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B2B Allure Of The Seas Pictorial Review - 31st March 2013 & 7th April 2013


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Our server this evening was a lady from Bulgaria. I didn't make a note of her name. She was very pleasant and efficient but I found she was very pushy about the wine. We had ordered just a glass of wine each but she kept trying to get us to have a bottle. I can only think that this was because it made her gratuity higher. Eventually she got the message and we had the 2 glasses that we wanted.

 

This is a shot of the interior at Giovanni's. On the left you will see the dessert trolley.

 

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On arrival we were brought a loaf of bread with a plate of olive oil and Balsamic vinegar. This was the start of a real habit. Sally and Chloe ordered olive oil and balsamic vinegar prior to every single meal we had until the end of the cruise!!!

 

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I struggled to decide what I would like for an appetizer as I am not the biggest fan of Italian food so Sally and I decided to just go with the recommendation of our server. Chloe ordered a noodle soup which she liked. Our server brought Sally and I a plate of antipasti to share. This had cold meats, salad, anchovis, cheese, mozzarella balls etc.

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It was OK. I wouldn't say it was particularly memorable but then that may just be down to my tastes. I didn't get a picture of Chloe's.

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For the main course our server's suggestion was the veal but none of us are too keen on veal. Far to exotic for me ;)

I went for the Beef tenderloin with garlic fries.

 

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The beef was pretty good although nothing really special. I remember thinking that the garlic fries did not actually have any taste of garlic to them but looking at this picture now I am wondering what is in the little cup??

 

Sally ordered the Gnocchi shown below. She said she enjoyed it but she would not order it again.

 

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Chloe decided to order the Lasagne off of the kids menu and some Caesar Salad (no parmesan of course).

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I have to say that the lasagne looked really good. Chloe said she really liked it but cannot of ate more than about 4 mouthfuls. Mind you, we did go through 2 loaves of bread at the start so that would probably explain it!

 

We were also brought a plate of spaghetti to share. It was lovely but I have to say that we didn't really eat much of it on top of everything else.

 

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I had the chocolate cake from the dessert trolley which was reasonable and pictured below. Sally had Tiramasu at the server's suggestion even though she is not normally that keen on it. She loved it!! She said it was more creamy than she has had before. It was so good I didn't have a chance to get my camera out before it was gone!

 

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All in all I thought Giovanni's Table was just OK. There was nothing bad about the meal but there wasn't really any wow factor. It was probably my least favourite of the restaurants that we went to. Having said that, if Italian food is your thing then you may well enjoy it.

 

We headed off to the Boardwalk. Sally and Chloe met a friend on the way.

 

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All the character photo opportunties like this one are listed in the cruise compass.

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At 21:00 we had reservations for Oceanaria. We took our seats at about 20:40. Staff close off a row in the middle of the ampitheatre for suite guests. They stand there holding a sign which says gold sea pass cards only. I sat watching everyone attempt to get to this row and when they were told gold cards only it was funny to watch how many would pull their sea pass card out to show that they were a gold member. Simple things please simple minds and it kept me amused for the wait. 10 minutes before the show started the staff members disappear and any available seating in this row is open to anyone. If you get your timing right you can turn up 10 mins before and get the best seats in the house! Not an easy feat to acheive though.

 

At the start of the show there was a cast member doing some audience interaction. These were things such as getting different areas of the crowd to clap in time etc. This was all very well but I felt it went on a bit too long. Whilst this was going on I was watching the water in the pool of the Aquatheatre slop from one side to the other. The sea must have been fairly choppy tonight and I was beginning to think this was a stalling tactic so they could decide whether to cancel the show or not.

 

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I think the Aquatheatre is an absolutely awesome venue. Once Oceanaria got started I thought it was excellent. There was lots of action from divers, acrobats, trapeze artists, music and fountain shows and a superb feat of strength from 2 male performers. There were even two divers who dived from the very top boards that are out of view on the above picture. I don't remember these being used when I was on the Oasis 2 years ago. Sally said she thinks they were used then too though.

 

I think this show is a must see. The first few rows are designates as a splash zone so i would probably avoid these on a formal night. I have also read a few times that this show should be booked for the first night as it is often cancelled in poor weather and this gives you a chance to catch one of the later shows. This sounds like sound advice but, to my knowledge, it hasn't been cancelled on any of my three sailings.

I do not take pictures or videos of any of the shows. My 2 reasons for this are... 1) They ask you not to and 2) I didn't want to see any of the shows before I was watching them live as I think it would have ruined them a little.

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After the show we went for a drink in Dazzles. We went upstairs and had a couple of beers and a coke brought up to us. I really liked this Chandelier. There was one hanging above each stairway within Dazzles.

 

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This evening the orchestra was playing. The Orchestra consisted of 2 trombones, 2 trumpets, a drummer, a pianist and a Double bass. They were clearly very talented but just not really my thing. After a drink we went back to the stateroom. Chloe went to bed and we spent some time sitting in the peace of our balcony.

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Before we went to bed we ordered room service for breakfast. I think it's a really good system as you simply book the half an hour slot in which you want it delivered. You can then just add all the indivisual items that you want delivered. This way you can get exactly what you want, for example, 3 sausages, 3 bacon, scrambled eggs, fruit playe, hash browns. You just keep adding all the things you want. For some reason they charge for orange juice but not apple juice :confused: They then call you just prior to it being delivered. Breakfast was the only meal we ever ordered from room service.

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At 08:45 we got a phone call to say that our breakfast was on it's way. We stood out on the balcony and watched the sail into St. Thomas. It was a beautiful looking day!

 

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Breakfast was soon delivered and we sat on the balcony to eat it. I couldn't think of a better place to be.

 

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I'm not really sure I ordered enough for 3 but it done us fine. Maybe I shouldn't order a breakfast for us after a few drinks next time :rolleyes:

 

By the time we had finished breakfast and applied some factor 50 sun cream we were pretty much ready to go.

 

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We soon headed down and disembarked the ship for our excursion. There was very little queue to speak of and the familiar bleeping of sea pass cards being scanned saw us off the ship quickly.

 

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I was very well behaved when I got off the ship this morning. I remembered from two years ago that the area by the ship, before you go out the gates, is a non smoking area as I got told off when I was here last.

 

Soon we found ourselves at stand 6 for our excursion. All the stands are literally just the other side of the gate along the fence.

 

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Whilst we were stood waiting I was directed to the smoking area which turned out to be about 20 steps away just across the road. We only had to wait for about 30 mins. During this time we had to sign the inevitable waivers. We were then lead to an airconditioned mini bus along with 8 others.

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The port the Allure uses is just outside of town. We passed through town and the other port area on the way to our excursion.

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I should note that today I was using my camera that is about 9 years old!! It also had a casing on it for underwater and hence the reason I had some issues with it steaming up etc. I didn't think i would have any way of keeping my newer one dry.

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On arrival at the location we were shown straight to our mini boat. There were also guests from other cruise ships. The mini boat had two seats at the back and enough room for two (just) in the driver's seat. The maximum combined weight is 600lb.

There is storage space for a bag under the seat but we were warned that placing a bag in here means it is not guranteed to be dry. We were each given a life jacket which was mandatory.

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We were all given instructions on how to control the boats and told to attach the chord to ourself which makes the engine stall if we were to fall out.

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Sally and Chloe initially sat in the back seat but we were soon advised that it was better to move more weight to the front if possible as once you get going the front of the boat lifts up high and it is hard to see if there is too much eight at the back.

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For that reason Chloe sat up front with me. She sat in front of me as I thought she may get squashed if she was sitting behind me. This of course meant that she would be the main driver which was a bit concerning :rolleyes:

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Soon we were taking a slow ride in convoy to get to the sea. It was a lovely pleasant ride through the mangroves as it was a no wake zone.

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We developed quite a good way of driving the boat. Chloe was in charge of the steering wheel and I was reaching around her to the right and controlling the throttle.

 

Soon we rounded the trees and there was open water in front of us with the coast to our left. We were warned that the sea may be quite rough on the way out and it was. It was difficult to keep the boat at full throttle as the boat was clattering down on the water after going over a wave. It felt like there only needed to be a gust of wind get under the front of the boat and it would flip us over.

 

Unfortunately some spray landed on the outside of my camera casing which ruined these pictures but hopefully you will get the idea.

 

Below is the boat we were initially following.

 

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This is the view of all the boats behind us.

 

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The staff of the Captain Nautica obviously had a lead boat and one at the rear to keep an eye on us all. We were told at the start to keep a fair distance between the boats and to try and stay in single file. They said that overtaking was no problem if you wanted to though.

 

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Below is the point I was getting a bit cocky as we were overtaking this boat. Chloe was pretty constantly shouting, "slow down", in my ear but boys will be boys. You can see from this picture just how high the front of the boat could get. I was almost standing at times to see over the front. Now these boats weren't really fast but they were certainly fast enough for it to be really good fun.

 

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Our sights were now firmly set on the next boat in front of us!

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I will be going on the Allure on July 7, 2013 with my son and Future Daughter-in-Law. They are getting married on July 5, 2013. When we booked the cruise, we mentioned they will be newlywed, honeymooners. I know the reservation lists "Honeymoon Celebration". Do you know if this means they will automatically be invited to this celebration or do we have to do something upon arrival on ship?

 

Thanks for the excellent review. I have been reading many reviews but yours is wonderful. Congratulations on your marriage and hope all of you have a great life and many more cruises in store!!!

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This is Fantastic!!

 

This makes me more excited for my transatlantic on Oasis next year!

 

Hope your having a Fab time!

 

Robert

 

Hi there, I was actually starting to wonder if anyone was reading and was considering whether to carry on or not :confused: haha

 

I will be going on the Allure on July 7, 2013 with my son and Future Daughter-in-Law. They are getting married on July 5, 2013. When we booked the cruise, we mentioned they will be newlywed, honeymooners. I know the reservation lists "Honeymoon Celebration". Do you know if this means they will automatically be invited to this celebration or do we have to do something upon arrival on ship?

 

Thanks for the excellent review. I have been reading many reviews but yours is wonderful. Congratulations on your marriage and hope all of you have a great life and many more cruises in store!!!

 

As far as I under as long as it is marked in your reservation as a honeymoon celebration then you will get an invite. They will just have to keep an eye on their emails on the TV each day as that is where it will appear. Thank you and I hope you all have a fantastic time.

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That sure looks fun. Was it easy to maneuver?

 

It really was good fun and it couldn't have been any easier. As i say, Chloe is 11 and steered the boat for the whole excursion while I controlled the speed.

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We were all asked to circle just off shore for a few minutes on our arrival at our snorkelling spot. This was so that the staff could tie each boat together one by one. After about 10 minutes or so we were all set. We were each given snorkelling vests and told that they were mandatory. We were pointed in the direction of some coral reef and told we had an hour for snorkelling. All the equipment was provided if you needed it. I was straight in as I was already feeling a bit sunburnt... just for a change! Our boat was on the end once tied up so this was taken back towards it.... Chloe was feeling a bit nervous as she isn't keen on being out of her depth.

 

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Soon I was joined by Sally and Chloe ready for a bit of snorkelling.

 

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Unfortunately Chloe couldnt get over her fear and was happier to sit on the boat with a drink of water provided by the crew.

 

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Sally and I went snorkelling for about 40 minutes. The water was fairly warm. To be honest the snorkelling spot wasn't that great with very little coral but the sun was out and the surroundings were beautiful. It was a good chance for us to test out our new masks that we bought just before we left home. We were warned about not touching these urchins

 

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This is a pretty good example of how sparse the coral is here.

 

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This little fella was following us around a fair bit.

 

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As we were heading back to our boat this Southern Stingray was passing by. Fully refreshed we were back on our boat. After a drink of water..... and a smoke of course we were ready for the journey back.

 

On the way back the water was, as promised, much flatter. We took our seats and when told to go we were full throttle for the whole trip back. It really was fun. What made it even better was that we seemed to have the fastest boat. We managed to get ahead of the pack and stay there all the way back. This was cool and Chloe was happy that she could call herself the fastest driver.

 

On arrival back, and once off of the boats, we were all offered drinks. They had a range of soft drinks and rum punch. I went for the rum punch which was lovely. We tipped our tour guides and headed on to the mini bus back to ship. We did a drop off at the other port on the way.

 

Once in downtown I called forward to the driver asking him to drop us off there. I had seen there was a 'Little Switzerland' downtown and wanted to have another look to try and find a birthday present for Sally... yes it was late now. I managed to buy her one here. As a guide for anyone looking..... the watch I bought her was a Tag. The cost here was $3400. This was $500 cheaper than the Allure's 'Tag sale', $700 less than US retail and about £800 ($1200) less that the UK price. Not too bad..... but if the exchange was better then these really would be a bargain!

 

This is the one she chose

 

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