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

[Ourusualbeach]

Harry, just got off the phone with Royal. I had the free gratuities added to our cabins. Just saved $312. The base price of our cabin did not go up. Of you are calling you need to dial the main number and enter the prompt for new reservation, everything else is closed.

 

Hope you can get the free grats as well.

[harryfat1]

Harry, just got off the phone with Royal. I had the free gratuities added to our cabins. Just saved $312. The base price of our cabin did not go up. Of you are calling you need to dial the main number and enter the prompt for new reservation, everything else is closed.

 

Hope you can get the free grats as well.

 

 

Hi, Ken,

 

Thanks for the heads-up. I didn’t realize until today that you had started a thread on the new pricing scheme – guess you are the expert at the new promo now. I typically don’t check the boards unless I am researching for a new cruise.

 

I just checked the RCI web site and had to break out the Excel spread sheet to do a side by side analysis to see that it’s within a dollar of my current price. Odd/weird in an interesting way.

 

For the December 2016 cruise, we have Promenade view cabins (think you do also). Back in April, when we booked it, it was $1,277 per cabin. Then in May, I saw a price drop to $1,240 so switched over to that. Then saw the tips was going to increase going forward and locked in at the old price of $12/pp. So that gets us to $1,384 per cabin with tips and with $100 shareholder credit, which brings us to net of $1,284 on the current plan.

 

With the new sales starting today, the cabin is $1,284 as is. The tips are none factor as it’s in and out. If I read your posting correctly, no shareholder credits allowed with new sale so the $1,284 is my final price. Same as above so at least for us, this current promo doesn’t have much impact.

 

Guess we will have to do this every month for next 17 months every time RCI has a new promo and we check if we are better off or not with the latest and the greatest. Some people will benefit more with different promotions than others.

[Ourusualbeach]

Hi, Ken,

 

Thanks for the heads-up. I didn’t realize until today that you had started a thread on the new pricing scheme – guess you are the expert at the new promo now. I typically don’t check the boards unless I am researching for a new cruise.

 

I just checked the RCI web site and had to break out the Excel spread sheet to do a side by side analysis to see that it’s within a dollar of my current price. Odd/weird in an interesting way.

 

For the December 2016 cruise, we have Promenade view cabins (think you do also). Back in April, when we booked it, it was $1,277 per cabin. Then in May, I saw a price drop to $1,240 so switched over to that. Then saw the tips was going to increase going forward and locked in at the old price of $12/pp. So that gets us to $1,384 per cabin with tips and with $100 shareholder credit, which brings us to net of $1,284 on the current plan.

 

With the new sales starting today, the cabin is $1,284 as is. The tips are none factor as it’s in and out. If I read your posting correctly, no shareholder credits allowed with new sale so the $1,284 is my final price. Same as above so at least for us, this current promo doesn’t have much impact.

 

Guess we will have to do this every month for next 17 months every time RCI has a new promo and we check if we are better off or not with the latest and the greatest. Some people will benefit more with different promotions than others.

 

Check on your shareholder credit. That price drop on May 1 was part of a promo called celebrate savings. (At least it was on ours and for the same amount). This shows up as a separate savings on your copy of the guest booking invoice. While the BOGO part is combinable with the shareholder credit the celebrate savings is not and your shareholder credit will be denied. I actually e mailed investor relations a month ago to check.

 

Without the shareholder credit you will be further ahead with the new promo. The gratuities appear as a $78pp OBC. We benefit even more as this is in US$.

[cj_one2000]

Hi, CJ,

 

 

 

I tried to look through my cruise pictures but I don’t think I have good pictures of the table layouts for you to see what sections would be suitable for your family. If I had to choose for a family of 38, I would pick a whole section way in the back of MDR on either deck 3 or 4 (since 5 is MTD) so that there will be no strangers coming to the area. Only people there would be your family.

 

 

 

Certainly wouldn’t want anything in the front or the middle of the MDR as you will constantly have people coming in and out of your family area.

 

As for window sunset viewing, in theory it sounds good but in reality it’s not as easy to achieve as in the movies. Besides being seated next to the window, you also have to be facing westward by the window to see the sunset.

 

 

 

The final hurdle is daylight savings time. When we sailed in December, it was dark after 5:30 and our early seating dinner was 6 PM nightly so even though we had a window table, we saw nothing but darkness on all but one night when we were in Cozumel – that was only because the ship is one hour ahead of local time. So you may need to re-think your window strategy for the November cruise.

 

 

Strangely enough after half of our group finished booking our early dining time changed from 6:00 to 5:30. I'm hoping we'll have a little light in Cozumel as well for at least one night. I will look at deck 3 & 4 and yes having an area in the back that feels private without actually being private. Good suggestion!

 

Little by little I'm filling in my notes and getting my spreadsheet going, and this cruise is still well over a year out. Lol! Maybe I need to plan another vacation for the coming spring so the waiting won't be so hard ;)

[harryfat1]

Strangely enough after half of our group finished booking our early dining time changed from 6:00 to 5:30. I'm hoping we'll have a little light in Cozumel as well for at least one night. I will look at deck 3 & 4 and yes having an area in the back that feels private without actually being private. Good suggestion!

 

Little by little I'm filling in my notes and getting my spreadsheet going, and this cruise is still well over a year out. Lol! Maybe I need to plan another vacation for the coming spring so the waiting won't be so hard ;)

 

I believe you are sailing from Galveston, right? That will put you in the same time zone as Cozumel. So you won’t have the one hour gap compared to ships coming from Florida. So if you want that glass of wine in hand with sunset around 5 something in mid November, better order fast as soon as you sit down or bring the glass with you from the bar outside the MDR.

 

Oh, my friend, you have no idea how much more work is ahead of you in organizing a family of 38. As Ross Perot said, the devil is in the details. At this point, your “fun” have just started with the cabins and dining time booked. Later on you will need to hash out the detail such as excursions and dining table arrangements.

 

It’s one thing to just say “we will take over the back of the port side of the MDR on deck 4” but it’s another when you have to figure out who will sit with whom. Maybe your family members all love each other and anyone can sit with anyone else but my troubled family has issues in one uncle can’t be paired with another uncle in same table without fireworks. So then you would need to figure out who will sit in table #1/#2/#3 and so on. RCI has no idea how to seat the 38 people together. You have to tell them that.

 

In perfect world, you will have 3 tables of 10 and 1 table of 8 next to each other and that take cares of the entire clan but if the back corner has some tables that seats 4 or 6, you will need to decide either break up the clan into more tables of smaller seating or move them further out. Maybe I am cynical but it’s a no win situation as it’s highly likely that someone will not be happy with their seating arrangement (Why does Uncle Bob get the window table and we don’t - even though we are staying in the Suites?). Family being family, guess who they will complain to first?

 

Like I said in my first post, you will need a second vacation after this family reunion or start on that wine early…

[cj_one2000]

I believe you are sailing from Galveston, right? That will put you in the same time zone as Cozumel. So you won’t have the one hour gap compared to ships coming from Florida. So if you want that glass of wine in hand with sunset around 5 something in mid November, better order fast as soon as you sit down or bring the glass with you from the bar outside the MDR.

 

 

 

Oh, my friend, you have no idea how much more work is ahead of you in organizing a family of 38. As Ross Perot said, the devil is in the details. At this point, your “fun” have just started with the cabins and dining time booked. Later on you will need to hash out the detail such as excursions and dining table arrangements.

 

 

 

It’s one thing to just say “we will take over the back of the port side of the MDR on deck 4” but it’s another when you have to figure out who will sit with whom. Maybe your family members all love each other and anyone can sit with anyone else but my troubled family has issues in one uncle can’t be paired with another uncle in same table without fireworks. So then you would need to figure out who will sit in table #1/#2/#3 and so on. RCI has no idea how to seat the 38 people together. You have to tell them that.

 

 

 

In perfect world, you will have 3 tables of 10 and 1 table of 8 next to each other and that take cares of the entire clan but if the back corner has some tables that seats 4 or 6, you will need to decide either break up the clan into more tables of smaller seating or move them further out. Maybe I am cynical but it’s a no win situation as it’s highly likely that someone will not be happy with their seating arrangement (Why does Uncle Bob get the window table and we don’t - even though we are staying in the Suites?). Family being family, guess who they will complain to first?

 

 

 

Like I said in my first post, you will need a second vacation after this family reunion or start on that wine early…

 

 

Don't scare me too much Harry! I actually went on a family reunion cruise on my dads side of the family in 2008 on Navigator of the Seas and we had 4 tables that seated 8 each. We just let everyone find their seat and some even switched seats to visit with other family at a different table. There were 4 staff assigned just to our area and they all were wonderful and tipped well for putting up with our group. My memory doesn't serve me very well but I remember two of the tables were near the window.

 

This reunion is for my mother's side and everyone actually gets along surprisingly well and the overall personality of the group allows for flexibility and no one takes offense to a last minute change. I do agree with you that shore excursions will be interesting coordinating as there are folks in our group that will go all out and spending isn't an issue and those that will want to do the cheapest (free) option.

 

The only thing I haven't told anyone in the group yet are the specialty dining and WJ dinner buffet options as that would be weird that some in group would choose to go elsewhere and leave holes in our MDR tables. Oy.

[Wivian]

Hey, check that out. How about that? Trees. Bet you folks don’t have trees back at home. Take a picture. Anyone who knows anything about trees or plants (Guess whom am I looking at?) is welcome to chime in

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really love palm trees and no, I don't have these at home! ;)

 

Phew! I finally read your report and all the posts in this thread. It took me awhile and it brought late nights, slow mornings and little bit longer lunch time to me.. Oops.

 

Thank you, Harry. This was my very first review/report I've read.

 

We are going to the Allure on September 2016, so we have awhile to wait. Booked a sea view balcony cabin from deck 7. My kind of cheapo husband didn't want to pay for deck 12 :D well maybe we can upgrade? I just don't know how. We booked the cruise directly from RC website.

This might be our one time thing.. For our 10th anniversary year. I don't know yet what to wait from the cruise, but your report gave me a really good place to start! I might need to re-read it and make some notes :)

 

I may have something else in my mind to say, but I forgot it.

[Wivian]

Well, one question popped in to my mind.. What did you drink on the ports?

Is it possible to fill a bottle with water in a ship and take it with me outside?

Sorry if I ask a stupid question, but I'm really a newbie here! Or a peasant, is it?

[Clarea]

Well, one question popped in to my mind.. What did you drink on the ports?

Is it possible to fill a bottle with water in a ship and take it with me outside?

Sorry if I ask a stupid question, but I'm really a newbie here! Or a peasant, is it?

You can take bottled water off the ship.

[harryfat1]

I really love palm trees and no, I don't have these at home! ;)

 

Phew! I finally read your report and all the posts in this thread. It took me awhile and it brought late nights, slow mornings and little bit longer lunch time to me.. Oops.

 

Thank you, Harry. This was my very first review/report I've read.

 

We are going to the Allure on September 2016, so we have awhile to wait. Booked a sea view balcony cabin from deck 7. My kind of cheapo husband didn't want to pay for deck 12 :D well maybe we can upgrade? I just don't know how. We booked the cruise directly from RC website.

This might be our one time thing.. For our 10th anniversary year. I don't know yet what to wait from the cruise, but your report gave me a really good place to start! I might need to re-read it and make some notes :)

 

I may have something else in my mind to say, but I forgot it.

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the compliment. Glad you found the trip report useful.

 

I guess you only do things in one size – big. For your first cruise, you picked a mega ship. For your first cruise report, you read my long winded babble. Guess you don’t believe in gradually easing yourself into things. Big or bust must be your motto.

 

Yeah, if you like palm trees, by all means, take a picture. I am sure you have different trees in your part of the world that I have never seen. Be sure to take pictures of everything on the cruise since it’s your first time, including toilet seats and napkins and all the food.

 

As for upgrades, you just need to keep an eye out for price adjustments. Essentially every month, Royal has some sort of “sale” happening. Whether they are true price discount events is open to debate. What you need to do is go to the Royal web site regularly and check for the latest price on your cruise. If the price decreases, then call the 800 number and ask for a lower price adjustment.

 

If you find a lower price after you made your final payment (should be July 2016 for your cruise), they won’t adjust the price anymore as you already paid but you can “upgrade” to a better category cabin if you like. So you can still get your dream cabin category if that comes down far enough in price by next year. Just keep looking every month or so for price adjustments.

 

Also sign up for the roll call for your cruise because chances are someone else on your roll call will check as well and people are typically very good about posting sales adjustments so you will be alerted that way.

 

If you have any follow up questions, let me know. Have a great cruise next year if we don’t talk again.

[harryfat1]

Well, one question popped in to my mind.. What did you drink on the ports?

Is it possible to fill a bottle with water in a ship and take it with me outside?

Sorry if I ask a stupid question, but I'm really a newbie here! Or a peasant, is it?

 

Bob already replied to your question – as he is always super-fast and reliable in his responses on these boards.

 

You didn’t say if you are on the western or eastern route. We were on the western and for the first two ports, didn’t really need to bring a water bottle.

 

Labadee is a beach stop and they have water at the food area there is no need to bring anything off the ship unless it’s so hot that you need water by time you get to the end of the pier.

 

Falmouth is a small self-contained area that you can walk easily and go back to the ship if you need water. Only if you go on an excursion far away from the camp will you need water.

 

So your decision will be if it’s really worth the hassle of bringing a water bottle just for one port use? They do take up space in the luggage if you are flying. A compromise could be if you buy a Royal water bottle while on the ship, that way it will double as a souvenir and a useful item while on the cruise.

[casinostreer]

Harry,

 

Here it is almost 8 months later and your review is still being read by a number of people!! Congrats!

 

You often downplay your compliments from the CC readers saying that you weren't trying to create something "special." Fortunately, I think that's what helped to make it resonate with all of us. Just a normal guy - telling us about his trip. No agenda, no slant - just a great vacation on a big ship through YOUR eyes.

 

Allure was my family's first "all together" trip (9 of us in 3 separate cabins - and we were traveling with a 10 month old!) Your pictures, descriptions and commentary brought back a lot of great memories. It almost read like a novel. It took me 7 days to read all 59 pages of it (with all the questions and answers!)

 

We're cruising on the Freedom (2nd time on that ship) in October - and after reading your review - I've adopted a new game plan. Not in the excel spreadsheet way (I make them all the time and my family refuses to conform!) I've decided to take more time in noticing the details - take pictures, take a garden tour, etc. (We usually opt for an alcoholic beverage package - so all my pictures might be of drinks - but they're pretty too!)

 

Thanks for taking us with you and your beautiful family on a greatly entertaining vacation!

 

Michael

 

PS - For your next trip, is there a forum called Road Trip Critic? If not - maybe we should start one!

Edited August 9, 2015 by casinostreer

[Wivian]

Hi,

 

 

 

Thanks for the compliment. Glad you found the trip report useful.

 

 

 

I guess you only do things in one size – big. For your first cruise, you picked a mega ship. For your first cruise report, you read my long winded babble. Guess you don’t believe in gradually easing yourself into things. Big or bust must be your motto.

 

 

 

Yeah, if you like palm trees, by all means, take a picture. I am sure you have different trees in your part of the world that I have never seen. Be sure to take pictures of everything on the cruise since it’s your first time, including toilet seats and napkins and all the food.

 

 

 

As for upgrades, you just need to keep an eye out for price adjustments. Essentially every month, Royal has some sort of “sale” happening. Whether they are true price discount events is open to debate. What you need to do is go to the Royal web site regularly and check for the latest price on your cruise. If the price decreases, then call the 800 number and ask for a lower price adjustment.

 

 

 

If you find a lower price after you made your final payment (should be July 2016 for your cruise), they won’t adjust the price anymore as you already paid but you can “upgrade” to a better category cabin if you like. So you can still get your dream cabin category if that comes down far enough in price by next year. Just keep looking every month or so for price adjustments.

 

 

 

Also sign up for the roll call for your cruise because chances are someone else on your roll call will check as well and people are typically very good about posting sales adjustments so you will be alerted that way.

 

 

 

If you have any follow up questions, let me know. Have a great cruise next year if we don’t talk again.

 

 

Thank you for your answers!

 

Yes, indeed! If we go once, we go big [emoji6]

 

I will take lots and lots of pictures, I know that much. We may need to buy new camera first [emoji3] and learn to how it works..

 

Well, our final payment is already done. On the booking itself. So adjustments don't work with us. Just upgrade and paying more.. I guess we're staying in deck 7 [emoji4]

 

Signed up for the roll call, check.

 

Bob already replied to your question – as he is always super-fast and reliable in his responses on these boards.

 

 

 

You didn’t say if you are on the western or eastern route. We were on the western and for the first two ports, didn’t really need to bring a water bottle.

 

 

 

So your decision will be if it’s really worth the hassle of bringing a water bottle just for one port use? They do take up space in the luggage if you are flying. A compromise could be if you buy a Royal water bottle while on the ship, that way it will double as a souvenir and a useful item while on the cruise.

 

 

We are going eastern.

 

Funny "buy a Royal water bottle" advice from a cheapo dad [emoji6] I thought you wouldn't give those [emoji3]

 

If I bring one empty bottle with me, do they have some place to fill it, or will they look at me weird? Do I really need to buy "free" water from the ship? [emoji3]

 

And please tell me, if I should ask my questions elsewhere.

 

Have a great cruise next year too!

[harryfat1]

Harry,

 

Here it is almost 8 months later and your review is still being read by a number of people!! Congrats!

 

You often downplay your compliments from the CC readers saying that you weren't trying to create something "special." Fortunately, I think that's what helped to make it resonate with all of us. Just a normal guy - telling us about his trip. No agenda, no slant - just a great vacation on a big ship through YOUR eyes.

 

Allure was my family's first "all together" trip (9 of us in 3 separate cabins - and we were traveling with a 10 month old!) Your pictures, descriptions and commentary brought back a lot of great memories. It almost read like a novel. It took me 7 days to read all 59 pages of it (with all the questions and answers!)

 

We're cruising on the Freedom (2nd time on that ship) in October - and after reading your review - I've adopted a new game plan. Not in the excel spreadsheet way (I make them all the time and my family refuses to conform!) I've decided to take more time in noticing the details - take pictures, take a garden tour, etc. (We usually opt for an alcoholic beverage package - so all my pictures might be of drinks - but they're pretty too!)

 

Thanks for taking us with you and your beautiful family on a greatly entertaining vacation!

 

Michael

 

PS - For your next trip, is there a forum called Road Trip Critic? If not - maybe we should start one!

 

Hi, Michael,

 

Apologize for the delayed response as I am currently on vacation on my long road trip with the family. I am on day 4 of the 3,000 mile trip South Dakota from CA and back. Butt hot out here.

 

Actually it’s interesting that you say I am an average guy on vacation – I saw the Tapatalk notification from my cell phone that you posted on my report while I was at Wal-Mart during our first night stay at Winnemucca, Nevada. Can’t get more “average guy” than shopping at Wal-Mart with the family.

 

Depending on how the pictures from this road trip turns out, I might post few of them just here at the end of the trip report in case anyone is interested to see them.

 

Thank you very much for the kind words and insights. Happy to know the info was interesting reading for you. Always feel honored that folks like you that are reading the trip report just for entertainment purposes as I only read other trip reports when I plan to go on that ship. Maybe you can write a trip report on the Freedom on your cruise in October so I can read it.

 

Have a great cruise on the Freedom in October. Keep at least unbroken bar stool for me next year from your wild and crazy parties…

[harryfat1]

Thank you for your answers!

 

Yes, indeed! If we go once, we go big [emoji6]

 

I will take lots and lots of pictures, I know that much. We may need to buy new camera first [emoji3] and learn to how it works..

 

Well, our final payment is already done. On the booking itself. So adjustments don't work with us. Just upgrade and paying more.. I guess we're staying in deck 7 [emoji4]

 

Signed up for the roll call, check.

 

 

 

 

We are going eastern.

 

Funny "buy a Royal water bottle" advice from a cheapo dad [emoji6] I thought you wouldn't give those [emoji3]

 

If I bring one empty bottle with me, do they have some place to fill it, or will they look at me weird? Do I really need to buy "free" water from the ship? [emoji3]

 

And please tell me, if I should ask my questions elsewhere.

 

Have a great cruise next year too!

 

We typically buy some sort of souvenir every vacation. Just for memory sake. I think I called it “visiting prison uncle” in my trip report. So if you want to buy a souvenir from your cruise, get one that has a “functional” value while on the cruise. Of course, if you want to buy a lower cost bottle, get one from Bahamas on your first stop as that will be a better value than one from the ship.

 

Since the bottle would take up space in the luggage instead of other items to take on the cruise, at least you will only have to carry to back one way.

 

Whatever bottle you have, you can fill it on the ship. No need to buy the water on the ship unless you really want to. You can get iced water at the buffet or main dining room (just ask waiter for extra water) or other eating places have access to water as well.

 

You paid for the entire cruise already? What country are you from that requires full payment 400+ days out? Here in the US, we only have to pay the deposit to secure a cabin and final payment is 75 days prior to sailing date. Even if you already paid in full, I would think you can still get to upgrade to a higher deck cabin if that price falls. Just call RCI and asked to be moved to a higher cabin at no extra cost to you.

 

Hope this answers your questions. If not, come back with more.

[maglib]

harry - thank you for your report. my husband and i leave for oasis cruise this saturday and your allure report gave me added info. if it wasn't for my sister-in-law's email about your report, i probably would have missed it.

 

we got a good deal i thought on a central park balcony that i couldn't refuse. (i'm the cheap one of the two of us) oasis class was never on my list of cruises. we went on a celebrity cruise in 2010 and followed it with a royal caribbean cruise. i swore off royal caribbean (too many kids, sorry) and vowed to only cruise celebrity. then this offer came up. so even though the itinerary is western caribbean, i am thinking the ship is the destination, not the ports. however, looking at your photos, i may have to re-evaluate my opinion. shore excursions for sure seem too expensive for what you get. maybe my husband and i can just walk the area for a bit.

since my kids are grown (33 & 35), guess we can cruise however we want. also have a crystal cruise planned for next year (another good deal! and ship destination vs port destination)

 

have fun on your driving trip. my husband's next vacation is suppose to be a driving one to the national parks in western US. (figure you must be in south bay since there is no grass here in sf.)

[harryfat1]

harry - thank you for your report. my husband and i leave for oasis cruise this saturday and your allure report gave me added info. if it wasn't for my sister-in-law's email about your report, i probably would have missed it.

 

we got a good deal i thought on a central park balcony that i couldn't refuse. (i'm the cheap one of the two of us) oasis class was never on my list of cruises. we went on a celebrity cruise in 2010 and followed it with a royal caribbean cruise. i swore off royal caribbean (too many kids, sorry) and vowed to only cruise celebrity. then this offer came up. so even though the itinerary is western caribbean, i am thinking the ship is the destination, not the ports. however, looking at your photos, i may have to re-evaluate my opinion. shore excursions for sure seem too expensive for what you get. maybe my husband and i can just walk the area for a bit.

since my kids are grown (33 & 35), guess we can cruise however we want. also have a crystal cruise planned for next year (another good deal! and ship destination vs port destination)

 

have fun on your driving trip. my husband's next vacation is suppose to be a driving one to the national parks in western US. (figure you must be in south bay since there is no grass here in sf.)

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the compliment. Glad the trip report is helpful, even if some of the info is outdated with the various changes they made to the ship.

 

As for not seeing this report, I think the “grouping” of the boards excludes some of the older posts. If you just click on “Allure of the Seas” from the top of the page, this trip report won’t show up. But if you type in “Allure” in the “search this form” section, then my report and other mega trip reports show up. Don’t know why this is. So people will need to go one extra step to dig up some of the older trip reports to read.

 

It is interesting that you swore off Royal since they have too many kids. Wonder if I will feel the same after my kids are grown up. However, I would assume sailing in September; you should have fewer kids than in the summer or holiday season as many of the kids should be back in school already. Hence the lower price for your cruise.

 

As for the ports, Labadee can easily be a no extra cost port. You can just hang out at the water area, walk around and eat the beach BBQ and come back. Falmouth can be just walking around inside the gated fences or the immediate outside area to see the locals if you rather not spend money on excursions. Great time to use the pool back at the ship.

 

Cozumel has shops right off the pier if you don’t want to venture far or you can take a taxi to downtown for only few dollars. We’ll be going back there next year and I’m thinking of doing a private taxi to see the sights (assume it doesn’t rain on us again).

 

Every family’s cruise experience is different and I like the variety of activities that the big ships offer to various age groups. It’s the ultimate buffet of cruises. You don’t need to spend big dollars on this cruise to have a wonderful time.

 

As for the national parks, if your husband is the research type, you can borrow some national parks books for the library for free to read up on them. I borrowed the Frommer’s guide to National parks in the West as it lists all the NP in the western states. We went to Badlands national park last month. Maybe I will post few pics from the trip here in case your husband is interested in seeing them.

 

Have a great cruise this Saturday if we don’t talk again. By the way, my in-laws are in San Francisco, we are in the east bay. Bet you would never guess it’s hotter in SF than in FLL with this unusual heat wave we are having this week…

[h20skibum]

As for not seeing this report, I think the “grouping” of the boards excludes some of the older posts. If you just click on “Allure of the Seas” from the top of the page, this trip report won’t show up. But if you type in “Allure” in the “search this form” section, then my report and other mega trip reports show up. Don’t know why this is. So people will need to go one extra step to dig up some of the older trip reports to read.

 

 

By the way, my in-laws are in San Francisco, we are in the east bay. Bet you would never guess it’s hotter in SF than in FLL with this unusual heat wave we are having this week…

 

Harry,

 

It probably didn't show up on the Allure of the Seas sub-forum since it had dropped off page one. It is back on page one of that forum now, but probably not for long, unless some one keeps posting to it. The easy way to find it now is to click on the views column, and it will filter to page one since it has so many views. (In 16th place now, but only 1001 more views to move into 15th place on the Royal forum)

 

I know about the heat in SF. Son moved from East bay to North bay this year, and he says it has been warm. Hope it holds when we go out there next month.

 

Already have my spreadsheet for Oasis, and maybe more detailed than yours. But, ready to abandon it at a moments notice if something else comes up.

Edited September 9, 2015 by h20skibum

[Match Game 72]

Hello Harry,

 

Thank you so much for this very detailed, entertaining travel report. In particular thanks for the kids' club flyers.

 

Have you posted any of your WDW reports online? We are also Disney fanatics and I would like to see some of your photos from Orlando.

 

You have inspired me to take more pictures. I took 400 on our Grand Canyon trip, but you probably take that many in 1 day!

[Willow45]

Absolutely loved your post Harry. Just saying I'm a ADHD person too and as my family is going on our first cruise in January 2016 (LOL we are peasants, I totally loved that post) and I booked the cruise six weeks ago and I have totally analyzed everything we could do at each port (we have 6 ports and 7 days at sea). I have worked out what we are doing on the first day on board and our getting to port and getting home, we are flying into port as well, (loved the staying over night on the way home that was my plan too, get to extend the holiday and are not rushing and stressed to get places). Back too I loved your post, I definitely will be doing/or seriously thinking about doing the dance or yelling 'yay, we win' when they call us to board the ship and I totally love the idea of the spreadsheet. I was doing something similar for my girls for their room (they are 20 & 18 but still don't know or care on where they should be), so they know what days they need to be up early for port days that we have activities booked and what days are relaxing whatever days. BUT I was posting to say 'good work you got me in trouble with my girls as I was banned from mentioning the cruise holiday until 6 weeks out ( they were my idea's people which means I would bounce my ideas off them, sadly my husband wouldn't play this game with me, he is happy we being told what we are doing and funnily this holiday is for his 50th birthday and us girls decided we wanted to go on a cruise but we were nice enough to let him choose the destination) planning the whole cruise bit and after a six weeks I was banned about talking the cruise) and your great post got me talking again about great ideas that you gave me and my daughters have banned me talking to them for two days.. All good you still gave me great ideas.. Thank you.

[harryfat1]

Harry,

 

It probably didn't show up on the Allure of the Seas sub-forum since it had dropped off page one. It is back on page one of that forum now, but probably not for long, unless some one keeps posting to it. The easy way to find it now is to click on the views column, and it will filter to page one since it has so many views. (In 16th place now, but only 1001 more views to move into 15th place on the Royal forum)

 

I know about the heat in SF. Son moved from East bay to North bay this year, and he says it has been warm. Hope it holds when we go out there next month.

 

Already have my spreadsheet for Oasis, and maybe more detailed than yours. But, ready to abandon it at a moments notice if something else comes up.

 

Hi, Mark,

 

Yeah, I would abandon the spreadsheet if anything else shows up. For me, the spreadsheet is more of a reminder on what is important for me to remember to do for any particular day (like shows or special character meal).

 

Especially on these mega ships where there are different show times daily and parades, I’m certainly not smart enough to remember what I need to do daily without a reminder schedule. But for some people who don’t care about attending the shows and just eat whenever they’re hungry, then the schedule is not useful for them.

 

Speaking of schedule, here is the “mother of all schedules” for our upcoming December Disneyland trip. No, I didn’t create this on my own line by line. It’s a web based software that has historical statistical data on the crowd level on any given day and ride. What you do is go in and check all the rides you want to go for the day and when/where you want to take a break and the software will calculate a hypothetical schedule to the minute. You can change the preference to have less wait time (meaning more walking) or less walking (meaning more time in line).

 

Even for me, this a bit too anal and rigid for a vacation trip and I rank pretty high on the anal scale (if not grand master, at least around the master level). I don't plan to follow this religiously, but it’s interesting to “play around” with this as every time I add or delete a ride, the system will recalculate and reshuffle everything. So with this schedule and the phone app that displays real time estimation on the wait time of all the rides at the park, anal folks such as me will have a very different experience visiting Disneyland than being on a cruise.

 

Anyway, you folks have a great cruise on the Oasis in November.

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Hello Harry,

 

Thank you so much for this very detailed, entertaining travel report. In particular thanks for the kids' club flyers.

 

Have you posted any of your WDW reports online? We are also Disney fanatics and I would like to see some of your photos from Orlando.

 

You have inspired me to take more pictures. I took 400 on our Grand Canyon trip, but you probably take that many in 1 day!

 

Hi,

 

Glad you found the info useful and entertaining. Yeah, my boys didn’t attend the kids club at all the entire cruise so the best I can do is scan the info but can’t offer any firsthand experience.

 

As for posting the WDW info, no, I didn’t post any trip reports on the Disney boards. I used to be more active on those boards but nowadays with my Disney trip planning, I just go to different web sites like Allears and Mouseplanets and Touring Plans to gather my own info and based my trip on that. See my previous post on what a sample Disney planning tour might look like if we follow the software’s suggestion (which we won’t be that exact).

 

What I typically do after every vacation is upload the pictures onto Shutterfly and then create a special web page/blog just for that trip and I just write some comments on a daily basis to explain what we did (Days of our lives) so the viewer will have an idea when they look at the pictures on what was happening. But those are just for friends and family use only for privacy reasons.

 

That being said, I went back into the archives and grabbed few sample pics from our last trip there (December 2011) and uploaded them to Flickr. We didn’t bring the SLR to Florida that time as we were afraid of being too heavy on the neck after a long day of walking around the park so the picture quality isn’t as good.

 

Yeah, take more pictures. Why not? It’s effectively free other than the electricity you use to download and upload them. Memory cards are dirt cheap nowadays and you can easily pack thousands of pictures on a single card. One advantage we do have as a family is that we have multiple photographers and everyone has a slightly different emphasis on any given subject.

 

Are you looking to go to WDW soon? We are going to Disneyland in December but no plans to go back to WDW until maybe 2017 or later when they have the new Avatar land.

 

 

Picture of the castle at night taken at night with my old crappy 4 MP cell phone

 

 

Pic of the castle in the day with performance

 

 

Mickey and Minnie all decked out for the holidays

 

 

Family picture with Mickey in holiday outfit

 

 

Night time fireworks over Japan pavilion in Epcot

 

 

Grand Floridian hotel (No, we didn’t stay there. Cheapo dad not willing to pay huge premium)

[harryfat1]

Instead, we stayed at the “value resort” of Pop Century, but it’s still a Disney property.

 

 

Larger than life toys throughout the hotel area

 

 

Main Street USA at Magic Kingdom

 

 

World showcase at night in Epcot

 

 

Dragon outside of Lego store in Downtown Disney

 

 

Lion King show at Animal Kingdom

 

 

Last one. Osborn family of holiday lights at Disney Studios. Over 3 million lights. Just read that this will be the last year of them doing this. Very sad to see it leave WDW. One of kind lights display experience for the holidays.

 

Let me know if you have any questions.

[harryfat1]

harry - thank you for your report. my husband and i leave for oasis cruise this saturday and your allure report gave me added info. if it wasn't for my sister-in-law's email about your report, i probably would have missed it.

 

we got a good deal i thought on a central park balcony that i couldn't refuse. (i'm the cheap one of the two of us) oasis class was never on my list of cruises. we went on a celebrity cruise in 2010 and followed it with a royal caribbean cruise. i swore off royal caribbean (too many kids, sorry) and vowed to only cruise celebrity. then this offer came up. so even though the itinerary is western caribbean, i am thinking the ship is the destination, not the ports. however, looking at your photos, i may have to re-evaluate my opinion. shore excursions for sure seem too expensive for what you get. maybe my husband and i can just walk the area for a bit.

since my kids are grown (33 & 35), guess we can cruise however we want. also have a crystal cruise planned for next year (another good deal! and ship destination vs port destination)

 

have fun on your driving trip. my husband's next vacation is suppose to be a driving one to the national parks in western US. (figure you must be in south bay since there is no grass here in sf.)

 

Hi,

 

Hope you had a great cruise on the Oasis as I believe you should be getting off the ship tomorrow.

 

Anyway, per my previous email, here are some of the pictures we took from the road trip to Badlands National park. Not sure which national park your husband is interested to go to, but Badlands is one of kind place along with Devil’s Tower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jewel Cave National Monument – third longest cave in the world

 

 

Bonneville salt flats in Utah

[harryfat1]

Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park and Devil's Tower

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's pretty much the highlight of our road trip last month. Maybe this will inspire your husband to visit one of these places in the future. Great thing about it is it's very low cost compared to cruise excursions.