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

[MoyCoy]

I wonder, did you found it taxing to book the 2 remaining resturants on the dining package? Were you able to secure your desired dining time and date? Would you book the Central Park plan again? Do you feel the 25% savings was worth the hassle of waiting to book your specialty dining once on board?

 

Thank You for taking the time to write such a wonderful review. I am on pins and needles for the food review!:D

[terpfan101]

I wonder, did you found it taxing to book the 2 remaining resturants on the dining package? Were you able to secure your desired dining time and date? Would you book the Central Park plan again? Do you feel the 25% savings was worth the hassle of waiting to book your specialty dining once on board?

 

Thank You for taking the time to write such a wonderful review. I am on pins and needles for the food review!:D

 

I'll definitely be covering that when I talk about the food and specialties but in short, no real issues and I do think it was worth it. :)

[Coolcruise02]

Great review and pictures! Can't wait for more. :)

[M&JfromSDL]

To M&JfromSDL, I definitely would like to try the Eastern route too though am not too excited about Nassau having been there on the Navigator cruise. I'd love to see these big ships do an itinerary of St Martin, Labadee, and Grand Cayman (if they ever build a dock there).

 

Agreed. I've heard enough about Nassau to want to skip it. We're debating on Freedom because it stops in CoCoCay but there's just something about Allure. Thankfully Nassau is the first day on the Eastern route and we could easily just skip the port and stay onboard which is what we did in Falmouth save for a few Red Stripes in the newly-built "historic" town square.

[Eng23]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. I'll be heading out on the Allure this September, looking forward to the rest of your review. :)

[terpfan101]

Hello everyone! Onto the next part:

 

As mentioned earlier, I was upgraded to an oceanview balcony cabin on deck eight (#8178) just a few days before sailing and was super excited, both because it was a balcony and because it was on deck eight and not deck three like my oceanview cabin was supposed to be. Upon getting up to that deck, I realized why most people said it was a great deck to be on. I had thought that before the cruise decks 6-9 were probably the best location wise and the cruise definitely confirmed that. The reasons are that so much of the main hubs of the ship are decks 5, 6, and 8. It was also great for being so close to Central Park where we ate a majority of our breakfasts and lunches at Park Cafe. Additionally by being on say 7 or 8 you are only seven decks from deck 15 and only five decks from deck 3 (dining room). As such we only used the elevator a handful of times during the week which definitely is good exercise! So my recommendation would be to go with decks 6-9. :)

 

So we dropped our stuff in our room as soon it was ready at 1PM before going to grab lunch at the Park Cafe. I snapped a few pictures of the cabin:

 

Our bed looked a bit messy when we walked in...but I just chalked it up to them being so rushed on turnaround day.

 

Our balcony:

 

Since both of us are somewhat clean freaks and based on the suggestion of others I brought some disinfectant wipes with me which I used on nearly every surface of the room prior to us unpacking. I was shocked at just how spotless the room was. Areas such as on top of picture frames, on the top shelf above the hanging closet space, and the top ledge of the headboard had no dust or dirt whatsoever! Kudos to our stateroom attendant Vic for keeping the place spotless both prior to our arrival and throughout the week.

 

Vic was from the Philippines and was great at keeping our room clean and providing us with information as needed. He was also very friendly and would always ask us how our day was. He also provided us with three towel animals during the week. I only have pictures of two of them, but the third was a monkey:

 

 

I've seen some complaints about this but I wanted to point out that there were no issues with the temperature in the room. If the A/C was set to the lowest setting, the room got plenty cold. Every night upon returning, Lindsay made me turn it up as it was too cold.

 

In my review of the Enchantment I complained about having a shower curtain instead of the doors that were found on the Navigator. Well I was glad and had no issues with the shower on this ship. The water pressure was great. Sorry I spoke too soon, I was reminded by a part of one of the comedian's routine (AJ Jamal) about the shower. He made a joke about how you couldn't fall down because it's too small, and while I'd agree, I had no problem with the size of the shower. However, he also complained about the soap dish letting things fall through and that definitely was annoying! Other than that though the bathroom was good.

 

Regarding the bed, I thought it was one of the most comfortable beds I've slept on. I love the linens and if they weren't so expensive would probably buy the set that they sell online. I can't recall if I mentioned earlier, but the amount of storage space in the cabin was great and was good enough for two people to not live out of a suitcase. Finally, I'll say that I think the staterooms on the Oasis class are the nicest of anyone I've been on or seen pictures of RCCL wise. They are just very attractive and stylish with the color scheme and wood.

 

Now onto the topic of whether a balcony is worth it, after this cruise I would honestly say it depends, but most likely no. While it was great to have one and we did use it, there is simply so much to do on the ship that you really aren't in the cabin all that much. I'm sure others out there take more advantage of it, but for the active folks it's probably overkill. On a different/smaller ship the value of a balcony probably increases as does it in months that are not as hot and humid.

 

Now having said that I would probably get an OCEANVIEW balcony cabin if it cost less than $200-$250 more total than a non balcony cabin. I don't think a boardwalk or central park balcony is worth more than $100-$150 over a windowed cabin. In fact I hardly ever saw people sitting on those types of balconies, especially on the Central Park variety. I don't know if I'd get an interior cabin again though as it is really nice to have natural light in the room. I always just thought with that money I could spend it on board or on excursions. But hey that's just me!

 

Up next: Meet and mingle and meeting new friends!

[nfmst2]

I have really been enjoying your review, we sail next year and your info has been great!!!!:)

[Mamacane71]

Thanks for the review!

[PIGSKIN]

I'm doing the same dinning packages you did. Please tell me how each one was.

[jarz85]

Please sir, can I have some more?

 

Is there a link where I can see all of your pictures they are really nice!

[swwake]

Hi Jeremy, another accountant here. I have been on Oasis but we're looking forward to Allure in September (same cruise with Eng23). Thanks for writing your picture review! I'm enjoying it.

[Eng23]

Hi Jeremy, another accountant here. I have been on Oasis but we're looking forward to Allure in September (same cruise with Eng23). Thanks for writing your picture review! I'm enjoying it.

Well Susan? I see we stalk the same reviews.....:rolleyes: Looking forward to more of this one..:D

[swwake]

Well Susan? I see we stalk the same reviews.....:rolleyes: Looking forward to more of this one..:D

Indeed! How many hours away are we now? I can't believe it's getting so close.

[beckeck1]

Loving this review! I especially appreciate your perspective since we are the same age - although I'm in young family mode now with a toddler and you and your lovely girlfriend are still in that "easy breezy" stage where it's just the two of you doing whatever you like.

Can't wait to read more!

[TriciaEMTB]

I'm considering a megaship cruise. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your review!

[marci22]

Our bed looked a bit messy when we walked in...but I just chalked it up to them being so rushed on turnaround day.

 

Is this what your bed looked like when you first went in? I do not think it was made up from the last guest :eek:

[terpfan101]

Is this what your bed looked like when you first went in? I do not think it was made up from the last guest :eek:

 

haha yes that is! I may have touched it prior to taking the picture. Definitely was made up just looked hastily done. No worries or as our tour guide in Jamaica said "no problem mon" :)

[TriciaEMTB]

haha yes that is! I may have touched it prior to taking the picture. Definitely was made up just looked hastily done. No worries or as our tour guide in Jamaica said "no problem mon" :)

 

I love your attitude.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[terpfan101]

Good afternoon everyone! I figured I'd try and get a quick part in before my girlfriend and I head into DC for the afternoon. So here it goes:

 

In this post I'll be discussing our meet and mingle and cabin crawl. I remember joining our roll call here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1388833 back in January when it was only about a page in. At first it was so dead that I didn't even think we'd get enough people for a meet and mingle but alas that wasn't the case!

 

Throughout the six months leading up to the cruise more people kept joining the roll call and I was particularly excited that there were several other couples who were a similar age to us. Our resident cruise expert was CruisinDawn whom many people are probably familiar with as she posts a lot throughout the forums with good advice. It was quite funny as when Dawna introduced herself a lot of people (myself included) were like "ooooh there she is!" and we explained to our host that we were happy to finally see her in person as she was so so helpful with all of her posts!

 

Anyway our Meet and Mingle was supposed to be in Dazzles but the invite in our rooms said it was in the Comedy Club. It was at 10:30 on day 2. We went down there and got our giveaway (a notepad with pen) and raffle tickets and waited for it to start. I was looking around the room trying to envision who everyone might be. Our host was Jacinta who was the activities manager onboard and is from New Zealand. She was very nice and funny and did a quick little thing and gave away some prizes. I received a set of two nice Royal Caribbean leather luggage tags which was sweet to win something. They gave away a few of those, a goodie basket of a bunch of stuff, a Royal Caribbean photo album to put cruise pics in, and a few other items that I cannot remember.

 

Jacinta said that one of the members named Todd had arranged a cabin crawl and that afterwards anyone who wanted to participate should do so. So after the meet and mingle Todd (who is also 26) got up and organized everyone to go in order to the different rooms. We would see a central park balcony, my oceanview balcony, a superior oceanview balcony (D1), a junior suite, a grand suite, an aquatheater suite, and a crown loft suite. Here are a few pictures of the different cabins:

 

Aquatheater suite balcony:

 

Crown loft suite:

 

 

I took a few others but they aren't anything special and there are certainly better pictures out there of the different cabins. Anyway it was very fun to see the different cabins. Walking around in a line of about 40 people was also very funny as everyone from cabin attendants to people sitting outside on the pool deck would stop and look at us and think we were important people or something.:D

 

I was very impressed by all of the suites and could certainly see how if you had a larger group or family that they would be nice to have especially with some of the benefits that are included. I do think that they probably should receive some additional benefits though whether its some free internet say 20 minutes a day, a few free bottles of water, etc.

 

The Aquatheater and Crown Loft suites were definitely the most impressive. I'd love to be able to have one of those one day if I could throw caution to the wind and just book it, but unfortunately the accountant in me probably wouldn't allow that to happen as I'd be saying "with that money I could have 10 massages" or something like that!

 

Here is a picture of me excited for meeting my fellow cruise critics:

 

So we ended the cabin crawl at the Crown Loft Suite which belonged to a couple named Aaron and Amy. They were similar in age to us (we'd later learn 32 and 26 respectively). Well before we were about to leave it was just us and Todd and his wife Stacy. Amy seemed sad that it was over and wanted to socialize and mentioned how they were going to the shopping talk so we all tagged along which was the start of a beautiful friendship for the six of us. More on this throughout the rest of the review, but for those who can't wait, I'll sum it up and say we hung out a lot! Here is a picture of us on the final night after eating dinner together:

 

From left to right (username): Todd (HoneymoonerTodd), Stacy (wannab4ecruiser), Aaron (Stroh33), Amy (N/A), Me, and Lindsay (N/A)

 

I'll conclude this section with saying that whether or not you've ever been to a meet and mingle or participated in a roll call before, DO IT! Our cruise was fantastic and a lot of that had to do with the fact that we met those two wonderful couples on the second day. I'm glad we got to know each other that week and am sure our friendships will continue in the future...we were even discussing doing another cruise together next year!

 

There were people of all ages at the meet and mingle and thus it shouldn't be too hard for anyone to find people they'd get along with. I can understand if you're with a large group that you may not really need that, but nevertheless I recommend everyone go to theirs.

 

Up next: The casino and bars

[marci22]

Our host was Jacinta who was the activities manager onboard and is from New Zealand.

 

She is really nice.

 

The Aquatheater and Crown Loft suites were definitely the most impressive. I'd love to be able to have one of those one day if I could throw caution to the wind and just book it, but unfortunately the accountant in me probably wouldn't allow that to happen as I'd be saying "with that money I could have 10 massages" or something like that!

 

I'm not an accountant, but same here!

[dreamer976]

Loving your review. Thanks so much!

[terpfan101]

So this section will be brief but I wanted to touch on the casinos and bars onboard. I'm not a huge gambler but probably spent about 5-10 hours in the casino during the week, mostly playing roulette. I ended up down a bit ~$50 after being up a little. The casino had a good number of table games. I still can't understand how slots are as popular as they are. I didn't see anyone win big but was talking to one man in the On Air Bar who said he won $1200 on a slot machine. He must have played a lot.

 

The coupons in the Crown and Anchor booklet and travel agent coupon booklet are useful for roulette. We also used the free spin to win coupons which get you a free spin. You can see in the picture below what you get. Here Lindsay shows her sadness over just winning a free lotto ticket:

 

 

Oh one final thing about the casino, it was great to have a separate smoking side. Occasionally I'd walk in on the wrong side...especially if you take the neat staircase directly from the Promenade to the casino which puts you on the smoking side. However if you are on the nonsmoking side, you really don't smell the smoke at all which was a breath of fresh air...pun intended! This was superior to the other two ships I've been on!

 

Next onto the bars and beverage service throughout the ship:

 

On the whole I found the bartenders to be pretty good. I also thought the wine selection was pretty good, but I'm not a huge wine connoisseur. Here is a link that describes the various bars on the ship: http://www.beyondships.com/RCI-ALOS-Tour-5.html

 

Looking at that website I'm kind of disappointed that I never made it to Vintages, either for the wine or the tapas. However I remember seeing in the Cruise Compass that they often had wine tastings for a fee. I also heard that the tapas are good. I'd like to try it next time onboard.

 

We went on the Rising Tide Bar one day just for the ride. It was really silly. I guess it is kind of neat but it is essentially a large open elevator. Still worth taking for the ride from the Royal Promenade to Central Park and not a bad idea to get a drink on it. Here is a picture of it at night which was cool as it was all lit up:

 

Looking at the list is kind of sad as I hardly went to any of those bars. I guess that is a good thing as our bar bills weren't too much. We aren't huge drinkers. Probably each had a glass of wine at dinner and probably one (or two for me) other drinks per day. These were either at the pool or during a show. Next time I'm onboard I definitely want to check out the other venues, but for the ones we did check out:

 

The Schooner Bar we only went to the final night, but I wish I had checked it out earlier. That final night (and for most nights during the cruise) a man named Paul O'Shea was playing the piano and singing songs. He was quite good and had a huge song list for guests to make requests from. Here's a video of Paul that I took singing "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin:

 

One evening as Lindsay got ready for dinner I went to get a drink at On Air and had a good talk with one of the bartenders about life as a crewmember which was nice. We came back to check out On Air that night for the karaoke which looked like fun. People were really enjoying it and their song list was massive!

 

We never went into the British themed pub "Bow and Stern" as it was a smoking venue. Also the same goes for Dazzles and Blaze which we just peaked into both. It's a shame they allow smoking in so many small venues such as those. When we did peak into those two clubs they usually weren't too crowded. Not sure if it was the time but they just weren't crowded which was a surprise. Boleros was usually fairly lively with an older crowd but it wasn't our thing.

 

The few pool bars we used were very good as were the bartenders walking around with various fufu drinks or the drinks of the day. We each got a mango lava flow one day...delicious and you got to keep the glass which was a sort of low martini type glass which was nicely colored blue and green with a Royal Caribbean logo on it. I wish they gave a wrapped up glass though like you get if you have an after dinner shot and they let you keep the shot glass. In that case they give you a clean one that is wrapped in bubble wrap to take.

 

We didn't go to the Champagne Bar but one cool thing was that they gave out free champagne on the first formal night (the Captains Reception) in the Royal Promenade around dinner time.

 

Finally, I got to peak into the Concierge Lounge late one night with Aaron and Amy and it looked pretty nice. I believe wine and beer and complimentary during happy hour from 5-8PM. Not a bad deal.

 

Up next: I was going to do food but will save that for a later date as that will take a while! So onto the pool, sports, and miscellaneous activities.

[Sunebeach]

Trying to be patient while waiting to hear MORE!!! I agree with a PP, this is better than porn...though porn is definitely not my thing anyway:rolleyes:. LOVE photo reviews!!! 118 days Til DH and I set sail...

[BonTexasNY]

Now this would gross me and my husband out thinking the sheets weren't changed from the previous passengers :eek: Hopefully, what happened was that the linens were fresh but wrinkled and were put on in haste.:rolleyes:

[mikeblum]

wonderful review so far...looks like you and your girlfreind had a super time...looking forward to your review of the food and the specialty restaurants...enjoy DC...