Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

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

gambee

By gambee,
in Royal Caribbean International

 Share

Recommended Posts

QTMichele

QTMichele

Posted
Posted

Thanks so much for taking the TIME and EFFORT writing this review and sharing your photographs with us. I understand how much time these reviews take, and I applaud your work! This is a great resource for those planning a trip on an Oasis class ship, and so great to pass along some time dreaming about cruising. :)

 

I've sailed on Allure twice, and think she is a beautiful ship with so many opportunities for memory making. Even though she isn't perfect, we had wonderful times and love her! We've booked Oasis for 2014 - can't wait to compare the two (I'm especially looking forward to comparing the shows). Anyhooo... your review really brought back some magical memories. It was so much fun living vicariously through you and re-living our experience (and dreaming about our upcoming one!). THANK YOU!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TheSeawitch

TheSeawitch

Posted
Posted

I took this picture before entering the theater, Mother and daughter were indescribable. Everyone stopped and complimented them.

http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b579/Gambee/DSC07997_zpsf6129fd7.

First, hank you so much! I can't stop reading! It's after 2am. But I can't help it. I love the mom and daughter photo, it brought back memories of my last cruise with my daughter on Navigator. She was only 10 at the time and loved having a gown that matched mine. Still one of my most treasured photos! She's 18 now and in college, and won't be attending with me in February. I'm pretty sad about it! But it's a good excuse to book more in the future. I only hope she likes traveling with me, as much as you do with your mom.

Also the extra guacamole comment made me laugh loud! I'm on my phone in bed next to my snoring fiancé... I actually woke him, which isn't easy!lol

I can't wait to read more tomorrow( wait, it is tomorrow).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TheSeawitch

TheSeawitch

Posted
Posted (edited)

The end was bittersweet! My fiancé can finally stop criticizing me for 'obsessing' over the cruise, because of my addiction to your review.:)

However seeing the photo of the luggage in the hall I almost cried! The entire review really brought me back to some of the best memories of my life when my daughter and I went on NOTS Western Caribbean itinerary. Especially Cozumel. We loved Cozumel! We missed out on Labadee because of some political turmoil at the time. I was really sad about that, and even more so now. My daughter's is Hatian, and I'd love to visit the island in a safe way and for her to have that experience as well! We stopped at Ochos Rios, and had a beautiful time. I'm sorry you weren't able to see Jamaica in the same way. I never knew that about Jamaica! You would think with a history of violent discrimination, and Racism the Jamaican people would have a different perspective on life!

This upcoming cruise on Allure is an Eastern Caribbean, which I've always dreamed of! My father lived in St. Thomas for many years, and I can't wait to see his island, and be blessed to see my friends marry there. :) You have given me so much information to better my upcoming vacation! :)

Any advise for visiting Fort Lauderdale? :)

p.s. I apologize that my quote didn't work out on my last post. It was late, and I'm under the weather.

Thank you for sharing your adventures! I truly appreciate it.

I'm going to share this link with the wedding group we're traveling with. Its about 60 of us!

~Ursula

Edited by TheSeawitch
Link to comment
Share on other sites
gambee

gambee

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Gambee, i'm very excited to hear you will be cruising again soon! I'm looking forward to your review of the Reflection!!!

 

Gambee, I'm so happy to hear you'll be cruising again.:-) I'll definitely be looking forward to another Gambee cruise review!!

Heather

 

We are stoked about the upcoming cruise. I am trying to find information about it, but it just started sailing sailing the Caribbean last week so info is limited.

 

 

 

Gambee, on my first two cruises, I went with someone, but they had so much drama going on and couldn't leave it behind that it just about ruined my cruises. I didn't cruise for awhile as you can see in my "taken cruises" area because I wanted to get someone to go with me. Well,my other friends don't like to cruise, nor family either so I said the heck with it, I have a passion or addiction for cruising so I'm just going to go ahead and do it. It's more expensive but it's working for me and I am meeting the most interesting people along the way. I will be cruising again in 2014 by myself to the Western Caribbean, unless someone jumps up and decides to go. I will be following along here any future cruises you care to share about. This has been fascinating and informative reading and I have read a lot of reviews and threads here but nothing quite measures up to yours. Thanks for sharing.

 

Glad you decided to cruise even alone, I think I would do the same if I had no one to cruise with. Unfortunately the price tag is a little unappealing when cruising solo, but I guess it is a sacrifice that has to be made. Who knows maybe you by then you will find someone to go with you. Happy sailings =)

 

Just popped back in and saw the next cruise already planned... PERFECT timing to get me through the last month waiting for my Hawaii cruise... Sail April 6-13th, review starts April 14/15... You have exactly 23 days to complete your review since I leave May 9 and it has to be finished before I leave ;-) No pressure lol

 

Friends of mine always sail Celeb and have nothing but great things to say about the booze pkg... You'll love that part... Especially when mom steals your drinks :-)

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

You're funny, got a good laugh out of me.

 

As far as the booze package goes, I am afraid that it will not be convenient for us. Like you stated, mom is always taking some of my drink and I am afraid that the company will see it as sharing (I guess technically we are sharing) or stealing. In addition to that I am not sure if I can keep up with the 6 drinks a day that it takes for it to break even. Whoever you're allowed to purchase the package at any point of of the cruise, I was thinking to give it a test ride on our last day at sea and see how it plays out.

 

We will probably get mom's soda package, and just pay normal for my drinks, I was also thinking of getting the room bar setup. There are a few savings there and I do like making my own drinks to drink in our balcony.

 

 

Thanks so much for taking the TIME and EFFORT writing this review and sharing your photographs with us. I understand how much time these reviews take, and I applaud your work! This is a great resource for those planning a trip on an Oasis class ship, and so great to pass along some time dreaming about cruising. :-)

 

I've sailed on Allure twice, and think she is a beautiful ship with so many opportunities for memory making. Even though she isn't perfect, we had wonderful times and love her! We've booked Oasis for 2014 - can't wait to compare the two (I'm especially looking forward to comparing the shows). Anyhooo... your review really brought back some magical memories. It was so much fun living vicariously through you and re-living our experience (and dreaming about our upcoming one!). THANK YOU!

 

You know in a way I think I much rather had seen hair spray than Chicago (even though I missed Chicago), I would book Oasis in the future in a heart beat. I just have a list of other ships that I have to sail first ;)

 

 

The end was bittersweet! My fiancé can finally stop criticizing me for 'obsessing' over the cruise, because of my addiction to your review.:-)

However seeing the photo of the luggage in the hall I almost cried! The entire review really brought me back to some of the best memories of my life when my daughter and I went on NOTS Western Caribbean itinerary. Especially Cozumel. We loved Cozumel! We missed out on Labadee because of some political turmoil at the time. I was really sad about that, and even more so now. My daughter's is Hatian, and I'd love to visit the island in a safe way and for her to have that experience as well! We stopped at Ochos Rios, and had a beautiful time. I'm sorry you weren't able to see Jamaica in the same way. I never knew that about Jamaica! You would think with a history of violent discrimination, and Racism the Jamaican people would have a different perspective on life!

This upcoming cruise on Allure is an Eastern Caribbean, which I've always dreamed of! My father lived in St. Thomas for many years, and I can't wait to see his island, and be blessed to see my friends marry there. :-) You have given me so much information to better my upcoming vacation! :-)

Any advise for visiting Fort Lauderdale? :-)

p.s. I apologize that my quote didn't work out on my last post. It was late, and I'm under the weather.

Thank you for sharing your adventures! I truly appreciate it.

I'm going to share this link with the wedding group we're traveling with. Its about 60 of us!

~Ursula

 

I am glad that this review broth you good memories, I like taking lots of pictures that way its impossible to forget.

 

Ft. Lauderdale is really nice, I love living here. My guess is that you will only be here for a day or two. You could go downtown for a stroll and then to Las Olas for a walk on the beach. You could also go see the ships sailing away, I am sure everyone by now knows how much I love doing that. I am actually really excited about this coming sunday, because I have a new lens and there will be 6 ships in port, can't wait! Another thing to do is shopping, the sawgrass mall is huge and every time my family visits they go there, personally I hate it, too large, but everyone else loves it :p.

 

I actually had to look for what quote you were talking about. You want to know something funny? Well last sunday I attended to a wedding and I had borrowed a jacket from my boss to use in the wedding, but the problem was that the color of my pants and the jacket did not match. So guess who had to squeeze himself into that tinny suit again :D. I think its about time that I start working out again, who knows maybe I will looking much better this time around.

 

I hope you have a GRAND trip, thanks for sharing the review with your wedding group =)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hobiecat01

Hobiecat01

Posted
Posted

Gambee,

 

I have just spent the last three days reading and enjoying all of your pictures and comments. This has to be the BEST review ever placed on Cruise Critics or for that matter ever on the Internet. And that is not said lightly! I have read hundreds of them.

 

We have a group of seven couples cruising on the Allure in June, 2013 and I have sent notes to all of them to spend the time to read your review.

 

If it took me three days to read this all, I know it took many many hours to put this together. On behalf of all of us cruisers, we THANK YOU! This is why cruising is so much fun. It is the people that we meet as much as the places we go. After reading your review, I feel I have met you on a cruise and put you right up there with all of my prior cruise mates!

-------------------

Link to comment
Share on other sites
gambee

gambee

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Gambee,

 

I have just spent the last three days reading and enjoying all of your pictures and comments. This has to be the BEST review ever placed on Cruise Critics or for that matter ever on the Internet. And that is not said lightly! I have read hundreds of them.

 

We have a group of seven couples cruising on the Allure in June, 2013 and I have sent notes to all of them to spend the time to read your review.

 

If it took me three days to read this all, I know it took many many hours to put this together. On behalf of all of us cruisers, we THANK YOU! This is why cruising is so much fun. It is the people that we meet as much as the places we go. After reading your review, I feel I have met you on a cruise and put you right up there with all of my prior cruise mates!

-------------------

 

Thank you for commenting, hopefully the other couples find the review useful as well. I hope you guys have a great time during your cruise :-). I am looking forward to make an attempt to be more social in my upcoming cruise we will see how that works out.

 

 

Gambee, I picked up some Pango Rhum for you in Labadee. I would like to ship it to you as a gift for all your hard work. Send me your mailing address to Jen@borcic.net

 

 

Thank you so much!!!! =), you're the best!

 

 

 

Gambee, thank you for posting this terrific review! My husband and I went on the Allure, Western Caribbean, on our honeymoon. Your picture review brought back a lot of great memories!

 

You're very welcome, glad you enjoyed :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CroNich

CroNich

Posted
Posted

Your review was truly amazing, I am hoping to be on the Allure in early 2014 (either that or Norwegian Getaway), this review certainly helped in my decision. Just one thing, your bf seems like a bit of 'I dont like fun' sorta person, not a bad thing, its just i wondered how much he actually got out of this trip. Anyway thank you for all your time and effort

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Trekker954

Trekker954

Posted
Posted

Gambee: Regarding your comment on the dolphin encounter. I see you live in South Florida (me too). For my daughters 28th birthday last September, I took her and my son down to the Key Largo dolphin dove and we did the shallow water encounter (you can do the swim also). Its very convenient living in So. Flo. So you don't have to wait to return to cozumel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dancnlizard

Dancnlizard

Posted
Posted

Gambee

 

I continue to be impressed and amazed with your detail and your wonderful pictures! It was sad to see the end of your review but I eagerly (as all the people that have commented too I am sure) look forward to your next review and pictures from the Reflection! Your pictures and videos helped my family and extended family out at Chakanaab :D in addition to getting me and my hubby excited for our upcoming cruise on Oasis.

 

What a wonderful gift Gambee's mom! You have to be so proud of your son! Hope you both (and Gambee's bf!) have had a great weekend!

 

Gwen

Link to comment
Share on other sites
gambee

gambee

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Your review was truly amazing, I am hoping to be on the Allure in early 2014 (either that or Norwegian Getaway), this review certainly helped in my decision. Just one thing, your bf seems like a bit of 'I dont like fun' sorta person, not a bad thing, its just i wondered how much he actually got out of this trip. Anyway thank you for all your time and effort

 

I would love to do Getaway, but at this point in time the trip is just too expensive for me. Hopefully you get to try one of these 2 amazing vessels in 2014. I am going to wait for Miami to get Getaway, it might be a little more cost effective for me.

 

I hope you have a happy Christmas

 

 

I've just started your review...i'm only just starting on day 1 of the cruise, but i wanted to tell you how much i'm already enjoying it!!

thanks for taking the time and effort to share your cruise with us!!!!! :)

 

Glad to know your enjoying it, you're welcome.

 

 

Gambee: Regarding your comment on the dolphin encounter. I see you live in South Florida (me too). For my daughters 28th birthday last September, I took her and my son down to the Key Largo dolphin dove and we did the shallow water encounter (you can do the swim also). Its very convenient living in So. Flo. So you don't have to wait to return to cozumel.

 

I know, lol. There are plenty of places to the dolphin thing around here, but there is nothing like doing it when you're on vacation. I had a chance to do it a few years back, but due to the weather they cancelled our tour. Who knows maybe in the near future ;)

 

Gambee, your review and pictures were more than awesome. I spent the whole day reading it at work. You really have a ton of fans, including me and I can't wait until your next cruise.

 

You, your mom and your bf take care!

Warm Regards,

Sharon

 

Glad you enjoyed, thanks for taking the time to read and post in my review.

 

Happy Holidays :)

 

Gambee

 

I continue to be impressed and amazed with your detail and your wonderful pictures! It was sad to see the end of your review but I eagerly (as all the people that have commented too I am sure) look forward to your next review and pictures from the Reflection! Your pictures and videos helped my family and extended family out at Chakanaab :D in addition to getting me and my hubby excited for our upcoming cruise on Oasis.

 

What a wonderful gift Gambee's mom! You have to be so proud of your son! Hope you both (and Gambee's bf!) have had a great weekend!

 

Gwen

 

Glad I could add to your chankanaab plan, we had a great time there. Mom and I are looking forward for our time in Reflection, can't wait :D.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Gambee, do you remember if the Senor Frogs was inside the cuise compound in Cozumel?

 

yes it was, but that said. Cozumel is very safe, no need to worry there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
topanga49er

topanga49er

Posted
Posted

depends on size of your computer, but I think your picture size is perfect: I fully suscribe to the never too big! :D

I am enjoying your review. However, it would be better if you could make your pictures a bit smaller so that we don't have to scroll back and forth to read the text? Thanks.:)
Link to comment
Share on other sites
gambee

gambee

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Tank you so much for the info, great :-)

 

You're welcome

 

Absolutely AMAZING review! One of, if not, the best picture review I've seen on CC. Thank you so much for taking the time to posting! I feel like I was right there cruising with you

 

Thanks :)

 

depends on size of your computer, but I think your picture size is perfect: I fully suscribe to the never too big! :D

 

:D. Yeah that was a good size, most reviews are using it, fits the screen nicely.

 

Hi Gambee! In your honor I had a Dirty Martini with four olives on the Rising Tide bar one night. It was the only alcohol I had in the two weeks of my B2B. Allure was simply amazing. Going through cruise withdrawals is really hard. :(

 

Thanks :), wow only one drink in a 14 day cruise. Now you just have to book your next cruise to get rid of those withdrawal feelings.

 

can you please repost a link to your schedule? I really need to do one for our April 7 allure trip. Thank you so much, carri

 

You can download it from this post http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=36033994&postcount=15

 

it is all the way at the end of that post.

 

Incredible review. The best I've ever read. Thank you!

 

You're welcome, glad you enjoyed :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
beachbuddy

beachbuddy

Posted
Posted
My carrot cake cupcake was the second best dessert I ate (first being the sticky toffee bread and butter pudding) on the Liberty OTS. Too bad you have to pay extra for it.

 

The best dessert I had on the Allure was the Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Icing in Chops!!!! Wow, that was really good!!!!

 

Patty

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: Set Sail Beyond the Ordinary with Oceania Cruises
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: The Widest View in the Whole Wide World
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...