Nov 4, Allure of the Seas, Western Caribbean - A Review and Complete Pictorial Guide!

[gambee]

LOVING this so far. My fiance came across your review today and told me to take a look. I love the pictures & the thorough details. It's making us very excited for our honeymoon cruise on Allure December 30!! :D

Excited to read more!

 

Thanks for joining and also for bringing your fiance aboard. Congrats on your wedding :). when is it going to be?

 

lol, I am not sure that many people agree with you on the take as long as you like part. But I won't rush through it, I want to deliver good material all the way till the end. Thanks for your nice comment :D

 

 

Dont rush!.....take as long as you wish and dont stress over us all chompin at the bit to want more and more :)

 

...we want you to keep your job, your relations, your family, pets, and bank account......

 

....we will be patient.

 

lol, thank you. No worries nothing is going undone. Life still goes on. :D

[gambee]

It is actually on my extensive 'Where to Eat Each Meal' graph twice; once for embarkation lunch and the next evening for dinner. Looking forward to it even MORE!!! :D

 

I am not sure I am familiar with that graph, do you have a link?

 

You should have went to the solarium hot tub, its empty in there at night and shielded from the wind. They have both canitlivered tubs closed at the same time? That irritates me, my biggest complaint with Royal Caribbean is when they service their hot tubs. My wife and I are use to a soak before bed. It wouldn't kill them to wait until midnight to do some of the work. Sometimes at night we have to check 4 or 5 hot tubs to find one open. Its a ritual any more.

 

yeah we figured out the solarium tub was open later on during the cruise. And I do believe both cantilevered tubs were closed.

 

By the way thanks for correcting me, I knew it was not concave, but I was not sure what to call them. Now I know, :D

[gambee]

Video Success

 

After much reading I figured out that during the entire trip I had the camera set for this weird very annoying format. So now editing videos takes extra extra long. But I managed to get this one up just now.

 

 

The video is about the interactive tv system and all the cool stuff you can do with it. Its not the best video, but its viewable. Don't forget to set it to either 720p or 1080p, it looks much better than the standar definition.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FrbEx5uAwE&feature=plcp

 

 

I will put up some of day two tonight. Have a good day at work :)

[dmwnc1959]

I am not sure I am familiar with that graph, do you have a link?

 

The 'graph' I made up is similar to what you also did in Post 15 for your cruise, just a grid showing each day of the week and what events/restaurants were on your agenda. :D It's amazing how much in depth pre-planning goes into a cruise on Allure (and Oasis), it's unlike anything I've ever done for any other cruise!

[couple_cruisers]

Thanks for the fabulous review so far. It is really amazing. Its getting me even more excited for our honeymoon in May. :D Looking forward to seeing the rest of it. It looks like quite a bit of work. Thanks for doing it.

[dmwnc1959]

The video is about the interactive tv system and all the cool stuff you can do with it. Its not the best video, but its viewable

 

That video could have been an hour long and I still would have been mesmerized by it! All the amazing alternatives on Allure, just overwhelming.

[BillOh]

 

By the way thanks for correcting me, I knew it was not concave, but I was not sure what to call them. Now I know, :D

 

Ahh, you got my subtlety. ;) We generally go to one about 30 minutes before we want to go to bed. That can be 11pm-2am. I have watched what they do with the tubs, and as moderator of whatsthebest-hottub.com I do know something about what they are doing. It doesn't take more than an hour to service their tubs, but they seem to like to chase guests out at evening times. We have gotten passed up tub 1 because its closed, gone to 2, been kicked out of 2 while they service it and on occasion been forced to move to #3 or occasionally have to find only one open, or warm. The Freedom class remains my favorite with I believe 3 or 4 in the Solarium area. We prefer that as sometimes the only open/warm one on the pool deck has 36 kids in it.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

Gambee, you're doing an excellent job! We're sailing Oasis in June, but thought I'd read your review because the ships are so similar. I got hooked immediately!

 

Great job! I especially like how you use a different font for the "review" posts... makes them very easy to find and read.

[reeree313]

This is by far the best review I've read on CC. I've not been on a RCI ship yet, but you can bet I'll be packing my bags for one after this review.

 

THANK YOU so much for all of the time and effort you have put into this.

[gambee]

The 'graph' I made up is similar to what you also did in Post 15 for your cruise, just a grid showing each day of the week and what events/restaurants were on your agenda. :D It's amazing how much in depth pre-planning goes into a cruise on Allure (and Oasis), it's unlike anything I've ever done for any other cruise!

 

I can't really comment on the planning part as I did almost non for my sky cruise. But yeah this one was a lot of work.

 

Thanks for the fabulous review so far. It is really amazing. Its getting me even more excited for our honeymoon in May. :D Looking forward to seeing the rest of it. It looks like quite a bit of work. Thanks for doing it.

 

You're welcome. Thanks for the support.

[gambee]

That video could have been an hour long and I still would have been mesmerized by it! All the amazing alternatives on Allure, just overwhelming.

 

I have a few more videos of the tv system. I'll post them later once I figure a few things.

 

Ahh, you got my subtlety. ;) We generally go to one about 30 minutes before we want to go to bed. That can be 11pm-2am. I have watched what they do with the tubs, and as moderator of whatsthebest-hottub.com I do know something about what they are doing. It doesn't take more than an hour to service their tubs, but they seem to like to chase guests out at evening times. We have gotten passed up tub 1 because its closed, gone to 2, been kicked out of 2 while they service it and on occasion been forced to move to #3 or occasionally have to find only one open, or warm. The Freedom class remains my favorite with I believe 3 or 4 in the Solarium area. We prefer that as sometimes the only open/warm one on the pool deck has 36 kids in it.

 

Our experience the tubs was great. Never saw any kids at night. But our favorite by far was the one in the solarium.

[gambee]

Gambee, you're doing an excellent job! We're sailing Oasis in June, but thought I'd read your review because the ships are so similar. I got hooked immediately!

 

Great job! I especially like how you use a different font for the "review" posts... makes them very easy to find and read.

 

You will love your cruise. Thanks for joining. The font idea I took from other reviews.

 

This is by far the best review I've read on CC. I've not been on a RCI ship yet, but you can bet I'll be packing my bags for one after this review.

 

THANK YOU so much for all of the time and effort you have put into this.

 

I don't about best, I've read some excellent reviews here. But thanks for you comment. One thing is for sure. It's lots of work.

[gambee]

Good news, I just finished breakfast, morning at the solarium, dreamworks parade and lunch at vintages. I have no Internet on my laptop at work but as soon as I get home tonight I will unleash them.

[sailingawaysoon]

For dessert mom and I were completely stuffed, I decided to order dessert for the purpose of the review. We both asked him for the fruit cup, but he said "No, you're having both the fruit cup and the cherry cup each" I forgot their exact names, he was so funny, made us laugh once again and we could not decline the way he insisted was very charming. So we each got two mini cups, I am so glad he insisted on us trying the cherry dessert, because IT WAS TO DIE FOR, the fruit one was good, but it had no comparison to the cherry one.

 

 

My bf had the tiramisu, our server made a huge effort to sell the tiramisu. The way he described just made you melt away, very nicely done Bashir. The bf LOVED the tiramisu, he said it was excellent and cleaned the plate. I tried a little spoonful and thought it was good, I really don't care for tiramisu, personally I think they have to much cream.

 

 

Lastly and most importantly of it all I want to compliment our sever Bashir, I am so sorry, I could not find your name when I was filling the comment cards at the end of the cruise. I just found it now, it was buried in my notes. I want to ask RCCL if you could please add this as it was my comment card, he was fantastic. Every little detail you did made our night a very memorable one. He was funny, professional, fast and very enthusiastic. You did a phenomenal job, thank you Bashir.

 

Then we asked for the check, since we had both packages paid our check came to $0.00 and if I remember correctly I left the extra tip in cash, but I am not sure. I might of put it in the credit card. No coffee for us, I was enjoying the very pleasurable effects of our bottle of wine :D

 

About tipping extra… there are a vast amount of threads here in this forum, I my self started a poll to get an idea of how much people tip extra at specialty restaurants. I always tip more in specialty restaurants, I am not saying that is how you should do it, just making a comment on what I do.

 

so thankful you risked the flash for all of us. Your pictures are wonderful and make me hungry. The lamb looks awesome, but too bad it wasn't to your liking. I think this is my favorite specialty restaurant on the ship. Can't wait to read more.

[BugsyCruiser]

Love this review! I remember you stopping by my "LIVE" review of Oasis so I figured I would return the favor :)

 

Great job so far!

[Newwbeee]

Here is what my spreadsheet looked at the beginning of the cruise. Attached to this post is my calendar, feel free to grab and edit it to your own schedule. Another fellow CC member shared this one with me. By the way the final calendar looked nothing like this on, lol.

 

 

You Rock my world!!! Love every little bit of this review!

Would you pretty please post what your final Calendar looked like?

Jen

[ZimmCouple]

I'm trying to figure out how you make such a detailed calendar BEFORE you set sail. Are all of those ship activities posted somewhere online, within your cruise documents, before setting sail?

[elou]

PLEASE, PLEASE post your cruise compass. Thanks.

[Beth C]

Good news, I just finished breakfast, morning at the solarium, dreamworks parade and lunch at vintages. I have no Internet on my laptop at work but as soon as I get home tonight I will unleash them.

 

Come on now... set up a wifi hotspot with that snazzy new iPhone5 and post away :P LOL

[tiffanieb]

I am loving the review so far great depth of details and pictures

[cruisinmamma]

LOVE, LOVE, LOVING YOUR REVIEW! Found it while home recovering from surgery. What a great way to pass the time:)

[NeuroQueen]

I am a cruise critic junkie and have read every review ever posted and yours has been captivating from the start!!!

 

The pictures are the best I have seen anywhere and you need to pursue this as a career. Those sunset photos were stunning. I think I am buying a new camera. Keep up the fantastic review, as your CC fans are in awe!!!

[RCcruisinfamily]

I am getting on Allure on Sunday! I can't wait. Do you remember if the menus were the same days as posted on the Freedom page? First day Mojo, second day Saffron? I am working on my own spreadsheet for family members and it would be nice to know if I am giving them good or bad info.

 

Thanks!!!!!

[attitudeda]

Ok so lets continue, after I got done with the reservations it was 12:51. I headed towards the park cafe to look for them, the place was a complete zoo. As I was trying to make my way into the cafe, when I saw my mom outside grabbing a table. We were lucky to get a table, a large amount of people were eating standing up.

 

So call it cliche, but I got the roast beef as did mom. We also got a fruit cup and the bf got a pork or turkey wrap. After eating chicken soup for the last 3 days I was ready to eat some real food.

 

The roast beef was very good, I enjoyed it very much. The bread was soft and the meat was tender, there bun had rock salt incrusted on the top. It also had some small black seed type things on it, I had them in the past but I could not figure out what they were. In any case I was not crazy about them, in my opinion they affected the overall taste of the sandwich negatively. Maybe someone else can say what they are?

 

 

Bf did not care much for the wrap, he said it was bland. I tried it and I thought it was loaded with flavor. The thing is that he likes his food with tons of hot sauce. I told him to bring his own, since the ship tends to carry one tabasco and he claims that is not real hot sauce. I am the total opposite, I never put hot sauce on anything, don't care for it.

 

It is funny that I mention that people were eating standing up and I just noticed that empty table to the right, go figure :p

 

I am sure everyone has seen this map by now.

 

We were on the October 28, 2012 sailing. My DW & I ate lunch in the Park Cafe 6 out of the 7 days. We both enjoyed the roast beef sandwich. One day I ate 3 of them. We also love the rolls they were served on.

[Kenlorz]

We were on the October 28, 2012 sailing. My DW & I ate lunch in the Park Cafe 6 out of the 7 days. We both enjoyed the roast beef sandwich. One day I ate 3 of them. We also love the rolls they were served on.

I'm drooling over trying one of these rolls. They are quite popular in my neck of the woods and are called kimmelweck rolls.... yummo.

 

Gambee, I'm drooling even more over the thought of more and more of this review. Fantastic and continually amazing!