Jaques Family End of Summer Cruise

Well its the end of the summer and typically we do not cruise in June or July but this year a snagged a deal on Allure for the end of the summer and we went for it. This was a 6 Night Cruise that stopped in Cozumel, Costa Maya & Roatan. We have been to Cozumel many times but never to Costa Mata or Roatan.

This cruise left out of Fort Lauderdale which is about 3 1/2 hours from our house so not too bad of a drive but the Fort Lauderdale port has always been a messy port in my opinion to go out of because its not very organized until you get inside. We had an 11am check in but got to the port just after 10. This gave us time to part, drop off the luggage and then get in line. The one thing I have known about Fort Lauderdale since the restart is that if you have kids sailing with you there is a separate line for families regardless of check in time which is located near the bathrooms and the 2:30/3:00pm check in. I was very surprised when we arrived at the port this time it was actually marked and there were signs and employees directing families where to go. We quickly got through security and our check in and then upstairs to wait. The difference in this port is they just board by rows after the Key and Star Class where other ports its by your status. We were actually checked in and on the boat around 10:50am. This cruise we were actually sailing with another family with kids around the same age as mine and they all dance together so we knew they would have a blast.

Once we got on the ship we headed to Central Park. Anytime we sail an Oasis Class Ship this is where we head first. We like to grab a drink from the Trellis Bar and then lunch at Park Café. It is less hectic and crowded and just gets lunch out of the way. We spent the next couple of hours just walking around the boat enjoying some drinks and taking a few photos, we also took the time to get the Muster Drill out of the way.

We then split up and I took our youngest with me to get in line for Adventure Ocean and my husband took our oldest to go see our room and wait for luggage. Once our luggage was in the room they headed out to meet us. I had a task for Adventure Ocean and it was to age my youngest up from the 3-5 year old room to the 6-9 year old room. She will be 6 in a few months and our friends sailing with us had a 7 year old and we wanted them together. I am only experienced in doing this once which was on Wonder in April. On Wonder the 6-11 year old's are all together. The process was basically the same on this ship, she had to go to the 3-5 year old room the first night for an evaluation and then they changed her in the system. We only ended up using Adventure one other time for the kids to be together but they allowed over capacity and had over 50 kids in the 6-9 year old and on Allure its pretty small. Now it was time to unpack, I don't feel like I can relax until I have reservations (shows, dinner AO, etc) completed, unpack everyone and complete our muster drill. When we finished all of that it was time to get ready for sail away. We headed up to the front of Deck 14 to the observation deck for sail away. Our other favorite spot is on the running track on Deck 5.

This cruise we only had 2 nights of specialty dinning and didn't want to do the main dinning room this time. We wanted a little bit more of a relaxed cruise when it came to the dinning aspect. We decided we could do snacks in Diamond Lounge and then hit the buffet when we were ready. The first night we did just that and honestly it was nice to just get everyone food quick and get exactly what they wanted and be done. We headed off to bed early knowing the next day was a sea day which meant waking up early for chairs by the pool. we know people go and reserve chairs and don't come back for hours but I am not like that. I will go and sit there the entire time and if anything I will leave for a few minutes to grab something and come right back. I brought cereal and milk from the Diamond Lounge out to the pool deck and my youngest ate over at a table before joining me in the pool. We spent most of the day out by the pool and grabbed a quick lunch from Wipe Out Café before heading back to the room. Wipe Out Café is great because its on the pool deck, simple hamburgers, hotdogs, fries and pizza. It was a dress your best night so we got dressed up a little and took some pictures in Central Park. We then hit the buffet for our dinner before heading to the Aqua Theater Show. We ended our night with some drinks and a few rides on the Carousel. The next day was a port day for us - Roatan. We had an excursion booked for this port which we had been looking forward to for months.

We booked our excursion through Royal and it was the Sloths, Monkeys & Iguanas. We took a bus from the port and it was about a 30 minute bus ride. You are supposed to do the Sloths and Monkeys first then the Iguanas which is down the street but when we got there the tour guide said there were a lot of people in front of us and we could do Iguanas first and then come back which we all agreed to. The Iguanas we were able to feed and take pictures with and then it was time to head back for the other part of the tour. The interesting part is that Sloths and Monkeys are actually at someone's house.

The waiting area is a deck with picnic tables. They will then bring you to the first caged area which has Guinea Pigs. 57 Guinea Pigs to be exact! They give you a few facts about them and then everyone gets to hold them.

Then comes to the Sloths! The most exciting part of the excursion. They gave us some instructions and facts and then they passed them over to us to hold and take pictures. What I really liked is that my 5 year old was allowed to hold one they were saying she was too young and it really made her day.

When you finish with the Sloths you move to the Macaw's. They just had 2 more donated so there are a total of 3 Macaw's. They will let you hold them on your arm or in my 5 year old's case her head!

The last part was the Monkeys. They tell you to leave everything outside of the cage and take off jewelry as they will take your earrings out if you leave them in. They were jumping from person to person and from pretty high up. The handlers were also feeding them fruit loops which I thought was an interesting snack.

Everyone got back on the bus and about 15 minutes into the drive they stop at a little local market for shopping for about 20 minutes then its back to the port. There is some shopping in the port but not a ton of options for the younger ones to shop.

Tonight we had specialty dinning at Sabor. Allure is the last Oasis Class Ship with Sabor still on the Boardwalk. I have to say the food was amazing - I didn't remember to take any photos of it but the portions were big. My oldest enjoyed her taco's being deconstructed so she could make them the way she wanted to. The Quesadilla was hanging off the plate it was so big.

Our next port stop was Costa Maya. I had read mixed reviews of this port so I wasn't sure what to think. We decided to get off right when the boat was cleared. The pier was a bit of a walk but then there were some great photo opportunities right in the port.

We walked around, saw the pool, dolphins, flamingos and some local entertainers. We grabbed a few souvenirs and headed back to the boat. We spent the afternoon by the pool and at the flow rider.

Tonight was the Ice Show. I had heard it was Monopoly Themed and they would choose someone from the front row to hit the button to help with the show. My 5 year old ended up being the chosen one and was super excited.

Cozumel was our next stop and since we had been to Cozumel 3 times since December we decided to enjoy the pool not being so crowded. The one activity we wanted to do but have never done is Ice Skating. Sign up's were open at 4:45pm so we made sure to finish by the pool, eat and shower so we could get down there to sign up. We grabbed dinner from the buffet again after Ice Skating. I am not sure I will ever get my kids back in the main dinning room, they were completely loving grabbing their food quick and getting back out to do activities.

Our cruise was quickly coming to an end. Our last day was a Sea Day. I got up super early to go out by the pool and I mean it was still dark out. At first I wasn't sure if I messed up the time with the crossing of time zones but I decided to grab my coffee in Diamond Lounge and head up anyways. It was so perfect at 6:45am, no one around it was warm and windy and silent. I enjoyed my coffee and sun was up by 7:15ish. My friend that was sailing with me joined me by the pool. Around 7:45 I ran back to the room to get my youngest up and then my oldest and husband come up later. She then took her turn to go get the kids but we didn't want to leave any of our chairs unattended because people were fighting for chairs by 8am. We stayed by the pool until about 12:30pm then got showered and I had to pack up everyone. I get the same anxiety at the end of the cruise as the beginning and just feel like I need to get the packing done. I quickly pulled out clothes for dinner and the next day and everything else went into the suitcases.

We had Izumi for dinner on the last night. This time I remember to take pictures. My husband loves Sushi and I love their Ramen Bowls. My oldest gave a few new things a try a well.

We went out to the boardwalk after for some final milkshakes from Jonny Rockets and one last Carousel Ride. It was then time to go say our goodbyes to our favorite staff and then get back to the room to put the suitcases out. Our Diamond Concierge was our Suite Concierge 4 years ago on Harmony of the Seas and she remember my girls instantly. We also had a bartender in the On Air bar that was a bartender in Sabor back in December. It is always nice to see familiar faces when you are on ships.

I used to insist that we carry our bags off the ship, thinking it was faster and I just realized its just as fast and less frustrating to grab them in the port on the way out and we don't have to fight for elevators. We got off the ship pretty quickly, ran through the rain to get to the car and we were headed home.