Day 3 - At Sea
Sea days are always fun. Because there’s no port to get off at, there’s no need to rush around, get shoreside, and do what you’re gonna do. It really allows you to get into that “cruise mode” and go with the flow. Even if there’s a list of things that you want to do.
Breakfast today was at Johnny Rockets. One of the best things about the Oasis class ships is that Johnny Rockets is located on the Boardwalk, and that breakfast is free. There’s just something nice about sitting on the quiet Boardwalk enjoying the sea breezes and sipping coffee. For me at least. I had my usual JR’s breakfast - patty and eggs. I mean, if I’m eating here, I might as well get a burger patty instead of paying $10 for one.
The kids forgot their socks, so we were ready to head back to the room. And then my wife got into an accident. While in the ladies room by the Aquatheatre, something in the stall dropped on her foot. I’m still not entirely certain what it was, but it was heavy and caused a cut on her big toe. We went back to the room and got it cleaned up, and once that was done my wife headed to guest services to tell them about it.
The folks at guest services were very good about the situation, apologized a lot and sent her to sickbay to get it further checked out, and offered her various things as comps, which she refused.
(For the record, I would have taken whatever comps were offered to me. But it wasn’t my call to make. )
The doctor cleaned the cut up further, determined that there was only superficial damage, and gave her some iodine and bandages to reduce the chances of infection.
Meanwhile, the remaining three of us sunscreened up, got our caps, and headed to the rock wall. Oh… wait. My cap is gone. Apparently I misplaced my visor at some point. Not a big deal - it was old and getting to that point where it was near unwearable anyway, and nothing like getting something dropped on your foot. I was kind of attached to it though. Would probably need to replace it at some point, as my other hat was a fitted Expos cap with zero ventilation.
Rock wall was fun - we did it a few times until our forearms gave out. I only made it 60-67% of the way up. Which is good for me but I think I need to join a club and get better at this. And lose weight. (Good luck with that last one, Star).
Next up was the zip line. H was the only one to do it, as I was taking pictures and O was too small to do it. So Le and O did some minigolf instead. H did it 3 times, seeing as it took a while to get into the harness and all.
By this point we were puddles of sweat, so it was time to hit the pools.
A word about the pools. The Allure had an hourly reminder about the practice of chair hogging, and while I didn’t see any staff actually enforcing this policy, it felt like I could always find an empty spot somewhere in the pool zone I was in. I’m not going to be naive and say that the chair hogging issue has been resolved on the ship, but I think the announcements do help to reduce the amount of chair hogging that takes place.
Royal also requires you to check in/check out towels for use, with a charge applied if, at the end of the cruise, you’ve returned less towels than you’ve checked out. Some people don’t like this. I don’t mind - it’s a minor irritant at most. It’s clearly a form of inventory control, and a way to get people to bring towels back from shore excursions. But anyone cruising on Royal should check their final balance to ensure that they were not improperly charged for a missing towel.
In any event, I ordered my first (non-complimentary) drink of the cruise, the Caribbean Sling. Since it was the drink of the day, it was basically a pre-mix. Not bad, but I’m not sure it was worth the DotD price (around $8.50 + 18%). A better value was what my brother got, which was essentially a frozen pina colada (with dark rum) in a pineapple for about $10 + 18%. The actual amount of rum added is apparently an estimate, and if you want you can reuse the pineapple for some soft serve.
(edit) As expected, the pools were a bit busier than the previous two days. Not quite peak "kid soup" saturation in the kids pool, but still more than a few kids splashing around.
For lunch, we hit the main dining room. I got a grilled cheese and leek sandwich with a custom salad, everyone else went to the cook station and got some stir fry lo mein.
After lunch, we took the kids over to the kids club. And then proceeded to do nothing but lounge in the sun.
Dinner was Pork Tacos, Steak Diane and tres leches. The tacos were actually
bao, which was just fine by me. It could’ve used more sauce, but they were fine. The
bao was actually very well done, but I think a crispy wonton “shell” would’ve worked better (I had one like that at Frings in Toronto). Steak Diane was fine, but I should’ve went for the rack of lamb, which was really good. Our waiter Gerland tried to sell us on the donuts, but remembering my experience with them last year on Harmony (they were not good at all) I steered clear. I suspect he got to sample some when they were hot.
After dinner, we walked around a bit until the kids were ready to sleep. Le wanted to sleep as well, so I went to see the comedy show on my own. But it was a little early, so I killed some time in the Promenade. They had a 2 for $30 sale on Royal Caribbean branded merchandise, which included visors. Quality seemed good, so I got that and a t-shirt. Then I got some pizza from Sorrentos, which was… not bad? It felt like they changed something, or the cooks on Harmony were not good, because the pizza didn’t taste like cardboard with cheese, sauce and toppings. I still wouldn’t eat this for a meal, but as a snack, I could handle it.
Allure has a “comedy club” venue called The Tube, and it’s quite intimate, seating maybe 100 people. So you are very close to the comedians, no matter where you’re sitting.
The comedians were Rick Corso and Graig Murphy. Both guys were very funny. They did the obligatory bits about the cruise ship and cruising, but thankfully things I haven’t heard before (letters from the crew to the cruisers; yes, the comedians stay on the ship) before segueing into their regular material. I did notice that a concierge had reserved seats for people in the front row. If your concierge reserves you front row seats for a comedy show, they secretly hate you.
Next: Cozumel