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.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Oh yay! I'm so glad you started! I can't wait to read!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

And now, the biggest point of contention when the great Disney vs. Royal debate gets going. Every. single. time. The beverage inclusions and packages.

On Disney Cruise Line water, tea, coffee, juice, milk, and soda are (mostly) included in the price of the cruise. If you go to dinner and order a soda there's no additional charge. If you order sodas from room service, in theaters, or at the bars they are served in a can. There's a charge for those. Of course, alcohol, specialty coffees, and smoothies are also a per-beverage charge with Disney. On Royal the only beverages included are water (tap, pure desalinized), coffee, tea, lemonade, and sometimes you find fruit punch. We're pretty sure we saw milk cartons for grabs without a charge in the buffet venue, too. Sodas are something you either purchase each time you order one OR you can purchase a "soda package". To add sodas to your cruise you pay $6.50/night for an adult 18+ or $4.50/night for a child + 15% gratuity. So for each of my boys I paid roughly $38 each for them to have sodas available to them for the entire cruise. They each received an insulated tumbler w/lid that looked like this:



Embedded in these tumblers is a RFID chip that works with the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines that can be found in several locations on the ship. Much like WDW's resort mugs w/the RFID activation, there is a limit to the amount dispensed within a short period of time to prevent sharing. Also, at any time if the boys didn't have their tumblers handy they could walk up to any bar, show their room keys that had the soda package symbol imprinted on it, and the would be given a glass of whatever they wanted. Or get their tumblers refilled from the spigot if they weren't near a Freestyle machine. Also, if you've not had the chance to use a Coke Freestyle machine, I am soooo sorry for YOU! There are hundreds of beverage combinations you can choose. The machines onboard the ship were stocked pretty much as you see them anywhere, too. So, there's Powerade! Here's something I'd looooove to see Disney put on their ships. Even if they added them as an upcharge option with an RFID tumbler akin to Royal Caribbean. DO IT! People will PAY it!!!!! We would!

The tumblers pictured above belonged to Tracey and me, though. But we didn't buy soda packages. Nope. We got a grown-up beverage package! Definitely worth noting that Disney doesn't care what beverages you bring onboard so long as you carry it on. They don't want the liquids in your checked bags. Royal allows 2 bottles of wine per stateroom with at least 1 registered adult. No liquor. No carrying on water or anything else. Wine only. As you may recall, Tracey's parents carried on two 12-packs of sodas. These were caffeine free Pepsi because my father-in-law can only tolerate this specific soda. From what I've read, and I've read a LOT on this subject, Royal mostly enforces their carrying on policy during spring break months. You're never guaranteed to make it all the way onboard with your sodas, bottled water, etc. Technically they can tell you no.

Even with the adult beverage package, I *may* or *may not* have smuggled a couple 16 oz. rum runners with vodka and whiskey onboard in our checked luggage. I guess technically I qualify as a pirate now, huh? Why did I do it? To see if I could, of course. I was successful but not everyone is. If your stash is found via xray in your checked bags I read that you get a notice that you need to report to a place referred to as 'The Naughty Room'. Here you would be instructed by a security person to open the bag and give them ______. They'll tell you what they know is in there. I've read where people were told to give up a bottle of wine so that's what they turned over. Nevermind the other 3 bottles in the bottom that weren't detected. LOL! I suppose I was also semi-curious what this 'Naughty Room' looked like. I was prepared to take pics if I ended up there. But, I didn't. Kacey did, tho. Why? No comment. I ain't about to put THAT one on the internet.

So, adult beverage package. Here's a link to the recent new & improved packages that are offered in addition to the regular soda package. Tracey & I went with the premium alcohol package at $55 per person/night gratuity included. Yep, we spent $770 before we ever set foot on the ship juuuust to drink whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. Believe me, we pined over this decision for quite some time before pulling the trigger. Before the newly revised packages rolled out in the week or so before our cruise, we carefully considered the fact that on the Fantasy in September even with carrying on big bottles of liquor we still ran up a $500+ bar tab while watching shows or from impulse bar stops. When the new packages rolled out the inclusion of soda AND bottled water with the alcoholic beverages clenched it. At $3 for a bottle of water and the volume of water we typically consume (5 or more bottles per day each) it wouldn't take all that many drinky-drinks to break even. Even if we only got close to the $770 in total consumption, it was a convenience we felt would be worthwhile to us. And it WAS. The kids had the Coca-Cola symbol on their room keys. We had the little Premium sticker added to ours. Disney should try a few prepaid alcohol packages. I'd pay an upcharge on the front end of a cruise for the convenience alone! No final day holding-of-the-breath when you get the final onboard account statement. WORTH IT!

Just like on our Disney cruises, the first order of business is lunch. We headed out towards the elevators and I noticed this. They had these near all the elevators/stairs. It's an interactive touch-screen. Wealth of information about where you are and where you might like to go. Also you can check how busy any of the restaurants are from these. And activites. And anything else you might like to know. A massive ship like this is really easy to get lost on!




For whatever reason we ended up back down in the Royal Promenade/deck 5 crossing towards the aft. Here's a shot of Tracey and the 1937 Mercedes Benz replica that graces this area. Chandler was checkin' it out, too:




We ended up back up on deck 8 in the ever popular Park Cafe for lunch with Mom, Dad, Kacey, Tameka, and Rachel. The kids were GONE. Actually, I think they were meeting at Johnny Rockets for lunch. Anywhoo, Park Cafe is a mostly inclusive restaurant. They have specialty coffees, bottled water, beer, and fresh squeezed juice in the mornings for-charge. This was the first of many meals here. I fell madly in love with the create-your-own salads, the carved roast sandwiches w/au jus, and the 3-cheese paninis.

Come to Momma!




Breakin' in my beverages w/a Blue Moon to accompany my carved roast sandwich and custom salad. I'm salivating right NOW!




Ellen had called us (via cell phone since we were still in port) a bit turned around trying to find Johnny Rockets. I was trying to direct her when I saw her walk past the Park Cafe going in the wrong direction. I hurried outside and pointed her right. We were all finished so we headed out to do some wandering of the ship before the mandatory muster drill.

My notes say we saw the Boardwalk area then the upper decks. My photos concur. Understand, this massive ship is divided into neighborhoods of sorts. The Boardwalk is one of the 7 neighborhoods. The others shall come. I'll point them out when we get there.

The Boardwalk is the aft of the ship on deck 6. It's a nice little boardwalk area complete with a carousel, Johnny Rockets, a few shops including an ice cream shop & a Build-a-Bear-like shop, and the Aqua Theater. Also, this is where you access the rock climbing walls which flank both sides facing the back of the ship. Here's some cool displays of carousel horses in various states of creation. There will be more pics of these during the cruise.




Carousel on the left. Walking aft.




Here's the Build-a-Bear-like shop. I think it's called Pets at Sea or something like that. When I saw the bear I got all excited telling Tracey that Duffy had made it onboard with us!




Here's a fun play area for the kiddos. They can climb all in this playhouse.




The Aqua Theater! This is a really neat venue. More info will come when it's time for us to come here for a show.




I love the beach chair seating! So cute!




Here's a picture of Tracey & Kacey with the rock wall behind them. They had a bet going for months who would climb to the top fastest. The bet was for $100 + Tracey would have to get a pedicure if he lost or Kacey would have to wash/detail Tracey's boat if he lost. Who won? Guess you'll have to wait to see!




This little vigniette reminded me of Sci-Fi Dine-In at DHS! The "movie" screen didn't do anything. It just sorta was there. Very cute and I love the inclusion of the Dreamworks characters!




Also on the Boardwalk is Rita's Cantina! This is an upcharge restaurant venue. They do a fiesta which I've read about. There's a couple margaritas included with the price for adults and they get all the guests up dancing some sort of line dance. And limbo, I believe. We didn't dine here because we live in Texas with tons of great Mexican food all around us. But it was an adorable venue!




Here's a little look at Johnny Rocket's outside seating area. It's really cool! Better pics will happen from our experiences here. Johnny Rockets is a small upcharge restaurant during lunch & dinner. I think it's $4.95 each. if you order a shake or float there's another charge on top of that. Like $4 maybe? Can't remember. Believe me, we ended up eating here a LOT! You'll see!




Here's a candy shop on the Boardwalk.




I think we must have gone up to deck 16 because I'm pretty sure this model of the ship was near the elevators closest to Windjammer Cafe, the buffet venue.




Looking back down to the Boardwalk and off the back of the ship.




Oh! This is outside the Wipeout Cafe! We had a (free) soft serve break. Also to note, there's a Freestyle machine in the Wipeout Cafe. Here's Kacey, Tameka, Rachel, Mom, Tracey (giving you 'The Shocker' ), and Dad.




Tameka is so dang photogenic. And the girl wears like no make-up. I've always been so envious! If only I could be this naturally gorgeous!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Super excited never been on a cruise. My disney cruise is in 2015. But looking to see how others are. Love it.

Thanks for coming along! Cruising definitely agrees with my little family. I love the inclusiveness. I love waking up in interesting places. I love being on the sea!

And BONUS, @blackthidot , both of us vulgar gals are already booked on it...just waiting for you and Colleen (another lovely Irish chick!) to join in...just sayin'

Oh yes! Tracey & I booked a frickin' suite with a giganto verandah! Party in my room! Let's show the upper-crust how it's done! LOL!

Also, @blackthidot, keep in mind that we are booked for February. This is typically a time you'll see some sort of discounts roll out PLUS you'd be escaping the frozen north you live in!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Oh yay! I'm so glad you started! I can't wait to read!

I did! I thought I had deleted the professional pics Kacey gave me off his photo cd but I didn't. So no more waiting! Lemme know if you have anything you're curious about. As if you wouldn't ask....

 

[flynnibus]

I want to do a cruise. Prices are just insane to me. Maybe if @bmarkelon hooks it up...

Compared to what people are dropping to stay in moderates or deluxes.. not really.

Sub $2500 for the fare for a couple on a 7 day cruise in the fall time on the Fantasy. That's $360 night which includes hotel+food. Still other costs involved, but it's not earth shattering. And the experience is so much different. Considering you did so much lounging on your last trip.. I bet you'd like the cruise life

 

[flynnibus]

That tiny stateroom mirror would never be enough for my girls Tho it looks like you could actually stand and move around in that bathroom...

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We walked up by the flowriders and looked off the aft of the ship at the surrounding area. In case you don't know, a flowrider is a water jet thing that simulates waves. People boogy-board and surf in a semi-stationary spot riding the "wave". It's free, no upcharge, unless you book a private lesson. For whatever reason I didn't take any pics of it. Yet. I will tell you, if you're ever board go search for youtube videos of flowrider wipeouts. Hence the names of the Wipeout Cafe and the Wipeout Bar on the ship. Tracey & I visited the bar. I got a screwdriver and gave it to Kacey. Then we walked down by the mini-golf course.




See those upper balconies overlooking the area? These are the Crown Lofts! They're 2-story suites! Very posh! Very out of my price range, too! LOL! I did look at one recently....week long cruise for something like $15k for just 2 of us? Um, no. But nice. Definitely nice. Royal Caribbean is no Carnival, that's for sure. Very nice.

This is where we'll be sailing in just a little bit!




Here's a look down into the Central Park neighborhood on deck 8. Yep, this neighborhood was right around the corner from our staterooms which I LOVED! The Park Cafe where we just had lunch is in Central Park. Loooove!!!!



To get the way the ship is laid out, think of like a giant hot dog bun. There's balcony staterooms facing out to the ocean and in towards both the Royal Promenade and Central Park. Inside the giant hot dog bun is a gorgeous, pristinely manicured, lush park. It's a very interesting layout that makes for a lot of interesting spaces onboard.

We returned to our stateroom to see if our checked luggage had been delivered yet. Yep! It was all there! Great!

Here's a peek inside the in-room fridge. It's stocked with stuff. If you partake of it, you'll get charged for it. We didn't use any of this stuff. Just added bottles of water that we picked up whenever we were out-n-about. That's one way we utilized our beverage package: we'd pick up bottles of water all over even if we weren't going to drink them to stock our fridge. And maybe a few in the boys' fridge.




We unpacked and settled. Sent out our dinner clothes for pressing. Then it was muster drill time. We were assigned to the Amber Theater. This is the theater that they do the big production shows in. Very nice. Love having a nice inside venue to chillax in. I really liked the produced video that was shown along with the usual crew demonstration of the life jackets. Also to note, Disney stores your life jackets in the top of your stateroom closet. There are extras positioned at strategic locations around the ship. On the Allure all the life jackets are stored at your muster location. They don't take up closet space. I guess it's a matter of perspective if this is a good or bad thing. I found it to be nice. I liked the extra storage space. We needed it.

After the drill we headed up top for sail away. Things didn't look too promising:




What an adorable couple! Would you believe these 2 got married a mere 2 months after Tracey & I did? Kacey was a senior in high school. Tracey & I had to go check them in to the hotel for the wedding night before their wedding because Kacey wasn't yet old enough to do it. Wrap your brain around that. They've married as long as us: 20 years. I'm tellin' ya, there's some power-couples in this family. We definitely go the distance, huh???




I had a Bahama Mama. I loved the way the straw paper was tied into a heart on top. I failed miserably at photographing this with the wind working against me.




No, there was no sail away show or party like Disney does. They did have a live band with steel drums playing some very festive tunes, though. It created a fabulous, exciting atmosphere! As soon as we started to move the skies opened up. Grrrrr! No problem, mon! We invited everyone down to our verandah since we were the only ones with a balcony that faced out from the ship.

Party pea-poooooooll!!!!! ((insert Whoomp There it Is! intro here)) Dad, Tracey, Kacey, Ellen, Mom, & Rachel not getting soaked.




Tracey took this after we sailed away. No, this is not a grainy picture. That's the rain.




Pilot boat.




We went out to get an extra room key to our 2 rooms to hang in each other's rooms. This way we could access each other's rooms. My notes said I had another cocktail from the Champagne Bar. No pics to prove it, though. The notes also say we took a short catnap then dressed for our first dinner. I guess I wouldn't lie to myself, huh?

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Compared to what people are dropping to stay in moderates or deluxes.. not really.

Sub $2500 for the fare for a couple on a 7 day cruise in the fall time on the Fantasy. That's $360 night which includes hotel+food. Still other costs involved, but it's not earth shattering. And the experience is so much different. Considering you did so much lounging on your last trip.. I bet you'd like the cruise life

Tracey & I scored a guaranteed verandah rate in September last year on a 7-night Western on the Fantasy for something like $2100. It was a fabulous deal!

That tiny stateroom mirror would never be enough for my girls Tho it looks like you could actually stand and move around in that bathroom...

I didn't get a picture of it but just outside the bathroom door near the corner where the closet is there's also a full-length mirror.

I enjoyed the bathroom layout. Truly. The shower isn't as big as the round ones in the bigger 299 sq. ft. rooms on the Dream & Fantasy but it did have a handheld adjustable shower head. THAT I like!

 

[flynnibus]

but it did have a handheld adjustable shower head. THAT I like!

speaking of vulger minds... hehe

I love the rain shower heads in the dream/fantasy

I just got some news that is bumming me about our upcoming trip tho.. so I'm cruise cranky

 

[sweetpee_1993]

To dinner we went in the Adagio main dining room on deck 3. We were table #129.




The menu although I know it's impossible to actually read. See the Celebrate Cravings box on the bottom right? That's a handful of surcharged selections that are available. I don't think I've seen Disney put surcharge dishes on their main dining room menus. Interesting.




My notes & photos say I had some sort of fruit selection for an appetizer. Not pictured was a spinach salad I also had. Both were fine. Nothing special but I think you'd have to work hard to screw up a bowl of fruit and a simple spinach salad.




The Adagio is HUGE. Like 3 stories huge. Disney's ships have 3 main dining rooms to rotate to plus at least 1 upcharge fine dining/adult venue. The Allure has just the 1 massive, 3-story main dining room then many up charge venues that the kids can also go to at certain hours. It's nice because this affords them the opportunity to experience the different foods, too. Here's some of the Adagio for you:




Looking up to the 2 levels above us:




For my entrée I had the tenderloin. It was a bit overcooked for my taste, tough, and not much flavor at all. In my notes I described my veggies as "indiscernible". That can't be a good thing. And I wrote that the potato was - "a potato". Like literally. It's a cooked whole potato just sitting there on the plate with a sprig of rosemary poked in it. Not very imaginative. Or appetizing, really.



This is where I longed for my favorite tenderloin dish served in Disney's Animator's Palate. It's served with tasty baby carrots (& I HATE carrots!), bok choy, and wasabi mashed potatos that I'll beat you up for.


Dessert menu, again probably not actually readable.




Tracey had chocolate ice cream. I liked the presentation with the little lady finger cookie.




I tried the carrot cake.




And, according to my notes, "chocolate something".




Both my desserts were pretty 'meh' at best. Sorry. I'm all about icing on a cake. Carrot cake should have toe-curling, light-n-creamy cream cheese icing. I have no idea what was on this cake but it had little to no taste. And the texture was a gooey sticky thing. Didn't warrant more than the initial bite.

Oh! During dinner the professional photogs came around snapping pics! I bought the one of Tracey & me because I thought it turned out nice.




Remember part 2 of my September getaway when Tracey & I took off on the Fantasy for our 20th anniversary? When we got back the boys had gotten us each a nice anniversary gift. Mine was the cute, colorful Lilly Pulitzer dress I'm wearing in this last picture! It's not something I'd ever pick out for myself but I love it. Chandler is so good at picking clothes. I love to take him shopping with me! Tracey's gift was his treasured pilot wings collection from around the world that his grandfather pieced together in 1983 got reframed into a massive, beautiful frame. Our boys are the bestest!

Dinner service tonight was very slow. A lot of mix-ups. A lot of pauses. Drinks not always refilled. Granted we were a table of 12 and it's the first night of the cruise. Then again, shouldn't the serving team have this routine down by now? I was a bit disappointed in the dinner service but decided I wouldn't give up on it yet. Maybe our servers were just having an off night. Right?

After dinner Tracey & I turned in for the night. We were so tired. Here's where we missed all the free on-demand movies on Disney's Dream & Fantasy. Ugh! AND, Allure has ADULT movies you can do pay-per-view! Haven't seen THAT on a Disney boat! The other pay-per-view movies were on the pricey side. We took a pass and watched Shrek until we fell asleep. We DO like animated features that aren't Disney or Pixar!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

speaking of vulger minds... hehe

I love the rain shower heads in the dream/fantasy

I just got some news that is bumming me about our upcoming trip tho.. so I'm cruise cranky

Oh! Crap! Shouldn't have walked into that one, huh? LOL!

I love those rain showers, too. They're in the bigger staterooms, the 299 sq. ft. ones. They don't have them in the smaller rooms. I only use rain showers when I'm washing my hair but I can't wash my hair every day. It'd be too brittle and break off. So, to avoid wetting my hair on top of my head the handheld showers that adjust in height are nice because it's easier to keep my hair on top of my head dry.

Sorry to hear you're feelin' the blues. Never you worry. Right now I'm in the same boat, so to speak. I want what I want but it's not in the cards in my time. I have to be a grown-up (which sucks and I want to stomp my feet a lot) and wait until it's the right time. When the cruisin' stars align and the time is right, you'll be basking again. Just like my geography will be what I want it to be again.

 

[FlaggNL]

Never been on a cruise, and guess that it won't happen in this lifetime But great to see your report and the comparison with the Disney cruises! Love the pictures!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Never been on a cruise, and guess that it won't happen in this lifetime But great to see your report and the comparison with the Disney cruises! Love the pictures!

Well thank you! Don't write off cruising entirely. I always dug my heals in and said it was not for me. I envisioned it as floating on a boat with nothing to do but eat because all I ever heard was people talking about cruising and the food everywhere all over the place around the clock. Not my idea of a good time. It took Mickey to get me to try cruising and, really, it's a fabulous vacation option. I also never dreamed our meager beginnings would ever find us in the position to go on vacation once a decade much less once or even multiple times a year. Never say never. Stranger things and all. I hope you enjoy the rest. We had sooooome FUN in the days yet to come!

 

[FlaggNL]

I understand what you mean, but here in Europe there is a thought that cruises is only for older aged people with more money than avarage people. We live in Rotterdam and that is a hugh harbor for Cruiselines. It is alwaus nice to see and in some way it seems to be intriging to go on a cruise some day. But the only cruise that mabybe someday will happen is a Disney cruise, but on the other hand staying in the parcs is in our opinion better than being on a cruise. Specially when you think that it is not so easy to get of a ship if you don't like it... when you are in a parc you just go to another part of the parc. So we will be in WDW for the first time with my family in October, and that absolutely will be fun!

Waiting for the rest

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 2: A brush with Nassau. Here comes that motion of the ocean!

Tracey woke me up at 6:30 a.m. talking to me. Seriously?! Shut up! I'm not at all a morning person. I enjoy sleep way too much for mornings. I do not wake up happy. Ever. It doesn't help that the ship was rocking and pitching a lot which, for me, is like being rocked to sleep on a heavenly cloud. I managed to snooze until 7:30 a.m. before crawling out of bed. We met Tracey's parents at their stateroom that had a window overlooking Central Park. We checked the many breakfast venues' crowd status on their television. We ended up in the Wipeout Cafe for breakfast.

I can't remember if it was before or after breakfast that the actual announcement went out but we knew well before breakfast we wouldn't be making it to our port call in Nassau today. The seas were simply way too rough. Here's some pics Tracey took while I was doing my misery morning routine.

Wave action was pretty solid. See the towers of Atlantis in the distance?




More of the seas this morning. It's hard to capture, really. It was a lot more of a ride than what it looks like.




Those skies look mean.





Tracey says he watched us as we were approaching the port in Nassau. We've been here a few times now. There was a Carnival ship headed in in front of us. Tracey watched the pilot boat pull alongside us. Or attempt to. He said when the boat got close it did a dive under a wave and "submarined". Tracey's done that in his boat before when the lake kicked up big. Scared him and @obrienIII to death because they had to catch Brian before he was swept overboard. Anywhoo, he saw the pilot boat do a dolphin act under a wave then bounce violently against the side of our ship. The pilot never boarded our ship before the boat aborted all efforts. By now the Carnival ship ahead of us was turning around before actually reaching the port opening. Yep, it was a pretty done deal. We turned away, too. The port at Nassau actually had to dredge their channels, widen the port opening, and extend their dock to accommodate Royal's massive ships: Oasis and Allure of the Seas. There's very little room for drift or error.

So buh-bye Nassau. I'll get to the rum distillery next time.

Friendlier seas are out there.





Somewhere. Not this way.




So, we decided to wander. It's a massive ship. Lots to explore!

This is a picture from inside on of the glass elevators in the forward elevator bank. I'm looking out towards Central Park.




The wire & beadwork dress shapes that are suspended in the open space are visually interesting.




A very windy walk out on Central Park.




This area of the ship screams to be photographed.





These 2 sculptures that face one another do appear to be screaming at each other! LOL!




In the back of the sculpture there you can see plants wrapped in paper. There was a bit of replanting going on today.




I suppose we were walking back to our stateroom. That's the direction Tracey was walking. These look like they might've been taken from our verandah. The little tug that could. See the big barge? Now squint and see the little tug pulling it?




Looks like things might get better ahead of us.




They certainly don't look so swooft behind us.




Another visually interesting something hanging in the center of the glass elevators. I want to say this one was in the aft bank. I love the waves.




We went down to the Royal Promenade to see what was shakin'. Remember that giant hot dog bun shape for the ship we talked about earlier? And Central Park is in the bottom of the bun? Well, the park is on deck 8. Underneath it in the center on deck 5 is where the Promenade is. Here's a shot looking up. Remember those neat window sculptures you could see in the middle of Central Park? That's the same windows you see in this picture looking up into the park.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I understand what you mean, but here in Europe there is a thought that cruises is only for older aged people with more money than avarage people. We live in Rotterdam and that is a hugh harbor for Cruiselines. It is alwaus nice to see and in some way it seems to be intriging to go on a cruise some day. But the only cruise that mabybe someday will happen is a Disney cruise, but on the other hand staying in the parcs is in our opinion better than being on a cruise. Specially when you think that it is not so easy to get of a ship if you don't like it... when you are in a parc you just go to another part of the parc. So we will be in WDW for the first time with my family in October, and that absolutely will be fun!

Waiting for the rest

You'll have a ball at WDW!

Yeah, we beat the parks at WDW to death. And I grew up in the Orlando area. I can't tell you how many times I've been there. More times than I can count. We needed a shift which is how we got hooked on the Disney cruises. They're amazing. I'm finding that I enjoy seeing other places and finding adventure in other people's backyards. I'm fairly new to cruising although I've sailed on 8 cruises since September of 2011. We're not terribly old (yet). I'll be 40 next year. And, no, not wealthy. We save save save and don't do a lot of extras so we can travel more. Especially with our boys practically grown now we feel like our opportunities to go and do with them are only growing more limited. So we're on the go with them while we have them. Just like people do a lot of reading and researching discounts and things here, I've managed to learn a lot about finding better pricing for all but 2 of the cruises I've been on. There's more of a shift in the cruising crowd. I've read where a lot of people talk about sailing on other cruise lines (not Royal or Disney) and catch comments on the percentage of older people onboard. I guess maybe there's cruise lines that are geared more towards that demographic. But, there's also cruise lines that are gearing more heavily towards middle-aged adults, families, young adults, etc. It's pretty cool, really. Something for everyone! Our first cruise we did was a 3-night on Disney just to try it out. I was also afraid of being trapped and hating it. Never happened. I was sorta close to that feeling when I was sick on our cruise last May but then I would've felt that way at home in my own bed. LOL!

The older demographic is the one thing that keeps me balking on the European river cruises. Those are really growing in popularity. I'd love to do one of those because every day you are in a different place and the tours in each city are all-included. It's a good way to get a taste of Europe, I think. I suppose we'll save those for when the kids are gone. Then we can join the "old folks" on the river. Hahaha!!!

And HEY! We're going to California this spring to see Disneyland! We aren't done with parks vacations entirely! Not yet! I read a bit of your report at DLP. Fascinating! I'm far more interested in exploring new-to-me places now. WDW will be new-to-you! Can't wait to see what you think!!!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

This is a Brazilian themed bar. I don't think we came in here very much, maybe for a few bottles of water and I think Tracey got a drinky-drink once.




Kinda tucked off nearby is this little fascade with a dog sculpture. I found the overall theming quite charming.




Somewhere in this same vicinity there's this plaque hanging that explains the inspiration for the fascades: The Soho District in NYC.




We bumped into Kacey and Rachel.




Kacey wasn't feeling very well. He was trying to stay moving to avoid full sea-sickness. Sadly, he didn't make it. I don't know if he ended up puking but I know he took some Dramamine and passed out for quite some time. The seas were really rockin' today. It was more movement than we had ever felt on a Disney ship and those are smaller! AND we've sailed near a tropical system before!

So they were prepping the center kiosks for a big $10 sale. They roped it off until it was time to start. People were lined up along the rope like buzzards waiting to get their beaks on fresh road kill. I looked from the sidelines before it started but I didn't see anything that I would be interested in.




We wandered the shops a bit. I was rather impressed with the selection of ship-specific merchandise. Think of all the pining your read about for resort-specific merch at WDW's resorts. The Disney ships have really slimmed way down on their ship-specific stuff. It was truly refreshing to see so much Allure stuff! Here's a neat little knick-knack of the ship.




Or 3. Or 4.




Who am I kidding? I was having a little fun with my camera.

How many Allures would the Allure allure if the Allure could allure Allures? It's Allure of the Seas stuff everywhere! Uncle Karl? Do you see this? Mickey? Minnie? Help a girl out!




Like the lushes we are we were drawn like flies to a bug light to the duty-free shop. Apparently this is a good price for this?




Tracey was beside himself for this giganto bottle of Crown Royal. It's bigger than the big daddy 1.75L jug he buys for our Disney cruises. Later in the cruise we will find out the price. And I'm STILL kicking myself for not buying the damned thing. It would've made a fantastic conversation piece if nothing else!




This is the Bow & Stern brew pub. Very nicely themed. Still kicking myself for not making some beer time here while I had my free, free, FREE card to sample on.




A litle help for those of us who can't tell our aft from a hole in the ground. Yes, I'm talking about me. I'm truly a directionally challenged woman.




The Champagne Bar. Yep, the Allure of the Seas has one of these, too. I don't think it's nearly as sexy as Pink on Disney Dream or stylish as OhLaLa on the Disney Fantasy.




It is pretty, though.




The Royal ships have a shop for their own merchandise but then they have other shops with names and merchandise you may recognize from home. Here's Willow's storefront.




See the little Number Five is Alive - looking thingy there in front? Yeah, this thing:




There's several of these things standing around in various areas of the ship. If you look inside you see some sort of cool vigniette akin to looking into a View Master. Except you can't change the scene or swap the disk.

Then we found what would become our favorite bar onboard: On Air.




Taking advantage of the drinky-drink package.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Looking into the center of the glass elevator bank towards the forward direction. You can see the sign for the Amber Theater down a deck from where we are.




Remember, I'm on deck 5. Looking up all these decks is impressive.




We descended down from deck 5 to deck 4 into another "neighborhood", Entertainment Place.




They had artwork out on display I assume for sale. I didn't find the art near as awesome as Disney's gallery but then again there's no characters involved.




I loved the tile on the floors, tho! Loved it! Great use of material to create extra visual texture!

Here's a neat little lit up thing that showed what deck we were on and gave the deck plan for this level. Note that it's shiny, not all smudged-up. I found the Allure to be a very well maintained, well cared for vessel. She was definitely a quality gal!




I did find these sculptures to be interesting. I liked them enough to photograph but not enough to buy.




What does the fox say? Nothing! That's a stupid song! Ever heard the expression 'sly as a fox'? That's because foxes ain't blabbin'! Duh!




Paying homage to our Louisiana love. State bird. 'Nuff said.




So this area down here near the the club venues, ice rink theater, and casino is supposed to feel like a city street of sorts. Here's a manhole cover-ish thing in the floor. I thought it was neat. It's depicting the inside of a city transit train, I believe supposed to be The Tube in London. I could be wrong.




Yep, here's the entrance to Comedy Live, an allegedly London Tube themed comedy club. I say "allegedly" because it's very small inside and the Disney Fantasy's 'The Tube' club laughs at this cute little interpretation. But it's nice. Don't get me wrong. It's nice!




Also in this neighborhood they had these touch screen interactive boards to look at what's happening all over the ship right now. I loved the way Royal utilized this type of technology. Very nice.




I told Tracey to touch some selections to make different screens show up for me to photograph. He gave me *that* sign again.




Oh! Here's an information board that talks about the Barbie Premium Experience they offer for a hefty little charge onboard. Think about Disney's Bibbity Bobbity Boutique on the Fantasy. Royal had to reach out to the little girls whose parents were willing to cough up the bucks for their little princesses. I'm not sure of the cost, a few hundred bucks I think? The different events are sprinkled throughout the cruise so it's a cruise-long thing for the little girls to participate in. Very cute. If I was 8 again I'd be all over this like stink on..... nevermind.




Next to all the elevators were these fixed quick reference boards. I'm telling you, they make it hard to get lost even on this big of a ship!




We took the elevators up to deck 15 which is where all the pools are. Looking back down into Central Park. I never got tired of it.




I think this is the Beach Pool. Yeah, Royal runs circles around Disney's pools on this ship. This is one area I'll tell you right now Royal did better by quite a margin. They've got an adults only pool, 3 family pools, a big water playground area complete with donut-shaped whirlpool, plus the 2 flowriders, and numerous hot tubs. Everything is spread out so you don't have the mass of humanity shoe-horning into the chaos that Disney's ships call family pools. Seriously. But, who cruises for the pools anyway???

So here's the Beach Pool. I took pics because the water was sloshing back & forth really bad and pouring out across the deck.




These guys were literally riding the waves out of the pool.





I'm tellin' you, this ship was ROCKING! Very soon after I took those pics the pools were closed.

Here's part of the water play area and a family hot tub on the right.




Here's a shot of the donut-shaped whirlpool thing. The water swirls around like a circular lazy river. We never got in it but I imagine it would've felt like how my sibs and I felt when we got our little above-ground pool we had when we were middle-school aged swirling around really fast. We'd spend hours running the circumferance of the small pool near the sides so the water would flow around and around. We'd get the water moving then we'd all stop and float around in circles giggling like fools for several minutes before it slowed.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

This is outside the Wipeout Cafe. I love the use of the surfboards. Nothing delights me like things being utilized in ways not originally intended as their purpose. It appeals to my sense of humor.




I'm sure you've all heard about the zip line on the sea. That's on THIS ship. If you look above the "A" here you'll see the start of the zip line. Down below is the Boardwalk as I look aft (off the back).




Here we go! A kid flowriding! Only 1 of the flowriders was open.




Facing aft and off to the port side (that's left if you're facing the front of the ship) we saw another cruise ship in the distance. I know where it is so I can spot it easily. I doubt you'll see it.




Tracey sees it using these fixed binoculars. It'st he Carnival ship that turned away from Nassau ahead of us earlier today.




These 2 pokey-up-y things below on either side of the Royal Caribbean emblem are high-dive towers. Yes, at SEA actual people climb to the tops of these and dive all the way into the pool below that is featured in the Aqua Theater. It. is. incredible. But we'll get to that!




Here's a closer shot of the zip line start platform. With the wind and the pitching of the ship it was obviously closed.




This is a seating spot just outside the teens club venue call 'The Living Room'. The chairs don't look very inviting, do they?




Next we took the aft elevators back down to the Boardwalk. I had fun with the funhouse-like mirrors that were along the walkway just outside the doors.




Tracey joined me for some.




I think this might be Rachel to the left, too.




OMG! OMG! I forgot to TELL YOU!!!!! They have a Zoltar machine on the Boardwalk!!!!!




I told both of the boys that they were not allowed to wish to be Big. ((Tom Hanks? Big? Get it?)) They're already BOTH taller than me! LOL!

We went to take a peek into the ice cream shop to see what they had.




What's this?! Shirts that are specific to THIS store on THIS ship? What????? Uncle Karl! Mickey! Take a note, guys! Thanks!




I wish I could recall what the bottom scoop I had was. The top one was their version of cookies & cream. The bottom was coffee? Peanut butter? Oh heck, I don't know. Hand-dipped ice cream here was an upcharge thing. I forget the prices but it seems like we paid like $12 maybe for Tracey, Rachel, and I to each get a big ol' horkin' ice cream.




I'll pause to say that Tracey adores the soft serve (free!) on the Disney ships. On the Allure the soft serve was always frozen yogurt. He won't touch that. Personally, if I'm gonna be a pig I'd rather have the selection of hand-dipped flavors, cones, toppings, etc. to choose from and I'm perfectly ducky with paying extra for it.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Here's the outside menu display for Johnny Rockets. We'll be discovering the awesomeness of JR's sooner than later!




Also on the Boardwalk is this place, The Doghouse. It's a hot dog walk-up. They also have brats and kraut. All free. No upcharge here.




Back inside we passed thru the Allure's version of Shutters on the Disney ships. All the professional photos taken of you during the cruise can be found printed out in your assigned folio. To learn what folio is yours you touch your SeaPass Card (I forgot to tell you that's what the room keys are called on Royal's ships: SeaPass Card!) to a sensor and it tells you on a display. We were section 20 but I forget the folio number. Remember, this is the exact same company that does the professional photos on Disney's ships. They use the same facial recognition software as well. Just like on Disney's ships, there were interactive kiosks where you could swipe your SeaPass Card, view, modify, or order your photos from. I think I may have liked the arrangement here slightly better than on Disney's ships. I get that Disney's are themed to look like a classic library area but the area is easily congested. First, it's in a walkway. Second, the shelves are all in a tight space so when a lot of people are there you are reaching over people, etc. Annoying. We never came to the Focus area during busy times but this is NOT located in a walkway. The shelves are more spread out, too.




Central Park strollin'. Remember the glass sculpture things in the middle? Yep, these are the skylights for the Royal Promenade below.




I was totally ready for a nap but we opted to join Mom, Dad, & Rachel in Windjammer (the buffet) for lunch before our nap. The buffet is set up with several little "islands" of various foods. There's no single line to wait thru. Just wander around and load up.




The variety of selections was pretty good although not much appealed to me specifically.




They had a carving station going, too.




Here's where you go pick up your complimentary beverages. I think by this time we had already given Tracey's parents our soda tumblers. No, we weren't supposed to do that. It's "sharing". We weren't going to use them, though. They wouldn't drink more than a few sodas a day. I guess I should go pray forgiveness to the Royal Caribbean Gods. Oh well. Yes, there's Freestyle machines in Windjammer, too.




Then there was the dessert spread. I was cautiously optimistic when gazing upon this sweet spread from heaven. Was it another trick? Would I be sadly disappointed like I was last night in that carrot cake imposter I was served at the end of dinner??? We shall see....





I started with a nice salad. Very enjoyable. I drank iced tea with Splenda. I don't typically do sodas. Something about sodas swells me up like a balloon plus the sugar totally jacks with my blood sugar.




The wandering wait staff here in Windjammer did a nice job of keeping empty plates cleared and bringing refills. Very nice.

For my lunch I found this yummy veggie salad, slaw, brats, schnitzel, and Bavarian-style kraut with the bits of pork in it just like my Gramma used to make. I was in heaven! My favorites were easily the brats, schnitzel, and kraut.




Then....... .....pause for dramatic effect..... ......it was time for dessert! I had an oatmeal cookie, I forget what the heck that was on the left but it was just okay, and this incredibly dense oh-so amazingly rich and wonderful chocolate cake sent from heaven above. It was fabulous! I'd love to tell you I could eat my weight in the stuff but A.) I do weigh kinda a lot and B.) it so rich there's no way I could get thru more than 3 pieces. I was gonna type 2 pieces but with milk I could easily down 2. 3? I don't think so.




On our way back to our stateroom we stopped by the Trellis Bar in Central Park for bottles of water.




Also located in Central Park is Giovanni's Table. This is an upcharge Italian restaurant. I think it's like $20 each. They're open for lunch, too, which I think is only $15 each. We never ate here, though. Just never occured to us, I guess.




Vintages is the wine bar. They have quite a collection of wines, I hear. I think they offer some light finger-food type things here but not much. It's the place where the wine-O's hang. I'm more of a cocktail, shot, or beer girl. Although, thanks to @Kerby626, I have discovered a bit of a love for cheap fruity-flavored moscatos. Our local liquor store carries peach, pear, mango, strawberry, and coconut pineapple. I adore the 1st 4, haven't brought myself to touch the odd-sounding coconut pineapple.




Bottom right corner of this shot is the entry back inside. I loved the use of the street signs here.




Oh and these glass birds. They're so pretty.




Here's a Central Park placcard/map that's just outside the doors. I'm looking back the way we just came. Vintages is on the left.