Derek Marks Blog - January 2011

Hello all – and I trust you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year celebrations. I spent a lot of my time in December talking to family and friends about how excited I am about going on my first ever cruise holiday in 2011.

Of course, once you start talking about cruise holidays with people you know – the stories start to flow. I tend to sit back, listen and absorb everyone’s different experiences. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that every one of the stories were positive. I have some lovely neighbours who are about to set sail to India for their umpteenth cruise holiday. They have said to me that the attraction for them is that they have the opportunity to gather various members of the family and all have a great time together. This hadn’t really occurred to me before, but the more I listened – the more I learnt. They said that it was a great opportunity to spend valuable and memorable times with the family and enjoy the onboard experience – as well as have their own individual holiday as they chose on the various excursions and experiences at the array of different ports.

As I’ve mentioned on the programmes, my parents went with family and ended up with a greater cruising experience as they could all make not only long-lasting holiday memories, but have that connection to the family as well. I think it’s an excellent opportunity.

I’m already starting to think now with the new year of doing a little bit of research on all the destinations along the way of our Norwegian fjords cruise in June (for details of the cruise – just look back at www.liverpoolcruiseclub.com/tv ).

Well, it turns out that another member of my family has been to the Norwegian fjords, so I’m picking up tips on the ‘must see’ places to go. Again, the joy of this particular cruise (and a number of cruises available) is that there’s no flying involved either. This is great if you have a fear of flying, or you just don’t fancy the upheaval of it all.

The more I learn, the more I discover that on-board a cruise ship you are not constrained by weight limits either. I like the idea of this, as with this being a first cruise – I want to make sure that I’m not caught out about what to wear as I become accustomed to my first cruise. So, that’s now not a worry at all. I can pack suitable clothes for the formal occasions, and take a wide variety of other clothes for all of that shopping, sightseeing and exploring that we’ll be doing as the Braemer makes its’ way from Dover via Amsterdam out to the fjords of Norway.

I’d love to hear from you if you’ve had the opportunity to take a similar cruise already. What should I definitely be planning for this trip? Why not e-mail me, its derek@liverpoolcruiseclub.co.uk well, as we start a brand new year – can I wish you all the best as you start to think about the holiday that you’ll be taking this year.

Talk to you next month, oh – and of course daily on sky 659 with John. All the best, Derek

Derek Marks

Presenter - Liverpool Cruise Club
derek@liverpoolcruiseclub.co.uk

Allure of the Seas by Nick Belger

WOW, a great opportunity arose for me to be one of the first to experience RCCL newest arrival the Allure of the Seas, part of the Oasis Class, the biggest cruise ship afloat.

We arrived a few days earlier in Miami, to enjoy North and South Beach, as well as Ocean Drive and Lincoln Road Mall, as well as enjoying a trip to an Alligator park and a much anticipated Airboat over the everglades.

We then transferred to the terminal at Port Everglades, ½ an hour by taxi, at first we thought check in would be chaos with the huge numbers involved, but having pre checked in on line, we already have our set sail pass with us, and on stepping out of the taxi we were immediately greeted and once we handed over our pass, our luggage was labelled and taken from us to be delivered to our stateroom. The space in the terminal and the number of personnel available throughout the check in process made it very smooth, and the people we encountered could not have been friendlier.

Less than ½ hour later we were onboard, straight onto deck 5 to be taken aback by the Royal promenade, in all her glory, with all the bars, shops, eateries you could wish for on one deck! My daughter’s favourite had already been spotted the Cupcake Cupboard, and this is the first deck!

We then made it to our stateroom, an outside superior balcony on deck 12, an adequately proportioned accommodation that would suffice our needs. With 2 beds, or made to a double, ample storage, a docking station/player for your Ipod/phone/pad, along with a lounge area and a comfortable glass fronted balcony, storage space a telephone and a TV that we could pre book shows, and excursions on.

We then decided to explore the ship and plan the next few days, up to the top first decks 16 & 17 and to the Viking Lounge, which provides a scenic view with relaxed and peaceful surroundings, ideal for pre dinner drinks or your night cap.

Down one to the Zip line, which terrified me, but obviously not for lots of people, don’t forget to use this you really need your trainers with you, fortunately I forgot mine so I had an excuse! No excuse though for the flowrider, so long as you are prepared for that fall, there is no experience like it, riding that crest of a wave for seconds!!

There are then two restaurants, the Windjammer, offering a fabulous buffet service for all meals, or the Izumi, an Asian restaurant of distinction. The rest of the deck is filled with sunbathing space and bars.

Down again to the main pool areas, a big and fully occupied childs pool and plenty of areas to soak up the sun and get wet, or heat yourself up in one of the many whirlpool. Get to the front of the ship, and there is the Samba Grill, an authentic Brazilian steakhouse. Also here is the adult only solarium a peaceful and warm spot.

Deck 14 has the Youth Zone, which has an array of different aged entertainment, and suits all ages up to teens!
Deck 12 – 7 are the main decks for staterooms, deck 9 however has Dazzles, set on two storeys, 9 and 8 decks, the lower deck leads out onto Central Park, a very soothing area with some great alternative restaurants and Cafés, including Vintages, a popular wine bar & Tapas . Here you can join the Rising tide bar and take down to the Royal Promenade on Deck 5!

Before getting to deck 5, there is the boardwalk fitness centre on 6, on Boardwalk you have the Carousel, Ice cream Parlour, more fun places to eat such as Johnny Rocketts and Rita Cantina, at the end of the Boardwalk, you can watch the intrepid people on the two Rock climbing walls available, as well of evening there being shows in the Aquatheatre, were you will amazed by the water shows on offer, whether that is with lights, water, acrobats or Olympic divers, magnificent!

Then there is deck 5 and 4, the main dining room starts here, the Adagio covers three floors in total, and on the promenade itself, shops bars and snack bars galore, from Champagne Bar to the Bow & stern, the smokers paradise Boleros, make yoru own pizza at Sorrento’s, have a coffee at Starbucks finally at the front is the Amber Theatre

Continue down ad deck 4 is entertainment place, with again the amber Theatre and your chance to see many shows, including the West End and Broadway hit Chicago, there is the Jazz bar, Blaze the late night club, the Comedy Live show, and the Casino.

And then why not see the Ice show on 3, what a show, which to our surprise included a face my daughter recognised from dancing on ice, Stuart Widdall, the whole show was inspiring.

The whole experience left us enthused, and wishing we had longer, we tried to do so much in such a short space of time, it really does have something for everyone, and nothing is left to chance, the check in, staterooms, food, entertainment, staff, and last but not least the ship itself, how do they do that WOW.