Biased and inconsistent Allure review: read at your own risk

[ginrom]

Yep, me too.

 

Me too!

[animallovers2]

great review. can't wait to read more. we have 89 days to go, group of 10, first cruise for most. I love this site. excellent advice, tips, and reviews. thanks

[teddie]

Great review so far; thanks for the details. We are also in NJ, and have also sailed the Explorer several times. So here's my question: we adore the Explorer, but imagine that experiencing a new and sensational ship must be great--but--did you miss the Ex at all? Would sailing back on the Ex be difficult after sailing the Allure?

 

Thanks!

 

Teddie

[Gordo]

Thank you for posting your review. The information you shared will help with our planning. We can't wait to read about the rest of your experience.

[ginrom]

Great review so far; thanks for the details. We are also in NJ, and have also sailed the Explorer several times. So here's my question: we adore the Explorer, but imagine that experiencing a new and sensational ship must be great--but--did you miss the Ex at all? Would sailing back on the Ex be difficult after sailing the Allure?

 

Thanks!

 

Teddie

 

Hi- I've been on the Explorer twice since being on the Oasis and I thought the exact same thing; would we miss not having everything that's on the Oasis. I'm happy to report that we didn't miss it. We loved the Oasis but also love the Explorer. My husband would say he missed the flow rider but that's it. Yes, it's nice to have other dining options but that's about it for us. I'd take driving 4 hours to Bayonne over having to fly. That being said, we're going on the Liberty in November! :)

[ALSEAU]

Great review thanks for sharing. Will you be posting anything about "Quest"?

[JamesEM]

Looking forward to more of your review.

[darceyg]

Subscribing - great review.

 

 

Brilliant, we are on Allure in two weeks time and can't wait!

 

Thanks for posting :)

[Wilda]

Enjoying this! Thanks for taking the time:)

[jarz85]

Nice review. Any chance we can have some pics too? Or a link to the pictures? It just helps me imagining what the cruise is like lol

[denamo]

So to take advantage of the BOGO we booked Giovanni’s for the first night. It seems to get the best overall reviews so I figured it was a safe choice and not too much $ for 5 people. I thought the restaurant would be packed since all time slots were not available, but there were only about 4 other tables there.

 

The bread served is not like Portofino has; it was just ok, but it saves room for other stuff. We took the waiter’s advice and got the Caesar salad, scallops, and potato flatbread for starters. It was all good. We deviated from his recommended pastas (I really think they don’t like it when you do this; they know what people like best because they are serving the same things day in and day out). So of course everyone loved his recommended pasta and mine was mostly left over. :sads: I will never not listen to you again, Giovanni. For dinner we all got different entrees and everyone liked what they got. I think we got tiramisu for dessert? Whatever it was, they liked it.

 

After BOGOing my way through dinner I topped it off with 3 complimentary cappuccinos and we were done. By this time, the restaurant was full. I thought our experience was very good, but one of our M&Mers went later in the week and she had an unfortunate experience. Maybe she could comment on that if she reads this!

 

 

We are the ones Marci22 is talking about here. We took advantage of a speciality dining package. We ate at Chops, Giovanni's, and Samba's. We had previously eaten at Giovanni's on the Oasis and looked forward to eating here again. We had great dining expereinces at Chops and Samba's on the Allure this past week. Our Giovanni's experience was less than stellar. We have never been cruise complainers before and really try to give the benefit of the doubt while on board. Our experience is that the staff works extremely hard at their jobs, and we are appreciative of all they do.

Here are our experiences at Giovanni's:

1. It was extremely cold in the restaurant. Two different groups asked to be moved to outdoor seating. Others around were using the tablecloth to try and cover up with. In retrospect, we should have asked to move outdoors as well.

2. We witnessed two other tables of two come in after us, get served and leave before we even had our entree. Maybe they are fast eaters. :D

3. I ordered the fish and it was under cooked. They did offer to send it back, but by this time, we had already been in the restaurant for 2+ hours. I was so cold, I just didn't want to be there anymore. I told them not to replace it. I truly was fine with no replacement. Just wish it had been cooked properly the first time. :( My husband's beef was very good! He shared. :)

4. Asked for the chocolate cannoli and was served the vanilla one. It was good! Husband got a chocolate dessert that was also very good. Did not mention my mixup to our waiter.

I think our Giovanni's experience could best be described as a comedy of errors. I do want to be fair with our experience. With the exception of my fish entree being under cooked, the other food items were good. Time between courses, however, took quite a long time making our total dining time 2.75 hours. In the other speciality restaurants, we spent between 1.5 and 2 hours.

 

Our speciality dining experiences of Chops and Samba Grill were a complete 180 compared to Giovanni's Table. We did not dwell on Giovanni's; moved on, and had an absolutely wonderful cruise!! My hubby and I were still talking about the Allure yesterday and how much we enjoy cruising the Oasis class ships!

Lessons learned:

1. We have decided we like the lunch menu at Giovanni's better.

2. We will definitely move outside if inside temps are ever this cold again.

3. We will speak up next time if time between courses seems extreme.

[lisiamc]

So enjoying this review! Subscribing too.

[marci22]

Thanks for all the nice comments. Now I know why people always post "more later" and "I need to rest now..." writing it all down takes longer than you expect!

 

So here's my question: we adore the Explorer, but imagine that experiencing a new and sensational ship must be great--but--did you miss the Ex at all? Would sailing back on the Ex be difficult after sailing the Allure?

 

No, I don't feel that we ever really 'miss' a ship; there are always experiences that we have on vacation that were fun, crazy, interesting, and that is what we talk about most when we come home. We remember riding the Segways, me telling the kids to stay up late because the captain said we could see the volcano erupting, the Rome tour guide who got on my nerves, savory bites, "ma'am! that is TWO entrees!!" (mean Jamaican waiter, lol), the fish swarming us the first time at Sapphire, gelato every day, stuff like that. There will always be something special about a particular vacation, and the ship plays a part, but it's not the most important thing.

 

If I had to pick something specific we remember about Allure as a ship, it would be the food and the shows. We were *always* eating, H and S/s were always going to the hot dog stand, Promenade Cafe, Park Cafe, I was aghast, "eating again??" And the shows: H likes musicals and production shows; me and the S/s, not as much. But my kids knew that we wanted to spend family time and they sat through every single show with us, lol. They did like Oceanaria & Comedy, but not Chicago or Blue Planet. They were amazed that the song "All That Jazz" is from Chicago because they use it in nearly every RC production show and they often start singing it at home to be funny.

 

Great review thanks for sharing. Will you be posting anything about "Quest"?

 

Unfortunately, no. It was very late one night, 11:45pm. I told my kids to go watch it (it was rated PG 13) but they didn't get there.

 

Nice review. Any chance we can have some pics too? Or a link to the pictures? It just helps me imagining what the cruise is like lol

 

Ah, the pictures. I actually didn't take that many pictures. And I am terrible with operating technology; my kids usually do everything for me. For pictures, I suggest reading through the other recent, very stellar reviews. It looked the same ;)

[marci22]

Denamo, thanks for posting your experience. (I kept running into Denamo at Park Cafe, she eats A LOT!) :p

 

I just looked at my notes and I'm minorly panicking because I wrote nothing for days 6 & 7. When I get there, I'll have to ask my kids what we did. You're going to hear a lot of, "got food, went up to deck 15, got tacos, out to the water wings, got food", etc...

[jarz85]

Denamo, thanks for posting your experience. (I kept running into Denamo at Park Cafe, she eats A LOT!) :p

 

I just looked at my notes and I'm minorly panicking because I wrote nothing for days 6 & 7. When I get there, I'll have to ask my kids what we did. You're going to hear a lot of, "got food, went up to deck 15, got tacos, out to the water wings, got food", etc...

 

Hahah that's the perfect cruise! Walk around, get food, do something else then get more food. Repeat that over and over and you will have a good time!

[Ocean Boy]

Great review so far; thanks for the details. We are also in NJ, and have also sailed the Explorer several times. So here's my question: we adore the Explorer, but imagine that experiencing a new and sensational ship must be great--but--did you miss the Ex at all? Would sailing back on the Ex be difficult after sailing the Allure?

 

Thanks!

 

Teddie

 

I thought I might comment on this as Explorer is a very special ship for us since it was our first Voyager class cruise as well as our first RCI cruise. Every ship that we have sailed on has been special in its own right because of various things that we experienced as a family during that particular cruise. We have been on Adventure several times because we just love the southern Caribbean. But I would not say that we "miss" a ship when we book a different one. Every cruise has its own special moments that become associated with a particular ship.

 

I, too, was a bit concerned about returning to Voyager and Freedom class ships after sailing the Oasis class. However, our last cruise on Navigator was just as enjoyable as all of the rest. And we will be doing Independence next. I was very concerned that not having the Aqua Theather would be a disappointment as I really enjoy that venue. But it turns out that I just take advantage of it when we are on a ship that has it and we occupy ourselves with other things when we are on a ship that doesn't. I think the major point is to just enjoy the amenities of whatever ship you happen to be on at the time rather than spending a lot of time thinking about what particular venues are missing.

[Ocean Boy]

Denamo, thanks for posting your experience. (I kept running into Denamo at Park Cafe, she eats A LOT!) :p

 

I just looked at my notes and I'm minorly panicking because I wrote nothing for days 6 & 7. When I get there, I'll have to ask my kids what we did. You're going to hear a lot of, "got food, went up to deck 15, got tacos, out to the water wings, got food", etc...

 

The great thing about the size of Oasis and Allure is that you can burn off a lot of calories walking from one food venue to the next!

[marci22]

Day 4 was St. Thomas – We went to Sapphire beach. I took my C&A gift bottle of wine, some chips from Park Cafe and the snacks from the basket. They didn’t check bags at all here on the way out. Maybe because it is a US port?

Warning: crabbiness ahead :mad:

We got a cab at the taxi stand. It was already full so we were split up into every row and H and S16 sat in the front with the driver. I really should have demanded to wait for another cab and I’m sure the price would have come down a bit. Tip: If they try to stuff you into a cab in St. Thomas or St. Martin, make a stink. Just say “we will wait for the next cab”, “we want to ride up front”, or in the same row, or whatever. They will usually get you another cab or drop the price a bit. We saw this happen several times this trip and last so I think people are growing weary of the rude taxi drivers in these two ports.

Also if the cab driver keeps waiting and waiting for more passengers, insist he go or you will get off the taxi and onto another one. I saw people doing this as well. Don’t be a meek consumer, speak up! Once someone starts complaining, the rest will chime in! You will not be alone, lol. I do not tip these rude shuttle drivers and I don't think they expect it. They don’t seem to care because they are making a nice amount at the pp rate. Don’t feel guilty, Americans! Do not tip them!

 

We got to the beach and the other group was going to the marina section of the complex, so he dropped us there as well. Husband said, “aren’t you going to drop us at the entrance?” and he basically said “no”. This is why I don’t like St. Thomas taxi drivers, they pack you in and throw you off. $55 for rudeness. He offered to lower the price $1pp if we arranged a pick up time (round trip fare) but we declined.

Last time we were here, we had a great day. My kids only like the beach if there is "something to do" and there is good snorkeling here. The kids liked it so much we decided to do it again. This time it wasn’t as good in some ways, but we still had fun. Here is a copy and pasted review I did from the St. Thomas board.

 

We got to Sapphire a little after 10am and it was already getting packed. I noticed about 50 chairs set up and asked if we could have one; the man said no, it was for a tour group :(. He was also rather surly; the last time the guys running the stand and setting up chairs were so nice.

 

Some people set up their chairs right in front of us at around 12:15pm. (like 2 feet in front of us, completely blocking my little ocean view :( They apologized, but they didn’t move, lol). They were on a jeep tour through the ship. It was just so crowded. It was chair to chair on my left, on my right, and in front of me. There was a tree behind me or I think someone would have been there, too. I think it affected the fish too because we didn't see as many this time.

 

There was construction going on at the condos. Bathrooms were clean and there was TP and also a bottle of SoftSoap on the counter. I don't remember the men’s and women’s rooms being so close to each other, though. When I left the bathroom I passed by the door to the men’s room and saw a man using the urinal :eek: (hey I am starting to notice a theme here lol).

 

The bar service was also lacking. There was a guy from the 'restaurant' who seemed nice, but the Banana Cabana waiter was a lunatic. He was wearing a crazy getup that looked like pajama pants and a weird hat. His hair was matted and he looked rather unwashed.

 

After he took our order, he asked for a $10 'prepayment'. Huh? He also made some unfortunate comments, in front of my kids, while taking the order (sex related) I should have cancelled my drinks order right there; I didn't order from him again. There was another guy taking food orders for the complex restaurant and he was nice, but we didn’t order food because we knew it would take forever. If you want food for lunch, best to ask them how long orders are taking because they really get backed up if it is crowded.

 

I just didn't have the best time this visit. I have been very positive about Sapphire in the past but it seems to have gone downhill as it has gotten 'popular'. I told my sister about it and she said it was empty when they went last January. Another poster said the same thing, so I guess it’s just luck. I expected less crowds as I thought we were the only ship in port but maybe that was the problem! If we went to St. Thomas again I would probably do some type of private sailing tour in order to avoid the crowds and the taxis.

 

Tonight in the MDR it was the ‘surf and turf’ night: beef shoulder and 3 shrimp. I ordered it, but I thought the beef on the Park Café sandwich was better. This is a good night for a specialty reservation. (The mushroom soup was very good though.) Afterwards, H and S/s went to see Mo5aic, the headliner show. They use their voices as instruments. They liked it but they didn’t love it. Mo5aic was signing autographs in the Promenade 2-3pm on Day 7.

 

I was tired from our day so I caught up with some stuff in the room. This was the bag of laundry day: leave it out Thursday and it comes back by Friday evening. My son gave me a shirt to wash and I did not put it in the bag for some reason, so the next day H called our poor room steward while I was out of the room. It was a Nintendo-type shirt with pictures of the characters so he was describing it to Jose. Jose was like, “What is a Yoshi??” It’s funny if you know the Mario party characters. He had to call him back and tell him not to worry (thinking of this still makes me laugh).

[marci22]

The great thing about the size of Oasis and Allure is that you can burn off a lot of calories walking from one food venue to the next!

 

I gained about 2-3 pounds during this trip. I wanted to eat more but it was not possible! There is so much food on this ship, and most of it is pretty good. I did want to try Vintages for tapas but never got there; I just couldn't fit it in.

[denamo]

Denamo, thanks for posting your experience. (I kept running into Denamo at Park Cafe, she eats A LOT!) :p

 

 

Too funny, Marci22! LOL!

 

I do want to say that I think we just had an "off" experience at Giovanni's. Our previous experiences at Giovanni's on the Oasis were nothing like this.

 

BTW...I think you are giving a good review!

[marci22]

Day 5 St. Martin: omg it was so hot; I was a little bit worried about surviving today.

 

We were going to Maho for a couple hours and I wanted to buy some liquor in the port so we walked over to Front St. This was very easy: you leave the big gates to the rightish and then follow a wide, cement walkway into town. The first half was shaded by palm trees which was nice. It took ~10 min to get to the beginning (eastern end) of Front St.

 

I was looking for bottled water and I found a little shop that was just opening up. I wish I remember the name, but it was in a little complex before you get to the actual Front St. He had frozen bottles of Dasani that he guaranteed me would last the whole day. They did! Security made me throw away my bottle before reboarded. (I said, “but it still has a big piece of ice in it! Alcohol doesn’t freeze! Security was mean here). $1.50 each bottle. Try to find him! :)

 

We got onto Front St. and I looked for a liquor shop. I found one a couple blocks in, called Friendly Duty Free. His prices were the cheapest I’ve seen. $22 1L Cointreau ($27 onboard) and $15 Guavaberry Rum ($18 right outside the ship in that little sample place) etc. The requirement is 2 bottles but I only planned to buy 1 since I was flying home. They let me purchase one bottle if I paid cash. Happy to say it arrived on the ship just fine, thanks FDF! :) http://www.best-stmartin.com/detail.asp?storeID=5137&catID=2&typID=16

 

We kept walking and we were getting hot. My kids wanted to stop in a jewelry shop (they have the best A/C) but I said no because then I have to listen to their sales pitch. We finally found a Tommy Hilfiger and I recommend retail clothing stores for cooling off because they don’t bug you to buy nearly as much. There is a Ralph Lauren store in San Juan (omg so hot there) that I highly recommend for their nice A/C!

 

So we cooled off and then started looking for the local bus. It was $2pp (vs 8 pp for party of 6-14) and I wanted to try it. Found the bus stop on Back St., behind the Court House and over about 50ft west. We got in with some ladies who were on their way to work. Once the van got moving out of traffic we had a nice breezy ride to Maho, making a few stops along the way. I asked the girl in front of me where to get off and she told me, but she also told the bus driver to be sure to let us off when she got off at the stop before ours. So nice of her! Wish I could have given her a Wow card! He dropped us off at the roundabout and it was about a 200yd walk to Maho.

 

We were supremely lucky to get a nice table in the shade under the tent. We got rounds of drinks and some food while we watched the planes come in. Air France came in around 1:30pm you can check here http://www.sxmarrivaltimes.com/arrivaltimes.htm

 

We took a taxi back to avoid the extra walking. Don’t worry about getting a taxi back: all the drivers sit near the bar looking for fares. There were about 4-5 of them at all times waiting. I asked a driver how much (8pp) I told him fine, as long as you have a/c and we can sit in the first two rows. No problem. We had Albert from Ambassador. He gave a nice narrated tour on the way back; he seems to know everyone, and they were all wishing him a happy birthday. Was it really just his birthday? We may never know, but his commentary was really good (better than my Bernard’s driver) so we tipped him when we got off.

 

Tonight we had reservations at Izumi for 6pm. I had originally planned on Giovanni’s, but I wanted something lighter and the kids were interested in trying a new place. There aren’t a lot of reviews on Izumi, I’m not sure why. Maybe because this venue is pretty small compared to the other places?

 

You start off with complimentary edamame and miso soup. I do not usually like miso soup but I liked this one more than usual. H and S18 really liked it.

 

Ordering: S20 and S18 got the DX Sushi Combo (nigiri and tuna roll vs nigiri and veg roll) $17 each I got the Champagne Lobster Roll ($8) H got the Hakujin ($15) and S16 got the Chicken and Beef Skewer Rock ($7.50) and some kind of roll (~$6).

 

Generally, our meal was good. It was all very fresh. My lobster roll was a bit bland, but H and S/s really liked their meals. S20 and S18 agreed that there was not much tuna in the tuna roll.

 

S16’s hot rock: this is so gimmicky and I didn’t want him to have a 500 degree rock in front of him but he really wanted to do it. The server made it clear that “you will have to cook your own food”. I guess they’ve gotten complaints about it. He loved it though. They give you these mini (mini. Really small.) skewers of chicken, beef and veg, and some additional par-boiled carrots and broccolini. You have to cook the meat on the rock, but it is difficult to fit it all on at once, and if you don’t, your rock starts to cool off. Also, the meat really sticks to the rock and you lose some if it, plus you have to worry about the raw chicken touching anything else. Way too much work for too little gain, if you ask me. But as I said, S16 loved it.

 

H’s meal was the best, imo. It was $15 and you got a nice crispy chicken app, 2 good rolls, and a dessert (he chose the sampler). Can’t go wrong with this choice. When we got the bill, it noted that the server would receive a 15% tip and you could add more if you got ‘excellent service’. I thought it was good that they finally came out and said what the server got so you weren’t left wondering. Our bill came to ~$80 with service charge ($25) and meals.

 

That all being said, when we were done, we were hungry. Conveniently, WJ was right next door, soooo…….Went over to the WJ and we each got something. This was the only time we ate in WJ, and looking around, everything seemed attractively presented. The food I had was good. I know some people have complained that the WJ is awful but I didn’t see that.

 

Tonight was the Top Tier Event at 7:45pm. H and I went. Upon entering, you are offered a variety of wine, champagne, think I saw beer, and several mixed drinks. It was really very nice. Then the had the performers from the shows come out and sing 6 different songs. Ok I admit it, I could have done without it: get to the highest cruiser and the gossip!

 

So on this cruise, there were ~1700 C&A members out of 6280 total passengers (ship was packed). About 500 Ds? And 34 D+. The highest level cruisers, a couple that cruises about 6 times per year, had over 800 cruise points. They introduced them, gave them flowers and champagne (which looked like the same champagne I won at the M&M, just sayin’….) and then the husband gave a speech. He must have done this before because he had no trouble thinking of what to say.

 

We noticed them on the cruise, and the crew gave them a lot of attention. They hung out at the concierge desk one night when we were there, and the hotel director and headwaiter gave them lots of attention at lunch. We actually heard the husband talking about who he tips during the cruise because we were sitting near (but not near enough, I missed a lot lol). He said he spent about $300 in the CL and he was saying something like “I even tip her this amount”. I missed key info because H kept talking to me, I was like “shhh, I need this for cc”. So yeah this guy must be a really good tipper!

 

I don't remember the captain saying anything really surprising, maybe someone can add what they remember. At least no one will yell at me for propagating baseless rumors.

[marci22]

Too funny, Marci22! LOL!

 

I do want to say that I think we just had an "off" experience at Giovanni's. Our previous experiences at Giovanni's on the Oasis were nothing like this.

 

BTW...I think you are giving a good review!

 

I'm glad you are enjoying it because it is probably the only one I will ever do! It's harder than I thought and my typing is getting a little wonky; I have re-edited my last 2 posts about 50 times for mistakes.

 

Break time! ;)

[birdylady]

Really enjoying your review. Please keep it coming. I'm doing everything I can to be ready for our cruise in May 2013. :eek:

 

Erika

[temple1]

I'm glad you are enjoying it because it is probably the only one I will ever do! It's harder than I thought and my typing is getting a little wonky; I have re-edited my last 2 posts about 50 times for mistakes.

 

Break time! ;)

 

I'm also enjoying the review and info about the ports.

 

LOL, I can't type a simple sentence without a couple of corrections. :rolleyes:

 

But, if you do feel the need to write a review in the future - Cut and paste is your friend. Write it on Word and copy to the board. I find it much easier to edit because I always miss several typos.

[shorbr]

Wow, great review :)