Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas Part 3: Onboard Activities

Time to get into the cruise even more! You can read Part 1 and Part Two to catch up if you'd like! 

As mentioned before, due to weather and craziness, we wound up spending even more time onboard than expected. The weather limited lots of outside activities but we were still able to try most things! 

Activities:

1. Swimming: There are four TINY pools. As in, each has a posted capacity of like 25 people. And that's it for the entire ship. They are all on the top deck and were closed for hours and hours at a time when weather was bad. When they actually were open, the water was ice cold and only the most die-hard swimmers swam. I never got in the water. Not once (except for a few minutes in an insanely crowded/gross hot tub) but my girls and their blue lips swam anyways. There was a little splash park area that was fun for them for a few minutes but this whole aspect of the ship was actually pretty disappointing. There's not much my girls and hubs hope to do on an "warm" vacation more than swim.

Free unlimited ice cream around the pools was a daily necessity!

2. Flowrider Surf Simulator: I hadn't seen anything about this online, but there are height restrictions on this. My almost 8 year old, who was just surfing for real in Waikiki a few months before, wasn't allowed to do this at all. My 9.5 year old was tall enough to try it laying on a boogie board but wasn't allowed to try to stand up surf (she was also just surfing for real in Waikiki over spring break). We weren't expecting these rules and it was pretty disappointing when the only one who could do it was Papa. The lines were long and the hours were irregular, so even he only did it a couple times. 

The kid who was allowed...

The biggest kid ;)

3. Ziplining: This looked amazing online but in reality was a super short zipline than ran diagonal over a very short section of the ship. The girls were still super pumped to do it but weren't allowed to. Again, restrictions we didn't know anything about until we got there. Riders have to be a minimum of 75 pounds and neither of them are. 

4. Rock Climbing Wall: Yippee!!! Something they were allowed to do! Haha! And, boy, did they rock climb! This was the first time any of us had tried a rock wall like this and the girls were obsessed! They went multiple times, on all levels of difficulty, and were some of the rare kids onboard that were able to reach the top and ring the bell! 

Climbing obsession! We want one at home now!

5. Ice Skating: The hours didn't really work out for us to ice skate on the rare occasion that the water was calm enough and it was actually open. No biggie, my girls aren't huge fans anyway.

6. Dreamworks Character Experiences: I think there were some meals with characters available, but we didn't do any of those. There were several parades that were lots of fun for the kids. We were able to meet most of the characters by walking up to various times posted on daily schedules. One super annoying thing, though, was that we were often not allowed to take our own pictures. Um, WHAT? Even Disney takes photos with the Photo Pass then lets you take your own. This resulted in me coaching my kids to try to look over at me on the side so that I could snap a quick picture before I got scolded (again) for taking my own. So annoying. A couple of photo ops let us take our own and the couple that I bought from the ship were cute. Whatever.

The girls thought the parades were fun!

So many creeper pics from the side. So annoying.

But a few of my own that were cute! 

7. Kids Club: Another thing we didn't do because of a rule issue. The girls were 7 and 9 and were going to be put in separate rooms, which the 7 year old didn't want. We never use the free babysitting on vacation like this but were going to let them do some art or something for an hour on one of the rainy days. Fail.

8. Dance classes: These were super fun! We went to the Beyonce Class and the Country Line Dance Class. Super informal, all ages welcome, and a nice little surprise workout! There were lots of other options that we didn't do and things like Zumba, that we saw when walking by! 

9. The Boardwalk: The outdoor "Boardwalk" area was a fun place to hang out. This is where the rock wall is and also has a carousel and the Aqua Theater which has shows, shows movies, etc. This whole area was shut down during the bad weather times but when open there were often ship employees here hosting free games and face painting and stuff for the kids. The Mexican restaurant here was amazing, btw! ;)

"brown bear" and "panda bear" :)

10. There are lots of other things around the ship that we tried for a minute or two: ping pong, basketball, miniature golf, karaoke, pay to play Bingo. There is a big teens-only club that my 9.5 year old was drooling over and a pay arcade that we never stepped foot in. 

I'm sure there are things that I'm forgetting, but I think I've hit all the big ones! One more post coming on onboard shows/entertainment. Again, if there's anything specific you'd like to know, please ask! This is such a pricey family vacation and I'm hoping to do my part in helping people be informed consumers!! :D

Craft Beer of the Month Club, December 2013 Review

Omg! This box is HUGE news! I am in Kentucky and, like lots of states, no alcohol can be shipped here. But this one can! And I got a subscription for the hubs for Christmas! And we are super excited about it!! :)

Craft Beer of the Month sends a monthly box of 12 beers, 3 each of 4 different kinds, from small-production, independent brewers around the US. The monthly cost is $37.75 with free shipping and, if you sign up for monthly service, they send various introductory bonus gifts!

Here's first looks:

And the breakdown:

Two selections from Elysian Brewing Company, Washington: 

Loser Pale Ale

Bifrost Winter Ale

Two selections from Seirra Blanca Brewing Company, New Mexico:

Roswell Alien Amber Ale (haha)

Nut Brown

We also received several free bonus gifts for signing up! 

Bar snacks

Tasting glasses

Bottle opener

I'm not doing a cost breakdown for this box because it is definitely worth $3.14/beer for us. Craft beer is definitely more expensive than regular beer and there is value for us in the information provided and the opportunity to try things we've maybe never heard of - and the fact that we can do it without ever leaving the house!

So excited about this subscription and looking forward to seeing what they send in January!

Birchbox Holiday Deccember 2013 Review

I was so happy to finally get a December Birchbox! My first one was "delivered," but not to me, and Birchbox was fantastic about quickly sending me out a replacement!

Birchbox is a subscription service that costs $10/month for the women's box or $20/month for the men's box (which includes a lifestyle item). Prices get lower with longer commitment and subscribers accumulate points to spend in the Birchbox shop by reviewing items ($1 per item).

December's box doesn't have much of a theme other than a message from the Birchbox team with warm wishes for the holiday season!

Here's first looks:

Got a little wet when crammed in the mailbox... 

And the breakdown:

Number 4 Non Aerosol Hairspray, $4.40 - I really don't use much hairspray, so this will be passed along to the hubs or the girls!
The Honest Company Organic Healing Balm, $3.25 - It looks like this is maybe intended as a diaper rash cream? Um, no babies around here, so this goes to me and my dry hands. It feels sort of looks and feels like Aquaphor and I love that it's organic! Always a big bonus!

Supergoop CC Cream, $2 - this tube is tiny, tiny, tiny. I've loved the Supergoop city sunscreen serum that I received in my July PopSugar box and I'm expecting to love this product, too!Fatty Sundays Gourmet Chocolate Covered Pretzel, $.50 - this is a tiny little version of these pretzel sticks. The box I received in my PopSugar Holiday box was almost instantly devoured and I'm interested to see which family member is quick enough to grab this one! LOL!
 

Eslor Skincare System, $15.40 - at first I was a little disappointed in the size of the foil packets and surprised at how high they priced out. I used the four step system and was happy to see that there's enough product to use more than once (except for the mask, which was one use). The cleanser was nice. The scrub was weird, dry and clay-like and had to be mixed with water. I didn't like the consistency of it, kind of thin with occasional huge chunks. The mask was creamy and nice going on, felt a little drying as it set. The moisturizer was a little light for me and my dry winter skin. Overall I felt like these products seemed luxurious and high end and I really enjoyed trying them! 

I came up with a total value of about $25 for this box. After doing the reviews ($5 credit), the box only cost me $3.25 (I got an amazing deal on a year subscription a while back!). I continue to be happy with the box and am getting excited about my Birchbox points that are piling up!! Can't wait to use them on a fun splurge!! :)

Happy Holidays!!

Holiday insanity is in full swing around here (and has been for the last few weeks!). I have lots of reviews and things to get to but they will just have to wait! I'll see you all after the fun and craziness has passed! Thanks so much for reading and being a part of my blog in 2013! I'll see you on the flip side, 2014 here we come!! 

Lots of love and wishes for the happiest of holidays! 

XOXO, 

Ryan :)

PopSugar Special Edition Holiday for Him Box Review + Coupon

I was so excited to get this box from PopSugar! Unlike the women's box, I had peeked and knew what was going to be included. It's still always fun to get the goodies in your hands, though! This was a Limited Edition box that sold out quickly for $100. Hubs and I loved the his and hers summer boxes and I had high hopes for this one!! 

Here's first looks:

And the breakdown:

Krave Beef Jerky, $7 - Hubs demolished this stuff almost instantly. Declared it the best jerky every. I'm happy to see that I should be able to pick up more at Target!

FunkyChunky Chip-Zel-Pop, $7 - This stuff looks amazing!! It's going into a bag of goodies for a teacher who LOVES chocolate!

Apolis Flannel Wool Tie, $68 - Eh, this is fine. I wish we had gotten the gray one. Hubs rarely wears a tie (seriously, maybe twice a year and that's usually a BOW tie for a black tie event) so I'll have to find something else to do with this one.

Soxiety Socks, $12 - Well... socks. They've already been worn. No comment, which means they're fine! LOL!

Malin + Goetz 1 oz Essential Kit, $30 - A great little travel kit for a guy who's more metro than mine! Haha

Native Union Monocle, $60 - This is a speaker, handset, speakerphone... We've had many times that we would love to have a speaker to play music from phone or iPod. Reviews online seem mixed... I hope it's fab!

Mark and Graham Leather Travel Pouch, $80 - This little bag is made of gorgeous, super supple leather. It's small, but will definitely be an upgrade for what hubs usually packs his stuff in (a ziploc bag or something girly of mine! haha). I would never have paid $80 for it, but he will use it, I'm sure. Unfortunately, this one has a few water spot type marks on it. I've emailed PopSugar and hope it's resolved easily!

I came up with a value of $264 for this box. Not my favorite LE PopSugar box but I thought the value was great. Just kind of a miss for us this time, which is part of the subscription box game! ;) Like I said above, this box is long sold out, but you can sign up for regular PopSugar and save $5 off your order with code REFER5. 

Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas Cruise Part 2: Weather and Ports

Time to get into the cruise a little bit more! You can read Part 1 here! 

So... the weather. The weather on our cruise was not good. I mean, really. It was often BAD. Bad enough that the people who are scared of the water stayed for hours and hours in one seat, in the middle of the ship, close to their emergency meet point. Bad enough that things were falling over as the ship rocked side to side. And, by things, I mean usually people. People were stumbling everywhere. People were seasick. There was vomit involved. People were unable to sleep. Basically worse case scenario for anyone with reservations about cruising.

All we had heard was that you never even know that you're on a big ship, it's SO BIG that you never feel it. Well, you could feel it SO MUCH our entire week that it became a running joke between hubs and me after we'd walk into a wall or something "Wow, you'd never even KNOW you were on a boat." I was at home sitting at the computer 36 hours after getting off the ship and noticed I was STILL swaying inside.

I know that the weather is out of the ship's control, but it was the way the weather was dealt with that was kind of an issue. The ship was unable to go into port at our first stop, Nassau, since the water was so rocky. And it rained and rained nonstop. And it was SO WINDY that you couldn't even walk outside. All of this resulted in 5,000+ people stuck indoors in artificial light on a ship that massively rocked from approximately 6pm Sunday until we docked at St. Thomas at 7am or so on Wednesday. Seriously.

And for those 2.5 days... things ground to a halt. Many of the shows couldn't go on because of the weather conditions. No ice shows, water shows, etc., (understandably). The entire massive boardwalk area was mostly useless. No rock wall, no surf machine, no zipline, no putt putt, no basketball, no kiddie splash park. Every pool is outside and each one had a net thrown over it to keep people out. All of a sudden, having almost every activity OUTSIDE didn't seem like such a brilliant plan. I know, I know, sh*t happens, but the entire ship spent 2.5 days of our cruise bunkered down indoors with little to do.... Not a great start for those of us who weren't completely sold on a cruise to begin with! 

Blowing away on the top deck! 

Then.... on Wednesday. We docked!! And the sun was out! And everyone ran off the ship and kissed the ground! LOL! 

Hubs and I were married on St. John and we have talked forever about taking our families back to see the beach where it all began. We were so excited to use this day to show our girls! We took a taxi across St. Thomas to the Red Hook dock and took the ferry across to Cruz Bay on St. John. This was definitely a lengthy and somewhat expensive process, but was totally doable. 

Sea turtle spotting on the ferry ride between the islands! Gorgeous!! 

Lunch at Across the Street on St. John

Of course my little one thought this was serious (and a great idea! LOL)

Sweet wild deer at Hawksnest Park

Hawksnest Beach where we were married was just as lovely as we remembered. Seriously. It is pretty much perfect. The WAVES, however, were out of control and we all got knocked around and lost a few things. Everyone was talking about how uncharacteristic this is.... Oh well. One more crazy weather situation to add to the trip! LOL! 

We caught the return ferry just in time for it to start pouring rain again... Ugh. St. Thomas is kind of gross so we were actually excited to get back on the boat!! Haha! 

The third and final stop was St. Martin/Maarten. The grandparents took the girls on a day tour of a local butterfly farm (was kind of a long and uneventful day for young kids) and the hubs and I caught a taxi to Orient Beach. We just randomly picked this beach off a map and it was really gorgeous. It is on the French side, so there is a nude section (um... def too much old man nudity, as expected... hahaha). 

It was interesting to hear our Dutch taxi driver ranting about how much she hates the French. The island is divided in half between the two countries and it is obviously VERY divided. She spent lots of time talking about how the French try to get you for every dollar they can. This was 100% our experience as a guy tried to charge us $20 a chair on the beach for a couple of hours (we sat on a towel on the sand) and a lady at a gift shop ran our credit card in Euros instead of dollars (made it 1.5x more expensive, we didn't notice until on our way back to the ship). And, of course, it rained while we were there... but it was pretty! haha! 

View of St. Martin from our room's balcony!

Orient Beach, St. Maarten

I was surprised that hubs didn't want to try these water jet pack boot things!

So... the ports were SO nice for a change of scenery. All of a sudden, when we could get on/off the boat, cruising made a lot more sense. We have already talked about how cool it would be to cruise an area of the world with fabulous cities that are maybe not the safest to spend a long amount of time in (like Turkey, for example!). 

Stay tuned for more info on the ship itself - food, shows, activities! Let me know if you have any questions at all! I'm so happy to share!!