Allure of the Seas-Sept. 30, 2012 My Experience

Great review so far!!! Thank you for doing this, we're cruising on the Allure Dec. 9th...SO excited! :D

Thank You I am loving it. We just booked her for May.

Harold,

Thanks so much for taking the time. Great start! I am going on the Oasis in just about 2 weeks and I can't get enough Oasis Class pictures and reviews... "many an hour" reading and perusing the boards, as you put it... I am looking forward to reading the rest. Thanks!

Hi folks. I'm on my lunch break so I'll try and squeeze in a little more.

hi folks. I'm on my lunch break so i'll try and squeeze in a little more.

yay!!!

:d

After checking out my cabin and unloading my carry on bag I made a request to my cabin attendant for more ice. Gotta keep that champagne cold :). My checked luggage had yet to arrive so I headed off to the upper decks to do some more looking around.

Upon reaching the deck I spied our neighbor for the day:

Carnival Freedom was at Port Everglades also. Small ship isn't it? :D

As you can see the weather was beautiful which means we are going to have a great sailaway. Next up will be the muster drill, I did not take any pictures of that as I was paying attention to the safety briefing.

As sailaway was approaching the last thing to do was the muster drill. As this was my first time on this class of ship I knew the drill would be different from my previous cruises. I already knew life jackets were not required. As usual you report to the muster station indicated on your Seapass card. Most of the muster stations on the Allure are indoors with the exception of the Aqua Theater. My muster station was the Champagne Bar on the Promenade Deck 5. For those who are used to reporting to a lifeboat station and looking for the numbered sign overhead be prepared for something different here. On the Promenade there are crew members wearing vests and holding lettered/numbered signs. These signs indicate the location of your station on your Seapass. There are different locations throughout the Promenade designated as muster stations. Thanks to a competitor of Royal Caribbean the drills are a bit different. I noticed that there was no life vest in my cabin and I was told there are none in any cabin. All life jackets are now located at the muster stations. Part of the outcome of the Concordia disaster is that many people tried to go to their cabins to get life vests instead of going to their muster station, this caused some people to get trapped or lost/cutoff by the rising water in the ship. The cruiselines now want people to go directly to their stations and life vests are issued there and there are enough for everyone.

So, once the drill starts you report to your station where your Seapass card is scanned. Once everyone is accounted for you will watch a video and receive instructions on the process if the lifeboats need to be used as well as how to wear your life vest. The captain will speak briefly and then you are done.

Up next is the sailaway. :)

Wait. You are already up to 3 pages???

I was traveling yesterday, so today is catch-up day. Subscribing now and I'll go back to read. Thanks for doing a review. I can't wait to read it!!

Muster drill is complete it's time to sailaway! After the drill I headed straight to my cabin to grab the champagne for sailaway. When I get to the cabin I find my luggage has arrived. How nice, I quickly do a bachelor unpack maneuver, unzip, open, dump. Can't have wrinkled clothes you know. Off I head to the Wipe Out Bar for our roll call desiganted sailaway venue. Upon arriving at the Wipe Out we are already underway and our group is still arriving from the muster drill. Here are a couple of shots of the group:

The champagne was enjoyed by all! :)

Wait. You are already up to 3 pages???

 

I was traveling yesterday, so today is catch-up day. Subscribing now and I'll go back to read. Thanks for doing a review. I can't wait to read it!!

You will be a tough act to follow. :)

Beautiful sailaway:

Bye bye Ft. Lauderdale!!! :D

Gotta go back to work! I'll be back later today for some more....:)

Gotta go back to work! I'll be back later today for some more....:)

Okay - we'll be patiently waiting for your return :p

Barb

I have to admit that this was one of the most perfect sailaways I have ever had. It was so much fun sailing away with my roll call mates and talk about what we have been doing for the cruise, events leading up to the cruise, and it was nice to see old friends (Al & Jan). It was also great meeting new friends (Susan & Chris). After sailaway everyone had different things on their schedules so we started going on our different paths. I stayed up on deck for a couple more photo's:

After the sailaway I headed back to the cabin to finish what I started before sailaway. Remember the bachelor unpacking? I took care of my clothes and then decided to check out the view from my balcony. One nice thing about my cabin location was being on the front part of the aft hump. I could look straight down the side of the ship towards the bow without having to look around someone else's balcony. Here's what I mean:

One more balcony shot:

Bye bye South Florida!!! :)

On this cruise I selected MTD and had reserved time for around 7:45pm each night except for the first night. I had to go with 8:00pm as that was all that was available. I know you guys are thinking My Time Dining, I just show up when I want to eat. Well you sure can do that but you may have a short wait to get a table depending on how busy it is. With a reserved time you will be seated almost right at your requested time. I went this route as I was not stuck with an early traditional seating time for the whole week. I'm also going to be upfront with you guys there is no food porn and no pictures of the dinning room. Don't get me wrong I love food but I tend to eat quick (occupational hazard of not knowing when an alarm is going to come in at the firehouse) and move on so those with later seatings can get in and eat. Sorry about that....:(

Here was my dining rundown for the week:

Sunday-MTD

Monday-MTD (First formal night)

Tuesday-Samba Grill (I did take 2 photo's here):)

Wednesday-Windjammer

Thursday-Windjammer

Friday-MTD (Lobster night) Second formal night

Saturday-Izumi

As far as reviewing food; this is one of the most subjective topics you can find. I'm not going to think that everyone will like what I like so suffice to say I did enjoy all the dining options I tried. The food was good and plentiful. I think the new menus are excellent and offer a good selection of old favorites and new ideas. I'll leave it up to all of you to decide for your self what your opinions on the food will be.

Looking up from the Rising Tide Bar.

Promenade from the Rising Tide Bar.

Me on the Rising Tide Bar. What a silly grin! :rolleyes:

Going up! Passing the Schooner Bar. :)

Under the Rising Tide Bar on the Promenade.

Rock Climbing Wall at night....

And one more:

Boardwalk at night. looking up towards Dazzles.

Day 1 ended pretty late for me and it was off to bed after a long and fun filled day. Day 2 is coming up next. :)

Awesome, great start.

 

What a nice way to start the day.

 

Now gotta get ready for work.

 

Sea ya!!!

 

Safe travels.

 

Sue and crew

Thanks! :)

Hi Harold

 

Enjoying your review for our bedtime reading.

Awesome pictures. You are doing a great job.:D

 

Sherie & George

Enjoy Sherie! Funny that it is bedtime reading for you. I was just getting to work when you posted. :D

What a fabulous review! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your cruise with us! :)

Thank you and you are welcome! :)

This is a great review. We leave on the Allure November 4th and I can't wait. We are also from Southeast VA (Yorktown). Looking forward to seeing more!:):)

Hello neighbor! :D You will enjoy this ship alot, just be ready to do some walking it's huge! :)

I see I am getting quite a few responses to my review. How about I just toss out a big group thank you for the positive comments and I am glad that everyone is enjoying it so far!!!! Thanks everyone! :D:)

Gotta take a break. Foods on at the firehouse, I'll be back! (In my best Arnuld accent) :D