Allure Day 7 - Best of the Best

While we were surfing the flowrider that afternoon, they made several announcements asking for people to sign up to enter the "Best of the Best" competition.  This has become tradition on Royal Caribbean ships with flowriders.  The last 30-60 minutes of the last day of the flowrider is dedicated to the best riders of the week.  The winner gets the honor of autographing the ship's "Best of the Best Flowboard".  Here is the Allure one.

 I was impressed to see that several of the names were obviously females!

So we surfed and surfed and eventually some of our new friends AND Chris signed up for the contest (Chris was asked by the sports staff to enter - go Chris!).  Then right before one of my runs, the guy from the sports staff said "right after your run, you are going to the desk to sign up, right?"  Um...what?

I am decent, but not good.  It was just ironic that I may have been the best girl riding that week.  (Keep in mind this is off-season for cruising, and all the younger, agile, athletic girls are in school, or smart enough to avoid hurricane season in the middle of the ocean.)  I am not an attention seeker any more. I prefer to go out there and surf and do my thing.  I don't like the pressure of having to perform.  So I politely declined.  Flattered, I was.

So at about 5:30, they shut down the wave and pulled the four contestants up to the wave.  Each got 2 minutes (I think) to show their best moves.  Then, the audience got to vote by applause. 

Chris is on the left, just to the right of the guy with the microphone.

Here was his time to get the crowd going! 

Ultimately, Chris didn't win, but the guy to his right did.  He was excellent and deserved to get to autograph the board.  It was all in good fun and everyone was a great sport.

After the contest, Chris and I picked up a cocktail from our friendly bartender at the Sand Bar and went to join some new friends in the cantilevered hot tub for awhile.  That felt really nice after a long week of surfing!

For dinner this night, we planned to meet our other new friends (the ones from twenty) for dinner in the Main Dining Room.  We agreed to meet at 7:15 at the Bow & Stern Pub on the Royal Promenade.   

Bad idea.  Next time, we need to check the Cruise Compass.  There was a Dreamworks parade starting at 7:30 and the Promenade was very, very crowded.  We were lucky to find our friends near the Rising Tide Bar and quickly make our getaway before the characters arrived.

This was the only time we ate in the MDR the entire week.  We enjoyed dinner with a large group, and realized how much we had missed the MDR.  The food was good. The company was better.  It was great to relax, reminisce the past 7 days, and laugh with new, good friends!

After dinner, we went to pack our suitcases to set them outside.  We had opted for the Luggage Valet, since our flight did not leave until 4pm the next day.  
Then it was off to Focus to buy our photos, and we met our dinner friends one last time for hugs, kisses and photo opportunities.

The rest of the evening, Chris and I took a stroll up on the pool deck.  It was quiet, breezy, and very romantic.  Another thing I wish we had taken the time to do every single day.

Later, we went back to our room and relaxed on the balcony for one last evening of star watching.  What a great last evening!

And "Best of the Best" was not just the theme for the flowrider contest.  It is a great summary for the ship and this particular cruise.  Chris and I both agreed that this was our best cruise ever.  You can't beat that for free!

Daily calendar recap:

9a-5p - flowrider Only surfed part of the day

5p-6p - watch Best of the Best at flowrider I watched.  Chris was *in* the contest!

       

Allure Day 7 - Lazy, Last Sea Day

I forgot to recap Day 6 with our daily calendar/plans.

Day 6 plans per my pre-cruise calendar:

9a-6p – flowrider (ride sporadically throughout the day) Done - almost all day

8p – Chops Done

11p – Blue Planet (forgot/skipped?)

12a - twenty Done

 

For Day 7, here's what my pre-cruise calendar looked like:

9a-5p - flowrider

5p-6p - watch Best of the Best at flowrider

 

Not too ambitious of a day, huh?

 

Well, as I mentioned before, things changed a little.  The port side flowrider, normally used for stand-up surfing, was closed all day.  They were planning to replace the pumps on Sunday while in port, so they needed to disassemble it.

 

This meant they ran a staggered schedule on the starboard side flowrider, alternating between stand-up and boogie board during the day.

 

We knew this, and we wanted to get as much water time as possible on our last day.  So we got up and made it to the flowrider at 9am.  They ran "advanced" (load yourself) for the first hour.  Then stand-up from 10-11.  We stayed until 11, then went to the Windjammer for breakfast.

 

We ran into our friend Dave from the flowrider at the Windjammer and he was walking around with his head cocked to one side, turning his whole body to see things, because he couldn't turn his neck.  We found out that he had hurt himself on the flowrider that morning and couldn't move his neck.  This meant he was out for that evening's Best of the Best competition.  And Dave was the best rider on the ship, so this was a real shame. :(

 

After breakfast, we walked around the ship for awhile, just taking in our last day.  Then Chris went to the gym and I wandered around a little, checking out the various events like trivia contests.  I ran into Captain Johnny on the Royal Promenade.  With his parrot. (?)       

I took some pictures of things I hadn't earlier.  Like this little puppy sniffing about.

This artwork is next to Sorrentos in the area leading out to the jogging track and one of the gangways when the ship is in port at Port Everglades.  I remember on Oasis, this same spot has some painters removing the "Genesis" graffiti.  Genesis was the working name of the Oasis Class ships during the design phase.

I ran a few errands, including stopping by Focus to check out all of our photos and organize in our binder which ones I wanted to purchase.  I also filled out our comment card back in the room.

We had a late lunch at Johnny Rockets.  We had no problem getting a table outside on the Boardwalk.  Lunch was pretty good, but we each cut our burgers in half and ate only half.  We just don't eat as much as a lot of people.

After lunch, we strolled a bit more, then went back to the flowrider for its 3pm conversion from boogie board back to stand-up.  While we were wandering the ship, we kept wondering aloud who would be asked to ride in the Best of the Best contest.  We had a pretty good idea that Chris might be asked.

When we got to the flowrider at 3, we witnessed a very angry father.  He had brought his kid(s) to ride boogie board right at 3pm, only to find out that there would be no more boogie for the rest of the cruise.  I did feel a little bad for him, until he made a bit of a scene, asked to see "who's in charge" and was walked around a corner to continue his discussion.  In Allure's defense, they couldn't control the fact that the port side flowrider had to be disassembled on a schedule, and they had attempted to notify everyone of the modified hours by posting them on the sports deck Friday and Saturday, making announcements Friday and Saturday on the sports deck, and publishing them in the Cruise Compass.

We rode the flowrider from 3 until 5:30, when it was time for the Best of the Best contest. 

Allure Day 5 - Rima Beach World

One last stop on our tour was Rima Beach World. This is a gift shop, much like any number of gift shops you may see at beach towns in the U.S.  You know, the ones with the big shark head out front where you take the cheesy picture?

We stopped there for about 10 minutes.  My lips were burning so I bought some sunscreen lip balm.  I’m sure you care.

This was also a great place for a bathroom break after a couple Coronas at Sunset Bar and Grill.  Otherwise, it was just a gift shop.  Tacky Caribbean shirts.  Skimpy skirts.  Rhinestone stick-ons for your skin.  Beach towels.  And much, much more!

As we boarded the bus one last time, one of the guys decided it was time for death rum punch all around.  He handed an Ounce to each of us.  Not wanting to be rude, Chris and I each took a sip and held onto our full cups until we got back to the pier.  We just couldn’t do any more of the stuff.

We were dropped back at the pier at 3:15.  If I have one very small complaint about the Bernard’s Tour, it is that it was advertised to get us back to the ship by 2:30, and I had verified the return time directly with Bernard that morning.  We got back at 3:15.  Not a huge deal, and once we realized we wouldn’t be back at 2:30, there was nothing to be upset about, but we did have plans to be at the (you guessed it) flowrider when it opened at 3.  Not a huge deal, though.

Overall, the Bernard’s Tour was great.  We really enjoyed our day and were glad we did it.  We’re not really beach-lounging people, but that Orient Beach was out of this world and I want to go back.  I would recommend this tour as a great way to see a lot of the island (and its creatures) in a day.  And, if you like “free” (or $40) death punch, it’s a good tour for you too.

We went to Germany, specifically Bavaria, last summer and fell in love.  When we found this little Bavarian biergarten in St. Maarten, we decided we could live here.

Ending this post with some photos of  our beautiful ship.

This is a zoom of the port side (stand-up) flowrider line.

All in all, we had a great day in St. Martin!

Allure Day 6 - twenty and the White Ladies

We missed most of the 70s party because we had plans to meet some friends in the Viking Crown Lounge.  I was glad we spent some time in the VCL this cruise, because it is the RCCL signature and we often forget about it when we're on cruises.  One of the best views on the ship.

We showed up about 11pm and our group was already there, plus a couple of more guys who we were to meet that evening.  We took a long table near the bar, overlooking the H20 Zone and ordered a cocktail.

There was a band playing maybe some big band or swing music, but I won't look up the name of them because we didn't think they were very good.

After a couple of rounds, we made our way to one of my favorite events of every RCCL cruise: twenty

twenty is a late night party where the Solarium is converted into a dance club.  Much of the area is draped in white, and there are blue lights shining on everything (or maybe they are blacklights).

My favorite part is that they have these ladies who dress in all white with these cool hula hoops and stand like statues, moving from time to time into various, very cool poses.  I don't know what they call them.  I call them the "white ladies".

Here is one of them.

 I must have had the flash on, so you can't see the blue glow here.  I wanted this white lady to move, but she stood very still most of the night.

This was the other white lady.

 This one did move quite a bit, and I loved it.

 And back to the boring one.  I kept saying she shouldn't get paid for that night. But maybe she wasn't feeling well.  I didn't like this white lady.

Here's a group shot of all of us.

Dave, Mark, Christy, David, me and Chris

The DJ was a lot of fun that night.

 

 More of the "good" white lady who made me happy

 

I think I want to go as a white lady next Halloween.

We ran into Julia, my Brazilian friend from the flowrider.

And somehow, I ended up with David's hat.  Seems to be the theme of the cruise.  Remember, Harold ended up with it the night before in Blaze.

We danced and had a great time, and danced some more, and watched the white lady that moved and the white lady who was not feeling well, and danced some more.

And...

It's not a party 'til someone loses a shoe.

Yep, my formal night shoe broke.  Chris went back to the room and got me a pair of flip flops to replace them.  Yes, I was stylin'!

We stayed a little longer at twenty, then headed to sweet dreams before our final Sea Day.  

     

Allure Day 6 - Where's My Dress?

This night was the second formal night.  When we went back to our room to get ready for the evening, I checked the closet and could not find the cute black sequin dress I had planned to wear that night.  I was a bit baffled for a hot minute.  Then I realized that I must have forgotten to pack it.  Luckily I had packed a cute standby LBD.  It wasn't formal, but I'd jazz it up with some jewelry and make it work.  TIP: Always bring one extra LBD.  It will work in a pinch on any evening.

When we got home after the cruise, I found a space on a rack in our closet that had 7 blouses and dresses I had pulled out to pack, then forgotten to pack.  Except for the black sequin dress, I never even missed any of these items.  TIP: Follow the "cruising rule" of unpacking half of your suitcase after you pack it for a cruise (or just never pack half in the first place).

Dinner that night was at Chops Grill in Central Park at 8pm and it was excellent.  We were immediately seated and really enjoyed our meal.  I don't remember everything we ordered, but I got the smaller fillet and Chris got the larger one and later wished he had gotten the smaller one.

We ran into a couple we had met near the flowrider and had seen several times over the course of the cruise.  Bob and (I can't remember her name - I feel bad - I should take notes).  They are super nice and I wish we had had time to get to know them better.  TIP: bring business cards, or name cards with your email address, and take good notes!

We were stuffed and didn't want to order dessert, but our server, who was great, by the way, talked us into taking the chocolate dessert (mud pie maybe?) back to our room to indulge in later, perhaps with a glass of milk ordered from room service.  Chris went to great pains to find room in our mini-fridge to store the dessert, and we promptly forgot about it, until we were cleaning up our cabin on the last day.

When we went to the room to drop off the Chops dessert, we found this towel animal, our third and last for the cruise.  

After going to our room, we stopped by Focus, the photo studio, to see the pics of us so far.  We pulled a couple off the wall and placed them into our folder for later.  The Oasis class has nailed the cruise photo process.  You have an index number on your Seapass card and you go to that tower and binder to see your photos.  For example, your card may say 21-76.  Go to tower #21 and grab binder #76.  That is your binder, with all of your photos.  They use face recognition to organize all of them.  The system isn't perfect (all photos don't make it into the binder - for example, if your face is hidden behind sunglasses, and we found another couple's photo in our binder - I was flattered, incidentally - she was adorable!), but it works much better than fishing through hundreds of photos of the other 6198 passengers to find your own.

From Focus, we could see the 70s party on the Royal Promenade below us.  Here are some photos.  The Rising Tide bar was stopped a few feet off Deck 5.  I believe they allowed the singles and solo cruisers on Rising Tide during this part of the evening.    

You can see the crowd beyond the Rising Tide bar.  I am so glad I wasn't in that mess!

One of the cruise staff and our cruise director, Allan Brooks, on the platform that rolls out of the globe above the Bow and Stern Pub.  He is dressed as John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.

I love 70s night on every Royal Caribbean cruise.  It is always almost identical, but varies a little depending on the cruise director (for example, Richard Spacey does Austin Powers instead of John Travolta), but it's always great.  But this night, we had other plans.  

So we moved on. To...

Allure Day 6 - Surfing on a Cruise Ship? Why Not?

Today’s plans per my pre-cruise calendar:

9a-6p – flowrider (ride sporadically throughout the day)

8p – Chops

11p – Blue Planet

12a - twenty

We slept in a little bit this day, then up and to the flowrider around 9:30 or so.  They ran advanced from 9 to 10, and open riding from 10 to 6.

Here’s Dave pulling off his signature move.  I don’t think he named it. I give it a 10.0.

and Dave wiping out

I give this a 7.5 on the wipe-out scale.

While we were surfing, the staff told us, and announcements were made over the intercom, that the port side flowrider would be closed on Day 7 and they would be running a “Freedom Class Schedule” the next day.  That meant they would alternate between stand-up and boogie board all day.

Although we had made a pre-cruise pact not to be “slave to the flowrider” on this cruise, we somehow managed to surf almost all day on Day 6.  I think part of that was because we knew our time would be limited the next day and that it always gets crowded with people finishing out their cruise bucket lists on Day 7.  Part of it was, simply, there was no place we’d rather be.

We did take breaks throughout the day for food and other things.

Here are some photos I took of the ship’s model on the deck below the Windjammer.

And the obligatory flowrider pic

I like how they put fake plastic water in the flowriders.

Back at the (real) flowrider (the one with the real, not plastic, water), at some point mid-afternoon, someone in line said something like “call me crazy, but I just saw a motorcycle in the reflection of the Windjammer windows”.  Surely not.  On a cruise ship?

Next thing we knew, up rode Captain Johnny on his bike.  Right to the flowrider.

The next day, while I was watching Captain Johnny's daily noon address on the stateroom TV, he talked about his bike.  He said "the bridge is 213 feet wide and sometimes I need to get from one end to the other very quickly. So I use my bike."  Very cool that Captain Johnny is so visible and personable during the voyage.

After the flowrider closed at 6, we had a little time before our dinner at Chops. So we stopped by the Sand Bar (we had stopped here a couple of times before during the cruise and the bartender was super) and got a couple of cocktails.  Then we wandered the deck above the pool deck, found a couple of loungers, and enjoyed the sunset.

Chris took a few photos of the sunset and the ship.

(That’s not me)

Nothing like being out on open water during sunset.  Breathtaking.

And then there were only clouds

A few others had the same idea.  It was a nice evening.

6200+ passengers, you say?  Where is everyone?

The “Main Pool”.  This is where they had non-sports pool games.

This was one of those “take time to slow down and enjoy the vacation” moments that we have a hard time making.  So glad that we did. 

Having finished our drinks, we headed back to the room to clean up for dinner at what was our favorite restaurant on Oasis – Chops!