umograd83

We arrived at 11:00 and practically walked on the ship - no lines at all!!! This was last week.

Yes, there was that one plug under the bed and it had a phone jack. Either bring a long extension cord to plug into the outlet by the desk or bring a double outlet plug with you. (for the person that has two people in the room with cpap machines)

I had requested distilled water, but it was not in my room when we got there. The room stewardess was outside in the hallway, so I asked her for some. When we came back from dinner that first night, there was a gallon of distilled water in the room.

We have been on one RCCL cruise and that was ten years ago. Celebrity is our line of choice. In particular their M class. 95,000 tons, 1950 passengers. Their S class at 2800 passengers is good as well.

 

Can't imagine daily activities: elevators, lounges, buffet, pool, spa, MDR with what 6,000 passengers? Aren't there mind numbing crowds, lines, pushing, just masses of people?

 

Obviously it's managed 'cause their ships are full. To each their own.

No, and that's the amazing thing about the Allure. Because of its five "neighborhoods", the only time it felt crowded was in the Windjammer restaurant. There were a few times when my husband and I were the only ones in an area (Deck 5, back of the ship). There were plenty of elevators and we hardly waited for one unless it was time to get off the ship for a port day. I think you would be pleasantly surprised.

We went on our first Royal Caribbean cruise last week on the Allure of the Seas. It was a big mistake choosing that ship! We are so spoiled now. I don't think we would like any ship other than an Oasis class ship. I hope I am wrong because we are officially Royal Caribbean fans. We had become bored with Carnival, so we decided to try Royal Caribbean. We tried Norwegian last year (and liked NCL as well). No more Carnival cruises for us for now.

I will be writing a review this coming weekend (or sooner if I muster up some strength - very tired still from the delayed flight home due to bad weather in Atlanta).

Four! First cruise on Royal Caribbean. Allure of the Seas out of Fort Lauderdale.

Thanks for the great review! I have a question about when the ship is in port. We also plan on spending a day onboard rather than going onshore when we go to the Bahamas (we have been to the Bahamas many times on cruises). How "busy" or "empty" is the ship on a port day? I am thinking this would be an ideal time to enjoy the ship.

I am enjoying getting to know Royal Caribbean. We have sailed mostly on Carnival and frankly have become bored with their ships. This is going to be a big treat for our 15th wedding anniversary - aka Honeymoon #2!

My husband and I are sailing on this ship for our second honeymoon in September. I will await your next installment. Sounds good so far!

I bought the Carnival trip insurance this time. I called my Carnival PVP, Linda, yesterday to let her know we were cancelling the cruise. She gave me the number to call. I talked with the representative at the insurance company and she e-mailed the forms that I need to fill out to me. I am not going to fight with Southwest today about the airfare because I am not feeling well enough to do that, but will tomorrow. However, it looks like I may be able to recoup most of the fare through the Carnival insurance company as I did book the air on my own. It was a little over $500.

Thankfully, we have a cruise planned in September for our 15th wedding anniversary, so we have something to look forward to.

Today my husband and I should be boarding the Paradise in Tampa for a much anticipated cruise vacation. Instead, I am typing this from the confines of my couch. After being sick with a chest cold for a week, then coming down with a severe case of stomach flu, we had to cancel our cruise vacation. I became sick around 6:00 p.m. on Monday evening. We were supposed to fly to Tampa the next morning at 5:55 p.m. After spending the evening between my bed and bathroom, my husband took me to the quick care doctor, who sent me to the ER. Thankfully, what they thought might be a gallbladder attack was only the stomach flu. The only thing that could make this worse is if we didn't have the insurance to recoup the money. As it is, we are going to have a fight on our hands with Southwest because we did not call to cancel our flights (hello, I was in the hospital!). So, please, buy the trip insurance. It really is helpful if you need it.

No, NCL does not hand out lanyards. I went on my first NCL cruise a few weeks ago and loved it! It's a step up from Carnival.

We were on the Dawn the cruise before you from Boston to Bermuda. Our room steward was the best one we ever had. I am sorry you did not have the same experience.

What did you do in Portland? What excursions are offered? I'm just curious because we live in the Portland area and I work in the Old Port in Portland. I've always wondered what they offered passengers for excursions. I would imagine that they would have a trip to Kennebunkport to see President Bush's "compound", a tour to see the lighthouses and a trip to Freeport for shopping at LL Bean and the other outlet stores.

How were the rooms, were they big enough lots of storage

See my post above. The room was small compared to Carnival's cabins, but there was plenty of storage. The bathroom was bigger than Carnival's bathrooms. In the closet there was both a place to hang clothes and shelves to stack things on. There is a "bureau" with three drawers.

We had an inside cabin. It was small, but there was plenty of storage space. There were shelves in the closet in addition to the hanging area.

We loved our cruise on the Dawn a few weeks. Yes, the Dawn is an old ship, but we really liked it. There were so many places to choose for dining! My friend had told me the food was bad on the Dawn when she went out of New Orleans, but my husband and I both found it to be good. This was our first cruise with Norwegian and we were impressed. We docked about 1:00 on Sunday, bought a bus pass and took the bus into Hamilton. The second day we went to Horseshoe Beach and the third day we went to Snorkel Beach. There is so much to do there in Bermuda that we are definitely going back. We even put a deposit down on two more cruises on NCL. I really don't think you could go wrong with either ship. You can have bells and whistles on the big ship or a comfortable cruise on the smaller ship.

As a loyal Carnival cruiser who just took a cruise on another line (NCL), I say go for it! I always said if it ain't broke, don't fix it. However, you don't know what you are missing on another cruise line if you don't try it. We were getting bored with Carnival. Same ole ships, same ole everything. It was great to try something different. And we really loved NCL so much, that we put down deposits on two more cruises. And today I booked a cruise on Royal Caribbean for our second honeymoon (the first one was not what I had planned since it happened five days after September 11th, so this is a re-do of our honeymoon). Royal Caribbean seems to offer so much more on their ships than Carnival does.

Not sure when, but we put down deposits on two cruises when we were on the Dawn last week. [emoji4][emoji7]

It was not much more to cruise on NCL because we drive to Boston from Maine, so we saved on airfare. We did eat at Bamboo, the Asian eatery that they used to charge for. We did not eat at the specialty restaurants that charged extra. What I really liked about the buffet restaurant was that there were four lines and there were hardly any lines for food there. I also like the fact that there were two pools on the lido deck: one was 5.5 to 6 feet deep and the other was 4.5 feet deep. That meant most of the kids were in the shallow pool. I have never seen so many adults in the pool! Including us. There were four hot tubs, two were adults-only and the rules were enforced! We had no trouble finding lounge chairs.

Actually, we are thinking of cruising with Royal Caribbean next September for our anniversary. :). We have four years to book the two NCL cruises.

My husband and I finally tried a new cruise line. We sailed out of Boston on September 4th on the Norwegian Dawn to Bermuda. We loved it! I really love Freestyle dining. I have been on 13 Carnival cruises and, frankly, I have become bored with the Carnival experience. We put down deposits for two more NCL cruises while we were still on the ship. We will be back on Carnival someday, but not for awhile.

KateQ22003, you should join our Roll Call. We are having a meet up on the day we leave and a meet and greet the first sea day. We are from Yarmouth (soon to be Brunswick). First time cruising out of Boston and on NCL.

2 days until the Dawn out of Boston to Bermuda. First time on NCL and first time to Bermuda.

I will make sure to let you know what I think about NCL when I come back. Like I said, I'm only sailing with them because they have a ship in Boston, two hours from Maine.

I am straying from Carnival and sailing out of Boston on the Norwegian Dawn next week. If Carnival had a ship out of Boston to Bermuda, I would be on the Carnival ship. Anyway, what didn't you like about NCL compared to Carnival and what did you like? We are going to have a great time! First time to Bermuda.

Two days until we sail on the Fascination!

We are going on this ship on November 22nd. We really love the Fantasy-class ships. Not too small and not too big. Just right!