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

[WDWLinda]

First - so sorry to hear you're not feeling well...I hope you're much better by now. I just spent all morning reading this TR and I've found it very helpful. I've never been on a cruise before but we're looking to take our family (me, husband and 2 boys) on a cruise with my mom and m-in-law...who don't get along so unfortunately can't share a room. We love Disney but now I'm second-guessing myself. It'll probably come down to the total price and what's offered in the Spring of 2013 (I know...eons away). But it's SO confusing...did you book your trip directly with RC or go thru a travel agent?

I love all your pics and your family looks like they'd have a great time no matter where they went. Thank you so much for the time and energy spent putting this together - I'm really enjoying reading it!!

Feel better...
Linda

 

[lucas]

Hope you are feeling better.

 

[Jennifer48]

Feel better soon!

 

[nenner1]

Thanks for the well wishes!!!

I'm back and better than ever! Look out below!

 

[nenner1]

So after an hour and a half in a dark soothing atmosphere it was time for a pick me-up! Helloooo Starbucks at Sea!

(check out Savannah! Freeze! This is a Stick-UP! LMAO!)

I was a little bummed that they had transitioned into their fall menu items, which is good in that Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back, bad in yhat I was craving a Coconut Mocha Frappucino and it was no longer on the menu. The good news is they were able to make it for me anyway! Yay!

HEY! Stop Bogarting my Frap!

Looking up into Central Park:

On Air:

There was one thing on here that perplexed me. The ” …I’m so afraid to love you but more afraid to loose…Clinging to a past that…” (lyrics from Sarah MacLaughlan’s song ‘I Will Remember You’). I do not know the significance of why it is on the electronic banner like that? It did not change for the entire cruise. Maybe they just like 90's slow jams? anyhoo...

Wanna see it in action? It's like Times Square but cooler, since it's on a cruise ship!

Video- Click to Play!



I guess it was time for afternoon snacks!

Love this little guy on the Promenade:

Now that it was afternoon- pool and flowrider time!

Heading up to change: here comes trouble!

We headed up to the H20 zone. We were delighted that now that Sarah was potty-trained she could finally use the entire play area and not be stuck in that tiny confined baby splash area! Whooppee!

Take one guess where she wanted to go…

Of course they don’t let the diapered ones out or the non diapered ones in, so I kind of had to stalk around behind her and make sure she didn’t try to get in there. I found deck patrol to be very good on Allure. They actually do watch the kids, and they were very quick to address problems like the diapered children in the areas other than the Baby Zone. One lady tried to play the “No English” card but the Deck Patrol guy stood firm and pointed at her diapered child and pointed out of the pool until she finally picked the little boy up. She was quite idnigant, though she was the only passenger I really saw throw a fit about the diaper rule.

The kids just love the lazy river- or since it is neither really lazy nor a river I like to call it the “donut pool”.

Yes more. We lost count already!

Straight up- Pools were super busy this afternoon. I think most people had the same idea to not get off the ship in Nassau, and it appears that those that did returned well before lunchtime. Even though the other pools were super busy, the H20 zone was never really bad, and chairs were always easy to find here. In fact as a whole we did not experience any problems with pool side chair hogging or lounge/chair availability the entire cruise!

Farewell Nassau!

It was virtually impossible to get a good picture of Sarah, she moved too fast!

(continued)

 

[LuvEeyore]

Glad you are feeling better. Love the pool areas...your pictures make me want to cruise Royal Carribean and I said after my Alaskian Cruise on an unnamed line...never again unless DCL!! I loved Alaska just not the other cruise line.
Your kids are so cute and look like they should be advertising for RC, they are having so much fun.

 

[nenner1]

We left the pools with enough time to head downstairs, get showered and dressed, and head down to Ice Games at Studio B.

Studio B is the ice skating rink and theater onboard Allure. It is also where the ice shows are performed and also home to various other activities and performances onboard. Ice skating rinks have been standard on new RCCL ships for about a decade or so, and that is something I would LOVE to see on DCL (Disney on Ice anyone?!?! Seems like a no-brainer to me!!)

We had planned to arrive early but we did not get there quite as early as I would have liked. We arrived about 30 minutes prior to showtime. I thought all of the good seats would have been taken already and I was quite surprised to see front row seats on both sides of the ice still available! We headed to the right, and straight down to an empty front row! Score!

The seats facing the ice rink head on were almost completely full already. So if you want to sit facing the ice show vs. the sides of the rink, be sure to arrive extra early! I was pretty darn happy with the seats we ended up with, though!

The introductory scene-a video game monitor display referencing Challenger’s Arcade:

I ain't gonna lie. My pictures of this show pretty much stink, but the video is awesome. Take the few minutes to watch the clips, you'll be glad you did!

So, if you aren’t familiar with the theme of Ice Games, basically you are playing a big game of Monopoly and the properties around the board, instead of Park Place and Marvin Gardens are locations around the ship, like the arcade, Giovanni’s Table, On Air Club, and of course, Casino Royale.
If you prefer to not know details of the show, do skip head at this point (scroll till you see food!). There really isn’t much more to the story line, but if you want to be surprised, I won’t be offended!

Here is a view of the show from head on, which may help orient you:

The show begins with the introduction to the Monopoly theme, and introduction to Mr. Monopoly.

(I apologize for the blurriness of these photos, flash photography was prohibited and my camera-even the good one-is fairly limited in high action, low light situations)

The skating, I thought was good. I can hardly walk on the ice, so it’s always impressive to me. There were a few falls, sure, but a triple axel on a rink that small, with set pieces around? Pretty darn remarkable in my opinion.

Intro segment:

Videos - Click to Play





After the Monopoly segment, imagine my surprise when Mr. Monopoly skated right up to me with a button and motioned for me to push it. How cool!!! I push the button and the sound of tumbling dice began, and voila!- we landed on Giovanni’s Table!

Only one other person got to push the button and one other guy got to roll the dice- so I was special!!!!

Oopsie! Caught a fall in progress…

There is a cheeky duo in the Giovanni’s segment featuring a male diner with his drunken dinner date. It was pretty amusing to watch, although sometimes I did not know if she was stumbling on purpose or not.

Giovanni's Segment: Hello double cartwheel on ice. Whoa.

Videos- Click to Play





The next roll of the dice brought us to the Boardwalk, and then on Air Club:

Boardwalk, featuring-what else= the "Carousel"

Video- Click to Play



You have landed on: the On Air Karaoke Club!

Videos: Click to Play





Then there was another pair skating routine that seemed very romantic classical and out of place with the theme of the show. It was beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but it didn’t really fit with the theme of the show. We would find out later that this duo was a guest pair onboard so maybe this segment is not normally in the show.

At one point they scrapped the button pushing and brought out a huge oversized pair of dice- the interaction between the skaters and the audience member rolling the dice was pretty funny!

Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200.

Video- Click Link to Play on You Tube

http://youtu.be/wVyh7ZlBefw

(this one's really good and was too big of a file for Photobucket)

Yeah. They do like their Micheal Jackson. But then again, who doesn't?


I thought this show was really terrific and being in the front row was so worth the inconvenience of getting there early!

Up Next: You Keep the Tour Groups, I'll Take the Steak!

 

[iloverags2]

Yea...you are feeling better!

Looks like beautiful weather to enjoy at the pool. And wow...what awesome seats you had for the show. How cool you got to push the button!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Jen! Good to see you up and kickin!

HEY! Stop Bogarting my Frap!

Ummm, I don't mean to be a spoiler, but it clearly says "Ronald" on "your" Frap!


Looking up into Central Park:

Kind of looks like you are looking down on a glass floor











We headed up to the H20 zone. We were delighted that now that Sarah was potty-trained she could finally use the entire play area and not be stuck in that tiny confined baby splash area! Whooppee!

Take one guess where she wanted to go…

Of course they don’t let the diapered ones out or the non diapered ones in, so I kind of had to stalk around behind her and make sure she didn’t try to get in there. I found deck patrol to be very good on Allure. They actually do watch the kids, and they were very quick to address problems like the diapered children in the areas other than the Baby Zone. One lady tried to play the “No English” card but the Deck Patrol guy stood firm and pointed at her diapered child and pointed out of the pool until she finally picked the little boy up. She was quite idnigant, though she was the only passenger I really saw throw a fit about the diaper rule.


WHAT??? NO UFO'S ALLOWED????

The kids just love the lazy river- or since it is neither really lazy nor a river I like to call it the “donut pool”.



Yes more. We lost count already!

(continued)

Sweet Sisters!
Your ice show looks so fun! It's great they have a different show on each ship! I think your pics and video came out really great for the most part!!!

 

[knewton64]

getting caught up -







ANYWHO -





- 42 - more dazs.........

 

[SanDeeKath]

Thank you for this awesome, amazing, incredible trip report!

30 days till Disney Wonder

302 days till Allure B2B cruise (1 week sans kids, 1 week with kids)!

We are lucky dogs!!

Katherine

 

[SanDeeKath]

Thank you for this awesome, amazing, incredible trip report!

30 days till Disney Wonder

302 days till Allure B2B cruise (1 week sans kids, 1 week with kids)!

We are lucky dogs!!

Katherine

 

[heaven2dc]

Love the pics by the pool! I was glad to read that the staff keeps an eye on the little ones in diapers. I've been to WDW when they have had to clear out the pool at the resort and it makes you feel icky for a little bit afterward. I've raised 5 kids and can sympathize with moms with little ones in diapers - we didn't have the swim diapers when my kids were little.

The ice show looked fun! I happened to see another video on Youtube after watching yours of a flash mob onboard one of the cruises in September. That would have been fun to be a part of or to watch. I love ice shows and I think your suggestion of Disney on Ice on one of their ships is a great idea

 

[nenner1]

Awww, thanks! I hope you get to see our sailaway! In case you can pick us out of all the other ants, we will have red shirts on and will be waving like a couple of crazy people. Nov 19 - mark your calendar!

I do feel like I know you guys. I am always telling dh, well Jen and Ron say this and Jen and Ron say that!

Wow! Like tomorrow!!!! have an amazing time on Oasis, I can't wait to hear all about it! And...there isn't much more to say about the last day. Except see the parade earlier in the cruise and stand more toward the center of the promenade. By the car, globe, cupcake cupboard or Rising Tide is way better than where we ended up. And I think it would be better to watch it from up on 6- my personal opinion.

Have an amazing time!!!!

Anyhoo, we always go forward and that is what dh wants to do but I think aft would be cool to see Fort Lauderdale fade in the distance. He seems to agree, saying we can go aft on the Oasis and when we do the Allure (?!) we can go forward. My plan is to be aft and stand NEXT to someone with a banner so the camera zooms in on us.

Awesome! I'll be watching!!!

FOTS, 3/24/13 Eastern.....

I WISH!!! We can't go then anymore because of Savannah's competitions and conventions. She has five or six of them between late Feb and April!

wow your REALLY did your homework! i didnt know that

Yeah, we saw it on one of the shows on Oasis. They wanted a big open grassy hill for people to picnic on or something, I guess. LOL!! One of the Captains actually came up with the idea to make it more like a park, and loookee what we have now! Smart guy, that el capitan!

WHAT were they thinking, if that was us and we didnt have the kids they would have made a killing LOL

No kidding, you NEED a few drinks to walk into that Straw Market/Street Market!

There were quite a few people around disappointed. Hey, it's 9AM somewhere!

HOLD UP.. is Sarah showing that Michael Jackson was in the kids club!... yup thats got to be him,. cuz his hand dont know if they are black or white[/SIZE][/COLOR]

Eeeeheee! You are too funnny!!!

you said porn, and wiener but all looks like a yummy treat

They were tasty I do admit!!!

oh yeah im not the only one. i napped through beverly hills chiwowwa (sp? lol)

Oh yeah! I knew there was another one I slept through! I didn't even attempt the Midnight Premiere but the next day we saw it again (the kids fell asleep the night before) and I slept then! HA!

And don't think I didn't notice that you spelled chiuaua like jwoww...That;s no conicidence! lmao!

oh this would so be my breakfast stop!

You would be so disappointed in me, we only got cupcakes once! The horrors!!!

Um ... it's been almost a full day between posts ... from anyone ...

Helloooooo ... is this mic on?? (tap tap) ... hellloooooo .... ?

I'm still here too! Waiting and thinking about the next installment. You are not alone

This cracked me up!

Anybody out there?

After a ladies weekend at the natural bridge hotel...I am back waiting with you guess Ihave time to eat dinner.

Jen, you are just bein MEAN again!!!! I've already told Jeff I'm ready to book this cruise.....

I didn't answer the door when I thought it might be a lawyer......

LMAO!!!

But seriously, between this TR and a photo review on CC, I'm soooo ready!

Feel better soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you are better quickly, Jen!

Feel better soon! There is a lot of "gunk" going around so take your time and heal fully (as a mom that's kind of impossible but try).

Thanks so much for all the love everyone, sorry I made you wait. I left cruise critic hanging too, in fact I need to get over there and wrap that up so I can focus on this one!!!

First - so sorry to hear you're not feeling well...I hope you're much better by now. I just spent all morning reading this TR and I've found it very helpful. I've never been on a cruise before but we're looking to take our family (me, husband and 2 boys) on a cruise with my mom and m-in-law...who don't get along so unfortunately can't share a room. We love Disney but now I'm second-guessing myself. It'll probably come down to the total price and what's offered in the Spring of 2013 (I know...eons away). But it's SO confusing...did you book your trip directly with RC or go thru a travel agent?

We did do it on our own, normally we use a TA if for nothing else but the onboard credit and perks like that. But we don't really know anything about the RCCL TA's that offer incentives so we booked direct. We don't have anything else booked with them right now but are researching TA's. Some of them offer prepaid gratuities and OBC- deals I had no idea existed! But booking it directly was good- we can;t do it online because there are 5 of us, so we had to call but we've found their customer service friendly helpful and quite knowledgeable. There is a lot to learn for sure but once you get acclimated to cruise lingo and stateroom categories and offerings it is pretty similar from line to line. Have fun with it! LOL!

I love all your pics and your family looks like they'd have a great time no matter where they went. Thank you so much for the time and energy spent putting this together - I'm really enjoying reading it!!

Feel better...
Linda

Thanks so much Linda! Let me know if you have any other questions, I'm happy to help!

Hope you are feeling better.

Feel better soon!

Thanks!!! I'm not 100% yet but a couple days off will help a LOT!

Yea...you are feeling better!

Looks like beautiful weather to enjoy at the pool. And wow...what awesome seats you had for the show. How cool you got to push the button!

Yes, it was so fun! I actually felt a bit guilty getting singled out like that because I had been videotaping, and they do say videotaping is not allowed (they say that before every show). I was right there in the front thinking oh man, they see my blinking red light..They KNOW I'm taping and since I was the first one to get the button, I didn't know it was coming, I seriously thought the guy was skating up to me to tell me to STOP TAPING!!! How funny is that!!!!

Hi Jen! Good to see you up and kickin!

Thanks!!! I'm hanging in, being Friday helps a LOT!!!

Sweet Sisters!

Aww, yes! And about the UFO's...this is now TWO cruises in a row that we encountered NO>ZERO>ZILCH>NEGATIVE UFO's! Can you believe it? I'm almost wondering if they don't bother to stop everything and clean out the pools anymore, maybe they just fish it out with a big net and we carry on business as usual? Cause there's just NO WAY that there weren't ANY Baby Ruth's through two whole cruises!!!

Your ice show looks so fun! It's great they have a different show on each ship! I think your pics and video came out really great for the most part!!!

It was fun! It gets mixed reviews on Cruise Critic and in fact a lot of people strongly dislike it. I don't know why, I thought it was a blast!

getting caught up

ANYWHO -

- 42 - more dazs.........

Aeesome Kris! It's about time, right? Haha!

Thank you for this awesome, amazing, incredible trip report!

30 days till Disney Wonder

302 days till Allure B2B cruise (1 week sans kids, 1 week with kids)!

We are lucky dogs!!

Katherine

You are so welcome Katherine! I am quite envious!!! That is totally the best of both worlds, back to back with kids and without!!! And the Wonder too! Sounds terrific!!!!

Love the pics by the pool! I was glad to read that the staff keeps an eye on the little ones in diapers. I've been to WDW when they have had to clear out the pool at the resort and it makes you feel icky for a little bit afterward. I've raised 5 kids and can sympathize with moms with little ones in diapers - we didn't have the swim diapers when my kids were little.

Yes, on cruises they are extremely strict about it. What's so wonderful is that the little ones do have a nice area to go in. And AFAIK for right now, the Disney Ships and Freedom and Oasis class are the only ships period to offer the little diapered ones a pool/splash area they can go in. Back in the day when we were researching our first cruise on DCL we read about how the other lines you had to bring an inflatable "duck" pool onboard to fill yourself if your baby/toddler had any hopes of getting wet! Yikes!

The ice show looked fun! I happened to see another video on Youtube after watching yours of a flash mob onboard one of the cruises in September. That would have been fun to be a part of or to watch

Shhhh...did you see me? That part is yet to come!!!

I love ice shows and I think your suggestion of Disney on Ice on one of their ships is a great idea

ITA- it's not too late for the Fantasy...haha! (OK, really I know it is!)

 

[karajeboo]

OK, you've had a day... new update, new update, new update!!!!

 

[sperkins921]

While you were away and recovering (glad to see you're feeling better btw) I went off to read some of your other trip reports. I noticed the year you did the Magic Halloween cruise, you made shirts for the family.

Were those just transfers or something else? And if they were transfers, which did you use- because those look like they held up well and that's one of the bigger complaints I've come across with using transfers is that they don't/didn't hold up well.

Also, on that thread you show all the magnets you did for door decoration- did you use printable magnets, or did you use printer sticker paper that then stuck onto the magnets? I can't remember if you said or not- since I read the posts over the course of a few days.

Thanks!!

 

[DundasDad]

OK, you've had a day... new update, new update, new update!!!!

 

[podsnel]

I would have loved to have seen the ice show on explorer- but no one wanted to leave the pool and go with me, lol! Very special that you got to push the button-

This ship looks like soooo much fun! And that hot dog bar... That would be a great place to hang out! Who doesn't love tube food?

Sorry I've been MIA lately, but I am all caught up now, Sista! Oh- and I just LOVE Sav's pj tank!

 

[nenner1]

Not going MIA on you guys promise! In between prepping for Turkey Day and costume sewing (Nutcracker closing in) and Christmas shopping and laundry, and all kinds of other things I am working on a new update. I've also been trying to close out my other one on CC for a while and that last segment I've been writing for over 4 days 20 pages in word and 96 photos and I'm not done yet! Ack!

So hang in there!!

 

[knewton64]

Not going MIA on you guys promise! In between prepping for Turkey Day and costume sewing (Nutcracker closing in) and Christmas shopping and laundry, and all kinds of other things I am working on a new update. I've also been trying to close out my other one on CC for a while and that last segment I've been writing for over 4 days 20 pages in word and 96 photos and I'm not done yet! Ack!

So hang in there!!

when it came to trip reportin'



20 pages?? &





happy Turkey day!!





T.T.F.N.