Allure of the Seas 3/30/14 Review with photos and some video!

[Deeliteful]

Thanks for the review- getting me in the mood for the same cruise in June. On someone else's recommendation, we too have booked Giovanni's for lunch on embarkation day. Sounds like we made a good choice - love people watching too.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your review.

[lorilew]

 

 

Beautiful picture of a lovely breakfast...ahhh, has me dreaming of our next trip! ;)

[dpmfloyd]

 

 

Beautiful picture of a lovely breakfast...ahhh, has me dreaming of our next trip! ;)

 

Thanks! ...just wait, I've got a small stack of shots I'm far more proud of. My only regret this tour was not using my DSLR more!

[BillOh]

Haha! The guy in the black shirt in the third picture is my husband! We got soaked from the waves hitting the rocks.

 

Coming in a day early and watching the Saturday ships leave from these rocks was a surprising highlight of our cruise

 

[Ocean Boy]

Day 1 - Continued:

 

 

After the show we went to the Schooner Bar. A trivia game was being held, we wanted to walk to the bar. When one of the servers stopped us. “You can’t go through” - I thought he was joking. So we took another step and he put his hand out, and pointed behind us. “No, you can’t go through this way.” It dawned on me, he thought we were trying to walk passed the bar (which isn’t an option). So I nicely said we wanted to sit at the bar, and very grumpily he rolled his eyes and walked away. We went up to the bar, kind of laughing (and in disbelief) at what just happened. The guy was nasty, and there was no doubt about it. What was that guys problem? We ordered our drinks, and while they were being prepared the server returned to the bar shooting us nasty looks. So we grabbed our beverages and returned to our stateroom for the night.

 

Up next...Day 2 in the Bahamas, where we didn’t get off the boat!

 

I'm not sure that I would have been able to resist my urges to tell the guy what I thought of his attitude.

 

I'm glad you like our airport here in RI. I in turn love your city...BOSTON!

Edited April 9, 2014 by Ocean Boy

[dpmfloyd]

I'm not sure that I would have been able to resist my urges to tell the guy what I thought of his attitude.

 

I'm glad you like our airport here in RI. I in turn love your city...BOSTON!

 

Thanks! I married into your fine city - my wife is from Providence!

[sleepless]

Thanks for the review- getting me in the mood for the same cruise in June. On someone else's recommendation, we too have booked Giovanni's for lunch on embarkation day. Sounds like we made a good choice - love people watching too.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your review.

 

I will be getting on when you get off. Have a great cruise.

[thrifty99]

2 questions if you don't mind:

 

1) what is this main switch people are asking about? Does it just cut the lights and outlets or the air too?

 

2) do you know if they would have correctly put the drink package sticker on the card where you would have picked up the freestyle mug?

 

Thank you!

 

 

1 - it does cut the air conditioning also (our stateroom attendant warned us not to turn it off), so don't use that to turn off all the lights or you may return to a warm room.

 

2 - our friends pre-ordered the drink package and it was imprinted directly on their cards. Their cups for the soda machines were waiting for them in their stateroom. If for some reason your sea pass card does not have the drink symbol on your card, when you board there are drink stations on the promenade and they can check your name on a list and put a sticker on / give you a glass at that time. You can also sign up for it at that time if you have not pre-ordered.

[dpmfloyd]

Day 4: St. Thomas

 

Finally, we are getting off the ship! We had signed up for the Champagne Catamaran Sail, which departed at noon. I slept in a little longer than usual. When it comes to me and my wife, I’m the early bird. I headed down to Starbucks for a coffee and treat. I had read they take Starbucks gift cards, but the information I read was a little wonky at times. We had received a few for Christmas, so we packed them just incase. Sure enough - they do take Starbucks gift cards. They initially asked for my Sea Pass card, however when I asked about the gift card they were just as easily able to use it. I returned to our stateroom and my wife was far more awake than she was when I had left. I brought our coffee and treats to the balcony and we watched as the ship pulled into port.

 

 

 

 

As we slid closer into port, these two provided a nice show...

 

 

 

 

 

We jumped off the ship earlier than planned to walk around the port. The port did not have very much to offer. Once off, I was starting to get hungry. We did two laps and only found 3 places serving food. Two of which set off the old, “gut instinct” alarm to avoid. The third seemed to be the least likely to give me food poisoning. I don’t remember the name of it, but it was in the last building on the left, which wraps around the port. There’s a bar outside that was selling $6 tropical drinks, and inside hid a dark room with a standard school lunch-type cart with a good amount of options.

 

 

The menu was one laminated piece of paper which listed what they had, I picked the first thing I saw that seemed to be the most filling. Turkey meatloaf. The server taking my order was very, very nice and seemed really happy to serve me, which I’ve never experienced when visiting a port shop before. He tells me the meatloaf also has craisins in it, he was trying to give it a Thanksgiving vibe. I was able to pick two sides - I opted for the fried plantains and garlic mashed potatoes.

 

 

 

It was JUST what we needed. Very tasty, and very enjoyable. The container had more plantians then seen in the picture, and the slice of meatloaf filled nearly the full section it rested in. My wife and I split it, costing us $10. Very worth it.

 

 

We ate outside, on the stone wall, watching some nasty clouds roll in. It started to drizzle, then rain - when we scarfed down the food and decided to go for another romp around the port -- and use the bathroom just incase our shuttle was longer than expected.

 

 

coming up - the excursion! comedy show! and more photos!

[dpmfloyd]

Day 4: St. Thomas - continued:

 

 

Finally, it was time to meet up with our group. Our tickets told us to meet between stations 1 and 2, immediately outside the gate for the ships. We headed back to the meet-up area, and sure enough - there were signs all along the gate. We showed a woman our tickets, and she sent us down the port back to where we ate our lunch. We sat with a large group of people waiting for further instruction. The bartender was walking around selling bottles of water for $1/each. Not a terrible price, so we bought 2. A random guy started yelling for our group, suggesting we follow him. Everyone looked at each other, silently saying - “are we supposed to go with him?” I was the closest, so I asked him if he was with the champagne catamaran sail… he said yes, then pulled out a binder. He pointed to a page, I looked at it - it had many names on it, including mine -- that was enough for me! So we followed him to a covered, windowless shuttle.

 

 

The shuttle was interesting. The only thing I can compare it to is the Safari Ride at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, with one major difference -- the side you entered to board didn’t have any sort of barrier between you and the road. It was as if one side of the shuttle was a jeep with no doors. The seats did not have seat belts. I was the first to enter, so I slid all the way in - against the walled side of the shuttle.

 

 

Before shoving off, the driver told us it would be 30-40 minutes to get there - traffic permitting. At the back of our shuttle, a small group of college guys -- who had spent their morning drinking in port -- panicked. They knew they wouldn’t be able to make the drive without a bathroom stop. They laughed and joked about it to each other, but when the driver pulled off -- they weren’t laughing or joking anymore. About 5 minutes into the ride, one of them was very vocal about how bad he had to go.

 

 

The shuttle went around sharp turns, up hills, down hills - it was something to experience. They drive on the opposite side of the road, which was a new experience for me. The ride was closer to 30 minutes, and when we arrived at our destination the guys jumped off pleading for a bathroom. The guides told them it would have to wait until we got onto the boat AND were sailing out.

 

 

The made sure they had everyone they needed and we walked out to the boat. There were two catamarans, one of the crew on the other boat was hosing it down. He was very friendly and welcoming us, however we were not on his boat. The guys asked if they could use his bathroom, he was nice and said no but they were close to tears when finally he allowed them onto his boat to use it. Sure, this doesn’t bring much to the story - but they were an annoying group and it was somewhat funny to see them “hold it” for so long. Ok, maybe I’m a tiny bit sadistic? :)

 

 

We board our boat, took a seat on the deck of the catamaran and waited for further instruction. They walked us through all the security features - just in case. And explained to us in great detail what was coming our way and what the timetable was. We shoved off, making our way into a strong wind and gloomy skies.

 

 

While moving out into the water, one of the guides came out and started telling us about the islands around us. He was funny, informative and had a great demeanor about him. The snorkel equipment was handed out to everyone, followed by instruction on how to use it. Wearing an inflatable vest was mandatory, however inflating it was not.

 

 

As we pulled into the cove near honeymoon beach, they dropped anchor and told us where we’d find sea turtles, string rays and coral. People slowly entered the water, when someone noticed a very large fish in the shadows of the boat. One of the crew leaned over and told us not to worry - it was just Barry...Barry the Barracuda. She told us he likes to hang out in the shadows of the ship, he’s not aggressive and we shouldn’t worry. I’ve seen Jaws enough to 2nd guess her, but she was right - he hung out under the boat, and didn’t even budge!

 

 

We swam around, looking down into the beautiful water. When suddenly we found our first (and only) sea turtle! It was a good size, about as big as a serving platter. I had an underwater camera with me, and I took a lot of footage, but I didn’t take any pictures! Once I get it uploaded to YouTube, I’ll be sure to add some links. It was really beautiful to watch the turtle eat some sea grass, kick around a little, then go up for air. Other people swimming around saw his head poke up and they flocked like vultures to see him. We decided it to make way for the beach and take a quick break.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We swam back towards the boat, the skies seemed to be getting darker and we felt our time in the water was drawing near. I forget how long we were there. If I had to guess, I’d say a little more than an hour. And it was worth it!

 

 

They raised the anchor, set the main sail and we made way back to the dock. We experienced some strong winds and some rain so they lowered the sail shortly after and used the engines to get us back to port. As we bounced over the waves, I looked over the sides and into the blue water. It was crystal clear. I was shooting video of this, when I overheard someone say, “Oh, look!” I turned my head and there was a nice rainbow behind us. Again, once I post the video I’ll leave a link - it was really unexpected and very nice to see. I did get a picture though!

 

 

Coming Up - The return to ship, the comedy show and a few more pictures and me telling you about video I have, and need to upload :)

[sleepless]

I am really enjoying your review. Loved the picture of the rainbow.

[debbs0723]

I'm loving this review. We board the Allure for Thanksgiving with my husband, myself, 2 daughters 13, and 10 and my parents.

 

I don't blame you at all for saving loungers for 25 min. I don't think that is unfair. We should feel like we can go get a quick bite and come back to them without fear of losing them if it is under 30 min. We usually enjoy the higher deck away from the pool so we can go back and forth between facing the pool and facing the ocean. It would be nice if Royal would beef up the saving policy. I don't even mind people saving for an hour or so. What I don't like is when people get out there at the crack of dawn and save entire sections EVERY SINGLE DAY. I saw this on my last cruise.

 

Looking forward to hearing about the family that tested your patience.

 

Debbie

[dpmfloyd]

I'm loving this review. We board the Allure for Thanksgiving with my husband, myself, 2 daughters 13, and 10 and my parents.

 

I don't blame you at all for saving loungers for 25 min. I don't think that is unfair. We should feel like we can go get a quick bite and come back to them without fear of losing them if it is under 30 min. We usually enjoy the higher deck away from the pool so we can go back and forth between facing the pool and facing the ocean. It would be nice if Royal would beef up the saving policy. I don't even mind people saving for an hour or so. What I don't like is when people get out there at the crack of dawn and save entire sections EVERY SINGLE DAY. I saw this on my last cruise.

 

Looking forward to hearing about the family that tested your patience.

 

Debbie

 

I agree, as long as people don't abuse the system - that's fine. i'll have another story coming up of a guy that plopped down next to us, put towels down on 4 chairs and asked us to watch them... i'll just say its unbelievable what he pulled. more to come!

 

thanks for the reading! :)

[erries]

I can't believe how long and low that rainbow is! I don't think I've ever seen one with such a low arch. Sorry you didn't have the greatest weather for this excursion, but at least you got to see some cool sea life and spend a little time on the beach.

[dpmfloyd]

I can't believe how long and low that rainbow is! I don't think I've ever seen one with such a low arch. Sorry you didn't have the greatest weather for this excursion, but at least you got to see some cool sea life and spend a little time on the beach.

 

Thanks! The sun did manage to poke out now and again, but it was 70% overcast. We didn't let it ruin our time though! We were thrilled the skies didn't open up and pour on us. It looked like it could have!

[dpmfloyd]

Day 4: Continued

 

We returned to the dock, and there was one shuttle waiting to take a group of people back to the ship. I was happy to be in this first group. The college kids were still back at the dock and would have to wait for the next one. However, karma did rear it’s ugly head -- about 5 minutes into the return trip, I really had to use the bathroom. The thing about this excursion, they serve you champagne and other punchy drinks AFTER you snorklel To be clear, until they raise anchor, there is no booze served. I had enjoyed a few drinks, and light snacks (which got picked over very fast).

 

 

 

We returned to the ship where I ran for the bathroom at the port. After a quick poke around the shops for my wife to pick up some new beach bags she had seen, we returned to the ship. It was late, and the pools were full. We found a pair of chairs next to the main pool and soaked up some more sun...while ordering more drinks. :)

 

 

After a good chunk of time passed, we went back to the room to unwind a bit, before getting ready for dinner. We had reservations for the late comedy show, and we didn’t want to miss it. After dinner, we had more drinks (that premium package went a long way…), walked around some, and went to the comedy show. I forget who the comedians were, but the first guy was way funnier than the second. The comedians on our honeymoon cruise were far more funny.

 

 

 

after the show we went up to sorrento’s for some late night pizza, before turning it in for the night.

 

 

Coming up - Day 5 in St. Marteen: reviews on an excursion you WILL NOT want to miss!

[debbs0723]

Well hurry up with this St. Martin day:D

 

Debbie

[dpmfloyd]

Well hurry up with this St. Martin day:D

 

Debbie

 

its coming! hahaha :D

[dpmfloyd]

Day 5 - St. Marteen:

 

This. This was the day my wife was looking forward to. With her birthday being the weekend before, I booked an excursion that she would love. It was part of her birthday gift. Months before the trip, I had noticed a pricey excursion called “A Decadent Day in Paradise” show up. It was expensive, but it had some sense of mystery to it because I could not find any bit of information on it. (I later learned they started offering it in December).

 

 

I was only able to find one quick write up, about 10 days before our cruise on CC. What I read had me thrilled I had booked it! I learned it was a private residence that no more than 20 people could sign up for. A chic italian lunch would be served, along with an open bar featuring all many of the popular top shelf brands. The property was sea side, with privacy gates onto the beach. It had a large saltwater pool, a hot tub and fresh water pool. The salt water pool featured a waterfall and hand laid tiles. This excursion is only open to Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruisers. You had me at 20 people!

 

 

The meetup was for 9:45. We got off the ship at 8, and wandered around port. After 5 minutes of walking around, we learned everything was closed until 8:30 or whenever they decided to open. We hung around, as nothing seemed to open. Finally we went back to the ship to wait for our guide to meet up with the group. It felt like eternity, but finally Sam arrived and gathered the small group around - taking us to our private shuttle. There were already a few other people waiting, they came off the Celebrity ship.

 

 

We boarded the shuttle, and as we pulled away - Sam began to tell us about what we’d experience. She gave us some history to the island and the areas we were driving through. She was a great source of information, and knew a lot about the area. It would take about 25 minutes to get to the property. We were brought over a hillside, which opened up to a great view of the Allure and the port below. Some more twists and turns, and in no time- we were driving onto the property.

 

 

Immediately, everyone was in awe. Sam introduced us to one of the owners, her daughter and son-in-law - they would be catering to us for the day. We grabbed a towel and were handed a glass of champagne, and we were on our own. Everyone locked down a pair of padded loungers. One couple took it upon themselves to take the only hammock’s on the property. This seemed to rub everyone the wrong way. There were a pair of loungers intended for two people - but at no time did they share. They were the annoying group in the bunch. Loud, disrespective towards everyone else… they really got under our skin.

 

 

The property is serene. Quiet. Beautiful. The family put on some very relaxing music on the property-wide stereo - absolute bliss. We were free to relax and enjoy our time at our own speed. It seemed as though everyone grabbed a camera and immediately took pictures, or jumped on the free wi-fi. I grabbed a drink, relaxed and ...well… here are some pictures….

 

 

- take note of the waterfall, its not big, but it was so nice!

 

 

 

 

Sadly, I was waaaay too relaxed to take more pictures… the few that I do have do not do it justice. I do have video (ya, i know… later) which shows a hair more of the property.

 

 

 

Lunch was amazing. I wish, I really wish I took pictures of the homemade buffet before everyone ate it all. Dessert was a Gelato cake. The family also owns a very popular Gelato restaurant on the island. We spent some time on the beach. They don’t suggest swimming in the water, the current is far too strong. Plus there are large rocks on the beach that make getting in and out of the water virtually impossible.

 

 

The ride back was a sad one. Our guide Sam pointed out some additional sights while we met back up with the Allure.

 

 

By this point it hit us...this was our last time off the ship until we arrive in Fort Lauderdale. The next two days will be sea days - time to make the best of it!

 

 

We boarded, and cooled off in one of the pools as the ship sailed away.

 

 

 

 

Coming Up - Sea Day, the DSLR pics I’ve been promising - as we wind down this fantastic vacation review.

[dpmfloyd]

Day 5: Sea Day

 

I’ve been meaning to wake up at my usual’ish time, grab my camera and take pictures around the ship. I had been putting it off. Finally, I woke up - and I grabbed my camera and wandered…

 

 

 

 

[dpmfloyd]

Day 5: Sea Day - continued…

 

 

 

 

and now i’m just going to get lazy and unload all the pictures I didn’t post before…

 

 

 

[dpmfloyd]

 

 

 

 

[dpmfloyd]

 

 

 

 

[dpmfloyd]

 

Edited April 10, 2014 by dpmfloyd
double post

[Ocean Boy]

Day 5 - St. Marteen:

 

By this point it hit us...this was our last time off the ship until we arrive in Fort Lauderdale. The next two days will be sea days - time to make the best of it!

 

 

We boarded, and cooled off in one of the pools as the ship sailed away.

 

 

 

I always feel a bit sad too knowing that we are boarding the ship for the last time and heading back to Ft. Lauderdale.