Allure of the Seas May 20th sailing

[1hotc6]

We were on this sailing as well, and I am glad to hear several people say that the ship felt crowded, because I felt like a sardine through most of the cruise, unlike ANY other cruise I have ever been on.

 

Working on my own review to post soon, but enjoying reading yours. :)

 

I was on the same sailing as del and we never felt crowded with the exception of boarding day in the windjammer. Many staff said this was because of the perception the the windjammer is the only buffet style onboard RC ships. This is mostly true with the exception of Oasis and Allure. People forget that there are TONS of other places and many buffet styles to choose from.

 

 

We went with a couple who had their "Cruising Cherries" popped on Allure. Needless to say it was an amazing cruise for us all. Interesting to hear all the reviews and the love and marriage game show might have been the best laughs of the week.

[kamusta1]

Here is a pic from that night

 

 

yup! He said most people just kept calling him copper the whole week - of course he was trying not to think about work - but with that haircut you can't quite escape it! My SIL said someone said in a quiet elevator "how do you not know your wife's bra size" LOL! They're a lot of fun. He said when he was going on stage, he just tossed his sign & sail card to the waiter and asked for some cosmos. He had no idea it would end up being so funny. I can't wait to watch the DVD!

 

GraphicGuy - sorry I hijacked your review!!

[youngestof9]

Hey - there's my brother and SIL!! Cute pic - thanks for sharing!!

[graphicguy]

Hey - there's my brother and SIL!! Cute pic - thanks for sharing!!

 

Those are the folks I saw on the show. Cute! The older couple were humorous, too.

 

Good looking couple.

[Erik101]

Those are the folks I saw on the show. Cute! The older couple were humorous, too.

 

Good looking couple.

 

The Copper, the guy in the middle of the picture, also made an appearance in Quest. He had to wear heels, a bra and a purse and walk the runway! It was hilarious! But for those who saw Quest on this sailing, the guy who took out his dentures had me rolling on the floor! :p

[youngestof9]

The Copper, the guy in the middle of the picture, also made an appearance in Quest. He had to wear heels, a bra and a purse and walk the runway! It was hilarious! But for those who saw Quest on this sailing, the guy who took out his dentures had me rolling on the floor! :p

 

 

OHHHHH I need pictures of that. It would make good Christmas blackmail! Anyone?? LOL!

[JamesEM]

Thanks for sharing, one off beat question, did you notice if there was any A.1.Steak Sauce in the Park Cafe?

[Vanilla Chipp]

Thanks for the great review. I'll be cruising on board the Allure for my birthday in August and I'm literally counting down the days.

 

Oh, and one more thing...

 

Plus, it's difficult to hit every pay dining restaurant on the ship.

 

[graphicguy]

Thanks for the great review. I'll be cruising on board the Allure for my birthday in August and I'm literally counting down the days.

 

Oh, and one more thing...

 

 

 

 

LOL! You go!

[graphicguy]

Thanks all. Glad you're enjoing this. I have to find some time to retrieve the rest of my pics off my memory cards to post here.

 

I didn't see any A1 anywhere.

 

Taking your own alcohol? Seems like anytime someone posts that, chaos erupts between those who do, and those who don't So I'll only say that you can google rumrunner or Amazon for alcohol travel containers. There are whole product lines dedicated to this.

 

I will say that repurposing haircare product bottles work for us.

[graphicguy]

Some other pics.....

 

Near Spa entrance....

 

 

GF and I had to make a video to email family back home. This place never had anyone in it...so we sent 3 of them. Operationally, it was a bit glitchy, but we got it to work.....

 

 

Sorrentos Pizzaria......pizza was

 

Pizza was fair. But, it was hot, and quick.....

 

 

Popular spot for picture taking.....replica of an old Benz.....

 

Champaign and Martini Bar.....

 

[graphicguy]

Finish up with a few more pics....

 

 

 

Snuck up on the GF looking bored while waiting for me at the Solarium bar....

 

 

 

 

[graphicguy]

To sum up......general impressions...(and comparing it to other cruises I've taken)

 

FOOD-MDR ranged from mediocre to pretty good. Lines for My Time Dining were pretty long, regardless of when we went. It also looked like those with reservations had some wait time, too.

 

Favorite food places.....

-Park Cafe (free)

-Giovanni's Table (pay)

 

ENTERTAINMENT-ranged from really good (ICE GAMES) to fair (Chicago). NCL Epic entertainment was better, by a good margin. If you couldn't tell, we spent a lot of time right outside of our cabin overlooking the Aqua Theater....either watching the shows, watching performers practice for shows, or just watching people. We'd make a drink in our room and head on out there to see the happenings.

 

CABIN....Superior Ocean View Balcony.....standard fare....no surprises. WE spent a lot of time on our balcony in the early a.m., when we were docking, and late in the evening.

 

SERVICE.....great! Most everyone did their best to be helpful and to make our cruise enjoyable.

 

I didn't talk much about the ports. We got off the ship at every one. But, everybody's taste is different. Everybody will choose a different activity. We had been to all the ports before. Everyone likes different things. I will give another nod to RCCL. We had scheduled an excursion for a carriage ride through Falmouth. Our guide never showed up. I was pretty mad about this. Then, once back on board, I was bounced around from customer service to excursion desk to customer service, etc.

 

We ended up just getting our own guide to take us around to some of the sites.

 

Funny, while I was at the excursion desk one particular time, an excursion lady tells me I had to wait in line for the next available excursion specialist (there were 3 of them. I looked in the area roped off for the line, and there was no one waiting. I pointed this out to her, yet she insisted I get into some sort of line. I just shook my head, went back to the Customer Service Desk to tell them what was going on (again). One of their people went with me back to the Excursion Desk, to the same lady, and insisted she give me a refund for the excursion, on the spot. Funny now, very irritating then.

 

The ship overall is beautiful, with pleasant little visual surprises wherever you look.

 

It's huge. But, you'll never have much in the way of time or space where you don't have feel crowded, or have to wait for crowds. RCCL seems to have tried to make you feel you aren't really on a ship. Which, in my mind, sort of defeats the purpose of going on a cruise.

 

It was a good cruise. I'm glad I took AOS. However, I can't see myself doing it again (or the Oasis, for that matter). Pobably next up for us will be a Suite on one of NCL's ships. I hear that's a fantastic experience.

 

To those of you yet to go, have a great time.

 

Lastly, I want to thank everyone for their kind comments and input. I'm happy you enjoyed the posts. And, I'll be looking for yours, too. I'm here pretty often.

 

Again, thanks....and smooth sailing!

[Cruiser0721]

Sounds like you had a great time. Your photos are AMAZING! You don't happen to have your Compasses from your sailing do you? I'm on the next Western voyage of the Allure and would like to get an idea of what is happening day to day. :)

[graphicguy]

Cruiser...thanks. Glad you enjoyed the posts. Sorry, I didn't keep the Compass, however.

 

Have a great cruise.

[graphicguy]

A little late with this info on this review, but hopefully it will help someone.

 

Two points.....spa products. AOS is no different t han any other cruise ship I have been on. They charge about double, many times triple, the amount for a spa service/hair care aervice as you'd pay at home. No surprise there. My GF owns her own salon. The products the cruise salon pushes are about 8X what she says she sells the similar products for at her salon (based on how small the cruise's packages are). There aren't any magical concoctions that the cruise line spas (actually leased by the spa company from RCCL) offer that you can't buy at home. Steiner is the actual company that the spa personnel works for, not RCCL.

 

Further, a friend of mine owned his own jewelry store here in the U.S. He got his start in the business working for a jewelry store in Cozumel. Whether in Cancun, Cozumel, or any number of other places the cruise lines recommends, the stores pay for those recommendations. Does that mean you can't get a deal? I'c say know pricing on similar jewelry/watches, etc at home before making a decision whether to buy at the ship's recommendec stores.

 

The actual ship's store isn't bad on pricing. But, understand it's going to be difficult to return anything you've bought at any of these places.

 

Hope that helps.

[love2cruise56]

Thanks all. Glad you're enjoing this. I have to find some time to retrieve the rest of my pics off my memory cards to post here.

 

I didn't see any A1 anywhere.

 

Taking your own alcohol? Seems like anytime someone posts that, chaos erupts between those who do, and those who don't So I'll only say that you can google rumrunner or Amazon for alcohol travel containers. There are whole product lines dedicated to this.

 

I will say that repurposing haircare product bottles work for us.

 

 

I just saw they at the Dollar Tree stores. They were called something else. Check it out.

[larryj42]

Congrats on your luck (or skill) at the casino. That encourages me as I like to play a bit of blackjack myself. I have usually found that on the last 2 nights of the cruise my luck seems to disappear and the casino wins back whatever I might have won earlier. :)

[larryj42]

The comments on pricing in the spa are interesting. I just read a book written by a massage therapist who worked in one of the Steiner-run spas on a cruise ship. She said the worst part of her job was the pressure to meet her dollar goal in selling products each week. She wanted to help her customers relax and enjoy their vacation, but she was forced to hard sell them on products that were way over priced and often not needed. She said that was why she quit working on cruise ships.

[graphicguy]

love2cruise....never thought about checking at the Dollar Store for alcohol travel products. Again, repurposing other containers has worked for us over the years.

 

Larry....I'm thinking it was more luck than skill in the casino. As long as you keep in mind that the casino is set up to win, and walking away when you've lost your allotted amount, you'll be OK. I knew a guy who would sit at a table losing, waiting for the odds to swing back in his favor. By his way of thinking, if he was losing, it was just a matter of time (and money) before he was winning. He lost an awful lot of money.

 

While I can't confirm this, I remember several postings a few years ago on another cruise forum regarding a Spa worker who appeared to be spilling her guts to the cruise community regarding the pressure she got to sell the spa's tremendously over priced products. IIRC, they either had a quota to meet. Or, whose major portion of compensation was based on selling their products.

 

My GF mentioned that some of the "potions" they use are indeed costly when she buys them for her salon. And, that her own markup is about 300% But, she also says that the cruise salons are running about 800-1,000% margins on theirs.

[Vanilla Chipp]

graphicguy: Did you notice and/or attend a midnight pool party any night while you were on board? If so, which night was it?

[graphicguy]

Vanilla.....sorry it took so long to respond. I've been out of the country on business. We attended a couple of parties at the Solarium Bar during late evening hours. However, these were private events, and we were given invitations to them by our friendly bar tender.

 

We also went to the Prohibition Event, which is also by invitation. But, that was not held near a pool.

 

Don't know if that's what you're talking about, or not.

[kkorman]

There were two events in solarium... Bacardis event and a Skyy event. Open to everyone, they just check age.

[janetz]

The Brazilian restaurant on Allure is the Samba Grill.....

Boleros is a Latino/Cuban themed nightclub/bar...:)

The Dog Haus was free... if you didn't eat there you missed some great hot dogs.

 

 

 

 

LOVE Boleros....great Mojito's :)

[ksawyercruiser]

Fun review. Thoroughly enjoyed! Thanks for taking the time to write it and to post pics. We leave in three weeks!