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

[4evercruiser]

I am really enjoying your review. My DH and I are sailing on Oasis for the first time in November and are very excited about it. We've never sailed on a ship of this size before :eek: Did it ever feel crowded at all to you?

 

We also decided to splurge and are renting a cabana at Nellie's Beach, although not one of the one on the water. Thanks for sharing your photos of your cabana.

 

Looking forward to reading the rest of week 2.

 

Elizabeth

[milpston]

I am really enjoying your review. My DH and I are sailing on Oasis for the first time in November and are very excited about it. We've never sailed on a ship of this size before :eek: Did it ever feel crowded at all to you?

 

We also decided to splurge and are renting a cabana at Nellie's Beach, although not one of the one on the water. Thanks for sharing your photos of your cabana.

 

Looking forward to reading the rest of week 2.

 

Elizabeth

 

I'm glad you are enjoying it. You have done the right thing in booking a cabana. I have loads more pictures of Labadee which I will try and get on today.

In answer to your question. Yes, there were a few times on the ship when you feel a bit crowded but I wouldn't say any more so than on the smaller ships (Admittedly I have only been on the Navigator). Sea days can get quite busy by the pool but you can usually get a spot. When events such as shows or the muster drill finish you feel the crowds but apart from that I don't think you really feel it. There are so many places to go and thing to do that people get spread out really nicely.

You will love it.

[DHADEN]

Thank you soooo much for doing this review!

 

I've been reading for the last 3 days and finally caught up to you. :p

 

If you don't mind me asking, the "Cabana at Labadee" looks fantastic.....

and expenstive - how much did it cost?

[milpston]

On arrival we didn't waste much time in getting in the sea. It was starting to get pretty warm!

 

Obviously we had the cabana attendant bring us a drink. A lot of the staff on the island, although they work for RCI, live locally. This is Sally getting to grips with my waterproof camera!

 

One of the great things here is that the water is calm and shallow in the most part so it is relatively safe for kids. There are a few rocky parts so aqua shoes aren't a bad idea.

This was our view of the beach from the cabana.

 

I'm not sure how you go about renting those small tents if you want one. They would help keep the sun off but from what I have read it gets seriously hot in them. The beaches can be fairly crowded as you would expect with nearly 6000 getting off the ship.

A kayak tour was getting ready to leave Nellie's Beach.

[milpston]

Thank you soooo much for doing this review!

 

I've been reading for the last 3 days and finally caught up to you. :p

 

If you don't mind me asking, the "Cabana at Labadee" looks fantastic.....

and expenstive - how much did it cost?

 

 

You're very welcome. I'm glad you've enjoyed working your way through it.

I have just looked back at my spreadsheet and I paid £126.00. Give or take a bit on the exchange rate then that would be about $200. Bear in mind we had five people in it and I think it can take a maximum of 6. That makes it the least expensive excursion we did on the whole fortnight which is why I would recommend it so highly. I would definitely get it if we were travelling as a couple on our own.

[milpston]

You're very welcome. I'm glad you've enjoyed working your way through it.

 

I have just looked back at my spreadsheet and I paid £126.00. Give or take a bit on the exchange rate then that would be about $200. Bear in mind we had five people in it and I think it can take a maximum of 6. That makes it the least expensive excursion we did on the whole fortnight which is why I would recommend it so highly. I would definitely get it if we were travelling as a couple on our own.

 

They do beach cabanas as well as the over the water ones. They are marginally less expensive but there was very little in it.

[rittsail]

Wow! It says online they price the cabanas per person, so you really got a deal if you only paid the listed price. This may be worth a phone call to RCI to find out if it really is just one price. They look so nice and I know we would enjoy the shade in the afternoon.

[milpston]

Wow! It says online they price the cabanas per person, so you really got a deal if you only paid the listed price. This may be worth a phone call to RCI to find out if it really is just one price. They look so nice and I know we would enjoy the shade in the afternoon.

 

I suppose it is possible they have changed this very recently. When I was booking this you just made one reservation in one name and that booked the cabana for up to 6. It shows as just a booking against that person online but you all use it and it includes lunch for all as you are given wrist bands to get into the lunch on Barefoot beach when you arrive.

[milpston]

At 12:00 we took the 2 minute walk back to barefoot beach for lunch. Lunch here is just for suite guests and those with cabanas (it isn't that much different to anywhere wlse but probably a little quieter)

 

 

 

 

 

Wouldn't you just love to be behind me in a buffet queue while I'm taking pictures? :cool: To be honest, there was no queue to speak of!

[milpston]

As you can imagine I found it a real bind having such a nice selection of meat to choose from!

 

I had steak, ribs and chicken but gave the seafood skewers a mix. There were some lovely chocolate cakes and cookies too.

 

 

Sally's lunch probably more resembled that of a normal person's!

 

 

 

We sat on a nice table in an area shaded by trees close to the beach. There were also restrooms here.

 

Below is the back of a cabana on Barefoot beach.

 

 

There was someone selling local art but i can't say I stayed long enough to look at the prices.

 

 

This is the bar at the back of Nellie's beach. We never had the need to go there. There was a supply of bottles of water in an ice box in the cabana.

 

[rednancy1]

At 12:00 we took the 2 minute walk back to barefoot beach for lunch. Lunch here is just for suite guests and those with cabanas (it isn't that much different to anywhere wlse but probably a little quieter)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wouldn't you just love to be behind me in a buffet queue while I'm taking pictures? :cool: To be honest, there was no queue to speak of!

 

 

That is too funny.

 

Great review by the way.

[milpston]

That is too funny.

 

Great review by the way.

 

I know I wouldn't be happy to be behind me!! What with taking all the pictures and then taking all the food I shouldn't be too popular :p

[rednancy1]

We know Sally, Chloe, Ray and Maureen. What is your first name? :confused::)

[rcrdale]

Wow! It says online they price the cabanas per person, so you really got a deal if you only paid the listed price. This may be worth a phone call to RCI to find out if it really is just one price. They look so nice and I know we would enjoy the shade in the afternoon.

 

I just booked my beach cabana on Nellie's Beach for our December Allure Cruise. It was $225 for a beach cabana and $250 for an over the water cabana. You are only charged for 1 person, however, you can have 5 people join you for a total of 6.

[milpston]

We know Sally, Chloe, Ray and Maureen. What is your first name? :confused::)

 

Haha. I didn't notice that I had kept that a secret. It's Paul :)

 

I just booked my beach cabana on Nellie's Beach for our December Allure Cruise. It was $225 for a beach cabana and $250 for an over the water cabana. You are only charged for 1 person, however, you can have 5 people join you for a total of 6.

 

Thank you for clarifying. That's as I thought. I actually think it's very reasonable so that will probably change in time when you consider the ridiculous prices of things like the Dragon's breath zip line :rolleyes:

[Clarea]

For some reason, I'm getting very hungry for lunch.;)

[milpston]

We had a short period of time to cool off after lunch.

 

 

At 13:45 we had to be at Columbus Cove to sign waivers etc for the Arawak Aqua Park. Sally, Chloe and I had booked this online before we came but it was easy for Roy and Maureen to sign up when we arrived on Labadee. They just had to go to the sign up desk on Columbus Cove when we arrived. Columbus Cove is the next Beach along.... Barefoot, Nellies then Columbus. The Aquapark is $15 each for about an hour.

 

These pictures were taken of the waterpark from the side of our cabana.

 

 

 

The one below was a lot harder to get onto than it looked!

 

 

 

They have lifeguards on duty.... and thay love blowing their whistles.

 

[milpston]

For some reason, I'm getting very hungry for lunch.;)

 

I've just had to have dinner as it is a bit later here but the food was there was better than my cooking :p

[luvsun22]

For some reason, I'm getting very hungry for lunch.;)

 

Me too! I just read through Chops dinner, Chefs Table dinner and lunch on Labadee. Nothing I have is going to suffice right now :p.

 

Loving all the pictures of Labadee, looks like fun!

[tarajean1962]

My goodness, how that place has changed!!:cool: All I remember is the water park. It looks really nice! We are staying in a suite and that beach and BBQ look very cool!!

 

 

Tara

[milpston]

There are plenty of signposts on Labadee to keep you moving in the right direction.

 

 

There was a small pathway behind our cabana that led down to Columbus Cove. As we were walking under that water slide I tried to get Sally to chat so she would stop and get soaked when someone came sliding down it but she didn't fall for it unfortunately.

 

 

Here's another shot of the water slide. I can't remember how much this was but you just pay once and can have unlimited access all day. I just knew there would be steps involved somewhere along the line so I gave it a miss!

 

 

Here are some of the reasons you may get the whistle blown at you :p

 

[milpston]

Me too! I just read through Chops dinner, Chefs Table dinner and lunch on Labadee. Nothing I have is going to suffice right now :p.

 

Loving all the pictures of Labadee, looks like fun!

 

That's a lot of food to be thinking about! Labadee was a great day so I think I got a bit carried away and have plenty more pictures yet haha.

 

My goodness, how that place has changed!!:cool: All I remember is the water park. It looks really nice! We are staying in a suite and that beach and BBQ look very cool!!

 

I didn't feel like I had been there before!

I didn't go right down to the front of the beach on Barefoot. I think it is probably just quieter than the others as they manage to keep it more exclusive which will be a bonus.

 

 

Tara

[milpston]

The 5 of us really enjoyed the Arawak Park. It is seriously hard work though. Not that it wasn't needed after that lunch!

 

My only word of warning is that the edges of some of the inflatables can be quite sharp. I cut one of my toes and Sally had a nasty gash on her shin. Nothing terminal though and we are glad we did it. Chloe and I lasted about 45 minutes which was the most out of all of us so 1 hour is plenty of time.

 

This is us from a distance.

 

 

This is the best overview I got of the whole park.

 

 

The were lots of Waverunners lined up for use on one of the tours.

 

 

 

I only got a couple of shots of the beach at Columbus Cove.

 

 

[milpston]

Over the water we could just see some shacks. According to our cabana attendant this is where he and most of the staff that work on the island live.

 

 

[rittsail]

Thank you for the pricing information rcrdale! Will definitely look into it now.