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

[harryfat1]

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.

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the compliment. Glad the info was helpful on your first cruise planning even though it’s on a different ship and itinerary. You are sailing “down under” to places I can only dream about so I am very envious of your upcoming adventure.

 

If your family doesn’t want to discuss about the cruise until 6 weeks out, you can just come to these boards and discuss what’s on your mind on your roll call. There will be plenty of people on your roll call that are willing to talk ship and ports with you.

 

Just let the family know that since they are unwilling to discuss some of the topics right now, that just leaves you in charge to make all the decisions and they can’t complain about it afterward. Especially if you plan to book popular excursions at the ports, you may not be able to wait until 6 weeks out to book them.

 

Many cruisers on these boards start to plan and discuss their upcoming cruise more than one year out. Most will not be able to wait until the 6 week mark.

 

Yes, please do the dance when you are ready to board. Your daughters will likely die of embarrassment and wonder if their mom started drinking the alcoholic umbrella drink at breakfast that morning.

 

Have a great time on your first cruise. Please let me know if I can help in any way.

[Match Game 72]

Thanks for the WDW pictures. Your Osborne Lights photo was especially brilliant.

 

Yes, we are taking a little trip to WDW in the next few weeks. I realize that many travelers will be waiting for Avatar, Star Wars and the new Toy Story Land. I hope this means we will have low crowds.

 

As a fellow cheapo, we will be staying offsite in a condo. The main problem with a condo rental is that once you have that much space, it's taxing to squish the family into a hotel room or cruise cabin.

[mechcc]

Harry

Looks like your youngest has had a big growth spurt since your cruise. You do have a nice looking family.

[harryfat1]

Thanks for the WDW pictures. Your Osborne Lights photo was especially brilliant.

 

Yes, we are taking a little trip to WDW in the next few weeks. I realize that many travelers will be waiting for Avatar, Star Wars and the new Toy Story Land. I hope this means we will have low crowds.

 

As a fellow cheapo, we will be staying offsite in a condo. The main problem with a condo rental is that once you have that much space, it's taxing to squish the family into a hotel room or cruise cabin.

 

 

You can go to touring plan’s web site to find out about estimated crowd level on the days you are there. For most part, I would think you should be ok as October isn’t as busy with most of the kids are still in school, other than some that visits for the Halloween events.

 

It’s great to have the extra space to stretch out with a condo. For the road trip, I tried to book the Residence Inns and Staybridge type of hotels that have kitchen and living room. Here’s a pic of the Residence Inn in South Dakota from our trip last month – full sized kitchen where we can cook and eat in to save money (Cheapo dad, right?). We’ll be staying at the Residence Inn in December visiting Disneyland. Free daily breakfast and free drinks/light dinner on certain week nights – great value for the money.

 

Speaking of value – be sure to check out the mousesavers web site for any latest promos on Disney. Back in 2010, we were on the free daily meals plan promo – every person in the group got free lunch and dinners at the parks every day. Given how expensive Disney meals are, that’s a great money saver by getting that free meals plan.

 

Say hi to Mickey for us. We’ll see him in December.

 

[harryfat1]

Harry

Looks like your youngest has had a big growth spurt since your cruise. You do have a nice looking family.

 

Hi, Maggie,

 

Thanks for the kind words on the family.

 

You are very observant in noticing the younger one has grown a lot in a short period of time. In looking back at the cruise pictures from two years ago, he was underneath my wife’s chin, now he is almost as tall as her and somewhere down the road he will be taller than me.

 

We don’t notice it on a day to day basis other than the fact we had to keep buying new clothes and shoes for him as he kept growing. As matter of fact, we are off to the mall today to get him a new pair of shoes as he outgrew the previous pair.

[dorisdvu]

In my rush to post pics last night, I forgot to talk about how I populated my spreadsheet with shows/events. The typical window to book shows I believe is 2 to 3 months out but for whatever reason, I was able to book our shows 7 months out in May 2014 for December. One explanation given by others on the boards is that Royal was updating their software for Quantum bookings and somehow that impacted our sailings as well. Not complaining at all, but just to let people know to check regularly for when shows open up if you are on a roll call, somebody there will likely alert you when they are opened.

 

Another pre planning thing I did (which didn’t turned out so well in the end but we’ll get to that later on) was to email RCI’s dining staff with a specific table request. For those interested, the email address is: RCLDining@rccl.com.

 

I gave them our sailing info and requested a table for family of 6 on deck 4 overlooking the center area so we can take pictures of the performances. The nice lady emailed back saying I had requested too early and their system only have sialings 50 days out. So on the 48th day (am I that anal? Don’t answer that), I emailed back again with the same request and the same nice lady emailed back couple days later with a screen shot of the excel spreadsheet (I love it that they use excel to organize seating passengers) with all our 6 names displayed and showing us on table 413 by the railings. So if table placement is important to you, try this route. I will explain later on day 1 events why this bombed on us.

Edited September 21, 2015 by dorisdvu

[maglib]

harry - thanks for the badlands pics. am going to forward (or something) to my husband. he will like them as will my sister-in-law.

 

oasis was amazing but give me sf cool weather almost any time. husband went on zipline. i wanted less scary adventures like ice skating and pee wee golf. kids area was really cool and seeing a movie in ocean adventure theatre was fun (couldn't get into origami folding). we left early (6:45am) and are spending time in miami. getting lost mostly, but luckily, my husband doesn't mind and just sleeps. will return rental car on wed morning in fort lauderdale and then fly home =< so much for the vacation!

 

thanks again for the tips, they really helped. oasis still has "secret" balcony seats just over aqua theatre. (we did a cabin crawl and saw a loft suite. super nice and super super expensive. went to a comedy show where someone has been on allure 28 times and oasis 38 times staying in expensive suites over a 3-4 year period. wish i had his money!)

[luvtocruise923]

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 Harry,

I'm the sister-in-law that Maglib is referring to and I thank you for your wonderful trip report. We have a large group of family members and friends sailing the Oasis this coming Sat., a first for most of us. Reading your report has been very enjoyable and helpful. We plan to do the "wave" and I've used your template to do a spreadsheet for our trip. We are especially excited to be cruising with our three young granddaughters. You found a great deal for your family with your Dec. 2016 cruise. Now if I can only convince my DD and SIL to do that cruise. This is the first cruise my for SIL and his mother and I'm hoping they'll enjoy this cruise and will become frequent cruisers on Royal Caribbean. Maybe we can book a cruise while on the Oasis, now that would be nice.

Thank you also for your pictures of the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore. Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore are on my bucket list.

BTW, we are from the South Bay, practically neighbors.

[LuCruise]

Hi Harry,

 

Your review is so amazing it will be around for awhile. :)

 

We're getting closer to telling our kids about our cruise I am actually going through your review again and capturing pictures to show them (not personal ones of your family but ones of the ship, activities, etc).

 

Did you tell your kids right away? And if so, were they part of the planning? Or was it more of a surprise?

[Deck_Diva]

Thanks for a great n entertaining report n cool pics [emoji41]

[harryfat1]

 

 

In my rush to post pics last night, I forgot to talk about how I populated my spreadsheet with shows/events. The typical window to book shows I believe is 2 to 3 months out but for whatever reason, I was able to book our shows 7 months out in May 2014 for December. One explanation given by others on the boards is that Royal was updating their software for Quantum bookings and somehow that impacted our sailings as well. Not complaining at all, but just to let people know to check regularly for when shows open up if you are on a roll call, somebody there will likely alert you when they are opened.

 

Another pre planning thing I did (which didn’t turned out so well in the end but we’ll get to that later on) was to email RCI’s dining staff with a specific table request. For those interested, the email address is: RCLDining@rccl.com.

 

I gave them our sailing info and requested a table for family of 6 on deck 4 overlooking the center area so we can take pictures of the performances. The nice lady emailed back saying I had requested too early and their system only have sialings 50 days out. So on the 48th day (am I that anal? Don’t answer that), I emailed back again with the same request and the same nice lady emailed back couple days later with a screen shot of the excel spreadsheet (I love it that they use excel to organize seating passengers) with all our 6 names displayed and showing us on table 413 by the railings. So if table placement is important to you, try this route. I will explain later on day 1 events why this bombed on us.

 

How do you know the seating arrangement (table #) ahead of time?

 

Hi,

 

To answer your question on how do I know the table number at MDR? The answer is I don’t.

 

I am anal enough in my research that I watched YouTube video of other cruisers and I know they have table for 6 on deck 4 right by the railings so that was my request. I didn’t know the exact location but I just asked for middle area where we can see the captain and others one deck below.

 

If you read later on in the trip report, it didn’t work out after all because the dining people onboard over rode what HQ had assigned us.

[harryfat1]

harry - thanks for the badlands pics. am going to forward (or something) to my husband. he will like them as will my sister-in-law.

 

oasis was amazing but give me sf cool weather almost any time. husband went on zipline. i wanted less scary adventures like ice skating and pee wee golf. kids area was really cool and seeing a movie in ocean adventure theatre was fun (couldn't get into origami folding). we left early (6:45am) and are spending time in miami. getting lost mostly, but luckily, my husband doesn't mind and just sleeps. will return rental car on wed morning in fort lauderdale and then fly home =< so much for the vacation!

 

thanks again for the tips, they really helped. oasis still has "secret" balcony seats just over aqua theatre. (we did a cabin crawl and saw a loft suite. super nice and super super expensive. went to a comedy show where someone has been on allure 28 times and oasis 38 times staying in expensive suites over a 3-4 year period. wish i had his money!)

 

Hi,

 

Welcome back. Glad you guys had fun on the cruise. That’s the great thing about the Oasis class ship – has something for every taste.

 

You’re not supposed to be checking in on cruise critic’s board while still on vacation. Enjoy the time while on vacation as every minute counts. Everyone will still be here when you get back this weekend to hear about your cruise.

 

We had a mini heat wave in SF bay area last weekend. It was 85 in SF on Sunday and unless you have money to burn, most SF people don’t have AC. So not sure which is worst – being in FL with humidity but have AC in hotel room or being in warm SF and no AC all day long?

 

Good to come home and recharge and plan for the next vacation.

[harryfat1]

Hi Harry,

I'm the sister-in-law that Maglib is referring to and I thank you for your wonderful trip report. We have a large group of family members and friends sailing the Oasis this coming Sat., a first for most of us. Reading your report has been very enjoyable and helpful. We plan to do the "wave" and I've used your template to do a spreadsheet for our trip. We are especially excited to be cruising with our three young granddaughters. You found a great deal for your family with your Dec. 2016 cruise. Now if I can only convince my DD and SIL to do that cruise. This is the first cruise my for SIL and his mother and I'm hoping they'll enjoy this cruise and will become frequent cruisers on Royal Caribbean. Maybe we can book a cruise while on the Oasis, now that would be nice.

Thank you also for your pictures of the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore. Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore are on my bucket list.

BTW, we are from the South Bay, practically neighbors.

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the compliment. Glad the trip report is useful in your cruise planning. How exciting, first time cruisers on the Oasis class ship. Just be forewarned that you will be spoiled and on your futures cruises, you will miss some of the special features that area only on those ships. It’s like going to Disneyworld as your first theme park experience and afterward going to a local theme park.

 

These mega ships are perfect for multi generational family outings with the variety of activities available to everyone.

 

Yes, our cruise next year is at a perfect spot. It’s the week that the kids should be off from school for the holidays and since it’s not part of the Christmas or New Years day sailing, the price isn’t outrageously high. I think the prices will start to go up next year when the other families realize that time frame as well but not everyone plans that far out other than the cruise critics folks.

 

Speaking of our cruise, I finally checked in with our roll call group last week as I haven’t been active on these boards the past few months with my land based vacation planning. I mentioned that it’s probably not a good idea to be on the same cruise as me as most likely I will write a trip report afterward and there’s a chance I might take a picture of you somewhere when I go through my grumpy old man rant about everything I don’t like…So look around to make sure I don't have my camera around before picking your nose.

 

I believe you still can get a discount for the next cruise if you book it while on the current cruise. If they like the Oasis, they can book an open ended cruise for later period and only have to put down a minimum deposit that is fully refundable if they decided not to do it later on. Just look for the loyalty ambassador (I believe that’s their title) while on the ship. Try not to wait until last day as that’s when most people want to book it and you have too many last minute shopping (and pictures) activities.

 

We went to Yellowstone in 2010. Very nice to see the multi color geyser pools. I will try and refrain from posting any more of my previous vacation pictures here as I don’t want this to become a personal travel blog. People read this report to know about a cruise ship but somehow end up reading about urinals and plants and rocks and Disneyworld...

 

Have a wonderful family cruise vacation if we don’t talk again before you leave. Drop me a note afterward to let me know your thoughts on the ship. I spent many years of my career working in Milpitas/San Jose and Santa Clara so I know the south bay well.

[harryfat1]

Hi Harry,

 

Your review is so amazing it will be around for awhile. :)

 

We're getting closer to telling our kids about our cruise I am actually going through your review again and capturing pictures to show them (not personal ones of your family but ones of the ship, activities, etc).

 

Did you tell your kids right away? And if so, were they part of the planning? Or was it more of a surprise?

 

Hi, LuCruise,

 

Good talking to you once again. Hope all is well.

 

Thanks again for the praise. Glad to know the info is helpful to you and other cruisers many months after the fact - even if some of the info in my report is out dated.

 

I see you have been very active posting on these boards. Since joining last year, you already have 1,600+ posts. That’s averaging 5+ posts per day. You will hit the 10,000 club in just few years at this rate. You will know more about the Allure than any other first timer out there.

 

You can show them pictures of my family on the cruise to your kids. Just tell them to mentally Photoshop us out and cut and paste your family’s picture in the scenes. I do it all the time watching those Corona beer commercials of picturing myself there with the pretty models…:D

 

As for telling my kids about the cruise, they know about it way in the beginning planning stage, even before we made a deposit. My approach is to involve everyone from step 1.3 onward (steps 1.0 up to 1.2 are my research on the cost feasibility of the trip and which cruise route/cruise line). At the end of the day, it’s their vacation as well so they have a vote on where we go. Just like any good family democracy, my wife and I have 51% of the vote and the kids’ get 49%...

 

I think you can involve the kids to get their feedback on what to do at the ports (excursions) and decide if they want to attend kids club or not. They can check out YouTube videos on what to do while on the ship. I’m a planner and I know you are one also. I rather sacrifice the surprise portion to be knowledgeable on the cruise, especially on the Oasis class ship where it’s so big and so many choices to do things; it can be overwhelming if not properly prepared. But that’s just my anal self talking. I am sure other people will feel differently.

[harryfat1]

Thanks for a great n entertaining report n cool pics [emoji41]

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the kind words. Good to hear the report is entertaining.

 

I see you were on the TA cruise on the Allure heading for Europe earlier this year. I talked with few cruisers on that cruise that left comments here prior to sailing. Hope you folks had good weather and a pleasant cruise.

[LuCruise]

Hi, LuCruise,

 

Good talking to you once again. Hope all is well.

 

Thanks again for the praise. Glad to know the info is helpful to you and other cruisers many months after the fact - even if some of the info in my report is out dated.

 

I see you have been very active posting on these boards. Since joining last year, you already have 1,600+ posts. That’s averaging 5+ posts per day. You will hit the 10,000 club in just few years at this rate. You will know more about the Allure than any other first timer out there.

 

You can show them pictures of my family on the cruise to your kids. Just tell them to mentally Photoshop us out and cut and paste your family’s picture in the scenes. I do it all the time watching those Corona beer commercials of picturing myself there with the pretty models…:D

 

As for telling my kids about the cruise, they know about it way in the beginning planning stage, even before we made a deposit. My approach is to involve everyone from step 1.3 onward (steps 1.0 up to 1.2 are my research on the cost feasibility of the trip and which cruise route/cruise line). At the end of the day, it’s their vacation as well so they have a vote on where we go. Just like any good family democracy, my wife and I have 51% of the vote and the kids’ get 49%...

 

I think you can involve the kids to get their feedback on what to do at the ports (excursions) and decide if they want to attend kids club or not. They can check out YouTube videos on what to do while on the ship. I’m a planner and I know you are one also. I rather sacrifice the surprise portion to be knowledgeable on the cruise, especially on the Oasis class ship where it’s so big and so many choices to do things; it can be overwhelming if not properly prepared. But that’s just my anal self talking. I am sure other people will feel differently.

 

Hi Harry,

 

Yes, I think you can see from the many responses that your report has helped many people. (And I'm a money saver too so we think alike).

 

Too funny...I didn't know that you can tell how posts someone has done (and never thought about how many posts myself). But yes, when you book 16 months in advance, I need something to help with the wait. :-) I love coming on here, seeing the posts, learning about Allure/RCL and getting involved. And reports like yours helps with getting even more excited.

 

We went to Disney World a year ago and that trip got me super involved in pre-planning and booking (you have to with Disney W). And it's not quite as required, but I still have the 'planning bug' with Allure. I'm anxious to see the new Eastern compass once the ship returns to the Caribbean.

 

As for telling the kids, that's my thoughts too...as it's good to get them involved. Ours are a bit younger than yours (they'll be 10.5 and 6.5 when we cruise) but we can still show them stuff with the ship and ports.

On the flip side, we don't want to tell them too early in case things change and we have to cancel the trip. And especially with younger ones, their concept of time isn't as good. But I'm thinking December time frame, which is about 4 months in advance.

 

Oh, and with us, it's more 92% wife, 8% husband. (I'm the wife). Once the trip is booked, DH isn't interested in planning but is happy to let me do it all. Works for both of us. On our Disney trip, DH even admitted how organized and smooth the trip was and thanked me for all the planning.

 

You have such a good sense of humor. Your posts always make me smile. :-)

 

Thanks again for your report. If you ever cruise again, I look forward to your report.

[Dosido]

Harry,

 

Just want to say thanks again for your review.

 

Having read your review about 6 months ago, I didn't recall all of the good tips, so I thought, coming closer to my trip (right after we eat copious amounts of turkey), I should re-read it.

 

I have been struggling to find a reasonable hotel for our crew of 14, and been tempted by Hotwire, though a little uneasy, as I have to make more than me happy with my choice, and often you're flying blind there.

 

Imagine my surprise when I saw your LMT suggestion, and pics/review of the Holiday Inn Express South. I looked it up, 4.5 stars on tripadvisor, and only $118 through LMT, versus $265 through most websites.

 

I only spent about 10 minutes with Harry's review, and I saved a ton of money on my car ins...er, hotel stay!

 

Thanks, Harry!

 

P.S. Did I mention that I'm a cheap Dad and a bad one? (Yeah, we are taking the kids out of school :-) )

Edited September 29, 2015 by Dosido

[harryfat1]

Harry,

 

Just want to say thanks again for your review.

 

Having read your review about 6 months ago, I didn't recall all of the good tips, so I thought, coming closer to my trip (right after we eat copious amounts of turkey), I should re-read it.

 

I have been struggling to find a reasonable hotel for our crew of 14, and been tempted by Hotwire, though a little uneasy, as I have to make more than me happy with my choice, and often you're flying blind there.

 

Imagine my surprise when I saw your LMT suggestion, and pics/review of the Holiday Inn Express South. I looked it up, 4.5 stars on tripadvisor, and only $118 through LMT, versus $265 through most websites.

 

I only spent about 10 minutes with Harry's review, and I saved a ton of money on my car ins...er, hotel stay!

 

Thanks, Harry!

 

P.S. Did I mention that I'm a cheap Dad and a bad one? (Yeah, we are taking the kids out of school :-) )

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the kind words. Great to know that the info I posted has been a money saver for your group. Of course, you do realize that I will bill you for a 10% commission fee based on all your savings. What’s your email address to send the PayPal bill?:D

 

I like the LMT site/app. It’s free and you can get some good deals on the hotels. Chances are I will use them again on my cruise next year from FLL. Might even stay at the same Holiday Inn since it’s good value with free breakfast and 24 hours airport shuttle pick up. Convenient for those late arrivers like us that flew in around midnight.

 

Speaking of airport shuttles, do note that there are many Holiday Inn (and Expresses) in FLL. When we were waiting for our hotel shuttle to come, we talked to at least 3 other Holiday Inn shuttles that are not from our hotel. So be sure you get on the right shuttle and check the name of the Holiday Inn/address/phone number painted outside of the van before everyone piles into the wrong shuttle/hotel.

 

Another suggestion is when you call the front desk for a pick up, get the name of the driver so you can just ask “Are you Bob from HI South?” when they drive by.

 

What I typically do is call the hotel the night before on my cell phone to confirm the reservation/request certain room location etc. That will serve program the front desk phone number on the phone so when you land at the airport and gather your luggage and turn on the cell phone, the front desk number should be pretty high on the recent call list so you don’t have to fumble around looking for it.

 

The hotel itself is nice. Only build in mid 2014 so it should be pretty new and clean and hence good ratings form trip advisor. I believe there’s a Walgreen few blocks south in case you forgot to pack anything.

 

The hotel can arrange for a shuttle service to the port but I didn’t like their time slot in getting us to the port later (before the masses/peasants show up) so you might want to look into getting your own shuttle or cab.

 

Let me know if you have any follow up questions. Oh, yeah, maybe you can start a new support group on your cruise - “Friends of Cheapo/Bad parents that takes their kids out of school to cruise just to save a few bucks…”

[Uchylisa]

I'm subscribing to Harry's report. 2 years later!

[Marylandteachergirl]

Even @ two years - this is, hands down, the best cruise review I have read!

 

We have Freedom booked for January, 2017, just a few weeks after yours, so I hope you will have your Freedom report all up and posted before we leave.;)

We will visit WDW a few days before that.

 

I know I said this many posts ago, maybe a year ago, but AGAIN, THANK YOU for all of the details and photos and insight, and humor. I will re-read (again) this before we sail on Allure this May. Hoping for a big snow storm now so I can miss work and feel justified in a binge reading of your entire report.

 

Happy New Year!

[harryfat1]

I'm subscribing to Harry's report. 2 years later!

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for subscribing to this trip report but I am afraid there’s very little activity happening here. If it wasn’t for you digging up this from the deep archive, it would probably be dormant forever.

 

We are scheduled to take a cruise later this year and if energy/time permits, I will write another trip report but just know that typically most sequels suck so don’t hold up high expectations for the next one. Just more of the same dumb jokes.

 

Have a great cruise on the Allure in few months. I hope your enjoyed sailing on here as much as we did.

[Coralc]

It still makes the short list of "Best Reviews" on Cruise Critic Harry! :D

 

I will be looking forward to your next one. :D

 

~Patti :)

[harryfat1]

Even @ two years - this is, hands down, the best cruise review I have read!

 

We have Freedom booked for January, 2017, just a few weeks after yours, so I hope you will have your Freedom report all up and posted before we leave.

We will visit WDW a few days before that.

 

I know I said this many posts ago, maybe a year ago, but AGAIN, THANK YOU for all of the details and photos and insight, and humor. I will re-read (again) this before we sail on Allure this May. Hoping for a big snow storm now so I can miss work and feel justified in a binge reading of your entire report.

 

Happy New Year!

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the compliment. Glad you found the info useful even after all this time. I started this trip report 12 months ago and it’s very satisfying to know that it’s still helpful for folks one year later.

 

Given how slow and long winded I am with my trip report, not sure I will be done with my Freedom of the Seas trip report by time you sail on her but you are a veteran cruiser so not like you need any tips from me. The rest of the trip report is just the same old crazy aunt jokes. Not like us bean counters are creative in coming out with new comedy material yearly.

 

I see that you are a fellow Disney fan also. We just came back from Disneyland last month – spent Christmas day there standing in line with thousands of my newly found friends. I’m just sorting out the pictures now for my Shutterfly travel site and so figure I share few pics here while I am at it.

 

Have fun on all your cruises in 2016 and 2017. Hope the big storm this week didn’t impact you too much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Marylandteachergirl]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the compliment. Glad you found the info useful even after all this time. I started this trip report 12 months ago and it’s very satisfying to know that it’s still helpful for folks one year later.

 

Given how slow and long winded I am with my trip report, not sure I will be done with my Freedom of the Seas trip report by time you sail on her but you are a veteran cruiser so not like you need any tips from me. The rest of the trip report is just the same old crazy aunt jokes. Not like us bean counters are creative in coming out with new comedy material yearly.

 

I see that you are a fellow Disney fan also. We just came back from Disneyland last month – spent Christmas day there standing in line with thousands of my newly found friends. I’m just sorting out the pictures now for my Shutterfly travel site and so figure I share few pics here while I am at it.

 

Have fun on all your cruises in 2016 and 2017. Hope the big storm this week didn’t impact you too much.

 

 

 

 

Well, um, eh...

 

regarding the storm, we have at least three feet of snow in the yard, driveway, road that has not been plowed. I would rather look at Disney and cruise trip reports!

 

I grew up in California (northern), so Disneyland has a special place in my heart. THANK YOU for the photos.

 

Even if you haven't finished your review masterpiece (because great things take time), I will relive our trip through your photos. And, I like the crazy aunt.

 

Happiest of New Years' to you and your family.

Edited January 24, 2016 by Marylandteachergirl

[Yorkvillain]

Even @ two years - this is, hands down, the best cruise review I have read!

 

It still makes the short list of "Best Reviews" on Cruise Critic Harry!

 

100% Agree.