Adventures on the Allure, Teen family! 2/8/15, Western Caribbean, LOTS of Pictures!

[ShellDil]

ShellDil... I've been following along and have really enjoyed your review. Love all the great pictures. We will be sailing back to back on Freedom in August and plan to visit Chankanaab Park for the first time. Your pictures are great and I thank you for sharing your trip with the rest of us. I think the park is the perfect place for my group of 5 who like to snorkel, explore, relax, read and swim. Looking at your Manatee pictures... has me considering having the family do this excursion too. My kids want to Zip Line too. Thanks again for sharing...

 

Thanks for the compliments! I'm glad you've been enjoying the review. I think you'll love Chankanaab. I know for us, it was a perfect option since we all found something that we enjoyed there. And the manatees really made the day for us! You'll have to come back and let us know how you like it! And how lucky to be doing a back to back cruise! :D One of these days I'll do one of those!

[ShellDil]

We took the taxi back to the port and wandered through the shopping area to the line to get back on the ship. We didn't shop this time, I had already gotten my magnet at Chankanaab, so we just went straight to the ship. These guys were playing music while we waited.

 

 

 

No we're not in the wrong line, but they did have signs to let you know which ship to line up to go back to. There were a lot of ships in port that day. I think there were at least 3 at our dock, and then there was the Carnival one and the Epic at the other dock. But Chankanaab never felt crowded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's a lot of ship!

 

 

 

 

[ShellDil]

We went up to the "secret balconies" to check out the view before sailing away from Cozumel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here comes the pilot boat! Must be time to go!

 

 

 

 

 

The Carnival Dream leaving a bit before us

 

 

 

 

[ShellDil]

Tonight's dinner was the Samba Grill. We always have enjoyed the Brazilian Steakhouse restaurants. Both at home and on past cruises. But this one, well it just didn't quite do it for us. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't as good as the other specialty restaurants were and it definitely wasn't as good as the other Brazilian Steakhouses we've been to. We just felt that the meat wasn't as seasoned as it could have been. Yes, there was plenty to eat, but we just really didn't want to eat it so much.

 

I think this was the different bowls of sauces for the meats. Two sauces and a salt. If I'm wrong, someone please let me know! It's been months now since that meal and my memory is definitely not what it used to be!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner we went to the Blue Planet Show....this was another miss for our family. I thought it was ok. The rest of them, well they really didn't like it at all. I think the description in the Cruise Compass led one to believe that there would be a bit more acrobatics and "breathless" moments. But they felt it was a bit slow. Interesting concept, but I think they all liked Ocean Aria and that type of show far more.

 

 

 

This part of the show was pretty cool though!

 

 

 

 

[ShellDil]

After the show we went to the Boardwalk and the kids decided to get some candy. Alex is a huge candy kid! He loves the gummy candy, but with his braces, that's out for now. So he went with some sort of sour hard candy.

 

 

 

 

 

Megan meanwhile checked out the stuffed animals...that's more her thing! I told her they wouldn't fit in her suitcase!

 

 

 

 

 

I'm pretty sure Keith and Alex went back to the cabin and Megan and I went up to the photo area to try to figure out what pictures we liked and for me to try to convince myself to buy the photo package. I still hadn't "officially" made the decision. Our binder was getting super full though, and I knew I'd be buying it....

 

 

 

Tonight we had a bat waiting for us!

 

 

Tomorrow....always a sad day, our final day on board....but today, another super day! I've loved every single port day!

[CntPAcruiser]

Really enjoying your review--you all seem to have had such a great time and have so many smiling pictures! Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

[ShellDil]

Really enjoying your review--you all seem to have had such a great time and have so many smiling pictures! Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

 

Thank you! We really had a great trip. I am such a believer in creating memories and not so much about accumulating "things". I keep saying how I'd love to upgrade our kitchen or replace our carpeting with hardwood floors - things like that. But when it comes down to it, I would so much rather enjoy our time together traveling and making memories while exploring new places and doing all of these amazing things! I'm very lucky that my kids enjoy traveling as much as they do, and while Keith doesn't quite have that travel bug that we do, he has fun when we do travel! I think the only problem is that I've now created two kids with as much of a travel addiction as I have, and that is quite an expensive addiction! :eek:

[Dosido]

No we're not in the wrong line, but they did have signs to let you know which ship to line up to go back to. There were a lot of ships in port that day. I think there were at least 3 at our dock, and then there was the Carnival one and the Epic at the other dock. But Chankanaab never felt crowded.

 

Thanks for that info on port loading. According to Cruisett, there were 5 ships in port the day you visited, with about 19,100 in port. We'll be traveling in late November, and will be there with 5 other ships, and an estimated 22,800 visitors.

 

Glad to hear you didn't think Chankanaab was overly crowded!

[ShellDil]

Thanks for that info on port loading. According to Cruisett, there were 5 ships in port the day you visited, with about 19,100 in port. We'll be traveling in late November, and will be there with 5 other ships, and an estimated 22,800 visitors.

 

Glad to hear you didn't think Chankanaab was overly crowded!

 

The only part that looked remotely crowded was the dolphin encounters. And of course they limit the people in each encounter. It just looked crowded in the area where you would be waiting to start - get the life jackets and get set up. It's a very organized system. But the rest of the park never felt crowded to us. We didn't have to wait for lunch, the beach wasn't crowded, there were lockers for us..... Hopefully you'll find it the same when you go!

[ShellDil]

Here we are, the last day on board the Allure! How could our trip be ending already? There is still so much left we want to do! We feel like we're just starting to feel comfortable on this massive ship! We have our bearings, our groove, our routine, and now they're kicking us off tomorrow? This is definitely a back to back cruise kind of ship!

 

So much to pack in today! Sure, vacations are for relaxing! And we've relaxed, mostly in a mental - we're not at work or school kind of way! We've had so much fun, but what about the flowrider? The zip line? The rock wall? Alex wasn't going to miss those things now was he?

 

Our day started with breakfast in the main dining room...definitely our sea day favorite!

 

 

 

Picture break in the BIG chair!

 

 

 

Can never get enough of just gazing around this ship! Just look at the Boardwalk!

 

 

So, I'm pretty sure these next two pictures were from the first sea day, or maybe the 2nd one, but I'm going to throw them in here because well, where else can I put them? There are all kinds of fun happenings during the day. Do them, or don't do them right? Some will be your kind of thing, some not. Well, during the course of the cruise a few definitely called out to Megan and I in particular....one that we did was Movie Love Song Music Trivia - that was a ton of fun! Pretty challenging! But I have no pictures of that one! Another that we loved was the "Selfie Scavenger Hunt"! This was so much fun!

 

We met at Boleros and were given our instructions. Each team had a list of I believe 20 places or items we had to take a selfie at. We only had around 30 minutes to get as many of the selfies as possible. Now, these places were scattered all over the ship! That was a huge challenge! Then we came back and whoever got back 1st, 2nd and 3rd got some bonus points. There were some pretty easy ones, but some were a bit more challenging, and others you had to interact with crew or guests - like take a picture with a receipt, so we went into one of the shops and after someone bought something asked them if we could borrow their receipt!

 

But here are a couple of our pictures

 

Selfie with a crew member

 

 

 

Selfie with both of us drinking out of separate straws, same drink (something like that!)

 

 

There were people running all over the promenade doing crazy selfies when we started, and boy that 30 minutes went fast! We didn't win, but we had so much fun!

[ShellDil]

So next up Alex did the zip line. Apparently he had done it earlier in the cruise, but didn't tell me before, so I didn't have any pictures! And this time, my camera lens was all fogged up, only I didn't realize it at the time, I just thought it was sun glare. It was a bit tough to see the screen in the sun, so I didn't really know what the pictures looked like - otherwise I probably would have told him to do it again! This was my little Olympus water camera....I knew I should have been lugging around my tried and true DLSR! Grrr! But anyway - time to zip line!

 

 

 

 

 

and here he comes!

 

 

 

 

 

Something about that zip line did make me a bit nervous though. We've zip lined on the longest and farthest ones in Costa Rica, but this one, I don't know - maybe it just doesn't seem natural on a ship? :eek:

 

[ShellDil]

After the zip line, a game of mini golf!

 

 

 

 

And there's when I noticed the moisture on my lens! ACK! It wasn't sun glare while Alex was zip lining, it was moisture! It was on the whole lens and was now just a small circle in the middle! This is a brand new, waterproof camera! It shouldn't have any moisture inside the lens! Eventually it evaporated, but I'm hoping this isn't a problem going forward. Yesterday was the day we used it in Cozumel and it was underwater quite a bit. Hopefully it wasn't a problem from that and it was more of a humidity issue, not that it's any better!

 

 

Judging by the pictures, I'm thinking now we went down to the Boardwalk. I know that Alex went to the Rock Wall, and we had to time the open climb with the Madagascar "Let You Entertain ME" show! Because, we're all really kids at heart and we love that kind of thing! So, on the way to the rock wall, Megan had my camera and was playing with the artistic settings. I really like how some turned out!

 

 

 

 

Oh but WAIT!......before getting to the Rock Wall - MOM....we haven't ridden the Carousel! STOPPPPPP...

 

 

See, just too much to fit into one last day. Too much to fit into one cruise!

 

 

 

Oh, and hey - before we go any further, can we please get some balloon hats made? Please?

 

 

 

[ShellDil]

The balloon man cart

 

 

A flower for Megan

 

 

 

And a mohawk for Alex

 

 

 

 

 

I have to say, my kids sometimes just crack me up!

 

 

I truly don't make them do these things!

 

 

And then we made our way finally to the rock wall!

 

 

 

 

[ShellDil]

It took until our last day, the last free minutes, but Alex finally got to squeeze in the rock wall! We waited and he got his gear on....

 

 

 

And then we waited some more, while he stood in line...

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Megan went and got our seats for the the Madagascar show that would be starting very soon down in the water area below!

 

 

 

For awhile I thought we weren't going to make it in time. It felt like we waited forever! But it was finally Alex's turn!

 

 

 

This wall is huge!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ShellDil]

Mission accomplished!

 

 

 

 

And back down he comes

 

 

 

 

 

The rock wall from a bit of a distance. For those who haven't been on the Allure, there are two rock walls, one on each side of the Boardwalk area. They both look the same. The one on this side seemed to be open a bit more often though.

 

 

 

And now it was time to go meet Megan for the show! But of course, Alex had to go get his hot dog at the Dog House first! What was he going to heat once he got home? No, not hot dogs because he was eating one of the special ones - I think the Sicilian's....not the standard, every day dogs!

 

[LuCruise]

Glad to see more of your report, but will be sad to see it come to an end (as you must have felt of your trip). Wow...that rock wall sure looks huge and scary. My kids love the "little" rock walls at our local playlands so wonder if they will want to try this one.

 

One question about the zipline....where did you stand to capture Alex on it? You would have to be at the right spot at the right time to get him going across.

 

You take great photos capturing your vacation. Your report has actually made me take a look at the Dolphin or other unique animal encounters (but we're doing Eastern so different ports)

[ShellDil]

Glad to see more of your report, but will be sad to see it come to an end (as you must have felt of your trip). Wow...that rock wall sure looks huge and scary. My kids love the "little" rock walls at our local playlands so wonder if they will want to try this one.

 

One question about the zipline....where did you stand to capture Alex on it? You would have to be at the right spot at the right time to get him going across.

 

You take great photos capturing your vacation. Your report has actually made me take a look at the Dolphin or other unique animal encounters (but we're doing Eastern so different ports)

 

I'll be sad to end my report too! But I do have a day in Ft. Lauderdale after the cruise to add! And I really have taken forever to write this, so I'm sure some people have felt it's long enough! But I'm really glad at least some are hanging in there until the end! :D

 

There were quite a few pretty young kids doing the rock wall, or at least trying it, so, I'm not sure what age your kids are - but maybe they'll try!

 

For the zip line, I was standing right next to where the ending platform is. I practiced taking some pictures on some other people so I could try to figure out the best spot and the timing. They come across pretty quickly!

 

I love finding the more unique excursions, so hopefully you can find something great for your ports! We snorkeled with sea turtles in St. Thomas which was really cool! You don't get to touch them, but you really get close and get to see them swimming around you! I don't know if you'll be stopping there, but it's something you may want to consider!

[LuCruise]

I'll be sad to end my report too! But I do have a day in Ft. Lauderdale after the cruise to add! And I really have taken forever to write this, so I'm sure some people have felt it's long enough! But I'm really glad at least some are hanging in there until the end! :D

 

There were quite a few pretty young kids doing the rock wall, or at least trying it, so, I'm not sure what age your kids are - but maybe they'll try!

 

For the zip line, I was standing right next to where the ending platform is. I practiced taking some pictures on some other people so I could try to figure out the best spot and the timing. They come across pretty quickly!

 

I love finding the more unique excursions, so hopefully you can find something great for your ports! We snorkeled with sea turtles in St. Thomas which was really cool! You don't get to touch them, but you really get close and get to see them swimming around you! I don't know if you'll be stopping there, but it's something you may want to consider!

 

When we cruise next year they'll be 10.5 and 6.5 so perhaps ok for the rock wall?

 

Thanks for the response about where to stand for good pictures. Very smart to get some practice pictures in...lol.

 

Yes, St Thomas is one of our stops. Will have to check that one out. Thanks.

 

Good to hear there is still an additional day to your report on Ft Lauderdale. :-)

[ShellDil]

When we cruise next year they'll be 10.5 and 6.5 so perhaps ok for the rock wall?

 

Thanks for the response about where to stand for good pictures. Very smart to get some practice pictures in...lol.

 

Yes, St Thomas is one of our stops. Will have to check that one out. Thanks.

 

Good to hear there is still an additional day to your report on Ft Lauderdale. :-)

 

 

 

If you check out the link in my signature to our Celebrity Cruise Review, the St. Thomas day has the information on the snorkeling with the sea turtles. Or if you'd like I can go back and look for the name and contact person we used. It was a really nice day.

[ShellDil]

Next up was the "Let You Entertain ME" Madagascar show. It was a fun show, and a fun last sea day type of thing to do. So much going on! Lots of acrobatics and water, diving, and singing and dancing. I'm pretty sure everyone loved it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ShellDil]

After the show, we went back and found Keith and I think we must have grabbed something for lunch. Then it was time for Alex to try the flowrider! He's the first to admit he has no balance whatsoever! He's a fairly athletic kid though- he has a black belt in karate and is pretty much willing to try most things! But he kept watching people wipe out on this thing over and over and as he said, he's like jelly when it comes to balance! So, first up, the boogie board one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there he goes!

 

 

Trying a video here - not sure if it'll work but let's see!

 

[YOUTUBE]luxSTav2V3o[/YOUTUBE]

 

[LuCruise]

Yah for your son on the FlowRider. He did great, and even tried to get off his tummy. Looks fun.

[Robinola]

Really enjoyed this review. I think your kids are fantastic!

[ShellDil]

Yah for your son on the FlowRider. He did great, and even tried to get off his tummy. Looks fun.

 

He did do a great job! And coming up next - he tries the stand up one!

 

 

Really enjoyed this review. I think your kids are fantastic!

 

Awwww....thanks! :)

[bzymom22]

Thanks for posting your review. It was awesome. Really appreciate the details. My husband is not a huge cruise fan, but has agreed to do one. We are taking our "kids" on their first cruise (they are 19 & 21). Been looking at Chankanaab for our time in Cozumel so the info you provided was great. My husband wants to try the flowrider, but I have been already told no photos or video of him will be allowed. :)