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

We have been on several cruises but this was our first time sailing on Allure. As you can see below, I have done a few trip reports from our various trips on Freedom. We took this cruise almost a year ago (Feb. 14th – 21st) and after our return I fully intended to do one, but life got in the way and I never got it started. That may have been for the best though, as it is a lot of work to keep pushing on to the end of these, because they always seem to end up longer than intended - not that there's anything wrong with that!! :)

There are a tremendous amount of trip reports out here on CC, and many great detailed ones for the Allure and her Oasis class sisters. If I were to do a typical one like that, it would end up just being a rehash of those. For this one, I figured I would try something different and make a report that is mostly photos and not tons of commentary (I always say that but end up blabbing on too much by the time it is all said and done). This time I promise to try, but let’s be real, the main reason people like looking through these reports is for the pictures anyway!

My intent with this one is to mostly share photos that I thought others would like, along with some commentary and tips here and there (most of which I picked up from CC along the way so they may look familiar to some), and also concentrate more on what we did at each of the ports because not only was it our first time on Allure, it was our first time sailing an Eastern Caribbean itinerary. Also, since I have just finished a more "traditional" one from our last Freedom cruise, I am ready to try something different...

There are a few ways to do reports. I have seen folks do all the work up front than post it all at one time. I tend to do it the other way where I get the report started, then try to make progress on it as I go. I prefer this way because it makes things more organic and gives people that are following along a chance to comment, ask questions, and whatever else comes up. I even don’t mind the occasional fact check, but don’t be too hard on me!! :eek:

The flip side of a post-as-you-go report is that it usually takes longer than intended to finish because things come up, which seems to happen to me every time. That being said, I will try and not take too long to work my way through from Day 1 to Day 7 but you all know how that goes! :D

As I mentioned, this cruise was on the Allure, February the 14th through the 21st of 2016. On the cruise was my wife Jen, our 18 yr. old daughter and me. It served as our DD’s senior trip, and we were locked into doing it this specific week because of the school calendar and mid-winter break. Unfortunately, we paid “Valentine’s Day Cruise” prices and with three of us in the cabin it was not exactly the romantic “Valentine’s Day Cruise” experience, but that’s OK, we will survive.

Since most of this report will be photos, I figured it may be of interest to fellow nerds what I brought along with me to take pictures with:

In this photo, among the luggage tags and ever-present Diet Coke is the camera stuff I brought along:

1: Joby Gorillapod – Cool mini-tripod that has bendable legs used to take still shots. The legs fold up nicely for both using as a little monopod and also for packing it up.

2: Olympus TG4 – Great waterproof (up to 50 feet) camera. It takes great photos with several formats and also has the raw as well as jpg options. It is also threaded so polarizers and other filters can be used with it. It’s not the cheapest waterproof camera out there but it is far from the most expensive. It’s also rated as “shockproof” to 7 feet, but I didn’t drop it to test that theory. :-)

3: Nikon*Coolpix P510 – I love this camera as well. It is a little smaller and way cheaper than a full blown DSLR. Its big draw for me is the 42x optical zoom it has which is awesome for a “mirrorless” camera at this price range.

4: iPhone 6 – Not much to say here. It takes great pictures for a phone and its convenient because it’s usually in my pocket.

To be continued…

Awaiting further posts with interest! :)

Looking forward to your review!! Going on the Allure (Eastern) in March!

Following. We are on the same cruise in 3 weeks.

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Looking forward to your review. We are going on in April.

Great start..waiting for more

Very much looking forward to your reveiw. Just booked the Allure this past weekend for next February. We went on the Oasis last February and loved it so much we had to give Allure a try. Thanks for posting and I look forward to all your pictures.

Awaiting further posts with interest! :)

Looking forward to your review!! Going on the Allure (Eastern) in March!

Following. We are on the same cruise in 3 weeks.

Looking forward to your review. We are going on in April.

Great start..waiting for more

Very much looking forward to your reveiw. Just booked the Allure this past weekend for next February. We went on the Oasis last February and loved it so much we had to give Allure a try. Thanks for posting and I look forward to all your pictures.

Great to have you guys along! Thanks for following!! :)

We try to avoid cruise terminal parking when we can help it due to the extreme cost, so searching through CC recommendations, we found Park ‘N Go, which did a great job at almost half the price of parking at Port Everglades!

When heading out on a cruise, our goal is to get there as early as possible to maximize our time on the ship we paid to sail on. This usually means we try and get there around 11:00, get through security and check-in and be ready to queue up as close to noon as possible. It’s kind of amazing that a ship can be cleared in a matter of a few hours and then flipped for a new batch of passengers so fast.

Here’s some photos of how the upstairs waiting area looked shortly after 11am (groups of people over at the far end of the photo are the "higher than Gold groups):

A little after 11am looking down at one of the check-in stations:

We were corralled in the Gold section, but in the early part of Gold. This was what the rest of the Gold waiting area looked like a little after 11:30 while we were already walking. A half hour can make a big difference:

Yippee – heading onboard! This photo was taken at 11:50, so right on schedule!

to be continued...

Following!! Nice photos!

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Couple of more photos that I always take as we are boarding a ship to show the immensity of them – especially apparent on the Oasis class ones!

Yes, the disadvantage of boarding early is that you are “without a home” until the cabins open up – usually between 1-2:00. If you are ok with that then it’s all good!

Since this was our first cruise on a ship with a Park Café, and it was lunch time, we had to head immediately to the Park Café to get the official sandwich of the CC boards – the great roast beef!

First you queue up:

Then you eat up! They lived up to hype and are very good!

If you pre-purchase a beverage package that includes the Coke mug, you do not get the mug until you get into your cabin. Not a problem at the Park Café – they have cups with bar service (later I found that they are happy to also fill up a refill mug):

Now this photo requires some explanation. I am told that I have a warped sense of humor. Since this was back in Feb. of 2016, I told my family that the above photo represented a cup of Coke on the Allure and the below photo represented a cup of Coke on the Anthem. If you don’t get the joke, don’t worry about it. If you do, hopefully you will get a small chuckle and know that it’s all in good fun… :-)

to be continued...

Up to this point in our cruising experience, we have only sailed interiors (including Promenade View interiors on Freedom). At the time I booked this cruise, there was a minimal $$ difference between an interior or a Central Park view balcony so we decided on the CP view and it turned out to be a great decision!!

The room itself (not including the balcony) is around the identical size to a traditional interior cabin. Here is a shot coming into the room – a view many of ya’ll have seen 1000’s of times before. The view I am referring to is the cabin - not the teenager on her phone - although that also is a view many have seen 1000's of times as well... :-)

That all changes when stepping foot out onto the balcony of the Central Park view. RCI deserves a lot of credit for designing the Oasis ships with these interior balcony rooms when I’m sure it would have been a lot cheaper to make them panoramic windows or something similar…

Here are some various views from our balcony looking out into Central Park from different directions:

Sorry for the odd angle - I was messing around and thought a 60's era Batman angle view would be fun. Did we pack the shark repellant??

To get comparison perspective for our cabin location, if we looked straight down from our balcony we looked through the Promenade skylights directly to the Starbucks kiosk

Fun Fact: For you coffee lovers, Starbucks is NOT included as part of the "Refreshment Package" beverage plan...

to be continued…

I know there is a lot of debate that can be found on the CC boards regarding folks preference between the Central Park vs. Boardwalk view balconies. I do not think it’s to the level of Sharks vs. Jets yet, but then again I haven’t read all the threads.

Here’s my opinion on the matter – which is not 100% fair because we have never stayed in a BW balcony. Yes, a lot of the BW balconies have varying views of the ocean and water shows. Yes, I prefer the new soda / Johnny Rockets BW bonus incentives compared to what you get for CP balconies, and yes I want to stay in a BW balcony to compare the two. However, I love the Central Park balconies for a couple of great advantages: location and atmosphere.

Central Park (directly above the Promenade) is much more mid-ship than BW. On an Oasis class that can add up to a lot of extra steps over a 7 day period. I get lots of steps because I want to not because I have to. :-) The atmosphere is truly awesome in the evenings in Central Park. On several nights we sat out on the balcony and listened to the music (live and recorded) coming up from below. It is also a very pretty area to look down on during the day or night with all the trees, plants and glass features that look through down to the Promenade. I also liked our room from a deck layout because I prefer decks that have other decks of cabins above and below as opposed to a public area that could be noisier.

Here are some more photos of Central Park from our room. They may look repetitive, but they are slightly different I promise... ;-)

Once we were done checking out the digs and the view, we decided to some more roaming around before the ship was way packed with people!

To be continued…

Loving the review!! Heading out on Allure in March!! Our first time doing eastern Caribbean too!

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Loving the review!! Heading out on Allure in March!! Our first time doing eastern Caribbean too!

 

 

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Thanks for following along. Hope you enjoy it!

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Just wondering what cabin you were in. Several family members have CP balconies for our family cruise in March. Keep the shots coming!

We were corralled in the Gold section, but in the early part of Gold. This was what the rest of the Gold waiting area looked like a little after 11:30 while we were already walking. A half hour can make a big difference:

 

I'm happy to look at more of your pictures. I thought I'd grab this one and comment on it as I think it says something about cruising and me. I have no patience and I hate waiting in lines. But when I'm on a cruise I turn all of that off and become a calm patient person. I'm usually one of the first people in port and in the waiting area. If something happens and I have to wait longer, I'm just happy to be on a cruise. I think I had to sit in this area 45 minutes once. Can't wait to get back to that terminal.

Just wondering what cabin you were in. Several family members have CP balconies for our family cruise in March. Keep the shots coming!

We were in cabin 12593. Glad to have you along!

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We were in cabin 12593. Glad to have you along!

DD and family will be one deck down and directly opposite, others a bit closer to midships. They'll all enjoy following this thread too, even if they aren't CC regulars.

DD and family will be one deck down and directly opposite, others a bit closer to midships. They'll all enjoy following this thread too, even if they aren't CC regulars.

So their view will be exactly the same - just opposite! ;)

We left the cabin and headed up. We’re on the world’s largest cruise ship, let’s see what the view from the top is like! We got up to the “top” (Deck 16) and started to have a look around. After doing many cruises at Port Canaveral, this was our first time cruising out of Port Everglades. The first thing I noticed was how many cruise ships leave out of here!

We looked over and saw a HAL ship with a Celebrity hiding behind it. I read a post on here where a comedian said on a HAL ship: “Welcome to all of the old folks on this cruise… and their parents”… :-)

The Fort Lauderdale coast line (as well as our on ramp to the Atlantic)

Downtown Fort Lauderdale (without and with zoom)

I thought this was a cool perspective looking down on the aqua theater from very high up. If you thought I had a death grip on my camera, you are correct!

Another looking down photo. This time looking down at what used to be the “secret” decks that all of us on CC knew about. They used to be public and a great way to watch the aqua show. After the most recent dry dock, they are now high priced suites. Good for them, bad for us… :-(

to be continued…

I'm happy to look at more of your pictures. I thought I'd grab this one and comment on it as I think it says something about cruising and me. I have no patience and I hate waiting in lines. But when I'm on a cruise I turn all of that off and become a calm patient person. I'm usually one of the first people in port and in the waiting area. If something happens and I have to wait longer, I'm just happy to be on a cruise. I think I had to sit in this area 45 minutes once. Can't wait to get back to that terminal.

Great review so far...and neat pictures. Brings back nice memories as we were on Allure last April (Eastern as well)

following!

Great review so far...and neat pictures. Brings back nice memories as we were on Allure last April (Eastern as well)

Thanks & welcome aboard!