Trip Report Allure Med 2015

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

If you want to go to Rome completely on your own it is really simple. The train station in Civitavecchia is pretty close to the harbor and in Rome it is less than a ten minute walk to St Peters Square. All you have to do is buy the correct tickets and make sure you leave time to miss a train. So don’t take the last train you can, take the one before that, just in case.

 

 

Our tour was through Royal Caribbean, but like I said you can really do it on your own. I just liked the security of knowing we were on a "ship tour", so as long as we made it back to the train station on time we wouldn't miss the ship. The train wee took was chartered, so there were no other stops and no other passengers. That will of course not be the case if you go on your own.

 

 

Everything ran so smoothly that we actually got back an hour before scheduled. That was fine with us as we were having our anniversary dinner at Giovannis at eight and we really needed to shower. So we relaxed in our cabin for about an hours and then started getting ready for dinner.

 

Thanks! I realized that upon rereading it.

 

I 100% agree with you about the insurance that the ship will wait (or worst-case cover the cost of getting you to the next port) with a ship-based excursion. Especially where the distances are like they are in some of the Med ports.

 

I'd contemplated doing the train ticket for Rome, but since I haven't been there before, I think I may go with one of the tours that hits the points I want to see and still gives us a couple of hours of free time.

[Hardrocknerd]

Again, we had a lovely meal at Giovannis although the server wasn’t quite as friendly as Barry and Suriawan that we’d had as servers for lunch on embarkation day.

 

For starters we had the Caprese salad and the Carpaccio, and for the main course I took the risotto with mushrooms and Niklas had the Pappardelle. Very lovely and for dessert we actually had three, the mud cake, the tiramisú and the cannoli. Delicious!

 

 

Again I apologize for the half-eaten food.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That evening we also had reservations to se the headliner which was The Beatle Maniacs. Guess what kind of music they played...

 

I'll give you two hints:

 

Can you guess?

 

 

 

It was really good, but we couldn’t stay the whole show. Remember how I said we’d woken up with the sniffles? Well, I had forgotten to pack nasal spray and was getting a bit of a stuffy nose, so after dinner we had gone past the store and bought some medicine. They didn’t have any spray, but had some tablets.

 

One of the side effects, it said on the box, was drowsiness. Boy, they weren’t kidding! Apparently I fell right asleep in the middle of the show, and Niklas woke me up and took me back to the cabin. So that was the end of our day in Rome.

[Hardrocknerd]

The pills must have done something, because I woke up the next morning feeling good. Our plan for the day was to take a trip to Capri, where we’d been on our honeymoon.

 

A tip for anyone planning to go to Capri completely on their own: It’s true you don’t need to pre-order tickets to the ferry, but if you’re going after nine; pre-order!

 

Otherwise you might have to do what we did which was stand in line for 30 minutes to buy the tickets for the ferry, only for it to be sold out right before you get to the register, and you have to either buy tickets for the next one which doesn’t leave for over an hour, or try for one of the other lines and hope you get to the register before they sell out their departures.

 

Because they have about two or three different companies that have ferries to Capri, but they each sell their own tickets and it’s all a bit messy after nine, because especially now in august when the italians are on vacation, they also want to go to Capri, and with three cruise ships in port that day it was a bit crowded.

 

The MSC Divina was in town along with a Norwegian ship.

 

 

It's quite a view from the ferry.

 

 

Finally there!

[Hardrocknerd]

But anyways, we got to Capri at about twelve thirty (I wasn’t joking about the lines), and decided to get some lunch before making the hike to Capri Town. Niklas had a Caprese salad (A real one! The one in Giovannis is fine, but this is the genuine article) , and I had a pizza (We're in Italy, what did you think I was going to get?).

 

 

About five seconds after taking this picture I realized they had given me the wrong pizza.

 

 

This was the correct one. Very good by they way, just wish I’d gotten it sooner.

[Hardrocknerd]

So we started the walk to the town center. Since we’d been there before, we knew how to find the stairs. Many people start walking on the road, but with all the busses and cars you run the risk of getting stuck to a bumper.

 

So when you get of the ferry and the dock, go left until you see this little ”square”.

 

 

Walk towards the signs for the shower, and look for the little sign that point towards the Capri Centro.

 

 

There are public toilets at the bottom and the top of those stairs, and they cost 50 cents, so bring some small currency if you can.

 

 

The stairs are steeper than taking the road, but it goes a lot faster and you won’t have to look out for cars and busses all the time. There are busses that take you to Capri Town and Anacapri, but beware, they are very crowded.

 

These busses go to Anacapri and S. Costanzo from the right side of the harbor, the busses for Capri Town go from the left side of the harbor

 

The timetable. I think. My Italian is worse than my French.

 

 

 

You can also take the funicular up to Capri Town, but remember you need to buy the tickets before you get in line. To buy those tickets you go right when you come of the dock. And you’ll se arrows pointing towards the ticket counter.

[Hardrocknerd]

When we got to the top we grabbed an ice cream, and then I went on the hunt for some small bottles of Limoncello.

 

We just walked around a bit, and then started the walk down to the Marina. We did walk on the road for a bit just to walk past the hotel where we spent our honeymoon.

 

Hotell Villa Marina Grande with it's restaurant Ziqú.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who wants yum-yum? We want yum-yum!

 

 

Who wants.. eh.. ok, never mind.

 

 

Anyone up for Christmas ornaments? No? You sure?

 

 

 

Not all roads are made for tall people...

[Hardrocknerd]

When we got down we took of our shoes and got our feet wet. The water is nice, but on some places you have to watch out for glass. Also, the beaches near Marina Grande are not that grande, so be prepared for the crowd.

 

 

We had tickets for the 17:10 ferry back to Naples, and the organization on Capri was actually worse than in Naples. I Naples, you get to know what dock you are boarding at, for instance, we boarded at dock 7.

 

In Capri, they kind of just went: ”Meh, it might be six, seven or eight. Or maybe five.” So a lot of people started gathering at eight because there was a ferry there from the same company we had bought the tickets from. But for some reason, the crew on the ferry didn’t know if they were the ones leaving at 17:10!

 

They just kind of shrugged when anyone asked. Finally someone said that it wasn’t that ferry that was leaving at 17:10 but it would be arriving at dock six or seven. So everyone went and stood between six and seven.

 

Then, just as the ferry was pulling in to dock six, the crewmembers from the ferry at dock eight came walking shouting that everyone that was going on the 17:10 ferry had to go to dock eight, because we were going on the ferry already docked there. It was a complete mess.

 

Anyways, we finally got on the ferry, and got back to Naples. Since we had some time to spare (you have to be onboard at 19:30 at the latest and it was just after 18:00) we walked around to see if you could rent some scooters around the port area. We were looking for a CC-boarder who had asked if we could take a look. No luck however, and we went back to the ship.

 

I know you shouldn't take pictures of a lady's behind, but I couldn't help myself. :D

 

 

MSC Divina leaving port.

 

 

Pier runners! 30 seconds later, they pulled in the gangway.

 

 

Told ya!

[Hardrocknerd]

After watching the pier runners we decided to go up on deck and watch the sail away.

 

We got some really nice pictures of Naples and of the ship.

 

 

See all the big, white boats? Those are the ferries to Capri. Impossible to miss after you leave the terminal, so don't be afraid to go there on your own.

 

 

 

Norwegian Spirit was leaving right after us.

 

 

 

I climbed Mt Vesuvius, and didn't even get a t-shirt.

 

 

 

This photo is actually not of a cabin. Notice there's no balcony door. Hmmm...

 

 

 

I want to go back already.

[Hardrocknerd]

When we got back in, we found a new friend waiting for us in our cabin:

 

 

He's even got a face this time!

 

 

 

We couldn’t really decide what we wanted to do for dinner tonight. It was the second formal night, and while we don’t mind dressing up, we just didn’t feel that hungry, and didn’t want to go to the MDR and be fancy just to eat some appetizers.

 

We walked by Café Promenade to check out what they had to offer, but in the end we just walked by Sorrentos and grabbed a few slices.

 

 

 

While I will absolutely agree that the pizza in Capri is miles better, the one in Sorrentos really isn’t that bad. It works if you just want a quick bite and nothing more.

[tonkie]

I want to go back already.

 

Its going to be a looooooooooooooooooong 3 weeks for us after seeing and reading your excellent reviews:D

 

Thanks for the time and effort that you have put in

[Hardrocknerd]

We then moved up to central park and listened to some guitar music and relaxed.

 

 

 

After an hour we went back to the promenade to Bow and Stern pub to listen to Cat play a few tunes. She is very good, and I really like that she has a list of songs you can request. Other times it can be awkward because you don’t want to request something they can’t play, and sometimes they don’t do requests at all.

 

 

 

Tonight there was the white party on the boardwalk. Neither Niklas nor I are dancers, but I did want to take some pictures, so we went up to deck 15 and got a great overview.

 

Nothing beats doing some Gangnam Style in the middle of the Mediterranean

 

 

We played some table tennis, and then went back to the cabin to sit on the balcony for a while. It was dark out but we could see other ships out in the ocean, and we also saw a thunderstorm. It was amazing. It was so far away that we didn’t hear the thunder, but we could see the lightning and it looked almost magical.

 

Off to bed at around midnight, and tomorrow would be our last day on the Allure of the seas. :(

[TxStacey]

I am loving your review!! I will be on The Harmony next July..same itinerary! It's our first time to Europe and we are super excited! Thanks for all of the fabulous pictures!

[Hardrocknerd]

On sea day we woke up at eight and went to breakfast in the MDR.

 

Best.View.Ever!

 

 

Breakfast of champions

 

 

When we got back to our room we had gotten our luggage tags, and we were in the last group to leave the ship at between 9:15 and 9:30. That worked fine for us as we would be staying a night in Barcelona.

[Hardrocknerd]

We got changed and decided to take one last tour of the ship before going up to the Solarium.

 

We went down to the running track and walked around the ship.

 

Are they actually expecting people to fit on these small seat in the life boats? Have they seen their clientele?

 

 

I'm thinking about making this my screensaver

 

 

Or maybe this one.

 

 

 

When we got to the rock climbing wall, I decided to try it out. Bad, bad idea. For two reasons. One, the sun had been shining on the wall for a couple of hours, and those handholds were hot! Two, the shoes were absolutely miniscule. I have a size 41-42. I went up to size 44, finally said "I give up", and just got on with it. Oh, well. I managed to ring the bell halfway up, and then I got down. My toes actually hurt for the rest of the day. :D

[Hardrocknerd]

After my failed attempt at being athletic, we went in to the gym to check it out.

 

If people going to the gym while vacationing on the biggest ship in the world bothers you, look away now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK, you can look now. Here's some food to make you feel better:

 

 

[tlatrice]

Loving your review!!! A Mediterranean cruise is one of my bucket list cruises! I'm trying to make mental notes of all your tips! Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to do this. It's been an awesome journey!

[Hardrocknerd]

We finally managed to get to the solarium. There were of course people there, but not so many we couldn’t find two loungers together. We decided to try the unheated pool again. Ho boy! Not the most pleasant experience ever.

 

Seriously. The coldest pool in existence.

 

 

 

 

After that we had to go into the whirlpool to warm up. We stayed and dried for a while but a noon we were getting hungry so we went to Giovannis for lunch. We got Suriawan as our sever again, and had a great time. Before leaving we got his Facebook name and promised to connect with him.

 

 

 

We made it to the Aqua theatre just in time to see contestant number three in the belly flop competition. It was a great show, and the winner won fair and square. We stayed to watch the ”Sexiest Man” competition and believe it or not, the same guy won! I had a great time, but I think Niklas found it a bit embarrassing.

 

This guy wasn't naked, but in true southern European fashion the bathing trunks didn't leave much to the imagination.

 

 

The winner, representing the US of A

 

He was also strutting his stuff during the sexiest man competition. And won of course!

 

 

 

I think the guy to the right misunderstood what he was supposed to do...

[Hardrocknerd]

We walked back to the cabin and sat on the balcony for a while, but the great weather had started to go away and it was getting overcast, so after an hour we headed inside again.

 

 

We had some time to spare before we had to go to the Amber Theatre for the Blue Planet show, so we took a trip to the arcade and played some air hockey.

The Blue planet show was really impressive. The dancers and acrobats were skilled and the singers were also in the Mamma Mia show, so they really had the skills needed for this show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

No flash was used of course!

 

After the show I was feeling a bit restlest. So when we got back to the cabin I decided to go down to the running track for a walk. I managed about 5 km, and saw a lot of people that had the same idea.

 

 

Loved this sign next to the track!

[Hardrocknerd]

We had decided to go to the MDR tonight.

 

We got there at about seven thirty, and had about a ten minute wait for a table. This was the first time that we got a bad waiter. We had to actually ask for the wine list! Twice!

 

Now, everybody can have a bad day, so I’m not going to mention names, and I’m not going to put him down on the survey. What I will do is compliment the assistant waiter. Moises was a great guy.

 

Smiling, joking and generally being helpful. The waiter asked us if we wanted some water. We told him we had the Replenish package and asked for bottles of still water. He took out sea pass cards and disappeared. Then Moises came by and asked the same thing, so we explained that we had ordered. Finally it was Moises who came with the water, the sea passes and the wine list. He took our orders, and when I laughed and said that I really liked seafood, because I noticed when ordering that I had picked the scallops and shrimp for starters, and fish, scallops and shrimp for the main course, he brought out a second plate full of fried jumbo shrimps for me.

 

 

Behold the food!

Scallops

 

 

Niklas starter, a salad

 

 

Fish and shrimps. With extra shrimps!

 

 

Niklas had a pasta

 

 

Yummy dessert.

 

 

Meanwhile the waiter didn’t even smile when he took our orders for wine, and when he brought out the tab, he actually stood and watched over my shoulder when I signed it. So he was not my favorite person on this cruise.

 

This was also the evening when I saw the absolutely most casually dressed person at dinner. A young female in her late teens/early twenties with her parents. Dressed in a pair of shorts showing some cheek, and a top showing a bare midriff. On the same night there was also a wedding party in full formal getup. Talk about contrasts! :D

 

After dinner, it was time to pack. Boooooo!

We had gotten our bottles of wine back and put them in some bubble wrap-bottles that we'd gotten from Amazon. Then we packed them in our large suitcases.

We places the bags outside and after that we just laid in bed watching some standup on YouTube before going to sleep. Tomorrow we would be leaving the wonderful Allure of the seas.

Edited August 26, 2015 by Hardrocknerd

[Hardrocknerd]

Breakfast on the last morning was just the same as all the others, and after having eaten we went back up to the cabin to pack the last things in our carry on, and then we went down to the amber theatre to wait for our number to be called.

 

We had number 53, which according to the papers given to us were to disembark between 9:15-9:30. At about 8:40 we were bored at just sitting in our room, so we went down to the Amber theatre on deck five which is used by the disembarking passengers.

 

At around nine they had gotten to number 37, and at ten past they simply called out that all numbers could disembark. If you belonged to section A-E (depending on your muster station) you disembarked to the left of Sorrentos. If you had section F-G you disembarked next to the Champagne Bar.

 

So we got in line to disembark, and our suitcases appeared on the luggage belt just as we arrived. We were off the ship and through the terminal in less than ten minutes. There are no customs to go through, so it's pretty quick.

 

Since it was early and not so hot yet, and we weren't in a hurry, we actually decided to walk back to our hotel over the dreaded bridge. It was actually easier on the way back.

 

If you're thinking about getting a cab, you might want to do the express departure where you carry your own bags of as soon as the ship docks. Norwegian Epic comes in to Barcelona the same day, and these were the taxi lines at 9:30:

Lots of taxis, but also lots and lots of passengers.

 

 

And so, we left the lovely Allure.

[fisherguy]

Awesome review!

 

I went on the same cruise about a month earlier. It was interesting reading your report as you did quite a few things different than us. Although I don't drink wine much, the wine tours would have been really interesting. I probably would have enjoyed them more than some of the museums we went to.

 

Question for you, does the royal replenish package include the smoothies and juices in the juice bar in the Vitality Spa?

[Hardrocknerd]

OK, I've now been in front of the computer for over five hours. Time to stop for the day. I'll be back tomorrow. I'm going to do a little recap, talk about the Wi-Fi and other stuff I couldn't really fit in anywhere in the review, and also scan some more documents.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and I'll answer them to the best of my knowledge.

 

Goodnight everyone, and I hope you enjoyed the review.

 

Don't forget that you can check out the images (there are more than the ones I posted here) on my Flickr. The links are in the first post.

Edited August 26, 2015 by Hardrocknerd

[Oakman]

Thank you so much for the excellent review and photos. I really enjoy your commentary and writing style. I have a "big" birthday coming up next year (60) and have been trying to decide what to do. We have cruised Europe many times on smaller ships (Celebrity Century was my favorite) and were debating on sailing the Harmony during the inaugural European season. We have sailed the Allure and the Oasis in the Caribbean where the ship is the destination, so we are familiar with the size. Did you feel the size and passengers overwhelmed the ports? Were the excursions handled efficiently? Did you feel too tired to enjoy the ship after a day of touring? Looking into this cruise from Barcelona or the 12 night Briliiance. Any input would be appreciated.

Once again, thanks for the GREAT review!!!!

[Hardrocknerd]

Awesome review!

 

I went on the same cruise about a month earlier. It was interesting reading your report as you did quite a few things different than us. Although I don't drink wine much, the wine tours would have been really interesting. I probably would have enjoyed them more than some of the museums we went to.

 

Question for you, does the royal replenish package include the smoothies and juices in the juice bar in the Vitality Spa?

 

Everyone's different, that's what makes it so fun to read the reviews. :) I also don't really drink that much wine, I probably had more on this cruise than I have during several months at home. We're going to have to invite some people over to help us with the bottles we purchased.

 

No, the smoothies and juices are unfortunately not included in the Replenish package.

Edited August 26, 2015 by Hardrocknerd

[Bobal]

Such a great review :) We were on Allure in June (on the same itinerary) and our second time on Allure but you still provided me with some new info on the ship and the ports :o Great writing style and wonderful pictures. Thank you

 

We'll be on Allure again for the TA in October and this has got me excited to be on her all over again. :D