Caribbean Cruise

Allure of the Seas

Our drive back from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale was uneventful and with the aid of the GPS the car hire (the "rental" we were reminded by American people we got to know a little later) return at the airport was a piece of cake. The only issue was the time. Once we figured out that any cruise ship transfers from Fort Lauderdale airport to Port Everglades (where the cruise ship was berthed) had long gone and caught a taxi, we were getting awfully close to the boarding time cutoff. Although not last we reckon we were probably in the last 20 passengers to check-in and board the ship before the captain closed the gangway.

Allure of the Seas berthed in Philipsburg, Saint Martin

There's many words to describe Allure of the Seas - the most obvious one is massive! If you haven't seen the Mighty Ships documentary about Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas recently, a brief description might help give you a feel for what it's like aboard. Allure (sister to Oasis) is currently the largest passenger ship in the world (while the design length of the Allure is the same as that of her sister, 360 metres, she is actually some 50 millimetres longer than Oasis). She has 2,700 staterooms on 16 passenger decks and courtesy of Central Park and the Boardwalk a large proportion of the cabins are verandah suites..With her funnels fully extended she reaches a massive 72 m above water line. (The Sydney Harbour Bridge has a mere 49 metres clearance at mid-span.)

Verandah Suites above the Boardwalk

With such a large number of passengers the quality and variety of entertainment is excellent and we enjoyed a live performance of the musical Chicago, a water based acrobatic performance in the and a contemporary musical/acrobatic performance called Blue Planet.

We were treated to a Ricky Nelson tribute show featuring his twin sons Matthew and Gunnar Nelson called Ricky Nelson Remembered.  The performance is montage of music and video that tells the story of Ricky Nelson's short but extremely successful musical career. From 1957 to 1962, Nelson had thirty Top 40 hits, (more than any other artist at the time except Elvis Presley and Pat Boone). Nelson's chart career came to a dramatic halt in the wake of The British Invasion however in 1972, Nelson reached the Top 40 one last time with Garden Party. Ricky Nelson was killed in a plane crash in 1985.

Matthew Nelson, Ricky Nelson, Gunnar Nelson

Central Park, Royal Promenade and the Boardwalk are just three of neighbourhoods you may have heard about. (There are seven separate neighbourhoods on the ship.)

Central Park is a tranquil outdoor space combining trees and landscaped vegetation, winding paths, park benches, shops and a cafe. This area is open to the atmosphere (but protected from the strong wind created by the ships own velocity) so what ever the weather is doing it's happening in Central Park.

Central Park

Central Park as night

Central Park bench

Central Park at night near forward lifts

 The Royal Promenade is a bustling main street minus the vehicles (well actually there is one car) and the Boardwalk includes amongst other things a carousel, and the AquaTheater (a pool based amphitheater).

Royal Promenade

The Caribbean Sea is often frequented in August by hurricanes and this year was no exception however this year Hurricane Irene was a whopper. The Captain decided to sail to the north of the storm and we headed for St Thomas (US Virgin Islands). We skipped the Bahamas until the return trip (subject to the amount of damage experiences in the meantime). In the end Irene had no significant impact on our cruise however many of our fellow passengers who came from North Carolina all the way up the east coast (incl. Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey and New York) were very concerned about their properties and the cancelled flights as the hurricane effectively shut down most east coast airports.

Hurricane Irene over the southern Bahamas on August 24

The highlight of this cruise for Roger was the visit to Princess Juliana International Airport (also known as Saint Maarten International Airport) which serves the Dutch part of the island of Sint Maarten. Never heard of it? In that case you're probably not all that interested in watching and marveling at great big beautiful flying machines landing and taking off.

Arriving aircraft approach the island on the last section of the final approach for Runway 10, following a 3° glide slope flying low over the famous Maho Beach. Pictures of low flying aircraft were first published in magazines in early 2000. The thrilling approaches and ease of access for shooting spectacular images, made the airport one of the world's favorite places among planespotters.

Corsair 747 nearing threshold

Maho Beach

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That's all for now BUT before you leave -

Have you seen the previous page titled " Florida " yet?
(click on the link to take you there)