amandabartsch Posted February 24, 2014 #1 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Officially back to reality after our amazing week on the Allure of the Seas Eastern Itinerary! A little background about us, my boyfriend and myself are both in our early 20s and decided to take a cruise for our reading break from school. We flew from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale the day we departed, I know most people fly in the day before but due to work reasons that was not possible for us! I will break things down day by day, no food porn here just a warning! Embarkation Day One: We arrived at the airport at about 10:15am and took the Royal Caribbean shuttle to the port, the cost was $16.75 a person. We checked in took our welcome photo and sat for about 10 minutes before we boarded the ship at about 12pm. We immediately bought the Ultimate Drink Package for myself and Select Drink Package for him, more on this later! We explored Central Park and grabbed a drink then went up to see our room, we lucked out and arrived just as they were opening the doors! We had cabin 10629, a Central Park Balcony cabin. Our cabin had a double balcony as we were beside the crew room. I will give an overview of the cabin later as I found information on these cabins were quite limited when doing my own research. I am going to leave it here for now as I have class soon! I will continue tonight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy cruiser1234 Posted February 24, 2014 #2 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Looking forward to reading your review!... We will be sailing on Allure in a couple of weeks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sauvichick Posted February 24, 2014 #3 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Looking forward to reading more:D. We have to wait 4 months! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S&DMOM Posted February 24, 2014 #4 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Awesome!! Looking forward to more info on the Drink Packages. Thank you for taking the time and energy to write this review!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thjeepster Posted February 24, 2014 #5 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Looking forward to the review also!!!! Will be on Allure for Easter April 20th!!!! Can't wait!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amandabartsch Posted February 24, 2014 Author #6 Share Posted February 24, 2014 So I will continue our first day now! I apologize if I can't have this done in a few days as I am a student and the hell month of March is upon me! And I'm planning our next cruise on the Quantum ;) Day One Continued: So after a much needed nap in our room we went to our muster drill (Champagne Bar) we got there early as I had read they pack you in like sardines! I will tell you this is not a lie at all! Get there early and grab a drink and a seat! After muster it was ready for set sail, originally I planned to use the secret balcony on Deck 12. However, we ended up watching sailaway from the track on Deck 5. We found chairs no problem and enjoyed the sailaway. We had My Time Dining reservations for 5:45pm every night (an excellent time to pick if you like eating early). We were seated at Merrick's table, some of you may have had Merrick on a previous cruise, he is from the Philippines and we loved him! If you can request Merrick, you will not be disappointed he is fabulous and his assistant Desrun is also amazing! We explored the ship some more, found more drinks along the way! We had reservations for Chicago but we were much too tired and called it a night early! We did sneak into the hot tub for a nice dip to end our day though! So that's Day One! Please let me know if you have any questions and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOODIES Posted February 24, 2014 #7 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Amanda. I am going in 2 weeks on allure, I have been on 3 rccl cruise this will be my 4th I just got off royal princess in december, my question is what is secret balcony on deck 12, have family in toronto thanks Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amandabartsch Posted February 24, 2014 Author #8 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Amanda.I am going in 2 weeks on allure, I have been on 3 rccl cruise this will be my 4th I just got off royal princess in december, my question is what is secret balcony on deck 12, have family in toronto thanks Rick Hi Rick, I read here that if you walk all the way down the AFT hallway (both sides) there is a secret balcony that over looks the Aquatheater! I never went to find it myself, though we did use the Sundeck on deck 14, if you walk down the stairs there will be a sign that will point you to it! Beautiful spot to watch as the ship sails into port! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarlenna Posted February 24, 2014 #9 Share Posted February 24, 2014 We were there at the same time, Thought it was a great cruise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laedw Posted February 24, 2014 #10 Share Posted February 24, 2014 I will tell you this is not a lie at all! Get there early and grab a drink and a seat! What's early (an hour, 1/2 hour)? Thanks. Can't wait to read the rest of your review. I'm interested in the Drink package too. Hopefully, you have photos you can share! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepless Posted February 24, 2014 #11 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Looking forward to reading more:D. We have to wait 4 months! Yes - 4 months, and my original booking was in 2012. I can't believe it is almost here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mon1jan1 Posted February 24, 2014 #12 Share Posted February 24, 2014 I'm on the Allure March 16, Eastern Caribbean. Can you tell me which nights were Formal nights? Thanks so much and looking forward to reading more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrpayroll Posted February 25, 2014 #13 Share Posted February 25, 2014 We were on Allure in late january and also had Merrick and Desran. Agree that they were very, very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amandabartsch Posted February 25, 2014 Author #14 Share Posted February 25, 2014 What's early (an hour, 1/2 hour)? Thanks. Can't wait to read the rest of your review. I'm interested in the Drink package too. Hopefully, you have photos you can share! I'd say probably 20 minutes before, they shut the bar down before we got to our station (admittedly we got there about 5-10 minutes early)... I was envious of those with a nice cold beer in their hands! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amandabartsch Posted February 25, 2014 Author #15 Share Posted February 25, 2014 I'm on the Allure March 16, Eastern Caribbean. Can you tell me which nights were Formal nights? Thanks so much and looking forward to reading more. Formal nights were Day 2 (Nassau) and again on Day 6 (Sea Day). A side note, lobster night was the second formal night. Enjoy your cruise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amandabartsch Posted February 25, 2014 Author #16 Share Posted February 25, 2014 We were there at the same time, Thought it was a great cruise I think the weather certainly helped! 10 minutes of rain.. I can live with that!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amandabartsch Posted February 25, 2014 Author #17 Share Posted February 25, 2014 I have no idea how to upload pictures here.. So I will post a link to my photobucket slide show, I will update it as I post.. These are some pictures of our room and balcony! http://s34.photobucket.com/user/amandalb93/slideshow/ Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deb1eric Posted February 25, 2014 #18 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Question on the double baloney... are all the cabins next to the living wall have double balconies. I have room 11617, which is opposite of where yr cabin was. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amandabartsch Posted February 25, 2014 Author #19 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Question on the double baloney... are all the cabins next to the living wall have double balconies. I have room 11617, which is opposite of where yr cabin was. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Forums mobile app From what I saw no, unfortunately! Though I did notice most people hardly used their balconies in Central Park... A side note is that we found Central Park to be quite quiet and we could nap in the afternoons no problem! Most times we used the half of the balcony the normal cabins would have. Enjoy your cruise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riclop Posted February 25, 2014 #20 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Was that a steward room next to you? Any noise issues with that room next to you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare JamesEM Posted February 25, 2014 #21 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Looking forward to your review and pictures, DW and I will be on the Allure this Oct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mon1jan1 Posted February 25, 2014 #22 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Formal nights were Day 2 (Nassau) and again on Day 6 (Sea Day). A side note, lobster night was the second formal night. Enjoy your cruise! That is good to hear, I have been getting two answers (second and fifth) and second and sixth........errrggg.....but it makes more sense having it on the sixth night it being a sea day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mon1jan1 Posted February 25, 2014 #23 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Formal nights were Day 2 (Nassau) and again on Day 6 (Sea Day). A side note, lobster night was the second formal night. Enjoy your cruise! Thanks so much! I'm enjoying your review........19 more days to go until I'm on the Allure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parrothead33 Posted February 25, 2014 #24 Share Posted February 25, 2014 We were on the Allure the week of Feb. 9th and had a blast. Enjoying your review Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amandabartsch Posted February 25, 2014 Author #25 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Thanks for all of the positive comments! And keep the questions coming! Regarding our room being next to the cabin attendant's room, yes we heard rummaging around, it started about 8:30am, we are early risers and didn't mind this at all. I lived in a dorm for 2 years so the odd bang did not bother us. We were able to nap in the afternoon with no issues and there was no noise after we returned from dinner around 7:30pm. We would personally book this cabin again. Day Two: Nassau For Nassau we had booked the Glass Bottom Boat Tour through RCI, it was around $30pp. We had breakfast at Johnny Rockets and headed off to Nassau. Johnny Rockets was quite good for breakfast, it was the only time the Boardwalk was quiet in our opinion. Off to the Glass Bottom Boat we went, I had read negative reviews on this tour, therefore I would like to say that we thoroughly enjoyed the tour! The boat toured the main harbor and then we descended into the bottom of the boat to view the aquatic life. There was plenty to be seen and we thought it was a great value for our money, in comparison to some of the other tours. I had also read about the travel advisory that was put out warning travelers to be cautious in Nassau, we did not explore the city and went back to the ship after our tour. We relaxed for the afternoon before the first formal night dinner. The cabin was definitely comfortable for the two of us, I was able to get ready at the vanity (which has great lighting) and he was able to shower and get ready around the room. I think that if there were 4 people in the room it may feel crowded and like you are tripping over each other. On to dinner, I believe it was prime rib that night (don't quote me on this as I had steak every night of the cruise). Dinner was always fabulous thanks to Merrick and Desrun, we requested them every night and the staff were able to accommodate with no issues. Our entertainment for the evening was the comedy show, it was hilarious! I had prebooked our reservations for every show and had no issues about waiting in a line. I think making reservations is the right way to go, and it definitely helped in my day planning! After the comedy show we headed to the hot tubs, we found that if you wandered around the pool deck and Solarium there was no problem finding an empty hot tub! That's all for now! I am off to class and will not be back until late this afternoon! I hope to be done up to day 5 by this evening! Enjoy your day! :) Link to my photo album: http://s34.photobucket.com/user/amandalb93/slideshow/Allure%20of%20the%20Seas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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