Allure Sailing August 14 Pre trip Notes & Sort of Live Blog

[jd99]

. Our ride is here

 

 

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[Blondynka]

My in laws and also a friend are on the same cruise!!! Thanks for the live blog I will be following along :)

[jd99]

Not rushing to ship since we are newbies to Royal. It's kind of refreshing though I have a back of mind feeling I'm missing something since we are often among first on ship with DCL. I AM looking forward to being a newbie and not knowing the ship inside and out and discovering everything for the first time. Spending some time at pool this morning as we have a noon pickup. Ready to sail!!!

Edited August 14, 2016 by jd99

[HRJ141]

We are on the Allure next week with our 17 yo daughter, staying in deck 8. I look forward to following your cruise here and getting ramped up for next week!

[saltycat]

Hi, wondering where you had dinner last night. We love Las Olas Blvd...

[jd99]

Hi, wondering where you had dinner last night. We love Las Olas Blvd...

 

Louis Bossi

[packercruising]

I hope after so many cruises on DSC that Allure will measure up to your expectations. She is a wonderful ship with a great crew that has always been on point for us, so I hope Allure will be the same for you. We return to Allure in two weeks so I "know" how you are feeling today. Prepare the ship for our arrival.:D

 

Have fun today with the family and try to get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow will here before you know it. Enjoy your sailing.:)

 

You had some awesome pics! Did you just post them straight from your phone?

 

Thanks to OP for taking us along!:cool:

[Luvmypetz]

Following! Sail Nov 13

[kragersmomma]

Happy Salils!!!! we leave in 2 weeks !

[JKCamara]

Not rushing to ship since we are newbies to Royal. It's kind of refreshing though I have a back of mind feeling I'm missing something since we are often among first on ship with DCL. I AM looking forward to being a newbie and not knowing the ship inside and out and discovering everything for the first time. Spending some time at pool this morning as we have a noon pickup. Ready to sail!!!

 

 

Thank you so much for doing this review! We sail on her in just three short weeks.

 

If you have a second while exploring, can you report as to what the menu is for 150 Central Park? Is it a la cart, or prix fixe?

 

Have an amazing trip and I look forward to hearing more.

[jd99]

Wow. What a beautiful ship. Love Central Park. Promenade and Boardwalk very cool. Love our room location just steps from Vintages in Central Park. Everyone we have encountered so far has been super nice but not that fake level of nice we were starting to feel on Disney. Cabins are very nice but definitely smaller than DCL so glad we booked two cabins instead of one. Having drink package is awesome. Just walk up to a bartender and get whatever. Whenever. Flow rider looks super fun and I will attempt at least the boogie board version hopefully tomorrow. Lunch was on Park Cafe and was very good. Love the make your own salads. Our room host is sweet and very nice. All in all a great first few hours.

Edited August 14, 2016 by jd99

[lovelife]

Following. I'll be on her next week and am also curious about the new menus. :)

[jd99]

Let the Disney comparisons begin!

 

 

 

We were worried that we'd spend the whole time comparing to Disney but there hasn't been a need because this ship is so unique in its own way but we do have some points that are obvious at first.

 

 

 

Cleanliness/Freshness - I see no difference here. The Allure is every bit as spic and span as the Fantasy. And I'd say that it far outperforms the Wonder which we were on last spring and was showing its age in many ways.

 

 

 

Friendliness - I have encountered nothing but amazingly friendly happy staff so far. From the bartenders at Vintages to the room host, store personnel and wait staff, it's been top notch.

 

 

 

Main Dining Room Experience - Last night was perfect. I mean perfect. The staff was very nice, efficient and friendly, but not over the top creepy friendly. My daughter can't eat gluten and they were extremely sensitive to this and accommodated her very well. I will say that Royal Caribbean beats Disney hands down on the first night dining experience. We always find the dining rooms at Disney stressful on the first night and have always written it off to "it's their hard day when they have to turn around the ship and they are getting used to a new group of guests." After seeing how the RC staff handled it last night, I'll never think that again.

 

 

 

Live music - It's stunning how much live music there is around the ship. We covered a ton of ground late afternoon into the night and found steel drum bands, classical music and pop performed by live performers everywhere. This is a HUGE advantage for Royal.

 

 

 

Central Park - I totally love this. Love it.

 

 

 

A couple of things I was worried about on this ship.

 

 

 

1. A lot of people say that they don't feel like they are on a ship and that you can't see the ocean from enough places. I get this, but I think if you WANT to see the ocean, there are tons of opportunities. Spent a lot of time on the upper decks watching the water and our oceanview balcony cabin allows me to see the sea anytime I want. No longer as worried about this.

 

 

 

2. Smell of smoke. I despise it and it makes me (and my girls) physically sick when around it. This is the only negative difference I can really see on a ship with a casino. We walked down to Izumi to check on a reservation for tonight and as soon as the elevator door opened, we were struck hard by the smell outside the casino that seemed to permeate the floor. I would hate it if we were in the dining room adjacent (as luck would have it we are in Silk thank goodness). We will visit that part of the ship exactly one time - for our Izumi reservation - and then never see it again after tonight.

 

 

 

3. Guest Services - I had read so many negative posts about people's experience with long lines and not so helpful staff. We had the exact opposite experience. The line wasn't short, but there were so many staff on hand that it moved very fast and our questions were answered quickly and efficiently by a lovely young lady.

 

 

 

I also don't love the towel checkout procedure and the fact that towels are not all over the pool deck like on Disney. But it's not that big a deal and not enough to complain about. I just prefer the honor system of multiple points where you can find towels vs. check out/check in from one desk. But if that's the biggest complaint I have on this ship, I'd say it's going to be an amazing week.

 

 

 

We had dinner as I mentioned in Silk and the food was every bit as good as anything we had in main dining at Disney - dare I say a little better overall. And the selection was better. For those asking about menus - as it is our first sailing, I don't know if the menus have changed but I don't think so based on what little I remember reading about menus prior to the trip.

 

 

 

We are not getting off the ship today. Combine the ridiculously short stay in Nassau (onboard is 1:30 p.m.) and the fact that we have been here many many times and the adventure of a new exciting ship and we will be exploring, using the pools and more today.

 

 

 

I'm not sure how well I will do in keeping up on this during the week, but i want to make sure I get my thoughts together as I think them.

 

 

 

Time to start our day!

Edited August 15, 2016 by jd99

[LuCruise]

Great report so far. You'll love Allure...amazing ship!

 

We were on Allure in April. We even had 4 to a cabin. Although the staterooms aren't large as you mentioned, two things I loved were (1) they were much deeper than other ships (comparing both to Disney and older Royal ships), (2) tons of storage with build in shelves in the closets, extra shelves on the wall, dresser space and washrooms. And the fact that you have 2 cabins is a huge bonus.

 

Enjoy...I look forward to hearing more.

[A&L_Ont]

Glad to read that you are having a great time. I hope the rest of the cruise goes this well.

[KeywestK]

Following! We will be in a CP balcony cabin in November and I loved seeing the pics of CP. Have a wonderful cruise! Looks like you are off to a great start.

[wdwluvin]

Thanks so much for taking the time to review and post your pics! We are Gold on DCL (sailed on all 4 DCL ships) and sailing on the Allure this upcoming March. I really appreciate the comparisons.

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

[MaiseyM]

Whoo Hoo!! Glad it's living up to your expectations. It's hard to be loyal to one company and then jump ship (pun intended). Glad you are enjoying it. I was on Oasis (very similar to Allure) and loved Central Park. It's so peaceful there. Enjoy, enjoy!!

[ubish00]

Thank you for your report. So glad you are enjoying yourselves so far. I am very happy to hear your not missing Disney.

[easyboy]

Following your interesting posts. Thanks

[DISFANS3]

Awesome trip report...

[urbancruiser]

Wow. What a beautiful ship. Love Central Park. Promenade and Boardwalk very cool. Love our room location just steps from Vintages in Central Park.

 

We also loved Central Park and Vintages!! Our favorite staff members were Gemma and Daniel from Vintages!! Will be on the Allure in October but Gemma will be on a much deserved time off from the ship. Enjoy her if she's there now!! She's the best!!!

[jd99]

So today we chose to stay on the ship. Combine a very short day (7 a.m. to 2 p.m.) with the fact that we have been to Nassau many times and don't have a "must do" there along with the chance to explore this big beautiful ship and staying on was a no brainer.

 

We had breakfast in the Solarium and it was perfect. Not crowded, good food, nice service and great view. What else could you want?

 

From there, we decided to just hang out at the beach pool for a bit. Chair hogs are truly in force like everyone says. When we walked out of breakfast, there were chairs available everywhere but but the time we regrouped and came back up, all the "good" chairs with umbrellas and in that areas were taken. The sports pool was closed for some reason which I think made it more crowded than it would have been.

 

Adventure was our next plan and that meant my 12-year-old wall climbing and then she and I both zip lining. What fun!!!! At that point she said "I wish Disney ships had all this stuff!" I wanted to try the flow rider but it was quite crowded since it didn't open until right around all aboard time. I will get there before the week is out.

 

The rest of the day was spent at the pool. I had lunch at the Hot Dog House while girls went to the Park Cafe. Spent some time chilling in the Solarium later afternoon while girls got ready for dinner., Tonight was our first formal night but we had reservations at Izumi Hibachi so I didn't wear a suit but girls were beautiful in their dresses.

 

Izumi was in a word great. We do this kind of thing at home all the time but this was truly a step above in terms of fun.

 

Tonight was the Ocean Aria show and we had great seats just one row back from the splash zone. What an amazing show!

 

All in all a great day and we kept finding more things we loved about the ship. The whole family agreed we would book this ship again in a heartbeat. One thing I would change is to book us in connecting ocean view balcony cabins instead of across the hall balcony/inside since there is a lot of time going back and forth between cabins.

 

Today is a day at sea. Let's see what adventures we can find.

[cruzin76]

Thanks for your review, waiting to hear more.

[jd99]

I was remiss in posting pics yesterday. Our day at sea was relaxing. Pool time. Zip line. Mama Mia. Love and marriage game.

 

Pools weren't as crowded as I expected on a sea day. We sat on the 16th deck overlooking beach pool. We did wait quite a while for zip line and ran out of time to line up for flow rider. Mama Mia was fantastic. Have seen it on Broadway a couple of times and this production was every bit as good. Love and marriage was quite fun and our dining room experience was on point again. Didn't take any pics this day but here are some from yesterday.

 

Today is St. Thomas and we have some plans so gotta get moving!!

 

 

 

 

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