Trip Report Mickey-less Lesson #1: Size doesn't matter, it's the motion of the ocean!

Yes, it's a non-Disney trip report. In a sea of Disney trip reports this is a non-Disney report. How is that pertinent on a Disney-centric fan forum, you ask? Well, this is how a solely Disney Cruise Line experienced cruising family took their first wobbly steps into non-Disney-fied cruising. Ever been curious? So were we! How the competition measures up is definitely pertinent! However, if the mods think this thread is better served in the cruise section or the other places section, I certainly understand. So sit back, relax, and slosh along with us in whatever "port" this thing sails off to.


Thread title:

Mickey-less Lesson #1: Size doesn't matter, it's the motion of the ocean! ((in my best double-rainbow dude voice)) What does it meeeaaan????? The ship we sailed is currently THE largest cruise ship on the seas: Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas. This ship is huge! How big? Let me show you. Not my picture, all credit goes to fet123 on Photobucket. Lined up here in Nassau are: Majest of the Seas, Disney Dream, Carnival Dream, the NCL Sky, and Allure's sliiiightly smaller sister ship the Oasis of the Seas. Good size comparison:

Allure of the Seas is 16 decks high, 1,187 ft long, and can carry a maximum passenger load of 6,296 serviced by roughly 2,300 crew members. In comparison, Disney's largest/newest ship in the fleet, the Fantasy is 14 decks high, 1,115.5 ft. long, and can carry a maximum passenger load of 4,000 serviced by a crew of 1,450. The Allure is a very big girl!

Among Disney's fleet my family prefers the smaller classic ships. Why? It's more laid-back, there's less people, and the overall experiences we've had were more personal and intimate if you will. We like that a lot! We knew going into this cruise that we were going to be on the biggest cruise ship afloat and that we probably would not be impressed by her size. We were right. We weren't. For us, bigger does not equate better. Size doesn't matter.

The motion of the ocean can definetly play a strong hand in your cruise experience! Leading up to our cruise I discovered (no thanks to Royal Caribbean which is my biggest aggravation with the entire experience of sailing with them) via Cruise Critic's forums that the Allure had been experiencing an issue with 1 of her 3 azipods. They had been sailing her without using the center screw for over a month before our sailing. She was safe and still functioned fine. They were just trying not to use the center pod as much as possible to avoid further/more extensive damage. So the ship sailed slower. Instead of her usual 22+ knots cruising we rarely exceeded about 16-17 knots cruising. AND, because the ship was sailing at reduced power, the captain did not utilize the stabilizers to keep the ship steady at sea. The stabilizers, like wings that extend from the sides of the ship to add stability and reduce rocking side-to-side, create drag which would slow the ship even more. So, the motion of the ocean on a ship not using her stabilizers was...well...a really FUN ride for us...not so much for those prone to sea sickness.

*****Just for information sake, the Allure continues to run on 2 of her 3 pods. A cruise in February was cancelled back in mid-November to allow a week-long drydock to repair the pod. I believe it is a bering issue. It's my understanding this type of problem has been a reoccuring thing with ships that utilize the different azipods for their propulsion. To date Disney has not utilized the azipod propulsion for their ships.*****


So that nobody feels the need to ask before I get to the end and give my summation of the overall experience sailing without Mickey, I don't feel like it was better or worse than any of the 7 Disney cruises I have been on. I'm not just being nice. It's a whole different experience. I wouldn't categorize it as better or worse, it's different.

 

[casutton96]

Oh superb ! Welcome to the club, Chandler !

Thanks for the warm welcome.

 

[Tiggerish]

The taxi ride back took about 35 minutes. When we stepped out of the cab we started getting sprinkled on again. Did I mention I'm sick to frickin' death of frickin' rain??? Luckily, it never fully opened up on us so we made it back without too much of a soaking.

On the way back to the ship we stopped for the ship's photogs again. We had to. It'd been such a glorious day and we were on such a high!




Tracey wanted this one.




Going back.





We got back on the ship around 2:30 ship time. Lemme just say there was always this effort to translate while out on the beach between the time we had which was ship time and the time the island was on. It wasn't the same thing. Add drinky-drinks and I'm confused. I just kept asking Tracey. LOL!

We hurried up to shower and hop in bed for a solid nap. Slept until 4:00. Much needed!

Tracey took some nice pictures out on the verandah.






Still lots of people heading back to both ships.





Today our neighbor was the Royal Princess from Princess Cruise Lines. We were faced directly across from verandah staterooms on that ship. We could see inside many rooms and they looked really nice, every bit as nice as our stateroom on the Allure or the staterooms we'd had on the Disney ships. Hmmmm....sure gets ya thinking.

Eventually the Royal Princess pulled out of port. As she was leaving she picked a bit of a horn battle with us. Disney's ships have Disney tunes for their horns. The classic ships have just 1 song but the new ships have several. Just when we thought the cool-factor of a Disney tune for a ship's horn couldn't be topped we met the Royal Princess. She plays the theme from the old tv show "The Love Boat". See???




I loved it! I love the humor! Awesome! The Allure has no tune. Just a couple long, loud hoooooooooonk. Hoooooooooonks. Um, the Allure just got their butt handed to 'em by the Royal Princess.

Buh-bye Royal Princess. Thanks for the laughs!






Now we can see the island again.

Lovely family photo!! Really captures the "we just had the bestest time ever" feeling. I'm sitting here teary-eyed at the sight of you all being so happy. xo

Those evening photos of the island are gorgeous! *runs off to check cruise itineraries for St. Maarten*

 

[Tiggerish]

Hey y'all! New member intro! @casutton96 is among us!

Chandler, I'll be keeping an eye on you! Love you!

.
Umm... Hi everyone.

Exactly what this place needs--another redhead!!! W00t!

 

[casutton96]

Exactly what this place needs--another redhead!!! W00t!

Awwww yeaaaaa! Ginger powers, UNITE!!!

 

[Tidbit]

.
Umm... Hi everyone.

Welcome to the party, dude! LOL!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

@Tidbit,

My mom was in Pensacola with my gramma for the icy weather this week. She sent me pics of her car encased in ice. Nuts!

VIPet is a little out of the way. It's actually about 12 miles out from WDW and about a 20 minute drive. BUT, the price is considerably less and it's a smaller facility. It's not as glitzy as what Best Friends is on-property but it's still very nice. Trust me, I'm picky as all hell about where I allow my baby to stay. LOL! Anywhoo, it's a bit out of the way but the cost is quite a bit less. I paid $21/night for a Junior Suite since our dog is so small. The cheapest room at Best Friends is $39/night for resort guests. At Best Friends that starting price includes just 2 potty walks per day and no tv. At VIPet that starting price includes 3 walks per day and there's a tv running for the dogs to hear and see (depending on where their little room is...the tv is up high above all the little rooms). Riley is a people dog so she needs to feel like she's near people. Having the tv to listen to helps her. For what BF would cost we were able to have additional playtime added and still come out a lot cheaper. We boarded Riley at BF's before and it was nice. Just expensive! The convenience to stop and visit your pooch is nice but we found it made it a LOT harder for our dog. Every time we'd show up she would go berserk. Anxiety overload. Then we'd leave and she'd suffer the seperation again. It's better for us to take her where she's going to be and leave her alone so she only goes thru the seperation once then has the chance to adjust to her new surroundings. But some people and their pets do good with the frequent visits so if that's something they want or need then BF is the way to go. For us, boarding at VIPet was great. It's a smaller kennel so the dogs get more of a personalized experience. I felt like Riley was truly cared for vs. watched after. The ladies were so sweet to Riley and to us. To me, the proof is in the pudding. When we picked her up at the end of the trip she didn't look like she'd been avoiding eating. She seemed less stressed or traumatized. The ladies engaged us in conversation about her that reflected things about our dog's personality that we didn't tell them. This tells me they actually spent time with her. We boarded for 8 nights, paid for extra play time every day, and had a full groom done before we left and spent about $260. The last time I boarded Riley at BFs for 10 nights we spent more like $600+. Biiiiig difference!

The boys love to cruise. No doubt. They just prefer it to be with Disney. A lot of what influences their overall experience is the "vibe" they get from the teens club. Especially for Brian. On this cruise there appears to have been a large number of what they referred to as d-bags. Chandler refused to go back to the teen club at all after day 2. To be fair, we've been on Disney cruises and they've said the same thing. It's hit or miss. We seem to have better luck cruising when most kids are in school. This keeps the number of kids a bit lower so the counselors will get more personally involved. Also, it's more likely our boys will find other kids who homeschool. It's hard to explain without making it sound awful. It's not that I think kids in regular schools are all terrible. It just seems like when you cruise during times when all kids might be out of school you encounter more of the ones that can't be pulled out of class to go on trips, the jerky ones, or the ones who want to do things they shouldn't. Does that make sense without making me sound like a major "B"?

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Wow, what a movie And not to mention that the plane is a Dutch plane

Oh yes. Tracey has actually mentioned when we go back to St. Maarten we should fly to Amsterdam then down to the island so we can fly in on the 747. I told him I'd meet him in St. Maarten.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Lovely family photo!! Really captures the "we just had the bestest time ever" feeling. I'm sitting here teary-eyed at the sight of you all being so happy. xo

Those evening photos of the island are gorgeous! *runs off to check cruise itineraries for St. Maarten*

Thanks, Siobhan! We were so basking in that moment. It was such an amazing day. Cruise itineraries to St. Maarten. Look for Eastern Caribbean itineraries.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 6: Zippin' and climbin' over the deep blue sea!

I woke up around 7 or so. It was so hard to get moving today. I felt so swollen and sluggish. My body was screaming NO MORE ALCOHOL! We'll see if I can manage to listen. Geez, look at my eyes! Yikes!




Tracey and I managed to get to Windjammer around 9:00. It was pretty darned busy. We spotted Chandler sitting at a table eating with some other kids so we snuck past without saying anything to him. Tracey had all his favorite breakfast staples while I drank a Spark and caught up my notes. Next we headed down to the Park Cafe for me to try their breakfast sandwich offerings. Veeeery delish!




Next we went wandering around the Promenade. Now, in all my reading and studying on Cruise Critic leading up to this cruise I was pretty psyched about all the awesome decorations we'd be seeing splashed all over the place starting on the day after Thanksgiving. Past Allure cruisers gushed about how awesome it was to go to sleep Thanksgiving night and wake up to an instant Christmas Wonderland. Well...... that didn't happen for us. At all. We went looking around for all the festive fun but we found a whole lot of nothing. At all. NOTHING. But they had Christmas music playing AND Black Friday sales in all the shops that were heavily advertised. I looked over the sales but just didn't feel the need to purchase anything. I simply wasn't feelin' that mood that I truly was in search of. Seriously. Ugh!

Sooooo, I have no pictures for the rest of the morning. Only a few notes. We wandered. We didn't find anything good at any of the sales. We didn't find any decorations. Whatever. We also went in search of the Crown & Anchor Society, Royal Caribbean's repeat cruiser program, and the onboard booking desk to get more info. The place to go book onboard wasn't easily found at all. The info we found, eventually - it wasn't easy to come by, was none too impressive. There was conflicting info that our first cruise didn't count towards our status. What the?!?! We paid a LOT of money for this week! It better count for something! Disney's onboard booking offerings are a lot more generous, too. Even with the recent changes to Disney's program, they're still way more generous. Royal doesn't offer any amount off the price of any cruises booked onboard. Disney offers 10% off any sailing that's not in the blackout dates. With Royal your onboard booking costs the same as any booking made from home. Disney offers a reduced deposit for onboard bookings of 7-nights or longer. You pay only 10% vs. the normal 20%. Royal's reduced deposit is, I think, $100 per person. For a family of 4 I would be out a $400 deposit. I've booked at least 9 cruises while on Disney cruises and never spent more than $200 on a deposit for any of my "bounce back" placeholders. Onboard credits are given out by stateroom category on Disney Cruise Line. To hit the maximum amount of $200 with Royal you've got to be on a 15+ night sailing. All these things didn't add up to enough incentive for us to rebook while onboard the Allure. So we passed it up.

For the record, after we got home I went onto Royal's website to try to submit us for membership in the Crown & Anchor Society. Their system kicked me out. Is that a sign? After your first cruise with Disney completes you're automatically a member of the Castaway Club. Also, to reach the different levels with Royal's repeat cruiser program you've got to sail a whole heckuva lot more than you do to advance within Disney's program. I would cruise Royal again but prob'ly not enough to benefit me in any way so I'm finding the Crown & Anchor Society pretty useless. I just don't see where it would benefit us other than a free cocktail (hello? We're beverage package peeps!) or a cheap souvenir (no thanks).

We returned to the room with all our morning's disappointments and took a nice nap. Yay!

Then we met Brian at the Zip Line when it was scheduled to open at 2:00. Yep. 2:00. Remember that part.




It's located up by the Flow Riders.




Brian, Chandler, and I did the zip line. Tracey stood by the landing spot to take pics. Brian was up first.





He's off!




And landing!




I was up next. After I was harnessed-up and lined up over at the start point one of the crew working the zip line asked me if I was scared. Honestly, I was not. It didn't look like it was that big a deal, really. Plus, I knew it was going to be fun so I wasn't scared at all. I was so swollen and bloated! The harness was sooooo not flattering but I'll bear all my chubbiness for y'all because I know you won't judge anywhere near as harshly as I DO!

She's telling me what to do.




Here I go!




I think I can hear the cable that's supporting me groan in pain.... LOL!




I was seriously impressed that Chandler did this. I had to keep talkin' him up on it. I didn't want him to not do it. He hates heights in a really big way plus doing something so foreign to him is something he would be quite adverse to. I wanted him to push himself past all the fear and apprehension. It wasn't so much I wanted him to have zip lined. I wanted him to not be defeated by his fear. Chandler was such a champ. He hung in there and did it!

Getting the instructions:




Here he comes!




But then the camera didn't work fast enough and Tracey couldn't get Chandler's landing. But he's still here and alive. Well, not HERE. He's at work at this very moment but he SURVIVED! LOL! When asked if he'd do it again he said, "No. I did it. I'm done."

 

[Tiggerish]

But then the camera didn't work fast enough and Tracey couldn't get Chandler's landing. But he's still here and alive. Well, not HERE. He's at work at this very moment but he SURVIVED! LOL! When asked if he'd do it again he said, "No. I did it. I'm done."

That's my attitude towards Tower of Terror.

Oh, and at first glance I thought the sign said "Remove necklaces, underwear and loose articles"

 

[sweetpee_1993]

After we zip lined Brian wanted to do the rock climbing walls with Tracey. On our way down we stopped for ice cream at the ice cream shop on the Boardwalk. We carried our ice cream over to the Aqua Theater where the acrobats from the shows were busy having some practice time on the theater stage. It was a relaxing, entertaining spot to cop a squat while we devoured our ice cream.

There's a trampoline in the floor.






Whatcha got, Brian?




Chandler wouldn't even pause to look up. Teenagers. Sheesh!




The guy was doing handstands on a stand thing.




Then Brian was ready to start climbing. I walked up with him but didn't participate. I was just there for the pics. For the record, I have rock climbed and rapelled on actual rock before, not the the walls with the hand & footholds attached. My right knee has been giving me fits since last spring. I wasn't about to try the wall.

He's ready!




And he's off!








Tracey was on his way up to join during Brian's first climb. Kayla had found Chandler so they sat together to watch from a distance.




Good lookin' wall climbers!




Here they go!







That's as far as Tracey got. I'm not knocking him. He got up there. That's more than I did. Brian continued only a little further.




And he got pooped-out.




I wish we'd had Wave phones or some other way to contact Kacey. He & Tracey didn't get to do their rock wall competition! For the record, there's photographic evidence that shows both Tracey and his brother got to about the same spot on the wall before they were finished. Neither made it all the way up. I will say, it was probably more of an accomplishment for Kacey considering he had a knee rebuilt in the spring of 2013.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

That's my attitude towards Tower of Terror.

Oh, and at first glance I thought the sign said "Remove necklaces, underwear and loose articles"

Yeah! Because who needs drawers when you got that super-comfy oober-flattering harness to wear! LOL!

 

[Tidbit]

@Tidbit,

My mom was in Pensacola with my gramma for the icy weather this week. She sent me pics of her car encased in ice. Nuts!

VIPet is a little out of the way. It's actually about 12 miles out from WDW and about a 20 minute drive. BUT, the price is considerably less and it's a smaller facility. It's not as glitzy as what Best Friends is on-property but it's still very nice. Trust me, I'm picky as all hell about where I allow my baby to stay. LOL! Anywhoo, it's a bit out of the way but the cost is quite a bit less. I paid $21/night for a Junior Suite since our dog is so small. The cheapest room at Best Friends is $39/night for resort guests. At Best Friends that starting price includes just 2 potty walks per day and no tv. At VIPet that starting price includes 3 walks per day and there's a tv running for the dogs to hear and see (depending on where their little room is...the tv is up high above all the little rooms). Riley is a people dog so she needs to feel like she's near people. Having the tv to listen to helps her. For what BF would cost we were able to have additional playtime added and still come out a lot cheaper. We boarded Riley at BF's before and it was nice. Just expensive! The convenience to stop and visit your pooch is nice but we found it made it a LOT harder for our dog. Every time we'd show up she would go berserk. Anxiety overload. Then we'd leave and she'd suffer the seperation again. It's better for us to take her where she's going to be and leave her alone so she only goes thru the seperation once then has the chance to adjust to her new surroundings. But some people and their pets do good with the frequent visits so if that's something they want or need then BF is the way to go. For us, boarding at VIPet was great. It's a smaller kennel so the dogs get more of a personalized experience. I felt like Riley was truly cared for vs. watched after. The ladies were so sweet to Riley and to us. To me, the proof is in the pudding. When we picked her up at the end of the trip she didn't look like she'd been avoiding eating. She seemed less stressed or traumatized. The ladies engaged us in conversation about her that reflected things about our dog's personality that we didn't tell them. This tells me they actually spent time with her. We boarded for 8 nights, paid for extra play time every day, and had a full groom done before we left and spent about $260. The last time I boarded Riley at BFs for 10 nights we spent more like $600+. Biiiiig difference!

The boys love to cruise. No doubt. They just prefer it to be with Disney. A lot of what influences their overall experience is the "vibe" they get from the teens club. Especially for Brian. On this cruise there appears to have been a large number of what they referred to as d-bags. Chandler refused to go back to the teen club at all after day 2. To be fair, we've been on Disney cruises and they've said the same thing. It's hit or miss. We seem to have better luck cruising when most kids are in school. This keeps the number of kids a bit lower so the counselors will get more personally involved. Also, it's more likely our boys will find other kids who homeschool. It's hard to explain without making it sound awful. It's not that I think kids in regular schools are all terrible. It just seems like when you cruise during times when all kids might be out of school you encounter more of the ones that can't be pulled out of class to go on trips, the jerky ones, or the ones who want to do things they shouldn't. Does that make sense without making me sound like a major "B"?

Thanks! Great info about the VIPet place!!!! This is totally what I needed to hear for a client that needs someplace like this for her little "baby!" He's pampered and needs "attention!" LOL

We homeschool our youngest (10th Grade) and the oldest is a Senior at Escambia High, so I totally "know" what you mean about the d-bags or jerky kids!! We ALWAYS prefer to vacation while others are in school even if that meant the oldest had to miss, and the youngest did a little while on vacation!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

After our rock wall adventures Brian was off again. Tracey, Chandler, and I made our way inside to the Promenade to see what was shakin'. We spotted Kacey & Tameka near the Promenade Cafe where they were waiting for the Shrek & Fiona appearance. We chatted a bit then the royal couple made their grand entrance on the Rising Tide Bar!





The friends of Shrek & Fiona are seriously athletic people! Man! They were gettin' down totally dancin' their butts off!




Then we lined up to do a real meet-n-greet. So here we are with Shrek, Fiona, AND Puss! Totally worth the price of admission to have bragging rights there. How many of you get to tell all your friends and family you took pics with Puss! <--yes, I'm really a 12 yro boy




Then it was time for a short cat-nap. Again. You're counting correctly. This was nap #2. LOL!

Afterwards both boys went out wandering with us. We all 4 walked thru the adults-only area, The Solarium. One thing I personally liked about The Solarium area on Royal Caribbean is that the age to play is 16+. This means neither of my sons were excluded. There were no wild & crazy kids. The Solarium is adult enough that I think the vibe wouldn't appeal to wild-n-wooly older teens. I'd imagine the active areas would appeal more to them. But if we'd chosen to spend time in this area both our boys would've had the option to join us. I love that there's designated areas where you can escape the rambunctious littler kids. I really do. It's just nice that that the age cutoff on Royal fit our personal family composition so well.

So this is a soaking pool in The Solarium.




The views out off the front of the ship from this area were so nice. I love a sunset at sea.





Down a deck below the Solarium was this woman having herself a full-on photo shoot. She was workin' that camera! All I have to say is good on her for having that kind of self-confidence and comfort level in her own skin. I wish I had that!




We were feelin' ice-cream-y again but this time we opted for floats at Johnny Rockets.




We had the adults comedy show to go to tonight. Chandler could go but Brian could not. Tracey & I had pretty much decided not to go because we didn't like just 1 of the boys feeling excluded but Brian said he wanted to go off and do his own thing anyway so we should go.

Y'all can thank Chandler for the following pics. I didn't take anymore for today. Chandler took some on his cell phone. I guess he was excited about his first adult comedy show. LOL!

We went down to deck 4 to the small-ish comedy club venue. It's supposed to be themed like The Tube in London but it's not as over-the-top impressive as the same theme is in a nightclub on the Disney Fantasy. Solid win to Disney on bringing The Tube to adult spaces on a cruise ship. This club was cozy. Perfect for a small show.

The stage from our seats. Mom, Dad, & Kacey learned the hard way on their last cruise NOT to sit in the front row.




Nice. Light on the theming but still nice.




Better behave or the bouncer will get ya!




Me & Tracey before we had drinks in our hands.



Yes, we did finally consume a few adult beverages. What else were we supposed to do while waiting for the show to start???? LOL!

The comedy was quite entertaining. We had some gooooood laughs. After the show the 2nd comedian of the 2 we saw had a cd for sale. Tracey & Chandler made sure to get one and have it autographed for Brian. This way Brian didn't have to miss all the laughs.

After the show we needed some real dinner. We ended up Tracey & I eating at Windjammer with a bunch of the teenagers. It was fun. We had a great time. The buffet food was okay. Not great. We caught it right before closing, tho, so it's not like they were making all the effort to keep everything super fresh.

With tummies full our bed was calling our names. It's tough getting old. LOL!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 7: Mother Nature, you can kiss my.....

Having gone to bed relatively early last night I woke pretty early itchin' like crazy to go see if there was Christmas decorations out this morning. It was like a little kid on Christmas morning. I wanted to go seeeeeeeeee!!!! We got out onto the Promenade and there was Christmas music but hardly any visual eye candy to be found. There were these little trees outside 1 shop:




And these poinsettia balls outside another shop:




They were still pushing their Black Friday sales like crazy but the feeling for the gift shopping just wasn't there. I need Christmas pretties to LOOK at! Ugh!

I moped along with Tracey up to the Solarium Bistro to try their breakfast fare. I'd read that they had a mini-buffet with some healthier offerings. They had a musli setup with all sorts of toppings and stuff that I was so excited to see. If you've read my other Disney cruise reports you know how I flippin' looooooove the Disney cruise breakfast musli.




But this musli was as big a disappointment as the lack of Christmas decorations. There was simply no flavor to it. I don't know what Disney does to their musli but it's got a lot more flavor than this stuff does. As we sat at our little table in the bistro we noticed the remnants of last night's Samba Grill dinner on the floor nearby. Underneath the table next to us was chunks of food (not crumbs), a linen napkin, and a bottle cap. There was crumbs and bits of food and dirt all over on the floor. It was kinda gross, actually. Sure didn't lend well to the calming, health-centric vibe that was supposed to be here. Oh well.

After our lack-luster, bland breakfast we did some wandering. I know you're tired of seeing it but whenever you look down into Central Park it really does capture you and you can't not take a picture of it.




We made sure to be at the zip line all together at exactly 9:00 for the opening time so we could all zip one more time. Right at 9:00 it started sprinkling and the skies were looking mean. They couldn't open during inclement weather. We'd have to wait for the rain squals. Again. Dammit.

Guess what? In the bad weather and rough seas the rock walls don't open either. Dammit.

The Allure of the Seas has some really amazing offerings but these highly-touted things are all dependant upon good weather. When they can't open this stuff we really felt like they didn't have any other solid people-eaters or diversions. Right about now we were seriously missing the Buena Vista Theater on the Disney ships. When all else fails on the Disney cruises you can always go see a feature movie in the theater. Royal really misses this. They could easily utilize the Amber Theater to show movies during the day especially during inclement weather. I can tell you when Tracey & I go to a movie on Disney's ships we stop for drinks and snacks which are an additional charge. Missed opportunity, Royal Caribbean!

What to do now? We wandered a bit then went to see if the sund deck we'd been looking to get out to a few times this week was finally open. When the winds are high and the ship is pitching they close this area. Over the top of the bridge bump-outs there are cool sundecks you can go stand on. There's also a set of mounted binoculars for anyone to come look thru. Tracey is on the left then there's Chandler and Brian on the right.




Now the order from left to right is Tracey, Brian, & Chandler. I wanted a pic of all 3 of the guys out there together but Tracey was a bit preoccupied. LOL!




Standing out on the bump-out looking down the side of the ship.




On the front of the ship is a helo pad. We watched some ladies go out to have a yoga class on the helo pad.




Oh look! There's another ship out there! And it's not lookin' so good outside.




Well, nothing we wanted to do was open so we decided to go back to our rooms and use this time to pack. We got a good bit accomplished then went out wandering some more. We walked in Central Park a bit trying to figure out when the Rising Tide Bar would open. The "top" of Rising Tide is housed in Central Park. When you get in the bar and it starts lowering it will lower you down to the Promenade below. Here's a shot of the Rising Tide docked on the Central Park level.




We went by Guest Services for something and Chandler spotted an elusive Christmas decoration.




Oh! There's another one.




We stopped by the onboard professional photo kiosk to see what all we had. There was no way we were buying this but I had to get a picture of it. This picture of these other kids showed up in our folio because Brian photo-bombed 'em. LOL! That's awesome!




Back up by the putt-putt course. The weather was still crap and the outside stuff still wasn't open.




Back down to the Boardwalk. The caroussel wasn't open either. I liked the little monkey, tho.




Here's some more pictures of the caroussel horses in their various states of creation.






Tracey does his best Vanna White.




This is where the Rising Tide Bar lowers down to the Promenade level. When the seas were so rough earlier in the cruise the fountains beneath were shut off because water was going everywhere. LOL!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We walked over to this staircase to go down to the Promenade level and I found something I'd never noticed before. I was holding the handrail and running my fingers along the underside. Right before the railing goes down I felt a patch of little bumps on the under side of the railing on the surface. I stopped. What was that? I ran my fingers over and over it. I called Tracey back to feel it. That's frickin' BRAILLE!!! OMGosh! Duh! I bet it says something to the effect of watch your step, you're about to go down. I bet if I go around feeling handrails I'll find these all over the earth not just in this spot on this ship! Major discovery! Makes you think what it must be like to be on a cruise ship or just out in the world for someone who can't see. We take this stuff for granted. We walk up to a staircase and just step down or step up. The prompts for the blind are different. And they're RIGHT THERE all the time but those of us with working eyeballs don't even catch it. My world was expanded at THIS moment. That's why I took this picture.




I was starting to get hungry. Brian went off to do Brian things. Chandler, Tracey, and I went to stand in the frickin' rain outside of the Park Cafe so I could eat lunch there one more time.




While waiting I thought I'd snap a picture of this. I suppose now more than ever it's pertinent with all the people getting Norovirus on cruise ships in the past few days. This is a handwashing station right outside the door to the cafe. They're outside the doors to all the restaurants on Central Park. I never saw anyone use one but they're neat anyway.




I got myself another made-to-order salad and carved beef sandwiches. I swear to you, this was my favorite thing to eat on the ship next to the cupcakes! And Chops Grill desserts.





Killer lunch completed we figured we should not leave this ship tomorrow having not taken advantage of THIS upcharge offering on the ship.




Don't worry, the prices are comparable to land-based Starbucks prices. You can use your rewards card to get your stars, too.

We strolled a lap on the jogging/walking track because Chandler hadn't seen it.





One of the things I had soooooo looked forward to on our last day onboard was the "Let You Entertain Me" aqua show that was supposed to be in the Aqua Theater. It's the Madagascar crew and lots of antics as everyone tries to entertain King Julien. The show was supposed to be in the Aqua Theater. Outside. But it was raining. So guess what? No show. Curse you, Mother Nature!!!! I wanted to see King Julien!




Somehow watching a recorded version just wasn't the same.




I am not amused.




Bar's open! Win!




Strolling around since there's nothing else to freakin' do.




We haven't been in here yet.




Yep, it's candy.




Here's a club we didn't go in but we never had a reason to. It's raining out and there's nothing to do. Why isn't there something to do here?




Eh. Good time for a nap. When we woke up the sun had finally come out.





There's that ship again.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We didn't know where our kids were exactly so it's not like we could get in touch with them to meet us to go attempt the zip line again. The line was prob'ly a mile long by now anyway. Oh well. We haven't done the Rising Tide Bar yet. Let's do that!

We hopped on at the Central Park level and plopped down at a table. Tracey had a Bloody Mary. See the crew member sitting at the control panel in the background? He controls the "ride".




I had a Coconut Blast.




Are you impressed that I remembered what I ordered? Don't be. I cheated. LOL!




It's all downhill from here. Not really.




Oh look! There's the onboard photo studio. Gettin' busy over there.




That's the door we entered the bar from. Big step down now, huh?




Awesome bar keep here! The fella on the left was our server. He really added a lot of fun to the vibe here.




Sometimes life is truly a stage.




I don't know what this one was. Tracey took the pic. He didn't take a cheater pic. LOL!




Our super-fun server suggested we try his awesome shot. It's a lemon drop. I like lemon drops!




Cheers!





The shot was delicious. I have no idea why I'm giving it the stink-eye.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

After our ride on the Rising Tide we needed to walk off our libations a bit. We shopped. Then we returned to the room for me to fix my hair from my lazy bun for the evening.

We went to see the Blue Planet show. Here's a snippet if you're interested.




It's a cirque-ish type production. Personally, I felt it was a little over-hyped for what it is. I did find the vocalists who actually sing while performing to be pretty impressive. My favorite number by far was the trampoline thing to the Red Hot Chili Peppers cover of "Higher Ground". The Mother's Milk album takes me back to high school, for sure. "Higher Ground" was always a favorite.

After the show we returned to the room to put our dinner clothes on. Yep, we had to dress for dinner tonight for our final upcharge dining experience. Still had a few hours to kill so what else is there to do but go set up camp at the On-Air bar?

Don't worry, Chandler's mudslide was unleaded.




This is a B-52 layered shot. Tracey and I layer 'em better. We learned from the highly-skilled bartenders in our Mixology classes on the Disney ships!




I knew I'd never remember the name of this Russian vodka so I took a pic of it.




We had a buuuuuunch of drinks over our couple hours to kill. A BUNCH. Chandler ran down to the Cupcake Cupboard and brought back 1/2 dozen red velvet cupcakes for our favorite bartender from the cruise. We left him a nice final tip and thanked him for all the fun.

Dinner was at Samba Grill tonight at 9:00. I didn't take many pics because it's really dark in here. This is the same venue we had breakfast this morning. The location is the Solarium Bistro. At night the space transforms into a Brazillian dining experience. Here's some desserts on our way in.




During the meal you get this little light on your table. When you pushed the button on it, the light changed colors. I forget the different color indicators. It turned green for "bring more food". And red for "no more food". We started with a visit to the salad bar spread.




Then there's roaming waiters with loooong skewers of meat. They come by and offer it to you. It's kinda like Ohana but the meat was much better. We think there was shrimp. ((It's hard to remember. We were both pretty lit from the drinks. Tracey was REALLY lit. LOL!)) I know there was steak cooked to order. If you asked for medium it came medium and it was good. I know there was lamb, too. I want to say they had duck and some other stuff but I can't really remember. I know I liked the steak. Desserts were ordered from a menu. I don't know what the heck this was but it was delicious.




After dinner we were pretty dang beat. We knew we'd be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow. We drank lots of water anticipating the beat-down the early morning would be with all the drinking we did tonight.

Tracey was pretty irked by our location when we got back to our room.




See where we are? See where he's pointing? We were THAT close to Castaway Cay!!! ((<--that's Disney's private island paradise))




Wanna laugh??? Tracey just looked over my shoulder at these pictures of our location and said, "I must've been really messed up. I don't remember that at all." Yes. Yes, he was. LOL!

20 minutes later we were in bed, lights out, dead asleep. Us old folks don't hang so well. LOL!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 8: Let's go home.

For whatever reason I was pretty restless after 3:00 a.m. Finally got up at 5:15 a.m. Did I mention we had an early morning coming today? Understatement. And it's gonna be a loooooong day to boot.

As soon as I was able I turned my phone off Airplane mode and started receiving all my missed texts. Mom knew I wouldn't get anything during the cruise but she sent info to me to have the timeline. I found out my Uncle JL had passed on Wednesday. Today was Sunday. It was so strange because I knew without reading her texts. I knew I wouldn't see him again. But Wednesday night Tracey & I both had random strange dreams about my uncle. I don't really dream about specific people. Tracey didn't really know my uncle all that well. But THAT night we both dreamed about him. And that was the night he passed. Proof positive that intuition is real. I think Uncle JL wanted us to know we didn't need to worry about him. He was okay. Unfortunately, I missed all the services and the burial. I got the full run-down from my brother, tho.

We hurried to get off the ship. We had a LONG drive today. Ft. Lauderdale to Houston. Today is the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Traffic was going to be bad. So we express debarked at 6:45. Here's the guys getting out to the bus to go back to the parking facility.




Vacation is over.

We were in our car pulling out at 7:20. On our way out of the lot we spotted something that just didn't belong.




Do you see it? No? Here's a better shot for you.




Since when were these indiginous to the Everglades???? Why are the parking lot crew feeding them like pets??? Hello. These need to be contained, people.

To say traffic was bad is an understatement. It wasn't so bad getting back to Kissimmee to pick up our little Riley. It was when we got on the Turnpike after that we had our first inclination. When you're in stop/go traffic for 1/2 an hour to get up to a toll booth where you're waved thru without paying because traffic was too heavy for them to collect tolls...that's a heavy traffic day. We got thru before it got really bad. Our entire drive home all the way to Houston took us 19 hours. Kacey drove from Ft. Lauderdale to Atlanta. They left a few hours after us and their drive took roughly 15 hours. Good heavens! I suppose THIS is why one should seriously consider $1k+ per plane ticket if traveling on a holiday. LOL!

And that's it. Game over. Done. Final thoughts still to come!

 

[Tiggerish]

Such fun!

You look gorgeous in the photo with your coconut blast!

Didn't we try to get lemon drops on CC? If you can fault DCL for anything, it's their ability to deliver shots on their private island--IIRC, we asked for lemon drops and redheaded sluts and couldn't get either one (although no one needed to deliver the latter to our cabana )

I did not get tired of photos of Central Park. It looks gorgeous!

I'm sure you were glad to have Riley in the car for your long drive home. That was a great trip, thanks for bringing us along!!