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xSAILEDx Allure of the Seas - Apr 2, 2023 - Apr 9, 2023 (7 Night Western Caribbean Cruise)


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What do you like to do? We were on Allure last year from Ft. Lauderdale with these same ports and I'm eyeing it again this year because we loved it so much. We particularly enjoyed the animal sanctuary tour on Roatan and snorkeling off the shore of Cozumel. Hope we'll be joining you in the spring!

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  • AshleyDillo changed the title to Allure of the Seas - Apr 2, 2023 - Apr 9, 2023 (7 Night Western Caribbean Cruise)
  • 2 weeks later...

We booked an all day tour with Roatan Getaway Tours in Roatan. I booked the Sloth/Snorkel half-day tour on Viator last year with that tour company and it was fantastic, so we booked directly with them this year for the whole day. We're doing zip lines, Sloth sanctuary again, 3 reef snorkel and the Chocolate Factory. 

AND, we're ALSO going to Maya Chan in Costa Maya this year. We didn't care to go back to the Malecon/Mahahual last year (it was ok but was one and done for my family) so really excited for a different option. 

I *think* we're going to the ATV park in the morning on Cozumel, with a Discover Scuba in the afternoon, but haven't booked those yet. We have some time... 

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On 1/7/2023 at 9:52 PM, jbrinkm said:

@The Blau clan How are you getting to the port? Are you in driving distance, or flying in? I'm curious to hear how others are managing their transportation. We're flying in the day before and still figuring out if we are going to use a shuttle or rideshare or private transport...

I'm fortunate to live within 1-1/2 hour of Galveston terminal (and 25 minutes from IAH) so we will drive down the morning of departure. There are a number of express shuttles & private vans you can book, as well as plain old Uber. Depends on how many in your group.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We're booked on this one, last minute (if you call booking in January for an April cruise last minute.) 🙂

Second time on Allure, this time with friends. Looking forward. We always cruise out of Galveston, since we're only about 4 hours away by car. We always go in a day early, stay and eat somewhere nice, and board early the next day.

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On 1/28/2023 at 6:38 AM, TexasQRanch said:

First time cruisin.  Looking forward to relaxing, may be too busy though. Ha

You should have a great time but definitely relaxing.  Take in all the shows and check out the different activities even in you don't know if you will stay. This is our 2nd cruise and so glad we didn't skip out any shows and games last time. 

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Looking at potential things to do with my daughter on board. Anyone know if there is an escape room on Allure of the Seas?  Or, Virtual Adventure Zone?  Any comedy shows that are "clean", and would feel comfortable with my 14-yr old daughter there?  What are some good entertainment options to do in the evening, besides the big shows (Mama Mia, OceanAria, Ice Games) that I could do with her?

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Allure has not been amped, so she does not have an escape room, slides or laser tag - some people like her best for that very reason. There is usually one or two "family friendly" shows in the evenings in the big theater. Last April, they had someone singing Adele songs one night and another night the comedians. I had mixed feelings about the comedians... One was ok and the kids laughed. The other still seemed like his adult show but without cursing. He was making jokes about his dating life that felt a little off for the intended audience. So with 1. ice show 2. Mamma Mia 3. OceanAria 4. at least one family show in the big theater, you'll have stuff to do. There are also some dance parties and movies on the big screen in the evenings. 

The schedule does start to become a bit adult/bar heavy after around 9 or 10pm. A lot of teens tend to just roam around together in the evenings, playing ping pong or eating pizza or whatever they get in their heads to do. There does tend to be something specifically for teens for about an hour most evenings too  I personally am not usually much of a morning person, but I found myself tired in the evenings (especially after port days spent in the hot sun) and wanting to get up for stuff going on in the mornings or excursions.

A good way to see what might be going on is to switch your sailing in the app to the current on or next week. It probably won't change too much from week to week and will give you a general sense of what to expect.

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Hello everyone! I'll be on this cruise, my friend and I booked it about a month ago for a spring break trip. We were going to do an all-inclusive resort, but flight prices anywhere outside of the US were outrageous! So we decided on a cruise instead - and flights were cheapest to Texas! Ha. I have been on many cruises before, however this will only be my second RC cruise - and first on Oasis class ship, actually first on any ship of this size. My friend I'm cruising with has only been on one other cruise, a Disney cruise last year for spring break. We're both so excited for this cruise, and I have a feeling we'll be a bit overwhelmed with the size!! 

On 12/2/2022 at 5:43 PM, jbrinkm said:

We booked an all day tour with Roatan Getaway Tours in Roatan. I booked the Sloth/Snorkel half-day tour on Viator last year with that tour company and it was fantastic, so we booked directly with them this year for the whole day. We're doing zip lines, Sloth sanctuary again, 3 reef snorkel and the Chocolate Factory. 

AND, we're ALSO going to Maya Chan in Costa Maya this year. We didn't care to go back to the Malecon/Mahahual last year (it was ok but was one and done for my family) so really excited for a different option. 

I *think* we're going to the ATV park in the morning on Cozumel, with a Discover Scuba in the afternoon, but haven't booked those yet. We have some time... 

Hi 👋 from CC board! Was trying to gather info for our cruise, and came upon this message board. We'll be doing almost the same things! Glad to hear Roatan Getaway Tours is good - that's who we decided to book through. Since we're doing Maya Chan, we decided to something more adventurous in the other ports - we booked the "All in one Roatan Aventure" which includes Zipline/Sloth/Snorkel and optional beach stop. I didn't know there was one with a Chocolate Factory too! We booked another snorkel tour in Cozumel, the Turtle Sanctuary one. It has great reviews, and I love turtles! Hopefully we picked a good one.

On 1/25/2023 at 9:23 PM, rextex said:

Hello shipmates. This will be our 2nd cruise. After getting too old for scuba diving, we decided to give cruising a try and took a Princess Alaskan cruise in August. We have booked the Allure of the Seas to celebrate our 50th anniversary. Looking forward to seeing everyone onboard April 2.

Wow, 50 years!! Congratulations!! Isn't an Alaskan cruise beautiful? You must've enjoyed cruising, if you're booked on another! 

On 3/10/2023 at 4:34 PM, jbrinkm said:

A good way to see what might be going on is to switch your sailing in the app to the current on or next week. It probably won't change too much from week to week and will give you a general sense of what to expect.

How do you do that?? I have not found the app to be very user friendly!! I'm hoping it will be better once we're on the ship and connected to ship wifi!

 

I'm jealous of all of you that are so close to Galveston, or any cruise port. I'm from Wisconsin, definitely nothing close up here! I'm sick of the snow, April can't come soon enough!! I will say transportation from Houston to Galveston has been a bit of a hassle - there aren't many options, a couple shuttles I looked at the times didn't work for our boarding time, so I ended up pre-booking an Uber ride for us. We'll be flying in the night before and staying at a hotel near IAH, I scheduled the Uber for 9:30 am to get us to the port around 11:00. Does that sound about right?

21 days to go! Woohoo!!!! 🥳

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6 hours ago, sjoyl said:

Hi 👋 from CC board! Was trying to gather info for our cruise, and came upon this message board. We'll be doing almost the same things! Glad to hear Roatan Getaway Tours is good - that's who we decided to book through. Since we're doing Maya Chan, we decided to something more adventurous in the other ports - we booked the "All in one Roatan Aventure" which includes Zipline/Sloth/Snorkel and optional beach stop. I didn't know there was one with a Chocolate Factory too! We booked another snorkel tour in Cozumel, the Turtle Sanctuary one. It has great reviews, and I love turtles! Hopefully we picked a good one.

...

How do you do that?? I have not found the app to be very user friendly!! I'm hoping it will be better once we're on the ship and connected to ship wifi!

Hi @sjoyl! Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog boards & roll call. I'm originally from northern Illinois and my sister lives in Kenosha - not sure how far north you are, but all my people are still out that way and we enjoy visiting often. It's easy to recognize me from CC because I have the same username and picture!

We looked at the All in One tour but really didn't need time at the beach since we're doing that in Costa Maya, and we did a lot of beach last year on essentially this same cruise but from Fort Lauderdale (also that was 6 night, thrilled to have an extra night this year since there was so much more on the ship we wanted to do). So we booked a custom tour and we're hoping we'll be able to fit it all in. Their policy is to have people back 2 hours before departure so that day will be an early morning for us! 

Allure is a big ship, but she didn't feel overwhelming to my family due to the layout. Many people say that their favorite ships are the Oasis class and I'm happy for my teens to have a lot to do, which they wouldn't on a much smaller ship.

I feel like everyone on both of my roll calls is going to Maya Chan in Costa Maya. I also am getting the sense that our ship won't be that crowded, so for those of you that tried to Royal Up, you might end up getting lucky!

If you want to see a different sailing in the app, go to the 3rd screen, the one with the person/head at the top. Click "select a different cruise" then "Browse our ships" (it will look greyed out but you can still click it), then click Allure and an earlier sailing date. Et voila! Just go through the same steps to click back, but you'll see our sailing sooner in the process to select. 

It's getting close!  

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On 3/12/2023 at 8:59 PM, jbrinkm said:

Our app populated! I can see the daily schedule of events!!!

On a recent Cruise Compass, they had a magic show Thursday at 8pm in the Amber Theater.  Not seeing that in the app right now.  And, I don't see any show in the Amber Theater at that date/time slot.  Maybe they add more items later?

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My flight home from IAH doesn't leave until 630pm on Sunday, April 9.  I'm wondering if I should just go straight to the airport, or hang out in Galveston for a while. I'm guessing it might be better to stay in Galveston to avoid higher Uber costs first thing with heavy demand.  If so, any recommendations on what to do?  And then what to do with our luggage, since I don't want to lug it around all day?  Also, seems like the self-debarkation option is best because you have more flexibility on when you get off the ship?

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/7/2023 at 9:52 PM, jbrinkm said:

@The Blau clan How are you getting to the port? Are you in driving distance, or flying in? I'm curious to hear how others are managing their transportation. We're flying in the day before and still figuring out if we are going to use a shuttle or rideshare or private transport...

We are driving down there from Oklahoma. We booked a parking garage and will shuttle over. 

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On 11/12/2022 at 11:19 AM, jbrinkm said:

What do you like to do? We were on Allure last year from Ft. Lauderdale with these same ports and I'm eyeing it again this year because we loved it so much. We particularly enjoyed the animal sanctuary tour on Roatan and snorkeling off the shore of Cozumel. Hope we'll be joining you in the spring!

When we booked, we didn't plan to do any excursions at port.  Likely get off ship and walk around, but trying to keep down costs. Now hubby is toying with the idea of the ruins.  I swear , we will be broke coming home!! haha!    But really ... I'm also bringing cards, rummikub and dominoes so if you see a middle aged couple playing games say hi and join us!

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  • AshleyDillo changed the title to xSAILEDx Allure of the Seas - Apr 2, 2023 - Apr 9, 2023 (7 Night Western Caribbean Cruise)

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