Suite Review of the Allure 06.30.2013

So, it seems as if everyone in the 6/30/2013 roll call is doing a review. Can one more really hurt??

So, this review will be from the perspective of someone that is not a super huge cruise fan. :eek: I know, I know, this is Cruise Critic, home of the cruise super-fans. Please don’t throw any rotten tomatoes! I have my reasons for preferring land based vacations. Don’t get me wrong, I like to cruise, but if I had a choice I’d pick something different.

So, how did I end up on a cruise, you may ask. Good question. This past February, when we were in the very beginning planning stages of our annual family vacation, we asked our daughter what her preference would be, Mexico or a cruise. She picked a cruise. Since we went to Mexico last year, and it had been several years since cruising, hubby and I agreed and started searching. We knew we wanted the Oasis or the Allure, just to try out a mega-ship. Both hubby and I had been to St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Jamaica and Cozumel. The deciding factor really was Labadee. Neither of us had been on a cruise that had a stop at a private island and it appealed to both of us.

We originally booked a hump balcony. Cruising would be myself, my husband and my 13 year old daughter. I had concerns about the size of a balcony stateroom. This is one of the things I do not like about cruises…teeny tiny rooms. And yes, I do enjoy spending time away from the crowds, and reading on my balcony, so this is a concern for me.

So, you’ll notice I said “originally booked.” One of the fantastic members on our roll call would often post about price drops. After our final payment, a post about a price drop on junior suites was posted. Sweet! That would give us about 50% more room! Of course I told hubby the minute I got home, and we called right up. The deal was for $300 (for all three of us) we would get a junior suite guarantee. I can live with a guarantee…I’m not super picky about where we are on the ship. We waited, and waited, and worried, and waited, and we were assigned a stateroom about 2 week prior to sailing…a grand suite 14660!! :D I was doing the happy dance! This was the best deal ever! I was thrilled about getting so much extra space (completely alleviating my teeny tiny stateroom fear), and beyond ecstatic when I learned about the other perks you get for staying in a suite.

After months of waiting, it was finally vacation time. We live in central Maine, about 4 hours north of Boston. For this trip we decided to fly direct out of Boston on Jet Blue. We can usually get pretty decent airfare prices from our local airport, but since this was a holiday week, they were just outrageous. We were able to get flight times that would allow us to drive without having to stay in a hotel either before or after our flights. We got up early the morning of June 29 and headed to Boston around 6:00am. The drive was uneventful, with light rain the majority of the trip. We hadn’t flown out of Boston for years, and got lost a bit when looking for the economy lot. The directions we had had us going over a bridge that was closed! Well, even after that mishap, and making a pitstop, we were at the parking garage by 10:00am and in the terminal checking in by 10:30am. Did I mention that our flight wasn’t until 2:30pm? Yeah, better to be early and wait, and not worry about getting stuck in traffic.

The flight went smooth…we boarded on time and landed in Fort Lauderdale around 5:30pm. We were at the hotel by 6pm. We stayed at the Marriott Renaissance, which was very close to the port. The hotel was nice, and the beds comfortable. There was a small gym and a pool that we didn’t use. They also had a restaurant and lounge. We chose to go to the Bimini Boat yard for dinner, which was in walking distance. The dinner there was nice. I had some yummy crab cakes. After dinner, we walked the marina for a bit before heading back to the room. We had gotten up early, and were tired.

Our room at the Marriot

View from the room. You can see the canal with boats. That is where the Bimini Boat Yard is:

Don't stop.....we will be onboard in 2 months !

It’s finally cruise day! We wake up this morning to this beautiful view:

Yay! She made it in.

I have a problem on vacations. I can not sleep in. It’s a sickness I think, and one that my family hates. I try to tiptoe to glance out of the window, but the piercing sunlight streams in waking the rest of my family. Oops. :o It is early. I can’t remember exactly, but most likely around 6:30. The rest of the family would have preferred it to be closer to 8. Anyhow, I get the sleepy heads up, and we walk down to Einstein Brothers Bagels to grab a quick bite to eat.

After, we walk to the top of the bridge to get a better view of our home for the next week, and to see some of the private yachts in the canal.

We decided to take the shuttle from the hotel. We were on the first shuttle that left at 10:30. We were the only ones on the shuttle. We arrived to the port. At that time of the morning it is extremely hectic with people trying to leave, and others wanting to arrive. We had to find a porter to drop our bags. It was a little concerning, with the amount of people roaming around. I worried that our bags would get misplaced, or inadvertently go home with someone just leaving. **Spoiler alert** we did get the bags just fine, so I was worried over nothing.

Suites have their own entrance at the port. We were able to check right in. I can’t remember the name of the gentleman who did check us in, but he was so sweet! I need to take better notes! Check in was so easy and quick, we were in the suite lounge area by 10:45! We didn’t have too long to wait. The people doing a back to back were able to board first, and then suites were called.

There are two places to board, forward and aft. The suite lounge was closest to the forward boarding area, so naturally everyone headed that way. I, however, heard someone mention the aft boarding area, grabbed my family and headed in that direction. And we were the first through! We have never ever boarded a ship this early. It made me a bit giddy!

Up next…on board…

And the obligatory pre-boarding picture

Look forward to reading more. Thanks for posting your review! :)

Me too, me too!

I'm eagerly looking forward to reading your review. It will be interesting to read about it from a Suite occupant's point of view and hearing about all those wonderful perks that you enjoyed.

Can you also tell a little about your muster drill? I see that you were probably on deck 14? Is this right? Where was your muster station?

You're review is off to a good start! Hope to read more soon and see a few pictures, too! :D

Just subscribed. We are in a GS on 11 sailing on the 21st. This review may not be done in time, but looking forward to any tips/hints as this is our first sailing on the Allure...or in a GS.

Don't stop.....we will be onboard in 2 months !

So exciting!! I promise not to take too long :D

Look forward to reading more. Thanks for posting your review!

Thank you for reading!!

I'm eagerly looking forward to reading your review. It will be interesting to read about it from a Suite occupant's point of view and hearing about all those wonderful perks that you enjoyed.

Can you also tell a little about your muster drill? I see that you were probably on deck 14? Is this right? Where was your muster station?

You're review is off to a good start! Hope to read more soon and see a few pictures, too!

I will definitely get to the muster drill. We had the Aqua Theatre as our muster station. There will most definitely be more pictures! :D

Just subscribed. We are in a GS on 11 sailing on the 21st. This review may not be done in time, but looking forward to any tips/hints as this is our first sailing on the Allure...or in a GS.

Thank you so much! I hope to get this done before then.

So, it was about 11:15 and we had just bing bonged our sea pass cards. We scampered up the gangway, excited to start our new adventure. You board on Deck 5 and enter on the promenade. This was what we saw upon arrival:

Yes, the only people there were crew members! After exploring the promenade for a few minutes I remembered that I wanted to book our remaining dining reservations. We had booked the dining package that allowed us to eat at Samba, Chops, Giovanni’s and Izumi. I had reserved Samba online, but needed to make reservations for the rest. We headed up to Central Park on deck 8, and went to Chops to make our reservations. Chops was pretty booked, but we did find a reasonable time for us. The hostess at Chops was also able to make the reservations for Giovanni’s and Izumi. It was very quick and easy.

Another thing that I have not liked in my past couple of cruises is the dining. It seems like our first cruise, umpteen years ago, the food was so fantastic. I don’t know if the quality has gone downhill, or if I’ve just had more fine dining experiences to compare a cruise to. On our last cruise I lost weight! What I really liked about the Allure was all of the options available for dining. I’m not too keen on the Windjammer, so I was very happy that there were many more choices for breakfast and lunch.

By that time we were a bit hungry, and I saw that the Park Café was open, and there was no line. I had informed my family about the famed roast beef sandwich, and the rave reviews it got on here, so of course we all had to get one. Hubby loved it, and got it repeatedly on the cruise. I liked it, and my daughter was less than impressed.

After eating we explored. We wandered around Central Park, then made our way to the Boardwalk and rode the carousel. I grabbed a mojito and we all tried some hot dogs before heading up to deck 15, where the pools and sports activities are located. I will say that for the first few days we were continuously lost. I could never remember which way was forward or aft, and forget port and starboard. Some places I never figured it out, like Central Park, because there wasn’t a good point of reference for me. I don’t know how many times we would make our way to deck 14, where our stateroom was located, and be at the wrong end of the ship. Oh well, we got in our exercise!

Random ship photos:

More photos:

I love your review--keep it coming. We're going to be on the Allure in September.

Loved your pics! Brings back memories ... not the Allure, but her sister ship, Oasis a year ago ..... AWESOME, AMAZING TRIP!! :) Can't wait to see more! Thanks! :)

It was a little before 1 when I noticed that the hallway doors leading to the staterooms were open. I couldn’t wait to check out our Grand Suite!! The location was very close to the stairs, making it very convenient to get to other decks. We entered our stateroom, and I did a little happy dance. It was fantastic!! I there was so much space, and so much storage. We didn’t even use half of the drawers available to us. And the bathroom!! A tub and two sinks!!

Room photos:

I love your review--keep it coming. We're going to be on the Allure in September.

Thank you. I hope you enjoy your trip as much as I did!

Loved your pics! Brings back memories ... not the Allure, but her sister ship, Oasis a year ago ..... AWESOME, AMAZING TRIP!! :) Can't wait to see more! Thanks! :)

Thanks so much!

We went back out to explore for a bit.

View from the Concierge Lounge -

Upstairs in the Concierge Lounge -

Library -

I don't know if it was because we were docked, but playing Ping-Pong was so hard...the wind would gust into the court (is that the right term???) and blow that ball all over the place!

All of our luggage arrived by 3:15. We unpacked and chilled in our stateroom until muster was called. Our muster station was the Aqua Theatre. Muster was pretty painless, and seemed to go by very quickly. Once released there was a crazy mob all trying to go back to their staterooms, so I grabbed another mojito at the Boardwalk Bar. We made our way to the elevator bank, but knew it would take forever to catch a ride up. The Boardwalk is on deck 6, and our stateroom is deck 14. We decided to take the stairs. I just kept telling myself, if I did this on a regular basis I would have a fantastic butt!! LOL!

By then it was time for sail away. We watched from our balcony.

We went back out to explore for a bit.

 

View from the Concierge Lounge -

 

 

Upstairs in the Concierge Lounge -

 

 

Library -

 

 

I don't know if it was because we were docked, but playing Ping-Pong was so hard...the wind would gust into the court (is that the right term???) and blow that ball all over the place!

 

 

All of our luggage arrived by 3:15. We unpacked and chilled in our stateroom until muster was called. Our muster station was the Aqua Theatre. Muster was pretty painless, and seemed to go by very quickly. Once released there was a crazy mob all trying to go back to their staterooms, so I grabbed another mojito at the Boardwalk Bar. We made our way to the elevator bank, but knew it would take forever to catch a ride up. The Boardwalk is on deck 6, and our stateroom is deck 14. We decided to take the stairs. I just kept telling myself, if I did this on a regular basis I would have a fantastic butt!! LOL!

Love it! We take the stairs a lot when that happens (which surprisingly did not happen all that often considering the size of the ship!) .... but I always figured that the way I was eating, I could use all the help I could get, LOL! :D

Is that huge table in the concierge lounge reserved for large groups ? Or do you just sit with whoever is there ? We intend to eat there at breakfast.

We had dinner reservations at Samba tonight, and I wanted to take advantage of the Concierge Lounge before dinner, so we all got ready and headed out around 5:30. I really enjoyed the Concierge Lounge this trip. It was just a nice place to relax before dinner with a cocktail and a few appetizers. We also used it quite a bit in the mornings. We never did use the service of the Concierge though.

We arrived at Samba for our 6:30 reservation. Samba is in the solarium, and is the Solarium Bistro during the day. There were not many people there eating. If you’ve never been to a Brazilian steak house this is how it works: there is a salad bar with various salad items, bread and other items that you choose from first, then they bring meat, meat and more meat! At Samba they had 9 types of meat to choose from. You have a light that when you turn green a server will bring a selection of meat, and when you turn it red, they stop. You can keep turning it red or green as often as you like. They will ask you how you like your filet and lamb cooked. We only made it through 5 types of meat before being completely stuffed and turning off our light. Of course we weren’t too stuffed for dessert! We all enjoyed Samba. The flavors of the meat were really good; it’s just too much for me to eat!

Tonight we had reservations for Chicago at 9. I have seen Chicago on Broadway, but neither my husband nor my daughter had seen it or the movie, for that matter. We all LOVED it! I thought they did a fantastic job. I think my husband’s favorite part was the female's costumes!! LOL

My daughter just wanted to go back to the cabin at that point, so hubby and I dropped her off and went out by ourselves. We wandered a bit, checking out the various venues that come alive at night. We stopped at the Bow & Stern to listen to the guitar player. He was very good. We also went to deck 4 and peeked at the jazz lounge and into Blaze, the dance club. Jazz isn’t our thing, so we didn’t stay, and Blaze was pretty empty. So we headed up to Dazzles for a bit, where I'm sure I got another mojito, before calling it a night.

Love it! We take the stairs a lot when that happens (which surprisingly did not happen all that often considering the size of the ship!) .... but I always figured that the way I was eating, I could use all the help I could get, LOL! :D

That is what I figured too! You got to love all the food on the Allure!

Is that huge table in the concierge lounge reserved for large groups ? Or do you just sit with whoever is there ? We intend to eat there at breakfast.

I believe the table upstairs is for the Chef's Table only. It had been set, and I don't think it was for general use. There are tables downstairs that can accommodate large groups and many tables for two or four.

It was a little before 1 when I noticed that the hallway doors leading to the staterooms were open. I couldn’t wait to check out our Grand Suite!! The location was very close to the stairs, making it very convenient to get to other decks. We entered our stateroom, and I did a little happy dance. It was fantastic!! I there was so much space, and so much storage. We didn’t even use half of the drawers available to us. And the bathroom!! A tub and two sinks!!

 

Room photos:

 

 

 

 

 

Having always had a JS, and on the Oasis, a gty JS, of course was 'hoping' for an upgrade .... often wondered what the difference was with the GS. We ended up with a great JS on the hump so had no complaints ... but still always looking at 'maybe' that GS sometime! lOL!! Looks great!:D

Beautiful stateroom. You give me hope that we could get upgraded from a JS to a GS! RCCL has two opportunities to surprise us. LOL!

Beautiful stateroom. You give me hope that we could get upgraded from a JS to a GS! RCCL has two opportunities to surprise us. LOL!

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!