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Navigating Our Way To Allure - 8/12-8/25


IslandBoundMama

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Sailing from Miami was very smooth in Terminal A. Day 1 was just a quick swim, muster drill and dinner. We went to the Suite Lounge and met some very nice people. Had some drinks and pre dinner happy hour foods. We didn’t do much after dinner. We were pretty tired. Below is a pic of the Suite Lounge and others of our first night.

 

 

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Day 2 - Perfect Day Coco Cay

The morning started out partly cloudy. We ventured over to the beach where the floating bar is to do some snorkeling.  There are endless chairs and umbrellas everywhere you go so no worries about needing to be the first off the ship for that at all. 

We snorkeled and saw some fish, hubs saw a stingray.  Lil guy was snorkeling and all was well until he saw a crab! That did it for snorkeling. He refused to put his feet down, afraid one was going to get him.  He wanted out of the water, but wouldn’t stand up to walk right out.  It was...interesting....sigh....

We finally got him out and headed to the crab free pool instead. Lol Sigh...

I told him the point of snorkeling was to see stuff, but he wasn’t having it. 

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It became really dark and overcast, but never ended up doing anything. We enjoyed pool time, the bbq and also smacked on mozzarella sticks and funnel cake. We met one other local, but decided the name giving business wasn’t our thing so we let him remain nameless.

We headed back to the ship to take advantage of the water slides while it wasn’t busy.

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Day 3 - Blue Lagoon Island Dolphin Encounter 

We woke up excited to start our day. It was another overcast day and it looked like it could pour.

We ate breakfast in Chops as part of the Suite benefits. They didn’t check our seapass cards, but they were checking other folks as they came in to verify they should be there.  

The breakfast menu in Chops was the same as the a la carte menu in the MDR, just quicker service.  

 

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Mariner was docked beside us and we also had Norwegian Dawn and Carnival Liberty with us. We disembarked to meet our tour group.  After what seemed like forever, we were finally on our way to Blue Lagoon.

The boat over was a pretty subdued atmosphere.  The tour operators and most of us hadn’t had enough coffee apparently. 

We enjoyed the view of the mansions on our way over. Once there, we had some time to kill on the beach before our encounter.

There was a jellyfish warning posted, but the water was so clear I wasn’t concerned about not seeing it first (hopefully). 

Lil guy was still traumatized from his crab encounter and then he heard someone mention the jellyfish and he was outta there. Ugh...

Hubs finally convinced him to let him take him out on his back.  A little later he was asking for his snorkel mask and was back to himself.

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It was time for the dolphin encounter finally!!!! They divided us up and had us all sit around the edge of the dock. Just as they were about to bring the dolphin in my lol guy yells crab!  He lifts his leg and a little crab was actually living in the metal rim of the dock!!! Ugh...my lil crab magnet.  What I’m the world?

He switched places with hubs and all was fine.  In came Shawn, our dolphin.  I don’t have pics yet because I locked my phone in a locker. When we were done, I went and purchased the full package with video and watched my hubs have a heart attack.

I knew going on that it would be our most expensive souvenir purchase so I was prepared.  He’s never prepared to spend money...even with forewarning. ?‍♀️

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Too funny.  When Hubby and my younger daughter did the Blue Lagoon Dolphin encounter, they were in sticker shock too.  They ended up with CD of pictures, no video lol.

The panoramic suite looks great!  What are your overall thoughts of it?  Would you stay in a room like that again or would you rather take a JS or GS somewhere more central?  While I do like the space that a balcony provides, that room provides the best value for the benefits that it provides.  

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20 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Too funny.  When Hubby and my younger daughter did the Blue Lagoon Dolphin encounter, they were in sticker shock too.  They ended up with CD of pictures, no video lol.

The panoramic suite looks great!  What are your overall thoughts of it?  Would you stay in a room like that again or would you rather take a JS or GS somewhere more central?  While I do like the space that a balcony provides, that room provides the best value for the benefits that it provides.  

We loved it!!! You cannot beat the views it gives you, we loved having the spaciousness, the two bathrooms and the suite benefits.  I would definitely book again.  Even hubs said we are officially suite snobs now.  There’s no going back from here. ???

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Okay...I’m done laundry and they’re done at the barber already. We can’t check into the Renaissance until 4pm but we’re gonna see if we can at least give them our luggage.

UberXL is pricing out at $74 from here but our driver from this morning gave us his number and he’s going to take us for $60. It’s a win win.  I hate that we have so much luggage.

This little laundry mat was great.  Nobody speaks English, but the owner, operator does and was very kind and helpful.  I almost kidnapped an adorable old grandpa from here.  He spoke to me in Spanish and I have no idea what he was saying.  He left and smiled and waved bye to me.  So stinking cute...

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Where did I leave off? Oh yes, Blue Lagoon.  After the dolphin encounter it turned pitch black outside. We decided to catch the 2pm boat back to the ship because if we didn’t get that one we’d be stuck there until 4pm.

Good thing we did.  It started lightning and thundering. On the way back we even saw two water spouts. The ride back was fun.  It was a very lively crew that got everyone up to dance.

 

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Day 4 - Sea Day

Hubs couldn’t sleep so he got up and went to the pool.  Lil guy and myself slowly got up right after, went to breakfast and met him at the pool.  We spent all day there until about 1pm. My fish was finally tired. We sailed by Coco Cay and could see a ship docked there from very far away. 

Had annoying chair hogs in front of us at the pool.  Put four towels down on four chairs at 9am and left. At around 11am there were families looking for chairs so my husband said something to a worker and he said anyone could have the chairs. A family took two of the four chairs stayed an hour and left.  A second family then came and took the two chairs they vacated. About 12:30pm here comes chair hog family to start their day and they instantly start in on the two people saying they had to get out of their chairs. The family gets up and my husband interjected and told them they didn’t have to get up.  He told the chair hog family that they can’t reserve chairs for four hours without being there and think that’s okay.  Chair hog mom says, “Well my kids didn’t want to get up sooooo...” ???

You could tell that she was the one that just got up and not the kids. 

We headed back to the room for a nap.  Got up and had our second visit to the Suite Lounge. Lil guy had coke and two crab cakes. We met more lovely people and Mario came in as well. Had dinner at the dreaded Windjammer because the dining room was not appealing either.  We’ve seen a lot of rainbows outside because of all of the rain showers. 

Then off to see the show for the evening Showgirls. After the show we packed up and then went to the 80’s party. 

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Day 5 - Laundry/Barber/Hotel Day

Disembarking we super fast and Uber was there instantly.  You are all caught up now. We are currently in the Uber heading for the Renaissance Inn in Ft. Lauderdale. 

Final thoughts on this past week and forgotten tidbits:

On day 3 we awoke to no running water in our cabin. We called guest services and was told it was a broken water pipe that was affecting a lot of the ship. No flushing toilets, no washy washy...nothing.  We went to the WJ and same thing. No washy washy so they were squirting everyone with antibacterial.  Ewww guys...just ewww. ?

Back in the cabin, my hubs asked our cabin steward if we could have a bottle of water. He said no and that we were only entitled to one. Hubs explained he had medical issues to attend to and our cabin steward said he would check with his supervisor.  The water appeared and all was well.  Our cabin steward was not the greatest at all.  No connection, no warm ness and not wanting to make any effort.  It was disappointing but I don’t let that bother my vacation...except today when he really rubbed me the wrong way.....

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...we were double checking our room and found a pile of clothes in my son’s room.  One shirt was even damp.  I asked hubs to ask the room steward for a plastic bag because all of our luggage was gone.  He simply says to my husband, “I don’t have any.” 

Hubs comes in and tells me this and I said...even if he has no RCCL bags, he must have a plastic trash bag. Hubs goes out and sees our neighboring room steward, tells him our issue and he replies, “No worries sir, I’ll take care of you.” Disappears and comes back with a bag in seconds. 

Well...we are pulling up to the hotel...Ft. Lauderdale here we come!!!

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35 minutes ago, IslandBoundMama said:

 I asked hubs to ask the room steward for a plastic bag because all of our luggage was gone.  He simply says to my husband, “I don’t have any.” 

Many times you will find their secret stash 'under' the trash liner in the pail....but I'm a guy and would have dumped the trash on the floor and used the liner that was in there too.

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2 hours ago, IslandBoundMama said:

...we were double checking our room and found a pile of clothes in my son’s room.  One shirt was even damp.  I asked hubs to ask the room steward for a plastic bag because all of our luggage was gone.  He simply says to my husband, “I don’t have any.” 

Hubs comes in and tells me this and I said...even if he has no RCCL bags, he must have a plastic trash bag. Hubs goes out and sees our neighboring room steward, tells him our issue and he replies, “No worries sir, I’ll take care of you.” Disappears and comes back with a bag in seconds. 

Well...we are pulling up to the hotel...Ft. Lauderdale here we come!!!

^^^IMO, that deserves a mention on your post cruise survey.

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1 hour ago, ellcee said:

STAAAAHHHHPPPP!!! I mean, don't, but the kid/dolphin pics are too adorable. Happy you made it into a picture!

Hahaha...thank you!!! I love them so much! Yes, the only reason you caught a glimpse of me is because I wasn’t behind the camera.  I’m always the picture taker. I also tend to hate my picture taken so it rarely happens. 

I’m the woman whose hair gets wet and looks a mess...other women just look normal or cute, not me.  ?‍♀️

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