Bellyflopchamp

Are you in an Aqua Theater Suite, or a regular Balcony room? The Aqua Theater Balconies are much much larger than the Boardwalk balcony. I believe they have at least 2 loungers as well as a table that seats 4-6. If you search YouTube for Aqua Theater Suite you should get some good videos of them.

The Boardwalk balcony probably has a small table with 2 chairs.

I'm sorry to hear about all your troubles. I am glad to hear that eventually thigns wroked out. I am very interested to hear more about what happened.

Looking forward to seeing some more great pictures and hearing about how your trip went.

We sailed on the Allure early last year for our first ever cruise and loved it. I would suggest that if you can wait a couple more weeks until some more reviews of the Oasis have been put up. There are currently a couple of live ones going on for the TA. One thing that I have heard is that Cats is going to be around 2.5 hours with an intermission. For me that seems a bit long as there is already so much to do on the ship with so little time.

We also enjoyed Samba (Brazillian Steakhouse) which is only on the Allure, and the reason we picked that one again for next year. We will be going after the dry dock tho, and I am a little upset that I will never see those "secret" balconies. But we do have our own double ocean view as we are int he stateroom attached to my mom as well.

I think you cant really go wrong with either of them. Whichever you choose you are going to have a great time.

When we did our first cruise we signed up at the desk where you can book your next cruise since we were doing that anyway. They will sign you up, but in order to access your account you will need to set it up abotu 2 weeks after your cruise ended online. It takes a little while for you to get in the system.

Royal as a pre-cruise planner thing that they open up a few months out from the cruise. Once that is open (and it is open to all levels at the same time i believe) you will be able to begin booking excursions, specialty dining, My Time Dining or Dynamic Dining, shows, etc.

When we went we did the My Time Dining and reserved our time the day of. For the most part we were able to get what we wanted which was usually around 7/7:30. For the shows we booked most of those on the ship as well. I think we did Chicago before the cruise but even that had empty seats in it at the show we went to. We only had trouble getting into the Comedy show. Most of these bookings can actually be done right from your TV in the stateroom.

As for not being in places you arent supposed to be in, the way I see it is if it isnt clearly marked or locked off you should be allowed in. When we were on the Allure we honestly didnt even have time to look for these lounges. There were plenty of other bars/lounges that we were hanging out in. I dont think that you will get kicked off the boat if you wind up in the diamond lounge. The Bartender would probably just ask you to leave as you will need to show him your sea pass card.

When I went April 2013 we did not book any of the shows before boarding and had no issues. We also did my time dining and would just go that day and book our reservations. I think we usualy did around 7/7:30. We waited until eahc day to book so that we would know what we planned on doing that day and when would be the best time. I dont think that you would have too much of an issue getting into what you want to. The comedy show was actually that most difficult as the comedy club is a rather small venue for the amount of people on the ship.

We have been twice, the first time we were at one of the resorts and second time we were on the Allure. We did Dolphin Cove I believe and booked through the resort. It is a bit of a hike, about the same distance as the falls. The second time we did the falls and green grotto caves. They were both really cool.

I would highly reccommend the Dolphin Cove. You can chooe to do a swim with the dolphins, or not. They also have a bunch of other things, like snorkeling with Sting Rays, taking a mini boat tour, and a bunch of exotic birds and other critters there all for free. We did the ultimate swim which was a once in a lifetime experience so that might have swayed me to review this a bit higher, but I would reccommend. I think that they also book through Royal if you wanted to go that route.

I'd say new year new contracts. They are probably just trying to book some new talent. Give it a little while. We never booked any of those shows until on the ship. Had no trouble, especially for the Headliner show.

Many on here have said that this WOW sale is bogus. They did a BOGOHO sale back in the beginning of the year. I was able to get 2 Oceanview Balconies, connected for 2 people each for just over $4,000 including prepaid gratuities. This new sale seems to be like the constant sale going on at a particular all inclusive resort chain in the Caribbean where they always have 65% off and spa/airfare credit. I feel bad for the people booking now. I would think that the rates should go down, but who knows at this point. Good luck finding something and if not switch back over and get the 2 cruises. Heck do a B2B.

You can visit this page: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/experiencetypes/category.do?pagename=onboard_cat_kids_teens_and_families&pagenameMain=main_family&discriminators=1

They have a little info on it. We will be traveling with our daughter next year and she will be about 20 months old at the time. From what I have heard is that they have a great nursery for the kids. You will be allotted a certain amount of time based on the amount of kids under 3 years that are sailing. It will then open up more time based on availability. Make sure you go early to book it. They also do in-room babysitting for about $19/hour it hink it was. That also needs to be booked right away, and at least 24 hours in advance.

They also have a toy exchange program at the nursery where they will give you a bag full of age appropriate toys so you wont have to worry about packing a lot. They do have a program for diapers, wipes, formula, etc but it is very very pricey. We plan on flying into FLL a day before and buy some of that stuff down there so that we dont have to pack it for the flight, and it will save us some money.

For the pack and play you should ask to have it in your room now. Do not wait until you get on the ship as they may run out. I think they only have a limited number of them.

My wife and I got one of the packages last April when we cruised on the Allure. In my opinion it was well worth it. Drinks can be expensive and if you drink like 5 per day you make your money back. For us it can add up quick as we would drink by the pool. The way I see it is if you have 1 drink in the morning, 2 in the afternoon by the pool, 2 at dinner and one night cap you already won. The biggest benefit was not having to worry about the cost throughout the cruise and be able to get an extra drink, or toss one if we didnt like it.

I believe that I had taken her card to the bar to get a drink before. You might have some issues getting the package for just you. I think that their policy is that everyone in the stateroom is required to purchase, but you might be able to talk to them and state why you only need the one.

RCI does allow you to bring 2 bottles of wine on board per stateroom. If you drink it outside your cabin they will charge a $25 corkage fee.

I think water is available with the package now, but we just got a couple water bottles and filled up in the room.

THe difference in the packages are the "quality" of the drinks. The more expensive one allows you to get top shelf alcohol. The other is probably more "well" drinks and cheaper beer/wine.

We had tipped occasionally, and gave our assistant waiter a good tip at the end of the cruise. He was great and brought me my favorite after dinner drink each night without even asking.

As far as Labadee is concerned I am not sure. We didnt get drinks off the boat. We were supposed to do a beach excursion but the boat was having issues and they turned it around. We ended up staying on the Allure and just relaxed there as it was un godly hot that day and being from RI I couldnt take it.

I think I covered all your questions. IF you have any more just let me know.

We are going to be going on the Allure in Nov 2015 and was wondering what to expect from the Royal babies nursery and also the in room babysitting. Our daughter will be just under 2 at the time of sailing so she wont be able to do the AO stuff. Was just wondering how easy it was to book times, how late they are open until and what everyone overall experiance with them was. If the in room babysitting is worth the extra money or not. We will also be traveling with my mom so she will be able to help and watch the little one while we have some fun on our own.