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Just FYI you do not have to carry your soda cup, unless you want a particular soda offered at a freestyle machine. Your Seapass card will get you soda at any bar - if the bar carries what you want, e.g cola, Sprite, etc.

Oh yah I know that and did that frequently. But I wanted to do it myself and not have to wait at long bar lineups just to get a soda.

I did my 3rd ever cruise, this time on the Allure of the Seas (Aug 27-Sep3). Instead of doing a review, here are 10 random thoughts (in no particular order) on the whole experience. Despite what you may read below, the cruise was amazing and easily my best ever:

1-the beverage cup system is odd and even embarrassing I think. Kept seeing adults and married couples, sometimes even very nicely dressed on formal nights , holding their coke cup while walking in the promenade or other areas of the ship. We did too, but at least with us it was mostly in our son's stroller so we didn't have to oddly carry them around in our hands. Do you see it that way too?

2-I was very disappointed with the WindJammer. In fact towards the end of the cruise, I kept referring to it as the 'disappointment buffet'. It just had limited selection of most common items that you would find on almost every other buffet. This was the case for breakfast too. And this is coming from a person who is not very picky when it comes to buffets and dining in general. In fact, this was the case with room service too, where the breakfast items we ordered were tasteless. I guess food taste suffers when you have to cook for so many people.

3-seeing the huge amount of people each cruise stop brings to these small islands, I wonder how much economy does it bring to these communities? With all the excursions and other money people spend on local food and other items, I would think it is significant enough to make a dent if these cruise ships change location or were to visit less frequently?

4-one of the two comedians onboard (forgot which one, but I believe it was Rick Corso?) took the words out of my mouth: RC charges for popcorn but gives you the lobster and steak for free? Seriously, why such nickel and diming? On Princess, popcorn is free and plentiful. I understand it is more complicated than this, but at the very least don't have popcorn if you are going to charge for it.

5-Service was literally close to perfect! I would say at 99% satisfaction. Why not 100%? Well, here is why. On the night before our departure, we were at the photo booth to pick up our digital pictures USB. Two hours prior, we were sent a link to download the 10 pictures we had chosen. So on the second visit, my wife was looking at the paper pictures and comparing them to the pictures we had downloaded, when a sales person approached her and basically accused her of trying to illegally take pictures of the samples. It wasn't a nice comment at all. My wife explained to him that we had already paid for and downloaded the pictures from RC's link and that is what she was looking at. Needless to say, I wasn't too happy with his accusatory comments and complained to guest services. I made sure his name wasn't mentioned so he doesn't lose his job over it. But I just think they should know the process better than to accuse a client of taking screenshots of these pictures. But will just consider this a rounding error and make it 100%

6-the introduction of the Boardwalk and Central Park (CP) are amazing additions to the Allure of the Seas and other ships on the same class. But unfortunately, at least for CP, it came at the expense of better and larger pools. A lot of space was lost at the pool area to make room for Central Park below. The pools were almost always packed. For a ship this big, bigger pools are needed.

7-it is disappointing that we are in the middle of a large and dark sea but are only able to see a few stars even on a clear sky. I know the ship is massive and well lit but we should do better with star gazing in such a perfect setting. Maybe they should copy Princess' model and designate an area on the ship for star gazing?

8-in addition to the captain and the crew, I believe my 2.5 year old son talked and interacted with the most people on this ship lol. Basically, on almost every elevator ride, outing on the promenade, at the various restaurants or in the pool area, he would randomly say HI to anyone that came his way. He was having too much fun on his first cruise. Too friendly even for the seas! He must have interacted with at least 5-10% of people on the ship (considering we took the elevator some 10 times or more a day)

9-I won $320 on a .05 cent slot machine in Atlantis casino, using $5 only. In fact I won on my very first few tries. But this amazing win almost cost us the whole trip! .... read below...

10-embarrassed to say this but I almost became one of those people we laugh at: the ones that get back late to the cruise and almost miss it. Happened in Nassau. We were told by our tour guide that the last bus leaves at 12:45. At 12:25 we were about to exit Atlantis and I spotted the casino. I went in to quickly try it. I sat at a 5 cent slot machine. I put $5 in. Literally a minute in, I had hit some free spin thing and I ended up winning $320! By the time I took my voucher, found the cashier etc, some 10 min had passed by. When I left the casino and found our way to the bus area with my family it was around 12:45 and were told by some hotel staff that the last RC bus had left over 10 min earlier. We thought they were trying to make us take a taxi. But it was indeed the case. So we ended up taking a taxi who risked everything to get us on time. And he basically did an amazing job to get us there in about 7 minutes. It was just around 12:52 or so when we started running like crazy, while pushing a stroller, to make sure we don't miss the boat. I think we could have beaten Usain Bolt given our speed. Deep inside I knew we would make it, especially since I could see the gates were still there and the anchor rope still in place, but you never know! In fact, as we were running, my wife yelled 'it is moving' referring to the ship, but right away I knew she was looking at the moving water and had the illusion of a moving ship! Needless to say, we made it on time and about 10 min later the ship departed the port!

Until the next cruise....

Ok what about the crew? Do they get all these pre-paid service charges we pay? I think I have given out more tips on this cruise on an individual basis than I prepaid. I hope I am not overpaying though these guys do an excellent work.

I am on a cruise right now and seeing how much money people spend onboard, it got me thinking: how much money does the average 7 day itinerary make for the cruise line? For example, I am currently on the Allure of the Seas which holds about 6500 passengers. Excluding what we pay for the actual cruise, how much does RCL make from all the sales onboard? This includes the following big ticket items

-casino

-excursions

-drinks

-specialty restaurants

-internet packages

-spa services

-art and other merchandising sales

-smaller items like laundry, special lessons, onboard tours etc.

-what else am I missing here???

Looking at my current cruise, I am assuming RCL is making a lot of money from onboard sales in addition to the actual money made from selling the cruise tickets itself.

So does anyone know if the MDR is open during embarkation? I will be on the Alllure of the Seas starting August 27

I still remember our first cruise ever, about 5 years ago for our honeymoon. Mariner of the Seas from Rome.

While I had done my research, it wasn't good enough. Heck I didn't even know about CruiseCritic.

We board and the ship looks empty to us. Walking in the promenade, we find a Starbucks and buy an expensive $5 coffee for each one of us. I am not a big fan of Starbucks but I had missed coffee (Tim Horton's anyone?)

Finally, and hour or so later, we finally eat at the 24 hour cafe place and at night we are at the MDR.

Days later, day 5 to be specific, we realized the ship had a buffet!!!

Time for a few machine guns on cruise ships that pass through these pirate-infested regions :p

Been on two cruises already and didn't do this myself as I wasn't even aware of it. But I noticed the first and one of the most popular things people do upon embarkation is to go to the buffet?

I am assuming it is the only place that is open for dining? No other cafes or room service is available? And is it busy at the Windjammer as a result of that?

Ok what about dining? do you guys plan that? My head spins trying to keep up with which places serve breakfast and for what times etc. For example, I didn;t know that Johnny Rockets serves complimentary breakfast? Nor did I know that the main dining room (American?) serves breakfast.

If not our daily activities, I need to at least plan where we will eat, specifically for breakfast.

Do you do the same? Some of you have been on these ships for so many times, that you know all about these places, so you dont need to plan them.

In 2014, we took a trip to Las Vegas, and I used a spreadsheet to plan almost every detail of the trip. I even specified the restaurants we would be going to on certain days. It went something like this:

Monday: Morning> Breakfast at Monte Carlo and some slot machines. Afternoon: pool. Evening: 'Love' show at Mirage followed by dinner at Cheesecake Factory

Tuesday: exploring the north side of the strip, followed by pool and lunch at the Bellagio buffer. Evening: doing the High Roller wheel

And so on...

As you can see, it was very planned and structured. And we mostly stuck to it, rarely deviating from it. Some thought Vegas it too fun and wild to plan and be so detailed about it. Which I agree to a certain extent, but in the past, I would go to Vegas and miss on so many things because there is way too many things to see and do, and I would miss most of them.

Now to cruising, where there is just as many things to see and do. So I thought, why not apply the same idea to our upcoming cruise (Allure of the Seas: August 27, 2017) ? It is a 7 day cruise and unlike my 2 previous cruises (August 2012 and April 2013) I want to be able to do as many things as possible, including the ability to dine at different places, and not be stuck with the same thing (room service, Mytime dining and Windjammer)

So what do you guys think of this idea? Do you have a spreadsheet or a list where you include all the things you will do, by time and date etc.? Or do you just leave it all to the moment and just enjoy things as they come?

My only issue with creating such a detailed event and to-do list is that I have to wait until I board the ship to get the daily planner that they send on what events are happening each day. Other than that, I can at least plan things like "which place are we having breakfast at" (way too many options that I end up forgetting), which shows are we attending? what are we doing after the nightly show?" when are we going to the pool etc.

We wil be doing this itinerary in late August: curious what changed about it? Someone mentioned this is a new itinerary. What was it before?

We booked on the Allure for August and we are on deck 6, room # 6686.

Anyone know if the view for this room is any way obstructed? I like amenities and stores available on Deck 6 but if it is in any way obsttucted, I would want to change it.

Thank you - are the donuts free? What about the ice cream? Hoping it is still there in August.

Thanks for asking this, I was going to ask the same thing.

I've seen them bring big metal pans full of hamburgers soaking in grease and set them up on tables on the pool deck on sea days.

I don't like to bring it to the pool area but just want the restaurant to be close enough to eat and not have to leave the patio area and go to the buffet for example to leave.

Solarium Bistro and Wipeout Café are both on the pool deck.

 

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That does seem close to what I was asking about , thank you!

Hot dog place is on boardwalk deck 6. Windjammer would be the closest to get food but yiu have to leave the pool deck.

 

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Thank you and that sucks! We got spoiled by the Princess just like in resorts where they usually have a grill place by the pool/beach for people to eat while swimming.

One of the best things I liked about our 'Caribbean Princess' cruise 4 years ago was their pizza and burger&hot dog restaurant by the pool. It made too much sense: people get hungry and they like to eat while by the pool.

We booked on the Allure of the Seas for August and as big and as amazing as this ship is, I am amazed to find that they don't have any restaurant or quick eats by the pool like Princess does. I understand I can go to the nearby buffet but that is not the same. I want to be able to eat without leaving the pool area.

Please let me know if Allure does have any Pizza/Burger/Hotdog place by the pool area?

You can order room service, sit on the balcony and eat, drink and watch the sky and the water.

That is something I have done and will do again for sure.

But this time, I would like to order food and go to the very top deck and enjoy it while watching the sky.

thanks for the replies and btw, I have no idea if these cities even have commercial or big ports. I am just assuming or making the case that if they all did, it would be such a cool idea to cruise them all in sequence.

Assuming it was possible (apparently it is against US laws?) , Would such an All-American cruise itinerary interest you? It would start in Houston and slowly work its way east and then North.

Houston, New Orleans, Tampa, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Cape Canaveral, Jacksonville, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Norfolk, Atlantic City, New York, Rhode Island, Boston, Portland.

Did I miss any important city or ports along the route?

You can do anything your little heart desires................................

 

...... Just do it quietly!!!

Watch the stars and let the other passengers sleep.

Assuming it is a clear sky, how good and clear are the stars? Is there a specific area in the ship to be at to see the stars? I really enjoy stargazing but never got to do it on my two previous cruises.

You can do anything your little heart desires................................

 

...... Just do it quietly!!!

Watch the stars and let the other passengers sleep.

Hold on, if I am on the upper deck, walking on the tracks, or in Central Park, Royal Promenade, Boardwalk etc. that shouldn't be close to any rooms where I would wake people up by simply walking? Sorry, never been on this ship so I am not sure about the layout. I do remember reading about someone who were awaken everyday because their room was close to one of these neighbourhood.

So I asked this question 4 years ago (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1822016)

I am going on my 3rd cruise in August and would love to hear some new answers to this question, or maybe something new that has become the norm in the last 4 years?

For those who have been on more than a few cruises, what are some of the things that you can do between the hours of 2 and 5 AM, when almost all clubs and activities are closed and over.

I ask this because I do plan to stay up late at least for one day in my 7-day cruise this time. Even if there is nothing interesting to do, I will keep myself occupied at the top deck, maybe stargazing? just walking the tracks? what else? is the casino open past 3 AM on the Allure of the Seas?

Hmmm.... that's not the same picture as OPs. Slightly different angle.

check out very left 4th row google images

https://www.google.ca/search?q=oasis+of+the+seas&rlz=1C1RNVH_enCA559CA585&espv=2&biw=1600&bih=745&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjsrv3Pv5XSAhUR62MKHdVUBccQ_AUIBigB

 

 

and now your photo only on Allure of the seas google images, 4th row 2nd from left

https://www.google.ca/search?q=oasis+of+the+seas&rlz=1C1RNVH_enCA559CA585&espv=2&biw=1600&bih=745&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjsrv3Pv5XSAhUR62MKHdVUBccQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=allure+of+the+seas

 

 

The name "allure" is very clear on your photo. On OPs photo, the name at the stern is really compact and looks way more like Oasis. Who knows... photo shop can do wonderful things :confused:

we are overanalyzing this picture now :D

Actually, if you compare the two pictures, even waves in the sea that the ship is generating look exactly the same. Not sure why would anyone photoshop a photo to make a ship that is 'Allure of the Seas' into 'Oasis of the Seas' :D

Changed my mind, Found this photo of Allure elsewhere, which looks like the same exact photo as the OP posted:

 

Good work, thanks for confirming, that makes my booking more special :)