Allure 1/09 and 1/16 sailing

[Cruising89143]

Just some fantastic shots. Where were the rest of the cruisers?!?!?!?

 

Your cruise pictures are unbelievable, the best I have ever seen.

How did you manage to take so many of your pictures without a lot of people around?

Thank you so much

 

I try to take the photos when many people are still sleeping, just boarding the ship or late at night.:)

[Cruising89143]

Great photos, thanks for sharing!

 

Something caught my eye...

 

There appears to be some sort of slide on the boardwalk? Behind a Mexican themed facade?!?! I have not heard of this prior...is it a slide? Are people allowed on it? Do tell!

 

There really is no slide other than maybe a small one in the little play area next to Rita's.

[Cruising89143]

Fabulous photos and video! It was nice to see that Elvis was in the building (in the video) ;) Taylor Swift seems awfully sweet -- hope she stays that way! I liked how she went into the crowd and hugged the little kids. What a thrill for them!

 

Your suites were awesome! I'd never leave the balcony.

 

Excellent pics. Thanks so much for sharing.

 

 

Thanks for the comments.

 

Taylor Swift was good. She seemed to enjoy interacting with the crowd.

[emen822]

I haven't looked at your pictures yet but will say thank you in advance. Not to sound like a stalker/creeper, but I had your Oasis album in my favorites at work! :eek::o Every time I wanted to get away from this lousy weather in New York (like today when it's 6 degrees :rolleyes:), I would browse through them. You have a great eye for pictures.

 

As far as the Taylor Swift videos, I just sent them to my daughters. They are HUGE fans and would have loved to have been on that sailing, especially the way she went through the crowd. We went to see her last year in concert and she did the same thing but we were too far away for them to get a hug. I did get great photos though. :)

 

Again, thanks for the review and the pictures. I'm off to go dream of the Allure. :)

[CLBSC]

Have been waiting for your return and your fantastic review plus pictures (which is just what I expected!) Questions-

1. Did you prefer the loft or aqua thaeatre suites?

2. Is it hard to get a lounge chair by the pools? What is the most active pool?

3. Did you like the cabana W-1 on Labadee?

4. What was the food like in Samba's?

[sten28]

well I'm amazed ! the photos were better than any official photos that i've seen so far- RC should pay you for some copies !!!

I just feel a bit of a pauper thinking about our poor mans cabin compared to your wonderful palace ! I guess some of those lounge areas are for sole use of ' posh cabin ' people ?

Thank you again for taking the time to take all those pictures:(

[cruisegirl1]

Thanks for the great photos. Was the Champagne sail away for suite guests only?

 

M

[Cruising89143]

I haven't looked at your pictures yet but will say thank you in advance. Not to sound like a stalker/creeper, but I had your Oasis album in my favorites at work! :eek::o Every time I wanted to get away from this lousy weather in New York (like today when it's 6 degrees :rolleyes:), I would browse through them. You have a great eye for pictures.

 

As far as the Taylor Swift videos, I just sent them to my daughters. They are HUGE fans and would have loved to have been on that sailing, especially the way she went through the crowd. We went to see her last year in concert and she did the same thing but we were too far away for them to get a hug. I did get great photos though. :)

 

Again, thanks for the review and the pictures. I'm off to go dream of the Allure. :)

 

Thanks!

 

Have been waiting for your return and your fantastic review plus pictures (which is just what I expected!) Questions-

1. Did you prefer the loft or aqua thaeatre suites?

 

Loft suites in a heartbeat. The Loft area is like a ship within a ship feel. Very quiet and away from everything else.

 

2. Is it hard to get a lounge chair by the pools? What is the most active pool?

 

We don't do the pools but it would depend on the time of day that you try to get a chair. Pools are busy on the sunny days. There are plenty of chairs available but near the pools are premium.

3. Did you like the cabana W-1 on Labadee?

 

Very much so. Great location. Very quiet. This was the second time that we had this same location.

 

4. What was the food like in Samba's?

 

We thought that it was good. You start off with appetizers that you choose from. You serve yourself. They also have a salad bar where you make your own salad. They will bring many different types of meat to your table and you choose as much as you want. They also bring grilled vegetables to the tables along with steak fries and plantains. They have three desserts to choose from. Overall it was a nice experience.

[Cruising89143]

well I'm amazed ! the photos were better than any official photos that i've seen so far- RC should pay you for some copies !!!

I just feel a bit of a pauper thinking about our poor mans cabin compared to your wonderful palace ! I guess some of those lounge areas are for sole use of ' posh cabin ' people ?

Thank you again for taking the time to take all those pictures:(

 

Actually none of the lounges are restricted other than the Concierge lounge and that is open to all suite guests and those that are Diamond Plus so in the end, it really does not matter what type of accommodations that one books. The only other area that is reserved for suites is the outside seating over the pools and IMHO this is not a good area. We only visited it once the entire two weeks. :)

[Cruising89143]

Thanks for the great photos. Was the Champagne sail away for suite guests only?

 

M

 

Thanks. The sail away was for suite guests. It was a nice touch. I understand that on the Oasis it was started for D+ (maybe Diamond was included) but they changed it on the Allure to suite guests.

[sten28]

Cruisingator2 so sorry i did not mean to post a sad face it was supposed to be a happy one to thank you for your time so thank you !:) again lol

[cruisegirl1]

Thanks – that must have been nice.

 

I was on your second sailing but we did not meet. We have quite a few cruises ( 51 under the old system ) and for some reason did not get a few of the usual D+ amenities so I was wondering if this was a oversight too as I had heard that the special sail away had been offered to D+ on other Allure sailings. There were not many D+ on board this sailing. I think I heard 118.

 

Your photos are indeed wonderful

 

 

Marci

[bellezza28]

Wow, wonderful pictures !! It makes me miss the Allure already! :)

[SaylorGirl]

Your pictures were simply fantastic!! You did a remarkable job with the slide show, I really enjoyed seeing both morning and evening pictures.

[jneace]

do you know how long he will be on allure?

[Cruising89143]

do you know how long he will be on allure?

 

Sorry, I don't have that answer.

[koterry]

Just returned home today from two weeks on the Allure. Overall it was an outstanding cruise and the Allure gained from having her sister going into service first.

 

Areas of improvement that we noticed.

 

Crew - Last year on the Oasis the service was good but many of the crew seemed tired and were having a hard time adjusting to a new class of ship. On the Allure we noticed a much more relaxed crew and many stated that they introduction of the Allure was much easier due to learning from the Oasis. Service throughout the ship was outstanding. Very friendly. No complaints here at all.

 

Boardwalk. The addition of Rita's and the Boardwalk Dog House were a huge addition. The Boardwalk had a lot more traffic than the Oasis had on our two cruises last year. We thought that Rita's was good but the menu needs to be tweaked a bit but overall much better than the Seafood Shack and much busier. The doughnut shop is gone and has been moved across to the seating area of the Ice Cream Parlor. It is now a small self serve cabinet that holds four different types of doughnuts. Did not try them. They were not good on Oasis so I passed this time. The Dog House was also good and I never saw a long line waiting. Also they added improved street lamps and circular bench seating. The entire area looks much more inviting.

 

Central Park - Gone are the steps that are on the Oasis when enterting or leaving the specialty dining places. The steps have been replaced with ramps. A lot of people were tripping over the steps. The only set of steps that I noticed were in Chops on the patio.

 

Check in was just as quick as the two cruises on Oasis last year. They also did a great job in the handling of the B2B on turn around day. No issues here.

 

 

We did not dine in the Main Dining Room once the entire two weeks using the specialty dining and room service. We also dined only once in the WJ and that was turn around morning last Sunday. It was as bad as the last time that we tried the WJ for breakfast on the Freedom. Not sure what they are trying to pass for scrambled eggs but they missed the mark big time. They were nasty.

 

Chops, Giovanni's and Samba were very good. We dined at these locations multiple times over the two weeks. Service here was outstanding.

 

Rita's was good and the Fiesta is well worth the twenty bucks that they charge. You receive a wrist band with three tabs. Each time that you order a drink, you hand your server a tab. You can order beer, mixed drinks, soda or bottled water. Menu is set with an appetizer tray, main crourse of fajita's and a dessert. Again service here was good.

 

We went to all of the shows more than once with the exception of Chicago. Not to take anything away from the performers (they were very good) but I had a very difficult time staying awake. We did not enjoy it and would not sit through ninety minutes of this again. IMHO RCI missed the mark on this show. Hairspray was much better. Blue Planet and OceanAria were great. Ice Games was good but we enjoyed the show on Oasis better but entertainment is like food. Very subjective. I think you should try them all to see for yourself.

 

On Friday, we had Taylor Swift in concert while docked in Cozumel. This was a very nice addition. I wasn't originally looking forward to it but once the concert started, it was great. There were TS contest winners from across the US on this cruise. RCI also had contests on the ship to give away passes and along with those that were in suites or D+ receiving tickets.

 

Videos here of Taylor Swift

http://cruisingator.smugmug.com/Travel/Allure-of-the-Seas-Videos/15560705_77DWv#1165689110_QowA2

 

 

As I stated in the first part of the post, it was a great cruise. We booked two more weeks on the Allure. It is our ship of choice when cruising the Caribbean. I'm sure that I will think of more in the days to come. Here is the link to my photos. Warning. A LOT of photos.

http://cruisingator.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?swfPop=true&noClickURL=true&url=http://cruisingator.smugmug.com/Travel/Allureoftheseas/15556899_nC2y6#1165415502_BJsjb

Thanks for the review! Hope there is nothing wrong with me but I love the scrambled eggs in the WJ! And was just the opposite for me with Hairspray, I couldn't stay awake for it, my wife loved it. Go figure;)

[lizmit]

Awesome review and pics! Thank you very much

Happy sails

~ Liz

[Cruising89143]

Fabulous photos and video! It was nice to see that Elvis was in the building (in the video) ;) Taylor Swift seems awfully sweet -- hope she stays that way! I liked how she went into the crowd and hugged the little kids. What a thrill for them!

 

Your suites were awesome! I'd never leave the balcony.

 

I just found your reference to Elvis being in the house.:)