Allure March 3, 2013 Review. Not as awesome as I thought, but still better than work

Hello all, this is my first review. Just got back a few days ago. It was nice to get away, but I guess I just had too many expectations. Don't get me wrong, the ship and the crew are wonderful. I still feel I was a little let down with the ports. I know the Oasis class ships are more about the ship than the ports, but still there's part of me that didn't feel OMG wowed.

Anyway, both me and bf are in our mid 30s, and we work 6 days a week. We were really looking forward to and needing a relaxing vacay. I've been on cruises before and for the most part I'm easy to please. Bf had only done a short Carnival cruise before and doesn't like the "trapped on a ship" feeling so that was why we chose the Oasis class of ships. Also I chose Allure, bc being a fan of Chicago I wanted to see that show as opposed to Hairspray. So we booked very late, Jan 3 for a March 3 sailing, so we had to pay everything up front. Eek. We got a great cabin 6580, deck 6, starboard side mid ship, ocean view balcony. I had never had a balcony before and know I don't know how I'd ever get a cabin without one now! Our stateroom attendant was Michael and he was great.

Ok so let me back up. We're from CA so we flew out Sat night's red eye. Got to FLL at 6 am and rented a car to kill time. Really what ended up happening was we parked in a shady lot and took a nap. We rented from Dollar. Do not rent from Dollar, they don't have a free shuttle to the port! I originally had reserved with Alamo, but rebooked with Dollar bc it was a bit cheaper. Also I had an incident with Avis before when I showed up a tiny bit late and they would not honor my reservation price. So that's why I rebooked with Dollar at a later time 7am instead of 6 with Alamo. Well that change ended up costing us an additional $16 in cab fare bc Dollar didn't have a shuttle. :o

Once the cab dropped us off, we tried to find a porter for our bags. It was a mad house out front! They way the ports ask for tips is a little confusing, esp if you are someone who's first language isn't English. They said, Do you want to leave a donation for the porters? I already had some money out for them, but I noticed a family nearby that was a little confused by how he worded it. Anyway, after dropping off our bags we went inside to the security line and check it. Something a bit embarrassing happened to us during the security checkpoint. LOL See next post, this one is getting long.

So we got caught with tiny airplane size bottles of Bacardi at security! LOL We had some left over from the plane (one of the flight attendants kept hooking us up!) so they got put in our Contigo travel mugs and went through the x ray. The guy screening them had the most serious face on like we were trying to smuggle in drugs! This then led to a thorough bag search, and a very nice lady asked us if we wanted these returned to us on the last day. Of course we said yes. I just assumed anything confiscated on embarkation day was lost forever. Anyway, it was funny seeing these four tiny bottles getting seized. After that we went to check in, and even being a lowly Gold, we still got to go in a very short Gold line and check in was a breeze. After that we were off! I think from getting dropped off by the cab to getting onboard was only about 30 mins. These people have their stuff together and know how to do their job. :)

View from onboard of Ft Lauderdale. Let's see if this works.

oops WAY too big. Hold on. Let me try something else.

I would have drank the little bottles of booze really fast rather than give them up to security. Because you know they will be drinking them later. Glad they gave them back to you.

What picture? :) But still a great start to your review.

Trying again.

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Ok that worked but I gotta figure out a faster way now bc I gotta resize all my pics. :( Stay with me here, I swear I got some tips and inside info coming up later. :)

Good shot..I cant even figure out how to post a picture and I have been around for awhile. :p

I was on your sailing too!!! So cool to see the cruise from another perspective.

thanks for taking to time to write this review!

I was on your sailing too!!! So cool to see the cruise from another perspective.

Cool! Let me know what you think. Are you going to do a review as well?

Ok, so once we got on, we poked around for a bit. Bf asked why the front of the ship looked so warehouse-y and they should have made it more prettier. LOL He didn't realize right away that what he was looking at was the dock!

Anyway, here are some shots from the first day.

Coast guard showing off doing some donuts.

I loved these crystal dresses.

I don't know where everyone is here!

Cool! Let me know what you think. Are you going to do a review as well?

Very good review so far!! I am doing a review at the moment, check it out!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1805969

The cabins were opened promptly at 1pm. We actually didn't realize this, and saw the doors to the cabin hallways were still closed around noon. Well, us wanting to go out to the Sun deck first thing, went to the port side on the 14th deck and tried to open of the those doors. Oh man are they heavy! I was wondering why they were closed. DUH! bc we weren't supposed to be there yet. Oops. After wrangling with that thousand pound door, we got spotted and a cabin attendant shooed us away. But very quickly after that all the cabins were opened and we got to ours. I didn't take many pics of the cabin but it's your basic ocean view cabin, lots of pics of the size on this forum. We got the bed by window configuration. Also, no need to bring extra hangers! I brought three slim hangers and didn't need them. I ended up ditching them before flying home.

We got our luggage very quickly and I was very happy all our RRs got through (shhhh!). I think we got our luggage about 2pm!

So we got ready for dinner after muster. We had early seating, and our request for a table for two was honored. Bf was very happy about that. If you want to request a certain size of table, I emailed rcldining@rccl.com about a month and a half before sailing. Too far out and I don't think they will try to accommodate you. We got table 666 (eek!) nice table by the railing, and our waiter was Austin from India. Our asst waiter was also from India but I forgot his name. :( They were both great.

I can't remember what this soup was. Obviously wasn't TOO memorable. If I am correct, this was the coconut soup with seafood?

However this was totally yummy. The fish rillettes/pate app. Bf is just starting to get into seafood and even he thought it was yummy. We thought about ordering another one, but we actually didn't gorge ourselves on food, which I guess is a good thing.

We salmon was very moist. I usually only eat salmon as sashimi bc usually it's overcooked to my liking, but this was perfect!

Also we were very happy that we got a perfectly med rare prime rib just like we asked. It was SO tender. Great flavor, we literally didn't need a knife to cut it.

For dessert, sorry guys, I have to admit we did not stay for dessert even one night. We're just not into sweets. I'd rather save my calories for booze. LOL

Very good review so far!! I am doing a review at the moment, check it out!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1805969

Awesome! You are much farther ahead than me. I've got some catching up to do!

So Day 2 was Nassau. Last time I was here we had weird hours too, and this time was no different. So let this be my first complaint. Many people don't like Nassau and wonder why they even keep it as a port. I know these big ships can't go to as many ports as the smaller ones, but what I don't get is why they give us hours from 7am-2pm? Most of the shops don't even open till 9:30-10, so that doesn't give you much time at all! I say scrap Nassau all together and give 3 more hours each at St Thomas and St Maartin! Just my opinion though.

Anyway, we ordered room service the night before and it worked just fine as a wake up call. In fact they do call you on the phone to confirm before they deliver it. The food was just so so, but we had planned to eat more later anyway. The eggs were strange. The sausage and roasted tomato were good, so were the hash browns (when they showed up hot at least), and the fruit plate was hit or miss. Some of the fruit was very sour!

Our plan for the day was to walk to Fort Fincastle, Water Tower and Queen's Staircase. I had missed it last time I was in Nassau. The fort was very small, but the staircase was very cool and looked much more impressive in person, not usually the case with anything. We took a few wrong turns bc many of the streets don't have street signs. I had a map and still got lost but it wasn't too bad. Keep in mind the walk isn't long, but it is a bit hilly, so if you think you can't do it, take a cab or van. I thought we needed the exercise so we walked. A lot of the locals stop to help you and tell you where to go. There was a guy in a wheelchair at the top of the Staircase that told us to do the fort first then go down the staircase and it leads straight back to Bay Street. He asked us if we knew the history of the stairs (I did) so he didn't tell us the story, but later I did see him telling the story to some other tourists later. I am sure he does this for tips.

On our way back into town we walked by the governor's mansion.

A really cool and well kept church.

And directly across the street from the church was the Pirate Museum.

Now I am a big pirate fan, and I love history too, so I was excited to come here. In retrospect, I would not come here unless you are with kids. This was not any better than the displays at Disneyland. In fact Disneyland is better bc there are Johnny Depp replicas at least. :D It's $12 a person, and I expected to have more antique artifacts and such, not just replica display and dioramas. There was a tiny room at the end with a few antique weapons and a cool chest with a very intricate lock. However bc of the glass it was impossible to photograph :( and that was my fave part of the museum.

After that then it was lunch at Athena's. They really have cut back on the size of their octopus in the past year or so, but I have not had octopus like how they make it here, so I begrudgingly paid $18 for a tiny plate of grilled octopus, and a huge plate of conch fritters that weren't very good. :(

I liked the $3 for 8 pcs of conch fritters I got last time at a stand called Linda's Place inside the building before you exit into the city, but she was closed that day. I thought maybe it was just too early when we first got there, but at almost 1pm on the way back in she still wasn't there.

Pics from the ship, port side. This is my fave part of Nassau.

You guys still with me? Am I boring? Shall I go on? LOL

Great pictures...carry on....:)

So dinner that night, since there were no escargot for us too :( I tried the scallop app. It was ok, but served too cold. Bf liked it, he thought they tasted like little bits of lobster. Our waiter told us there was a storm or something that wiped out the escargot farms in Vietnam(?) so that's why the shortage. Bummer. I was really looking forward to them.

The duck as amazing, the skin really crisp, the fat melt in your mouth, and the meat very tender. I was worried the sauce would be too sweet for my taste but it was good, the sweet part was separate from the actual sauce. The potato cakes were just eh.

This I believe was the filet, and was very yummy. Very tender and again cooked to our liking.

Later that night we had a late snack at Vintages (the only specialty place we did). All this was the last group. Eight dishes (I forget what they called it, but it's the last one for $15), plus we got a paella for an additional $3. We did not even come close to finishing it.

The pulpo (octopus) was served cold, and was no where near as tender as Athena's. Bf wasn't too impressed with Athena's until he had this, he actually didn't even swallow his bit. =/ The skewers were good, however I felt the shrimp and sea scallops were a tad under done, too soft. The shrimp didn't have that "bite" it's supposed to have, and prefer my scallops more seared. The thin ham on the right is much like proscuitto, so we enjoyed that, but the other sausages were just so so. The crab cakes were good, and I would have been happy with just those. Well actually the stuffed piquillo peppers, artichokes and caperberry plate was really good too. The place is very quiet and intimate if that's what you're looking for. It was about 11pm and there was only one other party in there, two girls.

Well that's it for today. I'll try to pick this up again tomorrow. Even if there doesn't seem to be much interest, I'll just quickly go over some issues that I had and that I think may help other newbie cruisers in the future.

Dont worry, you will have plenty of lookers...Looking forward to more. :)

Yeah, we've done Eastern several times; I agree Nassau is weird times. St. Maarten is fine, kinda feel "been there, done that". We do love Sapphire beach on St. Thomas, though.

We are doing Oasis this fall since we loved Allure so much, though!

Dont worry, you will have plenty of lookers...Looking forward to more. :)

Thanks for the encouragement!

Yeah, we've done Eastern several times; I agree Nassau is weird times. St. Maarten is fine, kinda feel "been there, done that". We do love Sapphire beach on St. Thomas, though.

 

We are doing Oasis this fall since we loved Allure so much, though!

I didn't really care for St Maartin, as far as what we got to experience. More on that later. I wish we had more time on St Thomas though bc we went straight to St John (which we LOVED! it was exactly what we were looking for) so we didn't see St Thomas at all. :(

I'm not going to do any more photos tonight, but thought I would put in a few thoughts I had before I forget. Even though we did bring some Rum Runners, there's no way anyone could ever smuggle on enough for the entire week. So we did get to know a few bartenders. Pick out a bar and bartender you like (or a few) and stick with him (or her) for the duration of the cruise. Esp if you tip them extra, they WILL give you stronger pours and even some freebies. I started to tip them extra in cash (so they can pocket it directly) instead of on the account. I did notice after we started doing this that we got even better service. We had a day time guy and a night time guy. I won't say who, just in case they aren't allowed to give freebies, I don't want to get anyone in trouble. But by day two we were getting drinks in larger glasses, double pours, Cokes on the house, etc. I did also notice that Boleros closes around 1am. I don't know if any other bar stayed open later (didn't notice any to) but in cases like wanting a drink after 1am, the RRs came in handy.

Simple Call drinks are only about $6. We got Bacardi and Cokes. Well one day we didn't feel like getting a proper drink so decided to go to the pub for a beer. Well, a Newcastle in a bottle cost just as much! That was the last time we went in there. :( Too bad though, I really liked the feel of that venue. Oh well.

If you like a certain type of music, you can find it on this ship. There's a lot going on. Jazz in the jazz club, latin music and dancing in Boleros, dance music in the many clubs (didn't go to any of that though! LOL). Just a note though, you could def hear the bass and drums in our room (6580) from Boleros at night. The music usually went on till about midnight. Not too bad but if you're an early sleeper, this probably wouldn't be good for you. Also keep in mind same thing can happen if you have a Boardwalk or Central Park balcony. Central Park is of course quieter, but there can be people happily drinking it up down there, or there could be a movie playing at the Aqua Theater that you could hear if you have a Boardwalk room.

If you're into Flowrider, Zipline or Rock wall, don't wait till the last sea days to try it out. That was exactly what we did! Second to last sea day is when everything had the longest lines. The first sea day is really when you should start trying stuff out. We didn't do Flowrider until the second to last sea day and by then we didn't have enough time to get the hang of it. It was a lot of fun though. On the way back is usually colder and windier too, so standing there in line in a wet suit is not that fun.

I'll post more tips if I think of them as I go. Time to go home.

Enjoying your review so far! I have never been on an Oasis class ship, but am planning my honeymoon on one, so all of these reviews are peaking my interests!!!! Can't wait for more!