Alright, blog readers, here's the deal: for months I've been unable to upload pictures to my blog! Even Blogger hasn't been a help. In the meantime, I haven't blogged at all- which is so weird, because how does anyone know whats going on at the Waterstrauts without it? Well, we have been really busy (Life is just so full in the best way lately), so here's my plan.. I'm going to speed through what the last few months have been like- in word form only. Someday will I hope to add pictures? Sure! But, I need to get caught up ASAP because our next month is absolutely jam-packed (and I am in no way exaggerating).
So lets rewind all the way back to November- when I last left off on the blog. Asa and I were getting on a cruise ship! And one of the big ones too: Allure of the Seas.
It's not a new itinerary: we went to Nassau and Coco Cay and back on our four days, but we were so excited to get on one of the BIG boats. Sure, it's the oldest of that big gigantic class (Oasis) but we got it for $210 per person, and that is just insanity! Of course, it's not as good as the free ones we've had (and have coming up!), but still, you can't beat that. And we've kind of landed on a trip for the holidays instead of gifts, so this totally fit the bill. We sprang for the coffee package, and the key, so we could get into all the activities early and it was so worth it.
Allure has all kinds of stuff including ice skating, rock climbing, mini golf, the flo rider, and even a zipline. We did it ALL. Sometimes more than once. I even got up on my knees on the flo rider, which I was super excited about.
Of course there were usual activities- but most of them had their own home places instead of being in various lounges. Karaoke had it's own venue- as did the comedians.
We hardly did any trivia on the boat because there was so much else to do (though we did make it to 'Disney name that tune'). We watched their production of Grease, which was awesome- but nothing like the aqua show that was just AMAZING with divers, and acrobats all at the ships aft.
We learned on this ship to go to the casino early for bonus money, and we learned how to cash in our rewards for our first Platinum trip on Royal (thats their loyalty levels- our new tier came with half off wine, and free money to gamble with in the casino). We turned that free money into $40 real dollars and then used that to buy our half off at the 'Rising Tide Bar' where you order your drinks and then the bar 'rises' from the indoor prominade to the outside Central Park area. That's right, there's a whole outdoor park in the middle of the ship.
We lost long stretches of time in that park. Besides the delicious roast beef sandwiches at the Park Cafe, they also had chess sets and a fun bar out there. (While we didn't have the alcoholic drink package, I did get one for non alcoholic drinks). There were lots of mocktails, smoothies at the gym, and milkshakes for me! Plus frozen drinks at the pool. It's a package I would totally get again. It was my splurge since I did so awesome at a market a couple of weeks earlier.
We also loved our location of our room- an inside space on floor 7 right by the stairs. We were just between the coffee and Boardwalk on deck 6 (a place with a carousel we rode every single day), and the Central Park area on deck 8. The Boardwalk even had a hotdog place Asa was really fond of.
Of course there were all our cruise favorites. Desserts. Towel Animals. Mega Breakfast. Christmas Decorations. Ping Pong. Swimming (even when it was so cold nobody else dared get in the water but us-- but we really wanted to swim in ALL the pools). We listened to music, ate a delicious dinner at the upcharged Mexican place, and of course snorkeled in Coco Cay.
I will say, our trip to Coco Cay wasn't our favorite. I mean, it was fun- we did some snorkeling. But, the water was really rough when we were there- so rough our kayak tour out to see starfish got cancelled. And I didn't feel comfortable going out past the rocks- so just some smaller fish. We did get some non alcoholic drinks, and finally made it out to the bar floating in South Beach.
In Nassau we only got off the boat because the new port was done and we wanted to see it. It is really nice, but it seems so 'Americanized', like subdivision ish- like they had to fix the port all up to American subburban standards. I don't know. It's nice- it just isn't super authentic- but I guess that's most cruise ports. You need to get a little out of there to really see what the place is like.
We didn't want to be off the boat too long anyway- there was just SO MUCH to do on the boat, and we were like 'who knows when we'll be on one of these big boats again', so we wanted to cram it all in. We logged at least 20,000 plus steps on the boat every single day, just trying to fit everything in.
So, while I did absolutely love my time with Asa- it was just four very, very full days. I thought once I went on one of those big boats, I would be sad going back to smaller boats. But the reality is, they're both so much fun- just different kinds of fun. And, the smaller boats are much more laid back, there was no Deck 4 shuffleboard to be had on Allure. In fact, no shuffleboard at all on our trip. While they do have one behind the aqua theater, it was never open.
Now, the big boat is awesome, because I never once felt it move. We'll see how a small boat goes for me soon, because as I write this, it's actually March (even though I'm going to post it as a November blog), and Asa and I are about to take our free NCL cruise to Mexico. It's out of Tampa, and that means boats have to be small enough to fit under the sunshine skyway.
Either way, I'm hoping for ping pong and shuffleboard, drinks by the pool (NCL gives you 'free at sea' with the drink package included-just pay gratuities!) Plus, a whole new set of ports. God help me if we don't make it to Roatan for whatever reason. We have the COOLEST excursion planned. But, that's for another blog. I gotta work on catching up!
Next up: It was a SUPER busy December. I'm just going to roll it into a huge blog to get caught up.
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