B2B Allure Of The Seas Pictorial Review - 31st March 2013 & 7th April 2013

[milpston]

The second course was Asparagus Consomme, carrot & lemon Bisque and an alaskan king crab toasted brioche sandwich. This came with a wine pairing of Los Vascos, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chile. To me that is just a load of words :D

This is what it looked like.

 

This was the course that I was so impressed with. Rudi talked us through having a mouthful of a particular thing followed by a sip of wine and then doing things in a different order. It was incredible how it changed the flavours! I was also amazed that I was enjoying a glass of red wine for the first time ever. I had drank it before but never enjoyed it.

I even quite enjoyed the king crab toasted Brioche and I usually hate crab.

[SliderNc]

Great review. Congratulations to both of you and just remember these words:

 

"You were right."

[milpston]

Thank you very much. That's where I'm going wrong... by thinking I could still be right sometimes even after marriage :D

[milpston]

The third course was pan roasted black cod, Sauteed king oyster mushrooms, baby green lentils, celery cream, madeira truffle reduction. Again, lots of words there. It was paired with Perrin and Fils, Gigondas, Rhone.

This was a fuller bodied red... I think. He went to great pains talking about the rule of red with meat and white with fish not being a rule to follow.

Somehow I did not take a picture of this course. I'm gutted because it is superb. the cod was excellent. Now, I'm not exactly a foodie so the only time I'd have cod is if it is battered with chips. Apparently black cod is quite rare as it only lives deep in the ocean and the black colour of its skin is due to it not getting light. Anyway, I really enjoyed it as it was so tasty. This is the only restaurant on the ship that serves black cod.

The fourth course was seared beef tenderloin, horseradish cream, caramelised turnips and spinach puree paired with Robert Mondavi 'reserve', Napa, California. I can't remember what this wine was but I think this was the one he said sold for $120 a bottle on the ship. Probably why I'd never tried it before!

This is what this course looked like.

 

The tenderloin was gorgeous. I vaguely remember the chef saying that this had been cooked for hours in some kind of pressure cooker which cost $100,000.00. My memory is a little hazy as the alcohol was taking effect. It did taste amazing and was so tender. I was a happy boy. There was plenty of it too!

[milpston]

The final course was chocolate creme brulee, cherry pistachio financier with vanilla ice cream paired with Pelee island winery, Reisling late harvest.

 

This dessert was enjoyable with the different flavours. The wine was grotty until you had tasted the dessert and then drank the wine.

I liked it.... but I would rather have had the mud pie from Chops Grill!! :D

All in all this meal was fantastic! I would recommend to anyone not to miss it. A meal like this in London, or any other city for that matter, would cost a fortune. I thought this was exceptional value. With the price of the meal you also got a complimentary copy of the Royal Caribbean Carte Du Jour (2nd edition) recipe book and a Chef's Table apron.

In my mind there are two MUST do's for the western itinerary. Chef's Table is the first of them!!

This is the apron

I didn't get a picture of the recipe book.

We left the Chef's Table about 22:00. We had to decide whether to rush to the theatre to see Chicago. We decided that we would miss out. Roy and Maureen would already be there by now with Chloe. We are not huge fans of musicals but would have liked to have seen it. As it was we took a slow stroll (full and half drunk) back to the cabin. We then went on for a couple of drinks in Dazzles. It was a lot busier in here tonight than any night last week.

At Midnight we went down to Bolero's for another drink as we knew Roy and Maureen would take a look in here for us when Chicago finished. There was some kind of live music in here but my memory is a bit hazy.

Sure enough they met us in here for a drink. Chloe wanted to stay with her Nan & Grandad again tonight so she did. After a drink we staggered up to bed for the end of day 9!

[milpston]

Before I end day 9......

 

I also took a couple of shots of the concierge lounge on the way out.

 

 

 

The lounge is located above Dazzles looking out onto the Boardwalk.

 

We also had another guest in our cabin when we returned tonight.

 

[rcrdale]

Great review. Congratulations to both of you and just remember these words:

 

"You were right."

 

My house it is "Yes Dear". My wife laughs when I say it.

[229cruise]

We are going on Allure for Western in mid June. This is our second time on this ship. I am always so stressed tying not to miss anything, and I am finding your review very useful. Hopefully I can relax this time! I am FOR SURE using your balcony breakfast tips. I've learned to skip the shopping talk :)

[Adam185]

Great review. We are cruising on Allure in 11 days to the Western Caribbean. Your tips have been great.

[tarajean1962]

Fabulous updates!! I am happy to hear that the process for reboarding went smoothly. We also did the Chef's Table on our Allure cruise last time and were on the fence about it for this time-only because there was so much food and drink! You have convinced me to give it another try! Perhaps we can just turn down a couple of the wine pairings this time!!;)

 

Tara

[sunrise314]

I have really enjoyed your review and congrats!!! Question DH,DS6, and myself have booked on the allure for next year. Did you find being in a balcony manageable for a week? We have booked a JS and for some reason I keep going back and forth from D1 to JS 2300 dollars difference. Any advice would help looking at your pics have me leaning back toward D1

[dak0tak1d]

Great review, Very enjoyable

[milpston]

We are going on Allure for Western in mid June. This is our second time on this ship. I am always so stressed tying not to miss anything, and I am finding your review very useful. Hopefully I can relax this time! I am FOR SURE using your balcony breakfast tips. I've learned to skip the shopping talk :)

 

Haha, Personally I never go to any of the shopping talks, spa seminars an art auctions. They are just not my thing and i'm quite capable of spending my money without their assistance. I just look at it that anything I don't manage to fit in either wasn't that important or is an excuse to go again in the future :D

 

Great review. We are cruising on Allure in 11 days to the Western Caribbean. Your tips have been great.

 

You're welcome. You'll have a great time!

[milpston]

Fabulous updates!! I am happy to hear that the process for reboarding went smoothly. We also did the Chef's Table on our Allure cruise last time and were on the fence about it for this time-only because there was so much food and drink! You have convinced me to give it another try! Perhaps we can just turn down a couple of the wine pairings this time!!;)

 

Tara

 

They make the changeover process pretty easy. They actually look after you very well. I loved the Chef's Table and I'm anything but a foodie...... You can't miss any of the wine! It's the best part :p

 

I have really enjoyed your review and congrats!!! Question DH,DS6, and myself have booked on the allure for next year. Did you find being in a balcony manageable for a week? We have booked a JS and for some reason I keep going back and forth from D1 to JS 2300 dollars difference. Any advice would help looking at your pics have me leaning back toward D1

 

Thank you very much. This is a tough question to answer as I haven't stayed in a JS as yet. We have found that a D1 is big enough for the three of us as we don't spend masses of time in the cabin... apart from on the balcony of course. Personally, I would save the $2300 and use it for excursions and speciality restaurants. If you were planning on doing those anyway then It's a big chunk for your next cruise already paid :)

[milpston]

Great review, Very enjoyable

 

Thank you.

[milpston]

Day 3 [10] - Labadee, Haiti

 

 

 

 

[milpston]

 

 

 

[milpston]

Upon waking up this morning I must have remembered to take a picture of the recipe book we were given at Chef's Table last night.

 

 

At 07:30 our breakfast arrives which we had remembered to order on the TV the night before.

 

[milpston]

As we sat relaxing on the balcony we were just docking at Labadee. Last time I was here they were still using tenders so I was looking forward to seeing the changes.

 

This is probably the first stop where I, maybe, would have preferred to have my balcony on the starboard side. Having said that I couldn't really complain at the view we had this morning.

 

 

There was some cloud in the distance but, all in all, it was looking like being a lovely day.

 

 

It was lovely watching the little boats as we enjoyed our breakfast.

 

 

 

 

[milpston]

There were also a couple of rowing boats which I presume had locals on them. As soon as they got really close to the Allure they were ushered away from it by a boat with a blue light on it.

 

 

It looked a bit too much like hard work for me.

 

 

At 08:30 we headed down to the pier and disembarked. Even at this time there was no queue to speak of to get off.

 

 

 

This is our initial arrival onto the pier. You can see that they have a number of chairs lined up for people who need them.

 

[milpston]

We strolled off down the pier towards Labadee. This is nice angle of the Allure.

 

 

 

Everyone was piling off the ship towards the end of the pier to Labadee.

 

 

Somebody was happy to be here ;)

 

 

 

This sign directs you where you need to go.

 

[milpston]

This sign gives details of how long it takes to walk to different locations. We were heading to Nellies Beach which is the next beach after barefoot beach and takes a couple more minutes to get to. I was quickly realising that Labadee bore no resemblance to the place I came to in 2005. It didn't even look the slightest bit familiar to me.

 

 

We walked through the shady areas towards Nellies beach and our home for the day.

 

 

[milpston]

We had booked an over the water cabana at Nellies beach for the day. This is my second must do for the western itinerary. If doing this cruise again it is the first thing I would be booking. It gives a great base, shade and peace and quiet from the crowds. Excellent value and I would urge anyone to consider it.

The cabana price allows up to 6 persons to use the cabana and have an upgraded lunch on Barefoot beach. It also included floating beach mats and a cabana attendant who will serve you drinks. You can also get a buggy to transport you to or from the ship if you wanted to. We enjoyed the stroll.

There are also towels supplied in the cabana.

 

There was plenty of seating and space for the 5 of us. You will see here that it has a good ceiling fan. There is a power point which was handy to enable me to charge my camera.

 

 

 

The beach mats were waiting by the side of the cabana for us on arrival.

 

This is the view of the sea from the cabana.

 

These steps were shared with just one cabana next door to us.

[tarajean1962]

My husband and I are also excited to see the changes in Labadee!! We haven't been there in quite a while either. It looks very nice!

 

Tara

[milpston]

My husband and I are also excited to see the changes in Labadee!! We haven't been there in quite a while either. It looks very nice!

 

Tara

 

I really liked it. The cabana really made our day.