JB3

I've found that ginger candy works even better than ginger pills. 

Thinking about sitting along the waterfront for sail away on our upcoming Escape cruise. Are there bars open out there during that time besides the Cellars?

Thanks! :tropical-drink:

Also, which side of the ship is non- smoking?

was on the getaway on sept 18-25 and it was the worst embarking situation i have seen in 5 cruises on the getaway and escape. We boarded much later than my previous cruises and i was in group two. Once onboard though i had a great time. I have always done the muster drill in the theater until this cruise. I was in the casino and i have to say it is a terrible area to have it. When they were doing the lifevest demonstration, most people could not even see, and really couldn't hear much. In the theater it seems much more organized. Loved the comedians and the glow party and some of the shows in the atrium at night. Going on the escape in two weeks so i hope getting on the ship this time will be better than the getaway this last time.

Hi! We're considering the Escape in the next year. Please report back and let me know how embarkation is? Also, did you get a survey emailed to you? We didn't. Thanks!

It does not make sense to me that the bread and breakfast pastry bakers make such delicious cinnamon buns, pretzel rolls, croissants, etc but no one can make a slice of pie or cake that has any flavor. Particularly disappointing were a sweet potato pie and key lime pie. Both tasted like raw dough and plain gelatin. I don't think I finished any buffet dessert except the crepes and cookies.

I don't understand that either, because the breads and pastries are so awesome. I agree that the desserts in the MDR on NCL are not good. More days than not we just had ice cream or nothing.

(The desserts in Le Bistro, however, are amazing.)

Just a few quick notes from our experience last week--- some horrible, some excellent! : )

We're a married couple in our late 40s/early 50s. This was our 24th cruise overall, and our 4th on NCL. Our 8th, 11th, and 12th cruises were on the Sun, the Pearl, and the Dawn.

Overall we had a great cruise... always do! Each ship, cruise line, and sailing have their positives and negatives. These notes are just based on our experience. I'd love to hear some feedback about the embarkation and muster drill. (Hoping that these are not standard, and/or that these will improve!) Thanks ahead of time.

--Worst embarkation ever in 24 cruises! Sailed out of Miami. Normally you get to the pier, go through the line, register, are given your cruise card, and you go get on the ship. Simple! Not that day. We usually go much earlier, but didn't get there until about 12:30. There were lines, but they moved fast. Got our cruise cards, and off we were to board the ship. Nope! We were taken to a holding line... and then to a holding room. Everyone was given a number and told to wait until their number was called to then get in line to board. This was a complete mess. There was no direction at all. Nobody guiding people to explain what was going on. The numbers given had no rhyme nor reason. Some people got into the holding room, and sat down until they would hopefully hear their number called. That's what we did. We never heard any #s being called, so eventually just got in the line. Some people came into that room, and just got right in line, just to be turned away later if they didn't have the correct #. Finally we heard a number over the loud speaker, but it wasn't ours. Guests had no idea what to do... it was very confusing. If NCL wants to herd people onto the ship like this... they at least need to have people there giving instructions as to what's going on. But really.... NCL... if you're reading this... please get rid of the holding areas! Things go much smoother when people can just filter onto the ship after registration. We also were not given a map or any paper giving any instructions for once we were onboard either. On top of that... we walked down the deck to the casino to enter the ship-- and there was nobody at all there to greet the guests coming in. It was quite bizarre. We just looked at each other like... where are we, and where are we supposed to go? Later we found a map with 1st day instructions in the atrium by guest services. There were only 2 of those left there. I wish we'd known ahead of time that one of the smaller main dining rooms was open for lunch-- we would have done that. We’re silver Latitudes, and our friends are Platinum. They got there 2 hours before we did, and had the exact same experience. Also, we got through the first lines to registration easily enough, but once we were into the next holding line and especially getting on the ship, we were right with everyone else. The whole procedure was just bad, and made no sense.

--Worst muster drill ever in 24 cruises! What a cluster this was! It was as if the cruise staff had no control at all over the guests. It was the most unorganized and loud muster drill I've ever seen. Ours was in the atrium. People didn't listen, and didn't get quiet. If I'd never cruised before, I don't think I'd feel too safe and secure after that! Not sure I'd really understand what to do in case of an emergency. This was the first time that I can remember that we didn't hear from the captain on the bridge too before the completion of the muster drill.

-- Debarkation was fine though! They had good instruction on what to do and where to go. They had cruise staff guiding people. We decided to go the self-assist debarkation and carried our own luggage off. We only did this as we were afraid of how debarkation would be after experiencing the embarkation. We were off of the ship and into a cab on our way to the airport within about 15 or so minutes.

-- We love playing trivia and other sorts of games. They had trivia every morning and every afternoon except on the sea days it was only in the morning. We love the name that tune type of trivia too, but only made it to one of them since they tended to be at the same time we had dinner reservations. They’d have this mainly in the Sugarcane bar. It’s really too small of a place to have this in the evenings.

-- I did a painting class—it was really fun, and I felt worth the $35 fee.

-- Anytime you ever see them doing arts and crafts to do with card making or scrapbook making, etc... go... especially if you do scrapbooking etc. They give you little kits with all sorts of stickers etc. Wonderful!

-- We had the beverage and dining package that came with our cruise booking. I thought that I’d pre-paid for our regular gratuities, but when those were being billed to us daily, I asked about it. We’d actually pre-paid gratuity that was just based on the bev and dining package. I don’t have a problem doing that at all... but it wasn’t explained to me as such. We definitely want people to receive their tips... but we ended up essentially over-tipping. We’d give a buck or two every time we ordered drinks. My concern is always that the staff actually get their tips—which is why we now tip with cash to the bar servers and bartenders. I miss the days of being able to hand our cabin steward and waiters their cash tips also. I understand the theory of having to pre-pay the bev and dining package gratuity, but I’m not so sure it’s fair to the guests or to the staff to do it that way. I’d want to know that 100% of those tips actually go to the staff, and I’d also just rather tip on drinks that we have, not based on the overall package value.

-- Overall the food was fine, but not great. Same with the restaurant service. There were moments of excellence here and there with the food though.

--Tropicana main dining room. We didn’t know what to expect, and were surprised! We ate here on our first night, and it was quite a neat experience. That was the only night that we were there though. It was just too loud and too dark in there. I had to use the flashlight on my phone to be able to read the menu.The band did take a few breaks though, and we were able to talk then.

-- Savor and Taste. They are smaller main dining rooms, and are pretty much the same. As far as MDR food... I enjoyed the shrimp and pesto rigatoni dish that was on the every day menu, as well as the flounder Milanese. If I had that flounder the first night... I would have eaten it every single night. It was fantastic. My husband liked the prime rib that was on the menu one evening. One night there were conch fritters and fried mushrooms... both were awesome! I also had a salad one night that had a raspberry dressing with pecans and gorgonzola. I would have eaten that every day too if it had been available. A lot of the other food was just so-so. We enjoyed the breads though... always fresh and good. The dessert menus in the MDRs weren’t of much interest to us. Most nights my husband just got ice cream... and sometimes same with me. Other cruise lines, at least for us, do a lot better with the offerings on the menus.

-- Le Bistro. I really enjoyed their food a lot. They also have the best dessert menu in my opinion out of all of the dining rooms! (That was the only night that I couldn’t decide, and got 2 desserts!)

-- Cagney’s. This was probably the best meal all cruise overall that we had. Excellent food! It’s crazy how much better the food is there than in other places around the ship.

-- La Cucina. If I had it to do over again... I greatly would have preferred to eat in the main dining room. We ate here on our final night, and we were greeted with the waiter telling us very specifically that with our package we could order one appetizer, one entrée, and one dessert. I would have preferred to have 2 appetizers and 2 side dishes of different pastas to try. There was no mixing it up though with this waiter. I took a bite of my fish, and didn’t like it at all... and that’s ok. I ate the veggies that came with it. It was fine. The waiter didn’t question why the fish was left on the plate. They were not busy at the time we were there either. I only noticed this and mention this because normally when you don’t eat your entrée, the waiters make a fuss over it. We just didn’t enjoy the food here as we had at the other places. (We didn’t over-order at those either, but there were no instructions on what we could or couldn’t order at those.) I’ve seen people here on Cruise Critic talking about the inconsistencies between the specialty dining restaurants. I remember when NCL first began with freestyle and with the various specialty restaurants. Most of them were not pay at the time... now they seem to have mostly gone to ala carte prices rather than a standard $30 or whatever upcharge.

-- Garden Café. We hated how it’s laid out. Just long straight lines of buffet food... and people coming and going in and out of there, it’s very unorganized—when it was crowded in there, it was pretty awful and chaotic. Lots of people trying to get their food, and lots of people trying to leave. We tried to go at less busy times which worked better for us and our nerves! Overall the buffet food was good. Both breakfast and lunch. One evening we went up around dinner time, and saw they made crepes to order. Planned to go back sometime to get one, but never did. The pastas and pizzas were good—waffle fries really good too, and love that they have the pretzel rolls. Went one night late for a snack too, and they had some nice things. Once the time is up, they sure grab it all up—and the sad thing was when I saw the staff pick up and throw away 2 pizzas that had just come out of the oven. Such a waste. Hard to believe they can’t take some of that food down to the crew area.

--Irish Pub. We had lunch here twice, and breakfast twice. We thought the breakfast was great—and especially to be able to steer clear of the Garden Café! The lunch menu was ok-some items better than others. The times we went it was easy to get a seat.

---- The pastries in the Garden Café and in the Irish Pub are fantastic...during breakfast hours I love the little apple and cherry turnover things, and the chocolate croissants are so delicious. Always very fresh and very delightful.

--MDR for lunch. We had lunch in one of the smaller MDRs for lunch on the last sea day. There was hardly anyone in there. The food was just barely ok. We figured we would have had a better lunch in the Garden Café.

--Our favorite bar was Sugarcane. Great drinks, and the bartenders/servers were excellent and very fun! They did all sorts of tricks that amused us a lot.

--Loved the name that tune music trivia in there also, but had to miss most of them due to dinner reservations. That bar is too small really to do the music trivia. Wish they’d do that in the Atrium.

--We love playing trivia and other such games on the cruises. General trivia, tri-bond trivia, etc. They only had morning trivia on the sea days, but more on port days. We went as often as we were able. Fun! Brenda was the most fun cruise director staff member to run the trivia! She was such a sweetheart-- we miss her already.

--Love the décor of the Sunset bar too—it’s Key West themed.

--Outside of Fat Cats is a photo taking machine that’s free to use and you can snap photos of yourself and email them or post them online. We thought that was pretty cool.

--Howl at the Moon was really fun! We went a few nights to that. It got a bit repetitive, but that was probably due to the audience really. They had a guest drummer who was actually a cruise guest on his honeymoon who sat in with them a few times, and he was amazing.

--Loved the comedy also in Headliners. We saw Jay Stevens and Scott Henry. Both hilarious!

-- Million Dollar Quartet was fantastic! Loved every minute of it. Love having a full length Broadway musical to see onboard!

--The Theater--- It really needs a railing to go up and down the aisles! My gosh... there’s nothing to hold on to going up and down those steps,

and I saw LOTS of people really having a hard time on them, and several nearly falling.

-- The Atrium. We spent quite a bit of time here in the mornings... trivia followed by whatever other games or things were going on for a few hours. The drinks were hit and miss from the bar... sometimes fantastic, and sometimes not so good. We went to the talk with the captain and the chief engineer. They were funny, and it was a question and answer, and we learned a lot. We enjoyed the chat with the magicians from the Ilusionarium too. (Anyone know their names from our sailing?) I would have liked to have gone to the Ilusionarium dinner... sounds like it would be fun. We met a couple on the ship who said they’ve done it before, and loved it. I’ve read reviews online though that were not as favorable. I think we’d try it though. We enjoyed time with the cruise staff that we saw. Brenda from the Philippines especially was awesome and fun! Silas seemed nice as well... didn’t get a chance to talk to him personally, but would have liked to. I know he’s from the USA... anyone know which state?

-- 70s and 80s parties outside at Spice H20—fun! That area is nice too, and we liked that it was adults only during the day. We didn't spend much time there, but would the next time for sure.

-- Other Entertainment. Really enjoyed some of the game show type things they did on the ship. The celebrity dance competition was hilarious... same with the lip sync battle. There were a few others that were not so good... the Jeopardy type game show was painful to watch as it moved too slow, and the Newlywed game show was sort of the same—but usually we love that one. The Groove band on the ship was awesome!!! Very entertaining, and just fantastic. A lot of this type of thing is in the Atrium which gets pretty packed up. I wish there was even more seating in there because of that. There’s often a lot of standing room only. They'd play movies sometimes in the Atrium. I wish they'd play those same movies sometime during the cruise in the cabins as well.

-- Didn’t do—We never used the casino or played bingo. We walked through all of the shops, but ended up not buying anything. The sales people in the jewelry store were on us like glue—one after the other just almost harassing us. We were interested in possibly buying watches, but just had to get out of there. We didn’t use the pool, and didn’t spend any time at the pool other than to walk through a few times. The pool seemed very small. They have big waterslides taking up a lot of area. Didn’t go in the Bliss club, but would have liked to... same with Fat Cats for music. Margaritaville is nothing like an actual Margaritaville. I’ve seen debates about that on Cruise Critic. There are a few neat looking arcade areas on the ship. We didn’t use any of the sport-type stuff either. Thought about playing mini-golf, but didn’t find the time for it. We missed the Burn the Floor show, but only heard good things about it.

--The Waterfront--- this area was a really nice and comfortable place to sit out and look out at the water and read, relax, have a few drinks. (I’ve seen people write about a lobster roll that you can get at the outside Ocean something place for $10... we walked by one day, and 2 officers were having these for lunch. I planned to get one, but never found the time again... it looked awesome though. )

-- Our cabin—we had a mini-suite. The only reason we booked that was because we liked the room location, and not a lot was left to choose from since we only decided to book the cruise a few months beforehand. The balcony was very small, but the bathroom was awesome! Biggest bathroom we’ve ever had on any cruise. The shower was awesome too—and a double sink was nice as well.

-- Housekeeping- Our cabin steward was great... but we felt bad for her. We felt bad for all of the ones we passed in the hallways. The last time we sailed with NCL we felt the same... that they are so overworked and are given way too many cabins to handle. I can only hope they are given the tips based on the amount of cabins they have to do every day. I haven’t felt the same about this on any other line besides NCL. We tipped her extra on top of our regular gratuity. I personally miss the days of handing out cash tips at the end of the cruise.

-- We were given the Ultimate Beverage and Dining Package when we booked this cruise. It seemed like a good deal although I thought that I’d already pre-paid our gratuities. I went to question that at guest services because we saw the daily gratuities going onto our account via the tv screen. Figured out with guest services that it was the beverage and dining package that we pre-paid for those gratuities. I’ve seen there’s been some debate about this on the boards. 100% we want the staff to get their gratuities. We ended up really over-tipping though as we’d give a buck or two per drink and/or drink order. I don’t mind this either, because they work their @S$es off. We are just not huge drinkers though. Seems like it would be better if they’d somehow make it so that you just pay gratuity based on what you drink. I don’t love that the specialty dining rooms have moved to now be ala carte pricing. I suppose NCL is trying various things to see what will work or not. I know that tipping is always an issue for people and always controversial and if you ask 10 people their opinions, you’ll get 20 different ones! ha

-- We’re silver Latitudes members, and we got chocolates in our room every night. To me this isn’t much of a perk, and I’d rather they just do away with it as other cruise lines have. I suppose I’d like it if the chocolates were sealed. These are Andes Mints type of chocolates, and I always feel that people maybe didn’t eat theirs, and they end up back on the housekeeping carts and re-put out. I’d just prefer to have something completely sealed. We also got one bar of soap and one lotion in our bathroom. Otherwise, it was soap, shampoo, and shower gel in dispensers on the wall. The hairdryer at the vanity was powerful.

-- We locked ourselves out of our safe one day, called... and there was a guy there within about 2 minutes to fix it. One day there was a dead bird outside of our balcony, and we let guest services know, and by the time we were back in the room it was gone. (Sadly, had hit the side of the ship or a window or something.)

-- We didn’t really have any smoke issues on the ship, and we’re sensitive to that. We smelled smoke on our balcony once briefly, and had a cigarette butt on our balcony once. I wish people would follow the rules! I liked that the smokers were contained to a sectioned off area by the pool. We could smell cigarette smoke under the casino in the centrum also, but not horribly.

--I like having the interactive stuff on the tv... the daily events, onboard account, menus, etc. I downloaded the NCL app... but it didn’t work very well. Maybe a few days into the cruise it started working. I have a Droid, but the first day I heard lots of iPhone people saying it wasn’t working on that at all. Unless you plan to use the app for communication while onboard, it doesn’t do anything else really than the stuff you can look up on the tv. Having a map of the ship on there would be nice though!

--Attire—The clothes that we saw people wearing were probably the most casual of any I’ve seen on cruises before. Even in the main dining rooms I saw a lot of people wearing shorts. This was the first cruise ever that we didn’t take any “formal” clothes. I think there was at least one formal night... but we only saw one couple dressed up in any way “formally”. I’m guessing there were others, but that’s all we noticed. This was the first time ever that my husband wore shorts to dinner-just the first night-dressy type shorts and a golf shirt. The rest of the time he wore nice pants, golf shirts, and dress shoes. It was odd to see so many people so casual during the dinner hours.

--Storage—There weren’t as many drawers and cubby spaces as I prefer, but it was fine. We never use up all of our space anyway. There are big drawers under the couch though. I don’t even know how we discovered that... it’s not obvious to look at it. The vanity seat is also storage, but it was heavy and awkward—I’d prefer they just put a chair there.

-- Service--- Overall service was good—sometimes just ok, sometimes really excellent. I saw people cleaning around the ship quite often, and also the staff in general overall were very friendly. Our cabin steward was wonderful... I think I mentioned that earlier. Overworked, all of them, but wonderful. The bar service was pretty good... it was usually pretty easy to get a drink, although often it was the bartenders who would go out into the rooms to take orders. I’d say they could use some more bar waiters. Service in the dining rooms was ok... sometimes better than others. There was only one time we were moved to report to the manager how great our waiter and assistant waiter were. We filled out the comment card that evening too. I really miss the days of having our assigned early and late seating. We still choose that sometimes on other lines. The service just can’t hardly be beat when you have the same waiters for the entire cruise.

-- Public Bathrooms—In general they seemed to do a good job at keeping these clean. The one outside of the guest services area one day the paper towel thing wasn’t working... they were immediately on it and concerned about it. I liked seeing that! There were also lots of hand sanitizer things around, and they’d spray you as you entered the ship anytime, and also before entering the Garden Café. I liked seeing the sinks outside of the Garden Café too.

-- Pet Peeve (ha)—At least one that I can think of at the moment..... the elevator floors were often very wet! We kept guessing it was because people would get out of the pool and not dry off. Then twice... we saw people get into the elevator dripping wet! Why on earth would you not dry off first!?

-- Ports—We didn’t get off of the ship except for in Cozumel where we just walked around for an hour or so. We hadn’t been to Cozumel in years, and hate what they’ve done to the area when you get off of the ship—having to walk through that entire shop area to get out into town—similar to what was done in Nassau several years ago as well. We love to be on what feels like an empty ship on port days unless it’s a new or more interesting port to us.

That’s all that I can think of! Hope this made sense, and hope it’s not too repetitive. Just throwing it out for those of you who like to read about the cruises, and especially anyone who’s headed out on the Getaway soon. It’s been several cruises since I’ve written a review. It’s just my experience and my opinion. I love Cruise Critic!

One question... we have not yet received a NCL survey about our cruise via email. Do they still send these out? Hoping so. : )

Alrighty-0n the plane. I'll do a non-conventional series of musings as opposed to a traditional review.

 

This was our favorite entertainment on past cruises. We had a terrific time with this group but they three pianists just didn't have the magic camaraderie as the groups on previous cruises. We only went once this cruise but almost closed the place. A great, raucous crowd but the musicians just did not have that wow factor. They did have a guest drummer- an actual guest, a newlywed, and he was a monster on the drums. Really really great drummist. (I attempted the drums a few years ago and prefer the term"drummist" to "drummer". Drummer reminds me of the horse in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" . So drummist it is!)

 

NO CRUISE SHIP TOILET JOKES ALLOWED

and there weren't any for once!

 

The comedians were quite wonderful on this trip. Frank Townsend had been on two of our precious Getaway cruises and he was there! Scott Henry and an emcee whom I cannot name at this moment were very funny as well. We never went to the adults only shows but did attend the event in the theater where all three perform. Very good time.

 

I'm getting prepared for landing so will finish this later in the week.

Be happy to answer any non-lobster related questions!

Hi! We were on the same cruise! We're from the same town as the newlywed drummer and his lovely wife-- the night he was introduced we heard that he's from Canton Ohio, and had to meet them afterwards! His name is Nick Kopco, and he has a band in Canton. Can't wait to go see them play... they have a FB page and a website... look up Chemical Wonders. I agree with you.... he's such an excellent "drummist"! He sat in with the Howl at the Moon group again the next night and was just as good.

We loved the comedy too. Didn't get to see Frank Townsend, but Scott Henry and Jay Stevens were both hilarious! Jay is from Ohio also, so we had to meet him after the show too! We'll be going to see him in Akron or Cleveland sometime in the future! : )

I have printed the big master list of drinks found in this forum and plan to see how far my liver and I can get. I'll have to have hubby do a lot of the work cuz I'm not a drinker when not on vacation.

Hi! Any chance you could post that list? Thanks! :-)

We've been on 3 NCL cruises before, but it's been several years. We have one coming up this fall. I just read someone say that they have all Pepsi products, and no Coke. : (

Doesn't bother me not to be able to bring pop and water on the ship though. Although, this cruise if it's true about no Diet Coke available, I probably would be carrying some on, if it was still allowed. This may be my first pop-less cruise. I'll just buy the bottled water on the ship to keep in the room. Water is better for me anyway... pop is pretty much poison... but I love my Diet Coke anyway! : )

I'm cruising in 5 months. I'm hoping there is a major backlash to this (similar to what was experienced with the "no bringing food back to your room" thing), and NCL changes its poli

You can't take food back to your room? Why, and since when? We rarely do anyway, but still wondering... seems like a bizarre rule to me. Do they still have room service? We almost never use that anyway, but curious. Thanks.

We just finished our 7 night cruise aboard the Allure of the Seas (Feb 7-14). Overall with a few exceptions, this was a great cruise!

 

This review is written from the perspective of a DINK couple. (I'm mid 50s, W is late 40s). We are relatively new to Cruising. I've been on three, W two. (Good news is she has the cruise bug so more cruises are in our future).

 

We've travelled extensively in Europe but most of those have been land vacations. We like to indulge in a drink or two, meet new friends and avoid too much interaction with cracker crunchers. Most of my jabs at kids below are meant in jest. We knew full well that kids would be on the Allure when we booked the cruise.

 

Overall Cruise Summary--4 out of 5 beers. [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]. We loved the Allure. It was a great cruise experience; with one or two exceptions. WOULD we sail on her again? Absolutely! WILL we sail on her again? Probably not. She's a magnificent lady, but overall not our style.

 

Loved the itinerary! Labadee, Falmouth and Cozumel and three days at sea. We reserved a Cabana at Nellie's beach in Labadee, booked a day at Jewel Paradise Cove--an all inclusive resort--in Fallmouth; and booked a tour of Tulum with Tours Plaza in Cozumel. All were great choices. Thoroughly loved the three days at sea.

 

We self disembarked. The ship arrived at 5:15 am with first passengers departing at 6:30. We walked off the ship at 6:45 to no crowds and hopped in a cab. We were checking in our luggage at the airport 15 minutes later.

 

THE GOOD, THE BAD and THE UGLY

 

The good (if not great)--

 

Bars, Specialty Restaurants, MDR, Stateroom, Staff Friendliness and Self Disembark.

 

We especially enjoyed viewing SuperBowl 50 at the various venues throughout the ship. They had the game on at the Aqua Theater but it was unusually cold so most people watched the game in Studio B or one of the bars. Great job by the crew!

 

The bad--

 

Embarking at second floor area of terminal 18. The RCI staff roped off sections to segregate boarding groups. It was confusing and often tough to move around. Have fun trying to get to the restroom from the far side of the terminal.

 

Smoking area on port side on deck 15. Non smokers have to traverse through a smoking area on the port side or go through ankle biter hell on the Starboard side. It can't be a pleasant area for the smokers either. Finally there is no real feasible area for a cigar and glass of scotch at night. (I'm not a cigarette smoker but enjoy an occasional cigar on vacation)

 

The ugly--

 

Windjammer Market is awful! This was by far the biggest negative, for us. It's poorly designed, food marginal and often cold. You're constantly bumping into other passengers when trying to get food. We only ate there twice during our cruise. It is however, a great place to get a quick coffee refill in the mornings.

 

 

THE BARS of ALLURE

 

I thought I would add my .02 about the bars on the Allure. I went to almost every bar. I missed Balero and Blaze, those aren't really my style anymore. I prefer outside bars as far away from kids as possible to sit and enjoy the views and meet new friends. Here is my rating of the bars on Allure. These are my views and certainly YMMV depending on weather and chemistry of your fellow passengers.

 

THE BEST

Solarium, Wipeout and Trellis bars. The Solarium and Wipeout bars are up on deck 15 and provided great views and opportunities to meet new friends. The Wipeout has the better views, but it also has the biggest exposure to kids. It wasn't as bad as other bars, and the watching passengers try to master the Flowriders, is very entertaining. The Solarium Bar is a the front and the only true bar on the ship where access by Cheerio tossers is restricted. The Trellis bar is a great quiet outdoor bar in the Central Park on deck 8. Friendly bartenders and a great place to meet new friends

 

HONORABLE MENTION

Vintages (deck 8), Schooner(deck 6), Rising Tide (decks 5 & 8) are great bars for evening beer, wine and cocktails. Vintages had great wine, Schooner is great piano bar and the Rising Tide is a unique experience to see multiple levels of the ship

 

THE "Meh" BARS

Dazzles--Great location and views and great band. No table service when we were there.

Sabor--Boardwalk (deck 6), too crowded during the day and right in the middle of rugrat row.

On Air--Good bar service but not a good selection of sports programming and I'm not a karaoke fan

Bow and Stern--(Promenade deck 5). Great beer selection, not a great location and only one tv. I love Irish and British pubs, but this one just didn't have the feel for me.

Mast Bar--(starboard deck 16)-- Good outdoor location with good views and friendly bartenders. Too close to kiddie pool.

Sky Bar(port deck 16)--Smoking bar. Good outdoor location with good views, this would be a better spot for cigar smokers at night.

 

THE DISAPPOINTMENT BARS

The Pool Bar (deck 15-port--the walk of smoke)

Sand Bar (Paste-eater hell)--next to kiddie pool

Champaign Bar--probably the biggest disappointment for me. Service wasn't great. No beer selection at all (I know not a beer bar)

 

Conclusion--We really enjoyed the cruise and highly recommend the Allure. In the long run it just seems that we are looking for an wee bit smaller ship and a wee bit older demographic. We've sailed Celebrity previously and that seems to be a better fit for us. In fact we have a Westbound TA booked for this October!

 

Cheers

Tom W.

We were on the same cruise! Great summary! We loved the ship, and found it to be a bit overwhelming at first, but also very impressive.

I agree... the Windjammer was a mess! Especially the first day. I've never seen the buffet that bad in 23 cruises. We got off of the elevator to go have lunch there on the first day, and got right back on, and went to the Park Café where it was nice, quiet, and calm. We ate at the Windjammer for lunch a few of the other days though. We got there each time right at 11:30 when they opened. It was empty, and all of the food was hot, fresh, and really good.

The Royal Caribbean staff entertainment on this ship was by far the best we've ever seen. We especially enjoyed Mama Mia. The other skating, water, acrobatics shows, etc... all were pretty amazing. We didn't even have time to see and do all that we wanted. Another time!

The only thing we had an issue with on this cruise was that there seemed to be a severe lack of bar staff! The cruise lines can make loads of $$$ on drinks, and it seems like they'd even depend on that, but we found it really hard to get a drink. Often the Schooner bar, just as an example, would be full of people, yet there would only be one bar waiter and one bartender.

We did the self-assist dis-embark also, and loved it. So easy and fast! We got on the elevator to leave at 7am, and we were in a cab heading to the airport by 7:15. (Then we were able to get on an earlier flight, and got home a few hours earlier than we'd planned! Bonus!)

Royal Caribbean is by far our favorite cruise line. Loved this ship, and really love all of the ships. I want to sail the Enchantment sometime soon. I'm excited that the Empress will be back. I'd like to do the Oasis at some point too... but I just don't want to see Cats! Once that changes, maybe we'll book the Oasis. Oh, the small things in life on which to base decisions! ha :-)

I know there is a range of what people choose to wear, but I'd appreciate hearing from recent cruisers about their experiences and what they know/heard about dress codes and what seems to be the normal thing to do.

Many thanks in advance.

We used to dress up a lot more for formal nights... but now I just wear nice pants, and a sparkly top. My husband now wears dress pants, dress shoes, and a button down shirt with a tie.

On all the other nights my husband wears khaki type pants and collared golf shirts.

You can wear shorts anywhere during the daytime. They just want you to wear long pants in the main dining room, and in the fancy restaurants in the evening.

You'll be totally fine! You'll see people wearing all sorts of things.

I was thrilled when I heard they're bringing the Empress back! We sailed this ship once to Bermuda, and loved it. My husband tends to like the bigger ships, but I love the smaller ones. So, we do both! I love that they're doing updates to the ship, but I liked it how it was also. Can't wait to sail her again! Next month we're sailing on the Allure for the first time in that class of ship. What a difference between the Empress and the Allure! :-)

Thank you all for your responses.

I'm not going to bother mentioning on our reservation that it's my bday. Been there and done that, and would rather not have them sing to me. ha

Looks like it'll be Luke Aerowsmith as our CD. Looking forward to having one that we've never sailed with before.

Thanks again!

Just wondering if the Allure does anything special for birthdays, and if it's worth mentioning on our reservation.

Also, anyone know who the CD will be on the Allure in Feb?

This will be our first time on anything bigger than the Freedom class. Can't wait!

Thanks very much ahead of time.

We love Quest, and think it's a riot. They had it on the Vision in October-really fun! We were just on the Brilliance, and they had it... but we missed it. Both of these ships had it on the final night. I am not sure if all ships have it on the final night, but I wish they'd do it earlier in the week than that. People seem too tired that night, and wanting to pack and get to bed.

To whoever said that people see it as demeaning to women... I feel that it's demeaning to pretty much everyone. ha That's kind of the point, and it's all meant to be in good fun. Definitely NO kids should be in there though.

Go Bucks!!! :-)

We thought it was so dumb to have to have your C&A #.

We took the cards to guest services, and they added our #s on the cards

for us, but I would guess that most people wouldn't bother, and it

said on the card that it all needed to be filled out in order to be valid.

Every time I sit down to fill out a wow card, I realize I don't have my c & a number available so I can't fill it out. So they go in the garbage and I do the survey when I get it.

 

Sent from my KFTHWI using Forums mobile app

We were told last week by a waiter that if they get 10 or more WOW cards they could trade them in for a day off. From all of the other responses on here, it seems that maybe it just depends on the ship?

Also, we are diamond, and got one Wow card per person when we got on the ship, but our friends who sailed with us did not get these, neither did the other people at our dining table. We wondered if only certain tiers of C&A get these cards to hand out?

I agree with everyone that it probably means a lot more to have their name mentioned positively on the surveys.

We are in Tampa today, and sailing the Brilliance tomorrow for a five night cruise. We have been to Cozumel on cruises several times before, but have docked at a few different areas. We also heard that Carlos & Charlies has moved locations since we were last there. Could anyone who has been there recently on the Brilliance tell us something about where the ship docks, and is C&Cs right there , or do we need to cab it? Also, are there shops around there? Thanks very much.

Do everything you can to protect yourself while on board. We were on the Crown Princess ship a few years ago that returned to Ft. Lauderdale before we got to any ports due to over 300 passengers having the Noro. My husband was one of them. Our same ship also had the virus the week before. We were delayed all day before boarding while they cleaned the ship. The problem though, we believe, is that the crew probably still had it. It doesn't take much for the Noro to spread, and spread fast. Try not to touch much. Use your own cabin bathroom instead of the public ones, if possible. Wash your hands often with hot water and soap, and use the hand sanitizers often as well... especially before eating. Have a great cruise, and try not to worry about it... but just be cautious and safe.

Just wondering if anyone has had this happen to them before: Yesterday we received automated phone calls from RCCL specifying staggered embarkation arrival times for our sailing this Sunday, Feb. 1. Today around noon we received an additional auto call advising that gastrointestinal illness will require deep cleaning on the ship, again stressing strict arrival time scheduling according to cabin deck level and loyalty status. I may or may not be correct in assuming that norovirus has hit Allure of the Seas. We tend to avoid buffets at any rate and are thorough hand washers, but I would really appreciate advice from anyone who has experience with being on a ship AFTER the deep cleaning.

Do everything you can to protect yourself while on board. We were on the Crown Princess ship a few years ago that returned to Ft. Lauderdale before we got to any ports due to over 300 passengers having the Noro. My husband was one of them. Our same ship also had the virus the week before. We were delayed all day before boarding while they cleaned the ship. The problem though, we believe, is that the crew probably still had it. It doesn't take much for the Noro to spread, and spread fast. Try not to touch much. Use your own cabin bathroom instead of the public ones, if possible. Wash your hands often with hot water and soap, and use the hand sanitizers often as well... especially before eating. Have a great cruise, and try not to worry about it... but just be cautious and safe.

Hope it isn't so... Just received this from RC....:mad:

QUOTE]

Yes you can get noro from something you ate. The Norovirus is also referred to as stomach flu, gastroenteritis, and food poisoning.

You can read all about the Norovirus on the CDC website for correct information.

http://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/index.html

FYI....You don't get NORO "from something you ate"....:rolleyes:

I pulled that info right off of the Royal Caribbean website under diamond benefits.

I know they now have the 3 drink vouchers which we had in October.

The Vision also had a diamond lounge, where we could go each night to have appetizers, mixed drinks, wine, and beer for free. It looks like the Brilliance also has a diamond lounge.

I guess my question is... will drinks be complimentary in there, or will they be for sale at a 25% discount? Does anyone know for sure? Thanks. : )

The information above is referring to the Diamond EVENT which is no longer in effect on any ships. The 3 drink vouchers that started last July 2014 replaced this for all ships in the fleet. Those who do not have a Diamond Lounge had this "event", but it's been discontinued.

 

So, now we have the Diamond Lounge on most ships, and the 3 drink vouchers on ALL seapass cards for Diamond and above members on ALL ships. No more Diamond EVENT.

We'll be on the Brilliance in a few weeks.

Just to know ahead of time, I'm glad that I saw this on the diamond perks list.

We were just on the Vision in Oct of 2014, and all drinks were still complimentary

in the diamond lounge. Now I see that there will be a charge for beer and mixed drinks

in the lounge for 25% off.

Is this fleet-wide, and consistent? Just curious.

Thanks ahead of time for any input on this. : )

"The Exclusive Nightly Diamond Event is a benefit for only Diamond, Diamond Plus and Pinnacle Club member and cannot be extended to include friends and family due to limited space. The event will take place approximately between the hours of 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm in a dedicated lounge and will feature complimentary wine, champagne (sparkling wine), fountain drinks, and a 'happy hour' discount of 25% off beer and drinks with liquor. Drinks will need to be consumed within the venue during the hours of the event and cannot be removed from the venue. On ships where a Diamond Lounge is available there will be no Nightly Special Diamond Event or complimentary Specialty coffees available in the dining room."

We've sailed with him twice, and loved him! He's really fun.