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Is it Live or is it Memorex?- Allure of the Seas Review September 18-25 with Pics!


nenner1
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It was out of necessity that I found it :p and what I was looking for was right in front on my face.

 

LOL, I opened that cabinet once, saw how little it was and shut it right back up! :D Haha!

 

I was on this cruise with you! Can't wait to see all your food photos.

 

Thank you so much! I will oblige, I think I took a picture of almost every single unique food item I ate all week! (I did not take a picture of each ice cream cone, it would have filled my memory card!) :p

 

Yeah!! Thanks for the review. We sail Allure on Sunday, & are SO excited :D Will keep tuned to your posts to tide me over for the next few days. Think you will be done before we leave?

 

Thank you so much for stopping by! I know how excited you are, you will have an AMAZING cruise!! I will certainly try to have it done by this weekend, but I can't promise. Most of the good stuff is towards the beginning, we pretty much just chilled out the last few days of the cruise! I'd better get to work! ;)

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Thanks, nenner1, for the awesome review!! I'll be checking back daily for more. We're hoping to find a good deal on an Oasis/Allure cruise next year, as DH has just retired and we have no more time constraints - but between you and everyone's pal, Trainman, we are wanting to leave TOMORROW!!!!!

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The quality on that camera is really nice.

 

What were you using?

 

Thank you, I loved that camera!

 

It is a Canon Powershot S3 IS. It is an older model now but was very popular when it was released. It is basically a step below the Rebel.

 

Sadly it got wet in St. Maarten and we had to buy a cheap Point & Shoot to get us through the rest of the cruise. The quality difference in the photos will be noticeable at the end. :(

 

it is quite a story about how that happened though! Stay tuned....

 

Great so far, can't wait to read more! We are sailing Allure April 15th 2012, so excited :D

 

Thanks so much! Allure is the perfect place to spend Tax Day! you will love her!!! :)

 

I am loving your review and pic's, can't wait for more.....

 

Thanks so much for reading! More coming up very soon! :)

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Nenner1,

Thank you so much for taking the time to post this great review. I can't think of a better way to pass the time while packing our luggage for our Allure trip this Sunday. Heading down to FLL tomorrow and will check in from the hotel to see how far you got.

 

Looks like you had a great time.

 

RA

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You didn't hear me grumbling about it? Or do you tune that out?:p LOL, it wasn't a big deal, now I'm just beginning to wonder what else out there I did miss!

 

There was actually a thread about the under the sink trash can a little while ago on the dearly departed Allure Board. Some woman had stored her jewelery in it thinking it was some kind of jewelery holder...:rolleyes: She was very angry at her stateroom host for dumping that trash can- err. jewelery box...;) I'm pretty sure she was trying to get RCL to reimburse her...

 

Ron

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Thanks, nenner1, for the awesome review!! I'll be checking back daily for more. We're hoping to find a good deal on an Oasis/Allure cruise next year, as DH has just retired and we have no more time constraints - but between you and everyone's pal, Trainman, we are wanting to leave TOMORROW!!!!!

 

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you find a good deal, you surely won't regret cruising on these amazing ships- they truly are a marvel! This time of year usually brings about some deals- there were some Westerns in Late Sept/Early Oct that had some very decent pricing (for Oasis/Allure-a lot cheaper than what we paid!). Hope you can find one at a great price and check it out sooner rather than later! :)

 

Love this review already !! subscribe !!

 

Thank you so much! I promise there is some great stuff coming up!

 

Subscribing. I love the review so far.:D

 

Thank you so much for reading! Glad you are enjoying it!! :)

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There was actually a thread about the under the sink trash can a little while ago on the dearly departed Allure Board. Some woman had stored her jewelery in it thinking it was some kind of jewelery holder...:rolleyes: She was very angry at her stateroom host for dumping that trash can- err. jewelery box...;) I'm pretty sure she was trying to get RCL to reimburse her...

 

Ron

 

Now that you mentioned that, I do think I recall that thread. I do miss the Allure board!

 

Nenner1,

Thank you so much for taking the time to post this great review. I can't think of a better way to pass the time while packing our luggage for our Allure trip this Sunday. Heading down to FLL tomorrow and will check in from the hotel to see how far you got.

 

Looks like you had a great time.

 

RA

 

Thank you so much! Yes it was an absolutely AMAZING time, and you will have an awesome time too when you leave this weekend! :)

 

I'll try to get as much as I can done before you depart! Have a safe trip!!!

 

Thank you for the review and the beautiful pictures . You have beautiful family I hope you all have a great time!!:)

 

Thank you so very much for your compliments! I am glad you are enjoying the review! :)

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Saw your Dis Board Mickey ears on your door!!! Have you been on the Dream yet? Just wondering how it compares to Allure for your family?

 

Great Review!!!! I have an 8 year old, so I really love the reviews with Kids.

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Saw your Dis Board Mickey ears on your door!!! Have you been on the Dream yet? Just wondering how it compares to Allure for your family?

 

Great Review!!!! I have an 8 year old, so I really love the reviews with Kids.

 

LOL, yes I am a Diser!:D In fact I am going to post this over there too on the Community Board. That one will have a lot more pictures since they do not have such tight picture and quote restrictions over there. It will take me a bit longer to do though. i'm trying to get this one done-or closer to done- before I get going over there but it will probably be started by the end of the week!

 

No, we have not sailed the Dream yet....really wanted to. We originally had one of the 5 night Dream cruises in August booked but changed it to a magic cruise since we can't go back to a 3/4 night and the prices for a B2B were crazy. But we will sail on the Fantasy this time next year and are REALLY looking forward to that! :D

 

I think based on what we know as far as a comparison that Allure is still quite different from the Dream Class ships. I am quite concerned about reports from the pools on the Dream (or lack thereof)- Allure had tons of pool space. Allure is not up to par with Disney as far as character opportunities go, I'll have more on that when I get to it on my report. I have friends that sailed that Dream last week and they said service is not as good as it could be yet. She hasn't had a chance to elaborate on that yet but I am curious to hear her experience.

 

I think both ships are so different...well...you;ll just have to try both! We will! ;)

 

 

Wonderful already Jen....Thanks for sharing !!! :D

 

And the first member of my little fan club here! ;) Thanks so much for reading Terri and for your comments! There are going to be some terrific stories coming up, stay tuned!! :)

 

Take your time! I'll be just as happy to read it when I get back.. LOL.

RA

 

Awesome!

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LOL, yes I am a Diser!:D In fact I am going to post this over there too on the Community Board. That one will have a lot more pictures since they do not have such tight picture and quote restrictions over there. It will take me a bit longer to do though. i'm trying to get this one done-or closer to done- before I get going over there but it will probably be started by the end of the week!

 

No, we have not sailed the Dream yet....really wanted to. We originally had one of the 5 night Dream cruises in August booked but changed it to a magic cruise since we can't go back to a 3/4 night and the prices for a B2B were crazy. But we will sail on the Fantasy this time next year and are REALLY looking forward to that! :D

 

I think based on what we know as far as a comparison that Allure is still quite different from the Dream Class ships. I am quite concerned about reports from the pools on the Dream (or lack thereof)- Allure had tons of pool space. Allure is not up to par with Disney as far as character opportunities go, I'll have more on that when I get to it on my report. I have friends that sailed that Dream last week and they said service is not as good as it could be yet. She hasn't had a chance to elaborate on that yet but I am curious to hear her experience.

 

I think both ships are so different...well...you;ll just have to try both! We will! ;)

 

 

 

 

And the first member of my little fan club here! ;) Thanks so much for reading Terri and for your comments! There are going to be some terrific stories coming up, stay tuned!! :)

 

 

 

Awesome!

 

Well, hello fellow Disney fan! I'm always on the Community Board (different name) so I'll have to look for your review there and check in.

 

We have sailed on the Wonder, Magic and the Dream this past May. The Dream was was fantastic. We booked the Fantasy while we were on the Dream. The Dream may lack in pools BUT has the AquaDuck! FUN!!! And a great pirate party AND fireworks off the back of the ship. Much bigger fireworks than on the Wonder/Magic. And, of course I am partial to the Disney characters! Can't say how the Dream compares to Oasis/Allure as this will be our first time on the Oasis this Thanksgiving. One thing is that it is so much more convenient for us to sail out of Fort Lauderdale as we live in Boca Raton.

 

Looking forward to more of your report.

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And that brings us to sailaway. Since we had pre-arranged for the banner and webcam wave from http://www.portevergladeswebcam.com, we headed up to Deck 11 aft overlook where we had said we would be. We picked that spot to be easily visible on the webcam for our family and friends back home to wave goodbye to us, and also so the kids could still watch the sailaway party. Problem was that sailaway was immediately after muster, and the elevators and stairs were mobbed. We were in a hurry to get our spot secured and get the banner up , so we scurried up the 6 flights of stairs to deck 11 and collapsed. LOL.

 

Here’s our Spot: Deck 11 Aft Port side. These public decks are on floors 11,12, and 14. To get there just go in the port or starboard stateroom hallway and walk all the way back until you encounter a door.

 

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We were further away from the sailaway party than I would have liked. We could hardly hear it. The view for actually sailing away was pretty awesome though.

 

Dreamworks Sailaway Party from up high:

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And here we go!

 

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For those thinking about doing the banner wave, be aware getting the banner up in this location is VERY difficult. The plexiglass safety railing goes to within millimeters of the floor. It is very hard to feed the ropes that secure the banner through, and tying it down is quite awkward. We had trouble keeping it pulled taut. And you absolutely need 2 people to get it up in this spot.

But the hard work was worth it and so many of our friends and family waved Bon Voyage to us online:

 

(photos courtesy of inletphotos.com)

 

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Here is a link to our sailaway video on youtube:

 

 

Adios Ft. Lauderdale! See ya in a week!

 

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We did not have much time after heading out to freshen up and make it down to dinner. We are my-Time Diners, but this evening we would be starting this cruise off with a bang. We had reservations for Rita’s Fiesta at Rita’s Cantina!

If you aren’t aware of this offering, it is quite a good deal: a three course dinner (set menu) and three alcoholic drinks for $20 per person. Or if you prefer to not drink: dinner and three non-alcoholic drinks for $10. Ole!

We had made our reservation online well in advance of the cruise. Rita’s Fiesta is very popular and tends to sell out, even on the first night. When we booked it, the time was listed at 8:30 PM, but we noticed after reading reviews that they had a pattern of changing the time on the first night to 6:00 PM. We expected this to occur on our cruise as well, and sure enough about 2 days before sailing we received an email that our Fiesta would be held at 6:00 PM. The reason given was that it conflicted with the Aquatheater schedule. So be aware of this if considering the Fiesta for the first evening. Also we noticed that on other nights of the cruise the Fiesta had a slightly different name (“Mexican Madness” for example). We are not aware of any differences in the actual experience regardless of what they called it. The other days and times the Fiesta was offered on our Eastern cruise was on Days 4 and 5 at 8:30.

 

The party started without us!

 

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We headed down to the boardwalk and checked in at the podium outside Rita’s Cantina, staffed by none other than Rita herself. We were quickly seated and chips and salsa were immediately brought to us.

 

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Dress code at Rita’s is casual, and shorts are perfectly acceptable here. Be aware the open areas of Allure are quite warm this time of year, including the Boardwalk. There wasn’t much air circulation and despite some fans and the fact that the more “inside” parts of the restaurant are air-conditioned , it was very, very hot for our meal. Dress comfortably.

 

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The chips and salsa- while attractive tasted just “OK”. They were not homemade chips, and the salsa was also not freshly made (from a jar as I’ve read often here is the most fitting description). It didn’t bother us too much, but when they brought out some pico de gallo, we loved using that for our chips, as it was freshly prepared!

 

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The servers kind of float around at Rita’s. We didn’t have one set waiter. Whoever was around brought the food, and different servers filled our drink orders at different times. When you check in, you are issued a wristband with three removable tabs. This is how they keep track of your drinks. The alcoholics get the green wristbands, and the teetotalers get the red ones that say NO ALCOHOL on them. LOL!

 

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The first round came quickly and the kids enjoyed a virgin Strawberry Daiquiri, virgin Miami Vice, and a Shirley Temple, respectively. Ron chose the Patron Perfect Margarita, and I chose the Strawberry Margarita. Do take a minute to look at the drink menu, and remember what you might want after they take it from you. I wanted to try the Pomegranate Margarita and forgot about it later.

 

They aren’t messing around at Rita’s. The drinks are STRONG! I had a few inches of pure tequila floating at the bottom of mine (and plenty more throughout)!

 

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We are soon brought our appetizers, chicken and shrimp quesadillas, and chicken and shrimp taquitos arranged in alternating fashion around the plate, topped off with a small bowl of tempura style fried shrimp and zucchini:

 

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The appetizers were pretty tasty, especially the chicken quesadillas- very cheesy! They do tell you which are chicken and which are shrimp at the time, but it is very noisy (loud music) and they rattle it off quickly, so if it matters to you be prepared to have someone at the table pay close attention.

 

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Just about when enough time has passed for your first drink to “hit” you, the dancing starts. If they place one of the big sombreros on your head, be prepared, you will be dancing in front of everyone. (Everyone gets a small straw sombrero and flashing necklace to keep as part of the Fiesta).

 

They were wise and chose Savannah instead of me!

 

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The dances were easy and fun, dancing to songs like Tequila and Macarena. Then they get everyone up and out on the Boardwalk for the Casper Slide. You have to limbo back into the restaurant too!

 

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Round two!

 

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He looks drunk, but he's not!

 

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Soon after the dancing, the main course arrived: mixed fajitas. These are chicken and steak served together on a large platter. Our table (just our family of 5) received two huge plates of fajitas, and about 12 total tortillas.

 

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While it looks delicious, the taste- again only “OK”. There was no flavor or spice at all to the fajitas- they were quite bland. Also they didn’t have any “grilled” or blackened taste to them. I was disappointed. I would equate them to what you might get at maybe a neighborhood chain like Applebee’s. Also we did not have near enough tortillas, unless we wanted to over stuff the ones we did have and make gigantic Chipotle Mexican Grill sized burritos for each of us. Since we didn’t have an assigned server, we tried to catch the attention of one of them in passing to fetch us more , but we eventually gave up. We ate enough to no longer be hungry, so it wasn’t a big deal.

 

Fajitas are not something usually on a 3 year old’s rotation of meal choices, so we were unsure of how Sarah would do with them. She had more fun putting together her “taco” as we called it than eating it. But I am happy report she did not starve during this cruise (thank you soft serve ice cream machines!)

 

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After dinner, more dancing. This time it was a dance contest participated in by about 7-8 folks selected by Rita. She started with the girls, the restaurant voted a winner by applause, and the champion dinner wins a shot of – what else? – TEQUILA!

 

Rita’s Dancing Partner:

 

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After the girls, same thing for the guys. Ron was selected and he had fun doing the Beavis and Butthead dance! Cracked us up! He did not win, but he specifically tried not to, since the strong drinks were enough and even another shot might have put him on the floor. (Just the fact that he actually danced in front of everyone is a testament to the drink strength here, trust me!).

 

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And if you weren’t full and drunk enough by now, here comes dessert! There was a “sampler” plate with full size servings of each of Rita’s desserts: A huge slab of Mexican Flan with fruit salsa on top, Scrumptious Banana Custard Enchiladas, and of course Cinnamon-Sugar rolled Churros with Chipotle-Chocolate Sauce. Mmmm!

 

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None of us had been able to consume all three of our drinks, so the serving team collected our remining tabs, and brought us drinks to go. For the non-alcoholic drinks we chose soda, which was provided in cans, and for the alcoholic drinks we chose beer, which was brought in bottles. Terrific! Don’t let those unused drink tabs go to waste!:D

 

While I’m mentioning drinks, Rita’s did not have the “free” drink options available on RCCL like the iced tea, lemonade, fruit punch, or flavored water. I love iced tea and drink it with every meal, si I made sure to bring along some iced tea from Park Café. In fact there are no free drink options anywhere on the Boardwalk- this is important to remember when you stop by to eat at the Dog House or Boardwalk Donuts. You’ll have to bring something to drink from elsewhere onboard or purchase a drink from the Dog House or nearby Johnny Rockets. Very inconvenient.

 

Anyway, back to Rita’s: the whole experience took about 2 hours. It was the perfect way to start off your cruise as a party, and also to avoid the craziness of the MTD section of the MDR on the first evening. It was absolutely worth the price and I wholly recommend it!

 

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After Rita’s we took a spin on the carousel and stopped to meet Alex the Lion from Madagascar. He took a liking to Savannah’s sombrero and did not want to give it back!

 

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Of course,this makes sense. After seeing the sailaway from above, we knew Alex's dirty little secret: male pattern baldness!

 

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The girls loved the “cats” and could ride them all day:

 

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The carousel is free and rarely had a line! Hop on a be a kid again!!!

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You also may recognize the Zoltar fortune-telling arcade machine featured in the movie “Big”. He costs $1 for a fortune. Be very careful if you have little ones, Sarah figured out how to swipe her Seapass on Zoltar and would try to do that every time we walked by. I was disappointed that he did not breathe heavy and a quarter does not roll into his gaping mouth like in the movie, ah well. Also he does not work unplugged.

 

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On our way back to the rooms, we stopped into Adventure Ocean to register the kids. The first evening at AO is an open house/registration- they are not actually open for childcare/sitting the first evening! Keep that in mind if you wanted to try to make a specialty restaurant, comedy show, or Chicago reservation for the first evening and you have kids! Registration is simply filling out some paperwork. Pre-registration for the clubs is done online, but there is more to complete when you do arrive onboard. They will also issue you a dect phone (cell phone that works on the ship) for the AO staff to be able to call you should there be a reson to contact you while your child is in their care. WE kept ours on, and were told if the battery gets low to bring it back and exchange it but when the battery did die and we took it back, they gave us a charger to use for it. It has to be turned in by 10 PM on the last night of the cruise to avoid a charge.

 

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Adventure Ocean facilities on this ship are awesome!

 

The entrance hall:

 

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The Aquanauts (ages 3-5) room:

 

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The slide Sarah loved:

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The Science Lab

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There is even a great unstaffed Open Play Room (open 9 AM-8PM) just full of toys and games for preschoolers and toddlers. And I’d read you can check out a bag of Fisher Price toys for your child to play with for the duration of the cruise (we meant to do this, but never got around to it!)

 

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After stopping by to register for the clubs, the kids wanted to go for a swim, so we headed up to the pool deck. There was a lot of cleaning and maintenance going on. In fact the Starboard cantilevered hot tub was undergoing refurbishment and was out of service for our entire cruise.

The kids had fun swimming and made some new friends with other kids up in the pool that they would spend a lot of time with in the clubs as the week progressed.

 

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The cantilevered hot tub is not located inside the Solarium, and was totally empty! Score!

 

LOVE the addition of the flat screen TV’s so we could watch Sunday Night Football. One thing that was interesting to us- no scrolling scores at the bottom of the screen on this ESPN channel. We had to wait forever to hear who won the Bucs game.

 

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After the nice swim and soak we retreated to the rooms to get unpacked and rest up for the next day.

 

Coming Next: Nassau, Ice Games, and Samba Grill

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Great review!!!!

 

Love the pics! I am still shooting with an S3IS, it is an awesome camera. I will be lost when it gives me it's last shutter click:(. At that point, I will upgrade to a DSLR.

 

ETA: I am a DISer too!!!

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