Nov 4, Allure of the Seas, Western Caribbean - A Review and Complete Pictorial Guide!

[gambee]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

Then we went back to the room to change out of our wet clothes, my bf was in there. He told me he bought an internet card for $10 in the port, the $10 cover 24hrs. He told me it worked very well down there, but up here it was somewhat unpredictable.

 

Here is a picture of the card

 

 

 

And the building where he bought it.

 

 

I took a few more pictures from the balcony

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

After that we decided to go try the ice cream parlor, since none of the flavors appealed to us, we decided to get a drink of the day instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was wayyyyyyy too sweet for my taste, mom ended up having most of it.

 

 

[BearBear69]

So i have now noticed that this fabulous thread has five gold stars attached to it on the main page. How did you earn this and who puts them there?

 

None the less, I think they are WELL DESERVED!:D

 

BTW, we sailed Oasis when the Falmouth port opened for the very first time...to us, the biggest ship. The port certainly wasnt completed (as it still isnt!)....and Jamaica made it like a national holiday! All children in the area were let out of school for the day to come see us. There was a chain linked fence separating "us vs. them" and not only was it sad but it was downright scary when our tour bus went outside the gates. If i come across some of my pictures i will post. You would find them interesting.

We sail back to Falmouth this March on the Allure and although it looks much more complete, I 100% agree with you that many people have no interest in traveling an hour each way (or more!...Negril is 2 hrs away!) to any of the main attractions of the island. We also have the free spa vouchers (2 balc rooms booked) so we are looking forward to utilizing them. Bummer this is where RCCL had to build the port to accomodate these large ladies.

[WannaCruise365]

Gambee- what an excellent review- and your pictures are unreal.. May I please ask what camera brand and model your using? Thank you so much!

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

This review will be never-ending, right? I don't want it to end...

[mitsugirly]

I have spent HOURS reading this review and looking at the pictures. I have been trapped in this story, unable to pull myself away for anything (I must go potty now LOL :D). Wonderful review and LOVE the pictures and the way the storyline is being told.

 

I am booking marking this review because some day I hope to be on the Allure or Oasis and this is so helpful.

 

I found your post from a link you gave on the Cozumel board. Thanks so much.

 

I can't wait to read the rest of your review. :)

[Lorey2007]

Did you see or get any pictures of where you get the horse & buggy or the trolley, not the ones that are booked beforehand with RCCL? I've read hear you can just walk up and take either one for about $15pp.

[beachbuddy]

Wow Gambee, I've been sitting here reading for such a long time! Well, the time just flew by because I was enjoying your review and photos so much. Can't wait for tomorrow and Cozumel. Sounds like you and mom were having a great time. We're doing a B2B Dec 2 and 9th and I already know I won't be going outside the gates in Falmouth. We did book a beach tour with RCCL and I'm hoping there are no venders there bothering us.

[Beth C]

Did you see or get any pictures of where you get the horse & buggy or the trolley, not the ones that are booked beforehand with RCCL? I've read hear you can just walk up and take either one for about $15pp.

 

I did the $15 tour in January when I was on Liberty. You get on towards the far side of the compound - after the craft market in the middle. It was a good little tour that took you to a couple churches and basically did a drive by commentary of the area. The attached pic shows it in reference to the ship. The people standing on the lower right is where you got on.

 

 

Sent from my Speak & Spell using Tapatalk

[rubrrick]

While, after spending most of the afternoon enjoying such a wonderful review, and what makes it longer than normal, is all of the comments along the way.........just like this one, to tell one certain gentleman, gambee, what a wonderful job he has done to make it possible for so many, that have not have had a chance to explore the Allure, let alone have such an experience that he has had.........to join him as he goes cruising!

 

gambee.......thank you for an incredible review, in your second language!;)

 

Rick

[mitsugirly]

Oh also, was wondering if you did happen to do a review on your NCL cruise? If so, is there a link? :p

[lyndasilk]

Just love your review and thanks for taking so much care to give us all the details and photos! My DD and I will be going on Allure in April and can't wait! We're even more excited after reading your review!

 

Thanks from another one of your Canadian neighbors!

[Newwbeee]

 

 

 

 

Love this pic!

[dmwnc1959]

Gambee, I can't believe you risked going outside the complex just to take pictures for all of us! You are truly amazing. Thanks for all you did to make this review so special.

 

This review will be never-ending, right? I don't want it to end...

 

Amen and a High Five to both of these comments!

 

Ah, Falmouth. Your pictures (absolutely amazing, by the way!) brought back a flood of emotions from my visit last December, most of them not good ones, especially those involving that gauntlet outside the main gate. Left a really nasty taste in my mouth. :( When I'm there next month Carnival Breeze will be docked there too. Maybe even more reason to stay on the ship.

 

Some of the arts and crafts sold by vendors inside the RCI port complex were quite amazing, weren't they? Some very talented people.

 

Keep up the excellent work. Definitely a Five Star review! :D

[northwoods2]

Thank you for your Falmouth pictures outside the gate. This is nowhere near as bad as I had anticipated from people's descriptions. Now I feel comfortable with planning something outside the gates. The poverty here is nothing compared to what we saw in South Africa and I doubt they could be more pushy than the wood carver's market in Namibia.

[LABCHICK]

This is by far one of the best reviews I have read. Your pictures are amazing. We wil be doing a B2B on the Allure on Dec.2 &9 and are so excited after reading your review.

[gambee]

I work all day today, but I want to make a few posts before leaving to work so you folks have something to read at work ;-). I will answer all the questions from work when I have some free time.

 

 

 

 

After we had the drink in our hands, I decided to try a different dog, this time I ordered the wunderdog. Once again I had something completely different in mind, but to my surprised this dog was amazing, so tasty. I am almost sure that it's a veal hot dog.

 

 

 

 

 

After that we went up stairs to our balcony to see the sail-way, mom enjoyed her drink and I enjoyed my dog, she ate some of it. Meanwhile my bf was seeing "The hunger Games" on tv, on a side note, I loved the book trilogy, but the movie is just horrible.

 

Anyway back to the cruise, as we sat there we notices that there was a lot of smoke coming out of many house in the island. The most logical conclusion we came out with was that a lot of house holds do their cooking with ovens fueled with wood. It almost looked like the houses were on fire. We sat there and enjoyed sail away. During our cruise we found out that this was one of our favorite activities, mom and I loved it. The feeling is just one that words cannot describe, I think it is one of the things that we will look forward the most in our future cruises.

 

here is a short video for sail away; http://youtu.be/ETPEkEutdKg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

You can see the smoke that I was taking about in this picture, it is by the mountains all the way in the back

 

 

 

 

At 8:20 we went to the MDR for dinner, we were quickly seated in a table near our table of day two, we loved the location it had a great view.

 

Here is the menu for that day

 

Since I had an idea that both mom and were going to have meat I decide to order a bottle of red wine from our wine package. We ordered one of the most expensive Cabs of the package. It was a good wine for that day, but nothing special.

 

 

[gambee]

As I am sure you noticed by now, mom loves her soups, so I ordered her a clam chowder. I usually do most of the ordering for her. I am usually very aware of what she likes and what she does not. Also remember she had no glasses, she had lost them earlier that day. So yeah…. she was blind, lol

 

She loved the soup. It came nice and warm to the table.

 

I ordered the carpaccio. I will try to be fair here, it was more like a roast beef than a carpaccio. The one in Giovanni's was much much better, like real carpaccio. Now don't get me wrong I enjoyed it very much that night, it just did not have the consistency of a carpaccio.

 

Since my bf did not see any appetizers that he really liked, he asked me what else did we want. I told him to order the ceviche, I really wanted to try it. It was not like my usual ceviche, but it was very good. Between mom and I we ate everything!

 

For dinner my mom got the Manhattan strip steak from the classic menu. She finally nailed what she was looking for, it was a very nice piece of meat. We ordered it medium rare as she likes it. I was very happy that she liked it :)

 

After my complete disappointment at the rack of lamb on my first night, I was a little hesitant at ordering it again. I asked the server what he recommended and he said the rack of lamb, who was I to say otherwise? So I went with his recommendation and ordered it. To my surprised this was much much much better, it was actually a very good rack of lamb, I was very happy with my decision. I cleaned up that plate!!!! Most importantly the meat was nice and tender, no jaw pain the next day ;-)

[gambee]

My bf was pretty boring that day and ordered a fetuccini pomodoro, I guess it was good, there is no real way you can mess up that dish. No worries, he had something else later on. :)

 

 

 

OMG DESSERT!!!!!!!! That day was the best dessert day at the MDR EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Mom had the warm chocolate cake, it was fantastic!!!! You can see there that she was too fast for me and took a bite before I grabbed my camera, lol. No mom, no, stop!!! She loves her chocolate :D

 

My bf had the two-tone, he ate it all, it was very tasty, but my least favorite out of the 3.

[gambee]

The winner of the night BY FAR was my creme brulee, I am really not sure how to describe it. My mouth has felt pleasures like that one on the rarest of occasions. When I took the first bite I simply melted into that chair and forgot about all my worries in life. Next thing I knew my mom was trying to steal my dessert, once again, no mom, no! lol, stay away from my dessert! nah, just messing with you, we shared everything :)

 

On my way out I took another picture of the wine dispenser, this time with my tripod. It came out very clean.

 

The service that night was great, we were lucky enough to get Pochara again and he shined as always!

 

 

After dinner mom and I went to the Viking for ladies night out, as usual we had a great time. I had my usual Dirty martini and mom finished her glass of wine.

 

 

In the mean time my bf went to get some food, he really did not eat at all in the MDR. This is what he got. Not sure what it is, he said a little of everything and it looked that way.

 

 

 

 

Ok crew this is it for today, I have to get ready and go to work. I hope you enjoyed the food, now I am hungry and there is nothing to eat :-(, lol.

[gambee]

I have spent HOURS reading this review and looking at the pictures. I have been trapped in this story, unable to pull myself away for anything (I must go potty now LOL :D). Wonderful review and LOVE the pictures and the way the storyline is being told.

 

I am booking marking this review because some day I hope to be on the Allure or Oasis and this is so helpful.

 

I found your post from a link you gave on the Cozumel board. Thanks so much.

 

I can't wait to read the rest of your review. :)

 

Thanks for stopping by, I am very glad that you liked my review. Feel free to share it with friends and family.

 

I hope you really get to try lady Allure one day, she is FANTASTIC!