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Allure of the seas - new cruisers :D


Troelsen91
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Hi Cruiseres!

 

My husband and I, re going to celebrate our honeymoon on Allure of the seas this April. We upgrade our cabin to an outdoor balcony cabin at deck 7. We will be staying in cabin 7326 and are curious about how this cabin looks, is there anyone who have some pictures of it? Some good advice for us as cruise ship virgins?

We cant wait for the cruise!

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Congratulations on your forthcoming honeymoon! You have chosen the biggest ship in the world with so much to do onboard you cannot do it all in a week. You were smart to choose an oceanview balcony cabin as these are more private than the ones that face inward on this ship. There are videos of this type of cabin on Youtube:

 

As you can see, in some cabins the bed is near the bathroom and in others it is near the balcony. I think for your cabin, the bed will probably be near the balcony as the cabin next door is for 3 and in that case, usually the 3rd berth is the sofa near the balcony.

 

We loved the specialty restaurants on this ship and we made reservations for both the shows and restaurants prior to the cruise on the RCCL website - so be sure to do that. The shows are all really good! The Adults only solarium is a great place to hang out during the day. Definitely get on the Rising Tide bar one evening - it is really fun to ride it up and down! If you want to go to the Chef's Table dinner, call RCCL ahead of time and make a reservation via phone (you can't do it online.) Did you know you can get breakfast for free at Johnny Rockets? Have you heard about the amazing roast beef sandwiches at the Park Cafe on 8? That's a good place to go to lunch on boarding as the vast majority of people will head to the Windjammer cafe. Little sandwiches are available at Cafe Promenade all day and there is free pizza at Sorrentos. If you drink soda, then get a soda card as this ship has Coca Cola Freestyle machines in several locations on the ship and they give you a huge cup with a chip in it to get Cokes from these machines.

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Congratulations on your forthcoming honeymoon! You have chosen the biggest ship in the world with so much to do onboard you cannot do it all in a week. You were smart to choose an oceanview balcony cabin as these are more private than the ones that face inward on this ship. There are videos of this type of cabin on Youtube:

 

As you can see, in some cabins the bed is near the bathroom and in others it is near the balcony. I think for your cabin, the bed will probably be near the balcony as the cabin next door is for 3 and in that case, usually the 3rd berth is the sofa near the balcony.

 

We loved the specialty restaurants on this ship and we made reservations for both the shows and restaurants prior to the cruise on the RCCL website - so be sure to do that. The shows are all really good! The Adults only solarium is a great place to hang out during the day. Definitely get on the Rising Tide bar one evening - it is really fun to ride it up and down! If you want to go to the Chef's Table dinner, call RCCL ahead of time and make a reservation via phone (you can't do it online.) Did you know you can get breakfast for free at Johnny Rockets? Have you heard about the amazing roast beef sandwiches at the Park Cafe on 8? That's a good place to go to lunch on boarding as the vast majority of people will head to the Windjammer cafe. Little sandwiches are available at Cafe Promenade all day and there is free pizza at Sorrentos. If you drink soda, then get a soda card as this ship has Coca Cola Freestyle machines in several locations on the ship and they give you a huge cup with a chip in it to get Cokes from these machines.

Thanks :) Yes we are well aware that we will not cover everything on the week. But then there's another good reason to come back;)

We booked for most of the shows (we would not miss that!) We also ordered a drink package with both soft drinks, juice and coffee / tea.

 

I read that the main restaurant has been changed to three different restaurants, is this true? We have booked "My time dinning" but are not sure whether we should reserve a table or "just" show up.

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They made the MDR into 3 restaurants BUT the concept did not work (for one thing the IPAD ordering system was wildly unstable) - from what I've heard they have gone back to just having a MDR on all RCCL ships as of November 2016 although it is decorated like 3 different restaurants. The other thing - we like the specialty restaurants so much we never actually went to the MDR and we liked being able to make reservations so we could eat exactly when and where we wanted. What I've heard about My Time Dining is that the waits are excessive, so you might want to reconsider or just do what we do - which is eat in a specialty restaurant every night.

 

These are the new RCCL menus btw including MDR and specialty restaurants:

http://eatsleepcruise.com/2016/09/new-main-dining-room-menus-on-oasis-of-the-seas-2016/

 

One thing is that Vintages has tapas and if you go there it is easy to get filled up on wine and tapas and not need dinner - we did that one night.

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welcome to the cruise addiction

 

booking dinner time online before your cruise a good idea

 

especially if you want a time when the majority of the cruise want to dine

 

we have a 2 hour time difference so normally eat "early" which is around 8 pm our home time and that early is not that busy

 

Johnny Rockets is great for breakfast..have to pay for milkshakes but OMG worth it

 

roast beef sandwiches ok but do not understand the raves...people have also found out about it so it can get really busy

 

have fun

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They made the MDR into 3 restaurants BUT the concept did not work (for one thing the IPAD ordering system was wildly unstable) - from what I've heard they have gone back to just having a MDR on all RCCL ships as of November 2016 although it is decorated like 3 different restaurants. The other thing - we like the specialty restaurants so much we never actually went to the MDR and we liked being able to make reservations so we could eat exactly when and where we wanted. What I've heard about My Time Dining is that the waits are excessive, so you might want to reconsider or just do what we do - which is eat in a specialty restaurant every night.

 

These are the new RCCL menus btw including MDR and specialty restaurants:

http://eatsleepcruise.com/2016/09/new-main-dining-room-menus-on-oasis-of-the-seas-2016/

 

One thing is that Vintages has tapas and if you go there it is easy to get filled up on wine and tapas and not need dinner - we did that one night.

Okay thanks for the advise! :)

 

But we don't know yet when we are going to eat or what time we are hungry at, so we would not like to reserve tabels yet ;) Isnt very expensive to eat at specials restaurants everyday ?

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welcome to the cruise addiction

 

booking dinner time online before your cruise a good idea

 

especially if you want a time when the majority of the cruise want to dine

 

we have a 2 hour time difference so normally eat "early" which is around 8 pm our home time and that early is not that busy

 

Johnny Rockets is great for breakfast..have to pay for milkshakes but OMG worth it

 

roast beef sandwiches ok but do not understand the raves...people have also found out about it so it can get really busy

 

have fun

Okay thanks for the advise! :D Im not sure that we would like to reserve our table yet, beause we dont know when we are goint to eat yet ;) In that time we will be 6 ours behind our normal time(Denmark) so our inner clock is probely pretty crazy ;) heheh

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Okay thanks for the advise! :)

 

But we don't know yet when we are going to eat or what time we are hungry at, so we would not like to reserve tabels yet ;) Isnt very expensive to eat at specials restaurants everyday ?

You don't have to eat at specialty restaurants to have a flexible dining time. Choose My Time Dining (MTD) and just show up whenever you want, no reservations necessary.

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No worries...you do NOT have to pay for specialties to have filling, tasty meals. If you have traditional seating, your table is ready and waiting at your assigned time. If you do My Time Dining, you can either show up when you want, or make reservations daily...of have "standing" reservations...your choice.

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Okay thanks for the advise! :)

 

But we don't know yet when we are going to eat or what time we are hungry at, so we would not like to reserve tabels yet ;) Isnt very expensive to eat at specials restaurants everyday ?

 

It's a fraction of what you would pay at a restaurant on land plus you can buy specialty dining packages and save even more money:

http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/dining_discount_packages.pdf

 

As far as not making reservations - you are going to be on a ship with between 5400 and 6296 passengers all of whom want to eat and want to see the shows. If you don't make reservations, then it won't be a case of eating when you are hungry, it will be a case of getting a table whenever one is free which might be at 9:30 at night or you might wind up eating in the buffet all the time which would be very disappointing. To have a really great Allure cruise, it is best to book your shows first and then book your dining either before or after the each show (because you can't eat while you are watching the shows.) You will need reservations for shows or you wind up in the standby line where you may or may not get in.

 

While you don't have to make reservations, My Time Dining can be a real challenge on this particular ship with wait times up to 45 minutes. Sometimes you can walk in, but other times, you may have a lengthy wait which is a problem when you have a show. So for example, you need to plan ahead and go to dinner about 2 hours before your show starts. You need to get to the show venue 30 minutes before the show. So you have 90 minutes to eat dinner which is plenty of time EXCEPT if you have a 45 minute wait. Then you only have 45 minutes to eat dinner before you need to get to the show venue. What we found with the specialty restaurants is that 100% of the time, we could walk in on time for our reservation and be seated immediately. Anyway, this is just something to keep in mind about how the evenings work on this ship. The shows are all REALLY GOOD and well worth seeing, so I recommend seeing as many of them as you can within reason. Some nights we just don't feel like seeing a show, so there are still 2 or 3 I have not seen yet. I guess we'll have to go on Allure again sometime.

Edited by SuiteTraveler
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Thanks! :D Is it possible to reserve a table(my time dinning) on the ship? We don't know yet which days we would like to eat at the main dining room. But we know that we would like to eat there at formel nights(which days they are placed)

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You can certainly make reservations for My Time Dining on whatever nights you think you'd like to eat in the MDR. Be aware, at this point, any time between 6-7:30 will probably not be available, as these are the most popular times for the majority of cruisers, so if you'd like to eat in that window, you can certainly go to the dining podium when you board and try to get reservations, or you'll have to go without and wait in line.

 

 

Also, you can make reservations for all nights, and if you decide to do specialty dining or windjammer some night, just contact them and cancel. Better to have a reservation and not need to use it, then need it and not have it.

 

 

You said you were sailing in April. If you are travelling up through the week of April 16th, I would expect that the ship will be particularly crowded with spring break families (we are on the April 16th cruise for our break). So show reservations are very important. Definitely get those booked through the Cruise Planner online.

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You can certainly make reservations for My Time Dining on whatever nights you think you'd like to eat in the MDR. Be aware, at this point, any time between 6-7:30 will probably not be available, as these are the most popular times for the majority of cruisers, so if you'd like to eat in that window, you can certainly go to the dining podium when you board and try to get reservations, or you'll have to go without and wait in line.

 

 

Also, you can make reservations for all nights, and if you decide to do specialty dining or windjammer some night, just contact them and cancel. Better to have a reservation and not need to use it, then need it and not have it.

 

 

You said you were sailing in April. If you are travelling up through the week of April 16th, I would expect that the ship will be particularly crowded with spring break families (we are on the April 16th cruise for our break). So show reservations are very important. Definitely get those booked through the Cruise Planner online.

 

 

 

Thanks! :D Do you know when the formel nights are? We would like to reserve our table for these two nights so we are sure to be there these nights :D

We are sailing april 23 so we will be sailing the day you come home;)

We have already book shows :D

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  • 3 weeks later...
I can see that there is a fridge in the cabin, is the drinks in here free? We have bought a refreshment baverage.

 

 

The Mini Bar is pay as you go - IF there is anything in it - can't remember if Allure had stuff in the mini bar or not. The first formal night will be the first day at sea. It's not all that formal anymore, though. Some dress up, but others just wear a nice dress. I can't remember when the second formal night is, but usually it is the second to last night of the cruise.

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You can Google beyond ships.com and find your ship and a ton of info and a lot of pictures, deck plans, dining menus, and activity info. Check out 150 Central Park for a great romantic dinner. MDR is located on decks 3-5. Deck five has Asian décor, deck 4 is somewhat French, deck 3 is the American Icon Grill. Breakfast and lunch in the MDR are served only in the American Icon Grill. Choose MTD if you don't want the traditional two-hour dining experience. Check out pictures before you commit as the tables and fellow cruisers are very close together. happy cruising

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