Allure OTS Photo Heavy Trip Report – The “allure” of the Eastern Caribbean

[fletch1027]

We are on the Allure May 7, 2017 and can hardly wait. I am so glad to have found this review!!! Thank you for taking the time to do this. We also took our son cruising when he turned 18, thinking things would be as they always were and he would make friends, etc. It was harder for him being 18 on a ship that caters more to under 18 and over 21. He wandered around with us some and met a few people but we will definitely be inviting a friend along from now on, at least until he is a little older. Although a phenomenal trip, it was not quite the experience he was hoping for. Being on a ship is great anytime but being so young and on a ship when you have no designated place for your age group changes the dynamic a bit.

 

My pleasure! It is pretty time consuming, but if people enjoy them, I don't mind. Also, they almost become a sort of journal that I go back and read myself sometimes. :)

 

Also, between yours and other comments on this thread, I'm glad we weren't the only ones that noticed there is a "lost group" of young adults between 18-20 that don't have tons of options!

Edited January 14, 2017 by fletch1027

[A Pisces]

The pictures are beautiful, of the beach and water! It looked like a really nice excursion!

 

Also, after looking at your pictures of the room in the park at night, makes me think it would be a really nice place to stay. I wish it also had an ocean view too!

[wander2beaches]

Phenomenal photos! Thank you so much for posting this review!

[JamesEM]

Why was he crossing the road? I guess to get to the beach side! :-)

 

This is a picture of a rooster, maybe he was crossing the road to see his girl friend.

Edited January 15, 2017 by JamesEM

[fletch1027]

After we loaded up from the beach portion of the excursion, we headed out for “Skyline Drive” on the way back to port. One thing that I thought was odd was that even though St. Thomas is a US territory, they still drive on the left. Guess traditions are heard to break

 

 

 

Snapped this photo along the way. It looked like a great scene, and as a bonus I even captured a little of my thumb on the bottom!

 

 

 

The driver stopped off at the high point which is a small tourist area with a great outlook / vantage point of the whole bay area. To the left is Havensight with a Princess and Carnival whale tail in port

 

 

 

I thought this would be a good chance to use the panoramic feature of my camera, with my goal being to get both ports in the same photo. Unfortunately, the panoramic range came up just short. If you put the next two photos side by side they are almost a perfect fit. Also the second photo is the one in my whole collection where Allure looks the smallest. :-)

 

 

 

 

 

After leaving that area, we headed down the mountain towards Crown Bay and the what goes up must come down principle applies as we went down some very steep roads!

 

 

 

to be continued...

 

[fletch1027]

I probably should have taken this photo before we left, but in the spirit of honesty I took it as we were headed back to the ship so I left it in its chronological order :-) Before getting back on the ship we stopped at the convenience store at the port to pick up a few things.

 

 

 

Several posts ago as we were leaving Ft. Lauderdale, I posted a photo of a yacht that I wanted. I change my mind. I no longer want that piece of crap. This one will do nicely because what good is a yacht without a helicopter to go with it??!!

 

 

 

Back on the ship at dinner later that evening, I had the smoothie de’ jour – this time the peach variety!

 

 

 

After dinner, we did a few laps on the jogging track to get some fresh air and steps in. While I prefer the tracks on ships that are higher up, they do add some funny signs to help the monotony

 

 

 

 

 

Towel animal of the evening. There was a debate in the cabin whether it was a monkey or a sloth. I am still undecided... :-)

 

 

 

Tomorrow - St. Maarten!

 

 

[fletch1027]

BC of these pics I booked that excursion in St Thomas. We were going to just cab it to a beach but these pics did me in.

 

That's a lot of pressure on me - just kidding! Hope you guys have as great a beach day as we had!

[fletch1027]

Actually not in a port. She didn't zip line on the Allure last time. :):)

 

That makes sense - I should have figured that out... :)

[sakigemcam]

One question - was there a LONG stretch of curvy roads on Skyline Drive? I get carsick. May be on the patch (seasickness) but need to be prepared just in case. Is there a front seat I could call shotgun on, in the transport?

GREAT pics!

[fletch1027]

I agree with the comment about the Caribbean water. I live on the ocean but there is nothing quite like that ice blue Caribbean. I can't wait to get down there.

 

You're right about that. I grew up in south Florida and was at the beach all of the time and those Florida beaches can't compare to the Caribbean!

[fletch1027]

The pictures are beautiful, of the beach and water! It looked like a really nice excursion!

 

Also, after looking at your pictures of the room in the park at night, makes me think it would be a really nice place to stay. I wish it also had an ocean view too!

 

Yep, we truly love those rooms! I tend to like peace and quiet. The flip side is the BW balcony rooms. You can usually see some ocean behind the aqua theater, but the tradeoff is that many here on CC have mentioned that there is a bit of noise in the rooms (even with the door closed) until after 11pm due to all of the BW activity at night...

[fletch1027]

Phenomenal photos! Thank you so much for posting this review!

 

Thanks for following along!

[fletch1027]

This is a picture of a rooster, maybe he was crossing the road to see his girl friend.

 

Sometimes I don't know what a chicken looks like. :)

 

Reminds me of a recurring joke from my favorite TV show - Arrested Development...

 

[YOUTUBE]1TphEh0Qgv0[/YOUTUBE]

[fletch1027]

Here we are at day 5 out of 7 and pulling into our last port – St. Maarten. That is of course unless you are RCI where they count the one you leave and return to as a port. Come on now! Who counts that! :-)

 

 

 

 

We pull in and across the way is the Celebrity Eclipse. RCI owns Celebrity so would that make her our “cousin” ship??

 

 

In the movie The Hunt for Red October, there is a quote by the admiral where he says: “Russians don't take a dump, son, without a plan.”. I am similar in that I don’t go into a new port without a plan. This was our first time visiting St. Maarten, so here is my plan / cheat sheet (ignore my spelling error):

 

 

 

Looking at it, it looks heavily tilted towards things that a nerdy guy would like which it definitely is! I told my family that I didn’t care what we did in the other ports, but in St. Maarten I had to see the Yoda Guy museum and the planes landing at Maho Beach! That being said, these next several posts will be awesome for you if you are a Star Wars or airplane fan. If you are a Trekkie, tough luck – there’s not a Star Trek museum here. Too bad! :-)

 

We headed off the ship a little bit after the gangways opened and headed towards the water taxi which was our chosen mode of transport into town. Because of the distance and the non-pedestrian friendly nature of the route, it is suggested not to attempt to walk into town, but to take either the water taxi or a regular taxi.

 

 

 

This is the port side entrance to the water taxi station. They are pretty big boats that run every ten minutes and I believe the cost is $7 for one way or $14 for a day pass but you guys can check this if I’m off base. Also this isn't my photo. It's courtesy of Google images...

 

 

 

to be continued…

 

 

[fletch1027]

One question - was there a LONG stretch of curvy roads on Skyline Drive? I get carsick. May be on the patch (seasickness) but need to be prepared just in case. Is there a front seat I could call shotgun on, in the transport?

GREAT pics!

 

From what I remember, the route had a lot of ascending and descending but not many of the curves like I posted the photo of, and I definitely don't remember there being consecutive curves.

 

I can't remember if they had a cruiser riding shotgun or not, but I don't think so.

 

Also, there were different routes they took. To the beach was a more "ground level" route and the Skyline Drive was only on the way back...

[woodz]

Just curious, do you work for the airlines? My DH has for almost 25 years and LOVES airplanes. We will have to go to Maho beach. Transportation details appreciated.

[woodz]

Just curious, do you work for the airlines? My DH has for almost 25 years and LOVES airplanes. We will have to go to Maho beach. Transportation details appreciated.

[ronandcarla]

Every time we cruise to St Maarten and when we are finished shopping we always walk back to the ship, yes, I agree its a hike, but the scenery and walking path is wonderful and pedestrian friendly.

 

Love your review and photos.

[ubish00]

You will have a great time! I remember there being 2 huge coolers, one with different types of Coke products (yeah!) and bottled water. The other had different types of adult beverages in it but I don't remember exactly which ones cause I don't drink. There were also some light snacks if I remember correctly.

 

We were on this tour in December. One of the coolers had beer and mix for rum punch. The other had pop/soda, water and things to mix with different alcohol.

 

Love your pictures of the beach. We enjoyed this tour/quiet beach very much.

 

Thank you for your great review. It is so nice to see it through someone else's eyes when it is still so fresh in our memory.

[JamesEM]

We visited St Maarten this past Nov when we were on the Freedom OTS, there were 5 other cruise ships in port and it was easier to walk into town because of the line to catch the ferry. There are sidewalks the entire way and the walk took about 20 minutes, however we took a taxi back because of the heat.

[Magster1987]

Before you dig into St.Marteen i have one more question about the Secret sands/Smith bay park. When did the sun disappair from the beach? was there still sunny spots on the beach when you where leaving? Thanks :)

[Ocean Boy]

That water taxi is $5.00 one way or $7.00 to ride all day as many times as you want.

 

I LOVE going to Maho. I have surfed the fence and been blasted by 747's spooling up their engines. AWESOME experiences.

Edited January 16, 2017 by Ocean Boy

[troykahack]

That water taxi is $5.00 one way or $7.00 to ride all day as many times as you want.

 

I LOVE going to Maho. I have surfed the fence and been blasted by 747's spooling up their engines. AWESOME experiences.

 

 

A treat to remember as 747's are no longer flying into St Maarten.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[fletch1027]

Just curious, do you work for the airlines? My DH has for almost 25 years and LOVES airplanes. We will have to go to Maho beach. Transportation details appreciated.

 

I live south of Atlanta. I do not work for an airline, but almost all of my other friends work for Delta. :)

 

I will have more details in my Maho posts but we took a cab from downtown to Maho and another cab from Maho back to the port.

[fletch1027]

Every time we cruise to St Maarten and when we are finished shopping we always walk back to the ship, yes, I agree its a hike, but the scenery and walking path is wonderful and pedestrian friendly.

 

Love your review and photos.

 

 

We visited St Maarten this past Nov when we were on the Freedom OTS, there were 5 other cruise ships in port and it was easier to walk into town because of the line to catch the ferry. There are sidewalks the entire way and the walk took about 20 minutes, however we took a taxi back because of the heat.

 

I'm glad you guys posted. Good to know there's a walking option to get into town. My comments were based on others experiences. I do agree about the heat. Even in February, St. Maarten seemed very hot!