Allure, Nov 3rd - Western, Review in point form

[Rufferto]

Hello all,

The following are my observations and comments about my Allure trip to the Western Caribbean, taken in early November. These are only opinions, so please feel free to disagree. Hope this helps someone.

Who we are:

· My wife, “the Queen”

· Oldest DD, “the Princess” (4 yrs old)

· Youngest DD, “the Duchess” (baby)

· Myself, “the Peasant”.

Embarkation day:

· Very hard to get a taxi to pick us up from the condo we were staying at. Otherwise Embarkation was very smooth. Our rooms were not ready at 1:00. They had an inspection going on. Went to Park Café and got some roast beef sandwiches. DW like the salads that were also offered. No table available to sit, so got take out and went back to our rooms which were accessible by that point.

· Deck 14 forward for Sail-Away: word is getting out. Hardly any room left at the railing.

Shows and events:

· At the start of Ice Games, I was not impressed, but it then got better and better! Ended up being a must see! Hoola-hoop girl was the highlight.

· Ocean Aria was good.

· Blue Planet was great, probably my favorite. The sets were fantastic.

· Chicago was good. It’s not my favorite Broadway show, but I thought it was well performed.

· Comedy show: Good! Also saw the last comedy show in the Amber Theater on the last night.

· Quest was good, but I think this event depends entirely upon how good a cruise director you have.

· Love and marriage was also entertaining. Size 12B bra anyone?

· C&A event: held on boardwalk , with free drinks and a show.

Food and services:

· MDR staff: Awesome assistant waiter, and the best head waiter I ever had on any cruise. Unfortunately the waiter was the worst one I ever had on a cruise. Don’t think he understood English very well, so there was a lot of misunderstanding about what we wanted from him. He was also slow in getting us our food, wine and other things we asked for.

· MDR food: Had some dishes I really liked and only just a couple that I thought were not that great.

· Room steward: Awesome! Kept us stocked with ice and clean wine glasses, plus did a couple of towel animals for the DD.

· Ordered room service for breakfast once. Asked for a 7:30 to 8:00 delivery window. I received a call at 7:30 saying that room service was on its way, and received the food shortly thereafter. Very fast and efficient.

· Sorentos for pizza: quick and convenient for a late night snack.

· Specialty restaurants: did not use, so no comments here.

· Windjammer: Very busy on port days and disembarkation day for breakfast. Tip: Skip the waiting in line for tables and get takeout to bring back to your room or elsewhere. Coffee available in paper cups too.

· Wipeout Café: seems to be underutilized by passengers. Give it a try for something quick.

· Hot dogs on the boardwalk: Good! Can sometimes have long lines during lunch.

Ports of call:

· Can’t take an escalator when leaving the ship? Take the elevator directly to deck 2 (at least for the ports of call listed below). Don’t bother with the “gangway” button.

· Labadee: Beach (Columbus Cove) was crowded but we got loungers in the shade. In the afternoon the beaches started to empty out. We loved our day there. One bad point: Bars will not give you a glass of free water. Had to complain in order to get a glass. The following is written in the guide to Labadee that is left in your stateroom the night before concerning water: “ Water in the restrooms is NOT intended for drinking. Water is available by the glass at all bar locations and cafés.” So does this mean free, since water is available by the glass on board ship for free?

· Falmouth: Did not leave the port area. Had some jerk chicken and Red-Stripe, then back on board for pool-time.

· Cozumel: Saw the Mayan ruins and had some great fish tacos.

Weather:

· Was cloudy a lot, but this worked out for me since I don’t like to sit out in the sun. Seas were rough on the last sea day. Once at night they closed off the outside decks due to high winds (decks 15-16-17). Sometimes they would only close decks 16 and 17.

StateRoom:

· Stateroom with Central Park balcony: nice balcony, but would prefer ocean view. When we booked an ocean view balcony was way more expensive.

· On the 14th floor, there is a row of closed off balconies due to the pools above. It looks like it would be very easy for RCL to make extended balconies for the staterooms adjacent to the pools, and perhaps charge a premium for these rooms.

· My 4yr old slept on a Pullman bed. This suited her just fine.

Shopping on board:

· Spent my first dollar on board on Zoltar in order to entertain DD.

· Ended up buying a snorkel mask at the dive shop for $40. The staff let me try on several and the one I ended up buying was the best one I ever tried. It fit me perfectly. Very happy with it.

· Bought some toys for the kids.

· Was not interested in buying much else on board. Have too much stuff at home that I’d like to get rid of anyway.

Casino:

· Played a little blackjack at the machine located in the non-smoking hallway.

· I want my money back.

Ship activities and places:

· Boardwalk: Rode the carousel so many times with my DD that I started to get saddle sore. The model motorcycle in front of Johnny Rockets really needs a paint job.

· Dreamworks Experience: DD loved getting photos with the characters at the Dreamworks breakfast and throughout the ship. Be sure to check your cruise compass for times when they would appear for photo ops. Don’t bother going to Central Park to see them though. An appearance was listed in the Compass for Central Park but no one showed up.

· Adventure Ocean: Went on embarkation day so my DD could get a lanyard for her Seapass card. Otherwise we did not use. After day one, the staff can pick up your kids from the deck 4 entrance of the MDR at 6:40 pm if you are interested in this service.

· Elevators: Very busy during key times, like dinner. Otherwise not too long a wait. TIP: use the “close door” button to save time if everyone has finished getting on and off a particular deck.

· Deck 6 shuffleboard anyone?: located behind the Aquatheater (yes, you can go there when there are no shows or rehearsals). You can take some neat photos of the Boardwalk from there.

· Deck 5 Jogging track: Even if you don’t jog, this is worth a visit. Since it surrounds almost the entire deck, it’s another way of seeing how big the ship really is. One morning on deck 15 I saw someone jogging there even though signs indicate that it is prohibited. Wonder if he knew about deck 5?

· Elevators part 2: If someone asks what deck you want, always say deck 13.

· Internet: Bought 2 days worth, as DW needed it for work. Used C&A coupons to bring down the price by 10%. Mid-week they had a three day special that we missed out on. We would have just used that had we known ahead of time that they were going to offer that.

· Kids zone pool: DD had a great time there. They have a small section reserved for babies in swim diapers. Other kids are prohibited from this section. Pool water is heated for the babies.

· Pool deck was very crowded on first 2 sea days, but not on the last one as it was a lot colder.

· Library has a small selection of children’s books. If you are travelling with kids, maybe one less thing for you to pack?

 

Disembarkation:

· Went to On-Air with the kids to await our time slot. Had cartoons playing for the kids and some cartoon sheets for coloring.

· Long line for customs, but we were among the last groups to leave the ship.

· Crew members told us they were ahead of schedule for disembarkation. Not bad considering there’s 6,100 passengers aboard.

Best line said by my 4 year-old DD all cruise:

In Cozumel, while we watched the Carnival Magic sail away from the pier next to us: “Look Daddy, a baby ship!”

[Mary loves to travel]

Great review & easy to read :)

 

Thanks for taking the time to write it up.

 

Mary

[Lionesss]

Thanks for posting , very nice.

Sea Ya

[hgmizzou]

 

best line said by my 4 year-old dd all cruise:

in cozumel, while we watched the carnival magic sail away from the pier next to us: “look daddy, a baby ship!”

 

roflmbo!!!!! Love this!!!!!!!!!!

Edited November 20, 2013 by hgmizzou

[cidymom]

Thanks for your concise review. You mentioned you were the last group to disembark the ship. What time was that? How long did it take for your group to go through customs? Thanks for your help.

[Rufferto]

Thanks for your concise review. You mentioned you were the last group to disembark the ship. What time was that? How long did it take for your group to go through customs? Thanks for your help.

 

We disembarked about 10:30. After walking out, gathering luggage, getting a porter and so on, we were through customs by 11:00. DO NOT TAKE THIS AS A GUIDELINE! A Sherrif's deputy saw us and guided us to a special shorter line at the far end of the terminal. This was because we had a baby with us. The porter I got was very pleased about this. I think he was happier than we were.

[BillOh]

Hello all,

The following are my observations and comments about my Allure trip to the Western Caribbean, taken in early November. These are only opinions, so please feel free to disagree. Hope this helps someone.

 

And good observations they are, I see a few things that will probably help people. First among them:

 

 

Embarkation day:

· Very hard to get a taxi to pick us up from the condo we were staying at.

 

They are very easy to get from all the hotels, but that is probably where most go to get a sure fare. This fact may help someone considering do the same. Call earlier? or book private possibly

 

 

· Deck 14 forward for Sail-Away: word is getting out. Hardly any room left at the railing.

 

I can give some tips there. I am a fan of the port webcam here and have purchased some great pics taken from it so I have been on that port bridge wing twice. Each time I have mustered in the Aquatheater which is about as far as you can get from the bridgewing. My trick was to arrive at Muster, when done here, very early and get a seat in the back row on an aisle. Once the all important Muster was over, I bolted out the back and made a bee-line to the area. You have to go up to deck 14 and all the way to the front of the ship. Most people head for the elevators, so I immediately took the stairs up one deck and walked the lenght of the ship to the front. I did this in about 4 minutes max. It also helps to scout out how to get to this bridge wing before hand. You will see people in the solarium mouthing, "How do I get out there?" :)

 

 

 

 

Shows and events:

· At the start of Ice Games, I was not impressed, but it then got better and better! Ended up being a must see! Hoola-hoop girl was the highlight.

 

 

I agree, In 8 cruises I never went to an ice show, but I figured my 2nd time on Allure was a good time to go the things I didn't do the first time. I enjoyed it.

 

 

 

 

· Ocean Aria was good.

· Blue Planet was great, probably my favorite. The sets were fantastic.

My tip here is, I think the viewing from the balcony is just as good or possibly better due the amount of aerial activity.

EDIT - I meant with Blue Planet. Ocenaria is fun from teh balcony, but see if from the theater first.

· Quest was good, but I think this event depends entirely upon how good a cruise director you have.

 

Your probably right, but I also think it has to do with the personality of the crowd that week as well. We had Ken Rush both times and I thought he did a good job, with a lot of help from his staff. Quest on that size ship is an endeavor.

 

 

 

· Hot dogs on the boardwalk: Good! Can sometimes have long lines during lunch.

 

This is my secret place for lunch as soon as we board. No lines at all either time and plenty of seating. The secret is out about the Park Cafe and Roast Beef. I didn't do that the first time, but I wanted to this time. Instead of lunch, we found they serve those till almost 6 pm daily so we would get one in the afternoon after some pool time since we had the late seating of dinner.

 

Some very good helpful points.

Edited November 20, 2013 by BillOh

[GTO-Girl]

We were on this cruise too and it was our first time on the Allure........we LOVED it!!

 

Thanks for the good review....