it.

 

We took my parents to the Windjammer for breakfast late, around 10 or 10:30. Because of the weather or because it was the first day and people still didn’t know their way around to the other venues, the Windjammer was packed. On our last Allure cruise two years ago, it was always a free-for-all, very difficult to find a table when it was crowded. But now they have lines at the entrances, and they give you hand sanitizer and ask how many are in your party, and seat you in an organized way. We never had to wait in this line longer than five minutes the whole week, for breakfast or dinner, early or late, and I much preferred it to wandering around aimlessly trying to find a clean table on our own. The Windjammer was so crowded they were seating people in Izumi, which is where we found ourselves. They had a drink station set up on the sushi bar with water, juice, coffee and tea, which was nice because we didn’t have to carry drinks very far. We took my parents into the Windjammer and gave them a quick rundown of where everything is and how it works, then had a leisurely breakfast. We all thought it was funny that they were playing Oriental music (loudly) in Izumi even though everyone was just eating eggs and cereal. :p

 

DH and I were feeling mopey about the weather, but my mom, the eternal optimist, declared that she was going to get in her bathing suit anyway and go to the Solarium. That rallied the troops, and all six of us soon found ourselves out there, where we spent most of the day. Mom and I found a pair of lounge chairs under a covered glass section where the rain couldn’t blow in (much), and we read and napped pretty much all day. The other four spent the majority of their time in the cantilevered hot tubs, along with about 5,000 other people. I saw absolutely no one in any of the pools at all this day; even when the rain briefly let up, it was still cloudy and cool, and I’m sure the water was too chilly. I dipped a toe in the Solarium pool once and yelped out loud. (Later in the week, when it got way hotter, that pool felt awesome.)

 

Side note about cruising while pregnant: Obviously I knew this cruise would be a little different for me than normal -- no zip line or Flowrider or rock wall, etc -- but I didn’t account for how much of a bummer it would be that I couldn’t get into the hot tubs. Especially during those first few days, that’s all anyone else in my group wanted to do, and it was frustrating. I sat a few times along the divider between the two halves of the cantilevered tubs and dangled my feet in, but that wasn’t comfortable for long with nothing to lean my back against. I also didn’t realize how bummed I would be not to be able to drink. I’m not a big drinker normally, and it hasn’t bothered me much to give up wine with dinner, etc, but all those nonstop fruity drinks? Torture! I did have a couple virgin drinks -- a Mango Lava Flow, a Labadoozie and a Wildberry Lava Flow -- and that helped some, but man. First world problems, yadda yadda. :cool:

 

We had lunch at Wipeout Café, and I introduced my dad to my beloved pretzel dogs. You know, it’s funny, on the first day when we were showing them around, I pointed out the hot dog stand when we were on the Boardwalk and said we’d have to try it because I never did on my first Allure cruise… and then we never made it there all week! My dad and I ate more than our fair share of pretzel dogs, though, and my mom used Wipeout Café as her default go-to place to refill her soda cup when she was on the pool deck.

 

Speaking of which: None of us got any drink packages except my mom, who got the cheapest soda package. With my dad and I both mooching off it, we definitely got our money’s worth. It was great to fill up the big insulated cup on pool days, and I used it a couple times to grab a Sprite in the casino as we went to dinner. At every single place any of us ever used the card to get a regular glass of soda, the bartender never once actually swiped the card or even looked at the name -- just glanced to verify the Coca Cola symbol stamped on it. So moral compasses aside, just know that it’s extremely easy to share. ;)

 

This was the first formal night, and we all dressed up for the captain’s toast in the Promenade and then dinner. Dressing up for formal night with late dinner seating felt like a little bit of a waste, especially on the second formal night when there was no extra fanfare like the captain’s reception. We got dressed up and left our staterooms at 8:30, then went back and changed again after dinner two hours later. Of course we could’ve gotten ready earlier, but the main reason we chose late seating was to have more time during the afternoon to extend our day, so we didn’t want to leave the pool or whatever and go get dressed up. Anyway, I digress. I know dress code is a hot topic on CC, so I’ll just say that while I did see a few prom-worthy full-length gowns and tuxes, I didn’t notice anyone in the MDR wearing shorts or flip flops or anything like that. Then again, it wasn’t until the second formal night that it even occurred to me to look around and notice anyone else’s attire; shockingly, what 2,000 total strangers chose to wear to dinner didn’t affect my vacation at all. :rolleyes:

 

My dad and I went to see Chicago after dinner. Months before, when we were reserving shows online, my dad surprised everyone by declaring that he wanted to see Chicago. No one in my family has ever been a fan of musicals, and my dad hadn’t seen the movie and didn’t know anything about it, but for some reason he really wanted to go. No one else had any interest in going, and while I secretly didn’t either, I wanted my dad to experience everything he wanted to on the cruise, so I reserved tickets for the two of us. And… I’m glad I did! It was awesome! I’ve really hated the handful of musicals I’ve been forced to watch on TV or DVD over the years, but it was different live. The sets and costumes were great, and the actors were phenomenal. It’s a long show (1.5 hours), and I’ll admit I found it difficult to stay 100% awake and alert during some of the slower parts toward the end, but hey, we’d just eaten a heavy meal, and I’m pregnant, so I’m always tired. :o But I do recommend this show if you’re considering it at all.

 

Next up: Labadee!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[njmomof2]

Enjoying your review. Yes, travelling while pregnant is a different experience. Even when you don't drink a lot, knowing you can't seems to make it worse.

 

As for your mention of the pan seared fillet, I had that as well on our Oasis cruise in April. Now one thing you need to know about me is that I am not a food snob. I'll eat anything and mostly like it, even airplane food. That's not to say I don't love an expensive, high end meal, but those are few and far between when you're a single mom with 2 kids. I know, embarassing to admit it but it's true. So when I tell you that the fish was inedible, it must have been awful. Flavorless, and what flavor it did have was overwhelmingly fishy. I ate one bite and left the entire thing on the place.

 

I know that not everyone loves musicals so I always wonder why people don't. I love them, and especially love being able to see them over and over when they are on TV like Rent, or Fiddler or Hello Dolly. I'm a nut like that. I love Hairspray, and when I saw it on Oasis, it was terrific too. I'm glad you took the chance and saw it. Live theater is amazing. Living in driving distance from Broadway, I only wish I had enough money to go see shows more often.

Edited June 4, 2014 by njmomof2

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Awesome review so far, really enjoying it.

[dacsmom]

Loving your review. Is the Wipeout cafe the only place to get the pretzel dogs? They sound yummy.

[coloradoSunshine]

Thanks for posting your review. I'm really enjoying all the details.

 

Shauna

[klfhngr]

You all mooched over soda and used ONE card?! How dare you, that explains the outragous prices! Jk! Get ready to hear the bashers/haters, lol! I'm a Rum Runner person, so I get bashed too :)

[JamesEM]

Enjoying your review, will be on the ship on Oct.

[erries]

Loving your review. Is the Wipeout cafe the only place to get the pretzel dogs? They sound yummy.

 

As far as I know, yes, Wipeout Cafe is the only place you can find the almighty pretzel dogs. I may or may not have eaten them as "snacks" in between meals on more than one occasion.

[erries]

Day 3 -- Labadee

I woke up way too early this morning, and when I heard/felt the engine shuddering, I decided to grab my camera and go up to Deck 16 to watch us dock while DH slept. I got up there in time to see the Labadee welcome crew -- a small boat and several jet skis. They were buzzing the ship, flying past us over and over in circles, yelling and waving and blowing whistles. At one point the little boat faced away from us, heading back toward shore, and deployed a big parachute out the back with a giant yellow smiley face on it. Pretty fun to watch, though some people seemed confused; one woman came up to me while I was videotaping and asked what was going on. I said I thought it was just the welcoming committee, and she said, “Oh, whew, so the whistling is a good thing?” I guess out of context, and before the smiley face parachute appeared, all that commotion could make it seem like there was an emergency or something bad happening.

 

We had room service for breakfast this morning because we wanted to get on the island early and didn’t want to deal with breakfast crowds. Our food arrived at the beginning of the half hour time range we’d specified, and we ate it out on the balcony overlooking Central Park. DH had eggs and bacon and hash browns; I had fruit and cereal. The coffee was fine.

 

Once ashore we decided to walk to our destination, Columbus Cove. I wanted to ride the tram because I didn’t want to have to walk through the open-air market area, but everyone else was fine with walking instead of waiting around for the tram, so off we went. The walk didn’t take very long -- maybe 15 minutes -- and it was a nice way to show my parents around and to see the changes ourselves since we were last there two years ago. Turns out we didn’t go through the market anyway because we got confused and entered the beach area too soon, at whatever beach comes before Columbus Cove. We walked along a rocky path right by the water to get across to Columbus, totally bypassing the market path.

 

A worker approached us when we got to Columbus and asked where we’d like our chairs set up. We found a nice area, and he brought over six lounge chairs. DH had shown me a section in the Compass that morning that specifically advised against tipping these men (not sure why), but DH intended to tip him anyway, at least a little bit. But then we realized that none of the six of us had thought to bring any small bills; we only had a couple 20s for souvenirs. DH explained this to the worker and promised to come find him once we broke our 20s, but he just stood there and stared at us silently while we started to set up our towels and unpack our bags. It was super awkward! Eventually he left, looking disgruntled, and DH felt bad, but I don’t know what else we were supposed to do.

 

Our weather was a bit better today; still mostly cloudy, still not quite as hot as we would’ve liked, but the sun did peek out here and there, and at least there wasn’t any actual steady rain like the day before. The water felt cold at first, but once you got used to it, it was great. We spent the day there, swimming and relaxing and drinking Labadoozies. The picnic lunch was good; hamburgers and hot dogs, “jerk” chicken, rice and beans, lots of different picnic-type salads like pasta salad, three-bean salad (this was delicious), cole slaw, etc. For dessert they had some cakes and brownies, fresh fruit and cookies. On embarkation day my mom discovered her new favorite cookie at Park Café -- cranberry and white chocolate chip -- and they had these too.

 

We did walk through the open-air market on our way back to the ship, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I remember. The key was to just not make eye contact; we got a few guys calling at us, but when we didn’t respond, they left us alone. We stopped at the artisan market (a building where it’s more regulated) and looked around some, and it was just like browsing any souvenir shop anywhere. If you want to buy trinkets at Labadee, shop here and skip the market stalls.

 

This day went by so quickly, we never really left the Columbus Cove area to explore anything else. So after the market we took a detour to show my parents Dragon’s Breath Rock, at the end of the zip line, where the water rushing in and out of the rock formation sounds like a dragon breathing. This was something DH and I had loved on our first trip to Labadee in 2008, but I don’t think we’d gone back since. Unfortunately once we got over there, the whole area was gated off and closed. :( I’m not sure why, but that was a little disappointing. Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to take them back someday!

 

This evening we had the comedy show booked for after dinner, but it didn’t start until 11:30. We got out of dinner a little after 10, and I was looking at the Compass and realized the Love & Marriage game show (one of my favorites) was this night and started at 10:30. I was so aggravated with myself, because I had found old Compasses here on CC and cross checked Love & Marriage, the Quest, etc before we made show reservations. I was wondering how I could’ve missed this; why would I have booked the comedy show for a time when we’d miss Love & Marriage? We decided to make the best of it and go to Love & Marriage until like 11:10 or so. Unfortunately the bingo game that was supposedly wrapping up when we got to the theater went on much, much longer than they anticipated, and by the time they got through all the Love & Marriage opening stuff (choosing couples, getting to know them, etc), it was time for us to leave just as they were beginning to actually ask questions.

 

The entrance to the comedy club is right across from the theater, so we hopped on over and swiped our cards… and the girl swiping cards said we didn’t have reservations. What? She checked her computer and pulled up our accounts and said that we DID have reservations… for the 7:30 show. :eek: I HAD done it right months ago, I HAD scheduled everything properly -- I just neglected to double check all the dates and times once we actually boarded the ship. We could’ve gone to the comedy show at 7:30, dinner at 8:30, then Love & Marriage at 10:30.

 

On embarkation day, DH and I had pulled up our schedule on our stateroom TV because we wanted to double check that we had OceanAria booked for that night. While we had it up, I remember saying out loud, “Okay, OceanAria tonight, Chicago tomorrow, comedy Tuesday. Got it!” For whatever reason (pregnancy brain? that’s a thing, right? :o), I had just totally overlooked the time, and then later assumed that all our reservations were for after dinner. We made these show reservations as soon as they were available, and no one had looked at them since. So learn from our mistake: Be 100% sure you know what you booked!

 

They invited us to get in the miles-long standby line and try our luck at getting in anyway, but I took one look at the length of that line and the size of the venue and knew it was a lost cause. The rest of our group stood there looking around like lost sheep while I pouted for 15 seconds, then we rallied and just went right back into Love & Marriage. We hadn’t even missed the first full round of questions, so we still got to see the vast majority of the show. It was hilarious, as always, and my parents loved it.

 

If it’s not obvious, I should explain that I was (and always am, on cruises or any other vacation) The Planner, so I felt responsible for everyone having a good time and getting to experience everything to the fullest. I felt bad about the comedy show all evening and the next day, because it’s one of the highlights for us, and I didn’t want my parents to miss it. Even though any of the other five would’ve been perfectly capable of checking their schedules on their stateroom TVs, I felt like it was my fault. Well, spoiler alert: We were able to get in on standby the next night. :D Speaking of which, next up: Jamaica!

Edited June 5, 2014 by erries

[erries]

Day 4 -- Falmouth, Jamaica

We woke this morning to dreary, rainy skies again. DH and I grabbed breakfast from Park Café and ate it out on the (damp) cushioned chairs in Central Park. I had a bagel and a fruit and yogurt parfait, which I’ve been replicating ever since I got home by mixing vanilla yogurt, granola and fresh blueberries. We met up with the rest of our group and disembarked.

 

After walking around the port area and shopping a little, we split up. My mom and I did a ship excursion to Good Hope Great House plantation, while DH and the other parents hung out at Margaritaville for some drinks (too cold to swim, unfortunately) and got lunch at the jerk chicken place inside the port area. When we got back on the ship, we found them at -- where else? -- the cantilevered hot tub.

 

The plantation tour was pretty cool. We boarded a tour bus inside the enclosed port area and traveled about 20 minutes to the estate. The drive there was interesting -- we saw a few villages, sugar cane fields, banana trees, bamboo, etc -- and the driver acted as our tour guide, narrating what we were seeing and teaching us some local slang.

 

Once we got to the plantation, we were divided into two smaller groups -- half went on the tour of the grounds first, and the other half (my mom and I included) went to the house first. Our tour guide told us all about the history of the plantation, and she was able to answer every single question anyone could think of. We walked around outside for a few minutes and got some good pictures of the house itself and the view from the front yard (which was amazing), but while we were inside the house, a storm blew up that included the hardest rain I think I've ever seen. We were glad to be inside and felt bad for the other half of our group, who had left in a covered but open air vehicle.

 

The rain continued for so long (about 1.5 hours) that it ultimately ended up affecting the remainder of our tour. Our guide had to skip a couple parts she would've normally shown us, and for the second half they loaded us into a shuttle van, where we were dry but unfortunately couldn't see much through the rain-streaked windows. The guide did a great job of describing everything, though, and she and the driver were so rowdy and goofy and cheerful that we were all able to just treat it as a fun adventure instead of being disappointed that it didn't go exactly according to plan.

 

The tour ends with lunch, but the seating area was outdoors, and it was still raining much too hard to sit out there. So the guides improvised yet again and packed our lunches to go. This process wasn't very well organized, and it took so long that most of us were able to eat while we were standing around waiting instead of trying to eat on the bus on the way back to the port. The jerk chicken and salad were good, but the chicken wasn't nearly as spicy as I expected. They also served bread that was literally the best bread I've ever eaten; it was like the consistency and shape of a regular breadstick, but coated in sugar and deep fried like a funnel cake. I heard one of the guides refer to it as "festival", which I just now Googled and confirmed. It was so amazing that my mom and I begged for another piece!

 

Overall I was really happy with this experience, and I would recommend it to someone else who's looking for something different to do in Falmouth. It was informative, unique and fun. The weather was unfortunate, but the guides made the best of it, and it's not an excursion I'll soon forget.

 

As previously mentioned, we got into the late comedy show after dinner by standing in the standby line. We were pretty far back -- I’d say there were at least 15-20 people ahead of us -- and the couple directly in front of us said this was the third show in a row they’d stood in line for. (Maybe they were non-CC people who didn’t know to book ahead…or maybe they were idiots like me who messed up their reservations.) Since there were six of us and it’s such a small venue, I didn’t think we’d get in, but we did! The comedy show was funny, as always.

 

Day 5 -- at sea

This morning DH and I decided to have breakfast in the MDR. We were seated with four other people, a couple about our age from Canada and a middle-aged couple from India. We chatted with the Canadian couple all through breakfast, and we tried to speak with the Indian couple some, but the wife would only smile and the husband was a little difficult to understand. I did gather that they were in the midst of a month-long vacation to the United States; they had already visited New York, Las Vegas, and Miami. Must be nice! DH and I opted for the buffet because we were anxious to get out to the pool on our first sunny day, but in retrospect, I might’ve ordered off the menu. The Canadian couple’s breakfasts looked awesome; the wife shared some of her chocolate banana bread with me, and it was delicious. The buffet was fine, better than the Windjammer, but since we were taking the time to eat in the MDR anyway, we should’ve just gone ahead and ordered from the menu. Halfway through our meal, my parents showed up; they had seen our sticky note on our door and assumed they could just come join us. I had neglected to explain to them how breakfast works in the MDR, so they weren’t aware that they’d be seated with random people. They seemed uncomfortable when we left (they did order off the menu and were still waiting for their food), but later my mom said she was glad they’d done it and told me all about the interesting people they met at their table.

 

Today we had sunshine! Glorious sunshine! It seems crazy that our first real hot and sunny Caribbean day wasn’t until Thursday; this was the first day any of us got in the pools. By the time we got up there after breakfast, my in-laws were already there and had enough chairs for the rest of us. They weren’t being chair hogs, I swear -- there were empty chairs all over the place. We were on one of the middle tiers by the main pool, across from the beach pool. Of course it got crowded later in the morning, but I noticed empty chairs here and there all day, especially on the upper deck. And if you have second dinner seating, you can always move to a different spot later in the afternoon when the crowds thin as people leave to get ready for first seating. Anyway, we spent pretty much this whole day laying out, swimming in the pools and hot tubs, etc. DH and my father-in-law split a bucket of beer and refilled it later in the week. We ate at the Windjammer for lunch, and I made myself a HUGE awesome salad -- I think my body was in shock from all the heavy, rich food and just needed something nutritious for a change.

 

This was the second formal night, and after dinner we went to the Quest. I know the rules, so I won’t say anything about it, but it was fun. It does kind of get to be same old, same old after so many times, but it was great to be there while my parents saw it for the first time. I’ll also take this opportunity to say that I didn’t mind Ken Rush, but I wasn’t blown away by him. I gather that a lot of people here on CC aren’t too impressed with him, and I agree with the statement that he seems to kind of phone in it a little bit, but he’s entertaining enough.

 

Two more days to go!

Edited June 9, 2014 by erries

[rlthng]

Newbie here......What is Quest? Is it a show? TIA

[LMaxwell]

Newbie here......What is Quest? Is it a show? TIA

 

It's a late night, adult themed, audience participation activity/game show. The room is split into numerous co-ed teams and then they say things like "We need a lady with a tattoo" or "We need to see a man crawl like a snake" etc....someone from the team who fits the bill runs up with team number in hand and has to show off their trait or skill to the host to get the points. It's a lot of fun, not recommended for kids, I'm sure there are videos on Youtube. It's as wild as it gets on RCI which is to say not too over the top, but a lot of late night fun and laughs.

[bwest the man]

Day 1 continued

By the time we were finished with our roast beef sandwiches, we could see people out on their Central Park balconies, so we knew the rooms were open. This was one advantage to being delayed earlier: we didn’t have to lug our bags around the ship while we waited for our rooms to be ready. We had three Central Park balcony rooms; mine and DH’s was next to my parents’ (though it wasn’t connecting), and the in-laws were a few rooms down. My parents’ room had the bed near the balcony; we had ours near the closet. The funny thing is that I entered my parents’ room from the balcony (we had our stateroom attendant remove the barrier) more often than not, so to me both rooms felt equally crowded, because I was always entering by the bed. :rolleyes:

 

We spent the afternoon taking my parents around to show off all the parts of the ship we’d been talking to them about for two years. They were overwhelmed but excited, and I was pleased to see how quickly they learned their way around. We employed a post-it note system on all three stateroom doors throughout the week; when you get up to go to breakfast or whatever, just put up a note with the time and where you went. This made it easier for us to find each other on the ship without having to wait around and go everywhere together.

 

We ate dinner in the main dining room every night (late seating), as we always do. I guess I’d like to try specialty dining someday, but after how much we pay for the cruise itself, it’s hard to pass up “free” food. ;) Unfortunately the dining experience this first night didn’t live up to what we had described to my parents; the service was, to be blunt, pretty awful. Our assistant waiter didn’t seem to know what she was doing, so our main waiter was running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to refill drinks, offer bread, and so on in addition to taking our orders, delivering our food, etc. I think from the time we walked in, it was over an hour until we actually had our meals. Our main waiter seemed nice, but she was clearly overwhelmed and stressed out, and it showed. We found out much later in the week what may have contributed to this: the assistant waiter told us that the assistants rotate every week, so every Sunday she’s working at a new station with a new main waiter. I’m not sure why they do it this way, but we chalked it up to the two of them getting used to each other and the way they both operate, because service the rest of the week was impeccable. We actually ended up really liking them both, especially the main waiter, who was always quick to tell us if we were making a mistake and ordering something that wasn’t that good. I eventually gave up and just ordered whatever she recommended. :D This first night I had the seafood spaghetti.

 

A note on main dining room dinners in general: I never had a “bad” meal, though by far my least favorite was Day 6, when I had a Caesar salad and the pan-seared fillet of sole. I remember the Caesar salads being fine on previous cruises, but this one tasted strange. The fish was okay but not very flavorful. Other than that, I loved everything I tried: lobster bisque, beef tenderloin, caprese salad, chicken marsala, crab cake, orecchiette pasta, creamed wild mushrooms, fisherman’s plate, and so on. My favorite desserts were the sticky bread and butter pudding (seriously, skip the tiramisu on Italian night and get this!), cherries jubilee, warm chocolate cake and key lime pie. They only offered escargot one night, but every night they had baby scallops in the same butter garlic sauce, and it tasted nearly identical. My dad got that the first night and loved it so much that he ordered it every subsequent night, regardless of whatever else he got. He dipped his bread in the butter garlic sauce after he ate the scallops. We also had a couple picky eaters at our table who got the chicken and/or steak from the non-changing menu multiple times, and they reported that these were good too.

 

After dinner we went to the aqua show, which was just as awesome as I remember. The ship was rocking a little bit, and I was worried they might cancel, but they didn’t. This show was a great way to say “Welcome to cruising!” to my parents -- they were very impressed with the high dive acts -- but next time I don’t think I’ll schedule anything for the first night. Considering the stress we’d gone through at check-in that morning on top of it just being a long day in general, we were exhausted.

 

…which made our last snafu of the day into a bigger deal than it would’ve been if we were more rested. :mad: DH and I went back to our stateroom after the aqua show, and it was sweltering in there. We had turned the AC down as cool as it would go, and it was comfortable when we left for dinner several hours earlier. We called maintenance, who said they’d look into it. After about 15-20 minutes, we heard a clicking sound and were able to feel cool air coming out from the vents above the closet. We waited a while longer, but no one came, so we finally called maintenance back. Turns out they don’t need to actually come into your room to fix it, and that clicking sound had been them “flushing” and resetting something. They were monitoring it from their end and confirmed that the temperature was dropping in our room. We had to wonder whether they ever would’ve contacted us if we wouldn’t have called back! So just FYI, if you’re having AC problems, don’t assume that they’ll need to come into your room… and I guess you’ll just have to guess when it’s fixed. :confused: But to their credit, we didn’t have AC problems (or any other stateroom issues) the rest of the week.

 

Do you happen to remember the menu order for the week? Or what the menu was on night 6?

Also great review so far.

Edited June 9, 2014 by bwest the man

[erries]

Do you happen to remember the menu order for the week? Or what the menu was on night 6?

 

You know, the menu I found here on CC is pretty outdated (from summer 2013, I think), and I'm fairly sure the order was different for our sailing, but unfortunately I didn't take pictures of our menus, so I can't say with 100% certainty. Maybe someone else can chime in and provide an updated list?

 

I *am* pretty sure, however, that Day 6 (Cozumel) was the "shiitake" menu. That was the night I mentioned I got the pan-seared fillet of sole, and unfortunately it wasn't very good.

 

The only other one I'm definitely sure about is Day 5 (at sea), the second formal night, which featured the "jasmine" menu. This is when virtually our entire table got the fisherman's plate with the lobster tail.

[bigmanpw]

Do you happen to remember the menu order for the week? Or what the menu was on night 6?

Also great review so far.

I was actually on that same cruise. Nice review from erries by the way. The order of mdr menus were Mojo, Saffron, Pimiento, Basil, Jasmine, Shiitake, Pomodoro.

Edited June 10, 2014 by bigmanpw

[MbaLady]

Day 3 -- Labadee

The rest of our group stood there looking around like lost sheep while I pouted for 15 seconds

 

Haha! I am "The Planner" too and this sounds like something that would happen in my group. Been there, done that!

[bwest the man]

I was actually on that same cruise. Nice review from erries by the way. The order of mdr menus were Mojo, Saffron, Pimiento, Basil, Jasmine, Shiitake, Pomodoro.

 

You know, the menu I found here on CC is pretty outdated (from summer 2013, I think), and I'm fairly sure the order was different for our sailing, but unfortunately I didn't take pictures of our menus, so I can't say with 100% certainty. Maybe someone else can chime in and provide an updated list?

 

I *am* pretty sure, however, that Day 6 (Cozumel) was the "shiitake" menu. That was the night I mentioned I got the pan-seared fillet of sole, and unfortunately it wasn't very good.

 

The only other one I'm definitely sure about is Day 5 (at sea), the second formal night, which featured the "jasmine" menu. This is when virtually our entire table got the fisherman's plate with the lobster tail.

 

Thanks a lot. That helps a lot on picking out the day for the specialty restaurants. ****take is the worst menu in my opinion.