Cheapo dad’s trip report on Allure of the Seas sailing December 14, 2014

[harryfat1]

OMG, my kids would have done the exact same thing!!! Proudly displayed their food in their mouth for the picture.:p

 

On second thought, it probably is potato. Your son might have piled them up and made them pretty for the picture. Very creative!!:D

 

Hi,

 

I confirmed with my younger one, yes, those were potato at the buffet. He stacked them up similar to what he saw when we were in Disneyworld and ate in the Japan Pavilion at the Teppanyaki restaurant and they had the onion ring hill. Here is the picture of what that looked like and what my son was trying to create.

 

[harryfat1]

Great review!! My family will be on the Allure Feb 15. We also have connecting cabins with our kids. I love how you showed the different room configurations. I'll definitely be working on my spreadsheet in the next couple of days:)

 

Sue

 

Hi, Sue,

 

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, connecting cabins with kids are a must in my opinion. Doubles the size of the place and gaining extra bathroom on formal nights is a major plus.

 

Have fun on your spreadsheet and cruise.

[harryfat1]

Harryfat1, I have been following your review from the beginning. Just love your sense of humor and all the pictures that you have taken. I too take lots and lots of pictures when I cruise and travel. The best so far is the belly flop and Big Bubba. Good thing Big Bubba went in feet first otherwise you would of thought you were on the Titanic. We are sailing again on the Allure this coming Sunday for our second time and my special birthday. (Eastern) We are going with friends that have never cruised before. I will be their tour director for the week, as I have told them so much about cruising they feel like they have cruised before. Not sure if you will be done before I fly out later in the week and now we are dealing with a blizzard here in NJ, hopefully all will be cleared out by weeks end....keep on reviewing...and I will keep on reading...

 

Hi,

 

Another fellow photographer! Thanks for the kind words & following along.

 

The big bubba could have won easily if he didn’t try to jump up like all the other guys because he is too big to jump and that caused his body to straighten out. If he just fell face forward and stuck out his tummy and have that hit the water first, probably half of the theater on that side would be wet.

 

Happy early birthday to you and have a great time on your cruise. It’s great to be a guide to newbie cruisers. In part that is why I am writing this – to help newbies as I was a newbie to Allure and wanted to share my experience.

 

I may not be done by time you sail as I have real world obligations elsewhere but the great thing about internet is that whatever you write will be there forever. The link to my 2008/2010 cruise review below on my signature is still good so you can read the rest of our vacation at your leisure when you get back. I will be around to talk to anyone that is willing to talk to me afterward.

 

Safe travels and think how much warmer you will be in a week. You picked a good time to be away.

[Desertbelle]

We will be on the Allure in April and we are getting so excited. Thanks for your great review and photos, we appreciate all your hard work in order to give us a preview of what's to come! :D

[Akaicb]

 

Hi, Kim,

 

Thanks for the compliment.

 

Sorry, I didn’t notice the size of the Studio B chairs.

 

The only really “good” seat pictures I have were from the skating session

 

It would not surprise me if the seats in Studio B are more narrow & less padded for comfort than your average seats as they probably assume the typical guest will only sit there for a short performance (ice shows are typically not that long), but didn't take into account marathon bingo tournaments.

 

I scoured my photos and I found one with pictures of the amber theater – I know it’s not Studio B but you can tell from the paddings of the 2 types of seats that one is much thicker than the other (assumptions of how long people will be there).

 

Couple ideas just popped into my head:

 

Note the separate standalone chairs on the theater chairs (the gray hair lady on the far right hand side), those are wide chairs not attached to the theater. Wonder if you can talk to guest services or RCI online before the cruise and have them have one of those chairs for you?

 

The other thought is how about these “high stool chairs” at the top of the Studio B when you first walk in? Maybe you can sit in those as those have no limits on the sides?

 

 

Hope these helps. Have a wonderful cruise and good luck on the Bingo tournament, Do the Icky Woods dance if you win…

 

 

Wow, thank-you so much for the comparison photos and the ideas about chairs without sides in both locations.

 

Your answer was far more than I was expecting, but after reading your review I should have known you would go above and beyond.:D

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

Kim

[SilkySal]

DH, myself and our group of friends will be boarding the Allure on March 8th! Our friends have the 2 corner boardwalk aft cabins on Deck 11 and we are 4th from the end on port side!!!:cool: It was great to see that we will all have wonderful views!! I have made lots of notes for our first time on a BIG ship, thanks to your many tips and experiences!!;) I will be having a left hip replacement after this cruise and will probably bring a cane, as the pain increases when upright; however, since our destination this trip is the ship, I will probably stay on board and will take my good ole time walking around!:o Thanks again for letting us be on board through your eyes and thanks to your family too!!

[harryfat1]

We will be on the Allure in April and we are getting so excited. Thanks for your great review and photos, we appreciate all your hard work in order to give us a preview of what's to come! :D

 

Hi, Margie,

 

Thanks for the kind words. I am glad this info has been helpful in your future cruise prep. Have a great cruise in April.

[harryfat1]

 

 

Wow, thank-you so much for the comparison photos and the ideas about chairs without sides in both locations.

 

Your answer was far more than I was expecting, but after reading your review I should have known you would go above and beyond.:D

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

Kim

 

Hi, Kim,

 

Thanks again for the compliment.

 

Think this is just part of the occupational hazard in being a CPA. People always ask me questions that left me scratching my head at first but then I scour what I have and somewhat link the info together to have some sort of half baked answer. Of course, talking cruise is much more fun than talking about work.

 

I found one more photo of Studio B seats - from a quick glance, I would say the Amber theater seats have more cushion in the back and the seats themselves.

 

 

The ship should have extra chairs somewhere in the storage area so if you have specific chair needs, I would contact them ahead of time so they are ready for you.

[WeBCruisin]

Harry!

 

Thanks so much for the detailed report! I am so loving hearing about your travels and am especially appreciative of the details!

 

We are planning an extended family group trip on the Allure for June 2016 - See - that alone proves that I am also a Uber planner who is bordering on OCD when it comes to vacations. Seriously - Royal doesn't even have the June 2016 schedule published yet but I am already researching and planning.

 

We have a group of 21 family members ranging in age from 14 months to 82 years. Our family first started cruising together in 1994 when we numbered a mere 12. Through mariages and births we are now up to 21!

 

This will be our first time on the Oasis class ship and the first family cruise since 2008 (my nieces and nephews have been busy getting married and having babies - kind of hard to plan around those events.....)

 

I have quickly learned that cruising has changed quite a bit in the past 7 years so I have a lot of catching up to do. Our biggest fear is that they will roll out Dynamic Dining on the Allure before our cruise. We love cruising because it allows us to do our separate activities during the day and then meet up with the entire crew for dinner in the main dining room and catch up with everyone. I can't imagine being able to coordinate that with dynamic dining!! Yikes!!

 

Because of this we may be jumping ship (pun intended) and cruising the Freedom instead. I love the Freedom (it's one of my favorite ships) so I don't mind this and it would be totally worth it to keep Traditional Dining (and likely cheaper as well - which I know appeals to you! LOL) However I was looking forward to checking out the newer ships.

 

OK - so that's it for my 2 cents! Thanks again for all your hard work on your trip report. I am loving the details, the pictures and especially the humor!!

 

WeBCruisin

[harryfat1]

DH, myself and our group of friends will be boarding the Allure on March 8th! Our friends have the 2 corner boardwalk aft cabins on Deck 11 and we are 4th from the end on port side!!!:cool: It was great to see that we will all have wonderful views!! I have made lots of notes for our first time on a BIG ship, thanks to your many tips and experiences!!;) I will be having a left hip replacement after this cruise and will probably bring a cane, as the pain increases when upright; however, since our destination this trip is the ship, I will probably stay on board and will take my good ole time walking around!:o Thanks again for letting us be on board through your eyes and thanks to your family too!!

 

Hi, SilkySal,

 

Thank you for the kind words. Glad this info has been useful in your cruise preparation.

 

You guys have great Boardwalk location. That is about as good as you can get in being on deck 11, while they still have the secret balcony. Port side will have you right there for the sail away wave to the web cam and viewing of the ocean through the back opening. We were much more limited in moving over to Boardwalk from CP with only 2 months prior to sailing and I only wanted connecting cabins so we had less options.

 

Don’t know if you are going to western or eastern, but if western, you can still get off the ship at Labadee without too much walking. By the pier and at various points of Labadee, they have worker that pushes the special “big wheel” type of wheelchairs for guests. See the red arrows. So if you contact RCI ahead of time, see what you need to do to get yourself on a list to have access to one (just the tip guy afterward).

 

 

Labadee is a nice place to just get out and see the water. Agreed that the ship is awesome, but wouldn’t hurt to take a break for just a little bit to see mother nature.

 

Finally, since you will have hip surgery soon, I won’t ask you to do the Ickey Woods shuffle at terminal 18 but maybe you can do the “We are going on the Allure” while your husband dances and spike the sail pass.

 

For those international readers, here is the youtube commercial I have been referring to. Former American style football player had a special dance celebration style and they used this dance again to say he will celebrate any occasion. So people can do this when they are called to board the Allure.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFrsR9NByc4

[harryfat1]

Harry!

 

Thanks so much for the detailed report! I am so loving hearing about your travels and am especially appreciative of the details!

 

We are planning an extended family group trip on the Allure for June 2016 - See - that alone proves that I am also a Uber planner who is bordering on OCD when it comes to vacations. Seriously - Royal doesn't even have the June 2016 schedule published yet but I am already researching and planning.

 

We have a group of 21 family members ranging in age from 14 months to 82 years. Our family first started cruising together in 1994 when we numbered a mere 12. Through mariages and births we are now up to 21!

 

This will be our first time on the Oasis class ship and the first family cruise since 2008 (my nieces and nephews have been busy getting married and having babies - kind of hard to plan around those events.....)

 

I have quickly learned that cruising has changed quite a bit in the past 7 years so I have a lot of catching up to do. Our biggest fear is that they will roll out Dynamic Dining on the Allure before our cruise. We love cruising because it allows us to do our separate activities during the day and then meet up with the entire crew for dinner in the main dining room and catch up with everyone. I can't imagine being able to coordinate that with dynamic dining!! Yikes!!

 

Because of this we may be jumping ship (pun intended) and cruising the Freedom instead. I love the Freedom (it's one of my favorite ships) so I don't mind this and it would be totally worth it to keep Traditional Dining (and likely cheaper as well - which I know appeals to you! LOL) However I was looking forward to checking out the newer ships.

 

OK - so that's it for my 2 cents! Thanks again for all your hard work on your trip report. I am loving the details, the pictures and especially the humor!!

 

WeBCruisin

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the encouragement to continue on.

 

Wow, planning for 2016 before they even announce next year’s schedule - - I bow down to your uber planning skills. I am such a slacker in comparison as I haven’t even decided on the December 2015 cruise yet - too busy uploading 2014 cruise pictures instead of searching for sales online. Another reason I need to finish this tome sooner rather than later.

 

Guess you are not a fan of dynamic dining either. Sigh. Sometimes changes to be with the “trend” is not a good thing. Some traditionalists like us don’t like the “new and improved” way - right, Coke? It’s all rumors on cc at this point, but I have read speculations that they might move Oasis 3 to Port Canaveral so not sure where that will leave Freedom for 2016.

 

Have fun planning your next cruise, whatever ship you decide to sail on. For us planners, our cruise starts long before we even put down the deposit money.

[harryfat1]

So after the belly flop contest, it was around 1:30 in the afternoon. Which only means one thing – yeap, you guessed it, time to eat again.

 

Didn’t need any stinking app to tell us about the lines at windjammer. Just went up and grabbed a seat. Wasn’t totally empty like the morning but no wait to get in either. Took with the point & shoot camera again. Didn’t want to walk around buffet food aea with a big camera.

 

 

 

Part 1 of my lunch – salad with shrimp chips. Love those chips.

 

 

Part 2 of the lunch. Typical of my preferences. Have the Chinese shrimp chips again with some Indian chips on the left side, then some white fish with veggies on top and bottom. Think bottom cauliflower is from some sort of curry. Have the chicken on the bottom and not sure if what that orange meat thing was on the top and I think that was beef in the middle. Matters not, ate the entire plate of food.

 

 

For dessert, they have some sort of “green tea” mousse that I never had before. Not bad. Seeing this reminded me of Mather from the movie “Cars 2” where he mistaken wasabi for pistachio ice cream and gulped down all the wasabi. Same green stuff but not potent like wasabi.

 

 

[harryfat1]

After lunch, headed down to RP where we saw the flash mob dance. As I said before, I read most of the trip reports from other cruisers and one commented on not liking the dance on the RP area. I like it personally as it draws the attention to the area and provides a good photo opp. They list the exact time for these dances on the compass so if this bothers you, read the schedule and avoid it. It started at 2:30 and we took this pictures at 2:41 when we walked by it on our way to visit the crazy aunt in the basement making sure she is fed (aka shopping).

 

 

So looking ahead, on day 6, there is a GLOW party. I read that RCI stole this idea from another cruise line. Don’t know if that’s true or not. The important thing is they have it on the ship and they sell you flashing light gadgets for you to wear at the dance party. Being cheap, I bought some neon sticks/necklaces from Wal-Mart from home and stuffed them into the suitcases knowing they would be much more expensive on the ship. However, after seeing all the nifty glowing things last night at the 70’s street party, my kids wanted to have some “real” glowing things, not the cheap ass thing that I bought from Wal-Mart. Fine.

 

So we made our way to the RP where they were selling the GLOW party accessories. For the money, I think the best deal is getting the “package” for $14.99 as that has glasses and ring and stuff enough to be shared by 2 people versus buying each individually. You will see what they look like on day 6’s night pictures.

 

While shopping in the area, I saw people standing around one kiosk area with ropes blocking off the merchandise and you can see the intense look of the shoppers eyeing the merchandise. Hmmm, wonder what is going on? Whipped out the handy dandy schedule and sure enough, at 3 PM (in about 15 minutes), there will be a Invicta watch sale. I am dumb and not hip & cool so I had no idea about watches (my watch is basic Casio from Amazon), but from the crowd standing around, they must be good/prices must be decent for the interest. So if that is important to you, be sure to mark when these sales are happening.

 

 

 

That’s a lot of watches – nobody can look up close or touch them until the magical hour of 3 PM but you can stand behind the ropes and eye which ones you like.

 

(Hey, lady, back off, I had my eyes on the 4th one down from the second row. Don't even try to touch that at 3 PM. That one is mine and I have killed for much less...)

 

[harryfat1]

Also interesting to read some negative comments about the RP being a “shopping mall”. No Big deal. All cruise ships have shops. Just a question on how they present them. On RP, they are shown horizontally along deck 5. On many cruise ships, they are stacked on top of each other around the centrum/middle area. Just because they are on top of each other makes it less of a “mall”?

 

Also people complained about the shopping frenzy of the RP (guess many people miss their uncles and wants to visits them in prison). Again, no big deal. Just walk around them. Just do your own thing and let others shop (visit uncles). Other than the 70’s dance party or the Madagascar parades, you can easily walk the RP from one end to another. Just move past the people that are dancing or shopping. Don’t understand how a simple act like that would ruin your vacation.

 

 

 

 

OK, off the soap box. So after we paid for the GLOW package set, we walked past the dance party still happening and guess who happened to show up? King Julien from Madagascar! Guess he has a photo shoot with guests from 3 to 3:20 at the RP and he just dropped by for some dance moves with the group.

 

 

 

After the dance, my kids wanted a picture taken with him

 

[SilkySal]

Yes, Labadee will be one of our stops and I do intend to spend our beach day there!:cool: I plan on "stretching my legs, both good and bad" by walking at least as far as the trams and riding to Columbus Cove for a few hours. We love Labadee and I spend the majority of our time there in the water, where my pre-surgical hip feels weightless and doesn't hurt at all. If I partake enough of the Labadoozies while in the water, maybe I can walk back on board somewhat pain-free:rolleyes: or at least with less pain! Plan to remain on board for all of the other days to explore at my leisure (and at a snail's pace)!:o Thanks again for your wonderful review of your cruise!

[harryfat1]

Yes, Labadee will be one of our stops and I do intend to spend our beach day there!:cool: I plan on "stretching my legs, both good and bad" by walking at least as far as the trams and riding to Columbus Cove for a few hours. We love Labadee and I spend the majority of our time there in the water, where my pre-surgical hip feels weightless and doesn't hurt at all. If I partake enough of the Labadoozies while in the water, maybe I can walk back on board somewhat pain-free:rolleyes: or at least with less pain! Plan to remain on board for all of the other days to explore at my leisure (and at a snail's pace)!:o Thanks again for your wonderful review of your cruise!

 

Got it. Be sure to double check with the tram driver before you get on if he goes all the way to the end of the line at Columbus Cove - our didn't and stopped short and we had to walk the rest of the way ourselves.

 

I have a theory that the longer trams don't go that far as they can't make the turn to come back at the Columbus round-about due to length of the tram but not enough data to support that.

[harryfat1]

So day 5 con't -

 

Then we headed back to the cabin. At this point of the trip report, I am embarrassed to admit I don’t know what we did after we went back. Up to now, I have been letting the pictures do the driving and I just upload them onto Flickr and I just add my usual nonsensical gibberish to link them together and move on. But looking at my pictures, I have a big gap of time between 3 something and 5 PM that afternoon.

 

If I had done something wrong (remember the Nixon missing tapes?), that’s one thing as it’s easy to sweep under the rug and say I don’t recall doing anything. But I just don’t remember a thing from that afternoon – too many brain cells have died since. That’s what happens when you read a trip report from a non-professional. No accountability for every minute of the trip as I didn’t do a hour by hour hand written journal. All I have were taking pictures of the people doing zip line at 3 something. I remember the kids were either playing with their iPads or looking at the newly purchased GLOW accessories. And I blanked out on what happened next. Maybe it's like the X-file and aliens from UFO abducted me and erased my memory for the 1 plus hour?

 

Maybe I fell asleep on the sofa reading? I think I might have as I was tired as I didn’t have my afternoon coffee. Well, whatever we did (or didn’t do), nothing to show or talk about.

 

Here are couple zip line pictures taken before I dozed off. Saw many people zipping by the entire cruise.

 

 

This lady was very happy to laugh and scream her way down the zip line

 

 

Then next thing I have is the back of the ship picture from the secret balcony at 5 PM before we showered and get dressed for the second formal night.

 

 

For all the wake fans

 

 

Looking at the front of the ship as we sail westward into the sunset. In theory I should have went up one deck to 15 an walked to the front of the ship to have few pictures of the sunset to say “wow, look at that” but was too lazy to do so. That’s the difference in vacation planning from home versus reality. At home you want to do/see everything. When you are there, part of you just want to chill out and relax

 

 

Half way between Grand Caymans and Cozumel. Not going that fast at only 13.4 knots. Plenty of time to get there by day break.

 

[harryfat1]

Here is the scan of the evening’s activities in case anyone is following along

 

 

For those following at home doing the virtual cruise with us, here once again is the link to the daily menu

 

http://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/press-kit/9/culinary-press-kit/

 

Tonight’s dinner is Jasmine – which is second formal night. The typical 7 night cruises have formal dinners at days 2 and 6 but since for this western Caribbean route, on day 6 the ship will be in Cozumel later (7 PM sailing), they switched formal on days 5 & 6 so people can stay out longer in port and not have to rush back to the ship to get ready for the formal night.

 

Here’s my wife & the younger one at the MDR

 

 

And me with the older one on the other side

 

 

I guess from reading other posts, there is an escargot shortage so they only had it for us 1 night per week and substituted scallops instead for the other 6 nights. Too bad as I love escargot. Think all 5 of us ordered it except the younger one stuck to his shrimp cocktail. But before the cruise, we told him we would make him try at least 1 bite of it during the meal.

 

If you ever watch the Food Channel and know Guy Fieri, he went on a Carnival cruise with his family and nephew and they made the cruise a one hour TV episode (catch it next time they show it again). During one night, they gave escargot to the boys without telling them what it was when they ate it (they liked it actually) and afterward when told, you should have seen their faces. Classic stuff. My younger son saw the same episode so he knew what was done so we couldn’t pull the same trick on him but we told him he would need to eat it on the cruise just to try it to see and he did. Not something he would order on his own but at least he can say he tried it. The older one eats everything, that’s why he is taller than me at age of 13.

 

 

Peach soup for the younger one

 

[harryfat1]

Double duck consommé

 

 

Roasted pepper and corn soup

 

 

As always, the younger ordered the pasta of the day- which was three cheese tortellini

 

 

Snow crab salad – goes well with the lobster. Order both.

 

 

And of course, lobster. We all ordered the same thing tonight so not much variety to take pictures of (minus the pasta). I ordered an extra lobster thinking we can share in case the older one, being a growing big boy, wants more food. The waiters being the nice people they are, they brought us TWO extra orders of lobsters instead one so we had tons of lobster going around. Did I mention I like having same waiters the entire 7 night cruise (yeah, maybe once or twice…)

 

You can still see the bubbles on this thing

 

 

Here is the extra double lobster plate in the middle served family style for anyone that wanted more

 

[Laney219]

Got it. Be sure to double check with the tram driver before you get on if he goes all the way to the end of the line at Columbus Cove - our didn't and stopped short and we had to walk the rest of the way ourselves.

 

I have a theory that the longer trams don't go that far as they can't make the turn to come back at the Columbus round-about due to length of the tram but not enough data to support that.

 

Not a theory. It's a fact. I asked in April.

[Disney Sheep]

Got it. Be sure to double check with the tram driver before you get on if he goes all the way to the end of the line at Columbus Cove - our didn't and stopped short and we had to walk the rest of the way ourselves.

 

I have a theory that the longer trams don't go that far as they can't make the turn to come back at the Columbus round-about due to length of the tram but not enough data to support that.

 

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but there is a boat in the morning to transport passengers over to Columbus Cove, we were definitely not the first off the ship, and we took it last March break from the Allure. Although it is not available in the afternoon, my DH and DS took a tram back to the ship from Columbus Cove ( right by the food area) while DD and I casually strolled back, checking out the route we had missed in the morning.

[harryfat1]

Not a theory. It's a fact. I asked in April.

 

Thanks for confirming the tram situation.

 

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but there is a boat in the morning to transport passengers over to Columbus Cove, we were definitely not the first off the ship, and we took it last March break from the Allure. Although it is not available in the afternoon, my DH and DS took a tram back to the ship from Columbus Cove ( right by the food area) while DD and I casually strolled back, checking out the route we had missed in the morning.

 

I saw there was a free boat ride sign at the dock, didn't know where it was taking the people. Afterward, I had heard someone in line that they came to Columbus Cove via boat. So it's good to know there are more than one option to get to Columbus Cove. Which makes sense as the smaller trams don't carry too many people out of the thousands that are getting off the ship in the morning.

[harryfat1]

Personalized Baked Alaska. I missed the old style huge ones in the old cruise ships served with fanfare. Speaking of which, since we cruised with Princess previously, they spam me for life with almost weekly ads and I saw they are still showing big baked Alaska as dessert. That would be nice to see that big thing again instead of these small guys.

 

Speaking of which, our family misses having some of showy performance at the MDR, either the waiter parades or singing. We enjoyed the experience from our previous cruises with other cruise lines. Even back in 2010 on Mariner of the Seas, they had singing waiter. I think Royal stopped having singing waiters awhile back as I remember someone posting about it and many veteran cruisers posted that they were tired of it and glad it’s gone but since we don’t cruise as often, we enjoy seeing dinner performances and we do miss it.

 

 

My wife’s is not a baked Alaska fan so she always orders something else.

 

Believe this was the Grand Marnier Soufflé

 

 

So after dinner, we walked around the RP and visited our aunt in the basement to see if her shackles weren't too tight– aka taking another picture with Captain Tore by the Christmas tree as he was there between 7:30 and 8 PM (the magical period between first and second seating). We didn’t end up buying that picture as we preferred the previous one on the first formal night with the red car more but it’s nice to have a second option. I have never seen Carnival captains out for second formal night pictures. Also, Captain Tore remembered us as he said, we meet once again. Guess Asian family with all the electronic gears around our necks do stand out, eh?

 

Couple more pictures of the area before we head out of RP and down to the theater.

 

Many people visiting their crazy aunts to see if she was fed (aka picture taking) judging from the long lines. This is typically a popular event on the 2 formal nights as people are all dressed up and they wanted to have pictures taken.

 

 

The boys and I in front of OnAir - many empty tables and chairs at 8 PM. If you look at this, you can make an argument that the ship is not crowded at all since it’s 8 PM, prime time to walk around.

 

[harryfat1]

OK, here is another complaint in the report - you know that since I am anal and the more anal you are, the more complaints you have. It’s a given that anal people complain more than average – it’s who we are by definition.

 

First of all, RCI requires the cruisers to make reservation months ahead from home to reserve the show for “Headliner”. But none of us are ever told who the headliner is. Only when you get in the ship, do they reveal the mystery person. For us, we were “lucky” (depends on your musical taste) to get Abbacadabra (the band ABBA from the old days) in that at least I liked ABBA songs when I was young.

 

But I have also seen other cruisers’ daily compass and they have people I never heard of. If they are truly Headliner, that must be really really small town they are playing in as I don’t know them. The thing about musical taste is that it is as subjective/personal as is food. All of us like whatever music we like and it’s all individualized. On a 7 day vacation, we have 24 hours X 7 days = 168 max awake/sleep hours. Probably minus 3 hours if you board around 12 noon and get off at 9 AM on day 8 - that leaves you 165 hours the entire cruise.

 

RCI is asking me to blindly trust them that they will find some entertainer that may or may not fit my musical taste as I am giving up at least 1 plus hours of the 165 hours to be in a theater for some unknown music. To me that’s similar to saying – book a meal with us with some mystery “headliner” chef that will whip up some meal for you, but we can’t tell you what type of food it will be. Just trust us that you will like it along with the rest of the 6,000 passengers.

 

The solution to me seems simple - RCI should email me days/weeks prior to sailing with an email that says “Subject to last minute changes but we have tentatively plan to have “John Doe” as your headliner. Please note that due to circumstances beyond our control, we cannot guarantee John Doe will be performing on your cruise and if somehow he cannot perform on your sailing, we will have a different headliner”. Whatever disclaimer they want to put in. I care not. The idea is to give me (and others) a chance to Google/Youtube John Doe’s music to see if we like it or not. For example, if he is a country singer and I only like R&B, then I know I won’t need to go to the show as that’s not for me. I won’t need to invest the 1 precious hour out of 165 to be there or pre schedule my time dining/specialty dining around show time for that night.

 

RCI spam me weekly email prior to the cruise with “Harry, your dream vacation is coming up. Do you have all your plans set? If not, let us help you spend the extra money you didn’t budget for as we have tons of way to get you to open up your wallet and waste your money”. So I know they have my email. Just tell me ahead of time who may or may not be the headliner and let me decide how to spend my 165 hours.

 

The system as it stand now is we all book a “headliner” for fear of missing out as it may not be possible to book while on board and then once on board, you scratch your head “who is this guy?” and then you can’t do any research and decide to go to the show or not that night. More info ahead of time would be good.

[harryfat1]

OK, enough of that. Time to move on. Just as I say other people’s reviewer complaints are minor, I am sure some future reviewers will read this and say my issues are minor as well. We all have our pet peeves and it’s a question on how we talk about them. My wife says I complained too much as I get older. Must be the grumpy old man syndrome. You never hear the term “grumpy young man”. I am sure I will get worst as I get older and once I become a grandpa it will be really bad you know ALL grandpas complained about this and that not being right.

 

I foresee myself when I get older and going on future cruises and then coming back to cruise critics to complain about people not having the proper footwear in the MDR during formal night dinner as I spotted 3 people in the MDR dinner out of 12,000 (assume ships wil be that big in the future) wearing flip flops. That just ruined my entire vacation to no end in seeing that and I would have pictures of the 3 people’s flip flops - highlighted with a red arrow - to prove my point that people nowadays don’t know what dress up properly anymore. So to all you flip flop wearers in the MDR - watch out, 20 years from now grandpa Harry will be standing in front of MDR zooming in on your flip flops with his 300X power zoom camera to display on cc...

 

At any rate, I digress.

 

On with the show - literally. So this band is basically the ABBA impersonators and they do a very job in looking and sounding like them. Since I know their songs from old days - might even have a 45 or two in my LP collection, I enjoyed the show and so did my kids even though this is not their musical era. To demonstrate that music is subjective, my wife didn’t really care for the show as she didn’t grow up listening to the original ABBA. She liked the next day’s show, Blue Planet, which I thought sucked so there’s no accounting for musical taste, not even for accountants. We like what we like and just leave it at that.

 

So this here is a blurry picture of us but that’s not why I am showing it. I am showing it as to show that we sat in the first seat of the second tier and the reason that’s important is it has a resting area to put the elbows to take pictures. Super important for these dimly lit places that need a steady hand to hold the camera. In case anyone is looking to take pictures of the shows and don’t want people’s heads in your picture, look to sit out a bit higher and back. For the show, my wife wanted a break from taking pictures so she let me borrow her precious SLR that normally I am afraid to touch.

 

 

 

 

Picture of the theater prior to show time

 

 

 

Show time