kuruczpa

I just called and the lady and her supervisor both just said the price will stay unless I cancelled. I got her to to repeat it and she said the calls are recorded. So I'm not quite sure how they could go back on that now? lol

I just called and the lady and her supervisor both just said the price will stay unless I cancelled. I got her to to repeat it and she said the calls are recorded. So I'm not quite sure how they could go back on that now? lol

I just noticed for my sailing it's usually 75.81 CAD a day and it was just posted for 23.94 a day (so we booked it). Will RC honour this if it was some sort of error on their end?  Has anyone ever encountered something like this before?

I just noticed for my sailing it's usually 75.81 CAD a day and it was just posted for 23.94 a day (so we booked it). Will RC honour this if it was some sort of error on their end?  Has anyone ever encountered something like this before?

We are also cruising the Allure in Feb 2020.. can't wait!

OK, my friends and my wife are tucked in for the evening (in their respective cabins, LOL!)... early rise tomorrow for Labadee, but let me see if I can catch up to today!
Yesterday, SUN (5/19/19), we elected to take the port shuttle coordinated through the hotel... fortunately, we were the only pickup and made it to the port in short time. We got off of the bus and they unloaded and handled the checked baggage from the drop off point at the terminal.
Now, this is where we all really got annoyed... the people at the port are mostly clueless about the Key!
We were able to quickly get through security, but when we got to the next area and had our SetSail Pass scanned, we had to basically go through the entire check-in process again. We had already uploaded our pics using the app, added our credit card, and scanned our passports. However, she still completed the entire process (except for the credit card info) all over again...
We were finally directed to the boarding waiting area, that’s where they really dropped the ball. We all had printed out our SetSail passes and had the app open, but because the SetSail pass did not clearly state we had the Key (only listed Expedited Arrival), a couple of the port employees would not let us advance to the suite and Key waiting area to board. These employees did not have the ability to scan our SetSail passes to confirm what we were stating.
Even after we showed them a printed copy of our Cruise Planner purchases that clearly showed we purchased the Key, they escorted us to another waiting area and told us we had to wait there with everyone else. When they started boarding other C&A members after they cleared out the suite and Key guests, we got a little more insistent and tracked down another port employee. He finally let us by and allowed us to board the ship!
We made our way to the Amber Theater and checked in with the crew member coordinating the carry-on drop-off... that was flawless. They took our carry-ons and tagged them and moved them into another area to be delivered to our cabin. We mentioned the problem we had in the port and she basically smiled, apologized and indirectly confirmed that there are issues (assuming educating/ training these port employees).
... and off we went to Chops to take advantage of our Key complimentary embarkation day lunch. We only had to wait a few minutes before we were seated. Despite all of the unnecessary confusion and stress at the port, it only took us 45 minutes from the time we arrived at the port to the time we were seated at Chops.
We all went with the filet mignon which everyone enjoyed including my friend who is very picky about his steak. Service was excellent and as expected for a specialty restaurant.
Here are shots of the Key lunch menu, my steak (no sides on plate yet - not a great shot!), the delicious wild mushroom soup, some of our desserts, and a shot of my wife, Christine.



.


 
While we were there, we received the announcement that the cabins were ready... we went to the cabins and all of our luggage and carry-ons were there. We unpacked and then started to explore the ship. We stopped at the Trellis bar in Central Park and we started to break in our drink packages! My first, based on many of your recommendations, was a Lava Flow!

 
We later had our muster drill in Studio B... by the time we made our way to the upper decks, the ship had already left port and was passing the beach and entering the Atlantic. Missed leaving port somehow... the ship was so smooth and we lost track of time so none of us knew she had already left port! 
Wandered over the the Sun Deck and the bridge wings...



 
We explored a little more of the ship and went down to the MDR for our 6:00 PM, My Time dining... we had made all of our reservations months ago in the Cruise Planner. Here is the first night’s MDR menu...

 
Although it’s only been 2 evenings, we absolutely love our waitstaff (Waiter: Kadek, Asst: Oleksandr & Beverage: Jose) and our window table for 4!
Here is the view from my seat!

 
I had the the French Onion soup (decent, not the best), Maryland Crab Cake (okay, not great) and the Chicken Marsala which was very good... everyone was overall very happy with their selections.

 
We headed over next to the Amber Theater to see Mamma Mia for the 8:00 PM show. We arrived 15 minutes before showtime and just had to show our SeaPass, which had the Key sticker affixed from the start, and we were directed to the reserved section. Our seats were two rows behind the booth... loved the seats! A little less than 10 minutes before showtime, they started opening up the reserved section to general admission.

 
We all thoroughly enjoyed the show! After the show, we wandered around a little more and the wives retired to our cabins. As a side note, we booked adjoining CP balcony cabins and they were able to remove the partition (about 1/3 the length of the partition can be removed) allowing us to walk between the two balconies. Pics to follow later I’m sure!
My friend and I headed to Casino Royale and played some single deck blackjack for a couple of hours and finally retired after midnight... he won a little, me not so much! Not too bad though... ?
OK... time for me to get to bed or I’ll be a zombie tomorrow! I’ll try to catch up as the week progresses!
 
 

Will be following along - we are cruising on Allure in Feb 2020 - have fun! ?

Will be following along - we are cruising on Allure in Feb 2020 - have fun! ?

So for dinner tonight we had 6:30 reservations at Giovanni’s Table and that was going to be followed by a 9:00 showing of the ice skating show (Ice Games). We were seated quite promptly at Giovanni’s and overall had a wonderful dinner, though there were some culinary duds in the mix and some pacing issues which we later found out were due to some large tables slowing down the kitchen. That’s fine, but I would have preferred a bit more communication from our server on the delay and cause of it. 

A shot of the mostly completely attacked bread basket which was full of very good crusty Italian bread. I’m such a snob about Italian bread and this was very very good and fresh. The right contrast of crusty but pliable exterior and a light, fluffy interior. They give you olive oil with balsamic vinaigrette sprinkled with Parmesan cheese for dipping. 
For my appetizer I got the pancetta (slow cooked pork belly). 

It was good but not great. A tad dry and not as flavorful as I was expecting. 

My mom and I got an order of the bolognese pasta to split as our pasta dish. It was just....ok. I would definitely get another pasta if we went back. My dad loved his wild mushroom risotto but I’m not a mushroom person. You can see his pasta in the background of the next picture. My new love. Giovanni’s filet.

Hands down, as a filet this beats Chop’s filet. The sauce is better, the mashed potatoes are better, and the steak is either a better cut or prepared better. It’s very juicy and tender with a lot of good flavors. As an overall steak, it’s the second best on the ship of what I’ve tasted. Number 1 is still Coastal Kitchen rib eye. 
To get back around to the pacing issue I noted earlier. We got there at 6:30. At 7:30 our appetizers had been cleared and we were still waiting for our main dishes. She asked if we wanted desert around 8:10 when I told her that we did, but as a note we had a 9pm show. She then apologized for all the delays and explained what caused them. She picked up the pace on clearing everything and taking our dessert orders. But before she took our dessert orders she brought out......a cake with a candle in it for my mom’s birthday! I had come by the night before and spoken to the host about getting a candle put in a dessert for her and brought to the table but *without any singing* because my family can’t stand that. I had asked if at all possible to have it be carrot cake because it’s her favorite dessert but said I totally understood if they couldn’t make it happen. Well, turns out they weren’t able to swing that BUT they did bring her over a dessert from 150 Central Park instead! 


It was very nice how she did it and very much appreciated. By the way, it was excellent and very refreshing. 
I got the hazelnut chocolate cake for dessert. 

Ok so I take back anything I said about not having had a phenomenal cake on Royal. Here it is. This cake. This very cake. Was so f***ing good. That I paused between bites to just savor it. So rich. So moist. Such a great crumb. The frosting. So decadent. I just. Y U M. Also my dad was obsessed with the tiramisu but since I don’t like coffee I was trying to clear my tastebuds after trying it. Overall, we finished with Giovanni’s around 8:30 so it took a good, full 2 hours to eat there. Time accordingly. 
We stopped by the room to change shoes and somehow lost my dad to the siren call of the bed. My mom was a trooper though and joined me for seeing the Ice Show. We got there around 8:40 and used Key seats. Excellent seats there: 

overall the ice show was super fun and cheesy in the best way. I was surprised by how much they must have spent on song licensing because they had stuff from some pretty famous and varied musicians. From Michael Jackson to Barbra Streisand to Elvis to Christina Aguilera. It was also fairly interactive so if you have no desire for them to interact and play with you, don’t sit in the front row. 
It was a great end to the night and now it’s BED.    

I am probably the worst person to ask about this as I tend to avoid the pool deck a lot except for the Solarium, but I can tell you I have heard some people simply sit down on a chair that has a towel and see if someone says something to you. I imagine that’s not an appealing option if you aren’t a confrontational person but as long as you aren’t looking for chairs together for a huge number of people you should probably be fine. I do know that people also sometimes move chairs to create a larger group of chairs together. When I was camped out in the Solarium the other day, I asked my dad to watch over my kindle when I went up to the bar and when I came back, 2 of the padded chairs next to me had been kidnapped by a group of people on the other side of the hot tub. Other people just viewed that as more space to dump their stuff while they hopped in the pool. 
The newly empty space that turned into a hot tub staging area. 
Oh and I forgot I had this picture of the pool area at 10am on one of the sea days. As you can see, still plenty of chairs. That Solarium picture I took made it seem like the majority had been saved that early. It’s not the case, don’t worry! 

The internet has been a bit spotty today and so I couldn’t do some of the smaller updates I wanted to. I was only JUST able to access the blog (though for some reason CC would load. Unfair!) 
This morning we went for breakfast in the Solarium Bistro around 8 since we knew that we wanted to camp out in the Solarium for the morning. They had a buffet set up that had fruit, pastries, various types of eggs (scrambled, fried, hard boiled, etc), different breakfast meats, breakfast potatoes and circular hash browns. The food was just OK and the hash browns were definitely the best part. They honestly reminded me of fresh McDonald’s hashbrowns. But not as greasy. That is a high compliment. After eating, I went scouting for a padded chair in the shade since I am a translucent Irish woman who sunscreen only does so much for. Since it was so early, I had quite a lot of options, though I was surprised at how many chairs were already reserved. This was taken at 8:30 am

The seat I ended up claiming was PERFECT. It was right next to a side table and located under a fake palm tree in front of the hot tub. While I had no intention of using the hot tub, I did get a delightful spray of water to cool me down a little when the wind blew the right way. 


I was able to hang out here reading and enjoying the weather until noon when the sun found me and I started to cook. I then retreated to our shaded balcony like some sort of vampire. But before I did that, I stopped by Sorrentos to try for myself the new and improved pizza. I have to say, it’s not the best pizza I’ve ever tasted, but it is quite tasty for what it is and it was fresh and hot. I got the BBQ chicken because that was what was ready then and I didn’t feel like waiting for a fresh pie. 

I ate the pizza there and went up a deck to grab a fresh squeezed juice from Vitality Cafe on my way to the room. This time I got the carrot lemonade.


 It tasted better than it sounds, but I still liked the apple mint more. It was more complex and interesting flavor wise. 

PS keep an eye out for one of these machines to see if a place has fresh squeezed OJ. I know Windjammer has it and the MDR, but so do Park and Vitality Cafes. 
The afternoon was quite boring to cover in a blog but very needed as I alternated between “resting my eyes” and reading. I had not really gotten good rest leading up to this trip and I’ve been operating on a sleep deficit. Protip: make sure to be as well rested as possible before starting vacation because doing nothing in the sun is exhausting. Eventually it was time for dinner in CK! 

We had yet another server today. This one was very good about recommending things and was very attentive, but she wasn’t very chatty and it felt rushed at times. I’m sure we could have asked for the pace to be slowed down so that is likely on us. For this meal I got the braised beef gnocchi and the Moroccan spiced chicken breast. 

The braised beef was good and hearty. I had never had gnocchi before though I knew what they are in theory. They were quite nice and I could see myself ordering that in the future. 

The chicken was extremely moist for a breast and was perfectly cooked. I loved the spice level in the sauce but it was a bit much for my dad and my mom refused to even try it (she always gets mild wings). I also tried a bit of my dad’s strip steak as I was curious how it was. I was glad I didn’t end up getting it as my main course since it was good, but it paled in comparison to last night’s ribeye. 

For desert, I got the chocolate napoleon. 

While it was good, I was a bit surprised that it was only chocolate. I think I was expecting different layers besides a moussey fudge on top of a very thin sponge. 
Which brings us to now. With 2 port days coming up in  a row I really wanted to crash early and try to get some proper sleep so I can fully enjoy those ports. Tomorrow we have booked the Thenford Grey Grand Tour  of St Kitt’s which is a 3rd party excursion that comes highly recommended. I hope because of this tomorrow’s blog post will be more interesting to read! 
I leave you with a shot of the made up sofa bed with the curtain across the room drawn. I love the separation it provides and I have taken to announcing that I’m “closing my door” when I go to draw the curtain at night. It’s the little things in life. 

 
 
 

No picture but snack shack was burger, chicken sandwich or hot dog , with fries or mozzarella sticks
 

@stephenkurucz follow along, it's interesting!

Hi,
 
We are going on the Allure in Feb 2020 with another couple. Is it best to 'link the cruises together' so we can book our dining and entertainment together? Any other perks of linking cruises together? Has anyone had any experience doing this before?

March 2020? Haha I'm right before the transatlantic... I hope everything is ok by then lol

That's great to hear! I had no idea - I'm new to cruising 

Still looks like they are a way's from being completed for the May 2019 date. I'm glad I'm not going until Feb 2020 so more work has been completed!

Loved following along - awesome pictures and updates, thanks for sharing! My girlfriend and I are going on the Allure in Feb 2020 and are so excited as it's our first cruise!!

They've got some tasty bugs in the Bahamas ?

CocoCay Perfect Day "opening" day . ?
 

Thanks for this awesome review - my girlfriend and I are cursing for the first time in Feb 2020 and plan on doing the Bernards Tour #2 and are very exited ? 
 
How are the prices at the restaurant / bakery, etc? How much cash do you recommend bringing for this port day?

I saw many other threads recommending Bernard's Tours (https://www.bernardstours.com/) for a day trip around St. Maarten, and thought I'd chime in that I highly recommend them.  Below are some details about our experience, which I haven't seen posted elsewhere and hopefully well help answer other people's questions similar to the ones I had prior to visiting.
 
I was with a family group of 8 people in total, ranging from my son (8 years old) to my father-in-law (80 years old).  Everyone is generally mobile and doesn't require anything like a stroller or walker, although I could see the tour easily accommodating those if we had needed them. We were on Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas with a port call in St. Maarten on Thursday Jan 3rd, 2019.  There were 2 other ships in port that day as well.  We were there from 7AM until 5PM. I made the reservation via their website about 45 days in advance.  We decided to do the private customized tour for 8 people, total cost $495, with a deposit of $100 required in advance.  I paid the remaining $395 onsite as we were starting the tour via a credit card. We had decided not to rush off the boat, so asked for a 10AM - 4PM tour time.  This worked well as it allowed us to eat breakfast and walk off the ship at a leisurely pace.  I got a phone call directly from Bernard at about 9:30AM on my cell phone just to confirm we were still planning on coming. It was a little hard to find the tour lot.  You have to walk past all the small vendor kiosks, through a chain link fence gate, and there are some white tent canopies setup in a gravel parking lot.  It's to the left of the main taxi parking lot, just past the big sign that says welcome to St. Maarten. We asked a random vendor on the pier which way to go and they easily pointed it out to us.  There isn't any clear signage at the tent that it's Bernard's Tours, but all the drivers had shirts with the logo on it. After paying, we were assigned a driver, David, and a 10-12 person passenger van (3-4 rows of seats in it).  The van was very clean and modern and Brian had a small step stool to help my inlaws step into an out of the van.  In between the front seats was a cooler with bottle of water, coke, diet coke, beer, and a bottle of rum.  Brian regularly encouraged us to take whatever we wanted from the coolor over the course of the day.  David had a headset microphone he wore the whole time that was hooked up to the speakers in the van.  Whenever he spoke it was broadcast over the speakers and made it easy for anyone in the van to hear him without blasting us out in the front row. The first thing he asked us was what we wanted to do / see.  We had some general desires, such as some beach time, the french-dutch border, and the airplanes at maho beach.  He then provided us with some maps of the island and suggested we do a route around the whole island with certain specific stops detailed below.  He suggested NOT going to Orient Beach due to us having kids and it being clothing optional.  We readily agreed to his suggestions. We then set of, and were pleasantly surprised to find that he was able to narrate the whole time all about the island, the various major buildings, sites, history, and in particular the impact of the recent hurricanes.  He quickly learned all our names and was quick to address us by them and try to gauge what each of us were interested in. The some of the stops we didn't get out of the van, and were for things like the oldest building on the island, the East Dutch/French border monument, and the big new flagpole on the mountainside. Other tops we generally got out for a while and included: An overlook of Oyster Bay, which gave a view of all the boats still sunk in the harbor due to the hurricane Rotary Lookout Point, an elevated platform with an amazing view of some undeveloped beaches and islands.  Normally there is a guy there that brings in sea urchins for tourists to see, but he wasn't there that day.  We were able to find one or two to pick up close to the shore. The Iguana 'farm', which is just a small roadside stall with 2 ladies near some iguana nesting sites.  The ladies threw out some lettuce and gave the kids sticks with lettuce on them to attract the iguanas and feed them, which was pretty cool to see Lunch at Rainbow Cafe Beach bar (http://rainbowcafe.fr/) on Grand Case Beach.  That area was hit hard by the hurricanes and there are only a few beach establishments open still.  We had about 75 minutes here and it was exactly like something out of the movies, with a perfect beach and water (85 degree weather that day!).  It cost $15 for 2 beach chairs with an umbrella and waiter service, only a few feet from the water.  Altogether we spent about $120 for 8 people to have chairs, some drinks and food and just bask in the environment. A stop in 'downtown' at Marigot Market, to visit a bakery and various street market stalls for some shopping.  We had about 30 minutes to walk around and see the sights and wares available. A stop at the West Dutch/French board monument while crossing over the border to find a geocache for my daughter (David mentioned that he once had somebody hire him to just drive around the island looking for geocaches) A stop at Maho Beach at the airport to see the planes land and take off.  We had about 30 minutes here, and were there at the perfect time to see lots of big jets both coming in for a landing and taking off.  
Altogether, all 8 of us were extremely impressed and happy with the experience, ranging from the myrid of things David told us while driving around about the island and it's people, to the wide range of stops we made and time available to enjoy them.  I'd highly recommend Bernard's tours to anyone going to Sint Maarten / Saint Martin

We are sailing on Allure in Feb 2020 - cant wait to see what you have to say about your experience (this will be our first cruise - we are in our late 20's)

I'm just hoping everything is completed by Feb 2020 when we go!

Hi there, @A_perfect_Storm, welcome to the message boards!
I'm not aware of any specific planning timelines like you mention, but here are some general guidelines I think work for any cruise. I'm sure I've missed some things, others here will fill in the gaps
Starting right now Think about making monthly payments towards your cruise balance; this is a great way to spread out the cost over as much time as possible Put a reminder in your calendar for 3 days ahead of your final payment date, and make sure the cruise is paid off then -- if you miss final payment, you lose your cruise! No backsies, no mulligans, no second chances! About 12 months before sailing -- start checking your Cruise Planner for any items you may be interested in purchasing, like shore excursions, internet packages, beverage packages (alcoholic or non), specialty dining, etc. @Matt, who runs the site, is very good about posting in the main blog when new sales start in the Cruise Planner; you can re-check for things each time a new sale / promotion is announced Try to space out your purchases, to spread out the payments and avoid having a painful credit card bill in any one month Know that you can always cancel something you bought, and then re-purchase it, if you find later on that the price has dropped 8-9 months before sailing -- check your passports and make sure they will still be valid for at least 6 months after your cruise ends; if not, get them renewed now so they're in effect for about 6 months prior to sailing Also apply for passports for any family members who don't yet have them; while you can sail with just a drivers license and birth certificate, having a passport is generally better 90 days before sail date You had that reminder fire off and you took care of final payment, right? If not, do it on this day or lose your cruise! Do your online checkin and complete all forms, print your set sail pass 45 days before sail date -- start checking for your eDocuments on the web site (available under the View More Details link for your sailing after you log in) When you have your documents, you can also print your luggage tags 1 week before sail date Get all documents and papers together; passports, set sail passes, luggage tags, etc. If you haven't yet, put a travel alert on all credit cards you expect to use abroad 2+ days before sail date -- get cash for tips and other small expenses, souvenirs if you don't want to use your credit card, etc. 1+ day before sail date -- fly down to the port; never do this the day you sail away!! Hope this helps! The next year and two months is going to be a blast as you prepare and plan and eagerly await your vacation!