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Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Chasing Irma

7 Years, 21 Weeks.


We had booked a cruise with the Clarke and Ottati families back in December 2016 for this Fall.  It was a special deal where kids sailed free, and it happened to be very inexpensive, because we booked it at height of hurricane season.

And that was the risk, because hurricane occurrences are unpredictable during that time of the year.

And unfortunately, that was the case for this cruise.




So, we had been planning for the past several months, booking excursions and entertainment on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas, and getting very excited for our trip.  That is, until less than 2 weeks before we were supposed to embark, when we saw a tropical storm named Irma form out in the Atlantic.

Ship.

I mean, come on!  You cannot be serious!  Alas, she would not budge, and kept getting closer and closer, ruining our fun.





So, as you already know, she hit Florida over the weekend, the very same weekend we were supposed to drive down to Fort Lauderdale and leave for our week long cruise on Sunday.  Due to the storm and high winds, Royal Caribbean started making adjustments to cruise trips and itineraries.  They cancelled some of the shorter cruises on their smaller ships, giving refunds and credits to their guests, and then using the ships to send aid and relief supplies to the battered islands in the Caribbean.   We received word that our cruise would be cut short, a 4 nighter instead of 7, and an itinerary shift to Nassau, Bahamas instead of Honduras/Jamaica/Mexico.

Well...shift.

But they gave us a 50% refund, plus another 50% credit to any future cruise booked within the next year, so essentially we'd get this 4 nighter for free, so we all agreed to go ahead and do it.  We were already packed anyway, and were ready to get out of the troubles that Irma had caused, the Ottati's were without power since Sunday.  We had booked a hotel for Tuesday night into now Wednesday's departure, but the hotel had lost power and were closed so that plan went out the window.  So we decided to leave dark and early, by 4 AM in the morning to make sure we arrived in Fort Lauderdale with enough time to spare in case anything happened.  And a good thing too, as the highway and Turnpike was packed full of evacuees returning to their homes after the storm passed.  It was a very busy drive the whole way down.







We arrived in Fort Lauderdale and stopped by one of the only open restaurants near the port for breakfast, which was lovely and fun, especially since we ate outside on their swaying picnic tables. After breakfast we headed over to the port to unload and check in.  The terminal was busy, since the previous cruise had been out to sea 10 days instead of 7 due to the hurricane, and people were scrambling to get home or to the airport.  And because people had the choice to cancel their cruises because it was cut short, the ship was only 40% full; only 2500 passengers instead of the usual 6K!  It was very nice, almost too empty!  We dropped the wives and kids off with the luggage while we parked the cars.








We quickly checked in but then had to wait in the terminal seating area for almost an hour until they let people on the ship.  Fortunately they had a kids play area that the kids enjoyed so they weren't bored at all.  We were finally allowed to board which we did, excited to see the largest cruise ship in the world.






The ship was massive, the largest we had ever been on.  The Allure is one of 4 Oasis class ships for Royal Caribbean, with the Harmony of the Seas having come out this year and the Symphony of the Seas slated to come out next year with itineraries in Europe.  




Known distinctly for their 5 separate neighborhoods within the ship itself, the Allure was quite the floating city, massive in every respect, and blew us all away.  She was just ridiculously huge!  We were awed by the design, architecture, and details, and we loved the neighborhoods, especially Central Park, with real trees and plants.  They even play cricket sounds at night to give it a real outside feel!  There were so many pools, and so many sun chairs all over the top deck.  Their sports deck was enormous and spacious, complete with 2 flow riders and even a zip line that went over the boardwalk from the 18th deck.  Incredible.














The first thing we did was head up to the Windjammer for lunch.  We gave the kids free reign to eat what they wanted over the next 4 days, so long as they had a vegetable with each meal.  But boy did they enjoy the desserts!  After lunch we headed to the Adventure Club to register all the kids before going to check out our rooms on the 11th deck.  We, along with the Ottatis, had booked family oceanview cabins up in the front of the ship; the Clarke's had an indoor balcony towards the back, overlooking the boardwalk.   Our room was very spacious, and could sleep 6 with a queen bed, convertible sofa bed, and a set of bunk beds.  It also had 2 nice sized port holes to see outside, and they gave us a lot of light and made the room seem bigger.  Our favorite feature though was the walk in closet, which gave us lots of space for all of our clothes and luggage!
















Then we walked around the ship, trying to acclimate ourselves to the behemoth.   We discovered all the different neighborhoods and marveled at all the different features and attractions, before heading to our muster station for the mandatory safety drill before embarkation.   Afterwards we changed for supper with everyone at Silk, one of the main dining rooms.














We went out to the observation deck forward to see us leave Port Everglades before heading to supper.  The kids were given their own table, with the exception of Braelyn who was able to join the adults and order from the main menu.  The team of waiters taking care of the kids were tremendous, and did a fantastic job, making sure they had fruit waiting for them when we arrived each night so they could have something to eat while the main courses were being ordered.  The kids did pretty well and enjoyed having a table all to themselves.

After supper we dropped the kids minus Braelyn off to the Adventure Club, while we all headed to the Amber Theatre to see the musical Mamma Mia.  Tangie had introduced the cd and music to the kids but after reading the reviews we felt the show might be a bit risqué for the twins and littles, so only Brae was able to see it.  And she loved it, especially the songs, she would sing right up with the performers.  It was an amazing show, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves for the next 2 hours. Once it was over we picked up the kids and tucked them in for bed, Richard and I stealing away to see the comedy show at midnight.










We arrived in Nassau, Bahamas on Thursday morning, where we would be spending the next 36 hours, including an overnight there.  For most of you who have gone cruising in the Caribbean before, Nassau is one of the usual stops on most cruise itineraries, and we had been there numerous times, so it wasn't a place where we felt we had to get off the ship and explore or do an excursion.  Plus there was so much stuff to do on the ship, and since the ship itself was the main attraction for this particular cruise, we opted to just stay on board for the day.  














We immersed ourselves with as many of the ship's activities as possible, spending some time with the children during the morning, and then continuing more sports and activities and the pools/gym in the afternoon, before hitting the showers and heading to supper.  It was a double feature for the shows that evening, with the ice skating show immediately followed by their cirque de soleil-esqe water show at the aqua theatre in the very back of the ship.  Incredible and amazing.












Day 3 we opted to spend a little bit of the morning walking out and about through the port to see if the kids could get some souvenirs.  It wasn't that we wanted to hang out in Nassau, but we had been on the ship for two days so we thought we'd go stretch our legs a bit.  It was warm and muggy as we battled through the horde of taxi drivers and hair braiders, all vying for our money.  We walked down the main shopping street, ducking into some souvenir and jewelry shops, some because they would give free trinkets or fake jewelry but most of the time so that we could get some air conditioning.  We didn't stay out for long, but I did manage to talk a lady into braiding the girls' hair for $2 a braid vs. the $5 most of the women were pricing at.  So all the girls got 2 braids each.  We must've made her week.














Upon returning back we had lunch and then we hit the pools and flow riders for the afternoon, the kids enjoyed the coolness of the water and had lots of fun in the kids play area.  

Supper was formal night, so we dressed in our nicest outfits (I opted not to wear a tuxedo this time, kinda hard when you're in the Caribbean and no one else wears them) and enjoyed supper.  Afterwards we took some family photos before sending the kids to the Adventure Club for the evening, whereupon the adults spent some time filming for our music video at the beginning of this post.

















The girls playing with some googly eyes left on the towel animals by our stateroom attendant.
Pretty creepy if you ask me!


Day 4, our final day, was at sea, heading back to Ft. Lauderdale from Nassau.  Kind of bittersweet, as we knew our short vacation was close to an end.  

We slept in (somewhat) and then had breakfast before venturing over to the skating rink for an hour long session of ice skating.  Maddy was the only one interested in doing it so we dropped off Brae and Kohl and then joined the Clarkes and Ottatis on the ice.  It was a lot of fun seeing Mommy and Maddy on skates, and they enjoyed zipping around with friends.
















We picked up the other two for lunch where they had the Dreamworks parade going on, with all the characters from popular children's animated movies were there including Shrek, Madagascar, and How To Train A Dragon.  The kids enjoyed watching that while munching on pizza from the Italian parlor on the promenade.  Then we dropped them off again, while the adults plus Braelyn enjoyed more of the sports deck, the zip line, and doing the flow rider for the afternoon.







Mommy trying out the Flowrider!





Supper was a non event, as we had had plans to try out their specialty Mexican restaurant because Marlissa had several vouchers to use, but alas, the vouchers were only good for lunch, although nowhere on the vouchers did it say that.  At least we had fed the kids earlier up at the Windjammer buffet.  That was one thing though about this cruise, the food was just so so.  A little lackluster, in my opinion.  Probably because they have to serve so many meals, the flavor and quality was compromised in order to serve the masses.  Such a shame too.  We did, however, purchase a drink package that gave unlimited juices, sodas, smoothies & frozen drinks, and specialty coffees, so that was nice, and totally worth it!

Anyway, so we headed back to the main dining room for a quick bite, because we wanted to catch one last final show before heading back to our rooms to finalize packing and getting our luggage out to the hallway by 11 PM.








Morning came early on debarkation day.  We halfheartedly awoke and dressed, double checked the room before meeting the rest for our final meal on board, breakfast in one of the main dining rooms. Experience taught us this was how to go, versus fighting for tables upstairs with everyone else in the buffet.  We get the same food anyway, and there was no real rush to return back home.

The drive back to Orlando was quick and uneventful, save a couple of stops for gas and restrooms, we made it back close to 1 PM, just in time for lunch and laundry, to get the kids ready for school the next day; they had been out for over a week due to Irma and the cruise combined.  At least football season has started.








It was a great time.  Short, but great.  Great because we got a chance to forget about having to deal with issues brought by the recent hurricane.  And great because we were able to spend it with some great friends and families.

We can't wait until our next one!