Allure of the Seas 6/3/12 - a picture review

[terpfan101]

Terpfan,

 

I forgot to ask you one more question, how does the tipping work in the specialty restaurants? Do they just bill your card that you have on file with them and is it a certain percentage or do you just put whatever you feel the deserve.

 

Thanks!

 

Nope, its supposed to be included in the service charge. If you add additional tip, it will be charged to your seapass account.

[terpfan101]

Thank you for the wonderful review! I do have one more question. I am in the process of reserving my entertainment for the Sept cruise. I wonder if the Love and Marriage show is taped and played on the tv. Do you remember around what time L and M began? Would one need to be there 15 before the show begins to secure a good seat?

 

It was taped and played on the TV. I don't recall it being TOO crowded but we did get there about 15 minutes early to get a good seat.

[terpfan101]

Terpfan 101: Where did you live when you went to Milford PA?

 

I was working at a summer camp in Milford and would come to Middletown Mall on days off. Have you ever been to Milford? I love it there. Such a small quaint town!

[terpfan101]

Wow ! Great Pics Terpfan. . . I am loving your pics and trip report, and and it makes me want to sail Allure of the Seas once again !

 

Thanks for taking the time to post your pics. . . It seems you two really had a great time !

 

Radio

;);)

 

.

 

Thanks Radio! Coming from you that means a lot. Looking forward to reading your next Enchantment report. We went on her to Bermuda last year on August 6th. Hopefully the seas aren't as rough for you!

[terpfan101]

Hi everyone. Sorry for the long delay in the next post. I just had a pretty busy week at work. Anyway back to finishing this review!

 

On our final sea day sometime at around 2PM when we were all hanging out on the pool deck, the Captain came on to make an announcement saying that we would be stopping as there was a raft with people in it and we'd investigate. I guess the phoned the Coast Guard. People started to crowd on the open decks to look as the ship began to come to a stop. Sure enough there was a little raft in the distance.

 

 

We were stopped for a little while as a little lifeboat was sent out with some crew members to meet the refugees.

 

 

Here's some better pictures that Aaron took:

 

 

 

I guess after confirming that they posed no threat, they were taken onto the Allure. After the ship started to move again the captain said they would be treated in the medical facility. He said that they had been at sea for three days, and given where we were (far from FL), they probably would have died due to the heat. He said that we would be meeting up with a Coast Guard vessel in a few hours to transfer the refugees to the Coast Guard which would take them back to Cuba. Very interesting situation.

 

Anyway here is a shot that Aaron took of the Coast Guard boat picking up the refugees.

 

 

Then later that night when we were eating dinner, the Captain came on to make an announcement and said something like that we may have noticed stopping again, and that this was a once in a lifetime occurrence, but we came across another raft. This time though they phoned the Coast Guard and determined the people had already been picked up as it was just an empty raft.

 

We thought this was probably pretty rare, but some crew members said that finding refugees happened pretty frequently! Who knew!

 

Up next: Departure, overall conclusions, and cruise compasses.

[terpfan101]

Our seven day cruise really flew by and before we knew it, it was Sunday morning and time to leave the Allure. On Friday night, we had received our luggage tags and departure time which was for one of the earliest ones (that was not self walk off). Since our flight wasn't until noon from FLL, I didn't want to get off at 7AM and thus asked our stateroom attendant if we could switch to a later time. He gave us a time for about 8:40AM which worked much better. We ate our final breakfast with Todd and Stacy at none other than Park Cafe. It was bittersweet to be having our last meal of our cruise as I knew pretty soon it'd be back to reality. We said our goodbyes and went back to our stateroom to grab our things that we'd be carrying on our own (backpacks, purse, etc) and proceeded to the Amber Theater where we'd wait for our number to be called.

 

It was only about 15 minutes before we were called and we proceeded to walk through the Royal Promenade to the exit. I totally forgot but when we entered the ship, we came through to the Royal Promenade and that was the same spot we were exiting from. I believe it is right near Sorrento's but there is a walled in little nook that opens up for boarding and disembarking. We proceeded down the ramp into the terminal and found our bags rather quickly. All of the luggage was neatly arranged by number. Then we got in line for customs. When all was said and done from the time we actually left the Amber Theater to the time we were in a taxi was less than 25-30 minutes. I am really impressed that boarding and disembarking such a large cruise ship could be so seamless!

 

We were at the airport by about 10:00AM for our noon flight, which made me think that the earliest possible flight one would be able to take would be around 10AM. However if there were multiple options, I'd rather be safe than sorry and take a flight closer to noon.

 

Up next: Overall conclusions and cruise compass scans.

[terpfan101]

So I just went back through my review and realized I never touched upon the shops on board and the photo gallery so I'll quickly discuss those here. The photo gallery is much improved upon compared to the other ships. For those who are unfamiliar with it on the Oasis class, they instituted a new system where each stateroom has a folder that is numbered with two numbers. Your folio # is located on your Seapass card. I believe we were something like 19-20. Which meant that we were in rack #19, folder #20. The photo staff puts all of your photos in your folder as opposed to displaying all of the photos on the wall. This certainly made it easier as it was difficult to find your photos in prior cruises. However what really bothered me still was the fact that the are printing tens of thousands of photos of which probably only a small fraction are actually purchased. I asked one of the workers about this and he said they use some chemical to remove the prints from the photo paper and reuse it. However I'm not sure if that is actually true or if they just say that to make it seem more environmentally friendly.

 

I can imagine they probably print the pictures because the marketing department has determined that people are more likely to purchase prints that are already printed. They also have computer terminals where you can look up your pictures and make changes, so I couldn't help but wonder why they just didn't have lots of those terminals and shrink the size of the photo gallery. I'm sure they could add another venue that way.

 

With regards to the shops onboard, there were a lot of shops located on the Boardwalk, Promenade, and Central Park. There were the well known branded stores such as Guess and Coach as well as some cool stores like the Britto Gallery, Prince and Greene, Regalia, etc that sold nice clothing, jewelery, and other goods. Prices didn't seem too bad, and I'd be curious how prices on Coach merchandise compares to stores back home. If you are interested in buying liquor on board, the prices are actually very good and a whole lot better than what you'd pay in the ports of call (and back at home). The Britto gallery is really cool but stuff there was a bit expensive for what it actually was. Oh and there is a Coach sale and watch sale, both of which were madhouses.

 

Here's the complete listing of the shops on board: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/contentSiteletSub.do?pagename=sub_allure_of_the_seas_shopping&pagenameMain=Allure_of_the_Seas&discriminators=0

 

Oh and on the first full sea day there was a shopping talk, I can't recall if I mentioned but after our cabin crawl when we left Amy & Aaron's suite, Amy had wanted to go to the shopping talk because they said they were giving away free stuff. They did give away some free stuff and everyone got a little coupon for a free charm bracelet when in port in Cozumel. However it looked extremely cheap. We ended up leaving the talk early because it was really boring. So I'd definitely say skip it unless you are super interested in shopping in the ports.

 

Ok now for real, the next post will be overall conclusions!

[sarahmkruse]

Oh and there is a Coach sale and watch sale, both of which were madhouses.

 

Thanks for sharing this tidbit. :)

[terpfan101]

So it's taken me a bit longer than I had anticipated to get to this point, but here we are...nearly done with this review and I thought I'd sum up my experience and give some ratings for the different aspects of the cruise. Without a doubt, this was the best of my three cruises (all with RCCL). The ship being only a year old was immaculate and simple amazing. I couldn't believe just how big it was and how much there was to do on board. Yet despite carrying over 6,000 passengers, the ship overall felt less crowded than either of the other two cruises. The food overall was great and the entertainment was incredible, the best on probably any cruise ship in the world. I think Royal Caribbean did a fantastic job when designing this class of ships and I hope the continue to innovate with project Sunshine. I think in some ways going on the Oasis class has spoiled me for future cruises as I'll always remember all of the different venues and neighborhoods of the ship that will not be on most other Royal cruises. Not only that, but the newness of the ship and the fact that it was so well designed is going to be hard to replicate on older ships.

 

Now this review has been on the whole, positive overall. While I love the company and think they offer a fantastic vacation experience, there were certainly some things that I wasn't particularly fond of or areas where improvements could be made. Below I'll touch on them:

 

1) Ports of call - I know that these are extremely large ships and thus can't call on as many ports as a result, however I'd really love it if in the future, the company could somehow find some other ports to visit. Since both ships are based year round in the Caribbean, it'd be great if they could have a couple of different itineraries. Perhaps a Western A, Western B, Eastern A, and Eastern B. The A versions could be what is currently offered, while the B versions could swap out two of the ports. So for example perhaps Western B could be to Labadee, Grand Cayman, and Roatan, while Eastern B could be to Nassau/CocoCay, Antigua, San Juan/Samana. Having gone on the Western route once, I can't imagine wanting to do the same itinerary in the next 3-5 years again. Which leaves only one more time to go on Allure/Oasis. However if they mixed the itineraries up this would be more likely to occur, would stimulate more demand for the class of ships, and probably allow Royal to keep fares higher.

 

2) Entertainment getting stale - Having just been on a RCCL cruise in August 2011 (less than a year prior to this one), I felt like some of the entertainment was a bit stale. Since the shows themselves were all new and incredible, I am more talking about shows like Love and Marriage & Quest. Both were nowhere near as good as they were on the Enchantment (my first time). A big reason for the disappointment in these two shows was due to the fact that much of the material was identical to what I had previously seen. I know it's not always a good idea to reinvent the wheel, however in this instance, I think "changing the tires" every now and then wouldn't be such a bad idea. It shouldn't be too difficult to change the questions up.

 

3) Lack of change to MDR food. For a frequent RCCL cruiser, I'd have to imagine that the main dining room food gets pretty boring quickly. Considering just about every option was the same as on my previous cruise, I found myself wondering why they didn't offer some new dishes. They should definitely mix it up a bit more and retain the standards that are so popular, but should replace some of the menu items periodically.

 

Minor quibbles:

- The photo gallery printing every photo is a big waste to me and goes against the "Save The Waves" program.

- Dining room wait staff should not tell guests to rate them excellent in the comment cards.

 

I honestly didn't have too many other complaints, or at least none that I can recall now. The Allure of the Seas is definitely an amazing ship and I highly encourage skeptics to give it a try.

[terpfan101]

Embarkation: A+

Public areas: A

Sports Deck (includes pool): A+

Spa & Fitness: A

 

Dining Overall: A-

MDR Food Quality: B+

MDR Food Choices: B

MDR Service: B

Park Cafe: A+

Solarium Bistro: B+

Windjammer Marketplace: B-

Specialty Dining Overall: A

- Giovanni's Table: A- for food, A for service

- Chops Grille: B+ for food, B- for service

- 150 Central Park: A+ for food, A+ for service

- Izumi: A for food, A- for service

Other pay dining venues (eg. snack places): A-

 

Entertainment Overall: A

- Oceanaria: A

- Chicago: B-

- Ice Games: A-

- Headliner Show: A-

- Comedy Show: A+

- Blue Planet: A+

- The Quest: C-

- Love & Marriage Game Show: C+

- Other on board activities: B

 

Cabin Appearance: A

Cabin Cleanliness: A+

Cabin Size: A-

Cabin Service: A

Overall ship cleanliness: A

 

Bars: A- for quality of drinks, A+ for variety of drinks, A- for service

Shops: A-

 

Ports of call: B+ overall

- Labadee: A+

- Falmouth: C

- Cozumel: B

 

Cruise Rates: B+ in general, A+ for what I paid and received

Value Overall: A-

 

Overall rating: A

 

Up next: I should have the cruise compass scans posted this week. In the mean time I'll post a few more random pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[terpfan101]

Dresses in the elevator bank:

 

70's Party:

 

Massive lifeboat:

 

Horse on the Carousel:

[kimberley]

Fab review many thanks

[jebl]

Thankd so much for this wonderful review. Looking forward to seeing the Compasses.

[irismike]

Teprfan 101. We have never been to Milford PA. I guess we will have to try it. Where did you live.

[RazorbackIslandGirl]

Terpfan- Thank you so much for this fun & fantastic review! I hate it is coming to an end! I'm still 2 months away from boarding the Oasis. This has been little doses of things to come & has helped keep the excitement up! Thanks again for taking the time to do this!:D

[lisatav]

Our seven day cruise really flew by and before we knew it, it was Sunday morning and time to leave the Allure. On Friday night, we had received our luggage tags and departure time which was for one of the earliest ones (that was not self walk off). Since our flight wasn't until noon from FLL, I didn't want to get off at 7AM and thus asked our stateroom attendant if we could switch to a later time. He gave us a time for about 8:40AM which worked much better. We ate our final breakfast with Todd and Stacy at none other than Park Cafe. It was bittersweet to be having our last meal of our cruise as I knew pretty soon it'd be back to reality. We said our goodbyes and went back to our stateroom to grab our things that we'd be carrying on our own (backpacks, purse, etc) and proceeded to the Amber Theater where we'd wait for our number to be called.

 

It was only about 15 minutes before we were called and we proceeded to walk through the Royal Promenade to the exit. I totally forgot but when we entered the ship, we came through to the Royal Promenade and that was the same spot we were exiting from. I believe it is right near Sorrento's but there is a walled in little nook that opens up for boarding and disembarking. We proceeded down the ramp into the terminal and found our bags rather quickly. All of the luggage was neatly arranged by number. Then we got in line for customs. When all was said and done from the time we actually left the Amber Theater to the time we were in a taxi was less than 25-30 minutes. I am really impressed that boarding and disembarking such a large cruise ship could be so seamless!

 

We were at the airport by about 10:00AM for our noon flight, which made me think that the earliest possible flight one would be able to take would be around 10AM. However if there were multiple options, I'd rather be safe than sorry and take a flight closer to noon.

 

Up next: Overall conclusions and cruise compass scans.

 

Thanks for your review; I'll be on the Allure next month. I'm glad to hear about making early flights. I have a flight at 11AM that I've been nervous about but hearing how quickly you made it off the ship comforts me.

[terpfan101]

Teprfan 101. We have never been to Milford PA. I guess we will have to try it. Where did you live.

 

Oh it was an overnight camp located in the town well not in the heart of the town but a few miles from the town itself!

 

Thanks to everyone else for the kind words!

[JamesEM]

Thanks for sharing.

[neptune18]

Great review. Did Allure last summer and just off Oasis. I agree with most of your opinions, especially the limited ports. My understanding is that other ports would need to be modified to accomodate the ships and the no. of passengers eliminates tendering as an option. We are now trying to decide between Freedom and Allure for next summer.

[swwake]

Thanks for taking the time do do this review. I love the pics (especially some of the candids at the end). I'm excited for our Allure cruise and to try 150CP and see Blue Planet.

 

Having been on Oasis, I agree with your synopsis in general. On the photos, I think it might have something to do with the generation gap. Remember that a lot of cruisers are still a little older and that demographic likes the hands-on and can't really navigate digital media very well. You're right that it is a huge improvement over "the old way". You didn't mention what we noticed - that there are still some photos on display and you need to look at them and move them to your album, because they don't always use the face recognition, it may not always work, or there may be others in the photo (like the friends you met onboard) whose albums the photos end up in, so you never see them.

[terpfan101]

Great review. Did Allure last summer and just off Oasis. I agree with most of your opinions, especially the limited ports. My understanding is that other ports would need to be modified to accomodate the ships and the no. of passengers eliminates tendering as an option. We are now trying to decide between Freedom and Allure for next summer.

 

Correct you are. I think it'd be great though for Royal to either contribute to building a new larger dock in other ports or work with other countries to get a new dock. I know they were trying in Grand Cayman. Since you've been on both Allure & Oasis, I'd think assuming Freedom has a different itinerary that it might make sense to give that a go? I've never tried that class but would like to!

[terpfan101]

Thanks for taking the time do do this review. I love the pics (especially some of the candids at the end). I'm excited for our Allure cruise and to try 150CP and see Blue Planet.

 

Having been on Oasis, I agree with your synopsis in general. On the photos, I think it might have something to do with the generation gap. Remember that a lot of cruisers are still a little older and that demographic likes the hands-on and can't really navigate digital media very well. You're right that it is a huge improvement over "the old way". You didn't mention what we noticed - that there are still some photos on display and you need to look at them and move them to your album, because they don't always use the face recognition, it may not always work, or there may be others in the photo (like the friends you met onboard) whose albums the photos end up in, so you never see them.

 

Thanks for the praise! You'll love 150CP and Blue Planet! And you are right about the face recognition not always working. We never saw a picture of ours not put in our folder, but there were a good amount up there. As far as the digital age, you could possibly be right as to why they keep the old school method. Perhaps in the next 5-10 years that will change.

[terpfan101]

At long last, here are the cruise compasses. Please let me know if you have any issues with accessing the PDF. On the website, you can either preview the PDF or download it.

 

Cruise Planner: Here

Excursions at a Glance: [/url]Here

Day One: Here

Day Two: Here

Day Three: Here

Day Four: Here

Day Five: Here

Day Six: Here

Day Seven:Here

 

And with that my review is complete. I hope everyone has enjoyed it as I certainly have enjoyed sharing my amazing vacation with everyone else. Please don't hesitate to ask any more questions!

[kac31]

At long last, here are the cruise compasses. Please let me know if you have any issues with accessing the PDF. On the website, you can either preview the PDF or download it.

 

Cruise Planner: Here

Excursions at a Glance: Here

Day One: Here

Day Two: Here

Day Three: Here

Day Four: Here

Day Five: Here

Day Six: Here

Day Seven:Here

 

And with that my review is complete. I hope everyone has enjoyed it as I certainly have enjoyed sharing my amazing vacation with everyone else. Please don't hesitate to ask any more questions!

 

I have never seen a cruise planner. Do you have to ask for those?

[neptune18]

Correct you are. I think it'd be great though for Royal to either contribute to building a new larger dock in other ports or work with other countries to get a new dock. I know they were trying in Grand Cayman. Since you've been on both Allure & Oasis, I'd think assuming Freedom has a different itinerary that it might make sense to give that a go? I've never tried that class but would like to!

 

We actually did Freedom before Allure and loved it. Now we're torn between going back to Allure or going back "down" to Freedom. Grand Cayman is our favorite port.