Not so "LIVE" Allure of the Seas Review with PIX!

[Disneycrazymom]

Thanks for the fun review! Can you tell me what days Rita's Fiesta is offered and how early you had to book it? It sounds fun.

[joand452]

Hi Michele!

 

I can't believe we didn't get a chance to meet; I looked around the M&M for you, but I found the layout of Dazzles not too conducive to mingling.

 

Thank you for posting your review and photos. There are so many great photos online of Allure that I didn't take that many. I just felt that I wanted to "be" in the moment and not see everything through the viewfinder. I still have 700+ photos to go through, however!

 

We did Rita's Fiesta the following week with a bunch of people from that roll call. It was fun, but we're definitely not as young as we used to be. Those three margaritas made us feel a little rough the next morning!

 

We ate at Samba Grill the following week. Pat loved the meat (I seemed to have seafood each night in the MDR); I thought it was fine, but too filling. They have cocktail shrimp on the salad bar. It was still light when we ate, but I think it'll be very pretty at night. They cover the chairs with full-length white duck covers and include a nice fluffy pillow on the chair.

 

Even after the second week we were not ready to leave! We left lots of things to do and places to see, so we know we'll sail either Allure or Oasis in the future.

 

Looking forward to your final thoughts...

[derby bears]

Michele

Thank you for the review and all your fantastic photos. We will be joining you guys in

Feb, hope to meet you onboard.

[QTMichele]

I may try to upload some to Facebook this time, i've always used flickr in the past, but they are making it a real pain lately to copy/paste to here.

 

Absolutely love the Prius! We got it a month ago brand new (our first brand new vehicle), coming from a chevy equinox that got about 20 mpg. We drive about 25,000 miles a year (all those trips we take up to West Virginia to visit the wifes family add up ;))so with gas they way it is, we are saving about double what our payment is.

 

It drives very nice and we have very few complaints. the lowest miles we have got is 53 mpg, the best 58mpg. It definitely helps to make up for the 3/4 ton 4wd crew cab truck I drive ;). My truck gets a good solid 11 mpg:D

 

West Virginia?! REALLY? which part?

 

Glad you're saving so much on gas too.

 

Michele - Thanks so much for this thread. Since you took so many pics, how about if you just start over and do a second not-so-LIVE review from the beginning with new pictures? We'll all just pretend that you're back on board again! :D

 

 

 

Curtis - Have you tried Photobucket? It's VERY easy to copy/paste into CC. Just hover over any image thumbnail and several types of links will appear. Click on the IMG code link and it's automatically copied to the clipboard. Paste into your CC message and everything's good. They also have a fairly quick bulk upload tool.

 

Oooh! GREAT suggestion! Good to know that about Photobucket too. Thanks!

[BrianAlt]

Oooh! GREAT suggestion! Good to know that about Photobucket too. Thanks!

 

Yeah, I use Photobucket for all of my pics too.

[mepclu]

Michelle,

 

Thanks so much for your pictures and review! I will be checking out Samba for fish option on the May 15th sailing and will report back!

 

Mary

[QTMichele]

Thanks for the fun review! Can you tell me what days Rita's Fiesta is offered and how early you had to book it? It sounds fun.

 

Originally it was offered for Wednesday night. It's become very popular, so they've added two more nights - Sunday and Thursday (for Eastern). We booked ours a few months out.

 

Hi Michele!

 

I can't believe we didn't get a chance to meet; I looked around the M&M for you, but I found the layout of Dazzles not too conducive to mingling.

 

Thank you for posting your review and photos. There are so many great photos online of Allure that I didn't take that many. I just felt that I wanted to "be" in the moment and not see everything through the viewfinder. I still have 700+ photos to go through, however!

 

We did Rita's Fiesta the following week with a bunch of people from that roll call. It was fun, but we're definitely not as young as we used to be. Those three margaritas made us feel a little rough the next morning!

 

We ate at Samba Grill the following week. Pat loved the meat (I seemed to have seafood each night in the MDR); I thought it was fine, but too filling. They have cocktail shrimp on the salad bar. It was still light when we ate, but I think it'll be very pretty at night. They cover the chairs with full-length white duck covers and include a nice fluffy pillow on the chair.

 

Even after the second week we were not ready to leave! We left lots of things to do and places to see, so we know we'll sail either Allure or Oasis in the future.

 

Looking forward to your final thoughts...

 

Hi, Joan! I know! I looked for you too!!! Well, kind-of. I ended up talking to a family and Karen, then didn't have time to mingle to other parts of the room. Dazzles really isn't the ideal place for the "mingle" portion of the "meet & mingle." I'm sorry I missed you.

 

I thought Samba looked nice from what we saw... I didn't take any pictures because I felt it was too intrusive to do so during dinner. They had it blocked off beforehand. Oh well. Glad you enjoyed it.

 

I'm sorry you weren't ready to get off the ship. Time to book another cruise!!!

 

Michele

Thank you for the review and all your fantastic photos. We will be joining you guys in

Feb, hope to meet you onboard.

 

Great!!! Can't wait to meet a new group of CC'ers!

[QTMichele]

Michelle,

 

Thanks so much for your pictures and review! I will be checking out Samba for fish option on the May 15th sailing and will report back!

 

Mary

 

Please do!!! :)

 

Okay... time to get to Debarkation Day. :(

[QTMichele]

Day 8 - Debarkation

 

Tis the day to depart. I've had a wonderful week, but I am so ready to get home to my kids. I admit, I've been homesick for them. Part of the reason is that my son was ill for several days before we left and I was feeling guilty about leaving him. Plus, the ship is so family friendly that I had wished they were with us throughout the week. We'll all get our wish next February! (So, who is joining us?!!! 12 Feb 2012!)

 

Back to our morning...

 

I woke up at 5am (huh?!) to find us just pulling up the the dock. I watched from our balcony for a total of 38 seconds before I realized that my eyes were still partially glued together.

 

We did manage to get breakfast at the Park Cafe by 8. It was not very busy, but there were several people milling about the vicinity. By 8'ish, they were calling #16 - we were #64.

 

After a quick breakfast, we went back to our stateroom to wait out some of our time. Our attendant told us we could stay until 9:30 or so. We thought we'd get out of his hair so he could do his job more efficiently, so back to Central Park we went.

 

Have I mentioned how much I loved Central Park? It's such a great place to relax, especially in those big comfy chairs they have. I'm still debating which cusions I liked better - the red or the green? I'm leaning towards the red, but I'm a little biased...

 

 

We stayed in CP until 10am, then decided to go to the Amber Theater where they were making the announcements. No more than 2 minutes after we arrived, they called numbers 60 and higher. GREAT timing!

 

Leaving the ship was quick and easy, finding our luggage was simple too, but then we saw the line for Customs. My DH is such a patient guy (you can't hear my sarcastic tone, but it IS there!), and couldn't resist telling me his suggestions on how to make it better. Thankfully, the line was almost always moving so we didn't have to wait long, and DH's BP stayed within normal limits. Mostly. I'd say the entire process took 30 minutes. Not great, but not too bad.

 

We grabbed a taxi right outside the terminal. Our fare was about $15 for the 10 minute drive to the airport.

 

We thought we could have a decent meal in the airport, at least sit down for a relaxing lunch... wrong. The Ft. Lauderdale airport isn't too friendly in the food department, and they don't have a lot of extra seating, so we saw a lot of people standing to eat, or sitting on the floor. Oh well... we were on our way home to our kids so were glad to be there.

 

One last picture (for this post!)...

 

My View On the Airplane

 

It was great to get one last look at the Allure of the Seas before we left. I can't wait to go back!

[QTMichele]

A Few Notes... (some I've discussed, some are new ;) )

 

Our cruise director, Allan Brooks, left for vacation on the same day we did. He was replaced by Ken Rush.

 

Captain Johnny left the same day for his vacation.

 

The Cupcake Class I prebooked for 5pm was listed as an adult class; however, it was for children. I was asked if I wanted to change the time to either 1:30 or 3, but declined. They refunded my money on the last day.

 

Izumi now has a fee of $5 for dinner and $3 for lunch, plus a la carte pricing. This may be different than what your online reservations describe. I wish Royal would correct this, or honor their original prices.

 

Our sailing had over 6000 guests, including 1000 kids. The next week (which was last week ;) ) had over 2000 kids. I'm glad we were on the week we were on! :D

 

I'll be posting my own final thoughts and more pictures next!

[QTMichele]

As promised, here are more pictures. Please forgive the duplicates... I can't remember if I've posted some, so I'm erring on the side of caution.

 

Allure was filled with art - from sculptures to photographs to paintings. I would encourage everyone to take the time to walk around the ship to take it all in.

 

The beaded gowns were a favorite of mine.

 

Don't forget to look into these:

 

...to find this Small Wonder:

 

OR

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure if I found all of the Small Wonders, but it was fun trying.

[QTMichele]

The Royal Promenade

 

 

 

 

 

 

[QTMichele]

 

 

(sorry for the blurry picture)

 

 

Since Freedom, all ships have a car on the Promenade.

 

There's a longer version of the story, but here's the gist: Richard Fain donated the car his wife gifted him to the Freedom of the Seas because it could not be operational in the States. Now it's a tradition. I like it.

 

[QTMichele]

 

 

 

 

The Running/Walking Track

 

[QTMichele]

 

Focus is the place to find your photographs taken by the ship's photographers. You'll find your binder number on your Sea Pass. We had a whopping total of ONE photograph in our binder. We kind-of forgot to have our picture made... it was a "we'll do it later" kind-of thing that eventually got away from us.

 

 

 

 

View from the Promenade up to Central Park

[QTMichele]

Central Park

 

 

On second thought... I like the green cushions too.

 

 

View from CP down into the Royal Promenade

 

 

 

[QTMichele]

 

 

 

 

 

[BrianAlt]

Fantastic pictures! (Even if I have seen them already. :D. ;) )

[QTMichele]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[QTMichele]

Fantastic pictures! (Even if I have seen them already. :D. ;) )

 

I'm hoping it's due to stalking rather than me having posted them already! LOL

 

My mind is FRIED, (I haven't been drinking - HONEST!) and I can't remember which ones I've posted, and which ones I haven't. :p

[QTMichele]

 

 

 

[QTMichele]

Fitness Center Area

 

 

 

 

 

[QTMichele]

The Pool Girl's Mate

 

A Few Fun Pix

 

 

 

 

[QTMichele]

Alrighty, gang. That's it for tonight. I'll post my final impressions in a summary tomorrow. Thanks so much for joining me throughout my journey. :)

[MsSadie]

Michele,

I've LOVED viewing all the great pics & reading about your experience! You gave a lot of wonderful details that will make future cruisers (like myself) journey a lot smoother. I'm looking forward to doing the scavenger hunt as well as experience EVERYTHING all that Allure has to offer. 46 more days and I'll get my chance!:D

We had Allan Brooks on FOS last May, he was sooo....FUNNY! I thought I was gonna pee my pants when he wipe his sweaty body w/ his shirt during the 70's dance and threw it into the audience:eek:...people were ducking...I was ROFLBO!!!! I sure hope he's back on Allure when we go...... laughter is GOOD medicine & I sure could use it!:D