Allure All Access Tour (w/ photos)

[z44212]

Here is what I got to see on the All Access Tour on the Allure of the Seas.

 

Entering the galley area. Note the stainless steel ceiling and walls. All the light fixtures were closed. Tile flooring with drain scuppers everywhere.

 

Hundreds of salads being prepared for tonight's dinner.

 

Large, informative bulletin board in the galley area.

 

Practice breads.

 

They make 20,000 rolls per day. This machine prepared 6000 dough balls per hour.

 

They mix the dough from scratch.

[z44212]

Each level of the MDR has its own kitchen. Here, they are filling room service breakfast orders.

 

Today's recipes in the pastry kitchen.

 

Beer being moved from storage to the restaurants. They amount and ypes of beer depend on the passenger demographics. This week there were many Quinceanera celebrations on board, so more Corona and Dos Equis and less Bud.

 

The refrigerator is mostly full of beer at this point.

 

The freezer. Evidently, English Muffins and French Toast are not made from scratch.

[z44212]

The general food storage areas look a lot like the refrigerators and freezers. These rooms are huge. Perhaps 100 feet square.

 

By the end of the week, empty pallets and kegs tend to stack up.

 

The main trunk line on the ship is 11 kV.

 

The engine control room. Three of the six were running, putting out 46 MW. The main anzipods were drawing 26 MW, leaving 20 MW for the hotel load. Damn near half the power is used to keep the rooms cool.

 

The tour took us down to Deck -1. Deck -2 is just the storage tanks. The engines are on decks -1 thru 2.

[z44212]

On the I-95, headed to the crew cafeteria. No pictures of the crew eating and relaxing, for their privacy.

 

How do they not lose your socks in the laundry? I asked. They put each order in a mesh bag.

 

Sandwich day for the crew. They like this. It was also payday.

 

The crew night club.

[z44212]

Backstage. Nothing fancy.

 

Aft mooring deck. It's large open to accommodate the many mooring lines. This crew is also responsible for painting, which they do continuously.

 

These roller doors are open because the rollers were just painted.

[z44212]

The Britto Bar on the Allure, for crew use. This was painted by Romero Britto, himself.

[z44212]

Yea! On the bow.

[z44212]

On the bridge.

 

Captain Johnny's cycles that he uses on board. He has a large, yellow Harley for use at port.

 

Wing controls (yes, they were dead - I asked). At 3/4 forward, we were doing 18 knots in calm seas.

[z44212]

And that's what I saw on the All Access Tour on the Allure of the Seas.

[Maryscooking]

Nice! Thanks for sharing. Do you feel it was worth the cost?

[mpoole3]

Thank you for sharing the pictures. Looks like you had a Great tour.

[canadian-nurse]

It really is an amazing operation! We are on The Allure in Sept and thinking about going on this tour. Do you feel it justified the cost? How soon did you book it once on board? Did you get a little treat bag- and if so, what was in it?

 

Thanks so much for taking the time and sharing! :)

[swim13]

Wow I had the same tour guide, laundry services guide, and head chef present on our tour all the way back in the beginning of July! Funny to see them again in pictures after a whole month.

 

I notice you all seem to have badges, we never got them. Did you get any pictures of the badge itself?

[Blue Line]

What a great review!!! Were you able to book this prior to the cruise? And how do you book this??

 

Thanks again for the review!

[believer33323]

Very nice photos. I do not see any of the engine room or any other technical areas except the bridge. Were they off limits?? Did they go there at all on the tour??

[Clarea]

Very nice photos. I do not see any of the engine room or any other technical areas except the bridge. Were they off limits?? Did they go there at all on the tour??

The tour usually covers the engine control room, but not the actual engine room.

[believer33323]

The tour usually covers the engine control room, but not the actual engine room.

 

While interesting seeing the rest. I personally would like to see the engine room not just the control room. We toured the bridge on 2 different ships and I would guess that the engine control room is on the same scale. It's an expensive tour and very limited. For that money I would like to see everything but understand (I guess) why they don't want to.

[hollon]

How much did the tour cost and do you pay for the tour once onboard or can you pay for it online - and as someone ask, do you feel it was worth the money?

[Clarea]

How much did the tour cost and do you pay for the tour once onboard or can you pay for it online - and as someone ask, do you feel it was worth the money?

The tour is $150 per person, and can only be booked on board.

[z44212]

Do you feel it was worth the cost?

 

Do you feel it justified the cost?

 

...do you feel it was worth the money?

 

They charge $150pp so they can limit the number of participants without denying those that want to do this. If it were free, it would be booked out instantly (and there would be no-shows). I wanted to see how a cruise ship works below decks, and I give tours, myself, so I wanted to see how others do.

 

How soon did you book it once on board? Did you get a little treat bag- and if so, what was in it?

 

I booked it on the third day, I believe. At the end we received a bag with an apron in it.

 

I notice you all seem to have badges, we never got them. Did you get any pictures of the badge itself?

 

I don't have a picture of the badge. It wasn't anything special.

 

Were you able to book this prior to the cruise? And how do you book this?

 

Guest Services onboard. I waited a couple days, and went when there weren't any lines.

 

I do not see any of the engine room or any other technical areas except the bridge. Were they off limits?? Did they go there at all on the tour?

 

You do not go into the engine room. After all, there is equipment there that can remote start and engines can and do fail. My group had only one woman. We kinda overstayed our visit to the control room because we had so many questions.

 

We did visit the kitchens, logistics, laundry, waste management, control room, mooring deck, and bridge. We did not go to deck -2 at all, either. As it was, there were a lot of ship stairs (think overly-steep stairs) to climb. They would, naturally, keep passengers out of confined spaces.

 

We toured the bridge on 2 different ships and I would guess that the engine control room is on the same scale.

 

The engine room spans three decks (you can see it on the deck plans). Whereas the bridge is a central console and two wing consoles...and lots of carpeting. The officers quarters are right behind the bridge.

 

I would like to see everything but understand (I guess) why they don't want to.

 

I would have liked to have seen the crew quarters, the engine rooms, talked to the regular crew members, etc. As it was, the tour took more than three hours and no one wants passengers to have the type of access that I would have preferred. :D

 

Before entering the control room and the bridge, we were searched for weapons. In both areas, there we were accompanied by several security personnel. That, of course, allowed us to ask questions about on board security.

 

Yes, they have a brig with two holding cells.

They can confine an unruly or dangerous passenger to quarters - removing all entertainment and locking them in. Yes, they have done this.

Crew are trained to use fire hoses against an armed attacker.

[setsail]

Thanks for the tour. Its always interesting to see the inner workings of the ships .

[spiritkat090909]

I would hope that no one would ever post a picture of the badge on a public site like this.

Edited August 11, 2013 by spiritkat090909

[HesterMofet]

FWIW, if you want to do this tour on Freedom, you can book it before boarding.

[MADflyer]

On Liberty they had it available as a part of the Specialty Restaurant Package for $170 to be booked in advance. When I went in to book it 3 weeks prior it was already sold out. This included Chops and Portofino for a $30 savings.

 

I waitlisted the first day of the cruise for the tour only. They said they did not even add the second time 20 minutes following the first group.

 

I then tried to book on Navigator on the first day and was told it was waitlist only. I waitlisted and was never contacted. They kept advertising it throughout the week in the Cruise Compass, making me think that maybe they had not made a minimum number, but they never confirmed this. I just found it odd that they kept advertising something that was sold out. I booked this cruise just 3 weeks prior so do not know if they ever had the online offer.

 

Well, I am hoping the third time is the charm on my upcoming Oasis sailing.

 

Do you recall the time that they ran the tour on Allure on the final sea day?

[loeytalldog]

Interesting that you went to the laundry room. We did the All Access Tour on FOS in July, and we were told they are not showing the laundry room anymore due to it being a hazard!

 

Our gift was a burlap tote kinda bag with an apron in it.