Firefly

How did I miss this awesome live review when it began?! Just spent way too much time catching up. Fabulous photos as always. The ship looks incredible, definitely adding her to my wish list. Thanks for taking us along on your journey.

We forgot to pack goggles for our kids a few years ago and in October the only store that had them instock enroute to our destination was a sporting goods store $$$. Of course heaven forbid the kids couldn’t swim at the hotel. We absolutely loved Allure last year. My boys still talk about Washy Washy Woman at the MDR. Have a great cruise!

Wow, 7 pages and you’re not even on the ship yet...I can tell this will be a fun live review. Have an amazing cruise!

We sailed on Allure in a deck 8 ocean balcony and loved the convenience of being an easy walk to central park. We were close to the forward stairs/elevators which I was nervous about at first, but it was never an issue. The location was very quiet and it was awesome being so close to the Park Cafe and Trellis Bar. We liked the location so much we booked deck 8 again for Symphony next year.

We booked an ocean balcony guarantee room for our Oasis cruise this past December. Booked in July, didn’t get a room assignment until second week of October. Some people get their assignment right away, others not until they check in at the port.

The more I thought about 25,000+ cruisers in port on the same day, I realized I just needed to bite the bullet and book all inclusive. Just booked Nachi Cocom and now we can rest easy knowing we have a place to sit and won’t be over crowded. We also have Maya Chan booked two day earlier for the same cruise, so it will be fun to enjoy and compare the resorts. Thanks again for all the great information you share on the blog & boards , it makes cruise planning so much easier.

All these beautiful pictures make me wish our Brilliance cruise wasn’t so far away. 293 days and counting. Paradise Beach looks gorgeous and so relaxing. The day our cruise stops in Cozumel it looks like we will be one of 8 ships in port, so I’m a bit nervous about crowds making the day less enjoyable. We are planning on purchasing the DX drink package so the idea of just staying on the ship and enjoying a quiet day on board is our current plan. Beautiful beaches just might lure us off if the day ends up looking beautiful weather wize. You don’t need to make reservations ahead for Paradise beach, correct?

I never I experienced this in until this past December after our Oasis cruise. We had very rough seas the second to the last night, so I thought maybe that caused it. I mostly felt it when I laid down or closed my eyes. It didn’t matter if I was sitting or even standing. It took a good 4-5 days before it went away, it was so annoying. Hope the feeling goes away for you soon.

We absolutely loved Pinel Island and definitely plan on visiting again the next time we are in SXM. We visited in December as part of our all day boat tour with Coconut Reef. I think there is an official RCCL excursion there, but it’s a bit pricey. Our all day tour wasn’t much more and we got to visit Tintamarre Island, Creole Rock and Maho Beach as well. We never visited SXM before the hurricane, but Pinel Island is still beautiful even after the storm. Both restaurants have been rebuilt and the beaches are back to normal. If we ever stay in SXM for longer than a cruise visit we will definitely spend a whole day or more on Pinel Island.

@twangster Fabulous timelapse video, thanks for sharing. When we sailed an eastern itinerary on Allure in June we never felt any movement. We then sailed another eastern itinerary on Oasis this past December and she was rocking side to side like crazy on night 6 as we made our way back to Port Canaveral. I am prone to sea and motion sickness, but surprisingly never had any issues. I was amazed how much Oasis rocked considering how huge she is. We were in the main theater and it was crazy how the drapes on the stage where swaying back and forth. Everyone around us in the theater was talking about how much movement there was. We all looked drunk trying to walk out at the end of the show.

Loving all the pictures, can’t choose just one favorite from our cruises last year. Sorry for the pic overload. Our view from our balcony on the first morning on Allure was nothing short of spectacular. My sons and nephews had the best time cruising together on Allure. We fell in love with the water in SXM The stop in Old San Juan was way too short. Loved the culture and the resilience of the people we encountered there. So sad to see the mark Hurricane Marie left there. Loved the viewof Allure from Columbus Cove in Labadee. Time of our life snorkeling in St. Thomas on our Oasis cruise in December. Cannot wait to swim with the turtles again next year on our Symphony cruise. Our second visit to SXM took us to Pinel Island. Love that place!

@jagnew - thank you so much for confirming they are available at Schooner Bar - looks like a great place to relax after dinner each night.

Tiramisu Martini. We seriously skipped dessert the last 4 nights of our Oasis cruise and enjoyed drinking dessert. Yes, they are slightly over the drink package limit, but we thought they were well worth it. The Chocolate Martini was was covered in the package so we indulged on those other times. Have a great cruise!

Thank you for the replies. Happy to hear we should be able to order them. Honestly, my favorite dessert martini is the Tiramisu Martini at Champagne Bar, but I know the chances of other bars having the marscapone cheese for it are slim.

We loved the chocolate martinis at Champagne Bar on Oasis & Allure, where can we order these on Brilliance?

I’ve been following for a long time, but finally came out of lurk mode and registered. I’m Katrina and my husband Eric and I have recently fallen in love with cruising (and Royal Caribbean). Our first cruise with Royal was this past June on Allure with our two tween boys. We followed that up with an Oasis cruise last month without the boys and currently have 2 more cruises booked. (1 with the boys, 1 without) Thank you for all the great info and tips. Thanks to this blog I have booked Maya Chan for our Brilliance cruise in December and we couldn’t be more excited!

We have done both the half day and full day tours on St. Maarten with http://coconut-reef.com/ and they were both great days out on the water. In June our boys, 10 & 12, said it was the best day of the cruise. My husband and I went out with them again last month and feel in love with Pinel Island. I can’t imagine visiting SXM and not going out with Coconut Reef. In June we were the only family on the half day tour, and last month there were only 2 other couples on the boat with us. We love the small group size in comparison to the big group tours common with ship sponsored excursions. On St. Thomas we booked a private tour with https://www.stthomasadventures.com/snorkel for $120pp. We toured with the owner, Web, and he was amazing. We swam with turtles and snorkeled from the beach at Hull Bay. Even with 4 ships in port that day we never saw a crowd. Highly recommend a tour with them while in St. Thomas. They will take you were you want to go and provide everything you need to snorkel. We have already booked with him again for our family Symphony cruise with the boys next year.