Allure question

[Reijo]

My husband and I have just booked a last minute cruise on Allure and have a couple of questions. First, is the boarding time the same as with RCCL's other ships? We usually get to the port between 11 and 11:30 and just wondered if it was any different with this ship. The other question is concerning the many restaurants on board. It appears that the majority of them are specialty restaurants, is this so. Anything we should do or not waste time doing? Appreciate your help!

[Janet524]

My husband and I have just booked a last minute cruise on Allure and have a couple of questions. First, is the boarding time the same as with RCCL's other ships? We usually get to the port between 11 and 11:30 and just wondered if it was any different with this ship. The other question is concerning the many restaurants on board. It appears that the majority of them are specialty restaurants, is this so. Anything we should do or not waste time doing? Appreciate your help!

 

Arriving at the port 11-11:30 should be fine. They usually start boarding around noon, but we've been able to board as early as 11:30. While there are a number of specialty restaurants, the Main Dining Room, Windjammer, Park Cafe (love the roast beef sandwiches and made to order salads), Sorrento's and the Solarium Cafe (for breakfast and lunch) are free. There may be other free ones that I'm not remembering, and if so, I'm sure someone will chime in.

 

We enjoyed Giovanni's Table very much. Excellent Italian menu. We ate at 150 Central Park the first night and took advantage of the 2 for 1 deal. At 2 for 1 it was well worth it. We typically don't bother with Chops. I can make a steak, or go to a good steakhouse at home - not worth the extra fee IMO. Since we're not fans of Asian or Mexican foods, we didn't do Izumi or Rita's Cantina.

 

Bottom line, if you want to save $$ and not do specialty restaurants the food is readily available and very good. Hope this was helpful.

[CntPAcruiser]

My husband and I have just booked a last minute cruise on Allure and have a couple of questions. First, is the boarding time the same as with RCCL's other ships? We usually get to the port between 11 and 11:30 and just wondered if it was any different with this ship. The other question is concerning the many restaurants on board. It appears that the majority of them are specialty restaurants, is this so. Anything we should do or not waste time doing? Appreciate your help!

 

We arrived around 11 for boarding (this was last November) and had no problems and the usual wait. The terminal is nicely designed and pretty comfortable for waiting.

 

There are numerous threads on here detailing the included versus extra charge restaurants, with quite varied opinions. We tried Giovannis for lunch and Chops for dinner, and were not completely wowed with either. There were issues with the service and very much with the entrees at Giovannis, although the starters, salads, and pastas were good. At Chops, service was a bit better, some of the apps and particularly the salads were bland, the steaks were good, and dessert was the best we've had on board in a long time. Note that apparently the red velvet cake is no longer as good, according to recent reports.

 

But it seems like experiences vary widely, so you may wish to budget to try one or two, or splurge on the 3-restaurant package deal they offer on board, and make up your own minds.

 

It probably has a lot to do with the type of dining out you do at home and what kinds of restaurants are available in your area.

 

As for the included options, don't forget about the Dog House (hot dogs and sausages) and donuts that are free on the Boardwalk. Also, I've heard some of the food at the Wipeout café is good for cafeteria style fast food. And Johnny Rockets is still free for breakfast, I believe. The park café is a great option for morning through afternoon light dining and snacking.

 

Also, breakfast and lunch in the main dining room can be a nice relaxed option on sea days, although we did have some issues with both times we tried lunch in the MDR on this last cruise.

Edited March 20, 2014 by CntPAcruiser

[Gayle V]

This link should take you to a pdf list of dining places on the Allure.

 

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CFYQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Froyalcruisesonline.com%2FImage_Library%2FReference%2FOasis_Class_Dining_Guide.pdf&ei=vywrU9W9KsmtqAH0_oDwDw&usg=AFQjCNHn0vTX8-iGs9XqBVeEqsVL6VMH0Q&sig2=LX23bC9inMvXmu2LCU2XVg&bvm=bv.62922401,d.aWM

 

Down load that, then you have to open it. You'll find there are lots of both, included and pay-extra venues.

 

As for what to do, I encourage you to see all the shows. They were wonderful, much better than those on other ships that we'd cruised in the past.

 

As for food, for what it's worth, I won't do the 150 Central Park again. The food was odd, and too hot flavored. (You don't get choices there. Everyone in the place is served the same meal.) I usually am easy to please, and was always happy with the dinners in the main dining room. Maybe we'll stick with that, or try one of the other places next time.

Edited March 20, 2014 by Gayle V

[Reijo]

Thanks for all of your info, the website of restaurants was perfect. Sadly, we were not able to make reservations for the shows (except for Chicago)......one of the bad things about booking at the last minute. We will show up in hopes that we can get in though.

 

One other thing. I am having problems printing our luggage tags. I've never had a problem before. What am I missing????? All info you look up refers to those in suites, etc. being able to get tags but otherwise you get them at the port. I've printed them for the last couple of years. For our February cruise I had NO problems. Gee, Can anyone help?

[kruzerci]

We still get to Oasis and Allure around 11AM. We were on Oasis very quickly and painlessly a couple on months ago.

 

We really like 150 CP and Giovannis on the big ships. Giovannis is quite a bit cheaper, though.

[workinmom3]

Arriving at the port 11-11:30 should be fine. They usually start boarding around noon, but we've been able to board as early as 11:30. While there are a number of specialty restaurants, the Main Dining Room, Windjammer, Park Cafe (love the roast beef sandwiches and made to order salads), Sorrento's and the Solarium Cafe (for breakfast and lunch) are free. There may be other free ones that I'm not remembering, and if so, I'm sure someone will chime in.

 

 

 

We enjoyed Giovanni's Table very much. Excellent Italian menu. We ate at 150 Central Park the first night and took advantage of the 2 for 1 deal. At 2 for 1 it was well worth it. We typically don't bother with Chops. I can make a steak, or go to a good steakhouse at home - not worth the extra fee IMO. Since we're not fans of Asian or Mexican foods, we didn't do Izumi or Rita's Cantina.

 

 

 

Bottom line, if you want to save $$ and not do specialty restaurants the food is readily available and very good. Hope this was helpful.

 

 

Just curious about the 2 for 1 deal at 150 CP? Does it have to be done the 1st night & is this only available for Diamond? I'm only platinum.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Gayle V]

Thanks for all of your info, the website of restaurants was perfect. Sadly, we were not able to make reservations for the shows (except for Chicago)......one of the bad things about booking at the last minute. We will show up in hopes that we can get in though.

 

One other thing. I am having problems printing our luggage tags. I've never had a problem before. What am I missing????? All info you look up refers to those in suites, etc. being able to get tags but otherwise you get them at the port. I've printed them for the last couple of years. For our February cruise I had NO problems. Gee, Can anyone help?

 

Hello Reijo, Don't just show up at the show. As soon as you board the ship go and try to sign up then. They always hold back a percentage of the seats for those who cannot do it on the computer. (They know that even now, not everyone has computer access). When we were on the Allure, we could not get the Comedy Club reservation on line. So we made that our first stop, once we boarded, and got signed up. It was fast and easy. They will be set up and ready for lots of people doing the same thing. Not sure if they do this in the same place every cruise, but for us, in November, they had tables set up for this purpose in Studio B (the ice rink).

 

The same is true about the excursions. If you don't get what you want, try once on the ship. (At the excursion desk, of course).

 

About the printing of tags, the page with the tags is usually with your documents. If you are able to print your set sail pass, and still can't print the tags, try accessing the site using a different browser. If I remember right, I had to not use Firefox, needed to switch over to Internet explorer, and that worked.

 

Good luck.

Edited March 20, 2014 by Gayle V

[bilyclub]

Thanks for all of your info, the website of restaurants was perfect. Sadly, we were not able to make reservations for the shows (except for Chicago)......one of the bad things about booking at the last minute. We will show up in hopes that we can get in though.

 

One other thing. I am having problems printing our luggage tags. I've never had a problem before. What am I missing????? All info you look up refers to those in suites, etc. being able to get tags but otherwise you get them at the port. I've printed them for the last couple of years. For our February cruise I had NO problems. Gee, Can anyone help?

 

 

Diamond + or above will get you into all of the shows except the comedy room without reservations.

[akcruz]

Agree with the above, make your first stop on the ship (studio b I believe) where you should be able to get the tickets you want. When we sailed on Allure the only shows that were full on occasion were Blue Planet and the Comedy Club. Those are the ones I would concentrare on. The others always had walk ins getting in without issue.

[Reijo]

Bilyclub,unfortunately we become Diamond on this cruise so it won't apply to us until next cruise! :(

[Reijo]

Gayle, I have printed my set sail passes and there is a "sample" luggage tag....only a few inches long with a note that it is only a sample. I will try with a different browser, I'm currently using Internet Explorer. I have absolutely NO idea why I can't get them printed this time.

[skandls]

There is a button to print luggage tag (full size) on one of the pages.

 

Since you are going last minute print the schedule of shows - kind of a spread sheet. See When you want to go - and when you get on the ship go to where you can do your reservations - some are held back for onboard booking. You may not get the Comedy show - the best thing there is to go the first night of the cruise and line up. Many people do not show up day 1 so you have a good chance of getting in.

[Gayle V]

Gayle, I have printed my set sail passes and there is a "sample" luggage tag....only a few inches long with a note that it is only a sample. I will try with a different browser, I'm currently using Internet Explorer. I have absolutely NO idea why I can't get them printed this time.

 

Hello Reijo,

 

The Royal site has several ways to access the various pages. If the "luggage tag" link isn't showing try this: The Luggage tags are also in the Documents.

 

Click on the "my cruises" link that is at the top of every page of the Royal Caribbean web site. (Small dark blue print on the home page in line with where it says "Hello" with your name. On the other pages it's in very tiny print, far upper edge of pages.)

 

On the my cruises page there's a blue box running down the left side of the page. On the lower half of the box there is a "Countdown to Cruise" and some links. Click on "Review Travel Documents"

 

(You can also access this by other routes. One looks like the tabs of a file folder. You just want to get to the "Cruise Documentation page".

 

Both take you to the Cruise Documentation page; Look for "Guest Vacation Documents" and click on "Check Status" Your documents should be ready. (Ours are not yet) If your documents are there, open them. (On my computer, opening them automatically saves them to a pdf file, that I then have to open.) Once they are open scroll down to the last page or two. The luggage tags are one of the last pages of the documents.

 

Let us know if this works.

Edited March 21, 2014 by Gayle V