LIVE! Allure of the Seas April 30th 2023 - 7N Western Caribbean out of Galveston TX.

[EcruiserKS]

We will be on Allure in October, so I'm excited to follow along!

And I knew you were a good one to follow when I saw the boston. We have two as well, and they are always anxious when we leave.

[binro01]

54 minutes ago, EcruiserKS said:

I knew you were a good one to follow when I saw the boston

Thanks for coming along! I love our Bostons so much! They are a little over a year old and are the best dogs we have ever owned. They have such personality and very loving. 

[LuCruise]

Love your writing style. Made me chuckle a few times.

Allure was the first cruise we took our kids on.  Great ship!  Have a wonderful cruise!  Looking forward to following along.

[binro01]

1 hour ago, LuCruise said:

Love your writing style. Made me chuckle a few times.

If I can’t be entertaining why even attempt to do this. People’s time is valuable. Information is great. Entertaining information is better! Thanks for the complement!

[BecciBoo]

Here we go...........yeeha

[binro01]

It’s TODAY!

After countless hours of research, planning and waiting the vacation officially begins. I never really settle down till I’m fully checked into the hotel and the wife lover to see my New Yorker take over. Ummm NOT. She is not happy when I revert to that stance. I’m a man on a mission when at the airport. Trying to run the gauntlet without slowing down a line and I get very myopic. Ooooo look at that. One of my SAT words snuck out!

 

the new Provo airport is looking nice. It’s a small municipal airport and it sure was nice to not deal with the crowds or the drive time to SLC. 
 

 

One of the boys found a small little bag at the airport with some little matchbox cars and he was enthralled by the SpongeBob bus in the bag. He said this kid just lost a limited edition! 1 of 1! He has such a dead pan humor that I love. 
 

Looks like an on time departure out of Utah on Budget Allegiant airlines. This is starting to look like good choice and a heck of a bargain. I only paid 711.00 for 4 round trip tickets with 4 checked in bags. Direct flights too! I don’t mind at all flying out 2 days before and one day after the cruise for that price and to have a stress free travel day. 
 

we are boarding now. So I’m going incognito for a few. See ya in Texas. 

[BecciBoo]

As a 6th gen Texan, we welcome ya'll.

[binro01]

10 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

As a 6th gen Texan, we welcome ya'll.

I married a Texan. DFW area. This the first time for us down in H Town. 

[binro01]

How little padding can they put in seats…

I think that was the fun game the people at the corporate offices at Allegiant Airlines played when designing the seats they would place in their aircraft. Some one yelled out half the ever used. And they went with it. That was followed by someone jumping in with a bonus suggestion… let’s make the tray table half the size too!!!

 

we’ll budget air does what budget air does. It got us here in very cheap fashion sage and sound. So I will consider that a win. But I will probably by everyone neck pillows that will act as seat cushions for our flight home.
 

Someone turned up the heat… and humidifier 

Its been some years Ike since we have felt warmth in Utah. I thin over the pass 5 months it broke 50 maybe 3 times. We had more snow than Santa sees in the North Pole so it’s nice to feel warm again. But the wife likes it cool as a cucumber so I think she is trying out for the Wizard if Oz at our local theater by her insistence on repeating the refrain “I’m melting!”

 

I’m also a big humidity fan. Living in a high desert for the past 8 years really dries your skin out. My beard/goatee is always itching and so are my shins. Dry fry skin. I have been known to soak in the tub to rehydrate the skin. Yea. I’m basically a pamper me kinda guy. I do baths, manicures and pedicures to relax. I also love a good straight edge head shave and beard trim. If it relaxes me. I’m all in. 
 

I will report a bit more with some photos after we settle in at the hotel and had a day. Vacation is here folks!

 

[BecciBoo]

There's supposed to be bad weather today in south Texas hope ya'll can bypass that!  But it looks like boarding day will be perfection!

 

We migrated to Arkansa 4 yrs ago, but the rest of my family stayed in San Antonio/Austin area.

Edited April 28, 2023 by BecciBoo

[binro01]

4 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

There's supposed to be bad weather today in south Texas hope ya'll can bypass that!  But it looks like boarding day will be perfection!

 

We migrated to Arkansa 4 yrs ago, but the rest of my family stayed in San Antonio/Austin area.

Right now we have blue skies in Galveston. They are expecting some thunder bumpers tonight.

[binro01]

Finally! Some real seafood!!!

Dinner was absolutely fabulous tonight. We went to Jimmy’s by the Pier. What a good choice this was. The grilled fish was so good, the bacon wrapped shrimp was out of this world, and my fried oysters were buttery smooth! And the views were amazing! Definitely a place to check out if you come out to Galveston for a cruise!

 

We then went to Rita’s Italian Ice and Custard for some desert. 

 

We had a very chill day in the hotel mostly since we had a very early day and after a lunch at a near by Chinese restaurant we all took a nap. 
 

Tomorrow we will head out to the beach if the weather allows and take a look at historic Galveston. Should be a fun day. 
 

We do have a nice view from the hotel and we are right by the beach so that’s good!

 

The fun for the evening was getting the wife some chocolate and the gas station was VERY sketch according to my son. He got to see his very first woman of the night. And he said. Dad is that a…. I just quickly answered. Yep. Yes it is.

 

Growing up in NYC I seen so much more than these boys that grew up sheltered in the suburbs. It’s kind of fun to see their innocence. Even at the age of 19. I don’t know if it’s good or bad. But at least I’m there for them as they see this whole world. Utah is very much a bubble. Bring them out in the world via travel is very beneficial. It was good for the family to make the move, but I do wish for more reality smacking young adults faces. Much of the pain people suffer my boys have seen is from very filtered movies that can glamorize or minimize the darker things in life. 
 

Well. We are hanging out in the room watching A Knights Tale. I miss Heath Ledger. A talent lost. What a fun movie. 

Edited April 29, 2023 by binro01

[binro01]

It’s fun to see how the fancy people roll.

Well hello there from sunny Galveston. Last night was a wild thunder bumper night. Started around 10:30 PM and ended around 3:00 AM, but it was all blown out by time we woke up. It was a real fireworks show.

 

In the morning the son and I went to the near by Kroger to get my wine for the cruise. 

 

One red and one white will do me fine. I’m the only wine drinker so it will give me a glass a night that I will either bring with or have them deal with it for the corkage fee. Kinda funny that the corkage fee is about the same cost of the bottle. But they are a pretty decent Cab and Chardonnay. 
 

I do wish Royal has the same policy as NCL with beer and wine. My son who is a foodie and thinking about culinary school (works at a restaurant in the kitchen and handles all stations)  likes to share a glass with me over dinner. Being Italian this is very normal in our family. Wine is life. Don’t understand the taboo with it. But I never had a problem with alcohol or alcoholism in my family. It’s a social / meal thing. A glass to enjoy and done. 
 

Later in the day we did a nice walk on the beach. It was a little chilly with the very stiff wind. But very enjoyable. I do have to say the beach in Galveston is well. Kinda cruddy. Hard flat sand. And looks to be eroding quickly. not my type of beach. But it’s still better than land locked Utah! Mountain are pretty. Oceans are prettier. Lol. Plus warmth has it over on cold every day of the year. 
 

 

I guess the wind did chase the local beach bums away. The beach was very sparse. 
 

After our stroll on the beach we chilled for an hour or so and decided to do one last fried seafood dinner. When the amp up Allure, I hope they add a Hooked seafood. We hit “The Spot” for dinner and got a the huge sampler app, me and the boys did the fisherman’s platter and the wife did fish and chips. All pretty good but it is a little pricy for what it is. If it was 100.00 I would be fine. 145.00 is a little nutty for what it is. But I’ll pay the tourist tax to eat some fresh fish battered and fried. The servings were huge! 
 

 

The original plan was to go to Grotto Restaurante in the San Luis Resort. But they were booked. Man is that place really nice!!! Next time we come to Galveston I will have to budget this place. It looks so nice. This way we can rub shoulders with the fancy people. 
 

here is a quick little video of the Spot. It’s a nice location. Great views. 
 

 

Tomorrow we have a local taxi scheduled to bring us to port. They were very easy to deal with and I would recommend them to anyone coming to Galveston for a cruise. Uber and Lyft is very hard to grab a ride peak times. Do yourself a favor and book before getting here for your transfer from your hotel to port. 

 

Tomorrow is cruise day folks! Let’s have a great time!

[BecciBoo]

We have never had corkage fees.  We avoid it by keeping our wine in the cabin.  Ask steward for a corker.  We ask for wine glasses and take our wine to dinner.  We have taken more than  just one glass also, set it on the table with us, no problem, no comments.

Edited April 30, 2023 by BecciBoo

[Tippyton]

1 hour ago, BecciBoo said:

We have never had corkage fees.  We avoid it by keeping our wine in the cabin.  Ask steward for a corker.  We ask for wine glasses and take our wine to dinner.  We have taken more than  just one glass also, set it on the table with us, no problem, no comments.

What happens if you bring your open bottle to dinner?

[Rubyfisch]

17 minutes ago, Tippyton said:

What happens if you bring your open bottle to dinner?

I've never been charged a corkage fee bringing a closed bottle to dinner, either ... 

[firefly333]

If you are in a money spending mood the grand galvez is also nice. ..but pricey. Several very nice hotels. I'll have to check tomorrow to see how your boarding went. Hope your cruise is wonderful. 

[binro01]

We are onboard!!

Se we had an 11:00 AM time slot and basically walked right onto the ship. Just a small IT issue with my CC number attached to my 18 year old son. No clue why. But they could not figure out how to fix this at the terminal so I will have to make a visit to the dreaded guest services. 
 

But as a side note, they were NOT checking boarding times. It seems to be more of a suggestion now we are getting further and further away from COVID times. 
 

Since we were one of the first to board, we did go to windjammer and grabbed a nice seat at the back to wait for rooms to become available. The food, especially the desserts were exceptional today. I had the sliced roast beef on one of the pre sliced baguettes with some gravy and horseradish. Aces folks. Do this. The pork schnitzel was also very good. 
 

I will leave ya with some windjammer shots and food pics. More to come later!

 

[GJustice]

Try not to wreck the ship this week, we're on her next week 🙂 

[BecciBoo]

You had me at Schnitzel!

[BecciBoo]

They just dropped the lines and are reeling them in....you should be moving soon!  Bon Voyage ya'll.  There you go, moving at 4:12

Edited April 30, 2023 by BecciBoo

[Septemberbride07]

Enjoy! We loved Allure in November. Trellis bar is the best!

[kristicruise]

Couple of questions if you have time during your vacation.  I read that the Allure was adding Blue Planet show.  Could you snap a picture of the entertainment brochure? The one that shows all the shows on a schedule. Thanks and have a Great Cruise!

 

[wolfganghowell]

Glad you found The Spot.  It's been our "spot" for 20 years pre-cruise.  Once they built Rum Shack on the 2nd level, that's been our pre-cruise hang.  The sampler is evil fried yumminess.  🙂  Hope you're having a great cruise.

[BecciBoo]

He must be havin way too much fun to post!😂