Surviving 2,000+ kids on Allure (Western Spring Break)

[Tltay]

We picked up the “Tips to Save You Time”, and the list of places open to eat on boarding day. Just don’t wear a yellow shirt on boarding day.

 

 

For this cruise, in addition to the $350 OBC that was available to book things pre-cruise, we also had another $200, plus a spa treatment from the TA. First thing on the ship we get signed up for the VOOM one device package, then head to the Port Merchant Alcohol display.

 

Last cruise, DW sampled some Baileys Salted Carmel and took some home with us. She wanted to make sure she could get a couple bottles to take home after this cruise. The boarding day special was two 1-Litre bottles for $40. It would not be this cheap on the ship again, and it was more expensive in both Jamaica and Cozumel. So we are 20 feet inside the ship, and already we have lightened the OBC by $150.

 

More papers from boarding day.

 

 

 

 

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On your tip card it states luggage delivery at 8pm. Is that correct? First time with RCL so I want to be prepared and pack dinner clothes in my carry on if this is the case. Thanks.

[ARandomTraveler]

Wow. Sorry you can’t see it. On my mobile app, it automatically plays. On the web version, it opens in YouTube.

 

You can try doing a google search for H20skibum YouTube. Then just choose the video The Allure.

 

 

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I’ll try that. It happens to me on every video I click here on the app. Maybe I need to update the app.

 

 

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[h20skibum]

On your tip card it states luggage delivery at 8pm. Is that correct? First time with RCL so I want to be prepared and pack dinner clothes in my carry on if this is the case. Thanks.

 

 

 

That is probably just listing the latest time you may expect to get your suitcases. It would be later, the later you check in. Of course, if bags get sent to the naughty room for prohibited items, it will always be longer.

 

I am always amazed at the number of travel and full size irons on the table for people to claim when they disembark.

 

We had our bags by 3. Dining venues are forgiving the first night.

 

 

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[h20skibum]

We had our complimentary drinks and a plate of cookies in the cabin. We also had this:

 

 

I didn’t even remember if this was part of the promo when we booked, but now I have a third bottle of wine to finish off this week. Challenge accepted.

 

So it is off to explore the ship some more while we wait for the suitcases to arrive. Why are there so many people in line at guest services at 2:00 on boarding day. Maybe they are like me on one of our earlier cruises when I misplaced my phone during the spa tour and had to go to guest services to retrieve it.

 

 

The promenade is getting crowded now.

 

 

But the track is still closed where boarding takes place.

 

 

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

So where does this Western cruise go?

 

 

We have been to these ports several times before, so we don’t have anything special planned for them.

 

I would like to provide a link to the review from the week before our cruise for the Eastern itinerary. Dining menus and bar menus were printed in that review, so I will not repeat them here. It also had great food pictures, so some of mine may pale in comparison.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2613542

 

So after our trip around the ship, we stop back at the cabin and find our bags in the hall. I think this is the first time we did not have enough hangers in the closet, even though we didn’t pack any more than usual. Just then, the cabin steward stopped to see if we needed anything.

 

Yes please. More hangers and wine glasses. He was back in a flash with them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Teeara]

 

 

 

Staying fit and active is always a good goal. Every year when I get my boat out of storage, I look forward to that first ski run. I guess when I can’t get up for a slalom ski run, I will declare myself old. We do a lot of trail day hikes on the North Country Trail. Even signs like this don’t deter us.

 

 

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Oh my goodness. I misread the sign. I thought it said "Allow a minimum of 45 hours to hike it one way." :'):') No wonder only serious hikers should attempt to hike this trail! ;o))) Thanks for the giggle!

[h20skibum]

Oh my goodness. I misread the sign. I thought it said "Allow a minimum of 45 hours to hike it one way." :'):') No wonder only serious hikers should attempt to hike this trail! ;o))) Thanks for the giggle!

 

 

 

Haha. If it was 45 hours one way, I would not do it as a day hike. It was a challenging trail though.

 

 

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[h20skibum]

following along. We loved our cruise on Allure in September.

 

 

 

Thanks for following along.

 

 

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[h20skibum]

Whenever we sail on one of the Oasis class ships, a schedule is needed if you want to try to see the shows. Anyone who has researched them knows you should book the comedy show first thing. I usually research cruise Compasses to set up a preliminary schedule for the shows we want to see, and then work dining and other shows around them. Of course, sometimes the schedules don’t work out, but it gives us a starting point. This was our schedule for the cruise.

 

 

I also looked at the menus for the week, and used it to determine when we might want to do any specialty dining. These were the menu items for the week, although they swapped nights 3 and 6. All of these came from the app.

 

 

So next up on our schedule was the muster drill. Our muster station was in Studio B. We knew the ship was crowded when it ended up standing room only in there. Every seat was taken, and there were probably at least another 100-200 standing in the back with us. Just hope they have enough spaces in the lifeboats.

 

 

 

 

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[LuCruise]

Wow..I'm a major planner and have something like your schedule spreadsheet, but never seen the menu spreadsheet. Very impressed!

 

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[h20skibum]

After muster drill, we see the Regal Princess sailing out of port.

 

 

For this cruise, we booked My Time Dining. We usually have traditional dining, but on our Hawaii cruise with Princess, we tried their my time dining and it was truly enjoyable. We enjoy meeting different people on cruises, and that provided a great opportunity. Every night we were seated with 6 or 8 other people, and we all had great conversation.

 

Given our great experience on Princess, we thought we would try it on the Allure. If our experience on Princess was great, this was just the opposite. I don’t want to use the word awful, because then you may think the food was awful. It was just the experience. Our preferences had been set for a large table, but we were taken to a two-top for our first night.

 

Not a problem. I enjoy DW’s company at dinner. They did ask for any food allergies, and I told them about her raisin allergy. Evidently they enter this into their system, because this followed us, regardless of the waiters we had. The waiters appeared rushed with too many tables to service.

 

We both had the prime rib tonight, and start to finish, it took about 1:45 for the meal. Sorry, no photos of the meal, but it was done just right.

 

We made it in time for the tail end of the liquor tasting, but DW didn’t find anything she liked better than the Salted Carmel she already bought.

 

Now it was off to see Mama Mia, which we had booked for the first night. No pictures here either, because they announce that photos and video taping is not permitted. We found a little entertaining, but by intermission, it was time to leave. From what I have read, the second part is not as good, so I don’t feel we missed much.

 

 

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[h20skibum]

Day 2 is a sea day, so here are the Cruise Compasses for the day

 

 

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[h20skibum]

More of the compass and specials

 

 

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[h20skibum]

We started out our day with a workout on the track. We did spend a little time in the gym, but found it was very crowded and very hot. In fact, most every venue on the ship was very warm, even the theaters. I am not sure if this was because of how many were onboard, or if they were just cutting back on the air conditioning.

 

We found our way to Starbucks for lattes, as we would each morning. If you have the VOOM package, you can use your Starbucks app to pay for the purchases. Then it was off to the Wipeout Cafe for made to order omelettes.

 

This morning was the Meet and Mingle, which they held at the On Air club. We had 37 sign up, but only 11 showed for it. Oh well, more prizes for everyone. It worked out that every couple won something. DW had the lucky ticket for us and won these.

 

 

 

 

 

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[Jasukkie]

Your menu spreadsheet would be a huge help for planning. You mentioned this info was from the app, was this prior to boarding or once onboard?

[h20skibum]

Your menu spreadsheet would be a huge help for planning. You mentioned this info was from the app, was this prior to boarding or once onboard?

 

 

 

This was prior to boarding. Just choose a sailing on the app that is either eastern or western.

 

Click on the ship icon in the upper left.

 

Then select dining at the bottom. You can select the dining venue you want, and then a link that will list the menu for each day.

 

 

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[Jasukkie]

Unfortunately that feature of the app doesn't seem to apply to Anthem. I will have to remember that if I ever do go on a ship that is included there.

[Teeara]

Whenever we sail on one of the Oasis class ships, a schedule is needed if you want to try to see the shows. Anyone who has researched them knows you should book the comedy show first thing. I usually research cruise Compasses to set up a preliminary schedule for the shows we want to see, and then work dining and other shows around them. Of course, sometimes the schedules don’t work out, but it gives us a starting point. This was our schedule for the cruise.

 

 

I also looked at the menus for the week, and used it to determine when we might want to do any specialty dining. These were the menu items for the week, although they swapped nights 3 and 6. All of these came from the app.

 

 

So next up on our schedule was the muster drill. Our muster station was in Studio B. We knew the ship was crowded when it ended up standing room only in there. Every seat was taken, and there were probably at least another 100-200 standing in the back with us. Just hope they have enough spaces in the lifeboats.

 

 

 

 

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Brilliant! I'm a planner and this is fantastic. Thanks for sharing! I love it when I can learn new things on CC.

[h20skibum]

Brilliant! I'm a planner and this is fantastic. Thanks for sharing! I love it when I can learn new things on CC.

 

 

 

They do take more planning than the smaller ships. One thing we didn’t book was Blue Planet, because we saw that on a previous cruise.

 

 

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[accio_7]

Following!

 

Loving your review so far, keep up the good work :)

[js]

WOW! What a great review! Cannot wait to read more! I'm Type A and do a Word document with our itinerary but I love your Excel sheet! I book my specialty dining according to our ports and what we are doing next day but also love your restaurant Excel sheet.

 

Can't wait for more! Thank you!

[h20skibum]

Following!

 

Loving your review so far, keep up the good work :)

 

 

 

WOW! What a great review! Cannot wait to read more! I'm Type A and do a Word document with our itinerary but I love your Excel sheet! I book my specialty dining according to our ports and what we are doing next day but also love your restaurant Excel sheet.

 

 

 

Can't wait for more! Thank you!

 

 

Glad you are enjoying. These do take a while to complete, but I hope to finish sometime this weekend. With that said, onward.

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

After the M&M, it was time for the top tier event at the Aquatheatre. This is where they told us of the makeup of the passengers. There were 400+ in the Pinnacle, D, and D+ category; 100+ in the Emerald category; 400+ in the Platinum category, and the rest were

 

 

A few photos from the event

 

 

I told DW that these guys were almost in as good a shape that I am. As she wiped the drool from her face, she just said “yeah, right”

 

 

And another little video

 

 

 

 

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[hapster85]

Unfortunately that feature of the app doesn't seem to apply to Anthem. I will have to remember that if I ever do go on a ship that is included there.

It is slowly being deployed fleet wide. By the end of 2019, it should be in use on every ship.

[h20skibum]

If you are playing the officer scavenger hunt, you can probably get them all signed after the top tier event when they are lined up on the Boardwalk.

 

By the time the top tier event was over, it was time for lunch. Since one of the specials for our CP balcony was a free lunch at Giovanni’s, Sabor, or Johnny Rockets, DW wanted to head to Johnny Rockets because she loves their apple pie.

Onion rings

Chili cheese fries

Route 66 burger

Apple pie

 

 

 

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