5/8 cruise - Amazing!! (my thoughts)

[itsme1177]

My boyfriend and I had an amazing time last week! We had a balcony room on the 12th floor on the starboard side at the front of the ship. The room was wonderful, our stateroom attendant was wonderful, and the week was wonderful! (but, being back at work today is not wonderful!)

 

We didn't plan our entertainment or specialty restaurants, except Rita's Fiesta, before we got onboard. We were a bit bummed though that we couldn't get into the comedy show as every show was booked the first day. Of course it was our fault for waiting! (Did we miss anything?) We saw Chicago and Blue Planet. I enjoyed both, but maybe the 11:00pm Blue Planet show on Thursday night was a bit too late for my guy - he thought it was naptime! We saw the Love and Marriage show, it was cute. It was very nice to not have a ton of activities planned. We did use the monitors quite a bit on every floor to see what was going on at that time on the ship and then went to check them out.

 

We ate in the MDR a few nights and had the 8:30pm seating. We didn't have any complaints on the food. It was nice that you can check the menu from the tv in your stateroom. We picked the nights to go to the MDR when we saw food choices we liked. We went to 1 formal night. This was not originally in our plans as we didn't really want to pack 'formal' clothes. We wore business casual and it was just fine (he wore pants and a button down shirt and I wore a summer dress.) Also, we might have gone to the MDR more had we had our own table. We sat with a really nice couple, but I wanted more alone time with my boyfriend. Maybe next time we will request a table for 2. I also loved the violinist, she was amazing!

 

We had room service breakfast a few times on our balcony. I highly recommend this! And, we had room service for dinner one night. I loved sharing meals on the balcony - very romantic! We would have done it more if the menu changed every day. We went to Rita's Cantina for lunch. It was decent, food was as expected. There are a lot of delicious Mexican restaurants near us in Chicago, so it would have been hard to match them! We went to Rita's Fiesta and had a good time. The food and 3 drinks for $20 is worth it. We were seated at a table for 4, but it was only the 2 of us. I don't know if this was good or bad.... we had lots and lots of food! We had breakfast at Johnny Rockets one time - very good! And we went back one night for a late dinner - also very good! The Windjammer has a nice buffet with lots of choices which didn't disappoint the 3 times we went. We tried the hotdogs - he had the bratwurst and I had the sicilian. They weren't bad, but again... living in Chicago and all, Chicago hotdogs are pretty tasty! I had some ice cream, it was reasonably priced. And we each had a cupcake from the Cupcake Cupboard. He had an oreo cupcake and I had the peanut butter and chocolate. They were both very rich and sweet. The $2.50 price tag was decent for them as well. And, the pizza was yummy. Maybe it was good because we had it at 2am after drinking... :) Really though, it was tasty and free! We had the premade slices and we also made our own little pizzas one night. Definitely worth a try!

 

We drank a lot and were surprised our stateroom bill wasn't a lot more at the end of the week! I loved the frozen mojitos, I wish I didn't wait until midweek to discover them! We also bought the beer bucket and filled it up a couple times. We took advantage of the 2 for 1 cocktails at Blaze. This was worth it for the most part - we had some pretty weak long island iced teas though. We got a lot of ice water from the bars - the evian bottles in the stateroom were tempting, but free water is better. There was bit of confusion when my boyfriend asked around for a drinking fountain. Nobody told him that there was one by the mini golf. We found it when we were walking around one night. We brought 2 empty water bottles with us and filled them up a few times so we had water in the room. We don't drink soda so we didn't take advantage of the package, but it seems to be a good deal if you do drink it. It would have been nice if you didn't have to pay extra for beverages. The night we ordered room service for dinner, it was easily $50 worth of food. Of course there was no charge for the food, but I had to pay $2.00 for a glass of orange juice. crazy!

 

My guy loved the flowrider and spent many hours there every day. I loved watching him on it. I tried it 3 times but it was not for me, I didn't last more than 5 seconds each time! We went on the zip line and my guy did the rock climbing wall. He wanted the flowrider to be open longer, it would have been cool if there were nighttime hours. We really liked the hot tubs as well, it was nice that they were open late.

 

We didn't do any excursions at the ports, we kept it pretty low-key. We did have a blast in Cozumel. We rented a scooter for the day and drove it around the whole island! They can go pretty fast, but we didn't know how fast because the spedometer didn't work! fun!!

 

Our stateroom was really nice as well. The couch was by the balcony. I wonder if some rooms have 1 queen bed instead of 2 beds pushed together. We didn't really look into this before our cruise. The ridge in the middle of the bed got in the way of our cuddling, but we managed. :) Our stateroom attendant was really nice and the towel animals were fun!

 

I can't wait to cruise again - the Allure was an amazing ship!

[mar915]

Thanks for the review, my hubby and my brother and his wife just booked Rita's Fiesta for $20 thought it looked fun while my mom will take my guys to dinner for me.

My son can't wait for the zip line, glad you enjoyed...and being from Chicago I hope the hot dogs are good too

[beckydsl]

Thanks for your thoughts. My husband and I are sailing June 5th and were wondering if Blaze was the only place with 2 for 1 cocktails. We like to drink a lot and knowing if there were any 2 for 1 or happy hour prices at the other bars would really be helpful. Thanks again!

[itsme1177]

They also had a 2 for 1 at the Bow and Stern Bar for beers. But, they are only for an hour or so. It is defintely worth it to take advantage of that if you like to drink! Have fun in June! I wish I could go again!

[green eyed lady]

Thanks for your thoughts. My husband and I are sailing June 5th and were wondering if Blaze was the only place with 2 for 1 cocktails. We like to drink a lot and knowing if there were any 2 for 1 or happy hour prices at the other bars would really be helpful. Thanks again!

 

Come join the roll call for our sailing. We have a nice bunch of people over there. :D

[BillOh]

Sounds a lot like our cruise, except we did the Eastern, in fact, while we were getting off, you were getting on. Your welcome for us getting off quickly so you could get right on. (I assume you had no boarding issues ;). We were also deck 12 starboard front of the ship - 12552 I believe it was. It was a great week.

[cuppy]

What are the drink options at Ritas? Im a martini girl, don't do beer or margaritas so wondering if it's worth it for us.

[itsme1177]

I believe it is a full bar. I had a margarita, a daquiri, and some blue drink the waiter suggested. You can also do the fiesta without alcohol and I think it is 10 bucks cheaper. The food was decent - chips and salsa, quesadillas, taquito things, fajitas, and the desserts were flan, banana rollup things, churros, and a bowl of chocolate sauce.

[cuppy]

Thanks for the info. My husband wants to do this, so I'm glad I will be able to order my martinis. :D

[tropiclvrs]

Sounds like you both had a great time! Thanks for sharing your insights...

 

BTW, There are no standard cabins that have a 'regular" Queen Bed. They all of the 2 that are pushed together to make a Queen. Not sure of the suites....

[itsme1177]

Thanks for the reply about the beds. We were curious but never asked while onboard.

[AlanAllyn]

You can order off the main dining room menu from room service at dinner time. So it is not the samne night after night.

[itsme1177]

wow, really? The things you learn AFTER crusing! :) If there is a next time, this is good to know! Thanks!

[Bison]

What are the drink options at Ritas? Im a martini girl, don't do beer or margaritas so wondering if it's worth it for us.

Visit Jeffery at the Trellis Bar (central park) he was making Lemon drop marinin's that the gentlemen we were talking with said were unbelievable. Jeffery the bartender is quite a character !