In case you didn't notice, we are a NJ family- that's right, I am a REAL Real Housewife of NJ, and my DH is a REAL NJ Houseman.
Anyway....for years I have wanted to try a cruise out of either NYC or, better yet, Bayonne, NJ- no flying, no weighing of suitcases, no overnights before the trip- just throw the 50 tons of luggage in the car and drive to vacation in under an hour. How great does THAT sound? Well, let me tell ya...it's really all that and a bag of chips!
I've said it before and i'll say it again, CAN'T.IMAGINE.FLYING.WITH.CRUISE.LUGGAGE!!!
I mean, we could just not do it. Our baggage fees would cost more than the cruise. Although I will say I am trying hard this time to pack smarter and pack lighter*
*At least this cruise we don't have 40 pounds of Halloween candy to get onboard!!!
Pods dropped us and our 50 tons of luggage at the curb,
Amateur. That's not even 10 bags!!!!!!
....and it was not even 2:00!! We LOVE this travel day!!! So far this vacation ROCKS!! We passed by the Medical Facility .....
Where we reminded Tim he was on his own on this cruise if he even thought about visiting here
Poor Timmy!
On my tour the year before, the RCI rep had taken us into all the suites, and all the cabins....but there was one that REALLY stood out. The AFT D1 cabin(s) on Deck 10- they are configured differently, and they have a bigger balcony- and I was THRILLED to be staying in one! But....would it be noisy? Would it get sooty? Would it be extra hot back there, especially in freaking AUGUST???
Ummm...the answers are no- no- and no. We LOVED it back there-
Yeah you can't get any better than that! And on Freedom class (and probably Explorer's class too) the aft D1's are the same price as other D1's! DEAL! (On Oasis class they are on to that and the pricing scheme is different- there are no true aft rooms as those are suites, but the "Humps" are the only D1's- all the regular balcony rooms are D2 or below.)
It was so big, I couldn't get it all to fit in the photo! Out here there were 2 chairs, 2 lounge chairs, and a really nice size table (that we LOVED using for room service breakfast most mornings!).
Happy with all that we saw, we left our stripper-pole cabin and headed up one deck to lunch in the Windjammer...
Such an awesome room!!!!!
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We went through the line and found a table by a window with no problem, but here was our mistake- we should have walked further INTO the area, because at the back of the restaurant were many, many more options to choose from. Of what we had, nothing really stood out, other than the honey stung chicken- not that it was the best chicken ever, but just that it tasted pretty good. Here are our plates-
Ron thought HSC was overrated. I really liked it, but then I got mine fresh out of the kitchen (I am an empty pan stalker). On Allure we can order it from room service!
And Timmy? Well...he had WHITE for lunch-
Really? Even saltines? OMG, Tim!
Haha!!!!!
Awesome!!!!!
We were all up on deck 12 for the big sailaway and, of course, more happy, quality family time.
We were approaching the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, and it really felt like we would NEVER make it underneath, but of course, we did, to loud cheers from all the pax onboard- on this cruise, clearing the bridge means our vacation had officially begun!!
It's not a Disney sailaway party but man what a view!! Stunning! (Of course I've never been to NYC except for a layover at LaGuardia so it's impressive to me!!!)
Oh, did they have a big blue and yellow headless teardrop shaped inflatable "character" dancing on the pool deck during your sailaway party?? They did on Independence. We didn't see it live (or I would have a pic so you didn't have to think WTH??? when you read my description of "it") but...uh...yeah..it was....well...not quite up to par with the level of sailaway character experiences we've had on Disney (I saw it on my cruise in review DVD and was like...wow guys look what we missed during sailaway...that "thing" and 12 ladies doing the macarena.
The boys were so sad to have to leave us, but went to look for something to do in Optix anyway.
Optix is such a strange name. Sounds like an eyeglass manufacturer.
Pods & I had a date with those butt magnets they have in the comfy lounge chairs at the adult pool, known as the Solarium pool...
Those magnets have quite a strong pull! We never got to the Solarium last time. I trust the kids club will resolve that issue this time around.
On the way we passed the ice cream, which Pods says was frozen yogurt, but came in a couple of different flavors...
Love the strawberry....
DCL are you listening?!?!?
The Royal Promenade is very elaborate, and it feels like you are walking down a street with shops and bars everywhere-
Yes, the Promenade is Awesome!
Pods had some pizza, which he said was not so great-
No. It sure isn't Tony Manero paint can holding fold it and eat it with one hand while you walk the streets of the city to "Stayin' Alive" good....but there's nothing better at 2 AM.
(okay there's nothing ELSE at 2 AM).
I knew not to get that, and went for a couple of yummy little sammies instead-
I have to say, RC excels at anything on bread- and just bread in general. There was always such a variety at every meal! We all really enjoyed this throughout the cruise.
^This. those sammies! Man we had some ham & cheese croissants from Prom. Cafe on Indy and I swear they were the best in the WORLD.
Afterwards, I really wanted to get everything unpacked and situated in the cabin (I always feel like I truly can't relax on vacation until this chore is behind me) so we both retreated upstairs to deck 10. On the way, we noticed it had become night on the RP-
I thought it was very cool that they would change the lighting in there to make it feel like day or night-
Or on some ships the option is "rainbow" or "non-rainbow".
Back in Cabin 1688, we were surprised to find two VERY grumpy, VERY bored boys who were wining and complaining about EVERYTHING. There was nothing to do, there was no one to do it with, the kids club stinks, there's nothing on the boring tv, there's nothing to do on this ship, there's no good food and on and on and on....
Admit it, they missed all their built in Dis friends they are used to having.
Oh. Crap.
I have booked us into 9 days of THIS???
LOL!
But....they really had not given anything a chance yet. The kid stuff was really not beginning until that night, and we sat down and explained that there would be alot more going on tonight- and that they would get to me a TON of kids then (it's a BIG ship, it's August, I'm thinking there will be a few kids on board, KWIM?). In the meantime, Pods took them to get ice cream, which did help some (they WERE hungry- and they could not find the food!) Actually, I think they also went into the Windjammer and Timmy got a burger as well. In their defense, the ship doesn't make it easy to find the snacks unless you know the ropes. Where Disney has all those wonderful fast options at Goofy's, Pluto's, Pinocchio's, etc, all right by the pool, the Explorer has nothing like that. Maybe that's part of why the pools are bigger?
Yeah I did miss running to Plutos for those chicken strips while at the pool on RCCL. Allure does have the Wipeout Cafe up on deck by the Flowriders so that should help.
At 8:30 it was time for dinner, we were in the DaGama Dining Room on Deck 4. Deck 3 was Magellan, and Deck 5 was Columbus- and also had My Time Dining, which means you have different servers and different tablemates every night, but can also eat at whatever time you like rather than the assigned main dining at 6:15 or late at 8:30. I am an eternal optomist and was personally hoping to have wonderful servers like we did on our first Magic cruise, so we went with a regular seating time (I also didn't want to have to think about what time dinner should be every night with My Time, which you must do for the whole cruise if you want that. I like having as little responsibility as possible on cruise vacations, KWIM?).
Well...we could tell within MINUTES that we had really and truly lucked out with our servers.
Oh- I adored them, especially our main server, Fan. Really REALLY loved them!
How wonderful is that?
I'm glad you had such an amazing dining experience. We love MTD. Wish Disney offered it!! Don't expect to be in the dining room much for this next cruise though (too many other options).
We were seated at a table for 8, and as we watched people walk up to us...and then walk by us....we started to hope we'd actually be alone. I had thought it would be nice to meet some new people....but then, I realized that chances are, this would be the only time we'd see each other on the cruise some days, and I hated to give that alone time up.
Fortunately, we didn't have to. The other 4 at our table? They never showed up. EVER. Not even once! Well, what can I tell ya...other than it REALLY worked for us!!
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Yes!!! That's great!!! I totally agree, once the kids get older like the ages of ours and they are off doing their thing all day dinner is the only chance to reconnect.
My first course was the Vidalia Onion tart I had read was so good online- and it did not disappoint! Vidalia Onion Tart Sweet onions and Gruyère cheese baked in pastry, with red pepper coulis
Awww...you're making me wish we hadn't scheduled a specialty the first night. LOVE that vidalia onion tart!!!
Tyler ate Grilled Mediterranean Vegetable Quesadilla Folded in a flour tortilla with Manchego cheese and tomato cilantro salsa
He LOVED it, but wished there was more- but decided against ordering another one (although I am sure he could have had 10 of them and Fan would have obliged).
Two words for Tyler- BOMB DIGGITY! I totally had this to eat too last time-and it was a waaay out of the box choice for me- I am not a mediterranean person and I am not a veggie person but I LOVED this!!!!
Our entire meal was complete in less than an hour and a half- we were out of there before 10 pm. AMAZING!!!!!
We felt very, very fortunate after this meal- I literally was ready to pack up Fan and bring her home with us- I absolutely adored her!
Dessert looks so wonderful! And 1 1/2 hours is really booking it. Nice!!!
But going from Disney, where you can practically wheel in a kegger-
Bwahahaha! You should try it on the DisMoms cruise!!!!
But they didn't stay long because it was time to go to the arcade- the 12-14 year old club had an hour of free play and there was NO chance they were missing THAT!
How cool is that!! I wouldn't want to miss it either!!!
And WOW, on the Explorer, there are SO MANY!!!
First, there was a parade-
Love it!
Next we went to check out the Crypt, which I thought was
really cool when I took that tour the year before, and I wanted Pods to see it.
love the Crypt- never did get into the dance club on Indy. Totally plan on it on Allure-it's called Blaze and you know I love fire!!!!
It was empty in there- and I can promise you, it NEVER was empty again for the rest of the cruise- we had alot of fun all week dancing in that dungeon!
Your dance partner wishes she had been there with you! LOL!!
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I woke first in the morning, at about 9am and went to grab some breakfast and coffee as well as Ice Show tickets for later in the week, since they were being distributed that morning and ONLY that morning.
Now THAT is a pain in the butt. I think all the ships are going to start to be "Oasis-ized" though so that things like that can be done ahead of time online.
I also brought back a few donuts for the boys. Who were still sleeping. Very, very soundly. So once Pods was awake, he and I decided to go to the gym to work out. Well, can I just say that this gym was VERY different from the one on the Magic, in that it was PACKED!! It seems there were a lot of health conscious pax onboard- or maybe, like me, they had a fancy dress to put on tonight for Formal night and they wanted to get in as many stomach crunches as humanly possible before donning their evening wear.
Ok so the gym and spa on Allure actually has a *CAFE* inside! Is that counter programming or what?!?!? I mean it is healthy food, but geez!
There was open skating at the rink today, so Timmy and I decided to go for it. Since he is 12, I had to stay with him while he skated- but that was no problem for me, because I wanted to skate, too. That's right- I skated with all the kids, while all the other adults in the rink sat in the stands reading books. Go Mom!
Woo hoo!
It was fun! But I think I was probably MUCH better the last time I skated, which was somewhere around 9th grade....
Me too! I stayed very close to the wall!
I had heard good things about something called a Tutti Salad, which is actually an elaborate salad bar where the attendants put whatever you want into a bowl, then chop it all up with a pizza cutter.
It was DIVINE. Four different lettuces, fresh mozzerella, creamiest feta EVER, shrimp, chicken, roasted peppers, thinly sliced prosciutto, kalamata olives, ripe tomatoes, grilled asparagus- so, so many choices.
Looks delish!!!!
Tutti sald is only offered on Sea Days- and we actually enjoyed it 3 out of 4 of our sea days on this trip- although its popularity grew MUCH stronger as the week went on- we practically had the place to ourselves that first afternoon out on the ocean.[/quote]
I've found everything on RCCL is that way, especially attractions like Flowrider, Rock walls, etc.
I had to try dessert-
It was a raspberry ganache torte, I think, and yum yum, it was soooo good. Hey- I earned it! 1 hour of gym and 30 minutes of ice skating means I'm eating/drinking whatever I want!
Oh yeah!
There was just one downside to eating lunch in the MDR that day- we missed the belly flop contest.
That our friend from home, Big Al, WON!!
Aw, that's a bummer!
Yea- that's right- he's the undisputed King of the High Seas- a 7 time Champ!!
Apparently he made quite a splash-
LOL!!!
We literally waked around for 15 or 20 minutes looking for somewhere to sit together! Of course, there were a LOT of chairs being "saved"...which is wrong- but bottom line, it's a chain reaction. Either save a chair, or spend the day standing while you read! We ran into the boys who were on the scavenger hunt- and who were having FUN, thanks to meeting a bunch of new friends.
Thank the good Lord.
HAHA!
We finally found 2 seats, and relaxed and enjoyed our day. Pods got in the solarium pool-
Yea chair hogging does seem to be worse on RCCL. I prefer Disney's "no saving period" to Royal's "Its ok if you only do it for 1/2 hour" rule.
We never had a problem on our last RCCL cruise, but that was because we were always by the H20 zone. And it was Janauary.
Eventually we scooted down to CP for afternoon coffee and sammies. This one was one of my favorites, the sunflower seed mini bagel with brie cheese, although the tuna salad was good, too-
LOVE< LOVE< LOVE those CP sammies!!! Did I mention that? I think I did!
Hi Jen! Are you packing yet? It will be fun to read all these RC TRs at once- can't wait!
OK so I *finally* started packing this weekend. Lot of laundry to do still. LOT of laundry!!!
I agree, steering the ship is a giant plus as a Captain- it was just nice to see that a Captain could be human, too.
I'd really rather not talk about that.
