---> !!ALLURE OTS REVIEW!! <--- Complete Pictorial Guide! [Jun 29, 2013]

SORRY FOR THE HUGE ERROR, WE WERE ON THE JUNE 30th SAILING!! OOPS, PLEASE DISREGARD THE 29 DOWN BELOW!!! =P

 

Please join me and subscribe to this thread as I do my best to give you a review of the phenomenal Allure of the Seas!

 



 

I'm 18 yrs old and have an avid interest in cruising. I used to follow the building of the Oasis class ships more than 4 years ago and have waited to take a cruise on one of the behemoth's ever since! As you can imagine, I was more than thrilled to step foot on the beautiful Allure. I recently graduated high school and this was a cruise to celebrate graduating and my mom's -0th birthday (I will leave the first number a mystery since she probably wouldn't like it if I told everyone, :p) I sailed in a group of 8 people spread apart in 3 cabins. I also love photography although I've never been taught anything so sorry if I just got you excited for super amazing pictures! I have thousands of pictures to sort through and this is my first attempt at a review so please bare with me, it might take awhile. I also have a few special posts to share in this review; you will get to see an accessible loft suite and a bunch of pictures from the All-Access Tour! Oh and I did take minimal notes but I didn't get all the information I could have, sorry I was also on vacation! 8)

DEDICATION

GAMBEE - I have to say that your amazing reviews have inspired me to actually create this review. I can't thank you enough for your time and effort into creating one of these things! I also wouldn't have purchased the excellent camera without your pictures and suggestions. I hope you enjoy!

MRINGENOLDUS - You are seriously one of the best people I have ever met! The world needs more people like you, I hope we can stay in touch in the future. Thank you so, so much for everything, I really appreciated it and I'm really glad we were on the same sailing!

4BUNNS - I think we had one of the best group of cc people on our sailing! Thank you so much for organizing an awesome first M&M and a fun Cabin Crawl!

KANSCOCOA - I love, love, love reading your reviews! I hope to see you around.

KUBANITA - Thanks for your great pictures on the Allure, you are the one who inspired us to get a starboard side balcony just for the view while in port! =D

ITINERARY

When booking the cruise, we knew we were going on Allure so we only had two options, Eastern Caribbean or Western Caribbean. We have been to Cozumel, Jamaica AND Labadee before so we almost went with the Eastern route but then realized we have been to all of those places as well! :-P We ultimately chose the Western itinerary because of Labadee, one of my favorite stops! The last time we were there was in 2006, you know before the zip-line, coaster, cabanas, water slide, pier, etc?! Needless to say, we were super excited to see all of the changes made!

I was happy that we would be leaving out of Port Everglades, I plan to move down to the Ft. Lauderdale area after college and it was nice to just be there since its been so long. My friend Jessica, who I met at a college visit at UCF, moved down there awhile ago and we got a chance to meet for about an hour or so and catch up, it was really nice!

June 30, 2013 was picked about a year in advanced. We knew it would be after graduation and the anticipation would be killing us if we chose a later date so this would be perfect! It was also towards the beginning of hurricane season so we figured we may be lucky, which we were! =D

My mom did all of the booking. We are coming from upstate NY so we had also had to book for air travel and a hotel in Florida. I believe she booked during one of RCI's WOW sales so we were able to get $100 OBC!

So after what seemed like an ETERNITY, we were all set to set sail on the divine, crazy, massive, amazing ALLURE OF THE SEAS!!!!!!!!!!! =D

ROOM SELECTION

So usually people put a lot of effort in the planning of which cabin they will choose. There are so many different choices to pick from on this ship and people will spend hours. All we knew is that we wanted a ocean view balcony somewhere towards the middle of the ship [WELL a Crown Loft would be ideal but we all know how expensive they are!]. Now if we had planned it a little better, we would have gone for a cabin near the aft elevators on the 8th floor, that would be a perfect location!

We wanted my brother and his partner to be either next to us or across from us so we did a little research. Surprisingly many rooms where we wanted to be had been booked already so we were running out of options. A balcony was out of their price range so we started looking on Deck 9 where they could be across from us in a less expensive Central Park View room. We also needed to be on the Starboard side because we wanted the amazing views that side of the ship has to offer on the Western Caribbean Itinerary, wait and see! I definitely suggest the Starboard side when choosing a cabin!! So the "perfect combo" put us right in the middle of the two elevator locations! Oh well, a little walking after the MDR every night could be useful and give us a little workout, right? =P We were in Cabin #9614 and they were in #9615, two awesome cabins with an awesome cabin attendant, Edy!!

Here we are from the outside of the ship, perfect height above the water and comfortably squeezed between the two humps!

Now I didn't get many pictures of the rooms! :O I couldn't believe I forgot pictures of the room, at least I remembered to take one of the Central Park View one...

Alright, I'm going out to eat so I will be back later with PRE-CRUISE and DAY 1!!! =D

We were on this cruise with you. I can't wait to read more of your review. I love your photo of Allure in Cozumel.

Thanks for the Dedication, lets get this party Started! =)

I have been in post cruise withdrawals since coming back from Allure the beginning of June. Looking forward to you picking me back up. :D

Bill

I'm straining my eyes trying to see if I was out on my Deck Six starboard balcony at the time you took this photo.

SORRY FOR THE HUGE ERROR, WE WERE ON THE JUNE 30th SAILING!! OOPS, PLEASE DISREGARD THE 29 DOWN BELOW!!! =P

 

If you want the moderators to correct your mistakes, contact them at

community@cruisecritic.com

:)

We were on this cruise with you. I can't wait to read more of your review. I love your photo of Allure in Cozumel.

We had a great week, hope you had an awesome time like we did! Thank you!

Thanks for the Dedication, lets get this party Started! =)

 

 

Of course!

I have been in post cruise withdrawals since coming back from Allure the beginning of June. Looking forward to you picking me back up. :D

 

Bill

Hey, glad to see you here! I read your review before mine and it got me even more excited :D

If you want the moderators to correct your mistakes, contact them at

 

community@cruisecritic.com

 

:)

Thank you!

Looking forward to your review. It's very nice of you to give mention to those who inspired you to do a great review. :)

Thanks for the Dedication, lets get this party Started! =)

 

 

Hi Gambee! :) Looks like you might have a new protege' to guide. :)

Hi Gambee! :) Looks like you might have a new protege' to guide. :)

Well hello there, long time :). I am really looking forward to this review, can't wait to see what Mike brings to the table.

Great start!!! Looking forward to this review!!!:):)

Well hello there, long time :). I am really looking forward to this review, can't wait to see what Mike brings to the table.

Yes it has been a while. I'm sure Mike is going to do a fine job. I'll be down your way in a couple of months. I'm doing round 2 on the Allure and then hitting the Majesty the day after returning on the Allure. :cool:

I'm looking forward to this review! We are doing this itinerary next year on the Oasis but I love reviews in general :)

Now I have another review to read. You young guys ROCK!!!!

Subbing!!

Sorry for the off-topic question, but did you decide to go to UCF? I go there!:D

Well I'm back from Chili's, I know, I just can't get away from Mexican food! =P

The Zombie Date -

So about a month before the cruise I got this awful pain where my one wisdom tooth is coming in, I mean it seriously felt like my gums were being stabbed! I went to the dentists who referred me to an oral surgeon and of course I was nervous because I have OCD about everything going perfect (health wise) for the cruise! I got antibiotics and some kind of mouth wash for a week and it worked like a charm! I got extra to bring with me on vacation because I was not about to miss that roast beef sandwich!

Now we live near the border of NY and PA (anyone heard of Seneca Lake, probably not but I'm still curious to how many people have actually heard of it =P) and we have a regional airport but its very expensive to fly from here so we chose to fly out of Buffalo Niagara International Airport. I was actually pretty surprised how nice the airport was! But anyway lets back up a day. We were getting things that were packed in the car on Friday night, our plan was for my brother, his partner, me, my mom and stepdad to drive up together. My moms trunk was way too small! We ended up borrowing my grandpas SUV for the trek up to Buffalo. Man was that a fun ride, I think my legs went numb a few times and I had a pain that actually talked sitting next to me (haha just kidding josh (brother)!). We had a flight in the afternoon to give us time to get up to Buffalo so we didn't have to stay in a hotel two nights in a row. My friend and his family caught a direct flight and got to spend the day in Ft. Lauderdale.

So anyway, I loaded up the movie "28 Weeks Later" on the iPad and watched that! We got to the airport about 2 hours before we even boarded but we found the perfect amount of rocking chairs in a quiet, empty corner with amazing views of the runway! Besides being obsessed with cruise ships, I also love planes. Checking in was a breeze, going through the security line was also a breeze. My stepdad got a knee replacement at the beginning of the year and every time we went through security, he got stopped! =P That became a joke on the trip, it was pretty funny hearing him say "It's my knee, It's my knee!!" and the security guy not even acknowledge him while running the little scanner around his whole body!

My mom and I went to the little gift store to buy some water (I needed something to drink since I brought these 17 inch long Twizzlers) and ended up buying World War Z to read. I supposed I am also obsessed with ZOMBIES right now too, ugh I'm going to see the movie later! Has anyone watched The Walking Dead?! Such a good show! Anyways, I read and used my camera for a bit. My stepdad got out his portable speaker and hooked his phone up to it...he started playing "#Beautiful", Mariah Carey's new song and it was so loud and embarrassing that I had to put my head down as a natural instinct, lol! At this point, people were right next to us too, haha oh man!

I've heard of Seneca Lake. It's in the Finger Lakes region. There used to be an Army Depot in the area there many years ago. :)

Nice picture! The colors are very vibrant!

OH MY GOSH I almost forgot to post the zombie movie picture! :D

Ok so from Buffalo we had a connection in Atlanta. In my notes I wrote that the flight was "normal". So I guess it was pretty uneventful! =P I did note that we were worried because the plane we were riding was late from Tampa (it was kind of a stormy day on the East Coast). Luckily they caught a tail wind and got here sooner than expected. We were slightly delayed, thank god because my mom only gave us 40 minutes in ATL!

Heres a picture I snapped landing in Atlanta, I also got one from my phone but shhh!! It was in airplane mode =D

Well we got in Atlanta and we all know how painful getting off a plane is... We started running! We were in Concourse C and we needed to be in D. We got down underground and JUST made the tram ride, the doors were literally about to shut on our luggage! We got to the gate and we are scanning our boarding passes and the guy goes to my brother and Eric, "excuse me sir, you are on the later flight." WHAT! :O Well luckily our plane was actually less than 50% full so they got a seat and somehow all of our luggage made it! Haha you should have seen my brothers face, just imagine a person going up to the Windjammer and seeing a line down the stairs. Some of you may know that I'm 6'3" and I NEED LEGROOM! We got to spread out and I had two seats (I almost felt like I was stealing). I got some awesome pictures taking off! Oh and on this flight I got to finish "28 Weeks Later" and its an AWESOME movie if anyone is almost into Zombie movies/shows like me! We got to Ft. Lauderdale late and hungry.

We missed the last shuttle to the hotel from the airport so we got a taxi. We got a minivan so we could all fit, we had a funny driver too! She asked us if we wanted to go to Walgreens before we got to the hotel, we thought that was kind of funny! =P

and ended up buying World War Z to read. I supposed I am also obsessed with ZOMBIES right now too, ugh I'm going to see the movie later! Has anyone watched The Walking Dead?!

I saw the movie, and read half of the book. Did you end up reading the entire book? I saw very little similarities between the 2... Although I have to saw, the movie is AMAZING!!!

I think I might as well finish reading the book.

We got to the hotel and got a snack before bed. We were on the 5th floor and I got really excited because I saw the famous 4 stacks from our room, I knew I would be able to see the ship in the morning! We were walking to our rooms and there were people yelling loud from one room and I made a comment saying, "well that doesn't sound very good!" and the guy walking behind us walked in that room... I have to learn to keep my mouth closed sometimes! =D Oh and it was awkward because I was in the same elevator as that guy walking in the room a few days later on the cruise!

HOTEL: Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale 17th Street Convention Center

My mom has a Marriott Rewards card and had enough points to get us two rooms for free. This hotel is great, has all of the amenities (free breakfast, pool, gym, etc.) and was recently renovated. I would totally recommend this hotel! I didn't get many pictures of it but it is in the perfect location from the airport and cruise port. There was free WiFi, it was clean, and the rooms have a large bed with a small separation from the living area (pullout bed where I slept), a nice bathroom with the sink separate from toilet and shower. Oh and for all the guys out there, the TV is HUGE.

Our view straight out from the room

THERE SHE IS, I WAS SO EXCITED!! P.S. I wasn't able to sleep very good because of my level of excitement.

Nice, clean bathroom

This is my second home if anyone was curious from my username and avatar, haha!

Those four FP&L smokestacks at Port Everglades will be gone next week. Just saying.

Sorry in advanced for any grammatical/spelling errors, its hard to proof read everything after writing what seems like a book. =P

Is this real life?

We got the shuttle bus from the hotel to the cruise port and got there pretty fast. We met up with my friend and his family and checked in. We got there around 11:45 am and literally walked on the ship in 15 minutes like other people have posted. In fact the process was so fast that I never got the chance to snap any pictures of the terminal!

I decided I didn't want to take out my camera until we could get to the room since I was carrying a backpack that weighed as much as all the food in the Windjammer. We stepped on and I was shaking! When I first saw the Royal Promenade I literally said "WOW!", RCI's new marketing is so on point! We went up to Central Park to grab one of those sandwiches and they were so delicious. At 1 we went to the room and took in the beautiful view for a while. I broke out the camera and started exploring the ship with my friend Matt! We only had a few hours because I had to meet my family back at the room by 4 so we could go to the muster station together (Studio B for D1), I didn't get many pictures of the ship so don't worry, there are MANY more of the ship to come! But relax and enjoy the pictures from Day 1 (fair warning, they are somewhat scattered)!

CRUISE COMPASS COMING SOON.