As previously stated, I had a wheelchair-accessible cabin so that I could park my walker and walk around the room w/o bumping into the furniture. There was lots of storage in the closet and the desk, but folks who use iPhones will be disappointed because the charging docks i the clock had the old style charging ports, not the newer Lightning Bolt charging cables for the new iPhone models. The balcony had a ramp outside, but occupants of this cabin had to be careful when stepping onto the balcony of the little flip-up thingy that when pushed down completed the ramp. The device could hurt your feet if you step outside in your bare feet or in your socks.

The food tour stopped at a store where guests to could taste Dutch cheeses, a small serving of pasta made with Dutch cheeses, and white wine. The next stop was for lunch at a Creole BBQ place near Marigot and Grand Case on the French side of St. Maarten that served jerk chicken, BBQ rib, a JohnnyCake (a fried dough), potato salad and cole slaw. I liked nearly everything but the potato salad. I really liked the JohnnyCake, which tasted like funnel cake. The last stop was at a gelato place at a big venue containing a carousel. Guests entered a kitchen and were shown how gelato was made, including some audience participation and tasting of the finished product, nutella flavored gelato. Then we were given complimentary servings of gelato: I chose mango. The ride back to the ship was filled with great sights.

The combined Miami City and Boat tour was very nice conducted via double-decker bus. The tour guide was very good and guests visited Little Havana as part of the Miami City tour, but other places such as Vizcaya were not shown. The boat tour was very good and I got to see a new RCCL cruise ship, Symphony up close when it was docked. As previously mentioned, the tour operator had created a special arrangement w/a restaurant at the Bayfront Marketplace that could feed a busload of guests efficiently and get them aboard the excursion vessel within a designated timeframe. I just wish this arrangement had been mentioned in the tour description so that guests would not feel as if they were dragged around by the nose to a specific venue--the establishment had been chosen for the efficient feeding of guests on this tour.

I had booked a 1 hour chopper tour of the city, but the Shore Excursion desk called me a day or two earlier to tell me that the tour had been cancelled for "operational reasons". The cruise line refunded my $.

San Juan

To avoid that the humiliating feeling of dining alone, I had previously booked three specialty restaurants: Izumi on Deck 4, adjacent to the Grand DR; Chops Grille in Central Park on Deck 8, and Samba Grill on Deck 15.Hotel Info:

I decided to do a two-night pre-cruise hotel stay at the JW Marriott hotel in Downtown Miami, along with a Viator Miami City and Boat tour aboard a double-deck bus.

Allure of the Seas Review

2nd Time on an Oasis class ship nearly the charm

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Boardwalk View Balcony

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