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

[gambee]

 

 

 

 

 

Good bye Labadee, until next time :)

 

[gambee]

So after sail away my mom and my bf decided to go see Chicago, I decided to stay in the room and work on my pictures for the first time in the trip. I had yet to really see what I had. I also worked on some panoramics at the time. Do I regret not going to Chicago? Definitely, they both said it was fantastic, but in the end I made the decision not to go, so it's my fault.

 

While I was in the balcony I told Gilbert to feel free and fix our room when he wanted. I had no problem with him doing it while I was there, I did not want him to wait a long time for all of us to be out of the room. So later on he stepped in an did our room for us. He also offered me some fresh ice for my drink, such a nice guy.

 

After he was done I took advantage of an empty clean room and did my tour of the room.

 

Here is a short video of the room. Remember to change the video to HD, looks much better.

 

 

 

 

And the picture tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 17, 2012 by gambee

[gambee]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

 

 

After I took the pictures I sat there and finished my bottle of Nobilo, while I waited for them to come back from the show.

 

[GSuitesailing]

Gambee, as I said earlier we were on the same cruise and you are doing a wonderful job with your review. This is by far the best, most detailed review I have ever read. Your pictures are spectacular and it's great to see things we missed. It will give us something to look for when we go back. We are already looking forward to returning to Allure!

In Labadee we were on Barefoot Beach and I can tell you it is also rocky, but not as bad as the other side as you were saying. Because we have been there before, we always bring water shoes. There were a few people snorkeling at Barefoot and they mentioned they saw jellyfish. They were pretty far out by the rope barrier. I was happy to see the jellyfish were not close to shore where we stayed.

Looking at your photos in Labadee, though far, I can see my husband & I in our cabana. Very cool. Thank you for that perspective!

Wish we would have met, you seem like a great guy with a zest for life. It's also nice to read about the great relationship you have with your Mom. I'm sure you all made wonderful memories on this trip. Looking forward to the rest!

[Newwbeee]

Ok friends I am going to get some coffee and continue in a little while. Hope you enjoyed this short set.

 

Love it :) Thank you Gambee

Best Review Ever!

[gambee]

Gambee, as I said earlier we were on the same cruise and you are doing a wonderful job with your review. This is by far the best, most detailed review I have ever read. Your pictures are spectacular and it's great to see things we missed. It will give us something to look for when we go back. We are already looking forward to returning to Allure!

In Labadee we were on Barefoot Beach and I can tell you it is also rocky, but not as bad as the other side as you were saying. Because we have been there before, we always bring water shoes. There were a few people snorkeling at Barefoot and they mentioned they saw jellyfish. They were pretty far out by the rope barrier. I was happy to see the jellyfish were not close to shore where we stayed.

Looking at your photos in Labadee, though far, I can see my husband & I in our cabana. Very cool. Thank you for that perspective!

Wish we would have met, you seem like a great guy with a zest for life. It's also nice to read about the great relationship you have with your Mom. I'm sure you all made wonderful memories on this trip. Looking forward to the rest!

 

 

Thank you so much for adding to my review. And once again for commenting on it.

 

Unfortunately we really did not socialize much, I was too busy taking pictures of absolutely everything I saw. I even missed the meet and mingle. I definitely look forward to socializing more on my next cruise.

 

The memories we made on that cruise are some of the best I have ever made. Both mom and I agreed that the Allure was most likely the best vacation we had ever had. I think its because we did most of the planing together, but there were just a lot of things to do, we never stopped.

 

I am sure you had a great vacation as well. It is very hard to not enjoy that ship.

 

Thanks for following along :).

 

 

If you like a picture of your cabana, feel free to email me and tell me details of the cabana and I will get a crop of the picture and send it back to you. My email address is ccgambee at gmail dot com. I can probably get you a good crop with more details of which cabana it was.

 

Have a nice weekend. :)

[gambee]

Love it :) Thank you Gambee

Best Review Ever!

 

:) thank you. I think you're one of persons that seems to enjoy it the most. Thank you for all the nice comments you've made

[gambee]

Right after they got back from Chicago, we headed to the MDR to eat dinner, I was starving!!! We got to the MDR at around 10pm.

 

 

We sat to the right of the entrance in a nice corner table. This was our view

 

Here is the menu for that night.

 

I had the escargot for my appetizer, it was ok i guess, I had much better. I was thinking on having it the next day as well, but after I tasted them I knew I would be getting something else.

 

Bf had the stuffed mushrooms, nothing special, but tasty. Better than mine.

 

Mom had the minestrone, I think I deleted the picture by accident, sorry, I can't find it.

 

For dinner I had the grilled T-bone, it was good. I enjoyed it and ate it all

 

Bf had the chicken marsala, it was also good.

 

 

[northwoods2]

Gambee, as I said earlier we were on the same cruise and you are doing a wonderful job with your review. This is by far the best, most detailed review I have ever read. Your pictures are spectacular and it's great to see things we missed. It will give us something to look for when we go back. We are already looking forward to returning to Allure!

In Labadee we were on Barefoot Beach and I can tell you it is also rocky, but not as bad as the other side as you were saying. Because we have been there before, we always bring water shoes. There were a few people snorkeling at Barefoot and they mentioned they saw jellyfish. They were pretty far out by the rope barrier. I was happy to see the jellyfish were not close to shore where we stayed.

Looking at your photos in Labadee, though far, I can see my husband & I in our cabana. Very cool. Thank you for that perspective!

Wish we would have met, you seem like a great guy with a zest for life. It's also nice to read about the great relationship you have with your Mom. I'm sure you all made wonderful memories on this trip. Looking forward to the rest!

 

 

Sorry to interrupt here - but Gsuitesailing did you have an over the water cabana on Barefoot? If so can you tell me how you get down into the water? Does each cabana have steps or a ladder, or do you have to go back to the beach area? What cabana did you have?

[northwoods2]

Gambee, Thanks for the review and pictures. I have read a number of long picture reviews but I continue to pick up new hints and ideas for our trip in June. I am a little concerned on how hot it will be in June. We have never been to Florida or the Caribbean in the summer.

[gambee]

and mom had the garlic tiger shrimp, she loved them. The picture was taken right after our fabulous server took the shells of the shrimp.

 

 

For dessert we shared two desserts

 

The dessert sampler, I actually did not care for it much.

 

And the tiramisu, it was very tasty.

 

And our bottle of wine for the evening. If I remember correctly it was a very oaky wine, no one cared much for it. I ended up drinking the other half of it later that night. It was a Chardonnay.

 

 

 

One more subject that I like to add was the service was INCREDIBLE, our server was Ignacio. I wont go into details, as I don't think that it would add anything important to the review. But I will say that Ignacio is among one of the best employees that we had the pleasure to encounter during our cruise. He was simply fantastic. Unfortunately I did not grab his name and I did not leave a comment on the card at the end of the cruise. Just right now I was going through all my receipts and I was lucky not to throw away the one from that night, that is how I managed to get his name. I really hope RCCL is reading this, because Ignacio deserves recognition for his OUTSTANDING job that night.

 

 

[gambee]

Gambee, Thanks for the review and pictures. I have read a number of long picture reviews but I continue to pick up new hints and ideas for our trip in June. I am a little concerned on how hot it will be in June. We have never been to Florida or the Caribbean in the summer.

 

 

Well, our warmest month is August. June average is 90 for the high and 79 for our low. So yeah its a hot time of the year, but the good news is that you're out of the way of hurricane season.

 

Don't worry too much about it, the weather will be what I will like to be. No way in controlling it, just focus yourself in having the best time of your life :D

 

Thats what we did :)

[gambee]

 

After dinner the bf headed up to the room and mom and I went to see the Love and Marriage show in the amber theater. We only saw half of it. I have only seen one other show in the NCL Sky and I think the one the Sky was 100% better than this one. I will try to explain why.

 

Part of it was because Ken Rush takes an absurdly amount of time selecting the couples that will be in the contest. They do this game to select them and it just takes too long, I think ours was about 30 minutes. And the game it self did not have the energy that I had in the game in the Sky. None the less it was fun.

 

Here are a few pictures of the game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The seats had this really neat wine glass holder, it was very handy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok folks thats it for day 3, after the show we went to the state room and crashed a few seconds later. We were drained. I am going to start working on the pictures of day 4 Jamaica and try to get started tomorrow on it.

 

Thanks for following :)

 

 

[GSuitesailing]

Sorry to interrupt here - but Gsuitesailing did you have an over the water cabana on Barefoot? If so can you tell me how you get down into the water? Does each cabana have steps or a ladder, or do you have to go back to the beach area? What cabana did you have?

 

We were in B2, if you look at the photos from Gambee, it was on the right, beachfront, a few steps away from the over the water cabanas. There are 2 over water cabanas on the right. To get to them, they have a few stairs to climb and a boardwalk area connecting them, very accessible. The over water cabanas on Barefoot do not have direct access to the water, you enter from the beach area.

[beachbuddy]

Right after they got back from Chicago, we headed to the MDR to eat dinner, I was starving!!! We got to the MDR at around 10pm.

 

 

 

 

I had the escargot for my appetizer, it was ok i guess, I had much better. I was thinking on having it the next day as well, but after I tasted them I knew I would be getting something else.

 

 

Gambee, That escargot does not look like the normal escargo that we always get on RCL. That looks kind of like it's topped with cheese and usually it's a very good delicious garlic type sauce.

 

Patty

[BugsyCruiser]

Gambee after seeing the pictures of the food you have definitely reminded me to make sure to take more food pictures when I do my next LIVE review :)

[RoamingRetirees]

Gambee, That escargot does not look like the normal escargo that we always get on RCL. That looks kind of like it's topped with cheese and usually it's a very good delicious garlic type sauce.

 

Patty

 

This looks like what we got on the Jewel in September. It was kind of foamy butter and wasn't nearly as good as the clear garlic butter sauce we used to get. Maybe this is part of the new menus. If so, I hope they go back to the old way of preparation. No one at our table liked it much.

[beachbuddy]

This looks like what we got on the Jewel in September. It was kind of foamy butter and wasn't nearly as good as the clear garlic butter sauce we used to get. Maybe this is part of the new menus. If so, I hope they go back to the old way of preparation. No one at our table liked it much.

 

Hi Nancy, Oh no, the old way was sooooooo tasty!!! We all love dipping our bread in the garlic sauce. Maybe we can request it be prepared the old way......LOL Doesn't sound like we'll like the new way......LOL

 

Patty

[gambee]

This looks like what we got on the Jewel in September. It was kind of foamy butter and wasn't nearly as good as the clear garlic butter sauce we used to get. Maybe this is part of the new menus. If so, I hope they go back to the old way of preparation. No one at our table liked it much.

 

You are 100% correct. It was a foamy butter and the escargot seemed overly well done. They were not good at all. But that did not stop me from eating all of them :D

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Sorry to interrupt here - but Gsuitesailing did you have an over the water cabana on Barefoot? If so can you tell me how you get down into the water? Does each cabana have steps or a ladder, or do you have to go back to the beach area? What cabana did you have?

 

Hi Northwoods...

 

I can answer from my perspective as I've been to Labadee many times, last time being in March. where we had W4-an Over-the-Water Cabana on Barefoot Beach. If you're looking straight at the island, like in some of Gambee's photos from the ship, W4 is the last cabana to the right before Nellie's beach. This particular cabana just had a wooden walkway which goes in between yours and the neighboring cabana, W2, which leads into the sand near the water. There is no direct water access into the water from the actual cabana, but it's beautiful and you're only steps away.

 

If you want to take a look at my review, here's the link, I have lots of pics from that day:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1586308&page=2

[balcony4u]

I am so sorry if this has been asked, but do the life boats block the view of the ocean when you are on your balcony? I love to watch the water roll of the side of the ship...I would be a little sad not to be able to see it...I know, it is a little thing, but something I love!

[riclop]

Why no pictures of you and your mom and your bf????????????

[marciab]

Gambee,

 

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH for this very detailed and entertaining review! It is spectacular!! I always thought I was a very detailed vacation planner…. I’m a bit of a picky eater.. and will chose restaurants, after checking out their menus.. But when I read you planned your whole week of meals ahead of time! That took detailed planning to a WHOLE new level :):)

 

We are leaving 2 weeks from today for the 12/2 sailing of the Allure, even though this is our 14th cruise, I have been apprehensive of this cruise wondering if I will feel as comfortable on this large of a ship compared to what we usually do. We have been to all the Caribbean ports, and this time decided to make the ship the destination !

 

Having spent the better part of the day reading though all of the posts! (thank-you very much - I had sooo much to do today!) I am looking forward to this cruise so much more than I was before!

 

I am really looking forward to reading about the rest of the cruise!! I have to agree with all of the other posters.. Your pictures are fantastic! Especially all of the food and drinks!

 

One thing, like another poster had mentioned. When I started reading the posts I was logged in.. and your pictures just had a link.. I was clicking on most of them.. After about 7-8 pages.. Had to get some stuff done, and came back to the board a few hours later. CC had logged me out, and when I went to the next page - all of the pictures were there! Weird, but much easier to view that way.. So then after I finally got to the end.. I went BACK to see all the pix I might have missed!

[letscruiseasap]

Wow! Loving your review!! We will be on Allure for New Years, our very first cruise. We can't wait & your review is answering so many of our questions!! Thank you so very much for doing this awesome review! Can't wait for your next chapter!!

 

 

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