melmar02

8x10 was the only size available when we were on her. Sorry, I can't help with your multiple copy question.

Yes, Radiance offers only print photos. I'm not sure about your private photo session as we only get one of the packages, but I was surprised when we sailed on her last summer that digital was not an option. I still haven't scanned in our 100 prints from that cruise to make a photo book - they are just sitting in a folder with our cruise stuff.

Did you book through Royal or the water park?

Just as a comparison, Thrill Waterpark on the same cruise is less expensive.

Just found the Lost Mayan Kingdom listed in shore excursions on our Halloween cruise. The park's Facebook page says they are reopening this summer, no update on their website yet - when you click on their "Book Now" link it takes you to an inactive 404 page.

We're sailing her on Halloween, but she moves to Ft. Lauderdale by then.

Photo package if you want one.

Fortunately the one we're looking at says we will be returned to the ship. There are two available, one ends at FLL and the other at MIA. We would definitely book the one for FLL just in case - we can always grab a quick Uber or Lyft back to the port.

We stopped buying the DBP when we hit diamond, but we still get the refreshment package.

We're taking our first B2B embarking out of Port Everglades this fall. DH has been eyeing the Airboat Ride excursion in Fort Lauderdale on the first disembarkation day. I'm iffy on it. If you have done this excursion, what were your thoughts? What will we be missing onboard that is offered to B2B-ers on turnaround day if we leave the ship?

My kids thought it was weird that Allure didn't have a 13 since Radiance and Liberty have it.

We just got off Allure a couple weeks ago. I'm not sure what you mean by load yourself onto the Flowrider, but their policy was that you had to have prior stand up surfing type experience before you could surf. The prior experience could be previous stand up Flowrider, snow boarding, skateboarding, etc.

We requested an extra blanket via the email that was sent 3 days prior to sailing that @Ampurp85 mentioned. It was not in our cabin on arrival. We didn't see our cabin attendant until after he had turned down the room on day 1, and it still wasn't there. We met him in the hall and he grabbed one for us before we went to bed that night.

One of the genies on Allure announced on our bridge tour that she's (Allure) going to be amped in 2025. There may be something on the schedule for Liberty even they haven't officially announced anything yet.

Ex competition dancer here; however I have never been on Q. This is my take from these photos alone (which I found on cruise deck plans website). Music Hall looks like it has a decent floor for a cruise ship - much better than the postage stamp size of a typical Viking Crown Lounge, and also looks to be a little wider than the forward lounges on the Freedom class. You should be able to get in a nice foxtrot or waltz here - depending on who is playing of course. You should be able to get a nice rhumba in at Boleros too. I don't believe 270 is really set up for dancing; I believe it is set up for their shows only. Again, I'm assuming from pictures. I think a big part of you getting your slow dance on at these venues will depend on whatever bands / DJs they have during your sailing.

Aww, looks like we missed Blue Planet by a couple of weeks. Did they run both it at Oceanaria multiple nights, or just one each?

Smitha didn't get that memo a couple weeks ago on Allure. She called them snacks, but it was really a second lunch around 2pm everyday.

Loving your pictures! We just booked a southern Caribbean for late spring 2025...may have to swap it out and head back to AK.

It was, but there was a convenient little tab in the back to pop the top of the wax seal off. We still had to ask for a corkscrew though. We drink mostly reds at home and thought this was a good wine in case anyone was wondering.

Did I miss pics while we were gone?

I did, but we didn't get pictures. Games seemed pretty spread out in there.

@Ren another perk is that pool towels were in the room for us. We didn't have to run to the pool deck to get them for the Flowrider or excursions. Stateroom attendant swapped used out for clean whenever he saw we used one.

None of the classes were free. We did take a galley and bridge tour that were included. There was also a SC only session at the Flowrider. All food was included except for food at Starbucks. Free drink packages and wifi for everyone in the cabin.

Final thoughts: Allure was a great ship. She seemed to be well maintained with no obvious signs of rust, wear, etc. The entertainment offered is what we have come to expect on a ship. Some things are ok, some are really good. Oceanaria was fabulous. We've seen O in Vegas and it's a little mind boggling that they can pull this show off on a moving ship with a smaller pool. Our cabin was great - it's what we expect from the 2br suites, just with a slightly larger balcony. We never did use the side of the balcony that wraps around the master bedroom. I went over there one morning, but the neighbors were on their balcony and I wanted quiet. The only draw back was that you could hear noise from the aqua theater in the living room, but shows were over by 10pm. Activities - there really was too much for us to do even without the Abyss or water slides. We never even made it to the main pool deck or a single trivia game. We had a hard time trying to balance a chill vacation with doing everything. Because of work stress, I think DH would have preferred the former. I was worried Allure was going to be "too big" for us in terms of things to do, and that turned out to be correct. Freedom class is a better fit for us - we sail on Liberty again in the fall. She's our favorite ship, and we'll get our first crystal block on her. Cabin attendant - Ida was great, fast and polite. However, I saw him working rooms way down the hall - like almost to the mid point of our deck. I don't know if he was covering for someone or they were all assigned to him regularly. Either way, his towel animal game suffered. In the 2 bedroom with the kids, we have always received an abundance of critters (I think the record is 16 on a 7 night). We know the cutbacks have shortened their time in each room, but because this was a star class sailing, we thought this wouldn't affect us. We received a total of 4 for the week with the first one arriving on the afternoon of day 3. They were all placed in the master bedroom, which DH and I thought was odd - why not put them in the kids' room or the living room? Was this a big deal? Absolutely not, but it is one of those little details that make cruising special over a land vacation, and the lack was noticed. Food - was good throughout the week with just a couple of misses, like the burger in Chops. There was just too much of it for us. Internet - seemed pretty fast. I didn't have any upload issues. Genie - Smitha was very sweet, and did a great job at shuffling our reservations around. Again - the food! I don't know if we would sail star class again though. Having a genie and the opportunity to squeeze one more thing in because she could reserve seats for us may have actually been a drawback for us as DH really needed a more relaxing week. The delivery of drinks in the afternoon was nice, but because we had that, we didn't really use the mini bar other than the water. I had one beer, and we drank our bottle of wine, but I don't think the kids even opened a soda in the room. I think sky class is probably a better fit for us although the regular 2 br suites face the side and not the aft of the ship. We have sailed both the aft and side facing on 2 BRs on other ships and MUCH prefer the aft facing rooms. Our next Oasis class sailing is on Harmony next spring, and we're going to try two connecting balconies for the first time. Wish me luck! I think that's all for this one - let me know if you have a question about anything, and I'll be happy to help if I can!

Sadly, we were woken up by the sounds of docking and the sunrise just over the cruise terminal in Galveston. We had our final breakfast in CK, packed up the toothbrushes, and called Smitha for our last walk off. With facial recognition, we were at the curb with our luggage in just a couple minutes. We got a quick selfie with Smitha first. We boarded the shuttle for Lighthouse to take us to our parking lot, and soon it was full. You know that feeling you get when something is wrong, but you just can't put your finger on it? We pulled into traffic and didn't get very far before we heard a loud thud. I made a joke that some of the luggage probably fell out. We kept driving, and almost immediately, cars started honking at our shuttle. The driver did in fact forget to close the luggage compartment at the back of the shuttle and a piece had fallen out. He made the block to go pick it up, and every party on the bus sent someone out to make sure their suitcases were still there too. Fortunately (for us anyway) it wasn't one of our bags. We called the hotel (same one as pre-cruise) to see if we could check in early, and they said they were full, but we could drop off our luggage. 30 minutes later we walked in and they said their had been a cancellation so we could check in. Yay! They also were still serving breakfast and said we could take part if we wanted. We didn't. We unloaded the bags in the room which was a tad warm, turned down the AC and DH and I took a nap before heading out on our land adventure. When we work up, the room was even warmer. We called the desk and they sent maintenance to fix it while we headed to the downtown aquarium. They have a couple tigers and a sting ray touch tank where the kids fed the rays. A train takes you through the shark tunnel which used to be a water works building. We had lunch while there. The restaurant is part of Landry's, and there is a large aquarium in the center with tables and the bar all around it. Last food pics - shrimp and gator tacos, shrimp three ways, Louisiana Cajun pasta, and kids pizza. After lunch we went back outside - they have some rides and carnival games. DD joined DS and me on the carousel which had all marine creatures instead of horses. We drove back to the hotel and the air in the room was still not working. We called the front desk again, and they moved us to another 2 br room. We relaxed in the room for the rest of the afternoon and walked next door to Los Ramirez Mexican Restaurant. It opened a few years ago, and for some reason, we had never tried it before. We won't be back - it was just ok, and there are tons of other options in the area. Next morning we had our included breakfast and made the uneventful drive back to Dallas. The pups were happy to see us, and the kennel even bathed them for us. I'll post final thoughts tomorrow.