Indescribable! (But I'll try): My Allure Photo Review

[Mande30]

Ahhh, there are those pink sandwiches again. I wanted to try one so bad but I just could not get past the pink. My hubby would not even consider it. We hate the pink...........in other words everything, and I mean everything has to be nearly well done, not burned, but NO PINK, red, green, yellow, purple, magenta, just BROWN.......Sushi...out of the question.

[Host Faith]

I mentioned earlier that Wes had some plans for lunch....well, living in South Jersey, he's an Eagles fan. Any team from Philly gets full support in our household. So as much as he was excited to sail the Allure...there was a football game on at 1:00. .If he missed it, he would have been a little disappointed but not enough the ruin the day. BUT, he looked in the Compass and noticed that they were going to air the game onboard. He checked out the On Air club and sure enough, they were going to show the game on the big screens. Perfect venue to watch a football game! He was amped, lol!

 

 

 

So we grabbed a table, and there were already several couples in there with buckets of beer. I mean really, it's a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon, even at home!

 

I held Wes' table while he went here (he had been looking forward to this for WEEKS):rolleyes::

 

He returned with his pizza (I didn't want any) and got a Coke. Such a happy camper. See the happy gleam in his eyes? LOL!

 

 

Even better, the large projector screen came down to show the game as well.

 

 

 

 



 

And with that, it was time for me to go...it's was about 1:00 and I wanted to see the room!

[seeshore]

Lovin' your report and also the tale about Wes and the Eagles game. lol We're also from SJ and can totally relate to your comments.

[BillOh]

 

 

Yeah Wes is a consistent guy. He's a filet man all the way. I can tell what he's going to order at any restaurant before we even get there! :)

 

Gina would have said that about me for 25 years of marriage, but cruising has changed that somewhat. I'll try something and if I don't like it, I can find something else.

[Host Faith]

Lovin' your report and also the tale about Wes and the Eagles game. lol We're also from SJ and can totally relate to your comments.

 

Hey neighbor! Glad you can relate! He was asking about the game from the time we left Philly till we boarded. Really cool: when we were flying home the following Sunday, we could see the Cherry Hill Mall, the Ben Franklin Bridge, etc. When we passed the stadium, the fireworks went off for the Sunday game. That was really neat to see. Wes was wearing his Eagles Jersey on the flight, so it was like a big, "Welcome Home!" during the landing. :)

[Host Faith]

I was very happy with our room. Because of our cruise date change, I originally had to take a guarantee balcony stateroom. On our original sailing, I had a D5 (front of the hump) balcony stateroom on Deck 11. We like to have the room on a slant, at the front of the hump, because we can see forward without craning our necks at all...and we don't really care that much about the view aft. We were assigned a pretty good D5 balcony on Deck 6 for this cruise. But I had hope that perhaps a D5 hump balcony would open up.

 

So I just kept doing dummy bookings as we got closer to the cruise, and lo and behold, I discovered that cabin 7590 suddenly became available! I called my TA and she was able to do the room switch with no problems. I was so happy to be able to still have a hump balcony. The cabin was in the perfect location as well.

 

See the deck plan below:

 

 

In any event, here was our cabin:

 

 

 

 



 

 



 

Our bed was by the closet, and you know what? I actually liked it that way. First of all, it wasn't that tight of a squeeze between the bed and the closet. Second, unpacking was a breeze since I could sit on the bed and put everything into the closet. Third (since I slept closest to the door), I didn't have to stumble and grope in the dark when I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. It was literally two steps and I was there. It was nice to have the sitting area closer to the balcony, since we like to admire the view often and could sit on the couch or on the balcony to do that. A really nice setup, IMO.

[Host Faith]

Some more shots of the room. We really appreciated the iPod docking station since we could charge our iPhones without taking up the actual outlets. There was plenty of storage space in various cabinets and corners of the room and bathroom. And ladies, you'll appreciate that there's a bar in the shower for you to put your foot when shaving. ;)

 

 



 

 



 

 



 

[Host Faith]

 

 

 



 

 



 

 



 

 

[Host Faith]

I was curious about the Solarium Bistro, so I made my way upstairs. Didn't have to wait long for an elevator.

 

The Solarium itself is a lovely space:

 

 

 



 



 

 

 

[Host Faith]

The Solarium Bistro was just okay IMO. Maybe because it was the first day.....

 

I tried the gazpacho since I had been looking forward to that. It was pretty good. There were a bunch of toppings you could add, like green peppers, onions, and black olives.

 

 

Then I tried some fish...I only took 2 bites or so because I don't think it was cooked all the way through...and it didn't have that much flavor. The veggies were good though. And that's when the tummy rumblings began...I think it was because of the fish, but I didn't go back that week to find out!

 

[Host Faith]

 

 

 



 



 

 

[Host Faith]

Went back down to the Royal Promenade to find Wes here:

 

 

He wanted to explore a bit too, so he finished his pizza and we took a stroll down the Promenade, and up one deck to the Boardwalk (Deck 6). I LOVED the Boardwalk:

 

 

 

 



 

 



 

 

 



 



 

 

 

[Host Faith]

 

 



 

 

 

[Host Faith]

Went back to the room for a bit since Wes hadn't seen it yet, and he quickly found his favorite spot:

 

 

I found him right in that spot dozens of times while on our cruise :)

 

We could see the Hyatt from our balcony. It's the tallest building in this photo:

 

[Host Faith]

Our muster drill happened somewhere in there. I think it was just before sailaway, and we had ours in the Comedy Club.

 

After muster, we took the elevators all the way up to deck 14. We wanted to have sailaway from the Sun Deck, which has two wings over the bridge. You got a view of the helipad below, at the front of the ship. If you take the forward elevators to Deck 14, you'll see signs leading you to the Sun Deck:

 

 

Head toward the forward area of the ship, and you'll exit doors and find this view. We were very excited since we were some of the first to arrive:

 

 

 

 

 



 



 

After a while, we started to move....

 

 

 

[BecciBoo]

Thanks girl: you just instinctively know what to take a pic of! Thanks so much for being so intuative!

Loving the trip so far.....sailaway here she comes...:D

[CamaCama]

Loved your liberty review (we'll be on her in Feb so thanks for all the details!) and loving this review so far!!

[Host Faith]

The area filled up quickly. We loved looking up into the Solarium as the people there wondered how n the world we got to the Sun Deck!

 

 

I *think* we found the house whose owner had a Flowrider built in his yard. We saw a bright blue surface to the right of the house in the middle of the photo, and we thought that might be it. Can anyone confirm?

 

 

 

[Host Faith]

It was WINDY up there! But it was exhilarating. A bunch of people came to wave and say bon voyage :)

 



 

 



 

 

 



 

[TraceyB]

You definatley found the right house.

Loving your review.

Thanks so much.

[Host Faith]

Thanks girl: you just instinctively know what to take a pic of! Thanks so much for being so intuative!

 

Loving the trip so far.....sailaway here she comes...:D

 

Loved your liberty review (we'll be on her in Feb so thanks for all the details!) and loving this review so far!!

 

Thank you both! :D

[IGottaP]

i am regular carnival cruiser but i have been seriously considering coming over and trying RC for a while. I have been loving your review... silly question for you.... on Carnival you do not pay for food and such besides like certain specialty shops on the allure did u have to pay for anything ie johnny rockets or starbucks? please excuse my ignorance in this issue.

 

also i am from New Jersey as well but the East Brunswick area.......

Edited October 18, 2012 by IGottaP

[Host Faith]

You definatley found the right house.

Loving your review.

Thanks so much.

 

Yay! We found it! Must be NICE to be him, lol :cool:

 

i am regular carnival cruiser but i have been seriously considering coming over and trying RC for a while. I have been loving your review... silly question for you.... on Carnival you do not pay for food and such besides like certain specialty shops on the allure did u have to pay for anything ie johnny rockets or starbucks? please excuse my ignorance in this issue.

 

Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the review!

 

Just like on Carnival, your meals in the Main Dining Room and Buffets are included in your cruise fare (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), as well as water, iced tea, and lemonade. If it's a larger ship (like the Adventure or Freedom of the Seas or larger), you'll find a cafe-type place that's also included. Sorrento's pizza also falls under that category. No need to pay for those when you're onboard.

 

When we sailed the Carnival Glory, we paid extra to go to the Emerald Steakouse, and it was definitely worth the upcharge. Same thing on Royal. Generally, Royal has the several (extra fee) specialty restaurants. They have the same names no matter the ship. Not every ship has all of them. You'll see them depending upon the ship you board.

 

Here's a link to the listing of the included dining venues, as well as the specialty venues. I hope this helps, and (hopefully) welcome to Royal! :)

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/experiencetypes/category.do?pagename=onboard_cat_dining_options

 

BTW...love your screen name! LOL! And DH and I went to Rutgers New Brunswick :)

Edited October 18, 2012 by Host Faith

[ryano]

Very nice job so far! I always look forward to reading your reviews :) Keep up the great work and bring on the pics! WE LOVE PICS! :D

[swwake]

I *think* we found the house whose owner had a Flowrider built in his yard. We saw a bright blue surface to the right of the house in the middle of the photo, and we thought that might be it. Can anyone confirm?

 

 

That's it! It's also in my review. When I saw the way your ship was positioned in dock at sail-away I remembered the reason she was "backwardss" (compared to normal) is that they had to replace the pumps on the port side flowrider that day. There was a crane doing the dirty work.

 

Unfortunately, we weren't there to wave at you. We were somewhere over the gulf at about 30,000 feet by that time :(