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

[FutureMrsRe]

Thank you so much for your awesome review!!! We are getting married 12/2/12 on allure and we are booking our restaurants as we speak and you definitely helped us make a well informed decision! You said Izumi has a limited menu for lunch? Do they not offer their hot rocks during lunch? That is the main reason we wanted to go there! thank you again and I look forward to reading the rest of your review!

[BillOh]

I hope people are still reading this review! Anyway I'm going to get back to it now after a crazy weekend in the Mid Atlantic with the crazy thunderstorms on Friday night that left over a million people without power.

 

We lost power for 5 days, my daughter for 8 days. At least we know own a generator. Glad your back.

[jill5269]

I have thoroughly enjoyed your review! Such great photos too. You too are a lovely couple. I am going in September and have a few questions.

 

1. If you book a show and decide not to go, do you still get charged a fee?

 

2. Is the dinner with wine pairing at 150 CP $75.00?

 

Thanks so much!

[nancydru]

Thank you so much for this! We will be on Allure over Thanksgiving week this year and are doing all three specialty restaurants you featured. We will be a family of 9 with a toddler, 11 year old and 16 year old. Should be interesting. Excited but a little nervous. My sister has been on the Oasis several times and she is planning the while trip so I feel in good hands. Again, I appreciate you!

[terpfan101]

Thank you so much for your awesome review!!! We are getting married 12/2/12 on allure and we are booking our restaurants as we speak and you definitely helped us make a well informed decision! You said Izumi has a limited menu for lunch? Do they not offer their hot rocks during lunch? That is the main reason we wanted to go there! thank you again and I look forward to reading the rest of your review!

 

Hi there. Congrats on the upcoming wedding! That's pretty awesome that you'll be getting married on the ship!!! Are you getting married early during the cruise or towards the end? We peaked into the chapel, it's nice but really small. Do you have many guests coming?

 

Anyway to answer your question, Izumi does not have hot rocks during lunch. I wish I had taken a picture of the menu as I wasn't able to find any last night searching google or the boards. It was basically 6-10 different rolls and a few other sushi based dishes. I don't think anything from the kitchen but I could be wrong. Hope that helps.

[terpfan101]

We lost power for 5 days, my daughter for 8 days. At least we know own a generator. Glad your back.

 

Geez that's terrible. I'm pretty sure most people had it back within 5 days. Still unbelievable. I'm going to encourage my parents to finally get a generator too.

[terpfan101]

I have thoroughly enjoyed your review! Such great photos too. You too are a lovely couple. I am going in September and have a few questions.

 

1. If you book a show and decide not to go, do you still get charged a fee?

 

2. Is the dinner with wine pairing at 150 CP $75.00?

 

Thanks so much!

 

Thanks for the kind words Jill! To answer your questions, there is no fee for seeing shows, so if you book a reservation and don't show, you just lose your spot as they switch to open seating on a first come first serve basis something like 15 minutes prior to the show.

 

Your second question is actually a good one and I'm not quite sure of the answer. I was under the impression that the $75 was for ONLY wine. So it'd be $75 plus $40 for the meal. However your question made me think maybe it is for the entire meal and wine pairing. I did a quick google search and got conflicting information. This person in 2010 says it was $75 for just the wine on top of the food: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1216297. This person in 2011 says it was $75 for both food and wine: http://www.vacationcruisesinfo.com/content/Allure-of-the-Seas-Cruise-Review/150-Central-Park.htm.

 

So I'm very confused. The menu made it look like it was $75 for the wine itself. You can see an example menu here: http://www.beyondships.com/RCI-OOS-Menu-3.html. It must be old as there was only the one pairing for $75 and not a cheaper one for $55. The fact that there was a cheaper one for $55 makes me thing that it is in fact the price of just the wine as otherwise it'd be only $15 for six glasses of wine. Makes no sense!

 

Hope that helps and hope you're getting very excited for your cruise.

[terpfan101]

Thank you so much for this! We will be on Allure over Thanksgiving week this year and are doing all three specialty restaurants you featured. We will be a family of 9 with a toddler, 11 year old and 16 year old. Should be interesting. Excited but a little nervous. My sister has been on the Oasis several times and she is planning the while trip so I feel in good hands. Again, I appreciate you!

 

You are very welcome. I'm guessing that you won't be going to all of those restaurants with the kids? I know they don't allow children under a certain age in the specialty restaurants, the 16 year old would be allowed though. The only one I'd think is good for kids is Giovanni's. I think Thanksgiving week would probably be a great time to go on a cruise so you should have a great time!

 

I'm going to try to post my next part later tonight. :)

[jill5269]

I'm so sorry! I meant to say a fee for restaurant reservations not used.

[FutureMrsRe]

Yes thank you that helps a lot! We are getting married on embarkation day before the ship leaves. We have around 35-50 people I'm not sure if we are using the chapel, they don't finalize all the details on the venue until mid October. That's a little disappointing about Izumi we were really looking forward to that! Did you get any pictures of the pinnacle lounge by chance since you were by the chapel? That is where our reception is supposed to be. Thanks so much for the help!

[terpfan101]

I'm so sorry! I meant to say a fee for restaurant reservations not used.

 

Ah in that case if you've booked a reservation and don't cancel within 24 hours you'll be charged $10 per person.

[terpfan101]

Yes thank you that helps a lot! We are getting married on embarkation day before the ship leaves. We have around 35-50 people I'm not sure if we are using the chapel, they don't finalize all the details on the venue until mid October. That's a little disappointing about Izumi we were really looking forward to that! Did you get any pictures of the pinnacle lounge by chance since you were by the chapel? That is where our reception is supposed to be. Thanks so much for the help!

 

http://www.beyondships.com/RCI-ALOS-Tour-3.html

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1364182

 

I went in there one night to have a peak and it was empty but looked like a decent size for that small of a reception.

[nancydru]

You are very welcome. I'm guessing that you won't be going to all of those restaurants with the kids? I know they don't allow children under a certain age in the specialty restaurants, the 16 year old would be allowed though. The only one I'd think is good for kids is Giovanni's. I think Thanksgiving week would probably be a great time to go on a cruise so you should have a great time!

 

I'm going to try to post my next part later tonight. :)

 

Yes, only my 16 year old can go into 150. I think my 11 and 16 year old are both going to the other two. Actually my 11 year old will turn 12 the week before we leave so she will be a bit older. Can't wait for the port reviews! Thanks!

[ksg]

Is it possible to get a veggie dog at the hot dog house?

[beachbuddy]

Is it possible to get a veggie dog at the hot dog house?

 

Doesn't look like it..................try this link:

 

http://www.cruisereviews.com/forum/royal-caribbean-cruise-line/22458-allure-seas-doghouse-photos.html

[snorkelman]

Any ETA for the compass?

[ksg]

Doesn't look like it..................try this link:

 

http://www.cruisereviews.com/forum/royal-caribbean-cruise-line/22458-allure-seas-doghouse-photos.html

 

Thanks. Too bad. I guess there's not a lot of demand for "not" dogs.

[terpfan101]

I was very excited to go to Labadee again as I had been there on my Navigator cruise back in 2004 but had heard a lot about how much it has changed in the last several years. Some people said for it changed for better others for worse. As I mentioned earlier, we ate dinner on the second night with our new friends Aaron and Amy. They invited us and Todd and Stacy to join them in their cabana on Barefoot Beach. How exciting! Since we decided to meet them at about 9:30AM that morning I decided that we should have room service for breakfast.

 

I just realized I forgot to touch on room service during my food review. Well room service was very good. We ordered it twice and each time used the menu on the TV to order. Both times the order came on time (at the start of the 30 minute window we specified) and they called about 10-15 minutes before hand to say they were on the way. The food was good and the portions just right. Here I am enjoying our balcony with breakfast as you can see the mountains in Labadee in the background.

 

 

We met everyone in the Crown Loft suite and headed out to Labadee. The last time I was there we had to tender in. No more tendering which was great. It definitely took too much time the last time. We were on and off the ship in under just a few minutes...no lines to be found!

 

 

We took a few pictures and made our way to Barefoot Beach when Aaron saw a guy and said we were going to Barefoot Beach. The man took us on a golfcart to the beach. He gave us all a wristband. I believe Aaron told the concierge the day before that we'd be joining them and thus were on a list. We were shown to our over water cabana and I must say that I was very impressed. Prior to the cruise, I saw the cabanas and thought that they were a waste of money. After our day there, I take back any bad thing I may have said about them. They are wonderful! I'm not sure how the ones on Nellie's Beach compare though. Maybe it was just Barefoot Beach that was amazing. Here's the view from our cabana.

 

 

We had a cabana attendant who took our drink orders. He also brought us six floating beach mats. Sweet! I had recalled seeing that the cabana only comes with two, which I thought was a ripoff considering you can have up to six people in one. So it was really nice to have one each. Those alone are $12 to rent for the day, so having six covers about 35% of the cabana cost. We also had a cooler on our cabana that contained three large bottles of Evian which were included. The cabana had several sofa like seats and two lounge chairs. It was pretty cool inside too.

 

Anyway we spent much of the day just being in the water, chatting and getting to know one another. Lindsay and I kept saying to one another how nice it was and how appreciative we were of Aaron and Amy to invite us all to join them as it really made the day wonderful. It was easily my favorite stop during the cruise and I'm sure that was a result of spending the day with all of them on Barefoot Beach. So to Aaron when you read this...thank you again!!

 

Us in the water:

 

 

For lunch we were able to go to the "upgraded" buffet which was exclusively for Barefoot Beach (suite guests). The food was good. They had burgers, dogs, chicken, all of which were available to everyone. The "upgrade" was that they had scallops, shrimp, and steak available for us. I must say that those three items were pretty disappointing. The steak was definitely a cheap cut and overcooked. The shrimp was lacking in flavor and the scallops were just okay. So if you think that getting access to the upgraded buffet is a huge selling point of booking a cabana, you're in for a real let down. Maybe it's better and we just had a bad day. They also had a bunch of different side items like salads and veggies. We also got some drinks from the bar, where service was friendly. The bar menu was pretty limited though. They had some beers and a few mixed drinks on it. I'm sure you could have requested some other things though, but no frozen drinks were to be had.

 

One important note! DO NOT FORGET TO KEEP APPLYING SUNSCREEN! Each and every one of us got somewhat sunburned in Labadee. Those beach mats are terrible for that reason! You should have seen Todd's back. Anyway take precautions as the sun is strong in the Caribbean and with Labadee being the first port, people are likely to be less intense with the sunscreen until they get that bad burn.

 

Overall the day was amazing. As I said already, the cabanas are highly recommended, especially if you have six people to go with...not sure if I could justify it for just two people. Barefoot Beach was wonderful and really had a quiet island feeling to it. We didn't try any of the new activities such as the zipline, aqua park, or roller coaster, and frankly I'm not too upset over not having done them. The zipline would have been fun but was outrageous in price for a short ride, but I'd have liked to do that. I've done the Aqua Park elements at my summer camp. All in all though Labadee is amazing and I'd love to go back again.

 

More pictures to follow!

[terpfan101]

Couples pictures:

 

Lindsay and I:

 

Aaron & Amy (look at that water!!!):

 

Todd & Stacy:

 

My obligatory feet pics: :cool:

 

 

Up next: Falmouth, Jamaica

[terpfan101]

Any ETA for the compass?

 

Hi snorkelman. Thanks for being patient. I'm going to bring them to work and scan them next week I hope.

[kingsnake57]

very nice review!

From what I recall from last year on Oasis, it was $75 with wine pairing at 150.

I have a general question. I noticed you enjoying room service on your balcony. On Oasis, we tried a few times to order morning room service via the interactive TV. We were unsucessful each time. Did we do something wrong? Glitch in there system? Has anyone else had problems? On all the other ships we've been on, never had a problem.

[FutureMrsRe]

Quick question, when you went to the windjammer did you happen to eat the seafood paella? My fiancé wants it for the wedding & RC said we can have it as long as it was available on allure :) thank you!

[TNcruiser829]

Thank you for this review. The pics have been great. I hope you're not done yet.

[BekkaW]

This is a fabulous review! We're honeymooning on Oasis western route this November and I am now resolved to book the central park dining package and a cabanna in Labadee.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review :)

[terpfan101]

Hi everyone. Sorry I've not posted in a while. I've been pretty busy and was away for the weekend. Anyway to answer a few questions above, I'm surprised if it was $75 including wine pairing.

 

As far as the seafood paella in windjammer I don't recall for sure whether they had it there. Don't think so though.