Allure Review 2/1/15 - 2/8/15

[CTNYER]

Just off the Allure today, and back to the cold weather in CT. We had a nice time. This trip escalated a few members of our group to Diamond members for RCCL, which was exciting. We've been on many RCCL cruises. We are not nit-picky and any day at sea is better than a day at home. I'll try to cover the main points without getting into TOO much boring detail. :)

 

Embarkation -

 

We were contacted by RCCL several days prior that there was a small norovirus outbreak on the sailing before ours. They advised us to get to port at certain times. We still arrived early, at approximately 11 AM, with plans to wait in the terminal for a few hours. Baggage drop off was fast, security was efficient, and we were brought to the waiting area where we waited for approx 30 minutes. Check-in was easy-peasy and we began following the "to the ship" signs within an hour of arriving at the pier - on board by 12:30.

 

The downside to embarkation: As we approached the area with photo backdrops, we were approached by an RCCL employee who asked for our SeaPass cards. She said "follow me", and led us to a backdrop. None of us are too crazy about taking photos, especially after a long morning of travel. One of the women in our party asked her if we could pass on the group photo and head to the ship. She replied "these are for facial recognition". Now - as a veteran cruiser, mostly with RCCL, I knew this not to be true. I nicely told her our photos were taken at the check-in counter and asked for her to return our SeaPass cards. She refused and said "I'm sorry, this is for facial recognition". This did not sit well with me. I found her lie to be unprofessional and offensive. Because we did not want to cause a scene, we did things her way and had the group photos taken. I did write her name down and will be contacting RCCL regarding this.

 

Moving on…..

 

Ship -

 

AMAZING! Clean, beautiful, HUGE. I was surprised at how little crowds there were. We had no problem finding deck chairs or seats in the solarium. One thing I will say, that I read on here beforehand, is that I found I did not see the ocean much. We had an inside room, and there were not many windows that look outside while you're walking around the ship. To see the water, you pretty much have to go up to the pool deck.

 

Entertainment -

 

The BEST entertainment I've seen on board a ship to date. We saw Chicago, Blue Planet, Ocean Aria and two nights of Comedy. All were a 10, except one comedian which I'd rate a 7 out of 10. The random flash mob in the Promenade was cool. Quest was……..as Quest always is - hilarious.

 

Food/Dining -

 

Dining options on board were great. The Windjammer was standard fare - good to okay. I will say the burgers in the windjammer were always burnt and cold. I finally went to Johnny Rockets and felt much more satisfied. The Park Cafe had great salads, soups and sandwiches. We also went to Ritas Cantina ($3 pp to get in, plus another $3-5 for a meal…not bad!) and were very pleased with the food quality. The service was a bit slow, however.

 

The dining room food was always solid. Not excellent but not poor. The dining room service was amazing. A few nights it took awhile for our cocktails to arrive, but we're patient so we lived.

 

Oh, and Starbucks is NOT included in any drink packages. I heard a lot of people whining about this on board. I did my homework so I did not expect it to be included.

 

Staterooms -

 

We all had inside rooms on deck 9 forward. Great convenient location. The layout of our room was odd, however. The closet was along the bed so it was difficult to access. We made do, though. Our cabin steward, Sean, was fantastic and we gave him a bonus tip on top of the auto-tip. He really deserved it.

 

Disembarkation -

 

We did the express disembarkation. We left the ship at approximately 7:15 am and stood in line at Customs for approximately 50 minutes. It took much longer than expected. There were only 2 customs stations open out of about 10 available, which surprised me. Once we cleared, there were plenty of cabs to take us to the airport.

 

 

Overall this was a great cruise. The Allure is probably my favorite large ship.

 

Sorry for the fast review but I'm exhausted from traveling and it's bed time. If you have ANY questions, feel free to ask! :cool:

[modes]

Thanks for taking the time.

[riclop]

Thanks for your review.

[CTNYER]

You are very welcome.

 

I forgot to add, we purchased the one day premium wifi package on the ship to use with our iPad. The wifi was fast and worked great. I think we paid about 45 bucks for 24 hours. There is cheaper, standard wifi. I would imagine that's a bit slower.

[topnole]

Im pretty sure on Allure the first photo is for facial recognition. That is how they put your pics in your binder unlike most of the other ships where you have to hunt and find your pics. I've had pics while riding the flow rider in my folder so they didn't swipe my card with those. It would have to be facial recognition.

 

Just off the Allure today, and back to the cold weather in CT. We had a nice time. This trip escalated a few members of our group to Diamond members for RCCL, which was exciting. We've been on many RCCL cruises. We are not nit-picky and any day at sea is better than a day at home. I'll try to cover the main points without getting into TOO much boring detail. :)

 

Embarkation -

 

We were contacted by RCCL several days prior that there was a small norovirus outbreak on the sailing before ours. They advised us to get to port at certain times. We still arrived early, at approximately 11 AM, with plans to wait in the terminal for a few hours. Baggage drop off was fast, security was efficient, and we were brought to the waiting area where we waited for approx 30 minutes. Check-in was easy-peasy and we began following the "to the ship" signs within an hour of arriving at the pier - on board by 12:30.

 

The downside to embarkation: As we approached the area with photo backdrops, we were approached by an RCCL employee who asked for our SeaPass cards. She said "follow me", and led us to a backdrop. None of us are too crazy about taking photos, especially after a long morning of travel. One of the women in our party asked her if we could pass on the group photo and head to the ship. She replied "these are for facial recognition". Now - as a veteran cruiser, mostly with RCCL, I knew this not to be true. I nicely told her our photos were taken at the check-in counter and asked for her to return our SeaPass cards. She refused and said "I'm sorry, this is for facial recognition". This did not sit well with me. I found her lie to be unprofessional and offensive. Because we did not want to cause a scene, we did things her way and had the group photos taken. I did write her name down and will be contacting RCCL regarding this.

 

Moving on…..

 

Ship -

 

AMAZING! Clean, beautiful, HUGE. I was surprised at how little crowds there were. We had no problem finding deck chairs or seats in the solarium. One thing I will say, that I read on here beforehand, is that I found I did not see the ocean much. We had an inside room, and there were not many windows that look outside while you're walking around the ship. To see the water, you pretty much have to go up to the pool deck.

 

Entertainment -

 

The BEST entertainment I've seen on board a ship to date. We saw Chicago, Blue Planet, Ocean Aria and two nights of Comedy. All were a 10, except one comedian which I'd rate a 7 out of 10. The random flash mob in the Promenade was cool. Quest was……..as Quest always is - hilarious.

 

Food/Dining -

 

Dining options on board were great. The Windjammer was standard fare - good to okay. I will say the burgers in the windjammer were always burnt and cold. I finally went to Johnny Rockets and felt much more satisfied. The Park Cafe had great salads, soups and sandwiches. We also went to Ritas Cantina ($3 pp to get in, plus another $3-5 for a meal…not bad!) and were very pleased with the food quality. The service was a bit slow, however.

 

The dining room food was always solid. Not excellent but not poor. The dining room service was amazing. A few nights it took awhile for our cocktails to arrive, but we're patient so we lived.

 

Oh, and Starbucks is NOT included in any drink packages. I heard a lot of people whining about this on board. I did my homework so I did not expect it to be included.

 

Staterooms -

 

We all had inside rooms on deck 9 forward. Great convenient location. The layout of our room was odd, however. The closet was along the bed so it was difficult to access. We made do, though. Our cabin steward, Sean, was fantastic and we gave him a bonus tip on top of the auto-tip. He really deserved it.

 

Disembarkation -

 

We did the express disembarkation. We left the ship at approximately 7:15 am and stood in line at Customs for approximately 50 minutes. It took much longer than expected. There were only 2 customs stations open out of about 10 available, which surprised me. Once we cleared, there were plenty of cabs to take us to the airport.

 

 

Overall this was a great cruise. The Allure is probably my favorite large ship.

 

Sorry for the fast review but I'm exhausted from traveling and it's bed time. If you have ANY questions, feel free to ask! :cool:

Edited February 9, 2015 by topnole

[Cruisin BK]

My wife will be on the Allure at the end of Feb this month. We want to make sure we plan ahead for any of the themed nights (disco, 80's, etc) Did your Allue cruise have any themed nights? If so, can you share some details? Thanks!

[Kik35]

Really enjoyed your report, then I noticed that you live in Branford, where we live too!!:). We are sailing on the Allure March 8th and can't wait!! Won't miss this lovely NE weather, 3rd or 4th(?)bad Monday in a row.:(:eek:

[LuCruise]

Thank you for your review. I love hearing about others experiences on any RCL ship, and also if its the ship we'll be on. Sorry you had a bit of a down start. How annoying with them insisting on you getting a group photo when you knew this wasn't necessary for facial recognition.

 

A couple questions:

1. Great to hear all shows were top notch. We are theatre show people and so very much look forward to these. What show is Quest?
   
2. Did you have traditional or My Time dining? And how did you find it?
   
3. Did you try and specialty restaurants? We'll probably stick to the dining room but always interested in others experiences.
   

 

Glad you had such a great trip.

[insidecabin]

Unless you want photos avoid that facial recognition photo stop.

 

Carefull with the location of the embarkation photo gauntlet, It has been known for photo people to claim security check to get hold of your card

[leinhto]

Great review. I am hoping my next sailing will be on Allure.

[CTNYER]

Im pretty sure on Allure the first photo is for facial recognition. That is how they put your pics in your binder unlike most of the other ships where you have to hunt and find your pics. I've had pics while riding the flow rider in my folder so they didn't swipe my card with those. It would have to be facial recognition.

 

We already had our photos taken at check-in for facial recognition.

[CTNYER]

We are theatre show people and so very much look forward to these. What show is Quest?

 

Quest is a scavenger hunt game show for adults only. It was held at 11:45 PM in Studio B (ice skating rink).

 

Did you have traditional or My Time dining? And how did you find it?

 

We had traditional dining - 8:30 PM. It was a bit late for me so next time I think I'll do the early seating. The positive was we were able to nap around 4-5 PM before dinner, so we can head out after and not be tired!

 

Did you try and specialty restaurants? We'll probably stick to the dining room but always interested in others experiences.

 

The only other restaurants we tried were Ritas Cantina (mexican) and Johnny Rockets, both for lunch. They were very good. We did not try any of the pricier steakhouses or restaurants.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[CTNYER]

My wife will be on the Allure at the end of Feb this month. We want to make sure we plan ahead for any of the themed nights (disco, 80's, etc) Did your Allue cruise have any themed nights? If so, can you share some details? Thanks!

 

Not that I can remember, but I wouldn't have participated so maybe I just didn't pay attention!

[LuCruise]

Quest is a scavenger hunt game show for adults only. It was held at 11:45 PM in Studio B (ice skating rink).

 

 

 

We had traditional dining - 8:30 PM. It was a bit late for me so next time I think I'll do the early seating. The positive was we were able to nap around 4-5 PM before dinner, so we can head out after and not be tired!

 

 

 

The only other restaurants we tried were Ritas Cantina (mexican) and Johnny Rockets, both for lunch. They were very good. We did not try any of the pricier steakhouses or restaurants.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

Thanks for your feedback. The scavenger hunt sounds fun (although a bit late for me). Sounds like a great cruise.

[insidecabin]

We already had our photos taken at check-in for facial recognition.

 

That is a security photo to be used by security and POS.

 

 

The photo peoples photo is for matching your other photos taken to you.

 

I would want these systems staying seperate.

[CTNYER]

That is a security photo to be used by security and POS.

 

 

The photo peoples photo is for matching your other photos taken to you.

 

I would want these systems staying seperate.

 

A photo, taken in front of a cruise ship backdrop, where they requested we make a funny face, is not for facial recognition. Sorry.

 

Edit to add: I just received a reply from RCI. They confirmed they take ONE facial recognition photo at check-in and any remaining photos are optional for your enjoyment. They apologized for their employee and said they will take measures to ensure it does not continue.

Edited February 9, 2015 by CTNYER

[CTNYER]

Thanks for your feedback. The scavenger hunt sounds fun (although a bit late for me). Sounds like a great cruise.

 

It is LOADS of fun. Try to go if you can!

[insidecabin]

A photo, taken in front of a cruise ship backdrop, where they requested we make a funny face, is not for facial recognition. Sorry.

 

Edit to add: I just received a reply from RCI. They confirmed they take ONE facial recognition photo at check-in and any remaining photos are optional for your enjoyment. They apologized for their employee and said they will take measures to ensure it does not continue.

 

Ok apologies

 

They have gone too far if that's what they are doing.

There should be an opt out of the photo people getting a hold of the security photo.

[Hawaii697]

That is a security photo to be used by security and POS.

 

 

The photo peoples photo is for matching your other photos taken to you.

 

I would want these systems staying seperate.

 

"The photo peoples photo is for matching your other photos taken to you."

 

I think all cruiselines should adopt this system. Disney uses this as well and believe me, I saved "hours" for looking for my pictures. It's an awesome system.

Edited February 9, 2015 by Hawaii697

[SF]

Thanks for posting your review. Glad to hear you had a nice cruise on Allure. Also happy to hear that so far they have managed to keep the noro virus to a minimum by their constant cleaning.

 

Did you do Eastern or Western?

 

Which night was the Quest?

 

Some threads on the boards mentioned that the Allure had more vibration than whats normal...did you find an excess of vibration on your sailing?

[CTNYER]

Thanks for posting your review. Glad to hear you had a nice cruise on Allure. Also happy to hear that so far they have managed to keep the noro virus to a minimum by their constant cleaning.

 

Did you do Eastern or Western?

 

Which night was the Quest?

 

Some threads on the boards mentioned that the Allure had more vibration than whats normal...did you find an excess of vibration on your sailing?

 

Our ports of call were St Maarten, St Thomas and Nassau. Our stay in Nassau was very short (arrived at 7 am, had to be back on board by 12:30 PM if I remember correctly).

 

Quest was the 5th night of the cruise (Thursday).

 

Funny you mention the vibration. I did feel it, more than on other cruises. It occurred during docking and definitely woke me up out of a deep sleep. Didn't bother me though (remember, I took naps! :D). It was almost like a wake up call to say, WE'RE HERE!

Edited February 10, 2015 by CTNYER

[cocoabeana]

I was also on this sailing. We had a great week!

 

I was on deck 12 Aft very back of the ship. One night the vibration was so bad, it kept me up all night. I am not sure if it was because the ship was at its top speed or what, but it was horrible. Luckily it was never that bad again, although I did always feel some vibration.

 

We had one night that was really rocky, but all in all great weather! I love the Allure!

 

The only negative is the long lines at the flow rider, but not much you can do about that.

[Russ Lomas]

The only negative is the long lines at the flow rider, but not much you can do about that.

A friend of mine cruise on the Allure the week prior to you and said the lines on the flow rider were minimal his week. Guess it all depends on the week you travel. As a flow rider addict, I am hoping for minimal lines when I cruise in March on the Allure.;)

[CTNYER]

A friend of mine cruise on the Allure the week prior to you and said the lines on the flow rider were minimal his week. Guess it all depends on the week you travel. As a flow rider addict, I am hoping for minimal lines when I cruise in March on the Allure.;)

 

It also depends on the time of day. If you go later in the afternoon, many people left the deck to head back to their rooms to nap, shower, etc. On our 6th day (sea day) I was able to stay on for a bit. But if you catch it from 11am-3pm on a sea day, you'll be waiting on line.

[jodrealtor]

We were on this sailing also. Fabulous ship. Don't miss the Aqua show. Absolutely incredible. Make sure to make reservations for all the shows prior to sailing. All the shows were great. Beatlemania brought back childhood memories. Our group of 6 had a fabulous time.

Dining room food was standard RCCL food. It has declined somewhat in the last few years, but still by far better than other lines.

My favorite place is Central Park. You can get the best Roast Beef sandwich you will ever have at Park Cafe. I am not a big roast beef fan, but I always have to have this when we are on Allure or Oasis.

We are Diamond Plus so we enjoyed the Concierge Lounge. Someone mentioned it is going away. Did they take it away on Oasis? We sail on that ship in June.

Our ports were Nassau, but didn't leave the ship as it dock at 7 and left at 2.

St. Thomas we just shopped around and St. Marteen we went out to Maho beach to watch the planes land right over the beach. Something I always wanted to see. Check that off my bucket list.

Allure is beautiful, the staff was constantly cleaning, and we are extremely diligent, maybe borderline OCD, but 2 of our 6 came down with the virus on day 6 and 7. So be very, very diligent, not only on Allure, but on all ships.