10 years in the making - First Cruise on Allure Eastern 4-14-13

[rsharp83]

I sit here tonight looking back at this review which is now 2 years in the past...

 

I contemplated whether or not to even write a review of this trip. I'm glad I did it. The review was a lot of work but in the end I got to enjoy the trip for an extended period of time after the return and keep it alive so to speak as I wrote the review and interacted with everyone who commented.

 

The other bonus has been looking back on this review as an historical record of sorts. It's kind of like a favorite book that you occasionally pick back up and read your favorite parts of over again.

 

So for anyone debating on writing a review like this -- go for it!

 

And having said that I probably should take my own advice and gear up for writing a review of my upcoming Oasis cruise in June. It's a group of 20 people, almost everyone from this trip plus more friends and family. Many of them first timers. We booked over a year in advance and doing a group booking directly with RCCL has had pros and cons. Still working on one of the cons, hopefully it will get taken care of before we sail.

 

So stay tuned for a summer recap and part 2 of "10 Years in the Making"

 

Thanks to all who continue to read this review even though it is now 2 years old. I continue to be amazed at the number of views it has gotten since I wrote it.

 

I'm less than 2 months away from Oasis.

[Familygoboston]

I sit here tonight looking back at this review which is now 2 years in the past...

 

I contemplated whether or not to even write a review of this trip. I'm glad I did it. The review was a lot of work but in the end I got to enjoy the trip for an extended period of time after the return and keep it alive so to speak as I wrote the review and interacted with everyone who commented.

 

The other bonus has been looking back on this review as an historical record of sorts. It's kind of like a favorite book that you occasionally pick back up and read your favorite parts of over again.

 

So for anyone debating on writing a review like this -- go for it!

 

And having said that I probably should take my own advice and gear up for writing a review of my upcoming Oasis cruise in June. It's a group of 20 people, almost everyone from this trip plus more friends and family. Many of them first timers. We booked over a year in advance and doing a group booking directly with RCCL has had pros and cons. Still working on one of the cons, hopefully it will get taken care of before we sail.

 

So stay tuned for a summer recap and part 2 of "10 Years in the Making"

 

Thanks to all who continue to read this review even though it is now 2 years old. I continue to be amazed at the number of views it has gotten since I wrote it.

 

I'm less than 2 months away from Oasis.

Can't wait to read all about it! :D

[LlijNomad]

Thanks Randy for this very interesting journey! I too, like your wife has refused to go on cruises for years, as a friend once jokingly put it" just suck it up, stop ruining it for the rest of us!!" We have a group of 4 families that go away on vacation together, Another family had been on the Allure 2x before and was always asking us to go,and always saying NO!, Well, 1 by 1 my vacation group booked the Allure for this November, and realizing the only way we were going to be on vacation with them this year was to book the cruise!! So it was with much hesitation, We booked, we are cruis'n with a group of 38! I am so nervous and excited at the same time, I am on CC 24/7 stalking everyone getting Ideas and recommendations, I have made up a binder with all the info I have gotten from all the sites, breaking it up into what ports we visit and what is available to do there, what do do on the ship, shows, activities, ect, and where to eat, still so much more to know! I am driving everyone crazy with this obsession! Like you, I have scoured all the post, seen all the pictures, but I am sure i will still be in awe once I get on board! So again thank you, your post help me a lot as to what to expect!

 

Jill

[rsharp83]

Thanks Randy for this very interesting journey! I too, like your wife has refused to go on cruises for years, as a friend once jokingly put it" just suck it up, stop ruining it for the rest of us!!" We have a group of 4 families that go away on vacation together, Another family had been on the Allure 2x before and was always asking us to go,and always saying NO!, Well, 1 by 1 my vacation group booked the Allure for this November, and realizing the only way we were going to be on vacation with them this year was to book the cruise!! So it was with much hesitation, We booked, we are cruis'n with a group of 38! I am so nervous and excited at the same time, I am on CC 24/7 stalking everyone getting Ideas and recommendations, I have made up a binder with all the info I have gotten from all the sites, breaking it up into what ports we visit and what is available to do there, what do do on the ship, shows, activities, ect, and where to eat, still so much more to know! I am driving everyone crazy with this obsession! Like you, I have scoured all the post, seen all the pictures, but I am sure i will still be in awe once I get on board! So again thank you, your post help me a lot as to what to expect!

 

Jill

 

You will have a great time. I was totally obsessed with planning and finding out everything I could about Allure -- so you sound just like me in that respect. I'm having somewhat the same experience this time around, I'm doing all the planning and research and a bunch of the crew is just along for the ride at this point. They're like "just tell me when and where to show up!"

 

I'm curious as to why you didn't want to go on a cruise? I know for my DW it was just general anxiety of being on a boat without land in sight. I think she thought she'd feel trapped or claustrophobic. I know that for my father-in-law it was the fact that someone else was in control, lol. On a ship he was at the mercy of someone else in control of where he was going, when he could get there and when he could leave.

[jakesmom04]

Hello Randy (rsharp83) and Kathy (familygoboston).....was great reading your review again. Brought back a lot of memories of the Allure. Have one booked for April, Brilliance.

[Familygoboston]

Hello Randy (rsharp83) and Kathy (familygoboston).....was great reading your review again. Brought back a lot of memories of the Allure. Have one booked for April, Brilliance.

 

Aww, such fun and loved our roll call- our best ever!!! Enjoy Brilliance! Where to this time?

[Dinkachu]

The Adagio Dining Room

Food, food, food

 

In all the research I did for this trip I think the two topics I read the most about were dressing for dinner and eating dinner in the main dining room. At different points in my preparation for the trip I was amazed at the comments about the food in the MDR and vast differences of opinion concerning food served here. I remember distinctly someone referring to the MDR food as being akin to “dog food”. I have to say it was pretty confusing at first to sort out the food situation. My advice to first timers, if you have reasonable expectations for your dinner the MDR will be fine. If you expect “fine dining” on the level of a top notch restaurant then it may not work for you. Remember 6,000 or so people are eating dinner somewhere on the ship every night. That’s a lot of cooking!

 

Here is the handy dandy guide I pieced together from a couple of sources that outlines the basic menu for the MDR all week. It may not be 1000% accurate in every detail but I think its pretty close.

 

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This menu chart is exactly what I've been looking for. Planning which days to book specialty restaurants will be much easier and no one will be upset for missing lobster night! Thank you! I know Jasmine is a formal menu. Do you remember which menu is on the other formal night?

[rsharp83]

Evenings 2 and 6 were the Formal nights on the Eastern. Saffron and Jasmine menus. However be warned that there have been some changes to the items offered on these menus since 2013. Nothing drastic but some changes have been made to the offerings that are now being served. On our recent Oasis trip There were several things that were different but I did not go through the process of evaluating the menus each night to see which specific things were different.

[sgrove06]

What a great review!! Thank you !!

[kristinp36]

I am starting the planning for a cruise in Oct on the Oasis so I decided to revisit my review of the Allure. This re-lite my excitement and I started seeking out more reviews of the Allure and the Oasis. I found yours.....it was fun reading a review from a first time cruiser.

 

Check my review out too! Link in my signature.

Edited January 7, 2016 by kristinp36

[rsharp83]

Thanks for continuing to read this review. And as you can see from the tickers in my signature... I may have another review to write very soon!

[islandgirl70]

While scrolling through Cruise Critic I came across your title and thought to myself "Who could be crazy enough to plan a cruise for 10 years?" And then I read further. Congratulations on convincing your wife to cruise, I know how hard it is. I recently introduced cruising to my mom and now she has cruises booked all the way up to 2017.

 

As I'm reading your review and jotting down info to help on our April sailing on Allure, I start going into a full fledged panic realizing I have nothing planned. I tried to calm down reassuring myself we just booked this cruise, we already have our reservations but now I'm in the mood to plan.

 

As I was reading about your stop in St Martin I was overjoyed that you would be doing Captain Bob's tour. I was equally as sad for you when it was cancelled. I know you cruised again but haven't read a review for that one so I'm not sure if you ever did get to do the excursion. If you didn't, plan for that port and that excursion. Out of all the ports and excursions I've been on, this was hands down my favourite.

 

I hope you get to continue cruising with your family!

[rsharp83]

Well we haven't been back to St. Maarten since the Allure cruise. The Oasis was a Western route and my upcoming Jewel is not stopping there either. So no Captain Bob excursion. However, my daughter is getting married in May and they may wind up hitting the seas with Captain Bob this summer!

 

I am in "advanced recon planning mode" for a future cruise in June of 2017 that will likely take an Oasis class boat back on the Eastern route. I'm hopeful that it will be Harmony but I'm increasingly worried that they will be taking her back to Europe that summer. I have seen some future booking sites that show Harmony in the Mediterranean for Summer 2017.

 

In any case we want to return to Saint Maarten with 20-40 people in tow. And on my hit list for at least part of that group will be a day in the sun with Captain Bob!

 

But I can't think about that right now...Because in just 9 days I will be sailing to St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Aruba and Curacao! With beach trips, private power cat, ATVs and an adventurous island tour on the docket! Not to mention the Winter Carnival in San Juan.

[rhelms]

So glad this thread was bumped to the front. Reviews are timeless and i so enjoyed reading yours. Our group of 10 just booked an October cruise on the Allure this week. So i guess that means I will spend countless hours over the next 9 months reading all the information I can about the Allure.

 

So happy that your review was the first that i experienced.

[islandgirl70]

I am so jealous you are heading on a cruise in 9 days! We just returned from the NCL Escape. Our first mega ship and first Norwegian.

 

We have been to St Thomas and St Kitts but haven't been to your other two ports!

 

Enjoy your cruise! Hope you have great weather and a fantastic time! And please do a review once you return!

[lovethesun1960]

Thanks for continuing to read this review. And as you can see from the tickers in my signature... I may have another review to write very soon!

 

 

I am cruising with my parents on the Allure on 2/14/16 and I obsessively read Allure reviews. I was looking for some pictures today because the temperature here today was 1 when I woke up. 1 darned degree. I found your review and was surprised to see that you are also in St Joseph! Have fun on your Jewel cruise and keep me in mind if you decide to do another group cruise. I am not so concerned with group activities, but group discounts are nice. Also I have a great travel agent. I would recommend that you get a Discover card and start using it for the benefits.

Sue

[lovethesun1960]

I'm pretty sure I'm not alone on this one (at least among the male crowd)

 

I saw it in London with my 10 year old and 17 year old. It was well named. It is Miserable. A bunch of yelling and screaming that you could not hear. My younger daughter loved it and sobbed most of the way through. I thought she was miserable because it was miserable, but turned out she understood it. A few months ago she told me what it was all about. It has been 15 years and she still remembers it clearly, so do I but not for the same reason.