Allure 9/22/13: A Story Review w/drama, humor, Pics & Video

[Lejardin]

that is obnoxious

[awhcruiser]

Can't see the picture...

that is obnoxious

[MarielH]

Loving seeing your pics. Are you actually a wedding photographer as my son is a wedding photographer in Scotland?

[VegasChic]

On to day 3 after everyone was up and dressed, we headed over to the Park Café for breakfast. I had a fried egg sandwich (fried egg, ham, cheese on an English muffin), 1 raspberry pastry (yummy!) and I box of frosted flakes – Don’t judge me I was starving!! DH had something healthy I don’t recall and DD had a bagel and fruit loops. I don’t know why but I was having a blah type of day but nevertheless, made the very best of it! As long as I was on Vacation and not working, life couldn’t be better. After breakfast we had to pass by guest relations to give them a CC apparently during check in the card was not linked to our account or something like that our account ended up having major problems on day 5. DH went to the cabin to grab his credit card and I went down to the promenade. While I waited I took a few pictures:

 

While Having Breakfast at the Park Café:

 

 

 

 

 

[PCWalton1]

What a great review. Thank you for taking the time to post all the wonderful pictures. We really loved our time on Allure and it is wonderful to see more pictures from there.

 

Bill

 

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

[tispwisp]

Great review! I'm loving every minute of it, especially since we will be on the Oasis in a couple of weeks. It just builds the excitement just a little bit more. :)

[VegasChic]

We went down to get off the ship (I think deck 3), when we arrived at the security area, my husband asked one of the crew about towels. He advised that we had to go to the pool deck and get them (what a pain, I thought) DH said he would get the towels. DD and I got off the ship, when he met up with us, he said they only give 2 towels per ship card (absurd I thought!) Two towels would do I wanted to get to the beach already! Labadee is a beautiful Island, RCCL did a fine job putting it together! It was a gorgeous day out, as you can see below but it was scorching hot!! I should be used to this heat living in Miami.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[VegasChic]

More Pictures....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tell me you don't want to be here right now!!

[VegasChic]

Sorry for the tease folks, but I will finish Day 3 tomorrow. I have to be up at 5 am as I have a 2.5 hour drive in the morning. I hope you got your review fix with this mini post....

 

Up Next:

 

Rocky Beach

Zip Line :eek:

Lunch :mad:

More pool Fun

Shore Excursion Desk :confused:

Chicago :D

Dinner at the MDR :(

 

Plus more Allure vs. Epic Comparisons

 

and I promise to get caught up to responding to everyone - this is really a full time job. It would be so much fun though if it were!!

 

Good Night all sweet cruise dreams ;)!!

[maureencruiser]

I look at my pic of the carousel and then yours and say to myself yeah that's what it's supposed to look like. SMH! :D

 

You want me to post my pic of the carousel? :D

[swim13]

Thanks!!! I believe I read your awesome Allure review and you had very nice pics!!! Are you the one with the Sony Nex? I really want the Sony Nex-7 I cannot stomach my point and shoot.

 

I came back with approx 2100 pics as it was a mission talking pictures running from activity to activity. I took about 700 on Day 7 where I packed in all the activities I possibly could.

 

I'm doing breakaway next June!! But before that I'm doing the Liberty for a quick 4 day retreat!! (adults Only!!!)

 

Thanks for following along:)

 

Thank you! Yes, I have the NEX F3 and love it. It works good for me because I have never taken any photography classes and just don't understand DSLR's so this camera offers great quality but is super easy to use!

 

We may be looking in early June, that would be funny if we ended up on the same sailing! :p

 

Excited for the Labadee pics, they are already amazing!

[tiffygirl]

The 10% supplement on today and tomorrows sale is Oasis for Nov 2 and Nov 9.

 

The Allure on Nov 10 is 50% supplement.

 

Bookmark this link, it is posted every Thursday for the sale the next week.

 

http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Multi_Dest/Special_Offers/rci_sales_event.pdf

Thank you so much for the link. I have it bookmarked. I will keep my eye out for those deals.

 

How did you like the Epic?? Did you like Epic or Breakaway more? I've been on Epic twice going on the Breakaway in June (Very Excited!!) Never been to Bermuda. I'm sure you will have a great time on the Allure, you only live once just give it a try if you can you might be surprised. I cannot comment on the night life because I didn't have one. However, i'm sure there are many reviews that cover this. Thanks for following along :)

 

I love the Epic. I also loved the Breakaway:rolleyes::p There are features that I prefer on the Epic like the spa /gym and spice h20. but other features I prefer the Breakaway, like the waterfront and the slides. Entertainment, food, staff...just wonderful

 

You may be disappointed with the pool area on the Breakaway. its pretty much non existent plus when you sail(June) its going to be quite crowded pending time of day. But the slides are fabulous. Another thing to watch for is all the parties are family friendly and are held at spice h20 each night...they have a "red carpet" premier one evening so you feel like a star. you walk down the red carpet and the photographers snap away!your daughter may love that...but you are going to have try and hang for a few nights:D. I saw kids on the dance floor past midnight most evenings. they were in heaven.

 

Bermuda is absolutely lovely. It will not disappoint.

 

I will give the allure a try one day.

 

didn't mean to make this a breakaway review:)

[Ocean Boy]

After breakfast we had to pass by guest relations to give them a CC apparently during check in the card was not linked to our account or something like that our account ended up having major problems on day 5.

 

The same thing happened to us on one of our Oasis cruises and to many other people on that cruise. However, they didn't bother to tell anyone until we were about to disembark the ship at the end of the cruise when we swiped our cards to leave. Many people were at guest relations and it was a very angry scene. The rep behind the desk got a very strong piece of my mind.

[Ocean Boy]

when he met up with us, he said they only give 2 towels per ship card (absurd I thought!) Two towels would do I wanted to get to the beach already!

 

That happened to us on an Oasis cruise also. Another piece of my mind was left behind for that senseless policy also.

 

Your picture of Labadee are awesome.

[little britain]

Fabulous review and pictures - so nice to see a review with pictures taken by someone who knows how to use a camera!!!!;)

Keep it comin'...

 

(ps - where on earth are all the people?!)

Edited October 9, 2013 by little britain

[juniorsmom]

I just found your review!! Awesome! Your pictures are the best..

 

Thank you for this review.

[m*u*g*]

Day two of our cruise finally arrived I woke up feeling energetic and excited, I have no clue what time it was but I knew I had to be at the CC M&M. I quickly dressed and went down to the Cafe Promenade to pick up some warm milk for DD and coffee DH. On my way there, I stumbled onto this zumba group right smack in the middle of the promenade. This went on every morning, it was a challenge if you needed to get through.

 

 

DUKE!

 

sorry

[digitalknoll]

My husband took off and came back with a cooler of beers! Woohoo! He got 4 coronas for himself and 4 stella's for me and handy little cooler all for $38. We drank them all I had a nice little buzz going on.

 

 

 

Great review so far, thank you! I was under the impression that the blue coolers were no more? Did they have the deal for the refills? i think it was something like $28 for refill of like 6? thanks! we are sailing allure oct 20 (10 days ).

 

-DK

[tahoemc]

Thank you!! I saw you were on the Liberty do you know of any good reviews you can recommend? I'm sailing that one next month:D

 

Hi Viv, we did the Barcelona to Ft. Lauderale TA Nov 2011, so I'm not sure any reviews from that sailing would help. The more recent reviews from the Carribbean sailings would probably give you a better perspective. In retrospect, we loved the ship, and managed to keep ourselves pretty busy even with 8 or 9 sea days, whatever it was. Keep in mind our roll call was nearly 400 participants :eek::cool: so we had lots of group activities.

 

Still enjoying the cruise review, excepting the book reviews;):p (Hi Sharon, long time no see)

[VegasChic]

We headed towards the beach area where hubby spotted the zip line sign up booth so we went over and signed up. We took turns staying with DD, Hubby would go at noon and I would go at two and it was about 11:15 at the time. After signing the disclaimer (that I didn't read), they told me to get on a scale as there is a weight limit of 250 lbs. “WHAT” I hadn't weighed myself in months and didn't want to know I just didn't look and told the guide not to tell me!!

 

 

 

 

 

We proceeded to find area to hang out for the day, The beach is pretty packed and it was very hot!! There were barely any shaded areas and there were no umbrellas available either. One of the islanders offered to us help us find a spot in the shade, we found an area underneath a tree but it was awfully close to another family that was there. At this point I was a little bothered but thought what the hell it is what it is moving on and sat down. DH left to the zip line I put sun block on DD and she went running to the water however, there is a steep little rocky hill that you have to go over to get to the water pictured below.

 

[VegasChic]

After a while the other family left so I pulled out my Altec Lansing portable sound dock and started listening to some music while DD played in the water. I have a nice mix of John Mayer, Ingrid Michaelson, Jason Mraz, Colbie Caillat, Maroon 5, Steely Dan, Bruno Mars, Stevie Nicks, Bob Marley, Christopher Cross, Chris Isaac, UB40, Robin Thicke, Neyo, Bittersweet, Joss Stone, Alicia keys and the list goes on. Just thought I’d share in case anyone is in search of easy listening beach music. There wasn't much relaxation for me as DD kept coming out of the water and trying to climb the steep little rocky hill to get over to where I was. She kept falling poor thing and I had to keep getting up to help her she has no stability and I was getting annoyed and I told her to either stay near the water or stay where I was. She decided to lounge out next to me for a while as we watched the zip liners in search for her dad.

 

 

I took many pictures of the zip liners trying to find my husband. All of sudden DD says "mommy there's more, hurry get your camera!" I looked in the lens and knew it was him then, a couple that was walking by heard my daughter and stopped right in front of where we were lounging and decided to stand there and watch the Zip Liners so I only got one decent picture.

 

 

This is the loading point:

 

 

When he got back he said he was starving he took DD with him to the buffet to find something to eat. They came back with a salad for DH and a hotdog for DD then I went. Nothing looked appetizing to me and actually the whole area looks gross it was just food all over. I decided to just get some fruit and be done I am not a picky eater I’m just not a buffet type of person. Every 10 minutes a waiter would pass by offering frozen drinks and I really wanted a beer but I knew it wouldn't be as cold as I liked. I then headed towards the zip line booth for my turn. They gave us a harness and the guide explained how to put it on and went over a few simple instructions and then we headed to the mini zip line for practice. I had never done a zip line before and wasn't sure what to expect I kept looking at my harness wondering “is this really going to hold me up?" After a few simple instructions we proceeded with the practice. I'll have to admit it was a little intimidating being up there on that little ledge being held up by just a simple little harness. My husband said when he was there, some other guy panicked and said he was going to do it he didn't want to walk on the ledge to the farthest line.

 

I was one of the first ones and when I was released my heart was racing an intense feeling of Exhilaration but it was only like seven seconds. It was a rough stop but Woo hoo!! boy was that fun!! I was now ready for the big one. We all got on an open air bus and headed up the mountain to the big zip line. Moments later we arrived at dragon's breath. I took a peek over the edge and got chills but I was ready to let go and do it! There were five lines I was in the middle or fourth line I can't remember.

 

 

Can you feel the thrill here??

 

 

 

I had my little waterproof camera with me which they let you hold in your hand and I filmed a short video but it was like all over the place as halfway down the zip line I was trying to wave and then my body started to turn and twist around and I panicked. My multi-tasking skills on the zip line weren’t working quite as I thought as I was trying to wave, film and remember and keep my assigned positions. I forgot to mention there are different positions that they teach you and the guide tells you which ones to do when it's your turn.

 

It was definitely an experience. Would I do it again? Probably yes however, the $94 per person cost is a bit steep for a one minute thrill ride.

 

When I got back hubby and DD were hanging out playing in the sand. I asked DH if he got a picture of me and he said he did. I look through the 40 pictures he took and there were pictures of just about every single zip liner EXCEPT me!! At that point, we decided just to go back to the ship. I looked towards the shops area as we were near there but I didn't feel like being hassled so we headed back and I was feeling lazy from the heat.

 

One of the main things I shop for while in port, are Christmas ornaments. Every Christmas I enjoy opening up my ornaments from all over and placing them on the tree while reminiscing of that time. I won't have one for Haiti or Jamaica but I'm sure I will in the future as I plan to visit those places again.

[VegasChic]

Labadee was nice and very pretty and next time I visit, I will book an excursion as I really didn’t like beach area, the lack of umbrellas and the food. I just hate to pre-book excursions as I like to see what the weather is going to be like prior. The only time I have booked excursions was on our Hawaii sailing on our honeymoon other than that we do things on our own or hire a driver.

 

 

 

 

 

[VegasChic]

Back on the ship, we stopped by the cabin to drop off my enormous camera and other electronic devices then we headed to the park café for lunch. After hearing so many comments about the famous roast beef sandwich, I had to give it a try and see what all the fuss was about. I ordered one and OMG so freaking delicious!! DH had one too as well and a tuna sandwich. He said that the tuna was very good and fresh and agreed about the delicious roast beef.

 

We took off to the pool as soon as we got there I went over to the pool bar to grab a Stella DH went and got us some Chairs in the same spot as yesterday. While at the bar, I took a sip from the beer and realized it wasn't that cold. I explained that to the bartender. He felt the glass and said that the bottle was cold and I said (The liquid inside is not!) He looked at me like I was just released from the psycho ward so I just took the beer and left. Moments later, a waiter passed by pushing a cart full of beer in ice. My husband purchased a beer from him and it was icy cold "no fair!! I yelled" The waiter asked me what the problem was and I told him the beer I just purchased at the bar wasn’t very cold. He too looked at me like I was a mental case and asked me if I wanted to buy one from him.

 

 

 

 

I don’t think DD and I were the intended subjects of this photo LMAO! (you should see the pictures my husband took when I wasn’t looking!)

 

 

 

Anyway, for the next hour while the diva played in the pool, I read the excursion booklet like 3 times trying to figure out what to do in Falmouth. Originally, hubby said he wasn’t getting off and that he would stay with DD. YES!! I get a whole day for myself, yippeee. Well none of the tours appealed to me and basically I was in search of a photo tour excursion (non-existent!) Everything was beach related, zip lining, bobsledding or Dunns River Falls. I then asked DH to look and see what he thought I should do. Nothing appealed to him either so after the pool I stopped by the excursion desk. This is what happens when you don’t do research and don’t plan ahead!

 

There was a very long line of people and only two excursion reps. BTW the excursion desk is right in the middle of the royal promenade (genius idea, NOT!) I waited about 30 minutes in line watching people buy all the jewelry and watches and other stuff they display and sell in the middle booths. There were so many people swarmed in the area that I went over to see if they were giving something away. I don’t understand why people go crazy for this stuff. I spotted a couple of Michael Kors watches that were labeled 10% off. I looked at the sticker price of one of them and it was $275 (original price). In my opinion, that is not a deal. I can get a better deal at my local Macy’s during the F&F 25% off Michael Kors event. Finally, when it was my turn I explained to the rep what I was looking for, he was puzzled and not sure what to recommend, and he admitted most of the excursions were very similar and there was nothing that he would personally recommend. So I left and waited all that time for nothing.

[VegasChic]

We all showered and dressed and tonight I wasn't in the mood to figure out a perfect ensemble so I put on a pair of jeans, long sleeved button down shirt and a pair of wedge sandals and headed to the Amber Theater for Chicago, this time I got there at 6:30 for the 7:00 pm show (plenty of seats but they fill up fast). DD was with us as she begged not to go to Adventure Ocean. The show was adult oriented and not really suitable for a child. I felt like an awful mother but got over it quick! It ended up being DD’s favorite show (she didn't even fall asleep and she was exhausted as you can see her red eyes in the picture below. She is heavily in love with the performing arts as is her mommy! I thought the show was top notch but many others complained about it being too long and no costume or set changes.

 

 

 

We had dinner for the first time in the MDR, we were seated with a group of 3 adult friends traveling together from Puerto Rico, two Women and 1 Man they were all best friends. There was a head waiter assigned to our area, a waiter and an assistant. I’m still trying to figure out what the head waiter’s role is. I had the Garlic Soup which was very good and I ordered the shrimp cocktail as well but the waiter forgot to bring it. For my entrée I had the salmon (it was not good too dry and didn't like the taste). I had two glasses of Pinot Grigio and skipped dessert. I forgot to write down what DH had, DD had pizza and it didn't look so great but she ate it. She also had vanilla ice cream with sprinkles.

 

My dessert:

 

After dinner, DH went to the room with DD and I stopped by Bolero’s for quick smoke, they were jamming I think it was one of the nights of the live latin band!! I wasn’t going to stay there alone so I went back to the cabin and tried to read again but after a paragraph I was out!! DH ventured out again to the casino.

 

 

 

Allure vs. Epic Comparisons:

Beach towels: Epic wins!! They bring you beach towels for all the passengers in your cabin the night.

 

MDR: Epic Wins!! Although I’m sure I’ll be challenged on this – just my experience.

 

Chicago vs. Blue Man Group – Tie! They are too different to compare but I loved them both.

 

I will add that there is nothing on the Epic that compares with boleros which I think is a great venue.

 

Wine: Epic wins!!! Allure allows you to bring two bottles of wine onboard with a $25 corkage fee per bottle. I spent $50 on corkage fees. Epic allows you to bring as many bottles as you want for $15 per bottle corkage fee.

 

 

Next up:

Ocho Rios & Montego Bay (Finally chose an excursion) :D I LOVED JAMAICA!!

Sailaway at wipeout bar/ flowriders

Dinner at MDR

Headlliner :confused:

 

Stay tuned.....

[VegasChic]

Hi Viv, we did the Barcelona to Ft. Lauderale TA Nov 2011, so I'm not sure any reviews from that sailing would help. The more recent reviews from the Carribbean sailings would probably give you a better perspective. In retrospect, we loved the ship, and managed to keep ourselves pretty busy even with 8 or 9 sea days, whatever it was. Keep in mind our roll call was nearly 400 participants :eek::cool: so we had lots of group activities.

 

Still enjoying the cruise review, excepting the book reviews;):p (Hi Sharon, long time no see)

 

Thank you for the follow-up, I would love to do a TA - I'm sure you were really able to relax and unwind! 400 people is insane but the activities must of been fun!