Underwater Camera

Hello Everyone!  Lucas has been BEGGING us to get an underwater camera for the cruise and especially for our snorkel ltrip.  John and I don't shop much and we just figured that we would purchase a disposable waterproof camera.  We were looking through the Target ad this past weekend and they had the Fuji XP30 on sale so we are looking into buying that digital camera for the trip rather than a "throw-away".  Here is a link on Amazon. :

http://www.amazon.com/Fujifilm-FinePix-Waterproof-Geo-Tagging-Function/dp/B004HO58NE

Enjoy!

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

I have emailed Royal Caribbean to see if they will be showing this movie on the ship while we are cruising.  I will let you know what they say.

The release date for the movie that I can see on http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1277953/ is 6/8/2012.  So, if you can wait a month, save a few bucks and catch it on the ship!

Ship Comparison

While I am not a big fan of comparing ships with Titanic, this article was written last month since it was the 100 anniversary since the Titanic voyage.  I thought it was kind of interesting:

http://www.cntraveler.com/daily-traveler/2012/04/titanic-allure-biggest-cruise-ship-in-the-world-then-and-now-041412

Enjoy!

What a nice piece of aft!

I have heard that deck 11 aft on the port side of the ship is a nice little hideaway.  People have said they sometimes do the sailaway from here so that they can be seen by the Port camera and wave to all the people that watch that camera every weekend (yes, from what I have read, people actually sit at home and watch the boats come and go every weekend and yes, I sent you all links some time back if you want to take a peek.). 

Anyway...

There are 24 chairs up there in this area and it is supposed to have a good view for the water shows and the dancing fountains.  It is also a great place to read a book or catch some sun or take a nap!  It is rarely crowded!

Enjoy!

Can you stand the heat or cold?

I have heard it gets quite chilly in the restaurants and theaters.  My mom and I are normally always chilly.  To each his own but we will be bringing a jacket just in case it is too cool for us!

Maho Beach Flight Schedule

One of the draws of going to Maho Beach in St. Maarten is to watch the planes land on the runway that is right by the beach.  Here is an unbelievable video of this:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCIJ0F62og4

If you plan to go to this beach and would like to see plane landings like this, check out this website the week before we leave and you can get a list of plane lands and takeoffs that day:

www.flightstatus.com

The airport code to enter is SXM.

Another good website is :

www.sxmarrivaltimes.com

Enjoy!

Balcony Door Caution

Since all of us have balconies, I thought I would send this out. This is a video of the Oasis of the Seas but I would assume the balcony door locks are the same on the Allure as well.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nVGzfYS9o9M

Be careful on your balcony!

"All we lack now is finishin' up"

Ok.  When I first met my husband and helped him out on the farm, that is a saying that him and his buddies used alot.  Bascially it means, we should have everything we need now and we just need to finish up work (i.e. our entertainment/dining/excursion reservations for the boat, online check-in for the cruise, hotel reservations, travel to the port details, etc.)

It was their funny little way of saying "we have everything we need, now we just need to do something with it" and it is a saying that John and I still use today. 

Anyway...  The reason I bring this up now is that alot of that stuff above could be considered "optional", I guess (i.e. you don't HAVE to make entertainment or dining or excursion reservations for on the boat if you just want to fly by the seat of your pants.). 

HOWEVER, the one thing that is NOT optional up there is to check-in online for the cruise and here is the reason.

I was poking around and wondered about how/when to get our cruise documents to bring with us to the cruise for boarding.  I found the option to view them and you could have them mailed to you (for an additional charge) or get them as e-docs.  (FYI, The last several cruises I have taken, we have just done the e-docs.)  Well, I wanted to choose that option and the website would not let me.  So, I emailed our Travel Agent and the representative said they would be emailing them to us about a month before our departure. 

In order to get them, though, you need to be sure that you have COMPLETED your online check-in on Royal Caribbean's website.  If you have not done that, please be sure to do so!

Entertainment is now open! Go Make those reservations!

Attention Everyone!  Stop what you are doing right now and remember that our cruise is the most important upcoming event in your life right now!  Ok....  THAT was a little dramatic! 

In all seriousness, I check the Royal Caribbean website several times a day to see if Entertainment has opened yet for reservations.  I checked this morning and got the same "sorry about your luck" message.  I just checked and I am now making my ressies!  Yay!  Have fun making your reservations!

Still need to make that hotel reservation?

We just made our hotel reservations this past weekend through Priceline.com and now I am wishing that I had found this link first!  Bummer!  Anyway...  I hope the rest of you may be able to benefit from this.  This is a link to hotels that are near the cruise port.  It has a chart that lists distance to the port, whether they have airport transfers and port transfers, and whether or not they allow long term parking for your vehicle.

http://www.sunny.org/travel-trade/pre-post-cruise/pre-post-hotel-info/

Enjoy!

Which way do I go?

I just read a little tidbit of information for knowing which direction you are heading when you are in the hallways on the ship.  Apparently the doors have the room numbers on them (of course).  Now...  I have not seen a picture, but someone posted on Cruise Critic that apparently near the room number on the door, there is an arrow.  That arrow is always pointing towards the front of the ship.  I hope that helps you a bit.

Talk at ya later!

Useful Cruising Websites

I have recently come across a couple of useful cruising websites.  When I find more in the future, I will post them on this entry.  Anyway...  Here are a few:

http://www.cruisedocs.com/
http://www.cruiselinerooms.com/

Enjoy!