*Live* Rogueperson's Allure of the Seas December 1 - 8

[Rogueperson]

Tonight is the Caribbean Party in the Promenade.

 

 

nice way to chill before out 8:00 dinner reservations.

[Rogueperson]

Last night, cruise critic seemed to be updating so i was locked out from posting until now.  I was actually midpost when all my photos failed to upload at once.  

 

Last dinner is at Chops.  

 

 

For appetizers, we had the goat cheese salad, beef carpaccio and the bacon.  

 

 

 

 

each of these appetizers i could have eaten as a meal.  The bacon was more like pork belly than bacon.  

 

For our entree, my wife got a petite filet and I got the ribeye.  Both these steaks were wonderful.  They will cook their steaks blue!  We both thoroughly enjoyed our steak.

 

 

 

 Dessert Menu

 

 Dessert was the sea salt apple pie, and the key lime meringue pie. Thus was the only disappointment of the meal.  Nothing special about either of them.

 

 

 

This dinner was way better than 150 Central park.  Food was overall better.  Someone on this ship said they had a bad experience so I was a little worried.  I’m glad we had a good time.

 

 

[ThelovelyRach]

Chops looks better as well.How is your sea day?

[Rogueperson]

I almost missed the meet and mingle.  If it wasn’t for @death_star posting about it in our meet and mingle group, i would have totally missed it. It wasnt that large of a turnout, but it was nice.

 

 After that, was the top tier party.  Those was held at the aqua theater.  This was the oddest top tier party i’ve ever been to.  They really didn’t make it private.  Anyone showed up.  In the past, it was always a “private” event and they checked invitations at door.  i also either missed the drinks they usually offer or it was offered at all.

 

After that, we headed to lunch.  Here’s the menu.

 

 

One of the things i love at lunch is the salad bar.  For only one reason.  The fresh mozzarella.  That’s all i get.  Sprinkle some olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and that’s all she wrote.

 

 

For Appetizers we got the salmon mousse, shrimp risotto and strawberry bisque.  They were decent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 For entrees, I hit the steak wife got the stuffed mushroom.  Pretty good.

 

 

 

 By dessert, my wife had left and gave me both desserts.  The Crema Catalana and the White chocolate mousse.  These were a mixed bag.

 

 

The Catalana was a creme brulee. It tasted a little different, but since i loce Creme brulee, it was not a big deal.  My white chocolate mousse was more like white chocolate whipped cream.  Not to my liking.

 

 And now we come to the part of the program where i am gripping.

 

Do these desserts look familiar?

 

 

they do, dont they?  Well, if you’ve been following along, the top photo was taken at dinner... At Chops.  The bottom was taken just now at lunch.  They are the same.  They are both Key Lime Meringue pie.  One, i paid for.  Another I got complimentary at lunch.

 

I also realized something else.  The beef carpaccio and the goat cheese salad, I’ve had in the MDR before.  I have to go back to check.  I know i’ve had beef carpaccio in Navigator because that was what gave me food poisoning, but is it the same presentation.  I’m going to have to go back and look.

 

 This is disturbing to me... especially since Chops is a $50.00/person upcharge.

 

 

[gnargnarz]

Did you happen to notice any day beds on South Beach at Coco Cay or were they only on Chill Island?

[Rogueperson]

Oh, I almost forgot.

 

Here is today’s cruise compass.

 

 

[Rogueperson]

2 hours ago, gnargnarz said:

Did you happen to notice any day beds on South Beach at Coco Cay or were they only on Chill Island?

I did not notice any beds at South Beach, but granted, that last stop before heading back to the ship.

[Rogueperson]

After 3 previous cruises that offered it, i FINALLY did the flowrider.

 

 It was my first time.  Probably will be my last.  Nothing wrong with it, its just not my thing.  I’ve never really liked water sports.  I enjoy water slides a little, but not nearly enough to say 84 bucks to enter the water park at Coco cay.

 

 Apparently, I did well enough, I graduated to standing up one.  I know my balance is bad for that.  No point going further.

Edited December 4, 2019 by Rogueperson

[death_star]

3 hours ago, gnargnarz said:

Did you happen to notice any day beds on South Beach at Coco Cay or were they only on Chill Island?

There were regular chairs with umbrellas in front of the airstream trailer bar nestled between 2 construction sites on south beach. Facing the water and looking left past the construction there looked to be some day bed/cabana type things. Not sure where the cutoff line is as it was my first visit. 

[Rogueperson]

I’m getting a little annoyed at these computer glitches.

 

The app is supposed to make things easier but it really isnt.  In fact its kind of hard to keep track of activities correctly when sometimes something is listed in the cruise compass but missing in the app and vice versa.

 

For example, we went to the Harry Potter trivia.  A bunch of us was at the schooner bar because thats what the app said.  But apparently, it was in the on air bar.  There was a mass migration when we all realize the mistake.

 

Reservations.   I set a reservation for dinner for tonight at 9:00.  Yesterday,  My wife saw on the app it was set tomorrow, not today.  I called reservation and reset it for tonight at 9:15 as thats all they had available.  I asked if the app would reflect that and they said it would.   It popped up at 9:15 quickly after.

 

 Fast forward to tonight.  Our app reflected 9:15 which correlated with my conversation with reservations.  We walk into Izumi’s and they go “well, it’s about time you showed up”. We were 10 minutes early for our reservation.  We were confused.  Apparently they thought we had 5:00 reservation. I never made a reservation for 5 obviously.

 

 Dinner was Izumi’s Hibachi.  

 

 

As far as hibachi restaurant, this was probably the best hibachi experience i’ve had in a long time. the food was tasty.  I had the filet and chicken.  The one thing i noticed was they didn’t have yum yum sauce.  However, the guy knew what kind of sauce i was looking for.  They gave me a spicy aioli sauce that’s BETTER than yum yum sauce.  Unfortunately, the food is not very photogenic here so no food pics.

 

 However, this night was not a seamless meal.  My wife ordered the scallops and lobster.  Unfortunately, it was way too salty.  It was disappointing.  So all three out of three my specialty restaurant experience had issues.

 

I still have Chef’s Table left.  I’ve never had a bad experience with that, but i worry because of my track record on this cruise.

[Rogueperson]

Good morning from Cozumel.

 

 Here is today’s Cruise Compass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For today’s adventure, we are ATVing to Jade Caverns.  Originally  our excursion was supposed to be at 2:30 but the pushed out to 12:15, so our lunch plans on shore will become brunch.  I still don’t know where we are going for lunch yet, but it’s going to be local.

 

All aboard time is 6:30

[xpcdoojk]

18 hours ago, Rogueperson said:

After 3 previous cruises that offered it, i FINALLY did the flowrider.

 

 It was my first time.  Probably will be my last.  Nothing wrong with it, its just not my thing.  I’ve never really liked water sports.  I enjoy water slides a little, but not nearly enough to say 84 bucks to enter the water park at Coco cay.

 

 Apparently, I did well enough, I graduated to standing up one.  I know my balance is bad for that.  No point going further.

 

I appreciate you posting the dailies.  The flowrider is generally something you either love and are driven to do or have your experience.  You need to be a glutton for pain and discomfort, which I am to persevere on the flowrider.

 

jc

Edited December 5, 2019 by xpcdoojk

[Rogueperson]

7 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

 

I appreciate you posting the dailies.  The flowrider is generally something you either love and are driven to do or have your experience.  You need to be a glutton for pain and discomfort, which I am to persevere on the flowrider.

 

jc

I am definitely feeling my short time on the flowrider.  I feel like muscles i never used are sore but i don’t realize it until that muscle is used and then it screams at me.

[Rogueperson]

Today was a fun day.  Despite the scheduling snafu, it turned out well.  We end up at Ernestos, which is this tiny bar and restaurant about a 5 minute walk from the International Pier.  You exit the terminal, turn left and walk about 3 blocks and there it is.

 

 

 

 

Since this was a “Fajita Factory” I had to get the fajitas.  

 

 

This is exactly what i was looking for.  Pricewise, we could not have gotten Fajitas at home for this price.  Qualitywise, its up there.  I can’t say it’s the best, but it’sa good contender.

 

 They also had a dessert called “Cozumel Pie” which according menu was their take on the Key Lime Pie.  I asked them what their take was, and the waiter shrugged and said “Renaldo made it!!!”

 

 

Verdict?  It was excellent.  It might have been a little better if it was not as frozen as it was, but it was very good.

 

 ATVing is next.

[Rogueperson]

I should add one more thing about Ernestos.  This was our view from the restaurant.

 

 

See that ship on the left.  That’s the Norwegian Escape. They drew the short straw because there were NINE ships in port today.  Cozumel’s piers holds 8 ships.  They were the only one that needed to tender.  The port area was a mob scene.  More on this later.

 

 We did the ATV adventure to Jade Cavern.  This is Jade Cavern

 

 

Its a cool place.  Its not that big.  It stinks because of the sulfur and minerals and bats.  Well lots of bat guano.

 

 It was not much of a tour but the tour guide did something outrageous that blew our mind.  He was telling how termites were a good source of protein.  He showed us a nest of termites.  HE ATE ONE OF THE LIVE TERMITES MORE THAN ONCE LIKE IT WAS NOTHING!!!

 

I didnt off a chance to get many pictures as i was busy driving the ATV.  It was a blast.  We did see this.

 

 

 

One thing that has me concerned was this.

 

 

Its a little hard to see clearly, that yellow light is the check engine light.  Our ATV was overheating.  At one point, it said it was in “limp home mode”. At that point, the governor cut in and i could tell it was ratcheting back our performance. I had the throttle full out and I was not catching up to the guys in front of me.

 

 Still, since the ATV didn’t blow up in my face, I will put this in the win comment.

 

 Tonight, we are back in the MDR.

Edited December 5, 2019 by Rogueperson

[Rogueperson]

Good Morning from not quite Costa Maya.  I up much earlier today because today’s is our long day in port. We will be doing a tour of two mayan ruins Kohilnich and Dzibanche. I will be off the ship most of the day.  I will post more when i get back and recap last night.

[Rogueperson]

Last night we were quite busy after we got back from our excursion.  I didn’t have time really to post here.

 

You’re going to see a bunch of posts after this as i’m doing it on notes as i’m on our long excursion.

 

Cozumel thoughts.

 

I have not been here since the end of 2014.  I don’t recognize the International Pier anymore.  They put so much more in here, it’s insane.  Not to mention they funnel everyone through the mall to expose you to the maximum number of retail before getting out onto the street.  When you’re trying to process 8000 some odd people and trying to get there to stop, it becomes a congested hell of those who just want a cab.

[Rogueperson]

Ocean Aria was a visually impressive show full of divers and acrobats and swimmers.  The production value is awesome.  Now ask me what is about?  Something under the sea?!?!  Its kind of like Cirque de Soliel, but not.  Did I enjoy the show.  Yes, but i don’t really know what i saw.

 

The geek in both of us (more my wife in this instance), recognize the aria song from Fifth Element.  yeah she sang along with it.

 

Soon afterwards we rushed back to the room to change.  Tonight was the prohibition party.  When I showed this to her two weeks ago, she loved the idea and procured us costumes for the night.  This event did not disappoint.  Its a little pricey for what you get, but when almost everyone dressed the part, the event is amazing as this one was.  I may have had a little too much to drink which is why I did not post anymore last night.  It also did help that we had 7:45am meet time for our excursion.

 

[suesnake2002]

That's what I'm talking about. Costumes. What fun, you both look great!

[Rogueperson]

Today’s excursion was long. We went to the Mayan ruins of Kohunlich and Dzibanche.

 

If you do this tour, be prepared for a long drive.  The ruins are about 2 hours and 15 minutes away.  However both these ruins have not been commercialized.  Unlike Tulum and Coba near Cozumel, there are no vendors there.  Its just ruins.  The quiet and serenity was great.  Here are so pics i took of Kohunlich.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of Dzibanche.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can’t tell which i like more.  I still like Coba the best of all of the ones i have been to.

 

My only complaint with this tour is that the lunch should have been more substantial.  Lunch consisted of a small ham and cheese sandwich and a bottle of water.  I should also add that at the beginning of the tour, they gave us a bag with a banana, a small chocolate water not unlike a kit kat and another bottle water.  Its 3:30 right now of this writing and i’m starving and craving tacos because we passed by so many taco stands.  All aboard is 4:30, so it’s unlike I will have time to get a taco close by.  That’s okay, Chef’s Table is tonight.  It is our favorite activity on a cruise.  I should warn you that given that this is usually the only time I drink, it will not get posted until tomorrow.

 

On another note, I saw several military patrols and checkpoints.  I started to wonder why and if there was something w we were missing. We asked the tour guide and he seemed to dismiss it as an everyday thing.  He said something about being close to the border of Belize and Guatemala.

 

I wrote most of this enroute back to the ship.  We got back at 4:45, 15 minutes after all aboard.  We technically were the pier runners this time but since this was a cruise sponsored excursion, we were cool.  We weren’t technically the last ones on board, but I heard them pulling the gangplank up as i went through security.

 

Next activity... Chefs Table!!!

[Rogueperson]

I almost forgot.  Here is today’s Cruise Compass.

[JamesEM]

10 hours ago, Rogueperson said:

Last night we were quite busy after we got back from our excursion.  I didn’t have time really to post here.

 

You’re going to see a bunch of posts after this as i’m doing it on notes as i’m on our long excursion.

 

Cozumel thoughts.

 

I have not been here since the end of 2014.  I don’t recognize the International Pier anymore.  They put so much more in here, it’s insane.  Not to mention they funnel everyone through the mall to expose you to the maximum number of retail before getting out onto the street.  When you’re trying to process 8000 some odd people and trying to get there to stop, it becomes a congested hell of those who just want a cab.

I agree, on your next visit go to the 1st hotel on the left and get a taxi there, no hassles and each group gets their own cab.  By the way this hotel is a great place to get a day pass. 

[Rogueperson]

4 hours ago, JamesEM said:

I agree, on your next visit go to the 1st hotel on the left and get a taxi there, no hassles and each group gets their own cab.  By the way this hotel is a great place to get a day pass. 

Fortunately, we did exactly that.  Ernesto’s was actually next to that hotel.

[Rogueperson]

Good morning from our last day of our cruise.

 

 Here is today’s cruise compass.

 

 

[Rogueperson]

Last night was Chefs Table.  It is the best meal of the cruise.  Here is the menu.

 

 

We meet up at the library on 11 and made our way to the 2nd level of the diamond lounge.  This was the setup.

 

 

First was the bread.

 

 This is the same Focaccia that we got from 150 Central Park.  It was warm this time.  Fortunately, this was the one thing we really liked from 150.

 

 first course, Scallops Carpaccio paired with the Pinot

 

 

 This pairing worked quite well.  I’m generally not a white wine person.  Okay, I’m generally not a drinking person, but this worked well.

 

 Next was the Tomato Soup paired with the Conundrum.

 

 

 

 This pairing was wonderful.  The acidity in the tomato soup was balanced by this wine.  

 

Next, Lobster Salad and the Sauvignon Blanc.

 

 

 

I could have done without this pairing.   This dish was a little uninspiring.  I expected more.

 

 Main Entree, you had a choice between the fish and steak.  I chose the steak which was paired with the Cabernet.

 

 

 

 Another wonderful pairing.  Best steak of the cruise.

 

 Salted caramel espresso martini.

 

This was a disappointment.  It looked so good, but it’sa weak drink.  If i say its a weak drink, then it truly was.  It was too creamy, did not taste any caramel or alcohol.  Barely a coffee taste.

 

 Dessert. “The World”

 

 

This dessert was the bomb.  Presentation plus taste.  Pretty much perfection.

 Here is how it was served.

 

Edited December 7, 2019 by Rogueperson