Return to Allure - A different review.

[Tkriger]

the Assistant waiter, "Princess" was from that country that Douglas McArthur vowed to return to and I can never spell right

 

 

 

Canada? :p

[BillOh]

Hi folks, its my lunch and I thought I'd throw a little more text at you as my pictures are at home. When I last left you we were headed to watch Oceanaria from my balcony. I will have pictures tonight!

 

Meanwhile, let me say, I am enjoying the questions/ back and forth, and the contributions of my cruisemates and others who have cruised Allure. Feel free! I'll manage to get my word in.

 

For now, I am going to talk about the people on the ship, their behavior, their manners/courtesy or lack there of. Its all my opinion of course and as part of my relaxation all week I like to observe people. My observations/conclusions may be all wrong, but I try to be fair. I think the biggest thing I learned in College was it really is hard to judge a book by its cover, but that doesn't stop us does it? I came from a very small, all white, town growing up. My first day in college I looked around and passed judgement on almost everyone. By the end of the year I think my accuracy was less than 10%. I hope I'm better at it 35 years later ;)

 

Let's talk about the people on board. I've cruised the Caribbean around this time of year 7 times (one cruise in November) In my mind I have an idea of what the typical crowd is. As I've mentioned there were more kids on board than my other cruises. I can't justify that, I didn't see any rosters, its just my gut fell. No problems with that. I did see one kid playing with the elevator buttons, but ironically he was trying to be helpful, but he kept hitting the wrong ones. I was amused. I did quickly pick up on a few groups of Brazilians on board. I personally have know a few people from Brazil. My only bad experience has been with large groups of Brazilian tour groups in Disney World back around the turn of the century. At that time I might have considered going to war with Brazil over that, but I'm a little wiser and more tolerant these days ;) I had heard reviews here mention large tour groups of Brazilians here in the past, so I made a mental note of it and thought it might factor in my review, which it is about to.

 

I did have an "incident", and it happened to be with a person wearing a shirt that identified him as a Brazilian. It was in the Windjammer one of the only mornings I went there. I agree with the many reviews here that say the WJ is too small on this class of ship,so I try to avoid it. What makes it worse for my wife and I is our different grazing styles. I can walk around the entire place in 30 seconds, get what I need, be back in my table in another 30, and have my breakfast done in 10 minutes top. My wife has to carefully examine every bin multiple times and really put some thought into what she is about to ingest. This stressed me out as I feel the need to keep an eye out for her and let her know where our table is. Well one day we walked into the WJ and we were greeted at the door by a waiter. He said, "table for two?" and took us to a table and he set out silverware. He asked if we wanted juice or milk and i said yes to milk. We had nothing with us to actually mark "our table". I cam back less than 5 minutes later to find this man sitting at our table. I pondered for a moment to make sure I was in the right spot and my wife arrived and verified I was in the right spot. I told him in a serious tone while towering over his 5'4" seated frame, "Your in my seat" He quickly stated "Sorry" and went on eating. I may have begun to slip out of my calm cruise demeanor and was looking for an open window through which to throw all 105 lbs of him when Princess arrived with my milk and quickly found us another table. I would have moved on anyway, but I did give him my strongest, your'e lucky, you get to live look and moved on.

 

Some other places people could be a little more courteous involved those scooters for people with mobility issues and strollers. Again, don't get upset, most people were great. One of the few stupid people I ran into was one lady in one of these scooters. This was the first night waiting to get into the dining room. The doors on the 4th deck dining room opened about 15 minutes late due to a large group in the first seating who arrived 30 minutes late. I don't know who they were, so I can't assign blame ;) The area outside the doors were crowded with people and it spilled into the the elevator area. Royal Caribbean made this situation worse because there are inner doors and outer doors to the dining room. They had both closed. You used to be able to wait in this area for the inner doors to open, but they were closed.

 

This lady in her scooter got off the elevator and tried to go through the area in her scooter. I am going to guess that she only rented this for the ship and wasn't using one normally. On a big ship like this that is understandable, but clearly she wasn't use to operating it and had no idea that the throttle was variable and not full speed or full brake. She was clearly frustrated and was yelling "excuse me" and even reaching up and pushing people. If she was just trying to get through I would have understood that, but she forced her way all the way up to the front of the line and waited. If that was the end of the story I would have laughed and moved on, but she started getting worried that the other doors on the other side of the dining room would open first so she kept bulldozing her way back in forth. I'm sure she bruised a few Achilles tendons and knees of other passengers. Later I did use her to our advantage. On one of her trips back and forth the doors opened just as she went by me. I tucked in behind her and rode her wake right into the dining room! :D If I had my camera there would be a youtube link here for you to enjoy, now its hillarious to think about.

 

On the subject of scooters, while I may be a jerk at times, on the ship I let everyone get off the elevator before I get on and if there is a person in a scooter, I'll hold the door and let them in first. I just was amazed at this one lady and made a mental note to tell all of you about it! Cased closed, its behind me now.

 

Another area where people were less than thoughtful, but the crew was great at was hallway/aisle traffic. As I mentioned it was 100 yards from the elevator to my cabin so I would frequently pass cabin attendants doing their job. I would try to avoid going to my cabin too much on sea days or at times when I knew they would be working, but on the times they did, I would try to time it as to not bump into them, but they would inevitably see me coming and step out of the way with a smile on their face long before I got there. That was nice. Other passengers, not so much! If I came across another passenger at a choke point, I would stand aside and let them pass, sometimes with a polite guesture. I would say 9 out 10 times the other passenger would avert their gaze. I do remember stepping out of the way for a lady pushing a stroller with twins (side by side) on the pool deck. She smiled and said, "Thanks" That made my day and it only happened once. That's all it takes people! Even if there is a language barrier, a smile and a nod is all it takes!

 

Ok, tirade over. I may have been impatient once or done something to irritate somebody, but I made an effort not to. The guy in the WJ and the crazy lady in her scooter were the worst of the worst.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We took your great advice and booked Oceanaria for the first night. We got there early (1/2 hour to 45 minutes for all reserved shows) and had great seats. Our seas were a bit rocky and there were high winds the next couple of days and the show was cancelled because of that at least on Tuesday night at least. So, you were right!:cool:

[BillOh]

I watched yours! :D We may just pop into a hot tub for sail away this time. Not sure yet. [/size]

 

You can still wave to the cam from the port side Cantivlevered one. Depending on the sun, you can still usually see people there.

[BillOh]

We took your great advice and booked Oceanaria for the first night. We got there early (1/2 hour to 45 minutes for all reserved shows) and had great seats. Our seas were a bit rocky and there were high winds the next couple of days and the show was cancelled because of that at least on Tuesday night at least. So, you were right!:cool:

 

Rocky seas! Yes a point i was going to make, but now is a good time! I would say we probaby had 5-6ft seas for 3-4 days. On my first Allure cruise I never felt the ship move. This time I could barely feel it and to be honest, it was just the right amount to make for a great nights sleep. At first I thought maybe I was just noticing it because we were aft, but once I looked around on the lower decks I could see the seas were a little rougher. It probably wasn't enough to bother most people, but as you point out, it might be harder on the performers in this show. I'll post some pictures tonight and its easy to see why slightly rougher seas would be tough for them.

[neptune18]

Bill or Gambee- What do you think about taking a cab to the Lago Mar and entering the beach there to walk to the inlet?

[noshoobie]

Loving your review . . . hurry up with those pictures!!!!!!! ;)

[janetz]

You can still wave to the cam from the port side Cantivlevered one. Depending on the sun, you can still usually see people there.

 

 

:D I will remember that!

[BillOh]

Bill or Gambee- What do you think about taking a cab to the Lago Mar and entering the beach there to walk to the inlet?

 

If you look back at this thread and my mention of Rick from Australia and his replies, his family stayed there. It looked tto me to be a 3/4 mile walk through loose sand. I have no idea about access through their property.

[BillOh]

As I mentioned earlier today, I highly recommend you see Oceanaria from the Aquatheater the first time, but we watched it this time from the public balcony, occasionally referred to as "our" balcony. Let me use the picture below to demonstrate why.

 

 

In this shot the pool is divided by a walkway that is about 6 feet wide. This is a movable platform in the raised position. The entire pool can become a stage by raising all 3 sections. Any of the 3 can be raised or lowered to create the conditions they want. In this photo the performers are using the water to rise to view from out of site. From audience level it is very entertaining. The show uses a lot of visual distraction to keep your from noticing these changes. Also notice the wood decking around the front of the stage. You will see silver fixtures. They are part of a computerized fountain that also adds to the show visually.

 

However, the show is fun to watch from the higher altitude.

 

 

Watching from the higher altitude does spoil the illusion, but gives you some insight into how they do things.

 

 

But having seen the show before, I wanted to be up close to the diving and aerial acrobatics.

 

 

 

One of the reason I wanted to watch from up here was the see the dives from this highest platform.

 

But they only did one dive from there and I missed it, I got distracted by all of the action!

I will say again, all of these photos are done without flash, the same for the Blue Planet photos. If you don't know how to use your camera without flash don't use it for these two shows!

Edited May 8, 2013 by BillOh

[tarajean1962]

Those are AWESOME pictures!! This is one thing we missed on the Allure and I am so looking forward to on the Oasis!!

 

Tara

[BillOh]

We are finally up to day 2 Nassau.

 

This would be our 5th visit to Nassau. Our 4th visit was on Allure May 1st of 2011. It was our 30th anniversary and we stayed on the ship and enjoyed the day. Shortly after our visit RC added an hour to the stop here and I thought about visiting Nassau again. A couple of months before our trip, they took that hour back. In all but one review I have seen Allure parks next to Disney Dream. That was the same this year and as in 2011 we docked on the starboard side in this port. I have no interest as of now of sailing on Disney Dream or Magic, but I do like going up on Allure's pool deck and looking her over. She is a beautiful ship.

 

 

 

In 2007 on Majesty we took an Royal Caribbean Segway Excursion. In 2010 again on Majesty we took an RC snorkeling excursion that was good enough. In looking at what Royal offered this time in Nassau I was very dissapointed. To me it seemed like a majority of excursions were Atlantis related. I find them all uninteresting and over priced. Being that we had such a short time in Nassau, I thought it might be fun to do the segway again. Through the port of call board I found out about Nassau Segway.

 

I put in a deposit online with them and was given good instructions on how to find them. It turned out these were the same people from my 2007 excursion. They take you to what is basically a trailer and you are given some instruction. Its not hard to learn and we had done it before. It was just the guide and Gina and I. For all i know they may only have two Segways left. After a short time, we were off. The ride goes through a park and some streets and takes you to an area called THE FISH FRY. We heard a little about that area, but were not interested in eating or drinking at that point. Next we went to the Cricket grounds and a nearby fort.

 

6 years ago we toured the same fort and showed no interest in doing so again so the guide indulged us with a little free time riding around. We made another scenic stop on the way back. All in all we got around 90 minutes of ride time for around $129 total for both of us. It was fun, If you haven't ridden a Segway, give it a try.

 

 

After that , we asked to be dropped off at Senior Frogs. We did some shopping, but Arizona Cruisers, where were you? We were back on board around 1pm. Back on board, we did one more thing we didn't do before, a pretzel dog from the Wipeout Cafe. It was good, I had another later on in the cruise.

[beachlovergirl]

The segways look like fun. What beach is that?

 

Dee

[BillOh]

The next thing to check off my, "I didn't do last time" list was the Ice Games show. In 4 previous cruises on a ship with an ice rink, I never attended a ice show. I'm not fond of Olympic Ice skating as a sport, but I was pleased with the show as entertainment.

 

While I don't enjoy ice skating as a sport, I do respect the talent and athleticism required to perform at this level. Its amazing to do so much in such a small area. The show itself is just a loosely based theme to showcase the ship, but its an enjoyable show.

 

 

This took us up to dinner time. As usual on this route this is formal night. For the 3rd cruise in a row, we didn't bring formal wear. (Been there done that) Again, no problem with people who want to do that, but we don't any more. We had Chops scheduled for 7:30 that night. In 2011 We did Chops and Samba on formal nights. My memory says it was Roya'ls policy to allow smart casual attire in the specialty restaurants on formal night. This time I saw reference to formal was expected in the Specialties. A week later, I don't remember where I saw that. While we were there about 75% of people were in formal attire and the rest in smart casual. Nobody seemed to mind or was offended.

 

Anyway, on Chops. I like the Chops on the Freedom class better for the view. The food has been hit and miss, but always good enough. This year my wife's petit filet was excellent. I usually get the NY strip with Baked potato, but this year I decided to try the Veal Chop. It was very good, I'm glad I tried it. The baked potato was huge and excellent. The French Onion Soup was also excellent. We told the waiter we had no where to be and wasn't concerned with time. I think sit down till dessert was around 90 relaxing minutes. No pics, sorry!

 

We closed off the evening checking another must do off the list.

 

The first time we just never did the Rising Tide. At 9pm on formal night, it was empty. We enjoyed a ride down and up. Just long enough for Gina to enjoy an Ultimate Bloody Mary that she said was excellent. I didn't remember Coors Light on a cruise before, so I was happy about that.

Edited May 9, 2013 by BillOh

[BillOh]

The segways look like fun. What beach is that?

 

Dee

 

 

I forget, Its a small beach near a cargo facility that locals hang around in. there is a park nearby.

[windjamming]

What makes it worse for my wife and I is our different grazing styles. I can walk around the entire place in 30 seconds, get what I need, be back in my table in another 30, and have my breakfast done in 10 minutes top. My wife has to carefully examine every bin multiple times and really put some thought into what she is about to ingest.

 

I graze exactly like your wife! I get it. There are so many choices that it's important to choose wisely!

 

This lady in her scooter got off the elevator and tried to go through the area in her scooter. I am going to guess that she only rented this for the ship and wasn't using one normally. On a big ship like this that is understandable, but clearly she wasn't use to operating it and had no idea that the throttle was variable and not full speed or full brake. She was clearly frustrated and was yelling "excuse me" and even reaching up and pushing people. If she was just trying to get through I would have understood that, but she forced her way all the way up to the front of the line and waited.

 

Amazing! We had a "scooter woman" on the Radiance last year, who would bulldoze her way out of elevators whether you got out of the way or not. And definitely don't get between her and the Concierge Lounge during cocktail hour.

 

Loved that you drafted off of the scooter woman!

[Familygoboston]

I don't know if you heard there were 2 calls. The call from the guy who found Amanda, and it rightfully being called a hero, is an example of how not to call 911. While doing the right thing he was a bit of a dumb @ss. He was too busy trying to be cool and establish a "Hey I'm cool!" relationship with the 911 operator. He filled his conversation with lots of useless unrelated info, for which McDonald's is probably greatful, but clouded the real information. His words were also laced with profanity. I could feel the operator's frustration with him.

 

Bill- in my review I posted the compasses and it very clearly stated that the dress suggestion was the same for the specialty restaurants as for the dining room. ( I think its in the section that losta the open hours for all the restaurants, though i may have seen it as a note on the side section. im going to go back and look out of curiosity. It's the first time I had ever seen this written anywhere myself. It interesting because a lot of folks books specialties, specifically to avoid dressing up, so it will be interesting to see how or if this changes anything.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Bill- in my review I posted the compasses and it very clearly stated that the dress suggestion was the same for the specialty restaurants as for the dining room. ( I think its in the section that losta the open hours for all the restaurants, though i may have seen it as a note on the side section. im going to go back and look out of curiosity. It's the first time I had ever seen this written anywhere myself. It interesting because a lot of folks books specialties, specifically to avoid dressing up, so it will be interesting to see how or if this changes anything.

Yes, I saw that in the Compass, also. Steve wore a sport coat and tie both evenings, which did seem to be the standard formal night dress on this cruise from what I saw.

[mfaieta]

Rocky seas! Yes a point i was going to make, but now is a good time! I would say we probaby had 5-6ft seas for 3-4 days. On my first Allure cruise I never felt the ship move. This time I could barely feel it and to be honest, it was just the right amount to make for a great nights sleep. At first I thought maybe I was just noticing it because we were aft, but once I looked around on the lower decks I could see the seas were a little rougher. It probably wasn't enough to bother most people, but as you point out, it might be harder on the performers in this show. I'll post some pictures tonight and its easy to see why slightly rougher seas would be tough for them.

 

 

My youngest son and I both felt seasick the 2nd night around dinner. We both went to bed early. That was the only time it was bad for us.

[mfaieta]

Your absolutely right, i didn't think of that. One member of our roll call group tried to drive and couldn't find a place to park. I knew it was an issue so we walked. Walking there was part of the reason I chose the Hyatt as well.

 

That was me!!! We decided to stay at the Hyatt Place near the airport because I got an amazing rate that included parking for the week. We ended up looking for a place to park and stuck in traffic near the beach for over an hour (with 3 kids in the car) and missed the sail away. Not a fun way to start your vacation. If I were to do it again, I would take the shuttle to the beach for a small fee that the hotel offered.

[Poorplaya]

Great pictures and review so far, cant wait to see the rest

[janetz]

Bill- in my review I posted the compasses and it very clearly stated that the dress suggestion was the same for the specialty restaurants as for the dining room. ( I think its in the section that losta the open hours for all the restaurants, though i may have seen it as a note on the side section. im going to go back and look out of curiosity. It's the first time I had ever seen this written anywhere myself. It interesting because a lot of folks books specialties, specifically to avoid dressing up, so it will be interesting to see how or if this changes anything.

 

 

It is "suggested". You see plenty of people in the MDR not in formal attire. ;)

[Truluv]

Love your review, and looking forward to your next installment!

 

I didn't understand why you were unhappy with WJ man though. Let's look at it from his side. He brings his food to an apparently empty table with absolutely no signs that it was "taken." He sits down, and is mid-meal when someone looms over him and claims that he's sitting at "their table." The person doesn't then go to find another table, but continues to hover. Did you expect him to somehow know that the empty table was actually taken, or to stop eating, and get up and carry his half-eaten meal around looking for another table? Hmmm. If I were him, I'd probably be looking around for security and would put this in my own review LOL!

 

It appears to me that this situation arises more from a lack of space in WJ, than from any rudeness on his part. The obvious solution would have been for one member of the couple to sit down and "save" the table while the other member of the couple took a first pass at the buffet. However, I definitely understand that it reflects the space problems in Allure's WJ. On our other RCL trips I had always enjoyed hanging out in WJ for leisurely meals and people-watching (I usually am up & about early, while my kids follow different schedules). There were always empty tables, so I never felt like I needed to move. Eventually one of our kids would usually show up in WJ, and join me if I waited long enough. It sounds like Allure's WJ may just be a place to eat fast & move on, so we'll have to adjust this routine for our Allure cruise this summer.

 

Can't wait for your next installment! Thanks for taking the time to write your review.

Edited May 9, 2013 by Truluv

[BillOh]

Bill- in my review I posted the compasses and it very clearly stated that the dress suggestion was the same for the specialty restaurants as for the dining room. ( I think its in the section that losta the open hours for all the restaurants, though i may have seen it as a note on the side section. im going to go back and look out of curiosity. It's the first time I had ever seen this written anywhere myself. It interesting because a lot of folks books specialties, specifically to avoid dressing up, so it will be interesting to see how or if this changes anything.

 

Good, I'm not crazy! That's the way I remember it. Later in the week, the Head Waiter heard me tell our tablemates we wouldn't be there Friday, the next formal day and he encouraged me to come, as I was that day as long as my shirt had a collar and no shorts. I respect the people who do go formal too much to do that, but I found it interesting. He doesn't get tipped more or less if I come or not. I did eat in the MDR 5 times.

[BillOh]

There were always empty tables,

 

 

I will respectively disagree with that statement. Many peak morning times there are ZERO open tables. I was as miffed at the waiters for seating people as they came in and then suddenly stopping it. My wife refuses to sit for the 2 minutes it take me to get my food and I refuse to sit for the 15 minutes it takes her to get hers.

 

SEA DAY

 

I just finished Nassau Day 2 last night. One of my favorite parts of the trip was about to occur. As I mentioned previously this trip was to be my first time Scuba diving since my certification last summer here in Ohio. I had heard that they offered a SCUBA REFRESHER course in the Aqua theater pool. I thought that would be a good idea so I signed up for it for 7am Tuesday, that first Sea Day. I did a similar refresher back in Feb in a pool where I tool my lessons, but I'll admit I also wanted to get in the Aqua Theater pool and check out the routes the divers take to get out of the pool out of sight.

 

Also right after that was to be our long awaited Meet and Mingle. I'll have pictures of both tonight.

Edited May 9, 2013 by BillOh