On to the Cruise Ship!

Immediately as soon as we walked on ship it was a whole new world.  We sailed with the Royal Caribbean Cruise line and the ship we boarded was the Allure of the seas.  This is known as the largest ship in the world and let me say it is spectacular. The main lobby is this massive Mall.  They have all kinds of stores for shopping and many restaurants. They have a car sitting in the middle of the Mall. All the parades are held on this deck.  This ship also has a deck dedicated to what they call “Board Walk”  it has a carousel, restaurants, games, two rock climbing wall’s, Aqua theater with two very large TV screens.  They have another deck dedicated to what they call “Central Park” it is set up just like a park, complete with trees, park benches, birds singing, walkways through the gardens, restaurant’s and café’s.  There is another deck dedicated to sports. They have everything.  Miniature golf course, ping pong, basketball, zip lining, Ice skating, a one mile walking/jogging track.  Another deck dedicated to water sports.  They have two flow riders.  This is used for surfing and boogie boarding. They have the main pool, beach pool, sports pool, water park, with water cannons and a lazy river pool. They also have so many whirl pools, I lost count.  This ship holds six thousand people and we did not have to wait for anything we wanted to do.  There were no crowds gathered for anything other than the parades.  They had everything so organized and scheduled that people were dispersed all over the ship. 

I have to mention, throughout the week there were several play's and they all were amazing.  The Aqua theater plays were amazing with all kinds of dance, aerial acrobatics and stunts.  Another play was called the Blue Planet.  It was also an amazing interpretation of life on our planet through song, dance, aerial acrobatics and gymnastics.  Dream works is also part of the ships theme.    They have several character appearances, plays, and shows as well as character breakfasts.  The main characters were Kung Fu Panda, How to train your Dragon and the cast of Madagascar.  So needless to say were busy with all the activities.  Thank goodness we had three days out of seven at sea so we could enjoy the ship. 

I am going to put many pictures of our seven day vacation, from beginning to end. 

Enjoying our room with the ocean view!

The Chief talking to his parents before we left the pier.

Our first port was Bahamas. We have been to the Bahamas so many times that there was nothing we really wanted to do there. We decided to stay on the Ship and explore it while ninety percent of the passengers were off the ship. Just hanging around the ship and relaxing, enjoying some private family time!

The ship is all computerized.  These large computer touch screens are all over the ship. It tells you what is going on at what time.  It gives you a map of your location and where you would like to go.  It gives you all the dining options.  Because my two men are computer techies this was right up their alley.   

The Ice Game's Show!

The theme was about the game Monopoly.  With the rolling of the dice they performed a skate act to the space they landed on. 

This show inspired The Cisco Kid so much that the next day he went on the ice and stayed there until he was able to skate. I was amazed at his perseverance. He must have fallen a dozen times and still would not give up. I can tell you his elbows and knees are badly bruised. There will be some pictures and video of him skating.

The Rock Wall! 

Our second port was St Thomas.  We decided that we wanted to see more than what the ship to shore excursions had to offer.  We decided to rent a car in St Thomas.  First I want to say that they drive on the left side of the road.  The Chief did an amazing job driving around the island.   The driving was an adventure all in its self.  The roads are very narrow and all of them are either going up these very steep hills or down the very steep hills.  The Chief and I both said that we made the right decision in renting a car because the Taxi’s there are absolutely CRAZY!  They are open air Taxi’s and these drivers are all petal to the metal.  We were following one of the Taxi’s up to the top of the mountain and the passengers were holding on for dear life.   

Megans Bay

Look to the bottom right of the picture and you will see these gigantic Iguanas that inhabit the island. They are all over the place just like lizards are to Florida.

After we were done driving around and seeing all the sights we headed down to Megan’s Bay to do some snorkeling.

The Cisco Kid and the Chief found this turtle.  They also saw the Mom and they said she was as big round as a man's chest.  By the time I got there to take a picture the baby was still there eating.  The baby was still very large.  It was the size of the Cisco Kids chest. 

Third Port St Martin

We rented Segways and drove along the beach. The Chief and The Cisco Kid took to it like they were born on them.  Me on the other hand was a little bit shaky, but still had a great time.

After we rode the segways we went back to the ship and had lunch. We then changed into our bathing suits and went to the beach.  It was all so easy to get around.  We took a water taxi from the ship right to the beach.  Perfect!  

Leaving St Martin the US Coast Guard leads this ship out to sea.  The Chief remembers those good old days when he worked on those boats.  

As soon as we got back on ship the shows start again.  This is the Ocian Aria show.

The Broadway show Chacago 

Every evening our housekeeper made a towel animal for The Cisco Kid.  

The Character Breakfast started out with a tray of Danish. The menu was definitely designed with a child in mind.  It featured chocolate chip pancakes and waffles and to drink was hot chocolate and chocolate milk shakes.  The adults had the normal breakfast choices.

His first time Ice Skating and the boy would not give up until he could skate. I will post the Movie tomorrow.

Madagascar water show.  

The Character Parade 

I can’t end this post and not mention all the food. The food was amazing. The desserts were amazing. There was every kind of food you could imagine. The food could satisfy a broad spectrum of palate’s. They had everything from hamburgers and hotdogs to prime rib and lobster. And remember it is an all you can eat all day long in many different locations throughout the ship. These pictures are of the buffet dining room. They have four very large islands of food with so many different choices it is unbelievable.

The morning of Disembarking the Ship.  This is the last picture that I took before leaving our very memorable cruise.