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

[vegas7df]

Hi Harry,

 

Great to hear you'll be writing another review, I really enjoyed the last one. I'm a Disney fan as well, have had an annual pass for the past 10 years.

 

Happy New Year!

Donna

[WiscoGirl32]

Thank you for a fantastic review!! Great pictures and detailed info! Appreciate your hard work!

 

Sent from my SM-T807V using Tapatalk

[fletch1027]

Thanks for the review - I just started reading it this morning - at work of course! :)

 

Also good to see another Harry - as we are a select group!

 

[Thom71]

Good stuff Harry.........sort of like reading a Playboy.......all I did was look at the pictures :)

 

Seriously though..........great reviews and worth the time reading.

 

We're headed on the Allure the 28th of Feb

Edited January 26, 2016 by Thom71

[chinita415]

Delurking to say I mean to finish reading this. Started before our Allure sailing 2 weeks ago but only on day 2.

 

Another Type A adult ADHD Chinese American from California here. Love Disneyland too. We were there on Thanksgiving. You are my people. ; )

[Marylandteachergirl]

You all are making me miss California. We have 34 inches of snow outside thanks to winter storm Jonas. :(

[miridj]

What’s NOT in this report? As I said before, every family does their own thing on cruises so chances are what you want from your cruise won’t be included here. There were some areas we didn’t do on our cruise so if you are reading this for these specific areas, sorry to disappoint you. Maybe just scroll down and look at the pictures. Things not in this report:

 

1 - Specialty Dining. Ate all our dinners MDR as there are no extra charges there. Did I mention I am cheap?

 

2 – No drink packages/cupcakes. Did I mention I am cheap?

 

3 – No 18+ related topics. Since this was a family vacation, we opted out of performance of Chicago as it’s adult theme. Also no info on the solarium as kids under 16 are allowed to go there. This includes the Quest game so if you are looking for that here, you won’t find it.

 

4 – No exotic shore excursions. Other than the one tour in Cozumel, we didn’t do any other excursions. Didn’t spend any money to swim with “whatever” as those costs extra. Did I mention I am cheap?

 

5 – No spas or massages. Although in the prior Mariner cruise, there was a complimentary spa treatment from the TA as part of the package and on the exact same cruise, I won a raffle for a second spa treatment at the port talk so we had a back to back spa treatment. But this isn’t for me even if it’s free. It’s like giving a Vegan a free prime rib dinner and can’t figure out why they don’t like it. Too bad I couldn’t sell my spa package on eBay to get 50 cents on the dollar…

 

As you can see, all on all, a rather mundane family cruise vacation.

 

OMG This is going to be like going in vacation with my Dad all over again. (My parents are also 2 accountants). We would never have lunch at Disney World because of how expensive the meals were.... They would make sandwiches in the morning and take them with us as our lunch /facepalm...

[Abbabug]

Harry,

 

I absolutely enjoyed your trip report. We subscribe to your frugal ways too as travel costs for 4 is way higher than for two!

 

Here's something to make you laugh/choke....

 

We are first time cruisers. For many, many years hubby refused to cruise because I get hit with motion sickness. He refuses to pay for me to puke. Lol. This year will be the last year we will have spring break together as daughter #1 will be heading to university. We decided to have a nice vacation.....such as the cruise we have never had. Spring break and cruises do not exactly make a cheap vacation. Especially one that was not planned in order to take advantage of early discounts. And dear daughter refuses to skip school.....sigh.

 

I had initially planned on the Independence for the 4 of us with flights it would have been about US$5000 for one inner stateroom. I would be getting deck 6 aft cabin. Due to my motion sickness issue I was somewhat reluctant to confirm that reservation. Along came the Oasis where we got two inner staterooms deck 3 middle. I was ecstatic! But the price goes up of course! I ran it by hubby and told him about the price increase....he said , ya, ya, ya....don't worry about the cost. Just book it. So, I book it. C$10k later, all booked. Cruise and flights. He came home and asked about the final cost and freaked out. Lol. This is what happens when you brush off your wife and don't listen when it's time to listen.

 

Anyways, we are on the Mar 26 Western Oasis sailing. I've learnt lots from your report. We will not be paying extra for food for sure! Seems to be fairly good offerings for free.

[harryfat1]

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 :)

 

Hi, Patti,

 

It’s nice talking to you again. If memory serves me correctly, didn’t you go on the Panama Canal cruise awhile back? How was that? Did you take your mega zoom camera with you? Any pics to share?

 

The next trip report probably won’t have as many plant/tree pictures in it compared to this one as it won’t have a central park tour but I will keep you in mind when I walk around with my camera.

[harryfat1]

Hi Harry,

 

Great to hear you'll be writing another review, I really enjoyed the last one. I'm a Disney fan as well, have had an annual pass for the past 10 years.

 

Happy New Year!

Donna

 

Thank you for a fantastic review!! Great pictures and detailed info! Appreciate your hard work!

 

Sent from my SM-T807V using Tapatalk

 

Hi,

 

Thanks to all for the kind words. If we are able to cruise later this year, I will try to write up something afterward to hopefully provide useful info for future cruisers.

 

Just know that that sequel work typically suck so do lower your expectations on my next trip report. But then again, if you really think about it, you get what you paid for when you read these trip reports on the forum…

 

Disney style vacation is my first preference of vacations. Even more than cruises. There's something magical about being at the parks during the holidays.

[Coralc]

Hi, Patti,

 

It’s nice talking to you again. If memory serves me correctly, didn’t you go on the Panama Canal cruise awhile back? How was that? Did you take your mega zoom camera with you? Any pics to share?

 

The next trip report probably won’t have as many plant/tree pictures in it compared to this one as it won’t have a central park tour but I will keep you in mind when I walk around with my camera.

 

Hi Harry!

 

You know what? I did take quite a few photos with the SX 500 IS on the Panama Canal cruise, and the distance photos came out well....but I think overall the SX100 IS takes better photos. I don't know if it is camera operator error, but the 500 doesn't have the crispness and color saturation that the 100 does.

 

The Canal cruise was nice, with an excellent group of passengers onboard. It was interesting to see the almost completed construction of the new canal. But we skipped a couple of ports, (Puerto Vallarta violence, and Cabo, rough tendering) and I would rate it just an okay cruise. It was nice to sail back to our own time zone. :D

 

We are leaving in a couple of weeks for a Southern Caribbean cruise on Serenade. We do enjoy the Radiance class of ships.

 

~Patti :)

 

And no, I didn't put any photos on photobucket. I have prints made of our cruises and put them in old fashioned photo albums. It is one of my long weekend projects.

Edited January 31, 2016 by Coralc

[Coralc]

I forgot, there is one, new Canal construction:

 

Edited January 31, 2016 by Coralc

[harryfat1]

Thanks for the review - I just started reading it this morning - at work of course! :)

 

Also good to see another Harry - as we are a select group!

 

 

Hello from one Harry to another Harry.

 

Looks like we have more than just name in common as I see you did two cruise reports on the Freedom of the Seas – where will be later this year. So I guess we are doing the cruise reprot exchange program.

 

I noticed you used a mega zoom camera as well. I have the older version at 35X. I am debating whether or not to take that one on the Freedom versus upgrading my second dSLR and take that instead. The mega zooms are fine for day time but horrible night time shots for shows/ice skating.

 

Enjoy your cruise on the Allure in couple weeks.

[harryfat1]

Good stuff Harry.........sort of like reading a Playboy.......all I did was look at the pictures :)

 

Seriously though..........great reviews and worth the time reading.

 

We're headed on the Allure the 28th of Feb

 

Wait, WHAT?

 

There are pictures in the Playboy magazines? I never knew that. I only bought them to read the articles. I need to go back to my old copies and look for them…

 

Thanks for the compliment and have a great cruise next month.

[harryfat1]

Delurking to say I mean to finish reading this. Started before our Allure sailing 2 weeks ago but only on day 2.

 

Another Type A adult ADHD Chinese American from California here. Love Disneyland too. We were there on Thanksgiving. You are my people. ; )

 

Well, you know us Asian types – cheap and anal. We know good value for money when we see it.

 

We used to have Disneyland annual passes for 2 straight years when the boys were younger. We drove down to Disneyland every long weekend/holiday break to maximize the AP tickets.

 

I see you are from bay area also. Too bad I can’t rent out my house to out of town visitors for the upcoming Superbowl. I see crappy Best Western motels going for almost $300/night 20 miles outside Levi’s stadium. There’s money to be made there.

 

Hope you found the Allure enjoyable as much as we did.

[harryfat1]

You all are making me miss California. We have 34 inches of snow outside thanks to winter storm Jonas. :(

 

There are some drawbacks to being in CA. We have the ever danger of earthquakes - unlike storms where you know days ahead of time it's coming. With earthquakes, it could be any minute in time.

 

Then there's the drought that has plagued us the past few years. All our grass are brown here as we are not allowed to water them.

 

Only advantage is the snow - for the most part, the snow doesn't come to us. We go to the snow in the mountains.

[harryfat1]

OMG This is going to be like going in vacation with my Dad all over again. (My parents are also 2 accountants). We would never have lunch at Disney World because of how expensive the meals were.... They would make sandwiches in the morning and take them with us as our lunch /facepalm...

 

Disneyworld has free meal package sales promotions where you can eat one lunch and one sit down dinner at the parks or hotels. We were on that promotion when we were there back in 2011. No need to make your own sandwiches if you take advantage of the promos. :p

[harryfat1]

Harry,

 

I absolutely enjoyed your trip report. We subscribe to your frugal ways too as travel costs for 4 is way higher than for two!

 

Here's something to make you laugh/choke....

 

We are first time cruisers. For many, many years hubby refused to cruise because I get hit with motion sickness. He refuses to pay for me to puke. Lol. This year will be the last year we will have spring break together as daughter #1 will be heading to university. We decided to have a nice vacation.....such as the cruise we have never had. Spring break and cruises do not exactly make a cheap vacation. Especially one that was not planned in order to take advantage of early discounts. And dear daughter refuses to skip school.....sigh.

 

I had initially planned on the Independence for the 4 of us with flights it would have been about US$5000 for one inner stateroom. I would be getting deck 6 aft cabin. Due to my motion sickness issue I was somewhat reluctant to confirm that reservation. Along came the Oasis where we got two inner staterooms deck 3 middle. I was ecstatic! But the price goes up of course! I ran it by hubby and told him about the price increase....he said , ya, ya, ya....don't worry about the cost. Just book it. So, I book it. C$10k later, all booked. Cruise and flights. He came home and asked about the final cost and freaked out. Lol. This is what happens when you brush off your wife and don't listen when it's time to listen.

 

Anyways, we are on the Mar 26 Western Oasis sailing. I've learnt lots from your report. We will not be paying extra for food for sure! Seems to be fairly good offerings for free.

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the compliment. Hope my trip report is useful for preparing your first cruise. Wow, first cruise ever and it's on the Oasis class ship! Just know that you future cruise ship experience will be like this one.

 

I can sympathize with motion illness. I have it. I can get motion sickness riding the subway trains and buses so I have sea band/ginger pills and Bonine available on all my cruises. Hopefully you will encounter smooth waters on your cruise.

 

Do note that even after you have paid in full, you can still get upgraded to a better cabin if they start to lower the prices of the ocean view or central park view cabins so you can at least see some sunshine while in the cabin. We were upgraded to the balcony cabin after we paid so it’s possible. Just keep checking your cruise price and if you can upgrade to some sort of window view without a major upgrade cost, go for it. Especially if you are concerned about motion sickness.

 

Have a great first time cruise in March. Hope your family enjoys it well enough to book another one later on.

[harryfat1]

Hi Harry!

 

You know what? I did take quite a few photos with the SX 500 IS on the Panama Canal cruise, and the distance photos came out well....but I think overall the SX100 IS takes better photos. I don't know if it is camera operator error, but the 500 doesn't have the crispness and color saturation that the 100 does.

 

The Canal cruise was nice, with an excellent group of passengers onboard. It was interesting to see the almost completed construction of the new canal. But we skipped a couple of ports, (Puerto Vallarta violence, and Cabo, rough tendering) and I would rate it just an okay cruise. It was nice to sail back to our own time zone. :D

 

We are leaving in a couple of weeks for a Southern Caribbean cruise on Serenade. We do enjoy the Radiance class of ships.

 

~Patti :)

 

And no, I didn't put any photos on photobucket. I have prints made of our cruises and put them in old fashioned photo albums. It is one of my long weekend projects.

 

Hi, Patti,

 

I think sometimes the optics of the mega zooms does make the pictures look “softer” than the non-zoom lenses. The Panama Canal cruise is still on my bucket list. Waiting for the kids to go off to college so I can go in the off season on the repo cruise and save some money. Way too expensive to do that for family of 4 in holiday periods.

 

For all my online uploads of the pictures, we still have the “old school” photo album for every vacation. Costco has great price for photo albums and picture print outs. We typically print 300 of them per vacation (size limit per album) and if you upload 300 or more pictures on Costco web site for pick up the next day, I believe its 13 or 14 cents per each 4 X 6. So there’s a quantity discount for 300+ each print job. Keep that in mind.

 

Our challenge is always trying to find only 300 pictures that represent each vacation from the thousands that we take. It’s always a multi-day/week project after every vacation to sort and review every picture for the photo album.

 

Have a great cruise in couple weeks on the Serenade. As long as we cruise as a family, we will probably stick with the big and bigger class ships as they like the variety of activities available on the mega ships.

[miridj]

Disneyworld has free meal package sales promotions where you can eat one lunch and one sit down dinner at the parks or hotels. We were on that promotion when we were there back in 2011. No need to make your own sandwiches if you take advantage of the promos. :p

 

 

That's great!! I don't think this promos were available back in 1996, when my parents took my siblings and me there... heck, i don't even remember if they had meal plans... plus usually those promotions are for guest staying onsite... which my parents would never do.... We would stay at a Days Inn or a place such as :P ... but hey... I'm happy you didn't have to take it to that extreme!

[legaljen1969]

My son ordered the “Royal Burger” which is piled high with bunch of condiments. He wanted me to take a picture of him trying to shove it into his mouth to see if it fits. Wouldn’t catch my wife trying to get me to take this type of picture. Difference in mentality between boys and grown ups. Also noticed being a picky eater, he removed the tomato from the burger before eating it (he won't eat tomato but loves the ketchup next to it on the burger. Go figure.)

 

I am the same way about tomatoes and ketchup. I would not eat a raw tomato by itself. I love ketchup, salsa, marinara sauce, et cetera. It's a texture thing. I don't like the way a tomato feels in my mouth when I eat it. I also don't care for the flavor of a tomato by itself but I find them appetizing mixed with other things. I don't like tomatoes on salad. I don't care for bruschetta. I really think it's mostly a texture thing.

[fletch1027]

For those that have cruised with Carnival or other cruise lines, do note that Royal only does towel animals every other day versus Carnival’s nightly presentation. Also Carnival does a big deal with their towel animal demonstration in holding it at the main theater with hundreds of people attending to learn how (of course they try to sell their towel folding books as part of the infomercial). Royal has it in a much smaller less elaborate venue.

 

This may have already been mentioned in replies farther down since I'm only on page 15 of many, but the frequency of towel animals may vary depending on the cabin steward or maybe ship. On our last 2 Freedom cruises, we had towel animals on all 7 days...

 

[LikesToRaceCars]

Harry, I have been slowly reading your review for about a month now (finally finished hehe) and I have enjoyed it thoroughly as many others have also indicated. I have been wanting to cruise on the Allure for a little while now so your pictures of the ship and helpful hints I find useful.

 

I have never really thought of the decor in the bathroom before but now after seeing the elephant urinal pic, I will now be perusing all of the men's restrooms on all future ships to see what they have now :D.

 

I hope you and your family enjoy your future travels and I look forward to reading any further reviews if you decide to do any more.

[Marylandteachergirl]

There are some drawbacks to being in CA. We have the ever danger of earthquakes - unlike storms where you know days ahead of time it's coming. With earthquakes, it could be any minute in time.

 

Then there's the drought that has plagued us the past few years. All our grass are brown here as we are not allowed to water them.

 

Only advantage is the snow - for the most part, the snow doesn't come to us. We go to the snow in the mountains.

 

 

Oh, I remember the earthquakes! Esp. the one when Mt. St. Helens erupted. And the earthquake drills at school. The sad thing is...here we don't practice for that, but rather active shooters and shelter in place. We had a VERY small earthquake here a few years ago, and I thought it was the heavy equipment working next to our school building. It was that slight! Turns out it was a small earthquake. Being from California, I was very unimpressed.

 

Snow is not as fun when you are an adult and have to shovel it and still go to work AND deal with the crazy people on the roads who can't drive in it. I liked it a lot more as a child when school was closed for the day. It's lost some of it's allure now.

 

I am ready to move to Florida!!!!!!

[harryfat1]

Harry, I have been slowly reading your review for about a month now (finally finished hehe) and I have enjoyed it thoroughly as many others have also indicated. I have been wanting to cruise on the Allure for a little while now so your pictures of the ship and helpful hints I find useful.

 

I have never really thought of the decor in the bathroom before but now after seeing the elephant urinal pic, I will now be perusing all of the men's restrooms on all future ships to see what they have now :D.

 

I hope you and your family enjoy your future travels and I look forward to reading any further reviews if you decide to do any more.

 

Before we start, I assume you are male? If not, then we will have a totally different conversation of you trying to check out other ships’ urinal decors…

 

Thanks for the kinds words. I am always amazed by the perseverance of various readers in slogging through my overly long trip report. My ADHD gets the best of me and I seldom read through an entire trip report by others unless I am really trying to gather research info for my upcoming cruise. So my hats off to you and others that are reading the report even though you have no Oasis class ship trip currently.

 

I will likely write up something after my next cruise. Just keep in mind most sequels suck and I will just plagiarize my own work since I only know the same old jokes so do lower your future expectations.

 

Have fun on your future Alaska cruise. We cruise the Alaska route couple times awhile back. I once wrote a step by step mini trip report on the Ketchikan walking trail map with photos on what we saw at various stops on the map. The scenery in Alaska is breath taking.