Ampurp85

Wait this is a 4 port sailing? Also yaaaaay you will join us fancy D+ folks who will still have access to the lounge all the time.

I don't get the theme love either, but I will say it was out in full effect on the past Allure sailing. Like they merged 70s night with the second formal night, and it was a hodgepodge of weirdness. Also, I refuse to wear white for anything, top-heavy and that is where all spills land Also I love the doggies, they are adorable.

Yes it says C&A members discount. I booked a couple of dinners in hopes I can parlay them into using my D+ BOGO.

She will never get it right......she calls me leesha even though she knows I hate it and it is not my preferred nickname. I believe it is the same ports. We plan to do all our excursions the first week and enjoy the ship the second week. I have already narrowed my excursions down, so my cost isn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. I used that CP hack to send the vintages a CP to look at so they can choose excursions......it's all about the whales for them.

This was their first IRL meeting. I think it enhanced it, since he is willing to sail with us, minus the new vintage, again. Well, she has continued to talk to him. He said she was a good person and he enjoyed her, so they are still friends.

I was on deck 3 of Harmony last year. It was the lowest floor I had ever stayed on. I heard absolutely everything my neighbors said and because I was midship, I was very close to MTD room and had to deal with that. The line would almost stretch to my room on certain nights, which meant I had to go the other way to get around. I think once the room is assigned, you can try to get a swap at least once.

I really liked Captain Gus, so good for him.

So here is my experience recently on Allure. You could call each restaurant and ask for a to-go order if you had the UDP. Of course, most of the places we did this was not formal sit-down places like Sabor, Izumi's and JR but we did do it with Giovanni's and had no issues. The latter is the only one that puts the food on plates, while the rest had to-go boxes. I am sure even without the UDP you can do this, but I think it works better on big ships.

I just booked them for 4/5 of my cruises, I have the UDP on Wonder. Embarkation lunches reduce stress and at $13.99, that's even better.

He said sometime in Sept. His son just had twins and he wanted to wait until they were at least a year old.

@ScottD thanks for finding the travel agency. It is a black-owned agency, and they had lots of themes planned. Based on some research, the cruise fare was deeply discounted and now I know why it contained so many trifling individuals.

No but I talked to them because I loved it. I was on deck 12, I had my last magnets stolen. So, I have only been getting the cheap ones, they continue to be taken, it must be the cats. I will also say that it was most of the chaos at that smoking table by the bar. I think it was craps, it was the one Jadakiss frequented.

I love both but there is something about fresh color and the new cut to go with it. I also love that you waited to get your daughter a phone. I see so many little children with them and wonder what it will do to their attention span.

I have been told I am too nice. If you acknowledge anything with me, I will give you another chance. They did work my nerves, but we had a nice talk, and they understand my points. Plus, I couldn't be mad once they gave me all the accolades for planning such a wonderful trip. The blind gent is going to do SOS from Port Liberty with his son and grandchildren, but he said if we sail from the East coast he would join us. The Alaskan cruise is going to a B2B for my brother and me. We plan to use our annual prime cruise since all the interiors on Quantum are VB interiors.

@CruzOnBye JR, MDR, the WJ, Solarium and Park Cafe were the only places open for breakfast. ELF at the Wipeout Cafe was 11-5ish everyday.

Okay final thoughts and stray observations. Allure looks good. I didn't get enough photos, but I will be back on her in Jan. The library had books and there was ample space to play games in the card room. The rooms lacked storage though, having been on amped ships, I am accustomed to having a bit more storage options. I also just learned I could use the phones to call other rooms........ The crew were amazing throughout and the service from our stewards was fantastic. He did come twice a day even though we had only requested evening service. The Evian water was so good. The 1L bottles proved to be too much even for heavy water drinkers like me and my brother. We took home 6 bottles out of the 24. The other water was really nasty until it was put over ice. But the ship water was, as usual, amazing. So was the lemonade. ELF at Wipeout Cafe was not good, it was the cheese they used. Bands and live music were great. We had dinner in Central Park a few nights and would go and listen to Miguel and other musicians before dinner. New vintage loved the Champagne Bar, she had several photos taken in the big chair. She also loved one of the bartenders there. Before we left, she treated him to a snack giftbag, we left many of the crew snacks and they really appreciated them. The only thing that felt crowded was the upper decks and elevators. Which often went rouge, there was one aft elevator that would never pick anyone up and every other day would be out of service. Almost 7000 people and more than 2000 were children. Those children liked to play on the elevator and stairs. A couple of teens were put in cruise jail for climbing/jumping off stuff. I was told in the Crown lounge that more than 4k people were new cruisers. I did have some relaxing moments and I did enjoy myself minus the traveling part. I even enjoyed the vintages in their own ways.......I am sailing Allure in Jan on a 4N, so of course I would sail her again. Since I will be solo, it will give me time to catch all the shows. Stray Observations. The WJ had pretty much the same selections each night according to my brother. He said this was the worst buffet he has experienced. At lunch and dinner, he couldn't find anything. But he said breakfast was on point. He said staff would make him plates and bring them until he told them to stop. He said one morning he had 8 ojs, 14 apple juices and 5 of the morning smoothies. He said he would sometimes share his table and the people would ask why he was tipping...by which he would wave his arms at the stack of cups and plates. Despite being busy, the WJ was sparsely filled on certain items and times. I liked that they had non-traditional desserts but most of the desserts were pretty bad. I never saw regular chocolate chip cookies, only sugar free. There were also hardly any items in the carving area. I am not saying you are required to tip but if you are doing the most, say thank you with your mouth and/or cash. C&A was a wash. I only got two welcome waters, then on day two the fruit plate. I waited and waited on my amenity. I finally got it day 7 by going to the ambassador. I had to have the concierge push the ball on the D+ pin and Emerald pin for my mother, who also hadn't gotten her platinum pin. I must mention again the lack of couth in attire.......so many butt cheeks......old, young and in-between just hanging out. I am not policing anyone's clothes but that has to be a sanitation issue. If you sit down and your butt ends up bruised or bleeding, then that outfit is not for you. Bathroom behavior is always insane to me. Both my mother and brother saw people bring food into a bathroom and were appalled. The new vintage said she saw a lady finish her dessert while waiting in the bathroom. This happened while we were docked next to carnival. Three dudes in speedos putting on a show. The cost of a bucket of 5 Trulys or domestic beers is $34/37 with grats. Your best bang is that Fosters can. The casino would give me unopened cans at the bar. I enjoy a Blue Moon on occasion, and they would always serve it to me unopened, so I always had an extra one. Several people had staff watching their children in the pools while they got drinks or did other things. Formal night was insane, so many stairs blocked off to take photos. Which as diamond and above members we totally forgot about, so we didn't utilize our free photos. Everyone was thirsty for that lobster, especially the 900, the line for the MDR was crazy that night. Lastly, this past July Next Cruise stopped booking casino comps. You need to purchase the book later option and then give the casino rep your booking number to get all the extras associated with the certificate. The rep said the commission wasn't worth it. So, another trip is in the bag. I am 83 days away from my next sailing and 328 days from a sailing with the vintages. I know I said I wouldn't plan anything else for them, but they told me they had the time of their lives and wanted me to plan them something even if I don't go with them. I set some ground rules and thankfully I have removed the headaches (bff and his mother.......and possibly mine) from this sailing. The next vintage included sailing will be on Quantum of the seas September 16th, 2024, from Seattle Washington. They wanted Norwegian but after I quoted prices and then excursion prices, they are happy to stay with Royal. I might just meet @SweetPea on another type of Norwegian sailing.

I think the thing that saddens me the most, beside how there was people hurt and the crew having to deal with all of the mess, was that it sorts of validated all of the "there's so many black people" thoughts. The new vintage said she keep hearing from crew and other folks about how our group really set standards. I thought it was gratitude for tipping, but it was mainly about how kind we were to everyone. I would imagine that if a third of the pax you booked was removed from a ship, then that Agency would probably be banned.

Oooh I am loving the color schemes for the hair. I had so much laundry before we left and now, I have an insane pile to shoulder through before I go back to work on Sat.

You won't get a table larger than 10. It is logistics involved with the waitstaff and such. So you will more than likely get two tables at least. Specialty restaurants are much smaller, getting a table for 8 is hard. I had a group of 7 on my last sailing and we were competing for times because there was a group of 10 ad 8 as well. You might have to book the 9 and 9 and pay out of pocket so that it would be available. Lastly, you can order as much room service as you want, just tip accordingly and let them know why.

I was a newly minted D+ cruiser on my last sailing. I used maybe 7 out of the 35 vouchers I had for this sailing. I would say I gifted 4 of those 7. It is not that I didn't order drinks, it was that sometimes the crew never charged me. As a person who not only managed a restaurant but used to do outside inventory reviews, I know this perk cost Royal barely cents. I don't see this perk going away. However, I can see why access is being limited during happy hour. I watched several people bring lower/non-ranking pax into the lounge to get apps. Not saying they were all Diamond, but they probably think it is easier to start with that level.

I have a budget and it is personal. But then I budget for everything. I want to say that also the amount will change, as needs change. For example, I plan to do a B2B Alaska sailing this year. Alaska is expensive and therefore my budget will have to match that. I prefer to do around 5 cruises at least in a year but I am also from Chicago, so I have to factor that in as well. I have changed my budget because I prefer to enjoy the casino and win my next cruise. The cruises certainly cost more than what I was paying 2019, 2021 and even 2022.

Disembarkation and train travel. It is so funny. I say I won't sail this ship or out of this port and then I have an experience that doesn't make that bad experience seem so bad. But I don't think I will sail out of Galveston again. The town is beautiful, but that terminal is a mess. It is way worse than PC and might take the trophy from Port LAX. It is really the logistics of Galveston, the train ride from hell didn't help. As I stated there was a vintage couple who got hurt and they had to shut down one of the three escalators. It was a gory situation and I pray that they have a smooth recovery, but it was very bad. Made more so by people gawking and blaming. The two ambulances messed up traffic. There were people who scheduled their Ubers/Lyfts the night before and most were over an hour late. I had so many cancellations. Plus, the long wait, only for drivers to cancel. I had three drivers tell me I needed walk to end of the parking lot or else they would cancel on me........they did because I had two vintages with me. I one guy hang up in my face, I was getting frustrated and also standing in the hot sun. We got the most wonderful driver who made it work with all our bags and plump bodies. We tipped him 30% on the app and $35 extra in cash. He was so nice, and it only ended up being a 15min ride because of traffic. I will say there were so many friendly Texans, who would stop and chat us up, tell us places to see and visit, and mostly comment on all our luggage Some of the large family had made it to the bus stop before us. But they were waiting in the shade. The bust stopped in front of us and while he started loading our luggage one of the girls jumped in front of me to get on. But we were in line, and she didn't have her ticket. The rest of her family was still trying to get an Uber/Lyft from the port. We boarded and then she came on because it was the same driver from our last trip, and he remember her screaming children. She tried to sit by us, and new vintage was not having it. Bus was full and made 4 total stops, with two being rest stops that lasted 45min so people could stretch their legs and get food. The food was like the stuff you get at 7/11 or Circle K, so all bad for you. We only got chips and drinks. I mostly enjoyed the bus ride because I slept and had a seat to myself. The large family and their screaming children were horrid. During the rest stop when the driver went to use the bathroom, a little girl was up pressing the buttons, nobody was paying attention to her. I had to say something. A vintage got on in Houston and when we had a bathroom stop, she jumped in the bathroom in front of me and pulled her pants down, saying she was elderly and needed to go before me. The train was not good at all. As I stated it was late. But everything leading up to the arrival was crazy. The bus driver and station rep couldn't leave until the train came. The system kept saying it was coming at this time and they would come out and say nope, don't listen. We were convinced it would come around 9, so at 8:30 I lined up. Of course, the same girl came and got in front of me. The new vintage wasn't having it, she told the girl to get behind us, the girl and her son were tired of their family. They wanted to sit with us to get some peace . The train came at 8:40 and while we were in line the new vintage flirted with the ticket guy and a man staying in a roomette looking out his window. We were the only people going to Chicago and given seats on the lower level, it was pretty much a car to ourselves......so we thought. There were only twelve seats, we had 6 and then there was four other people inside. That girl was mad, she apparently talked about us the whole train ride. We were bougie and stuck up. It wouldn't have been so bad except it was hot, like insanely hot and included a rude woman. She had draped her jackets across the seats blocking the tables. I moved it to get my table and she said not to touch her stuff. Then she reclined all the way back on my mother, knocking her stuff all the tray. She had loud conversations, watched movies and listened to music without headphones until midnight. We were all sleeping then. But we were directly across from the restrooms and exit doors. We could smell people smoking cigarettes and weed. There was a naked crying baby on the upper level. They let it walk around in onesie sans pamper. The crew member on our level said the baby had peed on the steps and carpet several times. And the train wanted to make up the time, so it sped, I felt all the lumps and bumps. Whenever people would get on, they always tried to come in our car, despite their ticket saying upper level and there only being one or two empty seats at a time. We made it to Chicago 15 minutes before the original scheduled time. I have never been happier to take a shower and lay in my bed. I will do final thoughts and last stray observations tomorrow.

Okay so some things I missed. First day we got our room steward, I asked if he would be doing all three rooms and he said no he had from 12680 on....so just mine and bffs. He said his name was Iwanyen, the vintages would have a different steward. I only wanted to know so we could tip properly. When the new vintage flirted with Iwanyen I said he lied to me we have the same steward......turn out the stewards had the same name, and one was just taller than the other . I had called this poor man a liar. I was the last person to get my luggage and it was because it was delivered to the wrong room. That person tried hard to open my luggage, despite it not being the color of theirs, they had been drinking. There was a pinnacle who wore pineapple attire, she was part of that large swinging group. She would randomly go to people and say I wear this because I am pinnacle. Then when you ask she will try to lure you in......... When I was in the casino there was an aggressive stud, for those not in the know that is a lesbian that identifies as masculine without being male. She said she liked my hair, I thanked her, and she kept trying to buy me drinks she was getting from the bar. Being prime and D+ I didn't need her drinks. I was also suspicious she wouldn't order from the crew. She was eventually kicked off. My bff befriended some guys from the 900. They believed everything was included in the price they paid to the agency, so they didn't tip on anything, despite being difficult to the crew. One even was so drunk they poop in their room. I almost gotten taken in by the swingers. I was at the casino chatting with couple, showing them how to use their freeplay. They were staying in a CLS and asked if I wanted to come take photos. I did but they said I should bring my partner too, aka my brother, and I knew they weren't just being nice to allow me to take pictures. I was hugged by almost every crew member we had for specialty dining. We had several crew members comment about how nice we were and that they appreciated the tips. It made me feel a smidge sadden. They mentioned some rude entitled guest. One day new vintage had to "curse out" a guy because he was berating the crew at JR over some bacon. We saw that guy do it in Giovanni's and then Chops and on the last night when we were getting takeout from JR. That's when she lost it, I thought the crew member was going to cry. He was so happy she stood up for him he brought her a double sundae. They also didn't enforce any rules with us. The blind gent can eat. He got multiple entrees at Chops, 150CP and Izumi. They never limited us. After that first day we weren't charged for drinks at any place. I never used my D+ vouchers and my brother would get sodas each night to use his. At Chops our waiter John cut up the blind gent's food and made sure we got everything we wanted. The crew are always outstanding, but they went above and beyond. They even took the blind gent on a special tour so he could get acclimated to the ship. I don't think I have even seen the cruise police out like I had for this sailing, we all know why.

I was saving the tales of the 900 as a separate post but I will mention it all now. Also there was a group of swingers, but they will be mentioned in the recap. Yes, there was a large group that kicked off in two ports actually. I was waiting to hear about whether the alpha, alpha, alpha was okay because some said the person died. I am still unsure because my brother also witnessed them fighting in Costa Maya and several were removed from the ship. These are the things I know from experiencing........ There was a guy claiming to be someone important to Jadakiss hitting on women/underage girls, he took several back to his suite and parents complained so he was kicked off in Cozumel. There was a group filming their OnlyFans on the decks, card room, and hallways when it was after 1am The third day there was a girl giving you know what to men on deck 5 when it got dark and was removed from the ship, she was crying because she had no money and was put off in the rain in Roatan. They would get drunk and smoke and argue everywhere, the time I went up to the WJ for pictures, they were smoking and screaming in there. Several women were slapped in public and/or told they would be getting something in the room. They had roofies.......I will leave that there. I saw a woman fall out in the casino and didn't put two and two together until this aggressive "stud" kept trying to give me drinks. My brother went to Blaze for the night club experience and had to leave after having a nice time when one pulled out a knife they had kept from dinner. I wasn't privy to all the shenanigans; I heard more and don't know what was true or not.

Update. Train was over two hours late. But it made it up so that we will make it back to Chicago with less than a 30min delay. I blame bff, we all do. He suggested the road trip then the train. I will forever fly as I have way better luck with that. Yes tons of crying children, made worse by a speeding train. Even the vintages who enjoyed the ride down said they would never do a long haul train ride again. I can't wait to step foot on Chicago soil. Which should be on less than 2hrs.