Dee777

Hello. Just wanted to share my thoughts and opinions on our recent week on the Allure. I'll try to make it short, sweet and to the point. If you have any questions I will do my best to answer them.

Check in: Check in was fast, efficient and very friendly. We were in a JS, went through the suite line and were on ship in about 20 minutes after arriving at the port at 11:00 am.

Stateroom: We stayed in Junior Suite 9240, steward was Reynaldo. Suite was lovely, very clean and well maintained. Balcony was outfitted with two chairs, a round table, a lounge chair and a reclining chair with stool. Reynaldo kept things sparkling for us. Previously we had only cruised with Carnival and were used to a towel animal every night. However, we had come back to the room only three nights to towel animals. Oh well! He was a busy guy and near as we could tell did not have an assistant as he was the only person we ever saw doing rooms in our section.

Shows: We obviously dropped the ball with reservations as we never were never able to get any. Should have called sooner, I guess. Not used to reserving shows on a cruise.

Casino: What can I say? The pay outs are not good :) They have a lovely large casino and we had fun there. We are non smokers and found it to be a bit overwhelming even on the non smoking side at times.

MDR: We ate in the MDR the first 3 nights. Then we gave up, and I will explain why. I have Celiac disease and must refrain from eating gluten. There are selections on the menu daily that can be ordered gluten free. I went to see the maitre'd upon boarding. He told me to order from the menu that first night and then after supper they would come take my order for the next day, breakfast, lunch, dinner. Anything I wanted. After the meal, I waited for someone to come. Finally our server came and I asked him. He said oh no that starts tomorrow. We'll tomorrow same deal followed. I had virtually no selection besides creme brule or sugar free vanilla ice cream that could be considered completely gluten free every night. At the WJ buffet, the chefs brought me whatever I wanted from the back to avoid cross contamination, but my dessert selection there was poor too. Jello or a cookie. Yay.

Sorrento's: Pizza was great. GF pizza was OK too. Thin, and only cheese and sauce, but better than nothing.

Johnny Rockets: They rocked with gluten free!!! Couldn't have the fries or onion rings, but they had GF buns and the burgers were GF.

The Allure is a beautiful ship. Some of the staff were wonderful. Some were downright miserable. The ports were ok, we did Jamaica, Haiti and Cozumel. I wouldn't care to go to Labadee Haiti again, it seemed more of a Royal Caribbean money grab to us, and as my DH put it, we went a long way for nothing there. We toured Chichen Itza in Mexico and that was pretty amazing. In Jamaica we did the Hope Plantation tour, also very amazing.

Prior to this cruise as I mentioned previously we'd cruised with Carnival. We've done Eastern, Western, Southern Caribbean, Hawaii, and Panama. We are in our very early 50's. Carnival has always done their very best to ensure I get to eat like everybody else in a safe manner and they seem to have more to offer us in general with shows that interest us. They really are the fun ships! We tried RC, really wished we'd liked it better but could have done 14 day Panama with Carnival for the same price if they still did that cruise. Anyway, that's my experience with them. Flame if you must, but be gentle with me :)

Loved your review, thank you for taking the time to write it!

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Best of luck to you. I feel so bad for you all :(

Saturday we will be boarding the Breeze for 8 glorious days in our aft balcony :)

I purchased FTTF, we will have some alcoholic beverages, eat in the steakhouse a night or two, hit up the casino nightly, maybe play some bingo and I will drink the specialty coffees.

If I were to choose a land vacation we'd likely visit Vegas (we usually do 3 times a year or so) where we would have some alcoholic beverages, eat in a few steakhouses, hit up the casinos nightly and drink specialty coffees from Starbucks.

The Southern Caribbean just happens to be warmer right now!

In all honesty I can't understand what the fuss is all about to pay for "extras" that used to be "free". They were never free to begin with. Prices have gone up like everything else you buy and you're paying a little extra. If you choose to. If not then it's no cash out of your pocketbook!

I have long hair and I use their shampoo. It does a good job. I also use the body wash, it's not bad either. I bring conditioner only from home, as well as body lotion.

30 when they could afford it themselves. Otherwise leave them with a loved one or anyone. :eek:

You made me laugh... I'm with you on that :)

If ever any post on CC has tugged my heartstrings it would be yours. So many posts from people blaming others for their own mistakes, complaining about stupid little things (warm chocolate melting cake too runny, steward didn't call them by name, toilet paper not to their liking to name a few), and here you are, owning up to your mistake, not pitying yourself, doing everything in your power to fix it and still...reasonable about it all.

If there was anything I could do to make it happen for you I would. But I am not a wealthy woman, nor influential in any way. I just think in all the madness out there, all the pettiness and insanity it sure is refreshing to come across a person with such a positive outlook. I'm still hoping for a miracle for you and your family. Thank you for making my day, it's been crappy until now :) Good luck!

Dee

I am keeping my fingers crossed for you, I can't imagine how you AND your family must feel. Please let us know how you make out. Sending nothing but good thoughts out to you all :)

Dee

Call Carnival. Perhaps a PVP can connect you with someone in their Fly Aweigh department who can arrange airfare for you as you do have a booking with Carnival. You will still need a passport though.

Thank you, Beachbum53. Yes, we will have our VISA card too along with our new debit card. I always take lots of 1's and 5's for tips :)

Hi everyone!

We will be cruising on the Breeze next month and I would like previous Breeze cruisers to let us know, is there an ATM on board? What is the fee to use it?

We are doing something a lot different from what we normally do this cruise! In the past, we took a combination of U.S. cash and traveler's checks for our port cash. However, as we are very frequent visitors to the U.S., we have recently opened a banking account in the U.S. so we have an American ATM card. We are trying to decide if we should take a whack of cash with us, or use the ATM on board if it is reasonable.

What does everyone else do? Just curious :) If it helps, post cruise we will be traveling to Orlando for 5 days before heading home. Thanks for any info you can pass on!

My husband and I use our cell phones for alarm clocks when we vacation. I also have a Samsung tablet I could use for the same purpose!

Accountability for one's own actions is a thing of the past. I think it's gone the way of the dinosaur, so very few even know what it means anymore. She should feel shamed for behaving that way at thirty years old and be grateful she was rescued at all.

Thank you very much for posting this video. You did it beautifully, I enjoyed it very much :)

When we were on the Pride our lifeboat drill was outside at our appointed station. That was in 2009.

I broke my foot in 2 places a few days before our 15 day Hawaiian cruise. Carnival had no problem with me cruising. I hope she is on the mend soon!

We've been on four cruises so far and had a balcony from our very first. We eat breakfast out there, drink our coffee out there, drink a glass of wine in the evening on it, stargaze before going to bed, nap in the sun in the afternoon... we use it a LOT. I don't think I could go without one! Our fifth cruise is next month and we've got an aft on the Breeze booked :D

Loving your review :) We will be on the Breeze next month, I can barely stand the wait! I am sorry you were so ill, I know what it's like to be sick on vacation it can be frightening. I once got sick on vacation and spent the better part of 6 days laying on the bathroom floor in my hotel room before I finally stopped fighting it, gave in and went to the hospital. I was put on IV and some pretty good meds. You poor thing, I hope you're feeling 100% now!

Looking forward to the rest of your story :)

That changed several years ago on Carnival.

 

I can't speak for the Breeze, but Lido coffee has been much improved in the last couple of years on Carnival. It's not as good as you'd make at home or the coffee shop sells, but it's drinkable.

Sweet! We haven't cruised since 2012 so hoping it's improved since then, thanks! I'm a terrible coffee addict :D

Coffee syrup? My, doesn't that sound fresh tasting... blech!

While I do not eat Kosher foods, I do have a special dietary need. I have Celiac disease and must eat gluten free. Every night, someone comes to our table and takes my order for the following day. They do this for everyone requiring a special diet. All you need to do upon boarding the ship the first day is to make your way to the dining room and speak to the Maitre d' and he will make note to have his assistant take care of your dietary restrictions.

Happy cruising!

The last time we cruised, I found the coffee on the Lido to be somewhat not to my liking, to put it politely ;) I would purchase a latte every morning from the specialty coffee place, and after that whenever I wanted coffee in the room the rest of the day, I made my own.

I travel most everywhere with my coffee press and my favorite coffee. I would scoop the coffee into the press, walk up to the Lido and pour hot water in and by the time I got back to the room it was ready to press and enjoy with some Baileys on the balcony :D

I was just wondering if anyone can tell me if the coffee has improved, maybe they've switched brands? Also, before anyone gets a little excited, I would also like to mention I dispose of my grounds responsibly- I bring ziploc bags and put the grounds in them, seal and toss in the trash. No grounds in the drains, no mess for the steward.

Anyone else do this or have comments on the coffee on the Breeze?

TIA for your comments!

Two things I am most looking forward to are 1) laying in a deck chair, soaking up the sun and 2) being rocked to sleep every night :)

Oh, thank you all very much for your kind replies and reassurances. It helps some to know there really are others out there like me haha.

This is our 5th cruise, and we fly other places too but I just can't seem to get over the flying issues. But we are SO looking forward to this cruise on the Breeze, we booked it in January last year to celebrate my 50th birthday next month :D

I'm writing all the tips you people are sharing and will give them a try, thank you all!

In 35 days we will begin our journey to Miami to board the Breeze and I can barely sleep! But not from excitement... the plane ride freaks the bejabbers out of me :(

I have a prescription for Ativan which I use to fly. I just wish I could take it 24/7 until I land in Miami :D

Anyone else out there hate to fly? My doctor is a pilot and he's always telling me how safe it is, blah blah hlah. I KNOW it, but when I get in the line to board that plane my heart rate shoots up, my hands start to shake and I hyperventilate. My husband stands behind me to prevent me from running away lol.

Once I'm on the ship I'm happy as can be!