amejiajr8

My 8 1/2 year old has done 2 cruise disney & carnival. This summer will be her first royal cruise. What she mentions the most is her excitement to get back on a big boat, swim and visit new islands. The new marketing commercial caught her eye with people swimming in ocean. She hardly mentions the character interactions from Disney anymore. I think as a parent I got more jazzed about meeting Mickey and taking pictures with the Disney crew.

Sorry to hear about your experience.
 
My advice about buying jewelry or art or pretty much anything else of value, but it because you like it and you think it would be a good fit for your collection.  Purchasing purely for value can lead to situations like this. 
 
Of course, hindsight is 20/20.  

I think sea cards is what is being referenced....in that case so do I

I don't know if you are thinking of using the Valet Luggage Service or not but the 11 AM departure may be too early to qualify for that service.
 
I absolutely LOVE the Valet Luggage Service and highly recommend it for those flying out of FLL.

This is only an option if you buy the liquor at the airport post security and the store seals it in a tamper-evident bag.  Otherwise, it needs to be checked because of the rules regarding liquids.

I say I would do 4-5 day but I am afraid I would feel cheated out and wish I did 7

So many food options...

That hotel is perfect. I live in Ft. Lauderdale so I am very familiar with it. It is clean and in a good area.

Just book Emabssy Suites in Ft. Luaderdale that is about a mile from port and a couple miles from beach. The rate included room, transfer from airport to hotel and transfer from hotel to cruise ship. So far this new booking is coming together.

Just book Emabssy Suites in Ft. Luaderdale that is about a mile from port and a couple miles from beach. The rate included room, transfer from airport to hotel and transfer from hotel to cruise ship. So far this new booking is coming together.

Water proof camera and/or a life proof case for my phone so I can take underwater photos and Videos

I think the answer is yes, and judging by the number of Youtube videos of first-person experiences on the zip line, it would certainly seem so.

what Matt said. The hardest part was figuring out what itenary and what ship we wanted to change to.

Date moved.. Thanks everyone for your help. Less painful then I thought.

The first tem minutes of this video is great! It is Oasis instead of Allure, but really get a feel of size and scope. We will be doing Allure in Oct, 2016. Also our 1st time on Oasis class.
 
 
https://youtu.be/fdJA8nsimwI

Amejjajr8 here are your answers lol.  I think the whole boat is a cool observation. It is just so big and beautiful. When you walk on you walk on deck 5 the Royal Promenade and you are immediately wowed by the sheer size. Then you go to deck 6 aft (back of ship) to the boardwalk and you see the Aqua Theater which is just such as cool space and don't miss the Aqua theater water show you must pre book it online! Then head right up to deck 8 central park and you say ok this is so cool how did they manage to make central park on a ship! And it just keeps going on and on... Next Question you asked were about the rooms. I am not going to lie an inside room is very tight and they don't give much closet space in my opinion but I bring a lot of clothes but maybe you can't go by me because for me even a balcony room is too tight. I always get some kind of suite when I go on Oasis Class ships because the way they designed the other staterooms is too tight for me. But for you it might be perfect it is so subjective. Ok Now for the shows! They are all AMAZING. If you like Broadway then you definitely need to see Mama Mia. I saw it on Quantum and it was awesome. Then there is the ice show. It is so cool and done so well you have to see that too. Then there is a show called Blue planet. It is a Cirque du solie (I know I spelled it wrong) type show set to music and it is really good. Of course I mentioned the Aqua Theater show which is an amazing water show. Then there is the comedian you have to have advance seats for that. So yea all shows are a must see! Ok Spa time. Honestly I just go there to get a Massage and I leave. I like spending my time in the adults only Solarium which is all the way in the front of the ship. It has a great pool and hot tubs. Now for food. Like Matt says food is Soooo subjective. In my opinion the MDR has gone down in quality quite a bit but you may love it. I am not a drinker but I am a foodie. So instead of buying drinks I go to specialty restaurants every night. I love every restaurant on Allure. I can't wait to try the new Sabor and the new Habachi area of Izumi. I currently love Chops Grille, Geovanni's table, Samba Grill, regular izumi, 150 Central park... All just so good in my opinion. To me it does not feel like a lot of people on the ship. They did a great job with creating neighborhoods so people spread out nicely.. No Wow Bands on Allure.. Only Quantum class and Harmony as of right now... LAst question was about the port.. The port is super easy. You will be in terminal 18 which is specifically made for oasis class ships... If you have any other questions let me know but I hope this help!! 

1) did you liked it (check mark) . Any cool observations, activists offered on board, how were the rooms (we went "cheap" two side by side inside room), shows, how is the spa, how is food (I think I ship has sushi so I am excited), does it feel like a lot of people on boat, wow bands?. You know everything . We are departing Ft. lauderdale so any info about port would be helpful.

There are plenty of personal and travel agency video reviews of Allure out there (believe me, I've been searching too... we are going to be on Allure next Sept. 2016) that are decent, but if you have a channel called "AWE", they have a cool series called "Dream Cruises".  I was lucky enough to DVR the episode on Allure of the Seas with the identical itinerary we will be taking next year out of Ft. Lauderdale (Labadee, Falmouth & Cozumel)... the episodes are 1 hour long (with commercials of course), but professionally done of course!  I must have watched the episode 8-10 times to date... sometimes when nothing is on, I leave it on in the backround!  :)
 
They have other RC ships too... Explorer, Rhapsody, Navigator, Brilliance, Legend, Vision and Voyager to name a few more... we also DVR'd Explorer since that was the last ship we were on (different itinerary).  You can see if your "cable" provider carries the channel... the website let's you pick the provider and tells you if they carry it and what channel.  I'm sure they are working on doing a Quantum class episode!
 
http://www.awetv.com/dreamcruises/

We did Pasion Island in Cozumel and enjoyed the day on another visit we did the catamaran snorkel & beach day and enjoyed that as well.

I am looking forward to visiting Curaçao, Aruba, St Thomas and St kitts for the first time. I still need to figure out what to do on these islands. Matt good to hear there are still lots to do on evening of port days. Jticarruthers we try not over plan because that takes the relaxing out of cruising but I see your point with a smaller number of sea days don't miss out on something. We enjoy the trivia games.

i usually do Hotwire to see if I can find a deal on hotels on the island. Friends of mine have stayed in Clear Lake / Kemah location which is about 30mins from the island and have gotten good deals. I drive downthe day before and stay the night just to be on the safe side since never know what road closure you will run into in Houston. I do the official port parking and have never ran into any issues.

I have seen the smart cart in use also...while thinking "why didn't I think of that"

Doc, you must've read what I read about Carnival. That $2.95 is reasonable (cheap) enough that I wouldn't even bother schlepping a 12 pack with me even if it WAS allowed. I seem to remember seeing something about $39 on Royal's beverage options.

I do luggage tags but haven't done the itenary inside bag. That is a good tip. Adding to my list