DunkelBierJay

Day 3 — Allure at Sea I woke up to watch a nice sunrise with a plan to lie around and eat all day while doing next to nothing with a couple exceptions... All Access Tour Bring your long pants if you book a ship tour. I had the slip resistant shoe thing down, so it created the need to sprint from the Silk dining room which is aft all the forward to my stateroom and grab a pair. I made it back in time for the start which included chocolate dipped strawberries and champagne we started in the galleys, moved to the storage areas around deck 2, the engine control room, I-95 hallway up to the entrance to the crew mess and then waaaaaayyyyy down into the bowels of the ship (I saw bilge signs —> that’s when you know you’re way down there) three decks below the water line...there’s deck 2, deck 1 (water line), deck 0, TW (tween deck), and HW (I think —> I can’t remember what it stands for) where we saw some incredible laundry facilities. The scale of it is staggering. Mid-Day We spent some time on the pool deck before hunger set in and I tried a coney on the Boardwalk followed by a burger, fries, a cookie and some pudding in the Windjammer...then some ice cream on the pool deck. That held me over till dinner. One nap later, I felt the need to burn some calories, so I headed to the gym for 45 minutes prior to the aqua show, Ocean Aria which was delightful. Immediately following Ocean Aria, I went back to my room to grab one of the CP balcony perks of a bottle of wine, and we proceeded to 150 CentralPark. It was an excellent meal and experience, and AI really enjoyed salting the butter. I liked all of the flavors, Alaea (Hawaii), Sel Gris (Mediterranean gray sea salt), Murray River (Australian), Sel de Mar (French Med), Salish (Washington State —> love it or hate it, it’s like a campfire...really), and then Kala Namak (if you like sulphur, you’ll like this. Me? I’ll just say that I needed to cleanse my palate) Following dinner, we headed to the Amber Theater and watched the Love and Marriage game show. It’s pretty much the same every time...lots of laughs and embarrassing moments...I was ready for bed afterwards, so I retired. (Photos are uploaded randomly...more on IG @dunkelbier_jay)

Yes, it’s about a ten minute walk...very doable especially with some bottled water.

Day 2 — Nassau Mornings at sea are by far my favorite time aboard I don’t need to sell that idea to most people on this blog. It is a restful, relaxing and exciting time The kids had not been to Nassau, so what do you do? You walk around and go to the ship by lunch if you’re not doing the British Colonial Hilton, Baja Mar or Atlantis. We walked off the ship beyond the tour operators and cab driver and headed to the Queens Staircase. We were corned at the parking lot area behind Princess Margaret Hospital and the entrance to the staircase by a man who gave us the full history. Sometimes, you just stay and listen, and I’m glad we did. He gave a quick and through history of the staircase and Queen Victoria’s role in ending slavery. I’m glad my kids heard it from that man rather than a tour operator. I gladly tipped him and we walked into a sacred area.

Embarkation Day continued The naughty room was entertaining though. A man near us was arguing with security about his steamer that they were confiscating. *Dude* He would not take no for an answer, and was taking names of the staff there, their supervisors and their family. Voice raised, eyes popping out of his head, the world is coming to an end because he was going to be without his steamer. My daughter wanted to tip the security guy he was yelling at for putting up with him. Wow, I thought. The long wait till Izumi involved grabbing our first lava flows in the Schooner bar and browsing the shops which just opened. 9:00 pmcame before we knew it, and we had a fantastic time enjoying the experience at Izumi hibachi. The chefs are a couple notches above who you experience on shore, and we did lots of laughing as they enjoyed over feeding us. One feature of this restaurant is they allow you to mix the proteins that are listed on the menu. That was nice because I put the filet together with the shrimp. Fantastic. Wow, I thought.

Today was all to prepare for Izumi....Wow, I thought. Embarkation Day We woke up with a task before heading to the port. Unsuccessful in our attempt to fill a prescription the night before, we packed our bags, loaded our rental and headed to a location of the drug store chain we use. Since filling it would take 20-30 minutes, I decided the best way to get close to our original schedule would be to take the bags to the port and return. It worked well, and within about 45 minutes we were dropping our rental at the off site location very close to the port. I called a ride share, and were entering Port Everglades. .. Entering the Port and Check-In it’s necessary you have your passport and cruise docs ready to enter the port and terminals. This is where having a print out of your set sail pass is handy, even if you are using the Royal App. A short line of cars to enter the port gave us a chance to get everything ready for the officer at the gate. We entered the building with our passports and mobile phones in hand. We had our backup printed set sail pass at the ready just in case. When the port staff saw that we had our apps ready for scanning, we were ushered to a central area where our Mobile SeaPasses were scanned and our passports checked. Those who did not have expedited check-in with the app we’re on either side of our area as best I could tell. We turned a corner to our right and went through security with the suite guests and Pinnacles. Wow, I thought. After security. We entered a separate line adjacent to the suite guests, which was shorter. I gather a small percentage of overall guests are able to use or even know about expedited check-in. There were a few ahead of us, and when we went to the check-in desk, we provided our apps with SeaPass cued up along with our passports. The agent checked everything against the pics we uploaded at home during online check-in, handed us boarding vouchers and we were on board in as long as it took to walk there. Wow, I thought. We headed straight through the Royal Promenade and up to Central Park to Giovanni’s for lunch. They now only offer the Central Park balcony lunch perk on sea days on Allure. Still, it was a great, restful way to spend the first hour or two on board. We ate in anticipation of off-setting hunger waiting for our 9:00 pm Izumi Hibachi reservation. Wow, I thought. After lunch, we circled aft to the Boardwalk to check things out and then to the Royal Promenade to walk to the forward elevators. Up to deck 10, turn left and enter our adjoining staterooms at about 1:30 pm. This was pretty seamless...or frictionless... Wow, I thought. Most of our luggage (except mine —> more below) arrived within minutes. We explored a little and decided naps were needed. Naps didn’t last, so a few of us explored the ship. It is no lie that Oasis class ships are easy to navigate. Despite the monstrosity of Allure and the number of steps you take, you never feel lost or disoriented. Wow, I thought. *Back in the cabin* *Knock on the door* *A man hands me a slip of paper* I had a summons to the naughty room!!!! *What???? Me??? I didn’t try to break the rules...this time....I put it in my pocket. Wow, I thought. Soon, our stateroom attendant introduced herself and we had lots of laughs as she talked about going to muster. We decided to go early which had its merits as it was in the Blaze nightclub. It went longer than hoped, but not too bad. They made us watch the “Wash Your Hands” video and the James Bond style safety video. No wow...An episode of Royal crush would have been better. After sail away, which was fun on the bridge wing while failing to get on PTZTV, I headed down to the naughty room on Deck 2 with a couple of my kids, and the staff there were very nice. They found my bag, scanned it and said I had power strips which are verbotten. *Scratches Head...* *Really?* Anyway, I opened my bag and they were there. In my packing rush, I threw in a couple of the surge protectors thinking they were power strips. Nope. Surge protectors. *My bad* To be continued... I’m baking in the Solarium while docked in Nassau and need a beverage while writing this...

Thanks. We’ll probably be on the port bridge wing during sail away trying to get on ptztv or if Billy comes out for one ship, we may do that.

Intro As my kids are getting older at age 23, 20 and 18, we are doing what may be the last vacation all together as a family. We’ve been looking forward to it for quite a while. We are sailing to Nassau, Cozumel, Roatan and Costa Maya on a Western Caribbean itinerary. I am using my phone for this live blog, so enjoy the inevitable typos. Getting to the Port We flew in the day before our sailing and stayed at the Spring Hill Suites in Dania Beach, about 12 minutes to Terminal 18 where Allure docks. I tried an off site rental car company called Sixt for the first time. They advertise high end cars at lower prices than conventional companies,. As of the writing of this blog, it has been pretty good. The only caution is that getting to the company’s shuttle stop across from the terminal and from baggage claim on no sleep can be challenging. I went ahead of my family to get the car to avoid schlepping. I met them later with the car outside baggage claim. Prior to arrival, I received an email asking if I wanted to make a dollar bid online for additional money, sort of like a blind auction, to secure a Mercedes for the rental. I thought it was a little strange, but I didn’t end up using it. We rented a BMW X3 SUV which is brand new...nice. If you liked Sprockets on SNL, you might like this experience as you move like Dieter to the techno music being played in the rental office while waiting in line. We are glad for the car because we had to make an unscheduled prescription run the night before embarkation. I was also able to go to Dr von D Mizzell-Eula Johnson State Park to see Billy Hirsch’s @CruiseHabit scoping spot for myself. Seeing those sail aways in person is incredible, It was great hanging with Billy despite what Matt may say. And I see you @BigDogRon...:p We will get to the terminal a little before 11:00 am this morning and I can’t wait to share more. Photo 1 — Spring Hill Suites, Dania Beach Photo 2 — Sixt Rental Office Photo 3 — Billy Scoping Photo 4 — Big Dog Ron — I’m crushed ? Feel free to check out my IG @dunkelbier_jay for more pics and little videos.

I’m sailing on Allure in a few days...I’ve been obsessing over the app. While I printed my backup set sail passes, everyone in our party has successfully connected their sailing and can view their set sail pass in the app. To do so, you will need to login and either tap on the little human icon in the upper right or swipe left from where the app opens. You should get a link to view your set sail pass. Some embarkation Day itinerary items populated for me last week about 15 days from sailing. Other than that, a couple on board features appeared after the last update. I haven’t seen my calendar with shows and dining appear yet. That’s what I’m really hoping shows up on board so I don’t have to remember or carry paper. I plan on live blogging in the Live Blog section and will share my experience with it on board. I'll do some Periscoping @DunkelBier_Jay and will post more photos short videos than I do in the live blog on Instagram @dunkelbier_jay -- if I ever get good at editing, I'll combine a lot of it and put it on YouTube

We did a 5 nighter on Brilliance out of Tampa in January/February calling on Grand Cayman and Cozumel and it was one of those "just right" cruises. The ship is fantastic...small but with a big ship feel to it. I would definitely book Brilliance again.

Totally get that...knowing more about what you're looking for, I would mix it up with a back-to-back possibly on different ships and different ports since it is easy to transfer between Miami and Fort Lauderdale and even Port Canaveral if you drive.

Since you have sailed all the classes, and you're open to it, I would pick Empress...she is a tiny ship, but Boleros and Schooner Bar are huge. The coffee bar is incredible if you like Cuban coffee. She is a different experience from all the other classes. I like big ships too, but Empress is something special. If you don't want to go tiny, I would pick Independence or Mariner since they were recently refurbished. Based on your list, I tend to lean toward Mariner since you have not sailed her before.

There's always "Royal Crush" on YouTube ?

Allure June 17 sailing: $47/night for the deluxe package (it was $50 last month) $18/night for refreshment package (did not book before) $37.77/night for VOOM 3-device (booked at $264.39/7 = $37.77/night -- no change)

In my experience with an instant migration to an erp system at work rather than a phased one, I would opt for a phased one with parallel systems for a while. I’m willing to deal with the frustrations of the website while they get it right. Expecting it to be instant isn’t reasonable.

One thing that is a constant...the RC website will behave differently each time you try to log in these days.

As long as there are enough people willing to sign the NDA, Royal will continue staffing under those terms. It's a risk potential employees should take into consideration when considering an offer. The article is so short, the tons of details that surround these cases are omitted, and we are left with hilites...Since Voyager is registered in the Bahamas, and the incident happened while in port in Barcelona, and Royal is based in Miami, I wonder how long jurisdiction was deliberated and if things like this typically go to company headquarters' location for adjudication. I shuddered when I thought of getting fingers trapped in that door handle, and I hope this case drastically affects the design of water tight doors in future builds. Another thing that crossed my mind is having non-maritime crew attend to the doors during drills against how there's no sure way to guard against freak incidents like this. I'd love to know how this is affecting the company's policies in this area.

I recommend buying now and watching for sales. You can always cancel and repurchase. I did that for a cruise last year when the cruise planner sales kept bringing the price lower and lower. The kicker is that you need to check fairly regularly and jump on it every time you see a price reduction.

The Allure is only 8 years old...I will sail her in 18 days and plan on doing posts in the live blog section about it.

I would go deck 11 panoramic in a heartbeat. I wouldn't worry about noise. I asked the same question about the same type of room on Explorer and was told it wasn't an issue.

book directly on their website...they take great care of you and make sure the cab comes and is ready when you want it to get back to the ship on time. We've been twice...it is a great time!

I would also add...caveat emptor, and never lose your posture or ability to walk away at any point in a sales presentation... At the same time, it doesn't look like (and it is not surprising) that any of the players there were completely altruistic...RC wants to close the sale, the questioner thinks they have a gotcha scoop which is characteristic of the vultures in the press who are as despised as the government. The difference is that if you don't like it, you can cancel with no penalty, so the winner is RC 2-1 in my opinion.

I have flown Jet Blue and Southwest into FLL, and it's been chaotic each time I've been there...I hope others have had better experiences.

The home ports thread intrigued me in that what are the differences between the ports from various perspectives. So, here it goes from a bit different angle for ports that Royal Caribbean uses off the top of my head...I'd love to know what others think and what their experiences are... Port Canaveral (overall favorite so far) Physical Characteristics -- big port and not too busy around -- arranged nicely -- really exciting to drive to it from Orlando on 528 and seeing a few ships docked. Distance from airport -- this is very manageable using a rental or using a shuttle or ride share service -- it is an extra expense you don't encounter at the other Florida ports Hotels -- lots of hotels within a couple miles of the port Rental Car Agencies -- plenty to choose from Parking -- it's right there and very convenient. There are also lots of third party options. Embarkation -- I've experienced the most efficient boarding process at this port Sail Away -- this is very nice, however, once the lines are dropped, you are pretty much gone. To the north is Cape Canaveral and lots of beach and flat vistas other than a distant view of Nasa. To the south, it's pretty much Cocoa Beach. Not as much to look at as other ports. Disembarkation -- efficient -- I've never been in customs too long -- easy to get out of there Port Miami Physical Characteristics -- because of the geography, there is only one way to get there -- really exciting to see five to seven ships docked all in a row -- coolest turning basin I have seen Distance from airport -- two big airports are close. Miami International is expensive for domestic flights. Fort Lauderdale is about 40 minutes away -- I do not like this airport at all, it's awful, but it doesn't take too long to get away from there. Hotels -- there are lots to choose from -- they are fairly expensive, but if you look diligently, you can find a good rate -- I have stayed in a South Beach hotel that I really liked on Ocean Drive for less than $180. Rental Car Agencies -- lots Parking -- it's right there and very convenient. There are also lots of third party options Embarkation -- it's pretty good, but it seemed to be very frenetic getting in the terminal and getting on board since there people disembarking are crossing pretty much the same space as people embarking. I think Port Canaveral does it better considering the terminals are spaced out more, and people leaving don't necessarily intersect. Sail Way -- absolutely gorgeous -- I guess I like the urban points of interest -- it's seen more in photos and videos, so it is really nice actually to be there Disembarkation -- pretty quick and efficient -- the sidewalk outside the terminal seems frenetic like on embarkation day, and it's easier just to grab a cab to get out of there. Tampa Physical Characteristics -- it is pretty much downtown -- always cool to see ships docked there -- the terminals and the area is small and compact -- it's perfect for the size ships it handles -- up to 90,000 grt from what I understand Distance from airport -- it's very close -- about 15-20 minutes Hotels -- it's downtown Tampa -- I will probably continue to do what I did before when I sail from there and stay at the Marriott at the airport. If I have time, I would stay at the Waterfront and just walk to the terminal if it's not too hot. Rental Cars -- not really necessary here because ride shares and taxis are plentiful -- there is one agency in a nearby hotel that you can use that I know about Parking -- essentially across the street Embarkation -- the two (of three) terminals I have used are small and efficient -- I really like this port -- one terminal is very nice -- another is like a warehouse --aesthetics are nice, but not critical. One sailing (at the wareshousey one) required a wait for the ship to be cleared, and it was fine. The other sailing had us getting on board just a couple seconds after completing check-in. Sail Away -- to the left (or the east), it is very industrial -- to the right, you get absolutely gorgeous views of Tampa -- I love sailing through Tampa Bay to the bridge which take almost an hour Disembarkation -- I paid a porter to get us out quickly both times because I witnessed the lines being very long. He got us through customs quickly Port Everglades -- as of this writing, I sail out of there for the first time three weeks from today -- I will report about it in a live blog on this forum -- I am excited about it being close to airport, hotel, rental cars, etc Other ports on the bucket list Bayonne -- can't wait Baltimore -- I expect to sail from here within a couple years San Juan -- I really look forward to sailing from this port -- I can't wait to spend a couple days there before a sailing New Orleans -- may be the first port I drive to from home -- wait, I drove to Tampa one time Boston -- if we decide to do a New England and Canada cruise, it will be from here. I love Boston despite how expensive it is. Galveston -- I expect to sail from there eventually, but it may be one of the last on this list that I pick Southampton -- I am working on a back to back from there sometime in May of 2021 to celebrate a milestone anniversary Barcelona -- I am looking for an opening for a sailing from there...maybe Icon Class? Sydney -- If I live long enough Singapore -- see Sydney Shanghai -- see Singapore Other Ports?

I'm amazed the Armonia didn't have more extensive keel damage after that with those rocks being so close to where she ran aground...

If you are following the Celebrity Instagram account, she has took over the IG stories this week.