Day 2 At Sea

I was waiting for the rising sun to shed its cloud cover but it was not happening. I got tired of waiting and I just snapped this pic. I can never be a good photographer! I do not have the patience to wait for all the elements of a good capture to coalesce before taking the pic. Of course, it is different if I were taking a pic of one of Hefner's playmates. I will have all the patience in the world to wait for the best angle, believe me LOL.

I'm not really picky about staterooms. It makes no difference to me whether my room has a porthole, a window, a balcony or just a curtain that opens to a bare wall. I only stay there to sleep, maybe watch a little bit of tv and rest. As long as it is far from the engine room, I'm good to go.

Although I am of average height and definitely not on the heavy side, the size of the shower area is a bit discomforting for me. All the cruise ships I've been on have similar bathroom configuration and size, give or take a few inches. I wonder how an obese person can fit in a space with very little wiggle room. I saw a lot of obese cruisers, some of them morbidly so, but I could not summon the nerve to ask any of them how they manage to take a shower in such a tight space. Baka gulpihin ako LOL.

Staterooms with balcony overlooking the park

Similar staterooms overlooking the boardwalk and the aqua show venue

I needed a stiff drink to ride the zip line - it is a long way down if something goes wrong. I hate to imagine what the impact will do to my beautiful body when I hit bottom at 32 ft/sec/sec LOL.

Surf simulator

Mini golf

First parade I ever saw on a ship

Photographic reminders of the cruise

New York style pizza and beer!

This was good!

Western Caribbean cruise on the Allure of the Seas, Dec. 5-12, 2010

After four days at Fort Lauderdale, it was time for us to board the Allure of the Seas, the newest of the Royal Caribbean fleet of cruise ships. Her itinerary was not that interesting but this was her maiden voyage and that was good enough for me. I wanted to get a feel for the largest passenger ship... so far; she is 5 centimeters larger than Oasis of the Seas, her sister ship built a few years earlier LOL.

The ship sailing away with 5,200 passengers and more than 2,300 crew!

Nice view of an almost empty beach from the top deck.

Some staterooms have a view of a park instead of the ocean!

This crowd was watching an outdoor aqua show, one of the many Las Vegas-style shows on board.

My point and shoot camera couldn't capture the acrobatic movements of these performers. I had to wait until they were literally standing still to get a decent shot.

This is the rising tide bar, one of my favorite hangouts. The bar goes three decks up and down while you drink (all the moving bars I've been to before just slowly rotate 360 degrees). After you have one drink too many, you don't really care whether the bar is moving or you are LOL.

If somebody give this to me with the stipulation that I cannot sell or give it away, I'll hate the giver for the rest of my life. Think car insurance, gas mileage, maintenance and repair, secured parking, etc., etc. I'll never have the peace of mind that I do with my 14 year old pick-up in serious need of a paint job LOL.

Our first night dinner

As good as it looked, I did not enjoy it as much (no reflection on the chef's expertise) - I'd rather have a fish taco at my favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint.

A well-marked shipboard walking/jogging tract

2.4 lap equals 1 mile