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Live from Allure of the Seas - October 5, 2014

Daghis

By Daghis,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Peacemkr59

Peacemkr59

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We are in 10327. 2nd from the aft and are very excited about our Boardwalk Balcony. We are people watchers ;). Can't wait to sit on the Balcony and watch the ocean go by and the people down below!!

 

 

We are in 11727 2nd from the end on the opposite side next week on the Allure. Can't wait to make use of the "not so secret balcony"!!

 

 

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Daghis

Daghis

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Marc,

An over the water cabana at Labadee and Hilton Rose Hill is is what we are doing in January. By chance are you in Nachicocom Beach Club in Cozumel today as that is what we have planned there. :p :)

 

You're almost following in our footsteps. We did do Nachi Cocom the last time we were in Cozumel. It was okay. We didn't get good service, but that seemed to be an anomaly compared with what others have said here.

 

Yesterday in Cozumel, Bryan just mulled around the port a bit, but I went to Chankanaab for the Dolphin Royal Swim. My friends and I had booked this excursion as a group and we got to enjoy a variety of dolphin activities. That was a lot of fun, and we bought the pictures to prove it! :)

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Daghis

Daghis

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Welcome to Day 7, the final day of our two cruise vacation! It's a bit of a sad day, but I'll make the most of it! :)

 

After I got back from the dolphin swim, I mostly hung out with friends at the Schooner Bar. Dinner in the main dining room was rather disappointing; I don't like the new menus. Norwegian's complimentary dining options were better, in my opinion. We continued to get great service from Ni. We love Ni! :D

 

Speaking of the Schooner Bar, the live music there is dreadful! Whenever the pianist would come in, that would be our cue to leave. His choice of music was low-energy and depressing. I would expect to hear more upbeat choices. Last night, the regular guy was taking the night off, and a jazz pianist came in. He was even worse! Oy!

 

So, today is going to be a relaxing, fun day. I'm going to walk around the ship taking pictures so I'll have at least some memories on my computer from this trip. I've been extremely lax with my cameras. I might as well give them some use!

 

I don't know whether I'm going to have dinner in the main dining room with my friends or not. I don't like the menu selections, and I haven't yet tried the Windjammer (it's been too busy when I've gone so far). We'll see...

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icsys

icsys

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Can I ask what time you docked in Cozumel and the earliest you could get off the ship?

The itinerary says 'dock at 7am' (ships time?) but Cozumel is one hour behind Ft Lauderdale which I'm guessing is the time the ship uses.

 

Over all, was the MDR okay? I have read recent reviews that it is not up to usual RCI standards.

Of course food is very subjective, just a little concerned about what to expect next month.

 

Many thanks.

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Schasz

Schasz

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As of this evening, this still isn't resolved. I'm disappointed that Club Royale didn't keep their information correct and aren't able to resolve it quickly. :(

 

Anyway, onto better status updates...

 

Breakfast at Johnny Rockets was quite good. Friends and I enjoyed a nice breakfast there.

 

The Meet & Mingle was very well attended, and I think this was the largest gift exchange I've seen! It was great to get a chance to see others from Cruise Critic.

 

Lunch at Vintages was very enjoyable. The tapas were quite yummy.

 

This afternoon was spent with me doing some knitting in the Viking Crown Lounge. The music was nice, albeit a bit loud for conversation. I got a few rounds done on my hat. :)

 

Dinner this evening was at Samba Grill. Not only was it fantastic, it blew away the Brazilian dinner on Norwegian Getaway. The meats were better and the desserts were delicious.

 

Then it was on to Schooner Bar for post-dinner Diamond-voucher drinks. Ni continued to take good care of us. :D

 

Tomorrow is Labadee. As I mentioned, we have cabanas. I hope that they'll be together, but we'll find out in the morning.

 

The cruise is going really well. I'm looking forward to writing up the comparison review between the two cruises.

 

Moderno on our Getaway cruise was easily our least favorite dinner. We were thinking Brazilian steakhouse was just not for us, but based on your experience on the Allure maybe we need to give it another try.

 

Shari & John

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Daghis

Daghis

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Can I ask what time you docked in Cozumel and the earliest you could get off the ship?

Our itinerary says that we dock at 8 AM (all itinerary times are ship time). We did arrive early, but I'm not sure how much. I think people may have been disembarking at 7:30.

 

Over all, was the MDR okay? I have read recent reviews that it is not up to usual RCI standards.

Service is good and the food is good for what it is. I don't care for the selections, but the items I've had have been generally good.

 

I did have one unusual circumstance with a bottle of wine in the wine package we have. I got the bottle and when they poured a sample, it smelled and tasted funny, a bit off from what I expected. I've never sent a bottle of wine back for being "off", but I did last night. They did replace it with a another bottle of the same wine that was much better.

Edited by Daghis
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spearmint

spearmint

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Our itinerary says that we dock at 8 AM (all itinerary times are ship time). We did arrive early, but I'm not sure how much. I think people may have been disembarking at 7:30.

 

 

Service is good and the food is good for what it is. I don't care for the selections, but the items I've had have been generally good.

 

I did have one unusual circumstance with a bottle of wine in the wine package we have. I got the bottle and when they poured a sample, it smelled and tasted funny, a bit off from what I expected. I've never sent a bottle of wine back for being "off", but I did last night. They did replace it with a another bottle of the same wine that was much better.

 

 

Good for you. I have had "off" bottles of wine and the wine steward (not on any ship, though) has tried to make me feel that I knew nothing and was making a big deal. The fact is, that if a wine smells/tastes musty like an old cellar smells, it is "corked" and needs to be replaced.

Bill

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VillaHappy

VillaHappy

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We are a family of 4 and were thinking of doing Hilton Rose Hall as well for our Sept 2015 sailing. However, at $114 pp (it's a bit over $450 for us 4) it's far too expensive to book through Resort for a Day. I called Hilton Rose Hall directly and was told I could book a night there even if I was only using it for the daytime and we would be allowed the same all-inclusive privileges as the guests, including food. The nightly rate for the cheapest room is $189 so definitely a HUGE savings. A cab to HRH is about $50 each way for us 4, so that's still a $165+ savings if we book through the resort. Just a thought for those considering booking HRH!!

 

That is a wonderful idea! We usually travel as a family of 4, and look to save whenever and wherever we can. Thanks again!

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A Pisces

A Pisces

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How was your dinner at Chops on Friday?

 

I heard that they didn't allow snorkeling at Labadee this week. I know that you had a cabana, so you may not have known what the others were doing, but I was wondering if you heard people mentioning that there was only one beach open for everyone who didn't have a gold card? Maybe there was a note in the Cruise Planner about this?

 

I know how sad it is on the last day, and a shock to the system, after two relaxing weeks, but at least you have more cruises on the horizon! Thanks for writing your Live from!

Kathy

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rp23g7

rp23g7

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We are in 11727 2nd from the end on the opposite side next week on the Allure. Can't wait to make use of the "not so secret balcony"!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

see you there we are in 11728

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Daghis

Daghis

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How was your dinner at Chops on Friday?

We went to Chops Grille on Thursday. It was pretty good, but I was disappointed by some of the menu changes. My petite filet mignon was tasty, but I wished they still had the chimichurri sauce for it. Others at my table enjoyed the gruyere tater tots, but I didn't care for them. The new desserts were generally a disappointment, including the lack of their signature crème brûlée. I did like their new soft pretzel breadsticks.

 

I heard that they didn't allow snorkeling at Labadee this week. I know that you had a cabana, so you may not have known what the others were doing, but I was wondering if you heard people mentioning that there was only one beach open for everyone who didn't have a gold card? Maybe there was a note in the Cruise Planner about this?

 

We had some snorkelers among our group at Nellie's Beach. I didn't hear anything about snorkeling restrictions at Labadee.

 

Barefoot Beach is the gold card (suites) only area. They also have cabanas available through the suite concierge.

 

I know how sad it is on the last day, and a shock to the system, after two relaxing weeks, but at least you have more cruises on the horizon! Thanks for writing your Live from!

Yeah, the last day is always a bit rough, and here I am sitting in Dazzles, ready to disembark. They just called #23 and we're #26, so it'll be soon.

 

You're right... having three more cruises booked for the next year and a half makes disembarking easier, although none of them are on the beautiful Allure of the Seas, so I'm a little sad to say goodbye to her.

 

I am looking forward to writing up my comparison posts between last week's Norwegian Getaway cruise and this and previous Royal Caribbean cruises. I'll start working on the Royal Caribbean scores today.

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Daghis

Daghis

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when and where do you plan on putting the comparison articles between the ncl getaway, and allure??

 

 

I'll be posting the comparison reviews in both the NCL and Royal Caribbean forums. I'll be working on them starting tomorrow.

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Daghis

Daghis

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Oh, I have a tidbit regarding the complimentary wine in the Diamond lounge. They were serving a Zonin pinot grigio and a Tisdale chardonnay. I tried both. The Zonin was okay, but I didn't like the Tisdale at all.

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Daghis

Daghis

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Disembarkation was rather unpleasant. We had luggage tag number 26 which was estimated to disembark at 9:15. There was a backup in the terminal that delayed us until a bit after 9:30. Then there was a 10 minute wait in the terminal before we could go downstairs to get our luggage.

 

Finding the luggage was easy.

 

After that, we had a very slow walk through a long, snaking line to get to customs. That took 10-15 more minutes. Overall, it took about an hour from our originally estimated disembarkation time to get out of the terminal.

 

They first started calling numbers around 7:30 or so, so if you had a very early number (2-7, I think, were the initial batch of numbers called), you might have an easier time.

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smmountaingal

smmountaingal

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Disembarkation was rather unpleasant. We had luggage tag number 26 which was estimated to disembark at 9:15. There was a backup in the terminal that delayed us until a bit after 9:30. Then there was a 10 minute wait in the terminal before we could go downstairs to get our luggage.

 

Finding the luggage was easy.

 

After that, we had a very slow walk through a long, snaking line to get to customs. That took 10-15 more minutes. Overall, it took about an hour from our originally estimated disembarkation time to get out of the terminal.

 

They first started calling numbers around 7:30 or so, so if you had a very early number (2-7, I think, were the initial batch of numbers called), you might have an easier time.

 

This is very helpful. I would rather plan for a longer exit than to be frustrated by a schedule I cannot meet with a shuttle waiting for me!

 

Thanks

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