Hello Family and Friends! It has been a while, that is for sure.
The biggest thing to throw up on the blog is that Denise and I took a cruise at the end of September. So, those are the pictures you will be seeing here. We were on the largest cruise ship in the world, Allure of the Seas, with Royal Caribbean. With over 6000 guests and 2200 staff, one would think you would feel crowded, but we never did. There was definitely enough space for everyone!
Here is our ship from the airport in Ft. Lauderdale. We were a couple of miles away, but it still was quite large!
Here is the back of the ship. The ship had two open air areas, a Boardwalk and a Central Park. This area would be the board walk and lead you out to a pool where they would perform diving shows. There were also big screen video boards on each side that would show movies at night and the NFL games on Sunday. You can see the rooms that had balconies that opened into this area.
Here is the entrance to the Boardwalk area. There was a carousal and a lot of eateries along this stretch.
Here is a map of the Central Park area. Along this area were the Specialty Restaurants that were an extra fee on top of your dining privileges. This area, as you will see, also had a lot of LIVE greenery and was open air.
Central Park Walkway
Central Park Ivy
A tree grows in Central Park!
On board there is a comedy club. They had two comedians that gave shows for about half the trip. You needed to make reservations for the shows, but it was definitely worth it!
Here is the floor diagram for our floor. We were on Floor 9 (duh?), which was right in the middle of everything. The pools were up on Deck 12 and the Boardwalk, Central Park and Royal Promenade were on Floors 5 and 6.
This picture must have been taken on Saturday. Every elevator has a "day plate" in it so you don't forget what day it is.
The Flow Rider on the ship. Lines were always long and I didn't want to wait in the heat to give it a try. Hopefully next time.
The view from our balcony down to the ocean. Yes, it was really that blue! And that life "boat" held about 350 people.
You can even ice skate while cruising. The ship supplies the skates and any safety gear you may want. All you need are long pants.
The Kiddie Pool area on the ship. Looked like lots of fun!
Mini golf on the ship!
Chops Grill! Mmmmmmm.... One of the specialty restaurants that Denise and I did hit!
Our room. We had an ocean view balcony, which is behind the camera.
The Royal Promenade. Lots of shops, bars and eateries.
A towel creature
A towel monkey
A towel stingray
On shore at our first stop, Labadee Haiti. This is a private stop for Royal Caribbean. A nice, relaxing day!
The view of Labadee from our room as we set sail.
Haiti through the foggy camera.
More of Haiti
Falmouth Jamaica, our second stop. This is a new port for the Oasis Class of ships, specially built to handle their size.
Our ship behind the shops in Falmouth.
The caribbean in Cozumel. Denise and I went to a private resort that day, Nachi Cocum, where they only allow 100 people in a day. A very relaxing and quiet day!
Cozumel as we pull into port in the morning.
The beach at Nachi Cocum.
On our way back to Fort Lauderdale, this is what our wake looked like at sunset.
Sunset again....
And again......
The view from the top deck of the ship. If I recall correctly, there were 18 decks, with deck 3 being at water level.
From our balcony. Most of the time, the ocean was like this, smooth as glass. Outside of it being abnormally hot and humid, we didn't have any weather issues.
Other than that, we have started hockey season as we again have season hockey tickets to Bemidji State. They have only had one home series so far, but things will start revving up in November. Libby and Lucas love going to the hotel for the pool!
We have also made two trips to the twin cities for weddings. One trip was for my cousin Ashley and her husband Christian as they got married at the campus chapel at Northwestern Bible College. The other trip was for Denise's cousin Nichelle and her husband William as they got married at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. Both buildings were gorgeous! Congrats to both couples.
Well, that is about all from here. Hopefully we don't take as long to update as this one did!
Troy, Denise, Libby and Lucas
