Allure OTS Photo Heavy Trip Report – The “allure” of the Eastern Caribbean

Just to let you know, depending on when you go the time might be the same. They are on Atlantic Standard Time. That will match up with Eastern Daylight Time so if it is after Daylight Saving starts they should match. I had the same issue when we went on mine. I was trying to figure out what the time would be because we were switching back to EST just before we left.

Correct in 2017 from March 12 through November 5th, the ship time will match the time in St. Thomas (as well as St. Maarten also).

Before March 12th and after November 5th, ship time will be an hour behind local time in those places...

Thank you for your review! We are booked on the Allure in May. Thinking of buying the 3 night dining package and Izumi sounds good, I've read mixed reviews though, some say it's too heavy on the soy sauce. Did you find this to be so? Also, can you choose the meat or is it just a combo of all of them? Thank you for any information

Does Izumi offer only hibachi style seating? I can do without the show :).

Anjie

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Does Izumi offer only hibachi style seating? I can do without the show :).

Anjie

 

 

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Yes. We were able to order from the hibachi menu but sit on the other side of the restaurant on Oasis.

Thank you for your review! We are booked on the Allure in May. Thinking of buying the 3 night dining package and Izumi sounds good, I've read mixed reviews though, some say it's too heavy on the soy sauce. Did you find this to be so? Also, can you choose the meat or is it just a combo of all of them? Thank you for any information

Even with me having the fried rice, it wasn't overly soy saucy to me. That being said, everyones taste is different and there are variations each time it's made.

If that's a concern, I believe plain brown rice is an option over fried rice and you can definitely tell the chef to go easy on the sauce for your protein.

You choose the meat. Looking back when we went, it was $30 for a single protein (chicken, steak, shrimp, scallops, etc) and an extra $5 for a combo (chicken & shrimp, chicken & steak, scallops & lobster, etc).

Hope that helps! :)

The Aqua Theater is a beautiful venue and a marvel to behold! It has a “solid” stage floor that lowers to become the diving pool which goes very deep to accommodate the high dive platforms which are high enough for only the bravest to attempt even in a land based setup. However, this is at sea on a moving ship which makes everything exponentially more difficult to pull off.

Unfortunately, when the sea is even mildly cranky, it can cause issues with the dive shows. Such was the theme this week on our cruise. Originally we were scheduled to watch this on Monday (night we left Nassau), but it was cancelled and rescheduled for tonight (Thursday) thinking the seas would be more cooperative.

It’s an interesting to watch the wave effect. Riding on the ship the size of Allure, it doesn’t always feel like things are moving as much as they are. It was very enlightening to sit in the Aqua Theater and watch the waves in the dive pool. Notice the change in the water level in the next two pictures as the waves move back and forth

Here’s another view of the same thing. Compare the right and left ends of the dive pool

Here is a seat level view looking up at the high dive platform. Too high for me!!

And the show begins! Here is the comedy intro. Spoiler alert – someone gets wet! :-)

to be continued…

There were two dive shows scheduled – an early and a late one. We luckily chose the early one. Below are some of the photos I took of the first half of the show. Unfortunately for us (but fortunately for the high divers), the show was only half as long as planned because it was too choppy for the high divers and I guess just barely safe enough for the springboard dives. The late show ended up being cancelled altogether.

to be continued…

Even with me having the fried rice, it wasn't overly soy saucy to me. That being said, everyones taste is different and there are variations each time it's made.

 

If that's a concern, I believe plain brown rice is an option over fried rice and you can definitely tell the chef to go easy on the sauce for your protein.

 

You choose the meat. Looking back when we went, it was $30 for a single protein (chicken, steak, shrimp, scallops, etc) and an extra $5 for a combo (chicken & shrimp, chicken & steak, scallops & lobster, etc).

 

Hope that helps! :)

Yes! Thank you, that's exactly what I wanted to know😊

Just to let you know, depending on when you go the time might be the same. They are on Atlantic Standard Time. That will match up with Eastern Daylight Time so if it is after Daylight Saving starts they should match. I had the same issue when we went on mine. I was trying to figure out what the time would be because we were switching back to EST just before we left.

Correct in 2017 from March 12 through November 5th, the ship time will match the time in St. Thomas (as well as St. Maarten also).

 

Before March 12th and after November 5th, ship time will be an hour behind local time in those places...

Thanks alot! I will be there march 1st, so i think i made the right decision moving it to 12pm local time, wich should be 11am ship time. Still think its kinda strange that cruise documents and planner announce arrival/departure in local time, when it really is ship time. ;)

Thanks for your Yoda Guy review, we visited St. Maarten this past Nov. and spent a few hours walking around town and missed his shop completely.

Did they have yum yum sauce at Izumi? If so was it good? We've had both great sauces and terrible sauces at Japanese steak houses and that's a favorite of ours. Just trying to decide between Izumi and the Brazilian restaurant for our upcoming trip.

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Loving your review and pics. Thanks for sharing :)

Cindy

Did they have yum yum sauce at Izumi? If so was it good? We've had both great sauces and terrible sauces at Japanese steak houses and that's a favorite of ours. Just trying to decide between Izumi and the Brazilian restaurant for our upcoming trip.

 

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There were a couple of dipping sauces provided, but I cannot remember their names. I tried them and they were both pretty good.

That's funny that you are trying to decide between Izumi and Samba because I was having the same debate last January when trying to decide. Here's a link to a thread I started on CC about it if you are interested:

Allure - Izumi Hibachi or Samba Grill

There were a couple pages of comments - maybe it will help you decide also... :)

Yes! Thank you, that's exactly what I wanted to know😊

Glad I could help - enjoy your cruise!

I, too, have been on sailings when the Aqua Theater was plagued with either weather or mechanical issues. On one sailing it was so windy all the way from Ft. Lauderdale to the Caribbean that every show was cancelled. We were rescheduled to a show that conflicted with sail-a-way from one of the islands. This really annoyed me as I love to be out on deck when we leave port. They got that one show in and then the rest were cancelled because the lift in the floor broke and they couldn't lower it. By the time they fixed it the wind was blowing all the way back to Ft. Lauderdale.

Moral of the story... if you have a chance to see the water show don't put it off with the intention that you will just catch it later in the week because you might not get the opportunity to see it at all.

Thanks for your Yoda Guy review, we visited St. Maarten this past Nov. and spent a few hours walking around town and missed his shop completely.

It will give you something to do next time you are there... :D

There were a couple of dipping sauces provided, but I cannot remember their names. I tried them and they were both pretty good.

 

That's funny that you are trying to decide between Izumi and Samba because I was having the same debate last January when trying to decide. Here's a link to a thread I started on CC about it if you are interested:

 

Allure - Izumi Hibachi or Samba Grill

 

There were a couple pages of comments - maybe it will help you decide also... :)

Thanks I'll definitely read up. I've seen a lot of people not happy with samba but we've never been to a Brazilian restaurant and eat hibachi quite frequently so I think I would be more judgemental of Izumi.

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Thanks!

I, too, have been on sailings when the Aqua Theater was plagued with either weather or mechanical issues. On one sailing it was so windy all the way from Ft. Lauderdale to the Caribbean that every show was cancelled. We were rescheduled to a show that conflicted with sail-a-way from one of the islands. This really annoyed me as I love to be out on deck when we leave port. They got that one show in and then the rest were cancelled because the lift in the floor broke and they couldn't lower it. By the time they fixed it the wind was blowing all the way back to Ft. Lauderdale.

 

Moral of the story... if you have a chance to see the water show don't put it off with the intention that you will just catch it later in the week because you might not get the opportunity to see it at all.

You are absolutely correct!! Everyone should make a reservation for the earliest water show to increase the odds of getting to see it!

I would be interested to see some stats regarding percentage of cancelled shows across the three Oasis ships. I have a feeling there are likely more Eastern cancellations than Western assuming that the Atlantic is typically choppier than the Caribbean Sea.

When the dive show ended up being half as long as planned, we noticed that we had time to go down and catch the ice show. The advantage of ocean movement is that frozen water doesn’t generate waves. :-)

This is the second ice show we have seen. The other one was on Freedom and I believe it was called freedom-ice.com or something similar. This one was based on game boards like Monopoly. What they have in common is that to me they are both very weird concepts that I didn’t understand. However, they are both fun to watch for the skills involved. There are usually a couple of spills, but there are a couple of factors at play. First off is the size of the rink. I believe they mentioned that it is 1/8 the size of the typical hockey rink, so the skaters have a lot less space to build up speed and land. The other factor is the movement. Whenever a skater leaves the ground, it is a precise movement. When the ship is moving and the level of the ice is either higher or lower that it was when you take off it can be an issue. :-)

Anyway, here are some of the photos of the ice show that I took:

Next up – heading for home with some sea days…

While looking for things to do on the sea days, I usually give the Flowrider a shot at least once. Here is a pro-looking guy just shredding it on the boogie board!!

Oh wait, that is no pro - it's just me with my typical wipeout - doh!! :-)

to be continued…

Loving your review and pics. Thanks for sharing :)

 

Cindy

Thanks for following along!

Your pixs are amazing! They are getting me so excited for our 40th anniversary cruise on May 14th.

We'll be on this same itinerary in February and I have appreciated your review! May I ask what nights were formal nights. I've guessed day 2 and 5?

Thanks!

Anjie

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We'll be on this same itinerary in February and I have appreciated your review! May I ask what nights were formal nights. I've guessed day 2 and 5?

Thanks!

Anjie

 

Formal nights on our cruise were night 2 (Nassau) and night 6 (sea day)

Thanks for following along!! :)