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

[harryfat1]

So to get to Columbus Grove, you have to walk past this gauntlet of “artisan village” on both sides of the road – basically it’s the local’s souvenir shops trying to sell you things. It’s not written or talked about but I believe the store people are restricted from being on the road to try to bring business to their shops. They will try to talk to you and get your attention as you walk past but I never saw anyone on the road so I must believe they have their restrictions on how they can approach the cruise guests.

 

 

Few people tried to get our attention/eye contact as we walked past but just a simple “no thank you” will do the trick. Not a big deal. Columbus Cove is at the bottom of this road.

 

 

OK, so we finally made it to the area. They have local beach workers at the area and as soon as you approach the area, they will ask you if you need beach chairs and then somebody will set up the chairs at whatever spot you like. I opted for slightly further back to get more shade. Do note you need to bring cash to tip these guys. $1 per chair was what I used. Later on, I saw another couple getting chairs set up nearby and they weren’t prepared/ready for the tips and the worker literally just stood there look at them without moving until he has his money so make sure you have dollar bills handy.

 

 

 

 

So we are here. Finally can sit down and stretch out.

 

 

 

 

Per the time stamp of when this picture was taken, it was 10:07 AM and we were more or less the third row of loungers in the area. If you want literally front row beach front chairs, get there earlier.

 

Here is what the view is

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

More beach views

 

 

 

 

Do note that right behind us is the concrete walk way and beyond that is another big area. People that came later than us after 11 sat behind us over there. As you can see, there are plenty of space there with tons of beach chairs.

 

 

 

 

 

And if you look in the back of this picture, the building behind that is where the free buffet BBQ lunch is served for the Columbus Cove folks. They have different stations set up with food for different parts of the beach so you don’t have to walk a long way to get something to eat

[harryfat1]

Dude, enough talk about the various levels of beach front property. Not like you are going to live there. You are there only for few hours. Who cares? Yeah, yeah, just want to point out that the earlier you get off the ship, the closer you are to the beach.

 

OK, into the water we go. First of all, bought these water shoes from Amazon as I read there were many rocky spots at Labadee. Yes and no. In some areas, we saw that you would definitely need water shoes. For Columbus Cove, not really necessary. Even though the sand is not sugar power white as I had seen from Holland America’s private beach area, it’s not bad. Seen much worst rocky beach area.

 

 

Tried to take couple pictures of what the water/sand looks like while standing up. In hindsight, should have sat down and taken it from the ground level to show a more up close shot. Yeah, yeah, I know I suck as a photographer. Just keep in mind what you are paying for this trip report and realize you get what you paid for…

 

 

 

 

Anyway, here is my second favorite shot of the ship taken from the beach area. Showed this in my post #1

 

[harryfat1]

Pics of the family in the water

 

 

 

Younger one taking a selfie with the camera – just aim and hope

 

 

 

 

[lauren0309]

Loving your review. It's very entertaining. I was on the Allure in November and it brings back a lot of memories. Your pictures are fantastic too. The Allure was one of the best ships I've been on.

[harryfat1]

Can I join your OCD planner therapy group? Can I admit to cutting and pasting your spreadsheet into another document to save? Then I decided that was too anal and deleted it. (I'll make my own later. Shh!)

 

I'm going on the Western Oasis in March so other than all the wonderful photos you took from the secret balconies that I'm jealous of (sob!) your report is incredibly helpful. Will definitely be stealing the miniature and vintage photo ideas.

 

Sure, come over for the OCD planner therapy group. Have feeling this might be a big meeting.

 

Wow, first cruise ever is on the Oasis. I would be interested what you will do for the second cruise and what your reaction will be (assuming the second one isn't Allure).

 

Yes, very sad with the secret balcony going away. Guess you will need to go to decks 15 or 7 (where rock wall area is) or 6 (back of aqua theater) for the side/back views.

 

[harryfat1]

More beach area pics

 

 

 

 

We brought a nerf football from home to throw around a bit in the water

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Saw this brave (crazy?) soul taking picture in the water with what looks like a regular SLR? Sure hope it’s the weather resistant ones like the Pentax K-50.

 

 

 

 

Saw this cup floating around in the water. Reminds me of the Police song – Message in a bottle. Except it’s in a cup. Wonder if it will make it to FLL?

 

 

[harryfat1]

So they serve a BBQ lunch at the various locations starting at 11:30. As always, try to get there early. At 11:45, the family went over to the café about 200 feet down the road to grab some lunch and I stayed back to watch over ur belongings. When they came back, they said the line wasn’t too bad but by time it was my turn to stand in line, the line had grew much more so be sure to get there as soon as they open to avoid a longer line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry, blurry pic of what supposed to be jerk chicken/ribs/corn. Note that the jerk chicken has a pretty spicy kick to it.

 

[harryfat1]

You have a choice to eat at the bench seats at the café area or bring it back to your beach chair and eat there. Since we had a nice view of the beach/water/ship, we thought it would be nice to eat at the chai as how often do you get to do that and with such nice view to boot?

 

 

 

Bar services for anyone that needs to order something

 

 

Here is what we had for lunch

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

By time I went back for seconds and grabbed some fruits at 12:40, the line had thinned out but the selection of fruits is almost nonexistent with only apples left. If you go earlier, you will have banana and oranges and other fruits as part of your selection. There is lots of meat and other stuff left at 12:40 but if you have preferences for certain things, the lesson is to go there early. I grabbed a plate of fruits and went back.

 

 

 

After lunch we just sat in the chairs and relaxed for a bit and decided to head back to the ship as we still have round 2 planned for Labadee.

 

 

So we packed up everything and waited in line for the tram to take us back to the plaza. As I mentioned in previous posts, only the smaller trams makes it to the Columbus cove area and once they get there, it’s somewhat of a free for all grabbing of seats. Matters not who was in line in front of you. They need to have a better organization of who should board ahead of others. So we finally go on and made our way back to the central plaza.

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Few pics of the area from the departing tram

 

 

 

 

I thought the freeway signs for Los Angeles area were bad but this signage takes things to a new level of complexity

 

 

Going back to the ship at 1:40 was a breeze. Noticed there isn’t much of a crowd. Remember this picture as later on the scenery will change dramatically.

 

[harryfat1]

OK, I have an unexplained attraction for ship tow lines. Every time I go past one on any given cruise, I feel the need to take a picture somehow. Can’t explain why. Maybe it’s the thought of these massive ships being tied up by these lines to prevent the ship from drifting into the open seas. Or in those action thriller movies, you see the close up shots of ropes/lines breaking as the hero is holding onto the other end. Don’t know. So you will see in every port at least one tow line picture from me. Already showed one previously. Here is another one.

 

 

Entertainers along the pier right before boarding the ship

 

 

I was trying to take a picture of the family going up the escalator from deck 2 to 3 coming back as there are no other escalators on the ship but my younger one photobombed me in this blurry picture instead

[harryfat1]

So we came back to the ship to do what? To go back again, naturally. Eh? Similar to the simple concept of why the chicken crossed the road – to get to the other side. We came back to the ship so we can get ready to go back out again.

 

“Ohhhh, I see” said the blind man to the deaf woman. (Dude, I don’t get it)

 

OK, fine, the reasons why we came back were:

 

1 – We wanted to explore the other side of the island and of course since we see the world through our camera lenses, we need the cameras. The point and shoot is started to run out of battery (mental note to self to buy a backup battery for that camera from eBay for next vacation) so that wasn’t going to work.

 

2 – The sands were in some of our water shoes and became uncomfortable. Unlike flip flops or sandals, where you can just rinse off the san easily, the fine grains have embedded themselves in the shoes and started to rub and become painful so we wanted to switch shoes

 

3 – Didn’t want to carry the wet towels with s as we walk around

 

So we went back to the cabins and made all the switches necessary. Before heading out again, went back to the secret balcony (sorry Haber) and took few pics of where we were and of the “real” Haiti that no cruise ship passenger can access.

 

 

The beach area pretty much emptied out by now

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ishari]

 

OK, so we finally made it to the area. They have local beach workers at the area and as soon as you approach the area, they will ask you if you need beach chairs and then somebody will set up the chairs at whatever spot you like. I opted for slightly further back to get more shade. Do note you need to bring cash to tip these guys. $1 per chair was what I used. Later on, I saw another couple getting chairs set up nearby and they weren’t prepared/ready for the tips and the worker literally just stood there look at them without moving until he has his money so make sure you have dollar bills handy.

 

First off - I am loving this review! We sail on Allure in 24 days (but who's counting?) and it's been great fun to read your review. Love all the detail!

 

When my husband and I sailed on Independence almost two years ago, Royal was very specific in posting in the Cruise Compass and making announcements over the PA system that guests were *not* to tip the local beach workers. I thought this was odd and notable because I didn't remember them ever making a statement like that on any of our prior cruises that stopped in Labadee -- did they make any such announcements on your sailing?

 

We noticed several parties allowing beach workers to arrange chairs for them (or drag the chairs all over the beach until they found the right spot) and then rudely tell the workers to go away when they were waiting for a tip. This made the beach workers quite upset...and an awkward time was had by all...

 

I hadn't thought of that situation until reading your review just now and I wondered if Royal was still making the "do not tip" announcement or if that was something unique to our cruise.

 

Looking forward to the rest of the review!!

[harryfat1]

We wanted to see the ocean/beach area on the other side

 

 

Couple more pics of the area before we headed down again

 

 

 

So as we were exiting the ship, ship security had to open up a special exit line for us as everybody and their cousin is coming back the other way. The security lady made a point to remind us that “all aboard is 3:45”.

 

If you ever wondered what it’s like to be a salmon swimming upstream, we have a similar feeling in that hundreds, if not a thousand plus people are coming at us in an opposite direction and we have to weave our way past them going the other way

 

 

 

Look at all the people coming the other way

 

 

[harryfat1]

First off - I am loving this review! We sail on Allure in 24 days (but who's counting?) and it's been great fun to read your review. Love all the detail!

 

When my husband and I sailed on Independence almost two years ago, Royal was very specific in posting in the Cruise Compass and making announcements over the PA system that guests were *not* to tip the local beach workers. I thought this was odd and notable because I didn't remember them ever making a statement like that on any of our prior cruises that stopped in Labadee -- did they make any such announcements on your sailing?

 

We noticed several parties allowing beach workers to arrange chairs for them (or drag the chairs all over the beach until they found the right spot) and then rudely tell the workers to go away when they were waiting for a tip. This made the beach workers quite upset...and an awkward time was had by all...

 

I hadn't thought of that situation until reading your review just now and I wondered if Royal was still making the "do not tip" announcement or if that was something unique to our cruise.

 

Looking forward to the rest of the review!!

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for your kind words. Glad this info is helpful and you are following along.

 

I was starting to think if this has become a diary as I am just talking to myself in many of these posts. Good to know people out there are still reading this.

 

As for tipping, I never heard or read anything while on board about no tipping policy. Maybe they changed it since then? I have the day 3 compass attached below (making it bigger as easier to read) and I don’t see anything in here about not tipping.

 

 

 

When we arrived at the beach, there was one “supervisor” looking guy with a RCI logo polo shirt/dark sunglasses asking if we need beach chairs. We told him yes and he signaled for another guy to bring us the chairs at the location we wanted and the supervisor guy told us to pay the worker when he was done so I pretty much figured it was the routine thing to do. I had read in more recent reviews that tipping was expected so we had dollar bills ready. Later on in the day, the supervisor guy was gone and that’s why the other couple didn’t know to tip the chair worker.

 

I know tipping is a personal matter and if we didn’t want to tip, we could have easily dragged 6 chairs on our own from the area which has hundreds of chairs. So if anyone is a do it yourself type, they can say “no” when the supervisor asks and say they can do it themselves and bypass the worker but to me if the worker performed the optional service that I requested, I would think tipping is the proper thing to do.

 

Finally, I should mention on the entire cruise, I never heard the ship PA system making any ship wide announcements other than the mandatory muster drill or paging some specific passenger. So for people that prefers a more quiet cruising experience without the cruise director telling you to go to the next Bingo game, that is a good thing. I know they have info on TV at various channels daily so if they made any announcements it could have been over there but what small % of passengers watches that?

 

Have a great cruise and let me know afterward if the tipping policy still holds true.

[harryfat1]

OK, for those people that will be going to Labadee on their cruise, here is the most important bit of info I can share. DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT, under any circumstances try to come back to the ship around 2:30 PM – unless you enjoy standing in line with hundreds, if not thousand of people.

 

If there’s one constant worry about the posting on cruise critics about Oasis/Allure is the crowd and if you read some negative reviews about the ship, that is consistently mentioned. So the key is to avoid crowded time. Trying to come back to the ship at 2:30 is like trying to drive in Los Angeles freeway at 5:30 PM on a Friday night (I know this from painful first-hand experience on the LA traffic). So either come back earlier at 1:30 (on our first return) or come back later at 3:20 (second return).

 

Behind us in blue are the two security check point buildings. Since those are for people coming back to the ship, the worker right behind me had to open the middle barrier for the 6 of us to walk back to Labadee as they were geared up only for people going back to the ship.

 

 

Beyond the gates, here is what we saw when we went back to the main plaza. Whoa Nelly! These 2 long lines are stand still such that they are trying to get inside the either 2 security buildings that already have its own long lines.

 

 

 

As we walk out the center gates, hundreds of eyes were on us and I know what everyone person in line must be thinking “What is this? Did this Asian family just woke up now and decided to get off the ship? Do they not know they were supposed to be off the ship in the morning? Maybe they can’t read the English on the daily compass to know to get off the ship early?” We just nodded to them & smiled and tried to cut through the opening in one of the lines to make it out of the gauntlet. If you are self-conscious and don’t want to stick out of the crowd of hundreds of people looking at you, don’t do what we did.

 

 

At any rate, the take home lesson is this: do not come back at 2:30 unless you like to stand in line. If you do, then you will complain about the long lines of the cruise. If you come back at 3:20, you will say, what line? There were no lines when we came back. It’s all about timing…

[harryfat1]

Few pics of the plaza area as people make their way toward the security checkpoint behind us

 

 

 

 

We then headed over to the zip line side of the beach. Still some people sitting at the loungers watching the zipline people zooming down from above

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Looking down the beach the other way. Don’t know if it’s naturally more windy this side of the beach versus where we were earlier or just the pending storm is coming but it was very windy. I knew the waves are bigger on this side as the Columbus cove side is more sheltered and protected by the ship

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Views of the zipline

 

 

 

 

Max zoom up to the top

 

 

The back end zip line – hope these are secure

 

 

[harryfat1]

Here they come from the top

 

 

 

 

 

Note that the final landing is pretty much a sudden jolt as you can see in this pic with the person’s feet way up in the area when the thing comes to a stop. So depending on your physical ailments, this may or may not be your thing

 

 

[harryfat1]

OK. Done with the zip line. Onward onto the next area.

 

Don’t really know why all of us were squatting down other than I think I wanted to highlight the rocks behind us are all pointed up as if someone glued them there.

 

 

This picture was taken through the slots of an iron gate which prevents people from accessing this area. Don’t know if they blocked off this area just for the day due to bad weather/high seas danger or it’s always blocked off. Would appreciate any updates from people going to see Labadee in near future on what their experience is. Would have been a great photo spot way up there near the corner.

 

 

We then made our way up here. Wonder if this is reserved for private group functions as it has tables and seats and would be a nice spot for group meetings/social gatherings

 

 

 

Keep heading up the hill

 

 

[harryfat1]

Not exactly pirates of the Caribbean set up but nice scenic area nevertheless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[travelgoddess1]

Speaking of roll calls, as we sat down, Karen, the organizer of our roll call spotted me and came by to say hi. Even though I missed the meet & mingle, she recognized me from the pictures I had posted in the roll call info. Actually I met Karen back in 2010 when we both sailed on Mariner of the Seas.

 

I feel privileged to have done so as Karen is a legendary figure in the RCI circle. During the captain’s welcome, they gave Karen and her husband, John, a special recognition for being the highest ranking C&A member on board. And on day 4 of the daily compass (see below) , the ship actually showed their picture on the front page as a special recognition for achieving 2,100 cruise points. That’s an amazing achievement so just wanted to give a special shout out to her. Now if I can only somehow buy some C&A points from her as I only have 1/100th of what she has…

 

 

 

Harry, this is an extraordinary "review," I am enjoying all of it. I'm sorry that I didn't see this thread before today, but better late than never! it was so nice to include us in your thread, and I really appreciate the shout out! It was good to connect with you and your family, however briefly at the Welcome Back party. It was a special cruise for us, and your blah blah blah has made it even more memorable.

 

Thanks again :) (Still reading...)