Shrek Takes On Mickey: The Dreamworks Experience Aboard Allure of the Seas 9/18-25

About the title: It's an obscure quote from Shrek 3. If you can figure out how it relates to this post, well then you get the trophy. ;)


And that brings us to sailaway. One of my biggest gripes on Independence of the Seas was the lame sailaway party. On DCL, the sailaway party is entertaining, engaging and exciting. Disney has it all- characters, a countdown, and charm. On Independence it was the steel drum band and 9 semi-drunk chicks doing the Macarena. Oh -and lest I forget and not give Royal the credit they deserve- there was one character- I think actually he would be better described as a mascot. Before you get too excited, though I should let you know our high school football team had a better mascot than this…thing. Wish I could explain it. It was a headless, tear drop shaped..bouncy …THING! made out of hula hoops and one of those parachutes you run under in kindergarten. Now, I only know about The Thing because I saw it on our Cruise in Review DVD, I did not actually attend the sailaway party on Independence. It was quite interesting, I have to say. I have scoured the internet for pictures to share with you of said “THING” however nobody else actually attended the sailaway parties either so google came up empty. Sorry about that. Anyway…..

The good news is, The Thing is no more on Oasis and Allure. Now with the Dreamworks characters , and the addition of an appropriate venue, the Aquatheater, RCCL can have a sailaway party shindig right up there with the likes of Disney. I’d read good things about it and I was anxious to see what it had to offer and if it jacked up my excitement for the cruise like on DCL.

The dilemma is, we wanted to be in a visible area to be seen by friends and family back home on the webcam. This was something we’d done in ’10 on Indy and not only was it a lot of fun, we now have the great keepsake of the video on youtube of us sailing away. We wanted to do the same thing this time…
Luckily, on Allure we could do both!

There are public decks at the back of the ship overlooking the Aquatheater and the aft of the ship. They are still relatively a secret. Most people incorrectly assume the decks are part of the Aqua theater Suite cabins, but those are only on Decks 8. 9. and 10. Decks 11, 12, and 14 are open to the public (both port and starboard). It’s a lot like the Deck 7 “Secret Verandah” on the Magic and Wonder, only better because it overlooks both a venue and the aft of the ship. And oh, what a venue the Aquatheater is. More on that in a bit.

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Since we had pre-arranged for the banner and webcam wave from www.portevergladeswebcam.com, we headed up to Deck 11 aft overlook where we had said we would be. We picked that spot to be easily visible on the webcam for our family and friends back home to wave goodbye to us, and also so the kids could still watch the sailaway party. Problem was that sailaway was immediately after muster, and the elevators and stairs were mobbed. And when I say mobbed I mean a crowd of epic proportions. It was hard to even move through the elevator lobby.

Quick stop on the way for this photo. I thought we'd be back but we never did take another picture here:

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We were in a hurry to get our spot secured and get the banner up , so we nudged our way to the port stairway and scurried up the 6 flights of stairs to deck 11 and proceeded to collapse. LOL.


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Here’s our Spot: Deck 11 Aft Port side. Like I said, these public decks are on floors 11,12, and 14. To get there just go in the port or starboard stateroom hallway and walk all the way back until you encounter a door.

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We were further away from the sailaway party than I would have liked. We could hardly hear it. The view for actually sailing away was pretty awesome though.

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Now about the party. Because I had the banner to get up and I was further down the wall, I missed a lot of it. Let me explain. We were the first ones out to the deck and got the kids in lounge chairs in the prime area where they could best see the party and also the back of the ship (the direction the camera would be on us from). As Ron and I stepped away to unroll the banner, the kids got up and followed, right as some people came out the door and plopped down in those seats- taking that area from us. We were a little frustrated since there was really no reason for the kids to have gotten up, plus we had our drinks and such on the table right there but the people sat right down in the chairs anyway. We told the kids quite loudly they should not have gotten up from their seats because now we lost them, hoping the people would get up and let us have them back. But they acted like they did not hear (and trust me, I have a naturally LOUD voice- they heard and I hope they feel good about stealing a seat from a 3 year old. But I digress). I tried to not get overly peeved at the time though. It was our fault, we should have all just stayed right in the immediate area by the chairs. Besides how could you be mad on a ship like this at the beginning of a cruise? We moved down a bit and got a new area and that was that.

Whatever, seat snatchers. We're all smiles!

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The Aquatheater is an amazing thing. It is a 750 seat outdoor theater at the back of the ship with wide open sky and an endless horizon as your backdrop. But the real feature here, is the pool. The deepest pool at sea, it is 14 feet deep and it accommodates performances that include 3m and 10m high diving, dramatic acrobatics, water ballet, choreographed swimming, trampolines, a Bellagio-style fountain show, and a convertible, adjustable stage that can rise and fall in minutes altering the depth of the water. Seating is provided in colorful beach chairs. They even show movies at night on the twin jumbo LED screens!

The Aquatheater:

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The kids could still see the Sailaway party but because I was at the far end where the banner was, I could not. I did see bits and pieces, however, Ron saw a lot of it, and we do have a few videos to give you a taste of it. There is actually a fun part where the Penguins of Madagascar take over the Bridge.

(Penguin sailaway pics from TPR)

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That’s basically the plot, the rest of it is just singing and dancing with the characters. The kids liked it, although there was a bit of disconnect being so far up.


Sailaway Party from up high:


First, the Madagascar guys! (minus the Penguins, they were still on the Bridge ya know)

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Decent crowd:

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Then the gang from Shrek:

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**Continued**
 
And we're off!

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For those thinking about doing the banner wave, be aware getting the banner up in this location is VERY difficult. The plexiglass safety railing goes to within millimeters of the floor. It is very hard to feed the ropes that secure the banner through, and tying it down is quite awkward. We had trouble keeping it taut. And you absolutely need 2 people to get it up in this spot.
But the hard work was worth it and so many of our friends and family waved

Bon Voyage to us online:

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Here is a link to our sailaway video on youtube. And it has great music too! Thanks Lou and David from Portevergladeswebcam.com* Wave to us!!!!

Sail Away on Allure of the Seas 9-18-11

Adios Ft. Lauderdale! See ya in a week!

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*PS : There is now a Portcanaveralwebcam.com sit that I believe also offers sailway wave video from that port. Not sure if you can do the banner here yet though! So now you can do this on DCL too! Check out the website for more details!



Meanwhile the party down below winds down:

(Video- click picture to play)



But upstairs we are just getting started. Random Dancing anyone?

(Videos- click each picture to play)





And away we goooooo....

(Video- click picture to play)



Coming up: Holy frijoles! Fiesta! Tequila! Ole!
 
Don't worry about us. We'll wait for you.
waiting.gif

I am so in :love: with that smilie!!!

Awesome! LOL!!

you call it slacking after less then a week from an update.. crud dont wanna know what your calling me then. Think i last updated a month ago... im keeping you all in suspense ya thats it! lol

Hey ya did good today! I'll get over there soon to catch up. Geez. don;t want to admit how far behind in my reading I am. Keeping all these TR's up is wipng me out!

I'm really enjoying this trip report! I'm itching to see where you go in port.

Thanks! We did some really fun stuff in St. Thomas and St. Maarten! Wll be worth the wait, I promise!

I love that you did this report b/c for the past year I've been tossing the idea of the Dream then the Allure/Oasis and back to the dream around. I see things I like on both. And it's good to have someone who is honest when Ogre beats the Mouse, or where the Mouse truly rules.

Thanks, I think the Dream/Fantasy and Allure/Oasis are so different they require checking out both! LOL! I am looking forward to our Fantasy cruise in just 11 months! Woo hoo!

That off site parking that you used for RCCL, is there one close to the DCL port? $15 a day is a hefty price- esp if you are paying to rent the car in the first place. I might have to just drop it off and use a taxi to get back to the ship...

I don't think there is a place like the Park 'N Go at Port Canaveral. Yes, definitely drop your rental car off before the cruise- I think most rental car places even have a free shuttle to take you back to the port so you don't have to deal with a taxi!

Something else I'm liking is the sheer number of pools and hot tubs on this ship versus the Dream. I've seen pictures of the pools on the Dream that are to look at.

Thanks again for the report and I can't wait to read more!!

You're welcome. Yes, we are BIG pool people on a cruise. I agree with your assessment about the Dream- we thought the pools were too small on the Wonder/Magic and they are even smaller on the Dream for 50% more people. Allure did have ample pool real estate for the number of cruisers onboard. The only one that was a little too small was the Solarium pool in the Adult area. I will say I am glad to hear the recent announcement in regards to pool deck enhancements on the Fantasy (Aqualab, Satellite Fountain). t's good to see they recognize the problem on the Dream, and are trying to alleviate it on the Fantasy.

Thanks so much for reading!

Looks like a great trip so far! Makes me want May to come How did you do the research for the cruise? I am having a hard time - was it just the cruise critic boards?

Yep, just Cruise Critic. It was a lot easier when they had an Allure-specifc board but they merged it with the RCCL board a few months ago. "Reviews" (what they call TR's over there) are nowhere near as detailed as what you find on the Dis so it can be hard to get the info you are looking for. We dd try to do it all and I will report back about as much as I possibly can so hopefully that will help you. And of course if you have any questions; don't hesitiate to ask!!

Wow! I don't think I could have done the ZipLine. That would have been far too scary for me. I probably would have freaked if Dan and Morgan did it too!

LOL I wasn't scared at all for the boys. But they went before me. I only went the one time. Nuff said. :lmao:

The FlowRiders are cool though! I could watch people faceplant all day!

Yeah it was fun! I was surprised at just how GOOD everyone was at flowriding. Not a lot of horrible wipeouts. We heard that a few injuries were sustained though. Sprained ankles and wrists. One guy was seriously injured and had to debark in St. Maarten to be hospitalized!

Are you sure you are on a cruise ship?

The zip line looks absolutely awesome! So glad you survived that! Anxious to hear if you were able to "beef up" Savannah so she could have a go at it.

Sheesh, you haven't even left port yet and I'm already pooped!

Oh my gosh, tell me about it! We completely went until we dropped the first few days. We slowed down a bit towards the end of the cruise/ Yep, Savannah does get to try out the zipline! It took a few days and several large plates of spaghetti but she made it!!

Me too! I'm gonna need a vacation from their first hours of vacation!

No kidding! We slept like babes that first night, let me tell you!:rotfl2:


is the line long to get a temporary one each time?


Nope, both times I did it, it was walk right up. Never saw it longer then 2 or 3 ppl!


THAT IS TO DIE FOR!

To quote Kara: "SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!" Just you wait. Did you know Allure and Oasis have *EVERYTHING*? They even have a MORGUE! (6 body capacity if I recall that right). Thankfully I did not get the tour. But more on that later.....:rolleyes1 (And, no none of this will be mentioned on CC! Dis exclusive death content!!!)


so do they have bigger balls for the kiddie cours?
They do! Big blue ones! And a multitude of other colors and sizes too!

(Hey, you asked for that one!)

LOL have to get in a minimum of 10 Mickey references in order for this to be on the DIS.. its in the agreement.. I read it.. all 5739 pages LMAO

Oh whew, I'm glad you read it. I keep worrying they are going to swoop in one day and kidnap me and drag me away and make a human centIPAD out of me for posting in the DCL forum. Teeheehee

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/382783/i-agreed-by-accident

now that could be both cool and dangerous. Can you see your pics too or was that just on the kiosk things I cant rmeember what you said before

No, you can't see your pics on it. That's pretty much the only thing they haven't integrated into it and I don't know why. I guess to keep people form taking pictures of their pictures on the TV screen. Not that I know anyone that would do that or anything.....:cool2:


.......foolish mortals!!


NEVER do some cooking at home -

THEN head out to the library

and

read your trip report!


WHY??


All THOSE PICS OF FOOD!!!!

ARGH!!!!!


My mouth is just a drooling....
WHHOOPS!!

I need a napkin


Those pics look just FAB
(ESP BUBBA GUMPS)


Hmmmmmmm.......

I a just a gonna have to return the favor -

YA KNOW?



SO -----

be on the lookout for food pics in
my upcoming adventure into Hawaii


the adventure begins in 300 hours.....

BUT WHO IS COUNTIN?:


ANYWHO -

glad ya had fun




T.T.F.N.

Oh I can't wait for that!!! Hawaiian Food Porn! Count me IN! :rotfl:

I am loving this trip report....can't wait for more! :)

Thanks so much! I'm glad you are enjoying it!!:goodvibes

Okay. I was totally freakin' out with you reading about how you were a hair away from plunging to your death while being untethered from the zipline! I was aggravated because here they've offered this awesome activity and left an obvious safety loop hole...What were they thinkin'?!?! But then I looked at your picture of being untethered from the zipline. Lookit again! There's a line attached to your waist that ties you off so even if you'd stepped back over the edge, no plunge. Just a heart attack, awkward dangle, and spider-man style clinging onto the ledge. You were o-kay. I now give my safety stamp of approval. Way to go, RC! :woohoo:

I meant to say something about that... I noticed the tether later after zip-lining a few more times. They actually do not take it off until you step out on the the other side of the safety gate. No problem... That first time, I didn't realize she was safe. I saw how close she was to the ledge and I didn't want to say anything to her because I didn't want to scare her. I thought she might faint and go over the side.

Ron

LOL, I know I know. I wasn't trying to mislead you guys. I really had no idea it was there..I thought for SURE I was going over. Did you see my reference to the Morgue? Hmmm....

:rotfl2:

LOL, anyway, yes Ron told me later on that I would have been fine. i was sweating it at the time though for sure! I wonder if anyone ever has stepped over the edge?

Looooved the pics and video of the flowriders. I've always thought "no way" just because I know I'd be fodder for the sadistic voyeurs (of which I am proudly one of the group). It just looks like so much fun! If only I could make eeeeeveryone turn around or cover their eyes...

I know right? I'm the same way. and everyone was just so GOOD at it on this ship. On Independence there were plenty of people that weren't so good. Will I get out there and give it a try? Wait and see....

No sweaty intimate intros to your shipmates during the mustard drill?! How will you recognize each other's scent later? :laughing: I'm liking the RC a/c treatment. I could sooooo go for that!

Hangin' on every word and resisting cruise critic to skip forward....

LOL! No, stay!! I promise it will be worth the wait!:thumbsup2




*struggles with inner self*
must not skip...to...cruise...critic review..........must not....skip....ahead....

LOL, I know it's hard to resist but there is just so much more content in this one. plus a lot of things aren't explained over there, as I assume that audience is already familiar with a lot of things! :goodvibes

Trust me, the cruise critic review is nowhere near as detailed as this one... That was is intended for a much different audience.;) This one is much more fun!!!

Ron

True. I wasn't about to call out the seat snatchers over there. You never know....

You did better than I would've if I didn't know she was tethered! I'm kinda squirly with some things. I think I'd have been screamin' and climbin' over the rail to grab hold of her and hang on! :laughing:

Yes when I grabbed that green padding and it was just velcroed on and it ripped right away from the wall, i think we all thought I was a goner!

I figured the reports would be written differently according to the target audience. I want to hear the perspective that contrasts with DCL so I'm going to be patient and wait. Such a challenge, tho! On a good day I have the patience of a gnat.

LOL, I'm quite a bit more snarky over here too. People get their panties in a wad waaay too easy on that board.

So basically they have Whack-a-mole?

Oh and those moles got whacked too, fer shure. :rotfl2:


And bad dancing IS allowed on AOS?

Cause I really wanna know......;)

Kara, Bad dancing is REQUIRED on AOS. That last installment should have given you a taste of it. But oh boy, it's just the beginning!

(And Ron looks around nervously hoping I am not going to post the video of him int he dancing contest at Rita's...)


Hey Jen! I want you to know I didn't stop reading....Mike and I were on vacation in St. Lucia last week (we returned this past Thursday night *sob*), so I'm catching up on your report today.

So far, it's all looking amazing.

St. Lucia has a rainforest with ziplining, including one they do at night. I wanted to give it a try, but Mike was opposed. I'm the daredevil in the family with everyone else, Mike and kids, holding me back! I did finally get him to go snorkeling this time, and lo and behold, he loved it just like I told him he would.

Curious to see what you do in St. Thomas as I am trying to figure out what would be the best excursion for us there.

Wow, glad to hear you had a great time and St. Lucia is so nice!! And I'm glad Mike finally got into snorkeling Way to go! That night-time zipline in the rainforest sounds amazing!

the excursion we did in St. Thomas may be a good choice for you now that Mike snorkels. We'll see what you think, we did have a blast!:goodvibes

You don't even need to get off that ship at port, has everything already there! Zip-lining, surfing, shopping, etc!


I know! We did not even plan to get off in Nassau (we did, just to shop a little), but for sure this trip was all about the ship!!!

:scared1: about your zip-lining experience!
Don't know what it is about me and zip lines....haha!

Did Savannah gain enough weight during the week to get a turn?

She did! That's coming up in a few days (ship days, not TR days!) LOL! :)

I am loving your report. This is def a ship I would love to go on!

Thanks so much, it really is amazing!!! :goodvibes

Enjoying the review and look forward to more. I may have to cruise RCCL if the prices on DCL keep getting so high. I'm already priced out of the 2013 Dream/Fantasy unless I can find a cruising buddy.

Kristi

Thanks Kristi!I'm glad you are enjoying it! Allure and Oasis can be pricey too, but like DCL, the key on those ships is to book as far in advance as possible! The DCL 2013 prices were really high though. We priced one out too and found it about $2,000 more than first day booking of our 2012 Fantasy cruise (for worse rooms too). :sad2:


There is so much more to come, glad you are enjoying it! :thumbsup2
 
How cool is that sailaway video! Yeah, I think the trade-off of being a bit away from the party was definitely worth it to have the video which you can keep for memories!

So glad to hear the spaghetti trick worked...looking forward to hearing how she liked the zip-line!

I am so not a fan of Shrek (this coming from a film/screenwriting major), but I would take this cruise just for the ship alone! (And steer clear of the characters! :rotfl: )
 


Love the random dancing! :thumbsup2

Did your friends/family have to save the webcam video or does the site do that for you? Neat souvenir!
 
Holy massive ships, Batman!!! That ship is ginormous!!!! Just watching the sailaway is so impressive! I had such good intentions of watching you in real time, but, well, yeah. OK, so I didn't. But I thought of you like an hour later!!!! (and after seeing that video, I'm surprised I couldn't still see that monster an hour later!!!!).
 
I too am priced out of DCL in 2013. My same cruise of 2012 is just barely more expensive than it's 2013 twin! I mean, when you're booking nearly 24 months in advance, you'd think that the cruise would be significantly cheaper, maybe 3 4 hundred bucks? nope.

And the Fantasy? How the $*%)$ is anyone paying THOSE prices? :snooty: And WHY is she so expensive a year after her maiden? The Dream didn't stay sky high. DH said maybe they took the Fantasy name so literal that they are making sure it's a 'fantasy' for most of us to ever get on? :rotfl2:

I do believe we will be doing a bit more RCCL sails in 2013. Oh well. By the looks of this trip report- we're not going to be lacking for things to do! :woohoo::yay:

Oh, and what's the Tally? Are we still keeping one?
 


I too am priced out of DCL in 2013. My same cruise of 2012 is just barely more expensive than it's 2013 twin! I mean, when you're booking nearly 24 months in advance, you'd think that the cruise would be significantly cheaper, maybe 3 4 hundred bucks? nope.

And the Fantasy? How the $*%)$ is anyone paying THOSE prices? :snooty: And WHY is she so expensive a year after her maiden? The Dream didn't stay sky high. DH said maybe they took the Fantasy name so literal that they are making sure it's a 'fantasy' for most of us to ever get on? :rotfl2:

I do believe we will be doing a bit more RCCL sails in 2013. Oh well. By the looks of this trip report- we're not going to be lacking for things to do! :woohoo::yay:

Oh, and what's the Tally? Are we still keeping one?
Looks like we are priced of DCL for 2013 too. Over $5800 for the same week in September '13 as the one we are doing on the Fantasy in 2012 for $4700.:confused3 Luckily we can go that same week on the Allure again for $4700. Same room configuration too.:cool2: So guess who's going to go on the Allure again in 2013....:cool1:

As far as the score... I think it was starting to look bad for Mickey.:sad2: She has kind of scrapped the scorecard for now.;)

Ron
 
I too am priced out of DCL in 2013. My same cruise of 2012 is just barely more expensive than it's 2013 twin! I mean, when you're booking nearly 24 months in advance, you'd think that the cruise would be significantly cheaper, maybe 3 4 hundred bucks? nope.

And the Fantasy? How the $*%)$ is anyone paying THOSE prices? :snooty: And WHY is she so expensive a year after her maiden? The Dream didn't stay sky high. DH said maybe they took the Fantasy name so literal that they are making sure it's a 'fantasy' for most of us to ever get on? :rotfl2:

I do believe we will be doing a bit more RCCL sails in 2013. Oh well. By the looks of this trip report- we're not going to be lacking for things to do! :woohoo::yay:

Oh, and what's the Tally? Are we still keeping one?

Looks like we are priced of DCL for 2013 too. Over $5800 for the same week in September '13 as the one we are doing on the Fantasy in 2012 for $4700.:confused3 Luckily we can go that same week on the Allure again for $4700. Same room configuration too.:cool2: So guess who's going to go on the Allure again in 2013....:cool1:

As far as the score... I think it was starting to look bad for Mickey.:sad2: She has kind of scrapped the scorecard for now.;)

Ron

I hate seeing those prices. But Jen convinced me that RCCL Freedom class was the next logical step for us (after falling in love with cruising on the Magic last year!) so we're booked on FOTS for 2013 spring break. Category D1 aft balcony cabin on deck 10 for LESS than an interior stateroom THIS year on the Magic...... :sad2: I know that DCL is not a charity, and with only 4 ships the price is higher. And I know that they stay full so SOMEONE is willing to pay those prices. Just sad it's not me.....

As far as ships go, I can totally see RCCL winning that battle. I'm more curious now that we've sailed away (notice I say "we" cause I'm living vicarously through you!) about comparing food, and service......
 
Oooohhh....random dancin' fan here! Love love love it! May I join?! :cool1::banana::dance3:

Still keepin' a close eye on this killer report. I think DCL's 2013 itinerary pricing paired with this report, we may a bunch of folks jumpin' ship over to RCI! I'm still watching releases with them, too. :goodvibes
 
Looks like we are priced of DCL for 2013 too. Over $5800 for the same week in September '13 as the one we are doing on the Fantasy in 2012 for $4700.:confused3 Luckily we can go that same week on the Allure again for $4700. Same room configuration too.:cool2: So guess who's going to go on the Allure again in 2013....:cool1:

As far as the score... I think it was starting to look bad for Mickey.:sad2: She has kind of scrapped the scorecard for now.;)

Ron

Wow, I feel bad for griping about the 3600 DCL wanted for DH and I for an inside room if you cruise was going to cost 5800. I mean, do you KNOW what we could do with 5800?? DH's answer would surely NOT be to cruise the Fantasy. LMAO

We're in a different price bracket anyway b/c we don't yet have kids, and not kids old enough/big enough to need more space than one cabin. Right now, we're cool with an inside if we *had* to. I'd prefer an outside at least, or on a longer cruise a veranda, but DH doesn't mind.

When I priced the Allure last, I could take us on most of their 7 day itineraries (other than the special holiday cruises) in the same cabin class for 700 bucks LESS than DCL.

*sigh*

Why am I so loyal to the mouse again?

I hate seeing those prices. But Jen convinced me that RCCL Freedom class was the next logical step for us (after falling in love with cruising on the Magic last year!) so we're booked on FOTS for 2013 spring break. Category D1 aft balcony cabin on deck 10 for LESS than an interior stateroom THIS year on the Magic...... :sad2: I know that DCL is not a charity, and with only 4 ships the price is higher. And I know that they stay full so SOMEONE is willing to pay those prices. Just sad it's not me.....

As far as ships go, I can totally see RCCL winning that battle. I'm more curious now that we've sailed away (notice I say "we" cause I'm living vicarously through you!) about comparing food, and service......

I mean, honestly, I think other than the sail away party and the terminal at embarkation, RCCL is winning in my book. Look at all that stuff to do! And we haven't even made it to international waters yet! Or have we? Either way- it sounds like a clear winner so far to me.

Add that to the fact that it's cheaper to cruise RCCL, and in my case there's a ship whose port of call is almost literally in my backyard, and I think we may be exploring them a little more often as well.

On the other board I'm active on, there are many of us from this same region, and several have recommended the FOTS as an RCCL ship to cruise on, as well as RCCL in general because they're so close to us. I think you'll enjoy your cruise!
 
I hate seeing those prices. But Jen convinced me that RCCL Freedom class was the next logical step for us (after falling in love with cruising on the Magic last year!) so we're booked on FOTS for 2013 spring break. Category D1 aft balcony cabin on deck 10 for LESS than an interior stateroom THIS year on the Magic...... :sad2: I know that DCL is not a charity, and with only 4 ships the price is higher. And I know that they stay full so SOMEONE is willing to pay those prices. Just sad it's not me.....

As far as ships go, I can totally see RCCL winning that battle. I'm more curious now that we've sailed away (notice I say "we" cause I'm living vicarously through you!) about comparing food, and service......

I have to agree, even though we said we didn't want to sail again unless it was DCL. We can take a cruise in a suite cheaper than an oceanview on the Fantasy, on some itineraries. At this point, if we want to cruise, it will have to be with someone else. We weren't happy with LOS, so we might try Grand Princess next time. I'm anxious to see about the food too.
 
Jen! Amazing sailaway cam! That ship is HUGE!!! I got so excited for you, I almost cried, imagining if I was your family waving to you live onlin!:dance3: You packed alot into your pre-sailaway time - I almost forgot you hadn't left yet.:goodvibes

Too bad about the chair snatchers! pirate: I'll bet they saw your drinks there and just didn't care.

P.S. I saw a preview of some more fun, I won't mention here so cool!
 
I mean, honestly, I think other than the sail away party and the terminal at embarkation, RCCL is winning in my book. Look at all that stuff to do! And we haven't even made it to international waters yet! Or have we? Either way- it sounds like a clear winner so far to me.

Add that to the fact that it's cheaper to cruise RCCL, and in my case there's a ship whose port of call is almost literally in my backyard, and I think we may be exploring them a little more often as well.

On the other board I'm active on, there are many of us from this same region, and several have recommended the FOTS as an RCCL ship to cruise on, as well as RCCL in general because they're so close to us. I think you'll enjoy your cruise!

I have to agree, even though we said we didn't want to sail again unless it was DCL. We can take a cruise in a suite cheaper than an oceanview on the Fantasy, on some itineraries. At this point, if we want to cruise, it will have to be with someone else. We weren't happy with LOS, so we might try Grand Princess next time. I'm anxious to see about the food too.

I hate to feel this way, too, because I am a DIEHARD Disney fan!!!! But I think especially as Ally gets older and the characters are not the big deal anymore, I like what FOTS has to offer.... REALLY looking forward to this cruise.

Tammie, isn't LOTS the same class as FOTS? What was it you didn't like? I just love the look of the promenade and the pool area and the H2O zone look incredible. And did we all mention price already? :rolleyes1

We are cruising in an inside stateroom on the Magic this year...... We booked onboard and are paying $3300 less our 10% onboard booking credit. So basically $3000. I looked into upgrading a couple of weeks ago. Our same cabin is now $4400!!!! For an INSIDE stateroom for 3 people! That is just insane! So obviously we are not upgrading...... But I got our D1 aft balcony on FOTS for LESS than that! How nutty is that?

Mickey, I love you, but.......
 
I hate to feel this way, too, because I am a DIEHARD Disney fan!!!! But I think especially as Ally gets older and the characters are not the big deal anymore, I like what FOTS has to offer.... REALLY looking forward to this cruise.

Tammie, isn't LOTS the same class as FOTS? What was it you didn't like? I just love the look of the promenade and the pool area and the H2O zone look incredible. And did we all mention price already? :rolleyes1

We are cruising in an inside stateroom on the Magic this year...... We booked onboard and are paying $3300 less our 10% onboard booking credit. So basically $3000. I looked into upgrading a couple of weeks ago. Our same cabin is now $4400!!!! For an INSIDE stateroom for 3 people! That is just insane! So obviously we are not upgrading...... But I got our D1 aft balcony on FOTS for LESS than that! How nutty is that?

Mickey, I love you, but.......

Doesn't it make you wonder what's going on over there at DCL corporate? I just priced our same 2012 itenerary for 2013. It's now only $100 cheaper than the 2012 cruise. $100. While booking 19 months early?!?! How is that any incentive to book early?

Meanwhile, the same cruise period on the AOTS, or OOTS, is $500 cheaper than Disney. That's time in the spa, drinks at the bar, souvies, whatever! And for what they're asking for two inside stateroom on the Fantasy in the summer, we could have the best or darn near suite either Allure/Oasis.

I feel like a Disney traitor, but seriously, other cruise lines are looking better and better, you know?
 
I totally agree with what you guys are saying about Disney prices.

Here is my example :

In 11/2010 we paid $1830.86 for dh/myself for 10 - yes ten - nights on the Emerald Princess (window-no balcony). It was a fantastic ship and trip to the Southern Caribbean, too!

In 5/2011 we paid $1220.48 for dh/myself for 3 - THREE - nights on the Disney Dream (window-no balcony). And we went with the cheapest, guarantee we could find. I couldn't believe balcony prices and would not pay what they were asking!

We are looking forward to cruising on the Oasis this coming Thanksgiving.

I do love the mouse and we are going to go on the Fantasy in 2012, but it is nice to venture out and try different things.
 
just catching up thanks for the updates
 
We did not have much time after heading out to freshen up and make it down to dinner! We are My-Time Diners (which means we do not have a set time for dinner), but this evening we would be starting this cruise off with a bang. We had reservations for Rita’s Fiesta at the specialty restaurant Rita’s Cantina!

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Rita’s Cantina is a Mexican restaurant that started off exclusively on Allure of the Seas. Due to its’ immense popularity it has since expanded to at least one other RCCL ship, Radiance of the Seas, and I’m sure there are plans for it to open on other ships.

Rita’s is a Specialty Restaurant and so it requires an additional fee to dine there. There is the normal dining option which costs $3 pp cover to enter and then each menu item you order also carries as small price ($2-5 each), and then there is the Fiesta!

If you aren’t aware of this offering, the Fiesta is quite a good deal: a three course dinner (set menu) and three (strong!) alcoholic drinks for $20 per person. Or if you prefer to not drink: dinner and three non-alcoholic drinks for $10. Ole!

We had made our reservation online well in advance of the cruise. Rita’s Fiesta is very popular and tends to sell out, even on the first night. When we booked it, the time was listed at 8:30 PM, but we noticed after reading reviews that they had a pattern of changing the time on the first night to 6:00 PM. We expected this to occur on our cruise as well, and sure enough about 2 days before sailing we received an email that our Fiesta would be held at 6:00 PM. The reason given was that it conflicted with the Aquatheater schedule. So be aware of this if considering the Fiesta for the first evening. Also we noticed that on other nights of the cruise the Fiesta had a slightly different name (“Mexican Madness” for example). We are not aware of any differences in the actual experience regardless of what they called it. The other days and times the Fiesta was offered on our Eastern cruise was on Days 4 and 5 at 8:30.

And we are headed to Deck 6 aft, the location of the Boardwalk, to get this party started! Inspired by the nostalgic seaside piers of yesteryear, the Boardwalk will dynamically engage the entire family in classic fun- whether young or just young at heart -with eateries, retail outlets, and carnival games. Here is where you find the Aquatheater, the (full-size!) Carousel, restaurants like Rita’s, Johnny Rocket’s Diner, The Ice Cream Parlor, and the Boardwalk Dog House. It is also home to shops like the Candy Beach vintage candy store, Pinwheels toy store, and Pets at Sea-which is similar to Build-A-Bear!

Welcome to the Boardwalk!

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Be warned: this little kids' play area next to Rita's is a toddler magnet. We practically needed pliers to pry Sarah off of it and every time we neared the aft end of the Boardwalk she took off running to it.


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The party started without us!

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We headed down to the boardwalk and checked in at the podium outside Rita’s Cantina, staffed by none other than Rita herself. We were quickly seated and chips and salsa were immediately brought to us.

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Rita's Cantina regular menu and drink menu:

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As part of the fiesta, each participant is given a straw sombrero and also a colorful flashing necklace to keep!


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Dress code at Rita’s is always casual, and shorts are perfectly acceptable here. Be aware the open areas of Allure are quite warm this time of year, including the Boardwalk. There wasn’t much air circulation and despite some fans and the fact that the more “inside” parts of the restaurant are air-conditioned , it was very, very hot for our meal. You won’t regret dressing comfortably. Besides, you will be dancing.

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The fiesta–colored chips and salsa, while attractive tasted just “OK”. They were not homemade chips, and the salsa was also not freshly made ('from a jar' as I’ve read often on Cruise Critic is the most fitting description). It didn’t bother us too much, but when they brought out some pico de gallo, we loved using that for our chips, as it was freshly prepared!

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The servers kind of float around at Rita’s. We didn’t have one set waiter. Whoever was around brought the food, and different servers filled our drink orders at different times. When you check in, you are issued a wristband with three removable tabs. This is how they keep track of your drinks. The alcoholics get the green wristbands, and the teetotalers get the red ones that say NO ALCOHOL on them. LOL!

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The first round came quickly and the kids enjoyed a virgin Strawberry Daiquiri, virgin Miami Vice, and a Shirley Temple, respectively. Ron chose the Patron Perfect Margarita, and I chose the Strawberry Margarita. Do take a minute to look at the drink menu, and remember what you might want after they take it from you. I wanted to try the Pomegranate Margarita and forgot about it later.

They aren’t messing around at Rita’s. The drinks are STRONG! I had a few inches of pure tequila floating at the bottom of mine (and plenty more throughout)!

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Rita comes out to introduce herself and start the dancing:

(Video- Click to Play!)



We are soon brought our appetizers, chicken and shrimp quesadillas, and chicken and shrimp taquitos arranged in alternating fashion around the plate, topped off with a small bowl of tempura style fried shrimp and zucchini:

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The appetizers were pretty tasty, especially the chicken quesadillas- very cheesy! They do tell you which are chicken and which are shrimp at the time, but it is very noisy (loud music) and they rattle it off quickly.

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**Continued**
 
Just about when enough time has passed for your first drink to “hit” you, the dancing starts. If they place one of the big sombreros on your head, be prepared, you will be dancing in front of everyone.

They were wise and chose Savannah instead of me!

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Video: Click to Play!




The dances were easy and fun, dancing to songs like Tequila and Macarena.

Oy...the Macarena.....
Excuse me, 1996 called, they want their dance back!

Video: Click to Play





Then they get everyone up and out on the Boardwalk for the Casper Slide.

Yes, everyone!

Even I can handle this one (slightly tipsy at that!)

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Video: Click to Play!




You have to limbo back into the restaurant too!



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Video: Click to Play!




Round two!

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I swear his drinks are virgin..or are they?

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Soon after the dancing, the main course arrived: mixed fajitas. These are chicken and steak served together on a large platter. Our table (just our family of 5) received two huge plates of fajitas, and about 12 total tortillas.

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While it looks delicious, the taste- again only “OK”. There was no flavor or spice at all to the fajitas- they were quite bland. Also they didn’t have any “grilled” or blackened taste to them. I was disappointed. I would equate them to what you might get at maybe a neighborhood chain like Applebee’s.

Also we did not have near enough tortillas, unless we wanted to over stuff the ones we did have and make gigantic Chipotle Mexican Grill sized burritos for each of us. Since we didn’t have an assigned server, we tried to catch the attention of one of them in passing to fetch us more , but we eventually gave up. We ate enough to no longer be hungry, so it wasn’t a big deal.

Fajitas are not something usually on a 3 year old’s rotation of meal choices, so we were unsure of how Sarah would do with them. She had more fun putting together her “taco” as we called it than eating it. But I am happy report she did not starve during this cruise (thank you soft serve ice cream machines!)

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After dinner, more dancing. This time it was a dance contest participated in by about 7-8 folks selected by Rita. She started with the girls, the restaurant voted a winner by applause, and the champion dinner wins a shot of – what else? – TEQUILA!

Girls Gone Wild. I'm so, so very thankful I managed to avoid being picked for this.

Video: Click to Play!



Rita’s Dancing Partner:

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Video: Click to Play!





After the girls, same thing for the guys. Ron was selected and he had fun doing the Beavis and Butthead dance! Cracked us up! He did not win, but he specifically tried not to, since the strong drinks were enough and even another shot might have put him on the floor. (Just the fact that he actually danced in front of everyone is a testament to the drink strength here, trust me!).

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And if you weren’t full and drunk enough by now, here comes dessert! There was a “sampler” plate with full size servings of each of Rita’s desserts: A huge slab of Mexican Flan with fruit salsa on top, Scrumptious Banana Custard Enchiladas, and of course Cinnamon-Sugar rolled Churros with Chipotle-Chocolate Sauce. Mmmm!

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None of us had been able to consume all three of our drinks, so the serving team collected our remining tabs, and brought us drinks to go. For the non-alcoholic drinks we chose soda, which was provided in cans, and for the alcoholic drinks we chose beer, which was brought in bottles. Terrific! Don’t let those unused drink tabs go to waste!

While I’m mentioning drinks, Rita’s did not have the “free” drink options available on RCCL like the iced tea, lemonade, fruit punch, or flavored water. I love iced tea and drink it with every meal, si I made sure to bring along some iced tea from Park Café. In fact there are no free drink options anywhere on the Boardwalk- this is important to remember when you stop by to eat at the Dog House or Boardwalk Donuts. You’ll have to bring something to drink from elsewhere onboard or purchase a drink from the Dog House or nearby Johnny Rockets. Very inconvenient.

Anyway, back to Rita’s: the whole experience took about 2 hours. It was the perfect way to start off your cruise as a party, and also to avoid the craziness of the MTD section of the MDR on the first evening. It was absolutely worth the price and I wholly recommend it!

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VERY informative! I just told Jeff that I need to stop reading this TR before I book another cruise!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea of Rita's the first night to kick off the cruise! And LOVE $20 for 3 drinks (with a little food in there for good measure).
 

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