Live from Allure of the Seas - October 5, 2014

[Daghis]

Marc,

I had a question on the Hilton Rose Hall. Was there anyplace to securely store valuables? We were wonder what to do with things like our Kindles or IDs when we are floating on the lazy river.

thanks :)

Yes, lockers are available. They aren't conveniently located to the water activities (they're basically on the other side of the hotel), but they can be used to store stuff. The hotel, of course, maintains no responsibility for stuff that is lost or stolen according to notices affixed to the lockers, mind you. :)

 

Also, regarding the lazy river, do note that it's not very big. It only takes about five minutes to make one loop. It's not like Atlantis Aquaventure that takes twenty minutes or so to go around.

[PCWalton1]

Yes, lockers are available. They aren't conveniently located to the water activities (they're basically on the other side of the hotel), but they can be used to store stuff. The hotel, of course, maintains no responsibility for stuff that is lost or stolen according to notices affixed to the lockers, mind you. :)

 

Also, regarding the lazy river, do note that it's not very big. It only takes about five minutes to make one loop. It's not like Atlantis Aquaventure that takes twenty minutes or so to go around.

 

Thanks Marc, much appreciated.

[spearmint]

I have been following your thread as we sail in less than a month. Thanks very much.

Bill

[Nancyluvs2cruise]

Will you be posting the dailies on this forum? I am sailing Nov 30 and they will likely be similar.

[Daghis]

Yes, that's the plan. I have them all with me (for both cruises), but it's going to take a little while to scan them all in. Plus, I'm not yet sure that my scanner is cooperating with my Mac.

[Jobeth66]

Hi!! I was one of the #OccupyDeck11 crew on this cruise with Marc, who has been a dear friend for many many many years.

 

I'll give my perspective as a first-time passenger on RCCL. I've also sailed Celebrity, Princess and Carnival, and prior to this cruise, had maintained that Celebrity could not be beaten. After this cruise, my prior opinion remains intact. :)

 

Embarkation - embarkation on Sunday morning was super easy, and I credit Marc for most of that, since he and Bryan and my husband & I were headed upstairs to the waiting area at the same time, the escort saw his & Bryan's Diamond cards (and the fact that we were all wearing purple shirts) and just led us all to the Diamond waiting area, where we were first in the first row. Made things very easy. (Others in our group were in a suite and mocked us mercilessly from their couch and pillow fort. :D )

 

Lunch at Giovanni's - food was wonderful, service was fantastic, and the meat lasagne was a huge hit. Because we had so many people they basically just brought out everything on the menu family-style and we shared it.

 

Dinner in the dining room on the first night - meh. Wasn't impressed. Service was slow, drink orders were taking forever, and the food was less than memorable.

 

Cabin (we were in 11302, port aft OV balcony, bed by the balcony) and it was a very nice cabin. Our steward (Marcia Marcia Marcia) was very attentive, though we asked little of her (basically asked her to empty the fridge, which she did immediately). We're RVers so are used to living in tight spaces on vacation, and managed perfectly. Showers were very nice, but "cold" was a matter of degree - after getting sunburned at Labadee (REAPPLY SUNSCREEN!) I really wanted a cold shower, but "lukewarm" was the best that could be managed. Lots of cubbies and spaces to stash stuff.

 

Breakfast on Monday was at Cafe Promenade, we just grabbed some muffins - banana nut and raisin bran were both good, apple danish was bleh - too sweet and no apples to speak of.

 

Lunch at Rita's Cantina - I had the red snapper, and it was very, very good. Hubby had a burrito and it was too much for him to finish, but he liked it.

 

Dinner Monday night was at Chops. Not what we had anticipated, but my best friend was also on this sailing and wanted to take us & another couple (a friend was celebrating his 40th which was the genesis of the cruise), so we went. It was ok. I had a nice NY strip, but the only options were NY strip or filet, either 6 or 12 oz, unless you wanted to pay an upcharge for another cut. Sides were ok - I had a baked potato that could have stayed in a little longer, we also had a couple orders of mushrooms and the tater tots. Ok, but not great. Our friend that took us was incredibly disappointed, because he'd been before the menu changed and told us how much we missed out on.

 

Tuesday was Labadee, and as Marc noted, we had a fantastic time in our cabanas. Other than my failure to reapply sunscreen, which resulted in a pretty bad burn on my back. I had an issue with my leg while we were there, and our cabana attendant was awesome, bringing me back a plate of food that Marc had prepared for me from the lunch buffet, so I didn't have to make the trek. (Which reminds me, Marc - I owe you money for tipping him!) Dinner Tuesday night was at Windjammer, and it was really, really good. Carving station had an herbed leg of lamb that was fantastic, and I had several servings of that, along with yummy mashed potatoes and gravy. Perfect.

 

Wednesday, we did an excursion with the birthday couple for a catamaran/snorkling trip out of Montego Bay that we booked through the excursion department. It was an amazing trip, about 5.5 hours from getting on the bus to getting back to the ship. The catamaran crew was wonderful, the rum punch was strong & plentiful, the music was great, and they served some beef pasties & rum-soaked banana bread that there was definitely not enough of.

 

Dinner on Wednesday was at Giovanni's. Cannot say enough about this experience. We had every appetizer (get the bacon-wrapped mozzarella, it is to die for, and we almost ordered it for dessert as well), and even though they don't offer meat lasagne on the dinner menu, our server "knew a guy" in the kitchen and was happy to obtain it for our party. I had potato gnocchi with lamb sauce and lamb chops for dinner (you may be sensing a trend...) and it was everything I could have asked for. Note that this counted as 3 specialties for us, and they took 20% off our bill - even though Giovanni's at lunch is $15 and not $25, and we didn't actually pay for our dinner at Chops (just drinks), because our other friend picked up the check. So note that even if you don't pre-book your specialties, if you do 3, you still get 20% off the check instead of 20% back as OBC.

 

Thursday was an at-sea day, and we just sort of hung out. My sunburn was bothering me and my leg was hurting so we spent most of the day reading in the Solarium or sitting on our balcony watching the water go by. Dinner tonight was Sorrento's make-your-own pizza, and it was passable. Hubby had arugula and prosciutto, I had prosciutto, black olives & feta. We have access to great pizza in NJ, so I wouldn't compare it to great pizza (and honestly, Princess wins hands-down on cruise ship pizza, IMO) but it was better than Friday pizza at school. It certainly hit the spot for us.

 

Friday was Cozumel, and we didn't get off the ship - we've been there, done that, and it held no interest for us. Hung out at the pool/hot tubs/Solarium. Dinner tonight in the MDR. Meh. Service not great, and Marc sat at our table - as noted, his wine had corked badly. They were very prompt at bringing him another bottle, but he's not an oenophile and wasn't sure what proper protocol in that situation was. Me & the other wino at our table assured him that he was justified in requesting another bottle, and the 2nd bottle was fine.

 

Saturday was our last at-sea day. Again, spent the day hanging out with everyone, and dinner was in the MDR. My meat (lamb shank) was good, but the rest of the food on my plate was cold. Hubby ordered the "always-available" steak and it arrived incredibly overcooked (think shoe leather) and everything else was cold. When he mentioned it to the server, he really couldn't have cared less and just asked if hubby wanted another one. We left at that point and he got another pizza at Sorrentos.

 

Overall - the ship was nice, but with the exception of a very few employees, service was horrible. 3 days in the solarium/pool area and I saw a waiter twice. They were wandering through the area and choosing people at random to ask if they wanted drinks, and drinks would then take 15-20 minutes to show up. Same in Windjammer. And the MDR (hubby had to order a drink twice one night because it never showed up). No smiling employees in the hallways (with the exception of a few), no one asking us if we needed or wanted anything (again, with a few exceptions). Hubby was leaving the dining room one night and there were 3 waiters chatting with each other coming towards him, he had to step out of THEIR way and they continued their conversation and never even acknowledged him. Bad form.

 

Huge exception to this was Fujian Ni, who was in the Schooner Bar on our sailing. We spent, as a group, several hours there every night, and hubby & I also spent time there during the day on several days. Ni not only learned our names and our drink preferences, but was happy to recommend drinks based on other things we had chosen. If he saw us outside the bar, he always stopped and engaged with us. Yes, we tipped him well, no question about it - but he deserved every penny and then some. Piano player was so depressing - we hated leaving the bar but had no choice, he was soooo bad. He made every song sound like a dirge.

 

I enjoyed the variety available in the Windjammer, and never had an issue getting a table, or finding something I wanted to eat. I also liked Park Cafe and we ate breakfast & lunch there on several days. Trellis Bar was a convenient place to sit when the seats at Park Cafe were full.

 

Many thanks to Marc and the members of our group who planned this trip. We had a great time, but I don't know that we'd repeat RCCL absent compelling reason, though if we did, it would likely be on the Allure/Oasis or Quantum class ships. Our next cruise is planned for Celebrity in 2016, and I'm very much looking forward to that, to see if the service on the Connie compares to what we had on the Solstice.

 

Sorry for the length on this - feel free to ask any questions and I'll answer as best I can. :)

[Jobeth66]

Oh yeah - we had the Premium drink package and got full use of it. No question that we got more than our money's worth. Having the cups to get soda/water to take back to our room or up to the game room was a huge convenience as well.

[spearmint]

jobeth66...thanks for posting. Good review. There has been much on several threads about the new menus and/or the quality of foods on board, especially in the MDR. I wonder if others on board with you noticed the poor service etc. of on board personnel?

 

Our upcoming Allure b2b cruises will only be the second time on RCI, and will it sounds like it will make or break our RCI involvement. We have been devoted Celebrity fans otherwise. One of the things we have always commented on is the friendly, smiling personnel everywhere. I hope that you experience the same.

I also hope that you like Constellation as much as we do; it is our favourite ship. Solstice class is nice in a modernistic, somewhat "plastic" way, but Constellation and her sisters are more elegant, IMO. Although all ships we have been on have some features that are notable.

 

Bill

[Jobeth66]

jobeth66...thanks for posting. Good review. There has been much on several threads about the new menus and/or the quality of foods on board, especially in the MDR. I wonder if others on board with you noticed the poor service etc. of on board personnel?

 

Yes. In fact, my best friend and his family had planned on leaving an extra tip for the MDR server, but after his dismal showing on the last 2 nights ended up not doing so.

 

Note that we had 5 tables next to each other for our group, and our table was consistently 30-45 minutes behind everyone else for service. The last night it was 45 minutes after we were seated before we got our mains, and other tables in our group were already on dessert.

 

I forgot to mention the server that dumped water in my husband's lap. Not even an apology on that one or an offer to clean it up. He basically said "oops" and walked away.

 

Our upcoming Allure b2b cruises will only be the second time on RCI, and will it sounds like it will make or break our RCI involvement. We have been devoted Celebrity fans otherwise. One of the things we have always commented on is the friendly, smiling personnel everywhere. I hope that you experience the same.

I also hope that you like Constellation as much as we do; it is our favourite ship. Solstice class is nice in a modernistic, somewhat "plastic" way, but Constellation and her sisters are more elegant, IMO. Although all ships we have been on have some features that are notable.

 

Bill

 

I'm very excited for the Connie. :)

Edited October 14, 2014 by Jobeth66

[vegasvkg]

Thanks for the reviews Daghis & Jobeth66. I have really enjoyed readying these. We are doing b2b on the Allure in a week and half, so your reveiws and comments have been helpful to us. Hopefully all will go smooth for us.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to keep us all informed.

[A Pisces]

Jobeth66 - I enjoyed your review, and many thanks to you and Marc, for writing them!

I agree with you on the Pizza comments, I always thought that Princess had the best pizza at sea.

My sister and some of her family sailed last week on the Allure, and really enjoyed it! They had a good dining experience in the MDR, and I am wondering if maybe it is because they ate there every night. Maybe the service is better, if the server knows you will be there, and learns your likes and dislikes. Or, they may have just gotten lucky on who waited on them. ;)

 

Thanks again to you both for answering questions, and sharing your experience with us!

[Nancyluvs2cruise]

Thanks for your great reviews and comments. I am soooo looking forward to this cruise, only my third on RCI. I usually cruise Celebrity and am Elite on that line, therefore Diamond on RCI thanks to reciprocity. Celebrity just doesn't seem to have much variation in their iteraries. Royal has a better selection, so I hope this works for me. Living here in Florida, the Caribbean is in my backyard. Just a few hours drive to Port Everglades This is also my first solo cruise. The only folks I know on the ship are the ones I met on the CC Roll Call. Thank you Cruise Critic!

[Euclids]

Enjoying reading this. We leave on a b2b on the nov 23rd.

[Daghis]

Yes, that's the plan. I have them all with me (for both cruises), but it's going to take a little while to scan them all in. Plus, I'm not yet sure that my scanner is cooperating with my Mac.

Good news... well, sort of. My old multifunction printer/scanner wasn't working well, but it needed new ink, so it was a question of paying $50 for ink or $80 for a whole new device. I went for the new device. :)

 

I've scanned about a third of the documents for this cruise so far. I should have them done by tomorrow.

[Schasz]

I have followed both your Getaway and Allure posts and have enjoyed reading both. We got off Getaway the week after you did. After the cruise we came to the conclusion that we like both Royal Caribbean and Celebrity better than NCL. Liberty of the Seas is the largest Royal Caribbean ship we have cruised on and frankly from an aesthetic standpoint LOS would win IMHO over Getaway. We also did not care for the adult area H2O Spice at all.

 

We look forward to reading your comparison between NCL and Royal Caribbean.

 

Shari & John

[Nancyluvs2cruise]

I am so excited to be going on Allure next month, especially before dry dock when they will be taking away the VCL, secret balconies on D11 and D12, and many others as they did on Oasis.

[Daghis]

I know what you mean. Although we didn't use the public balcony as much as I had thought we would, I was really glad that we had it. It was an excellent place for all 35 of us to be together for sail away. The only thing we were missing was bar service! :D

[Daghis]

The comparison review has been posted.

 

In addition, the Cruise Compasses have also been posted.

 

Thank you all so much for following along!

[smmountaingal]

I am so excited to be going on Allure next month, especially before dry dock when they will be taking away the VCL, secret balconies on D11 and D12, and many others as they did on Oasis.

 

What is the VCL and how do you access these secret balconies? I did see the large group from those webcam photos as they waved goodbye at sail away.

[Clarea]

What is the VCL and how do you access these secret balconies? I did see the large group from those webcam photos as they waved goodbye at sail away.

VCL is Viking Crown Lounge.

 

The public balconies on Allure can be reached by going all the way aft on either the port or starboard passenger corridors on decks 11, 12, and 14.

[quillwercruisers]

This may be a dumb question, but since we have really only sailed on NCL for longer than a couple of days, does Royal have tables for two or do you HAVE to sit at a designated table at a designated time? We have been pretty loyal to NCL, but thinking that maybe we might branch out. Also, is there a strict dress code compared to NCL? Thanks in advance for the help!!

[Clarea]

This may be a dumb question, but since we have really only sailed on NCL for longer than a couple of days, does Royal have tables for two or do you HAVE to sit at a designated table at a designated time? We have been pretty loyal to NCL, but thinking that maybe we might branch out. Also, is there a strict dress code compared to NCL? Thanks in advance for the help!!

Royal has tables for two. Much easier to get one if you opt for My Time dining.

[quillwercruisers]

Royal has tables for two. Much easier to get one if you opt for My Time dining.

 

What is "My Time dining"? Is that pretty much where you just decide when you want to go? Kind of like the "Freestyle" on NCL? Where you just go when you are ready, or do you have to select a time that you want to dine ahead of time?

 

Thanks in advance, and sorry if I am hijacking this thread. :o

[Clarea]

What is "My Time dining"? Is that pretty much where you just decide when you want to go? Kind of like the "Freestyle" on NCL? Where you just go when you are ready, or do you have to select a time that you want to dine ahead of time?

 

Thanks in advance, and sorry if I am hijacking this thread. :o

My Time is similar to Freestyle. You can just show up, make reservations for any available open time, or any combination.

[Daghis]

Also, is there a strict dress code compared to NCL?

There's not a dress code, per se, but there are dress suggestions that include khaki pants and a polo shirt on casual nights and a suit/tuxedo for formal nights.

 

This page, however, does talk about a dress code and lists:

• Casual: Sport shirts and slacks for men, sundresses or pants for women
  
• Smart Casual: Jackets and ties for men, dresses or pantsuits for women
  
• Formal: Suits and ties or tuxedos for men, cocktail dresses for women