My Week On The GREATEST Ship In The World! Allure OTS 10/30/11: A Pictorial Review!

[DarthGrady]

Relaxation room

 

 

Thermal Suite

 

 

[DarthGrady]

Some random interiors:

 

A typical elevator lobby

 

Directory in the elevator lobby

 

One of the many "Viewmaster style" sculptures scattered around the ship

 

When you look inside you see a 3D image

 

There are also these "telescope style" sculptures as well.

 

They all have different little objects inside

[DarthGrady]

More random interiors

 

The icons for the neighborhoods next to the buttons in the elevators is helpful

 

 

In each elevator there is a plate showing the day of the week

 

These guys live outside the Comedy Live Club

 

I know it's odd to photo a bathroom, but Allure has got some REALLY nice bathrooms, so here you go:

 

A passenger stairwell

[DarthGrady]

The jogging track

 

 

 

A big litter box for helper animals off the jogging track

 

One of Allure's massive lifeboats

 

The crew get to use chutes to slide down to their life rafts. Looks like fun!

[DarthGrady]

I think that takes care of everything below Deck 6. I have to finish writing the section on Boardwalk and Central Park. If I get it done tonight I will post it up, if not I will be back on with it tomorrow after work.

[Aussiegrlfl]

Grady...great job as usual my friend.....glad you had a blast.....that class is surely amazing.....we didn't do half of what there was to offer on Oasis either.....as you said another reason to go again........

[DarthGrady]

Grady...great job as usual my friend.....glad you had a blast.....that class is surely amazing.....we didn't do half of what there was to offer on Oasis either.....as you said another reason to go again........

 

Thanks Lee!

[wingnutphl]

It's pushing 5 months since my Allure cruise!!!!!! :eek: :mad:

 

p.s. We live very close to each other! :D

 

Yes we do!! I used to spend a lot of time in your area but I got laid off and couldn't go shopping anymore :o

 

Love the review. Saw a few things that I missed. Now I need to go again! ;)

[kerrytens]

Thank you! You won't regret a cruise on Allure. As you can see, I was awestruck! :)

I'm in awe of your photos! I, also, discovered your youtube videos and I was struck by how open and uncrowded the ship seems. That is simply amazing to me that a ship this size could have SO MUCH space available to its pax. Allure could very well be my next cruise ...:D

[fdthird]

The review and pictures continue to be excellent! 5 months since our last Allure cruise and 4 days till our next one!! Looking forward to spending a week together with our whole family!

[Madsofa]

Great review. I love it when pictures are included. I've been sitting on the fence about the Allure & Oasis, but your review is making me want to jump off the fence and board the Allure! We're heading on the Freedom in March and really looking forward to it - been on The Independence so we should feel like we're at home!

[kellylw]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post this. We are going on the ship in less than a month and this is just making us more excited (as if that is even possible!)

[Poorplaya]

I made sure to come back tonight to see more and I was of course impressed again with all the detail and everything you have put into this review. Thank you again for putting all this for us to see.

[DarthGrady]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone, I appreciate it! I really enjoy posting these reviews, its my therapy to get over post cruise depression. :D

[DarthGrady]

Deck 6 and The Boardwalk

 

Prior to venturing outside into the Boardwalk I visited “Dazzles” dance club. It is definitely one of the nicest dance clubs I have seen on a cruise ship. The lower level has seating, a large dance floor, the bar and a small stage for live music. The balcony is all seating, but with its V-shape the dance floor is visible to most folks sitting up there. The good design and tasteful décor is certainly a plus, but the real jewel of the room is the fantastic view. The entire back wall of Dazzles is glass, and it looks out onto the Boardwalk. In the day you get a cool view all the way back to Aqua Theater and the ocean. At night, club goers are treated to the fully lit up Boardwalk area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

 

 

[DarthGrady]

The Boardwalk itself located on the aft area of Deck 6, and is totally open air above and to the rear. There are balcony rooms that look out onto it, giving what would otherwise be interior cabins a pleasant open verandah. As you enter The Boardwalk you get a sense of the Coney Island theme that the designers were going for. The walls of the entranceway have fun house mirrors and circus inspired panels. A Zoltar machine heckles guests to pay him for a reading of their fortunes. The centerpieces of the entrance are sculptures depicting the steps that the carousel horses go through during their creation. The real, full size carousel that calls The Boardwalk home then greets guests. You can really appreciate the detail and craftsmanship that went into it. One of the horses even sports a big Crown and Anchor logo on his saddle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

 

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

 

 

The Boardwalk Doghouse menu

 

The Ice Cream Parlor

 

 

[DarthGrady]

The Boardwalk itself located on the aft area of Deck 6, and is totally open air above and to the rear. There are balcony rooms that look out onto it, giving what would otherwise be interior cabins a pleasant open verandah. As you enter The Boardwalk you get a sense of the Coney Island theme that the designers were going for. The walls of the entranceway have fun house mirrors and circus inspired panels. A Zoltar machine heckles guests to pay him for a reading of their fortunes. The centerpieces of the entrance are sculptures depicting the steps that the carousel horses go through during their creation. The real, full size carousel that calls The Boardwalk home then greets guests. You can really appreciate the detail and craftsmanship that went into it. One of the horses even sports a big Crown and Anchor logo on his saddle.

 

The Boardwalk is home to several shops and restaurants. The first that one comes across is the Boardwalk Dog House. It has several gourmet hot dogs on the menu, and is free of charge. I ate there once but was unimpressed. It tasted fine, but the bun was stale and hard just like nearly every other cruise ship hot dog I have eaten. I don’t know why they can’t ever seem to stock fresh bread. Across the way is a little donut shop. They serve coffee, teas and donuts in the mornings. Other shops include an ice cream parlor, a candy shop, a build-a-bear store, a novelty photo booth and a clothing store.

 

There are two large eateries on The Boardwalk. On the port side is “Rita’s Cantina”, a Mexican themed open-air restaurant serving tacos, fajitas and the like. They also have some pretty decent frozen margaritas. Across from Rita’s is “Johnny Rocket’s Diner”. For those that aren’t familiar, JR’s is a 1950s themed diner serving burgers, fries and shakes. It has both indoor and outdoors seating. A surcharge applies to both Rita’s and JR’s.

 

While the Boardwalk is impressive, the real stunner of the area is the “Aqua Theater”. It is a huge amphitheater with permanent beach chair seating. The “stage” is actually a rigid mesh that can be lowered to reveal a large pool beneath. The theater’s pool, when the stage is fully lowered, is over 14 feet deep. This allows high divers to jump safely into the pool from high up on the superstructure. Water jets that create a “dancing fountain” effect also surround the stage. Flanking the Aqua Theater are the ship’s dual rock climbing walls.

 

I did not spend a tremendous amount of time at The Boardwalk mostly due to its location on the ship. You have to mean to go there, it’s not a place you walk through going from A to B. I strolled down the Promenade and through Central Park many times during the week while on my way elsewhere. Obviously there is no way to solve that issue, but it certainly seemed like the whole area was under used.

 

 

An overview

 

The candy store

 

 

Johnny Rockets

 

 

Edited November 10, 2011 by DarthGrady

[DarthGrady]

Rita's Cantina

 

 

 

Boardwalk Bar

 

A playground outside of Ritas

 

[DarthGrady]

Bean bag toss game

 

 

The Aqua Theater

 

 

The stage floor

 

The view from the stage

[DarthGrady]

Moving back inside on Deck 6 we find the nautical themed “Schooner Bar”, a Royal Caribbean institution. Like its counterparts on other ships it features pleasant leather loungers and live piano music at night. A slight wood smoke aroma piped in to add to the ambiance, a feature I enjoyed on the Radiance Class thankfully carried over. Of course this is Allure, so it had to be taken a step further. This Schooner Bar also features a great view of the Royal Promenade and the Rising Tide Bar since it is open to the vast area below. Adjacent to the Schooner Bar is the Loyalty Ambassador desk. Although there are three representatives they did not seem to be enough for the large amount of people wanting to book cruises on board. Luckily we scheduled our appointments early since there were usually guests waiting around to be seen.

 

The view down into the Promenade

 

The Schooner Bar

 

 

 

Loyalty Ambassador Office

 

[DarthGrady]

Directly across from the Schooner Bar is “Focus”, the ship’s photo gallery. Unlike most other ships, you don’t see endless displays of pre printed photos hung up for you to rifle through. Not on this ship! On allure you find large revolving drums containing hundreds of numbered folders. Everyone is assigned a folder, and this is where you will find most of your photos. This is achieved through a combination of facial recognition technology and the photographers swiping the Seapass before taking a picture. A few pictures are still printed, but they are mostly the port debarkation photos and other miscellaneous shots. Focus also has a small selection of cameras for sale, as well as camera supplies.

 

 

 

 

 

Free tip:

 

Consider carefully before buying the expensive Leica digital cameras. Panasonic makes them for Leica using Leica lenses. Panasonic's Lumix line are nearly the same cameras for a third of the price.

 

Here is the Leica

 

 

Here is the Lumix DMC-ZS10 with which I shot all the images and videos in this review. If you look closely you will see that they are virtually identical.

 

[DarthGrady]

Wow! Its almost 1 am! I have got to get to bed. But I will be back tomorrow evening and we will storm Central Park. :cool: