foxrunner

We are particular about our tea. At home we drink Williamson, Republic of Tea, and Yorkshire Gold to name a few. The standard tea was solid on Allure. We drink mainly British Breakfast and an occasional green tea. The problem is I didn't pay attention to the name of the tea served and I've never seen it for sale in the USA.  We did have the DBP and could have found premium teas but the standard stuff was readily available in the Windjammer, Main Dining Room,and Specialty Dining so we ordered and enjoyed it.

My unscientific polling says that Royal Car/blog members are smarter than your average bear, with finish times well under the expected average.

1 minute ago, Frank said:

I didn’t know they had free snorkeling! That’s great! 

Right off the Chill beach. They rent masks and snorkels and fins. If you are a strong swimmer just bring your mask and don't bother with the fins. You could rent the fins as they take up a lot of packing room. The snorkel rental shack will tell you to watch a completely uninformative video if you ask about the best location to see stuff. They also told me the sunken plane  was removed. I didn't see it as I wasn't sure that they weren't snowing me. 

The waterpark is excellent if that is your thing.

The free snorkeling is pretty average but great if you have never snorkeled.

The swim up bar is fun for a spin and then we needed to move on. 

We had a great dare I say perfect day @......... 

We my wife and two sons had the key on Allure over New Years this year. The Key is worth it if you are going to use all of the aspects of the program listed below.

1 You are going to purchase WiFi and use it.

2 You are going to go to the shows and get the reserved seats which are very good.

3 You are going to attend the Key only times for Flowrider, Rock Climbing and Zipline.

4 Priority embarkation and debarkation is important to you.

5 You want the Chops lunch and special final breakfast.  

For us because we checked all of the above boxes it was worth it.

If I had a tight return flight schedule and nothing else on the list above appealed to you it could be worth it. If you have  a high level Crown& Anchor  status it is also probably not worth it. 

We missed Costa Maya and it was a bummer, but the extra sea day was very relaxing. These ships are full of things to do or not. Like many others have said just enjoy and go with the flow. If you can have the mindset that the port itinerary is just a suggestion that helps.  

My 20Y.o.d. is enjoying you fine city as we speak . Yikes!

Just back, we were the only ship, but AOS. We had a waterpark cabana  and a great (Like Tony says) time.  Did not feel the crowd at all. We were also in every venue and should have spent more time in the cabana but wanted to see everything.  Total 1st timers!

+1

The island has a ton of cool stuff to do. A powerwalk/barcrawl/wade would be fun for the antibeach crowd. 

The Solarium is 16 years old and up. Pretty peaceful up there! 

Excellent!

Love the soundtrack!

Just now, monctonguy said:

Glad you made those stops....crazy how rough the seas have been the past mth or two...I don't remember since I started cruising hearing about it this often. I know our cruise in Nov the first 3 days were like that as well..first time ever for me.

I haven't ether, but a friend of mine who vacations in the Caribbean twice a year for the last 20 years says it is normal. She calls these winds Christmas winds and says they are prevalent in Dec. and Jan. I think she said she learned this from the locals on Anguilla.   

Nice job!

It is a little hard to hear your commentary over the soundtrack.

Cheers!

5 hours ago, Flacruiser99 said:

I thought Costa Maya could hold 3 ships?

I don't know if Costa Maya can hold two or three ships, but were told by the Captain "the port is closed to the Allure because there is no room at the dock". I'm sure we are dealing with some RCCL propaganda. The Captain also blamed the other ship for the problem, interestingly no mention of  Allures busted propulsion system.

@JLMoran miss the "drinks and know things" thingy

We had an Ocean View Balcony and it was much larger than I anticipated.  Tons of clever storage, so maybe my hack is that you don't need one. We did use magnetic hooks, a shoe caddy, and night light. The bathroom had a built in night light and the peephole let in enough light to get you to the bathroom door. One great thing dear wifey brought was an airfreshener for the lav. Now that was nice.

Just back. We had to skip Costa Maya due to 50MPH winds. Another ship was stuck in Allure's birth from the previous night. They couldn't get out that morning and were going to try again that evening. I don't know if they were successful. Just thinking  about missing your return flight, nightmare. The crew said Costa Maya is always windy and often problematic. Only room for two ships on the pier and NCL beat us to get the empty spot. We missed out on our Mayan ruin tour, bummer! We didn't get pinned to the dock though, win!

Just back, we enjoyed our walk up to the Queen's Staircase and the fort. Great walk to combat the cruise cocktails. Our boys (17&20) haven't ever seen the underside of a developing nation. It was a good cultural experience to walk the streets of Nassau and get a better appreciation for how the world works.  We were very comfortable and people were very friendly. Now we don't wear expensive clothing or have flashy jewelry or cameras and carried just a little bit of cash. I was also close to my family and was tuned in to our environment. The hawkers were only present around the ship, once you leave the straw market it was fine.  We were off the ship at 8:00AM and back by 10:00AM. Enough time to stretch the legs and enjoy an empty ship. As with all this kind of advice "whatever floats your boat."

7 minutes ago, twangster said:

  It's perfect for multi-generational family cruising.  

+1

20 hours ago, JenLA621 said:

Just checked our harmony July cruise. It’s $131.99!  At that price we will only get it for our high schooler. We were planning on all four of us but not at that price. I imagine it will be long lines and hot weather.  This is making an Atlantis $$ excursion look almost reasonable. 

We were their last week and they give you a 1 hour time slot for  the tallest ride on the tower. This gets you one run on that slide and about,in our experience a 30 minute wait. After 3:00PM you could go back and ride that big one all you wanted, and I'd estimate the wait about 30 min. The rest of the slides were no wait to 10-15 minutes. We didn't find the water park crowded. We were the only ship in port, but we were on the Allure. We had a wonderful day, and when you consider that many private beach clubs run around 100 bucks a day, it is reasonable. Yes you get the food and drink for nothing at CC C but the clubs don't have a water park. If we ever cruise without the boys 17 & 20 Y.O. we would skip the park even though it was a blast. For me though the real fun was being with them and my bride.  Just the two of us would chill at the pool and beach.

On Allure last week I asked the Solarium barkeep if the tips were pooled or went directly to her(Ariana)? She said"I get to keep all of it". I usually tipped a buck a bev. but when I didn't the service was consistently good. Complex drinks like the Margs at Sabor were slow but so good and worth the wait.  

We are just back,  at Coco on Dec. 30th on Allure. We went every where Chill, Thrill, Ocean, and the Pool and the crowd felt smallest at the water park. It was $119.oo prior to cruise to book.  No where was over crowded but we only had Allure in port. Great time, might have been my favorite port! I heard one couple say that " a water park for $120.oo per person,  ridiculous, as a family of 5 were out"!  We scored the cabana early on for $549.oo and prior to sailing it was 3 grand. Why was I in the know...... this cool site. Thanks

We are just back,  at Coco on Dec. 30th and the air temp was 79* F. (how do make the degree thingy?) partly cloudy, not windy. We are hardy Cape Codders and swim @ 70* F. at the height of Summer. My boys are polar plungers and in my day I was as well. I still think 60* water temp is fine. Context is important in this conversation, not bragging.  We swam in every possible location pool, ocean, slides, and wave pool and the temp was an unscientific "fine". The pool on Allure  was a similar temp but warmed (yuck) as the day went on.  Go in quick and the body will adjust, a little anti-freeze if you get what I mean, doesn't hurt.  

I want to thank everyone for the excellent guidance for our first RCL cruise. We are super prepared and most importantly at ease because of this blog's guidance. 

Cheers!

4 hours ago, FionaMG said:

I love the gyms on Royal. They have much better equipment than my local gym, which is run by the municipality. I don't know if you have a specific time you like to train but I have found if you go late afternoon / early evening, from about 4.30 pm onwards,  it tends to be pretty quiet. I have heard it can be really busy first thing in the morning. 

Good to know, as that is our preferred gym time.