RCI’s Allure of the Seas Arrives in Port Everglades

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Allure-of-the-seas-arrives-at-its-new-home-in-FloridaThe world’s largest cruise ship has made her transatlantic maiden voyage and sailed right into her homeport, Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.   Allure of the Seas, sister ship to the other world’s largest cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas, is approximately five millimeters longer.   Not noticeable when you are already 4 football fields in length!  Wow, is she beautiful! 

While Oasis and Allure are sisters, they are not carbon copies.  Allure of the Seas will feature her own special personality that includes incredible new entertainment, restaurants and retail shops.  Allure of the Seas will offer a huge array of entertainment options including the Broadway production, “Chicago: The Musical,” as the headlining show in the ship’s main theater.   The Allure has the first ever “Guess” store at sea, along with the first “Starbucks” at sea.  The theater on the Allure is equipped to handle 3D movies, also a first for movies at sea.  New as well, each stateroom on the Allure has an iPod docking station.  Some of the new eateries include:  Samba Grill, Rita’s Cantina on the Boardwalk and Boardwalk Doghouse.

A lot of similarities, but enough different to make sure and sail both ships to get the best of both.  That will be my excuse anyway 🙂

Happy Sailing!

World’s Largest Cruise Night, 2010

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The single biggest cruise promotion of the year is almost here. Sponsored by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA,) the date to save on your calendar is October 13, 2010.

On this day, you will find savings and special offers from just about every cruise line in the industry. Offers may include reduced deposits, ship board credits or dollars off. It’s a great time for consumers to book to take advantage of the savings. Keep in mind in most cases your cruise deposit is refundable, so you risk nothing in locking in the prices.

Here’s a sampling of special offers and incentives cruise lines have already announced.

  • Carnival Cruise Line  is offering upgrades on virtually all departures through December 2011.  To sweeten the deal, Carnival will offer not only best available upgrades, but up to a $200 onboard credit per stateroom for all Carnival Magic Europe voyages booked on October 13.  The WLCN best available upgrade offer applies to new individual bookings. The Carnival Magic Europe offer includes best available upgrades and a $100 onboard credit per stateroom for seven-day Europe sailings and a $200 onboard credit per stateroom for nine- and 12-day sailings.
  • Celebrity Cruises will have a 3 sale (Oct 13-16th,) for cruises sailing April through December 2011.  For new bookings receive – onboard credits of $50 per stateroom for oceanview accommodations; $100 per stateroom for veranda accommodations; and $150 per stateroom forAquaClass (only on Solstice-class ships), suites, and Concierge Class.
  • Norwegian Cruise Line is offering: up to 4 category upgrade plus reduced deposit plus up to $250 onboard credit per stateroom.
  • Disney Cruise Line is offering $100 onboard credit for 14-night transatlantic cruise sailings May 14, 2011 and Sept. 10, 2011,  $75 onboard credit for 7-night, 10-night and 11-night Mediterranean cruises sailing May 28 through Sept. 3, 2011 and a $50 onboard credit for 7-night Mexican Riviera cruises sailing Sept. 25 through Dec. 11, 2011.
  • Royal Caribbean International is presenting a two-part offer to travel agents for World’s Largest Cruise Night on Oct. 13. New bookings in ocean-view or higher category staterooms on select sailings made between Oct. 11 and Oct. 15 get an onboard credit of $25 per stateroom for three- to five-night sailings, $50 onboard credit per stateroom for six- to nine-night sailings, and $100 for 10 nights or longer. In addition, Royal Caribbean is offering two extra Groups Amenities Plus (GAP) points on new group bookings to redeem for additional onboard incentives, such as complimentary welcoming bottle of wine and other additional value items.

If you are thinking of cruising, now is the time to book with all of these special promotions going on.  I’d be happy to help you plan your dream cruise vacation!

Happy Sailing!!  🙂

Pre-Cruise Entertainment Reservations

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Wow!  I can now officially say that my husband and I are celebrating his 40th birthday with both his parents AND my parents aboard Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, yeah!!!  We are very excited and look forward to sharing this big event with our family.  One of the cool features of this new ship is that it allows you to select the shows you want to see ahead of time.  This is due impart to such a large number of guests sailing that there wouldn’t be room for everyone at every performance so reservations are now suggested for the shows.  It doesn’t cost more, just reserves a space for you at that particular showing.  They have some very exciting options for live entertainment.  We will see the eight time Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “Hairspray” as a matinee on one of our days at sea.  Another evening we will see “Frozen in Time” the spectacular ice skating show performed by The Oasis of the Seas International Ice Cast, which features top-rated figure skaters from around the world. On another night we will see “Come Fly With Me”, a visually stunning show that combines the unique aerial, dance, gymnastic and vocal talents of Royal Caribbean’s amazing cast.  On another evening we will be wowed by the performance of “Oasis of Dreams” at the Aqua Theatre featuring Olympic and NCAA champion athletes from around the world, including divers, synchronized swimmers and gymnasts.  This vacation promises to be full of fabulous entertainment.  We’ve been awed before by Royal Caribbean and look forward to all this voyage has to offer.  Can’t wait for our adventure to begin!  Happy Sailing!  🙂

Cruise on the Radiance of the Seas

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Radiance of the Seas

Radiance of the Seas

Jason and I have returned from our Baja cruise on the Radiance of the Seas.   We sailed out of San Diego and visited the ports of Ensenada and Cabo.  What a different experience from our cruising in the Caribbean.  First of all, we had to wear long sleaves and jackets for the first couple of days, it was quite cool!  The seas were a bit rough as well, making for an interesting evening on board, felt like we were intoxicated, unable to walk straight! 

As expected, Royal Caribbean delivered on their exemplary service.   Our room was always serviced promptly and our wait staff in the dining room were attentive.   You couldn’t walk by a staff member without them saying hello. 

We went into Ensenada on an excursion to two wineries.  It was a rather long bus ride, but worth it.  The countryside was interesting, sometimes even beautiful.  The wines tours were great, we tasted a lot!  The had us back to the ship just after noon.  Not sure I’ve ever had wine and cheese at 10:00am!  It was a great way to spend our day. 

Cabo was hopping.  We did some shopping and sampled Mexican Coca-Cola.  It is sweetened with sugar cane instead of fructose corn syrup, very yummy!  We also went to Cabo Wabo and had a cocktail.  My banana margarita was terrible!!  We can at least say we’ve been.   Jason bought me a pair of red coral and sterling silver earrings to match a bracelet we bought in Cozumel last year.  That was pretty much the extent of our purchases. 

Back on the ship to return.  We had a fabulous time sleeping , eating, evening shows, casino, reading, karaoke, eating……  Oh and did I mention that we were able to see whales???  There was a whole school swimming off of the starboard side of the ship.  We had a perfect view from our balcony, definitely a highlight of our vacation.