Sunburned and Extremely Satisfied! Allure of the Seas- April 24 - May 1st- Eastern Ca

[sagette]

First cruise with RC and we went big! It was my husband (40) and me (39) along with his sister, brother in law, nephews, and their extended family. We stayed in an ocean view balcony cabin 11652. Ports were Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.

 

Overall, we absolutely loved this cruise! It was spring break week for much of upstate New York, and we knew going in that it was sold out. That said, very rarely did it feel like "there are 6,000 people on this boat!!"

 

The size of the ship is just incredible and I thought for the most part, RC does an excellent job of not jamming too many people in one spot.

 

Our cabin was very clean, bed was very comfortable, and the deck was the perfect size to sit with a book.

 

We saw Mama Mia and Blue Planet on board and enjoyed both. Tried to get into comedy show one night but no luck. I knew going in that it can be difficult to get into without reservations as I read about here before even boarding. Husband zip lined and did rock climbing wall. I was content to take pictures. :D

 

Both my husband and I took full advantage of the solarium. In fact, it was probably one of my favorite places to hang out on sea days. Love the use of this space!

 

We are not foodies, so really our opinion may not be worth much, but we enjoyed the food. Breakfast buffet is breakfast buffet. Husband was not crazy about scrambled eggs, but thought everything else was decent.

 

We only ate breakfast in the Windjammer once. Remember how I wrote that rarely did I feel I was on a ship with 6,000?! The few times I did feel like that were mostly in the WJ! Once we realized we could get breakfast in the Solarium Bistro, we'd get up and head there. Much more peaceful.

 

We ate breakfast one morning in Johnny Rockets. Food was good and I enjoyed the potatoes, but service was a bit slow. I would eat there again, but get there right at opening especially if it's an earlier port day.

 

Lunch: Johnny Rockets, which we thought was pretty standard Johnny Rocket's food.

 

Sabor: Delicious!! The guacamole was so good! Would definitely stop for lunch again.

 

Park Cafe: Ate lunch here a few times. The roast beef sandwiches were as good as promised! Husband got the made to order salads and was very impressed.

 

Just Because:

 

Dinner: We ate all of our meals in MDR except for the first night. Now remember I said we're not foodies, but we felt the quality of the food along with the number of choices were very good to excellent.

 

Just Because:

 

 

 

 

 

 

More to come!

[sagette]

So, while we enjoyed the food, we both felt like service in the MDR was just average. Now we did do anytime dining and that very well could have been why, but we felt that this was an area that could be improved upon.

 

Drink Packages: we purchased the Ultimate package for me and the Select Beverage package for the husband. I got my money's worth (paranoid), my husband felt he will be better off going without next time.

 

I was not impressed with the way they separate bar drinks/specialty coffee drinks in the MDR. Our waiter couldn't place my bar order. I had to wait for the bar guy and most of the time it was quite a while in between refills. And when it was dessert time and I wanted my cafe mocha with my dessert? I felt like I had to wave the bar guy down during appetizers to put my coffee order in. And the card. Well the first bar guy had my card, so the second bar guy had to skulk around until the first bar guy came back with my card. There has got to be a better way to do this? That all said, this was a minor blip in the grand scheme of a fabulous cruise.

[atnolan94]

Thanks for the review.

 

I usually get a drink while heading to dinner and that will be my drink for dinner. Never had luck ordering from our waiter.

[sagette]

Thanks for the review.

 

 

 

I usually get a drink while heading to dinner and that will be my drink for dinner. Never had luck ordering from our waiter.

 

 

 

I did that too, but would have been better off walking back to the bar myself for refills.

[sagette]

Embarkation: Wow! RC has this down to a science. So easy and painless. We arrived at Port Everglades at noon and were on the boat and eating lunch by 1:00.

 

Disembarking: We chose self disembark and got lined up at 6:00. We were off the boat and headed to airport by 6:50. Easily made our 8:45am flight (I know, I know! It was *not* my idea!)

 

Ports:

 

Nassau: Having been here before, we were okay with staying on the boat. That said, we did get off and walk around the straw market, but after a half an hour or so we're ready to get back on the boat.

 

Leaving Nassau:

 

 

St. Thomas: We booked the FastCat 2 island swim and snorkel tour. We enjoyed it, but they book a large group. We would probably look for a smaller group excursion next time.

 

St. Maarten: We booked A Golden Eagle Sail Away on a friend's recommendation and really liked it. Warning: take something for motion sickness even if you're usually pretty sea hardy! Several members of our tour were quite sick off the back of the catamaran. We both agreed that we would do this tour again.

[sagette]

There is so much more, but bottom line is that I loved cruising with Royal Caribbean! My big question though is after being on such a "bells and whistles" ship, will my next cruise, likely on a smaller class ship to Southern Caribbean, feel like I'm on a bucket of bolts?! :D

[Surfguyxxx]

I don't think so. RCI is great and I love cruising on each and every ship. Yes, the bigger ships have a lot to offer but the other class ships are fantastic too. No, you're not going to zip line on Freedom of the Seas, but you will have a great time. It's all about doing what "you" want and then doing what you "don't" want. Read a book in the solarium or watch a belly flop contest: it's your cruise.

[LuCruise]

Subscribing. You were on the next Eastern cruise on Allure following us. Great review so far.

 

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[Surfguyxxx]

Subscribing. You were on the next Eastern cruise on Allure following us. Great review so far.

 

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Very much agree. MORE MORE MORE

[annpeal]

Thank you for this post we are doing the same cruise on 8 th May .

 

 

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[sagette]

Thank you for this post we are doing the same cruise on 8 th May .

 

 

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I think you should take me with you! :D

[Dkings20]

Embarkation: Wow! RC has this down to a science. So easy and painless. We arrived at Port Everglades at noon and were on the boat and eating lunch by 1:00.

 

Disembarking: We chose self disembark and got lined up at 6:00. We were off the boat and headed to airport by 6:50. Easily made our 8:45am flight (I know, I know! It was *not* my idea!)

 

Ports:

 

Nassau: Having been here before, we were okay with staying on the boat. That said, we did get off and walk around the straw market, but after a half an hour or so we're ready to get back on the boat.

 

Leaving Nassau:

 

 

St. Thomas: We booked the FastCat 2 island swim and snorkel tour. We enjoyed it, but they book a large group. We would probably look for a smaller group excursion next time.

 

St. Maarten: We booked A Golden Eagle Sail Away on a friend's recommendation and really liked it. Warning: take something for motion sickness even if you're usually pretty sea hardy! Several members of our tour were quite sick off the back of the catamaran. We both agreed that we would do this tour again.

We are doing the same excursion on St Thomas next week (Allure). Do you have any advise/suggestions regarding your experiences on the excursion? We are going with 6 others in our group. Thanks!!!!

[sagette]

Our group met in the Amber theater and then walked off the boat right to the excursion. I wish I brought a waterproof camera to take pictures while we snorkeled as a turtle came up for air right by us. I would also recommend something for preemptive motion sickness as when you are going to your snorkeling spot, the "fast" part comes into play and there were some people who were sick. They have rum punch which they hand out liberally :D, soda, and water. They also sell t-shirts and I wished I would have purchased one. Have a great time!

[cb at sea]

Next cruise....try breakfast in the dining room...any kind of eggs...any combination of foods that you want! So nice!

[WiscoGirl32]

Our group met in the Amber theater and then walked off the boat right to the excursion. I wish I brought a waterproof camera to take pictures while we snorkeled as a turtle came up for air right by us. I would also recommend something for preemptive motion sickness as when you are going to your snorkeling spot, the "fast" part comes into play and there were some people who were sick. They have rum punch which they hand out liberally :D, soda, and water. They also sell t-shirts and I wished I would have purchased one. Have a great time!

Was this a private booked excursion or through Royal? Price? Duration? You said there were a lot of people on the excursion?

 

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[Clarea]

Enjoyed the review.

[sagette]

Was this a private booked excursion or through Royal? Price? Duration? You said there were a lot of people on the excursion?

 

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We booked through Royal. I believe it was about 3 1/2-4 hours. It is a bigger group, but it was still fun.

[Wailea75]

Love the food pictures! We will be on the Allure (first time RC cruisers as well) next month. Thank you for the review.

[monorail81]

So, while we enjoyed the food, we both felt like service in the MDR was just average. Now we did do anytime dining and that very well could have been why, but we felt that this was an area that could be improved upon.

 

We were on the same sailing and also did My Time Dining. We had a standing 5:30 reservation every night. We had a GREAT team of servers. I guess it just depends on who your waiter is and what kind of mood they are in. We were in and out each night in less than an hour and 20 minutes. Our food was always perfect (except the first formal night prime rib. But that wasn't the waiter's fault. He didn't raise the cow! Lol!). And he always brought an extra entree for us to share even though we didn't order one. I'm sorry you didn't get the same kind of outstanding service!

[WiscoGirl32]

We booked through Royal. I believe it was about 3 1/2-4 hours. It is a bigger group, but it was still fun.

Thank you! What was the name of it again? And any pics to share?

 

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Edited May 5, 2016 by WiscoGirl32

[islandgirl70]

We were on the same sailing as you and I completely agree with everything you said. The only time we noticed the crowd was in the WJ. We also ended up eating in the Solarium quite a bit.

 

We really enjoyed Sabor and I definitely recommend it to everyone! It was absolutely amazing!

 

We saw Mama Mia, Blue Planet and the comedy show. My only complaint about this boat was that we had to make reservations so far ahead of time. I miss just showing up 15-20 minutes before and not having to worry about getting in. We did have reservations for every show, I still felt like we were required to arrive 30+ minutes ahead of time and we were still trampled going in.

 

We also had a super easy time for embarkation! We arrived around 1030 and was on the boat eating lunch not long after that.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise, it's nice to see a review with lots of positives! If you are looking for a cruise for next year, Navigator is offering Southern Caribbean 9 nights for good prices!

Edited May 5, 2016 by islandgirl70

[sagette]

Thank you! What was the name of it again? And any pics to share?

 

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FastCat 2 Island Swim and Snorkel Tour. I don't think I have pictures from it because I used my phone camera and it was not in a waterproof case. For my next cruise I am going to bring a waterproof camera. You asked about price and I can't remember the exact amount, but I want to say it was about $85? It is on the RC website under St. Thomas shore excursions.

[sagette]

We were on the same sailing and also did My Time Dining. We had a standing 5:30 reservation every night. We had a GREAT team of servers. I guess it just depends on who your waiter is and what kind of mood they are in. We were in and out each night in less than an hour and 20 minutes. Our food was always perfect (except the first formal night prime rib. But that wasn't the waiter's fault. He didn't raise the cow! Lol!). And he always brought an extra entree for us to share even though we didn't order one. I'm sorry you didn't get the same kind of outstanding service!

 

We did my time and were unable to get reservations. We usually ended up in the dining room around 7:00-7:30 each night. I think for our next cruise I want to have a set dining time and schedule our evening around that. We also had the same experience as far as the amount of time. We were never there for more than an hour and a half.

[sagette]

We were on the same sailing as you and I completely agree with everything you said. The only time we noticed the crowd was in the WJ. We also ended up eating in the Solarium quite a bit.

 

We really enjoyed Sabor and I definitely recommend it to everyone! It was absolutely amazing!

 

We saw Mama Mia, Blue Planet and the comedy show. My only complaint about this boat was that we had to make reservations so far ahead of time. I miss just showing up 15-20 minutes before and not having to worry about getting in. We did have reservations for every show, I still felt like we were required to arrive 30+ minutes ahead of time and we were still trampled going in.

 

We also had a super easy time for embarkation! We arrived around 1030 and was on the boat eating lunch not long after that.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise, it's nice to see a review with lots of positives! If you are looking for a cruise for next year, Navigator is offering Southern Caribbean 9 nights for good prices!

 

 

I agree about the show reservations. Because we booked the cruise later, we ended up getting the 9:30 Mama Mia and the 10:30 Blue Planet. That's way past our bedtime! :p

 

I think our Southern Caribbean cruise will have to wait until 2018 as we are doing a land based vacation next April. :(

[sdpete]

We were on the same cruise and agree with your review. One of our best cruises.