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

[livingis2me]

Ron, sleep is over rated.

 

You said it, not me! :D

 

Ron

[LBumb]

awesome review

[mr.jdm]

awesome review!! more more more!!

 

also do you remember how to get to that spot where you watched the oasis sailaway?

did you park at the residential neighbourhood? or closer to sheraton beach hotel?

[time4me2fly]

WOW! GREAT review of your cruise on Allure. Love the photos.

 

Just when I thought I collected all the information possible about the Allure, you come along and give me more info. Thank you! Can't wait to read more.

[time4me2fly]

WOW! GREAT review of your cruise on Allure. Love the photos.

 

Just when I thought I collected all the information possible about the Allure, you come along and give me more info. Thank you! Can't wait to read more.

[time4me2fly]

WOW! GREAT review of your cruise on Allure. Love the photos.

 

Just when I thought I collected all the information possible about the Allure, you come along and give me more info. Thank you! Can't wait to read more.

[time4me2fly]

WOW! GREAT review of your cruise on Allure. Love the photos.

 

Just when I thought I collected all the information possible about the Allure, you come along and give me more info. Thank you!

Can't wait to read more.

[time4me2fly]

oops...sorry I was having problems with the computer and didn't realize the forum was accepting my post.

[Tiffaniwho]

Just a question in regard to the adventure ocean DECT phone, I am traveling with my kids and my cousin is traveling with her kids on Oct 23rd. If we both have kids signed up for Adventure Ocean and had phones, would we be able to contact each other through those phones on the ship?

[nenner1]

Hi everyone, I am so sorry I have not had a chance to address comments and questions yet today! I have been quite busy and I have to work tonight so rest assured I will be back tomorrow to address everyone! :)

 

Of course Ron is always welcome to chime in with his $0.02- often his recollection is sharper than mine! LOL!

 

In the meantime, enjoy Day 2!

[nenner1]

Monday September 19- Day 2- Nassau

 

Welcome to Monday!

 

 

We had already docked in Nassau when Ron awoke before sunrise this morning.

 

 

 

His first stop was Starbucks for a latte, which he enjoyed on the balcony as the sun rose over the Atlantis Resort.

 

 

 

[nenner1]

We had no real set plans for the port today. We have been here twice before and since the itinerary only calls for a half day stop we decided not to do an excursion and instead take advantage of hopefully a less populated ship.

One item of note, the itinerary had recently been extended from 2 PM departure to a 3 PM departure. This was the first Allure cruise to depart Nassau at 3PM. I will mention that we did arrive about an hour late to St. Thomas on Wednesday , and I know from the Captain’s Log that the ship had been travelling at 21 knots (nearly full speed) the entire time. I’m not sure if there were any other extenuating circumstances causing the late arrival or if it was due to the new late departure from Nassau, but future cruisers should watch their itineraries carefully, as I suspect departure/arrival times might be altered again in the future.

 

We had left the Room Service breakfast card out the evening before, and right on time the phone rang, warning us of its’ upcoming delivery. We weren’t too impressed. The portions we small- we had asked for 3 orders of bacon, we got 3 slices of bacon. The OJ tasted weird, like the concentrate wasn’t diluted properly, and the pastries were cold. Not to mention the strange grilled tomatoes. I’m all for some garnish and pretty presentation but it became a running joke throughout the week how many dishes were garnished with a grilled halved tomato. From Chops all the way to Room Service Breakfast, those tomatoes were everywhere.

 

 

 

Since the breakfast we ordered was so blah, Ron and the older kids ran downstairs to the Boardwalk Donut shop to fetch me something to eat instead. A few tips about the Donut Shop- there are some coffee dispensers out in the morning so if you want a donut and coffee in the morning, you are in luck. All other times of the day/evening there are no free drinks out on the Boardwalk. Donuts are not always replenished- if you see it, and you want it- get it!

 

 

 

 

We tried a variety- the cinnamon sugar, strawberry glazed, jelly, and what we thought was a chocolate iced Boston Cream (turns out it had no cream inside). The general consensus was we thought the donuts were very good! They were soft and very tasty, not at all cold or frozen. They seemed very fresh. My favorite was the cinnamon sugar.

 

[nenner1]

The view from our balcony revealed a gorgeous day outside:

 

 

 

We dropped the kids off at their respective AO clubs: the 9-11 Voyagers for the older two, and the 3-5 Aquanauts for Sarah. Brendan and Savannah were delighted to find the kids from the pool the evening before in their club, and Sarah was excited to get on the slide, so everyone went happily into the club so we could venture out for a quick shopping trip.

 

On the way down Ron and I stopped by Park Café to fill up my bottle with iced tea to take ashore with us.

 

 

 

My fave restaurant!

 

 

I was pretty disappointed to discover you can’t get iced tea in the morning- they replace it in the dispenser with apple juice. I guess that makes sense but I was hoping onboard this ship iced tea would be easier to get. It is- between the hours of say 12 PM and 6 PM (at Park Café.) Windjammer is not as convenient to get to (and it’s pre-glassed there), and Wipeout Café has such limited hours.

 

I know this mini rant is about the lack of availability of iced tea, but we were also so bummed with the lack of hours at Wipeout Café. It seemed to always be closed. If you are lucky enough to find it open, by all means take advantage of it. On our cruise they seemed to only be open from about 12-2 PM. We spent a lot of time by the flowriders and every time we would want to just pop in for a drink, or snack or ice cream cone it was closed. Boo.

 

Anyhow, back to the tea. If you like iced tea, like I do, be aware it is the concentrated “fountain” iced tea- which isn’t horrid, I can drink it-when the mix is right. Problem is the mix seemed to never be right. More often than not it was super strongly concentrated and bitter. Just undrinkable. Even sometimes in the dining room. I got frustrated and eventually stocked up on tea bags from Café Promenade, and brewed my own and poured it over ice from the ice bucket. Aah. That- was much better! One other tip in that regard- Park Café has an actual ice machine, so if you need some ice during the daytime hours, stop by there. Of course when they get really busy there are times it didn’t keep up with demand.

 

Central Park is just so beautiful! Can you imagine if it had been left as the original design: just a plain rolling hill?

 

[nenner1]

 

So we were finally ready to head into town. It’s very simple, just push the gangway button on the elevator and it takes you to the floor you need to be on. Swipe your Sea Pass, and off you go!

 

 

A little perspective:

 

 

 

 

 

Crowds were pretty heavy right by the ship. A lot of photo ops going on, both with the ship’s photographers and just passengers photographing each other.

 

We took a few of those shots, too!

 

[nenner1]

 

To get into Nassau, there is along walkway up the pier. They have fixed this up a bit since the last time I was here. They have divided the walkway into a pedestrian side, (this one with the coverings), and one side for shuttles and golf carts. Of course people wanted to walk on the uncovered shuttle side, LOL.

 

 

The crowds get ferreted through the welcome/security building and you emerge on the other side. All of the shipping is within a few block range right in this area. We headed to Hard Rock, didn’t find much, continued up the street and looked in a few shops at things. Ron was looking at getting a new pair of cheap sunglasses, so we were shopping those, not finding much he liked. In one store we were going to buy Sarah a doll, but they didn’t have change.

 

 

 

So we kept going and found ourselves at Senor Frogs, can you believe the bar wasn’t open yet? It was 10 AM! Ha!

 

 

 

[nenner1]

So we did find a couple of things there, and came out and found ourselves head on with the world famous Straw Market- but it was out in the street!

 

 

Now this isn’t our first Rodeo in Nassau and the Straw Market was quite an experience for our first cruise. We’d been there, done that, and didn’t have much desire to do it again (no matter how much Sarah might have liked a tiny straw Hello Kitty purse with crooked eyes for just $20.) But the very first table across the street had some decent looking fake Oakley’s. Ron found a pair he liked, did a little price negotiating, and we were on our way. Repairs we going on inside what was left of the Straw Market’s tent structure. As you can see here, Hurricane Irene pretty much shredded it.

 

 

So the way back to the boat was through the Straw Market. I will say, I don’t know if it’s being out in the sun or heat or what but not many of the shopkeepers were very aggressive this time. When it was in the tent- first of all the path was so narrow you had to turn sideways to walk through-you couldn’t take a step without “Lady what you want” this “Or hey you want one of these” You could actually browse now for the most part. We found another one of the dolls we wanted to get Sarah but the price was supposedly $20 for the same doll we were going to pay $12.50 for in the other store. Ron got her down to $18 but she wasn’t budging and that was really overpriced. So I mentioned one of her smaller dolls but they really weren’t into playing the price game here, so we moved along, and instead bought Sarah a cute monkey shaped maraca.

 

After the long walk back through the flea market (joke: Who brings a billion dollar ship to a garage sale, anyway?), we were ready to get back onboard and enjoy the awesome ship with lighter crowds. It took a few minutes to get through the security screening trailer (even belts had to come off! geesh!) but getting back onboard was fairly quick.

 

We went straight up to AO to get the kids. Sarah shows off the envelope she made to hold all of her crafts she makes in the club this week:

 

And Savannah showed off one of her soon to be many medals for GaGa Ball. It’s pretty funny that they gave out the medals like candy at the kids’ club but make the Adults do all kinds of crazy things to get one!

 

 

We headed down to the Boardwalk Dog House for lunch (after a quick stop for drinks in Park Café).

 

 

[nenner1]

 

 

 

There was seating in the area across the Dog House.

 

 

Here is the menu for the Dog House:

 

What good is ford porn without wiener pictures???

 

 

Brendan and I both started with a Smokehouse: One word- delicious!

 

[nenner1]

Smokehouse:

 

 

Savannah and Sarah had Coney Islands. My second dog was a Coney Island too, and I thought they were very good!

 

 

 

Buns?!?!? We don’t need no stinking Buns!

 

 

A German thuringia Brat:

 

 

A Sicilian:

 

[nenner1]

We loved the progression of a carousel horse artwork. This is Sarah’s favorite. For obvious reasons she called it the “painting” one:

 

 

After lunch we headed down to the amber Theater for the showing of Kung Fu Panda 2 in 3D. wE had purposely not seen this movie in the theater knowing it would probably be shown on the boat during our cruise.

 

The theater was very sparsely populated. Everyone pretty much had their own row.

 

Before the movie:

 

 

After the movie:

 

 

 

I thought the movie itself was not too bad. It was a sequel, and I've seen worse sequels. I didn‘t fall asleep and that is more than I can say for other movies I’d seen onboard cruise ships. As far as the theater, we found it quite comfortable. The sound was very good without being too loud and the 3-D glasses/effects worked very well. The kids really enjoyed it.

 

Sarah, maybe a little too much…

 

So after an hour and a half in a dark, cool, soothing atmosphere it was time for a pick me-up! Helloooo Starbucks at Sea!

 

[nenner1]

I was a little bummed that they had transitioned into their fall menu items, which is good in that Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back, bad int hat I was craving a Coconut mocha Frappucino and it was no longer on the menu. The good news is they were able to make it for me anyway! Yay!

 

 

Looking up into Central Park:

 

 

On Air:

 

There was one thing on here that perplexed me. The ” …I’m so afraid to love you but more afraid to loose…Clinging to a past that…” (lyrics from Sarah MacLaughlan’s song ‘I Will Remember You’). Does anyone know the significance of why it is on the electronic banner like that? It did not change for the entire cruise.

 

I guess it was time for afternoon snacks!

 

 

Love this little guy on the Promenade:

 

 

Now that it was afternoon- pool and flowrider time!

 

Heading up to change: here comes trouble!

 

[nenner1]

We headed up to the H20 zone. We were delighted that now that Sarah was potty-trained she could finally use the entire play area and not be stuck in that tiny confined baby splash area! Whoopee!

 

 

 

Take one guess where she wanted to go…

 

 

Of course they don’t let the diapered ones out or the non diapered ones in, so I kind of had to stalk around behind her and make sure she didn’t try to get in there. I found deck patrol to be very good on Allure. They actually do watch the kids, and they were very quick to address problems like the diapered children in the areas other than the Baby Zone. One lady tried to play the “No English” card but the Deck Patrol guy stood firm and pointed at her diapered child and pointed out of the pool until she finally picked the little boy up. She was quite idnigant, though she was the only passenger I really saw throw a fit about the diaper rule.

 

The kids just love the lazy river- or since it is neither really lazy nor a river I like to call it the “donut pool”.

 

 

 

Yes more. We lost count already!

 

[nenner1]

 

 

Pools were super busy this afternoon. I think most people had the same idea to not get off the ship in Nassau, and it appears that those that did returned well before lunchtime. Even though the other pools were super busy, the H20 zone was never really bad, and chairs were always easy to find here. In fact as a whole we did not experience any problems with pool side chair hogging or lounge/chair availability the entire cruise!

 

Farewell Nassau!

 

 

 

 

 

It was virtually impossible to get a good picture of Sarah, she moved too fast!

 

Up next: Ice Games and Samba Grill

[vrock]

Love your review and pictures:) I was wondering if you tried the cupcakes? If so what did you think and your opinion on where to get the best breakfast on board.

[Stags14]

Love your review and pictures:) I was wondering if you tried the cupcakes? If so what did you think and your opinion on where to get the best breakfast on board.

 

I know everyone dispises it but my vote is the windjammer. Most variety - even if you bring it back to your room.

 

Thanks for this thread, I am re-living our vacation through your pictures. What a great week this was!

[vrock]

I know everyone dispises it but my vote is the windjammer. Most variety - even if you bring it back to your room.

 

Thanks for this thread, I am re-living our vacation through your pictures. What a great week this was!

Thank you for the reply I was thinking we might try the WJ and maybe take it back to the room if we found it too crowded.:)