hayley_bopp Posted December 18, 2019 Report Share Posted December 18, 2019 After a VERY hectic few months, it's almost time for our very first Caribbean cruise sailing on Allure Of The Seas over Christmas. Itinerary 22/12 - Embark at Fort Lauderdale 23/12 - Sea Day 24/12 - Sea Day 25/12 - St Maarten (hopefully ) 26/12 - San Juan 27/12 - Sea Day 28/12 - Coco Cay 29/12 - Disembark at Fort Lauderdale The Crew Me, husband (both Brits) & our USA-dwelling British & Canadian friends all in our late 30s to mid 40s. For us, it's our 5th cruise - 3rd on RC having done the Med on Navigator and Independence. For our friends, it's their very first cruise and we've told them they'll love it. I hope we were right! We chose this sailing to fit in with my holidays from school (I'm a primary school teacher) and because I really wanted to try an Oasis Class ship. Pre-Cruise We've driven down to Heathrow airport from our home in the Midlands this afternoon and are spending the night at the Radisson Edwardian Blu. We stayed here earlier this year and were really impressed so we booked again. They do a deal where you get a hotel stay and parking and it's just a short Uber ride to the terminal in the morning. They have a funky bar with great cocktails and a couple of restaurants. Tonight we're trying the Indian restaurant. We're flying into Miami tomorrow (after original direct flights to FLL were cancelled and we had to rebook at extra cost or face going via Chicago or somewhere in Texas!) and staying at Pestana Beach hotel in South Beach. Our friends fly in to FLL from Detroit in the morning, are renting a car and picking us up from MIA when we arrive in the afternoon. We've got no firm plans ( we've all been REALLY busy, plus we thought we weren't going to be able to go at all when our TA went bust!) but we're hoping to see the Everglades and do an Art Deco architecture tour. ellcee, Dan Curtis, Guy Gadwa and 8 others 10 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruisegirl1976 Posted December 18, 2019 Report Share Posted December 18, 2019 Following.. enjoy your vacation hayley_bopp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted December 18, 2019 Report Share Posted December 18, 2019 3 hours ago, hayley_bopp said: when our TA went bust Following and what do you mean by "TA went bust"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayley_bopp Posted December 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2019 13 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said: what do you mean by "TA went bust"? Our travel agent, who I've used for years (Thomas Cook, a major UK travel agent) went into administration in mid-October. People who were already on holiday had to be repatriated and lots of people lost their bookings as well as thousands of staff losing their jobs. We had to wait for 3 weeks to confirm that ours would go ahead and had to submit evidence that we'd made all payments. All while knowing we'd convinced our friends to come with us and that they might have ended up going alone! ellcee, Lovetocruise2002 and JLMoran 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachelle Posted December 18, 2019 Report Share Posted December 18, 2019 4 hours ago, hayley_bopp said: After a VERY hectic few months, it's almost time for our very first Caribbean cruise sailing on Allure Of The Seas over Christmas. Itinerary 22/12 - Embark at Fort Lauderdale 23/12 - Sea Day 24/12 - Sea Day 25/12 - St Maarten (hopefully ) 26/12 - San Juan 27/12 - Sea Day 28/12 - Coco Cay 29/12 - Disembark at Fort Lauderdale The Crew Me, husband (both Brits) & our USA-dwelling British & Canadian friends all in our late 30s to mid 40s. For us, it's our 5th cruise - 3rd on RC having done the Med on Navigator and Independence. For our friends, it's their very first cruise and we've told them they'll love it. I hope we were right! We chose this sailing to fit in with my holidays from school (I'm a primary school teacher) and because I really wanted to try an Oasis Class ship. Pre-Cruise We've driven down to Heathrow airport from our home in the Midlands this afternoon and are spending the night at the Radisson Edwardian Blu. We stayed here earlier this year and were really impressed so we booked again. They do a deal where you get a hotel stay and parking and it's just a short Uber ride to the terminal in the morning. They have a funky bar with great cocktails and a couple of restaurants. Tonight we're trying the Indian restaurant. We're flying into Miami tomorrow (after original direct flights to FLL were cancelled and we had to rebook at extra cost or face going via Chicago or somewhere in Texas!) and staying at Pestana Beach hotel in South Beach. Our friends fly in to FLL from Detroit in the morning, are renting a car and picking us up from MIA when we arrive in the afternoon. We've got no firm plans ( we've all been REALLY busy, plus we thought we weren't going to be able to go at all when our TA went bust!) but we're hoping to see the Everglades and do an Art Deco architecture tour. Have so much fun! We will be on the same cruise as well! Please come say hi if you see us and I may do the same! I always love making friends on the boat! hayley_bopp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamtapgt Posted December 19, 2019 Report Share Posted December 19, 2019 We'll be on this cruise as well! Can't wait! Flamtap hayley_bopp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayley_bopp Posted December 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2019 6 hours ago, Rachelle said: Have so much fun! We will be on the same cruise as well! Please come say hi if you see us and I may do the same! I always love making friends on the boat! 2 hours ago, flamtapgt said: We'll be on this cruise as well! Can't wait! Flamtap It would be great to say 'hi' if we bump into one another. We should be fairly easy to spot in embarkation day if I can convince tube others to all wear tube t-shirts I bought them Skigoofy, Dan Curtis, JohnK6404 and 3 others 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayley_bopp Posted December 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2019 Cruise Plans We have 2 ocean view balconies on Deck 10. Not next to one another but only a few cabins apart. Unfortunately, we weren't able to link our bookings and get the same dining arrangements - we've got MTD and our friends have got late seating - but we're hoping to adjust when we're onboard so that either we join them or they join us. We've also booked 150 Central park for dinner on night 6. Again we were unable to link our bookings so one of us has 6:30 and the other 7pm but we're hoping to move the reservations together onboard. We've got an ice-show and an aqua theatre show booked. The aqua theatre is probably the thing I'm most excited to see onboard. After some deliberation, we decided to go Team DX. At the price we got and the current exchange rate, we'll need to drink 5 cocktails a day to break even. With a planned early embarkation, 3 sea days, a day at Coco Cay and bottled water, coffees and soft drinks thrown into the mix, I think we should get our money's worth Port Plans Again, hectic schedules, inability to link bookings and winter illness mean we haven't actually booked any excursions as of yet. As a type A planner, I find this more than a little unsettling, but I'm sure it will be fine We've got some ideas of what we'd like to do and hopefully we'll get something booked once we're all together in Miami. If all else fails, we'll simply wander around the shopping area in St Maarten before parking ourselves on the beach for some much-needed R&R and in San Juan we'll just have a wander around. In Coco Cay, we've booked waterpark passes - the second most exciting thing IMO - and I think the plan is to go there for some thrill time in the morning before heading to the beach for some chill time in the afternoon. Skigoofy, Guy Gadwa, JohnK6404 and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayley_bopp Posted December 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2019 Post-Cruise Plans After the cruise, we're back to the same hotel as we're in pre-cruise and will be there for the New Year's celebrations. Again, we have no firm plans. We're far from party animals. I believe there are fireworks on the beach, so we may just have dinner somewhere and then watch those, but if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. We're all checked in at the airport now and waiting for our flight. Then it's just a mere 10 hours until we arrive in Miami, although, to be honest, I'm really quite looking forward to the idea of sitting and doing nothing for 10 hours Guy Gadwa, JohnK6404, Lovetocruise2002 and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted December 19, 2019 Report Share Posted December 19, 2019 I am so excited for all of you. This is going to be so much fun ! I wouldn’t stress too much about not having excursion plans. Sometimes it’s more fun just to wander aimlessly and stay close to “home”. Since you have the DBP, there is benefit to hanging out around the ship. Merry Christmas ! hayley_bopp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cruise Junkie Posted December 19, 2019 Report Share Posted December 19, 2019 I Will Be Following This One. Have A Great Cruise On Allure OTS. hayley_bopp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayley_bopp Posted December 20, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2019 So, we've arrived in Miami to rain of almost biblical volumes. We've been told that it only rains heavily for about 11 days of the year here. Unfortunately, it looks like 3 of those are the 3 days that we're here before our cruise! Oh well, you can't do anything to control the weather so we're going to make the most of it, and the effects of the jet lag, by getting up early tomorrow and heading to Cape Canaveral for the day. Not somewhere that I thought I'd ever get to see and the boys (and when I say 'boys', you must remember that those to whom I refer are aged 40 and 46) are particularly excited about it. Tonight we've just checked into our hotel, where we were pleasantly surprised to receive vouchers for a free drink each in the bar and even more pleasantly surprised to find that cocktails were included. Then we went for dinner at a Cuban place around the corner called Bella Cuba. The drinks service was a little slow but the food came out pretty quickly and was really flavourful and pretty healthy. Lovetocruise2002, Guy Gadwa, Dan Curtis and 7 others 8 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayley_bopp Posted December 21, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2019 Miami Day 1 The weather forecast for today had looked pretty grim with more rain on the cards so we'd planned to drive up to Cape Canaveral. However, there was really heavy traffic on the motorway/freeway/highway/interstate/turnpike (I don't really get the road system - luckily, I was only a passenger) as the police had closed the road somewhere north of Fort Lauderdale. So we changed our plans and went to the Everglades for an air boat tour. This is something that has been on my bucket list for years so I'm really glad we got the chance to go. Then we headed back to the hotel (via A-1-A whilst listening to Vanilla Ice on repeat ), dropped off the car and went for a stroll along the boardwalk. We were originally planning on heading all the way down to the end to watch the ships sailing out - we'd seen our first cruise ship, Navigator, in port as we'd driven across the bridge earlier in the day - but unfortunately, we got way laid by some ridiculous cocktails! In the end, we just ended up strolling around and having a few more drinks and some tasty snacks before heading back to the hotel for the night. All in all, a good first day in Miami. WAAAYTOOO, JohnK6404, JLMoran and 2 others 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellcee Posted December 21, 2019 Report Share Posted December 21, 2019 17 minutes ago, hayley_bopp said: Then we headed back to the hotel (via A-1-A whilst listening to Vanilla Ice on repeat ) lol'd at that! Have a great cruise! hayley_bopp, WAAAYTOOO and Lovetocruise2002 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted December 21, 2019 Report Share Posted December 21, 2019 4 hours ago, hayley_bopp said: whilst listening to Vanilla Ice on repeat ) 4 hours ago, ellcee said: lol'd at that! LOL!! Me too! You all have no idea how many times Vanilla Ice gets played in our house! And it's not me! I'm more NKOTB kadmgs, ellcee and hayley_bopp 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnK6404 Posted December 22, 2019 Report Share Posted December 22, 2019 Have a great cruise! Following! hayley_bopp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayley_bopp Posted December 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2019 Miami Day 2 An action-packed day today. First up, a jet boat ride around Biscayne Bay where we got absolutely drenched! Followed by an quick ride on some electric scooters around Bayfront Park to help us dry off. Then, after lunch, we grabbed some City Bikes and cycled back over to Miami Beach across Venetian Islands and down to South Pointe Park to watch today's cruise ships set sail. It was exciting to get my first IRL look at an Oasis class ship prior to boarding Allure tomorrow. We then strolled the 2 miles or so back to the hotel via a fantastic Italian restaurant on Española Way. We've had a great couple of days in Miami, but now we're VERY excited about boarding Allure tomorrow. Guy Gadwa, JohnK6404, Dan Curtis and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srp431 Posted December 22, 2019 Report Share Posted December 22, 2019 On 12/18/2019 at 12:06 PM, Cruisegirl1976 said: Following.. enjoy your vacation Following, Have fun hayley_bopp and Cruisegirl1976 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Gadwa Posted December 23, 2019 Report Share Posted December 23, 2019 Following! hayley_bopp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLMoran Posted December 24, 2019 Report Share Posted December 24, 2019 On 12/21/2019 at 9:16 PM, hayley_bopp said: Valley-dude Santa? Lovetocruise2002 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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