Is it Live or is it Memorex?- Allure of the Seas Review September 18-25 with Pics!

[alextooth]

Add us to the long list of members that want to say thank you very much. We are headed on our very first cruise on the Allure (Nov 13) and your review was immensely helpful to us.

Alex & Kelly

[TamaLee]

Add us to the long list of members that want to say thank you very much. We are headed on our very first cruise on the Allure (Nov 13) and your review was immensely helpful to us.

Alex & Kelly

 

Alex & Kelly - Come join us on our Role Call page if you haven't already and sign up for the Meet and Mingle. We'd love to meet you.

[alextooth]

Alex & Kelly - Come join us on our Role Call page if you haven't already and sign up for the Meet and Mingle. We'd love to meet you.

 

 

Hi TamaLee

 

We signed up on the roll call page and on the Meet and Mingle. Hope to see you there too.

Alex & Kelly

[nenner1]

Thank you all for being so patient...I'm sorry this is getting dragged on for so long. The real world is cruel-lol! ;) I am about 3/4 done with the next part just have to get the pics sorted, uploaded, and posted. I'm already at work tonight so it will be tomorrow! Thanks for hanging in there!

 

Jen

[pascal1972]

DW and I will be on our first cruise with our DD(6), DD(3) and DS(22 mo) in February aboard Oasis. Thanks for allowing us to share in your trip, as our family follows your review we learn so much and the pics really help our 6 & 3 year olds have something to look foreward to!

[Jayfo]

Nenner.... how exactly did you get to the area to watch the Oasis leave on Saturday? I would love to do this!!!

[nenner1]

The next activity we decided to attack this lovely sea day afternoon were the rock climbing walls. We weren’t quite sure if you could reach them from Deck 7 or not (I think you can), so we just headed down to the Boardwalk and entered from a staircase there. I watched Sarah play on her “other place”, the little playground outside of Rita’s.

 

 

 

 

Savannah was the first on the wall, and she was up and down so fast I didn’t even get a picture of her. Her verdict: Much harder than the rock wall on Independence OTS.

 

Brendan made it just over halfway up!

 

 

Ron did the best of the family, though I think he thought this wall was also harder.

 

 

Hello, gorgeous day!

 

[nenner1]

On the way back out through the Boardwalk, we encountered the Family Festival. Big games of all sorts (checkers, dominoes, etc.) are all spread out along the Boardwalk for families to engage in:

 

The Allure of the Seas Steel Drum band!

 

 

Our next stop after working up an appetite: afternoon snack! Can you believe it’s Friday already and with the exception of the decorating class, we had not been to Cupcake Cupboard yet? Blasphemy!

 

All of us with the exception of Ron chose a cupcake. Brendan selected the last S’mores, Savannah chose Oreo, Sarah liked Vanilla Vanilla probably based on the sprinkles alone, and for some reason Coconut was calling my name that day. Being a bona fide chocoholic that is odd, but I’ll tell you if there had been another S’mores I’d have probably chosen that!

 

The large cupcakes cost $2.75 each and in my opinion are worth every penny!!! They do have a buy 6 get one free program, and when I asked about it, I was told just to bring the receipt back with me when we bought the additional 2 cupcakes to make the 6, sadly…we never made it back!

 

Here is some video of the selection that day: Click picture to play!

 

 

We took our box of cupcakes back up to the rooms to change clothes for an ice skating session!

 

Sarah shows off her Vanilla Vanilla cupcake:

 

 

The others, clockwise from upper left: Oreo, S’mores, Coconut.

 

 

I had read advice here to let the cupcakes sit at room temperature a while to let them thaw and become soft prior to eating, but was so craving it, I thought I’d take just a taste. I was delighted to discover the cupcake was not cold, hard or crumbly. It was soft, tender, with decadent buttercream icing, rich coconut flavor. Yeah, I ate it all right then. Oink.

 

[nenner1]

We didn’t have too long before we needed to get ready for dinner, but thought we’d have time to sneak in a quick ice skating session down in Studio B. One huge tip I have for those of you wanting to ice skate: don’t think you will just show up for the time of the session and think you will go right out on the ice. Each session is only for 50 people, and even though we arrived at about 5:05 for the 5:20 session, it was already full. So our only option was to wait 45 minutes for the 5:50 session. Keep this in mind if your schedule is tight. We had totally forgotten it had been this way on Independence as well. So my advice is if you have a certain ice skating session time in mind, arrive prior to one full session before yours to ensure you can get in the time you want (45 minutes to one hour early). You can stop in and sign up for the session early and then come back when the session is about to start. I strongly recommend this. Ice skating sessions are quite limited on Allure.

 

We signed up for the next available session (5:50 PM), and headed up to Café Promenade for a snack. Not all of us ate their whole cupcake already....

 

 

Ham & Cheese Croissant and Lemon Poppy Seed pound cake…mmmm!

 

 

Kung Fu panda also happened to be out, so we got in his line. Unfortunately I had the camera on a funky setting and didn’t realize it so the pictures didn’t come out great:

 

 

As the sign says you need FULL long pants (nope, capris don’t count ladies) and socks to ice skate. Skates, helmets are provided as well as knee/elbow pads upon request.

 

Initially we were all going to skate, I got my skates from the counter, set them down and then helped Sarah get hers on, but as I did so, somebody took my skates! Yeah I could have gone and checked out another pair but I decided I’d just take the pictures and video instead.

 

The skates on Allure are lace-up. On independence they had pressure buckles, which were much easier to put on.

 

 

Yes they even have teeny tiny sizes! Sarah’s ready to give it a try!

 

 

[nenner1]

She did struggle a bit, and had a complete tantrum when Ron brought her back off the ice:

 

 

I WANT TO DO IT MYSELF!!!!!!

 

Ok, ok….

 

 

Everybody had fun!!!

 

 

 

After skating, we had to hurry a bit to get ready for dinner. We had 6:45 reservations for MTD tonight. It was 2nd formal night, so we expected it to be super busy in the dining room this evening, and it was.

 

We were a few minutes late for our reservations and weren’t sure if they would honor it. The line for “no reservations” was massive, but I got in it in case we were too late for our reservation. Ron went up to the”reservations” side desk to check, and sure enough they said we were not too late. We would still have to wait for a few minutes. The MDR on Allure at each deck has a large comfortably furnished waiting area, complete with these by-the-glass wine dispensers. (They are on each deck). Just swipe your Sea Pass card! Ingenious!

 

 

[nenner1]

Waiting for our table:

 

 

We only had to wait about 10 minutes before we were seated. We were on the other side of the dining room this evening, and we informed our server Laurence and his team that we had Blue Planet reservations and would need to eat fairly quickly. He assured us we would make the show in time, and his team did an AMAZING JOB getting us in and out of the dining room in about an hour and 10 minutes. Kudos!

 

For appetizers, the boys chose the Seafood Salad: shrimp, scallops and smoked salmon with a brandy cocktail sauce:

 

 

I had the Creamed Wild mushrooms in Puff Pastry: A hearty blend of wild mushrooms, cream, and herbs encased in a delicate puff pastry: delicious!

 

 

The entrees were quickly out. Sarah and Savannah ate from the kids’ menu: chicken tenders and spaghetti and meat sauce respectively:

 

 

 

And my seafood loving boys both had the Fisherman’s plate Lobster tail and Garlic shrimp:

 

[nenner1]

 

I had the Thai BBQ Chicken Breast with perfumed Jasmine Rice:

 

 

I wasn’t expecting to like it, but I was pleasantly surprised. The chicken was quite tasty. It was coated in a spice rub and drizzled with a coconut/lemongrass sauce. While peanut flavor was quite discernable, I was expecting the “BBQ” flavor to be tangy and sweet/sour based- it wasn’t. In fact there wasn’t any BBQ flavor at all. Of course this was the first time I had had any Thai food so my expectations could be unrealistic. It was very tasty and perfectly cooked. Very juicy and tender chicken.

 

Our awesomely fast serving team was ready for dessert as soon as we were. Dessert for all of us choosing to eat it was the Sampler Trio. As described very simply on the menu, a trio of exquisite tastes and textures on one plate.

 

I have no idea what the ones on the end are. I think one was mango-ish. They were somewhat bland, very cakey and vanilla (I say that as if it's a bad thing!) The highlight for sure is the flourless chocolate cake in the center. Wish I could have just gotten three of those, it was scrumptious!!!

 

We were finished with dinner and headed to the Amber Theater before 8:30 PM. Blue Planet would start at 9:00 and we wanted to get decent seats. We entered at Deck 4, which is the balcony level. There was still plenty of seating here, even front row, but we could see that the railing would impede the view a bit from those seated in the first row or two. We could see there were still plenty of prime seats below so we headed down to the main level of the theater.

 

We got what could arguably be some of the best seats in the house. We were dead center of a row about halfway back from the stage. We were directly in front of the mixer board/sound and effects personnel in fact. GREAT seats!

 

OK, so here is the one and only picture I took during Blue Planet worth posting. The new little point & shoot was just so horrible I didn’t even bother trying to get any during the show.

 

 

About the show, we loved it. I know the plot is shaky- there is the whole mother Nature/earth theme going on and then it kind of just busts into this weird love story, then back to the nature stuff. Not cohesive at all, but frankly it didn’t much matter. This show is just all about the visual spectacle, the tricks and acrobatics. It was pretty enthralling. We thought the vocal talent was outstanding- man that Mother Nature can wail! The singing and dancing numbers were fun and exciting. The acrobatics, aerial work, trampolines, just all captivating. The living tree and underwater scenes are not to be missed.

 

Sarah fell dead asleep during it though!

 

 

Back up in the rooms, the kids were tuckered out and Brendan agreed to look over sleeping Sarah so Ron and I could go check out the 70’s dance party on the Promenade.

 

After he eats his S’mores cupcake, of course:

 

[nenner1]

We had a cute puppy and a monkey hanging around when we returned to our staterooms:

 

 

 

With the kids settled in, Ron and I headed down to the Promenade to find the party well in effect:

 

 

Even though the area was quite crowded, we were easily able to get a decent spot near the Globe that opens up into an aerial bridge. Another good spot to be for this party would be near the Rising Tide bar.

 

 

Before you know it, the Promenade blared with the sound of the opening theme to Rocky and the Globe began to emit smoke and open up:

 

 

Out came “Rocky”, who turned out to be- surprise, surprise: Ken Rush in his White Polyester Leisure suit! He graced us all with his presence with a rendition of John Travolta to the tune of –what else? Staying Alive:

 

[nenner1]

The crowd looking forward:

 

The crowd looking aft:

 

 

Ken invited all of those dressed in 70’s garb up on the Rising Tide bar. Most of these costumes were pretty over the top and I speculate that these folks are more likely ship staff in costume, as opposed to guests. Not thinking many people are bringing along Day Glo bell bottoms and Afro wigs in their luggage. Just saying.

 

 

After that it was the “Village People” doing the YMCA!

 

 

Here’s the video…Click to Play:

 

[nenner1]

They even came down and mingled with the crowd and did conga lines and such!

 

 

Ken threw a whole lot of stuff down at the crowd from above, rubber bracelets, T-shirts, and thousands, yes, thousands of flashing glow rings. Can’t give much advice if you want to catch goodies from above. If you want the T-shirts, be located a distance away from the Globe and bridge but not too far away. They would throw them as far as they could but never just dropped any down below. I didn’t even get a flashy ring, LOL.

And if you ever wondered why Ken Rush really got his job, well it has to do with his glass cleaning skills…..

 

Video-click picture to play

 

 

Kung Fu Panda made an appearance to the tune Kung Fu Fighting. He was on the Rising Tide but it wasn’t raised very high at this point and was kind of hard to see.

 

 

Those Village People are still going:

 

 

And finally, Ken and the entourage escape in to Central Park via the Rising Tide.

 

 

After the crowd dissipated a bit, we decided to take our first trip on the Rising Tide.

 

[nenner1]

I wanted to buy the Live the Allure book, but apparently you can only buy that during certain times. The bar staff was pretty confused when we asked to buy the “book”, and didn’t have a clue at first. Eventually when they figured out what we were talking about they said we had to “catch the lady” that sells them. They didn’t know when that lady would be there. So, I gave up on the book. I did however decide to have the bar’s signature cocktail: the Rising Tide.

 

 

Ascending into the stars:

 

 

We were surprised how short the ride up is, it only takes 3 minutes to go the three decks up or down. It was a lot faster than I expected, for some reason I thought I had read it took 15 minutes (actually it departs every 15 minutes, so it makes sense that I just misinterpreted what I had read previously).

 

For those curious about riding on the bar without purchasing anything, be aware that lots of folks will hop on just for the ride- it appeared to be pretty typical behavior. In fact if you are just standing in the standing room only area of the bar, it is a little difficult to get service. OK a lot difficult. I think the servers assume the people standing in that area don’t necessarily want drinks.

 

We got back to our room, enjoyed a bit of time out on the balcony and hit the hay! That wraps up day 6!

[princessnpirate]

The more I read your report, the more I want it to be May so I can go! Looks like Day 6 was fantastic!!

[Stags14]

We started watching the 70s party until it got so crowded!

 

I snuck in an IPA from the pub and we peaced out lol.

[livingis2me]

I just wanted to drop in and say I actually found Ken Rush entertaining as a CD. Prior to the cruise I'd heard mostly bad things about him on CC. I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't like him as much as I liked Joff Eaton on the Indy, but compared to Brent on DCL (whom everyone on the Dis seems to love:confused:) he was a lot of fun!:)

 

Ron

[yj2cute]

Thanks for the update. It was worth the wait! I can't wait to get to the Cupcake cupboard. Also, everyone looked very nice in their formal clothes.

 

Question; did you happen to notice the largest size of men's skate that had at the ice rink. DH would love to skate, but he wears a size 14! :eek:

[morgiemoo]

Thank you so much for the great review! Our daughter will be 11 when we sail in April for Easter, is the 70's Dance Party approriate for her? She loves 70's music and would have a blast :rolleyes:

[yj2cute]

Thank you so much for the great review! Our daughter will be 11 when we sail in April for Easter, is the 70's Dance Party approriate for her? She loves 70's music and would have a blast :rolleyes:

 

The 70's party is fun for all ages. Your daughter will love it!

[nenner1]

You need to be at shows 15 minutes early; they let those without reservations in shortly after that. If you are particular about seats, then come half an hour early.

 

Yup. I would add for good seats at the Aquatheater be there 45 minutes early. That one filled up really fast and even though we were more than a half hour early, we ended up off to the side.

 

Dinner in the MDR often takes up to two hours. On the first night, our waiter asked what pace we wanted to be served and we were out in 0ne hour, 15 minutes each night (as we wished). If you have a show that is close after dinner, tell the waiter and they try to accommodate you.

 

Thanks so much AlanAllyn for the great answers....spot on!:D

 

We found MTD did always move us out in less than 2 hours, even when we were in no hurry (which was basically just the last night) we did have really good service all times we were in the MDR! :)

 

More, please. :)

 

LOL!!!! :p

 

Add us to the long list of members that want to say thank you very much. We are headed on our very first cruise on the Allure (Nov 13) and your review was immensely helpful to us.

Alex & Kelly

 

Thanks so much for reading it, I hope it helps you have an amazing cruise!!!:)

[nenner1]

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience.

 

Can you tell me how far in advance you need to show up for the shows that you reserve and also approx how much time is needed for a relaxing dinner in the dining room.

 

Whoops, just realized I missed your quote at the beginning of the last post! Sorry about that! AlanAllyn is spot on in that response and I added a few little tidbits in the post above. Hope that helps, and thanks so much for reading!! :D

 

DW and I will be on our first cruise with our DD(6), DD(3) and DS(22 mo) in February aboard Oasis. Thanks for allowing us to share in your trip, as our family follows your review we learn so much and the pics really help our 6 & 3 year olds have something to look foreward to!

 

Awesome! So glad you have enjoyed it! Have a fantastic time aboard Oasis!!! :)

 

Nenner.... how exactly did you get to the area to watch the Oasis leave on Saturday? I would love to do this!!!

 

Well, I wish I could give exact directions but we didn't really know where we were going either, we just played it by ear. We don't have GPS (well I do on my phone but we didn't use it)...we just kindof drove around until we thought we were in the right area, and I will admit that Ron "knew" we were in the right spot and I thought we were totally in the wrong place. Turned out he was right. LOL.:o But I'll do the best I can to explain and I post a little map that hopefully will give you an idea.

 

You want to start out heading East on SE17th St. This is the road that has the big bridge visible near the port (and overlooks the ships). You will go over the bridge, and just over it is the neighborhood you want to go into. (Harbor Isles.). There is a gas station (BP If I remember correctly) to the right and one entrance is right next to it. It's a gated entrance and we just pulled right up to the guard station but they never came out or anything, they just opened the gate for us. There is another way in too, (we actually found it on the way out) if you keep going straight on 17th ST past the BP and gated entrance there is a curve in the road and basically right at that curve is a road into the neighborhood. If you see ont he map, the red lines are the paths we drove into and out of the neighborhood. The road the actual street parking was on was I believe S. Ocean Dr.(Marked by the white X on the map).

 

The path is purple is the walking to get out to the beach. Hope it helps a little bit, it's hard to give directions when we didn't really know where we were going until we got there...LOL! :)

 

 

[nenner1]

The more I read your report, the more I want it to be May so I can go! Looks like Day 6 was fantastic!!

 

Thanks!! It was fantastic!!! :)

 

We started watching the 70s party until it got so crowded!

 

I snuck in an IPA from the pub and we peaced out lol.

 

LOL! Yeah it did get quite crazy! :cool:

 

Thanks for the update. It was worth the wait! I can't wait to get to the Cupcake cupboard. Also, everyone looked very nice in their formal clothes.

 

Thanks so much! :)

 

Question; did you happen to notice the largest size of men's skate that had at the ice rink. DH would love to skate, but he wears a size 14! :eek:

 

Gosh..I don't know. Ron wears a 12 in shoes, not sure if he got bigger skates than that. Sorry I'm not much help on that one. I don't recall seeing anyone turned away from the desk but I wasn't watching closely by any means. (obviously, someone took my skates from me, LOL!):cool: Sorry again, hopefully they will be able to accommodate him! :)