Just back from Allure

[Nkelly14]

Just returned after a 7-night cruise on Allure. The ship is beautiful. We arrived in Rome three days early to show our granddaughters the sites. Our hotel arranged a limo to take us to the port. We were there in less than 1 hour and check-in was a breeze. We were on the ship in less than 15 minutes. A little weird though since we have never done an inter-porting cruise. Most passengers embarked in Barcelona and about 1400 of us embarked in Civitavecchia. We had a balcony cabin overlooking the Boardwalk. It was fun being able to see everything going on down there.

 

We did three excursions through the ship and two Hop-on, Hop-off bus tours on our own. The excursions were great but I do wish we had more time in Pisa to look around and shop. 1 hr. 15 min. was too short. IMO

 

We did MDR the whole cruise and our waiter/assistant waiter were fantastic. We always got our drinks, rolls, etc. without even having to ask. My only complaint is that two of the "head waiters" catered every night to what I refer to as "problem children" (4 passengers). They were not young at all. They wound up in our section because they had an issue with where they were originally assigned to sit. One night they complained so loud that a couple sitting near them asked to be moved after the girl (celebrating her birthday) left the dining room in tears. I am sure that if this cruise was the couple's first, they may never cruise again. Or at least with RCCL. If the saying "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" is true, than these two couples were well greased. They succeeded in making our dining experience very tense one night. The two "head waiters" frequented their table numerous times a night. One of them never stopped at our table. Since we have been on numerous cruises and three cruise lines, this was the first time we had ever seen anything like it.

 

This was our second Mediterranean cruise and will definitely do it again.

[Sailingman]

We will be going on the Allure in September.

At what time are the cabins ready after you get on the ship?

[Nkelly14]

1 pm

[cb at sea]

Perhaps complaining about the complainers might have helped. Be a "squeaky wheel" yourself!

[freeon]

We are doing the same cruise in September. We have a private tour in Barcelona and the tour company said Allure uses 2 terminals. In which terminal did you disembark .

[Sailingman]

Thanks, we plan on arriving at the port around 10:30 AM, the boarding documents say boarding time is 11:00 AM, so we should be there early enough to enjoy the ship before going to our cabin.

[Keith1010]

Thanks for your writeup.

 

Keith

[petermack]

We are doing the same cruise in September. We have a private tour in Barcelona and the tour company said Allure uses 2 terminals. In which terminal did you disembark .

 

When you complete your setsail documentation, it will state which terminal you embark & disembark through

[elleran]

We embarked terminal B because our cabin was at the front of the ship. When we disembarked, we left through the exit near the champagne bar (back of the ship And closest to terminal C) but after exiting there is still a place in the off ramps where you can decide which terminal to go to. If you have luggage tagged, you must go to the correct terminal to pick up your bags. If you boarded in Rome I think you could go to either terminal. We took the 2 euro shuttle from Columbus statue. The shuttle to terminal C was direct but the shuttle to terminal B went via the Norwegian epic.

[freeon]

We are embarking and disembarking in Rome. Barcelona for us will be a port day. I assume we would disembark at a different terminal than everybody that is embarking for the first time.

[Nkelly14]

We thought we would be exiting a different gangway than the disembarking passengers but nope, we exited along with them.

[BobbyD]

After drydock in which they were going to switch to DD, does anybody know if they renovated the MDRs? Or, are they just decorated differently? Any information would be appreciated.

[Rod&Deb]

Gosh some people really need to get a life. Poor waiters. Those people must have been a pain in the butt.

[ready set cruise]

I'm wondering what the weather was like for you. I'm from the south where it is still warm.