Just back from Allure - some quick thoughts

[RCCLFan0001]

Spent the Thanksgiving holiday on the Allure of the Seas with 18 family members, and I think everyone had a great time. I know my kids sure did (girls, 3 and 5) because I got in trouble from them every time we picked them up from kids club!

 

A couple quick things I figured I'd share with anyone going on Allure in the near future.

 

First, don't be like me and wait until the last day to try the Flowrider out if you intend to do it. Man oh man do I wish I'd done it on day 1 - I would have spent all afternoon in line for that!

 

Second, it was very clear around day 3 or 4 that someone on the ship had contracted the Norovirus. You can tell very easily by noticing the difference in cleaning. Not that they aren't very clean all the time, but they will wipe down all surfaces roughly every 15 minutes at bars and restaurants, and the hand rails on the stairs and down hallways were also very consistently being cleaned. They also don't bother to wipe off the cleaner they are putting on it so they are wet most of the time. Quite possibly more noticeable is that you cannot serve yourself the soft serve ice cream or the donuts. They will also get a little bit more vigilant about making sure that you use the Purell dispenser before they give you food anywhere outside of the main dining room or Windjammer, and at Windjammer they will make sure you use it before going inside.

 

Third, the food quality is definitely trending downward in the MDR as they try to push more and more people into the a la carte dining. That said, I did notice in the MDR that they always had an option for you to order a filet from Chops. We did eat at Chops (got a freebie through the TA for most of the group) and it was considerably better than the food served in the MDR. A group also went to Izumi and really enjoyed the food there as well - and they spent about 39 dollars per person to enjoy Izumi.

 

Lastly, if you enjoy listening to a good piano man and you're on the Allure go to the Schooner Bar every night (except Thursday) and listen to Matt Ganim - he is fantastic! I was there every night for the entertainment and it was amazing how many other people kept coming back each night, and how more new faces showed up each night as well. The first night it was pretty slow but midweek it was impossible to find any seats other than at the piano itself.

 

I may write a more thorough review tomorrow if work is as exciting as I expect it to be, but I hope people find this useful if they're sailing the Allure soon!

[Clarea]

Thanks for the report.

[CORKY_Q]

Thank you.......:)

[soccerdad72]

Was on the cruise this week as well. I think it was our second at sea day (day 5) when I heard the captain mention that there were norovirus cases reported and I also noticed they were wiping things down 24/7.

 

I spent many hours back at the Flowrider. Unfortunately for me, they require an adult to be there for anyone under 13, so I needed to be there for many hours with my 11-year old. Thankfully there's the Wipe Out Bar.

 

 

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[easyboy]

Nice to know your kids enjoyed the cruise and you were all spared of the virus. Thanks for the feedback.

[vrock]

Thank you for the report we will be on board in a couple of weeks. We are so excited. :)

[dutley]

Were the characters from the Trolls Movie on Allure? Going in February and my kids would love that.

[cruzin76]

Thanks for the review. It helps.

[soccerdad72]

Were the characters from the Trolls Movie on Allure? Going in February and my kids would love that.

 

I did not see any Trolls characters on board - they did show the movie twice in 3D in the Amber Theater, though.

[RCCLFan0001]

I did not see any Trolls characters on board - they did show the movie twice in 3D in the Amber Theater, though.

 

And I'm still bitter that I didn't make it to either showing!

 

Also, a quick note on the character breakfast - For 10 dollars a piece, we saw THREE characters: Po, Mort (don't even know who this guy is), and King Julien. I'd rather have my 10 dollars back than that. It was cute, and the kids enjoyed it, but they have meet and greets every day so we didn't need to pay to see 3 people, 1 of which we wouldn't have taken the time to see anyway.

[cb at sea]

Just a note...you need to keep your clothing away from recently "wiped down" surfaces....they are using bleach and it will ruin your clothes!

[M.miles06]

There was 2 meet and greets with Poppy and Branch. The movie also played on days 3 and 6 at 9:30am. We were on the Thanksgiving cruise also.

Edited November 29, 2016 by M.miles06

[Lisacope]

Here is my mini review:

I too spent Thanksgiving week on the Allure. We were two groups of families of 3 and RC gave us a huge OBC for booking the cabins together – this just showed up on our account when we checked it! The ship is truly beautiful and all of the spaces are so well designed. It was obvious that there was a noro outbreak, the constant cleaning made that clear, but no one in our party got sick.

Some highlights included:

 

- The entertainment. There was a jazz quartet in the Jazz club that was awesome. We popped in there 3 times. The comedian was funny and we enjoyed that. Mama Mia was also fantastic.

- Having a Starbucks onboard. This was really great – most cruise ship coffee is pretty awful and I am truly a coffee snob.

- The ship is really beautiful and it would be really difficult to experience all of the activities and entertainment.

- We somehow became platinum which was rather mysterious to me – we have done maybe 3 RC cruises in the past, do they also include our 3-4 celebrity cruises in the total? We got a bunch of unexpected discounts because of this.

- Our self-planned shore excursions. With assistance from the cc boards, we had a great time ashore.

o We did the Tru Bahamian Bites of Nassau tour in Nassau. This was fun and a great way to spend the few hours we had in this port. This was so much better than buying touristy crap

o Beach/Snorkeling tour with Captain Bob Cass in St. Martin, this was a nice small group which got us to several beach and snorkeling spots, swimming with the turtles was so cool!

o A day “pass” at the Emerald Beach resort on St. Thomas. We called them the morning we got to the island and got a reservation for a “day room?”. What a great deal – they charged us about $30 per person and we had a room in the hotel, beach towels, loungers in the shade, coupons for BOGO drinks, and couple of free activity coupons that we used to paddleboard. This was a beautiful, very clean private beach that was only a few minutes from the ship. It was awesome to have all of the amenities of the resort with a room to shower and change in. This was a fantastic deal as many of the resorts that we called were charging 60-95 per person for the same thing.

A few minor lowlights:

- The service was not especially personal, our stateroom attendant never introduced himself and although he did a fine job there was not the same feeling of attention that we have experienced in the past. We had an issue with stateroom charges because I had made some bookings prior to sailing and we then switched some cabins around. Although I called ahead of time, and then checked in with guest services after boarding, this never truly got resolved.

- The constant barrage of hard sell from the spa, the for-pay restaurants, retail outlets and the beverage package was truly annoying and difficult to ignore.

- The food was such a mixed bag – I think the Samba Grill was the best meal we had, and Chops was pretty good but the variety and level of food in the main dining room and the WJ was mediocre.

[eyeeye]

I too was on the Allure for Thanksgiving. I agree with the mini review as posted.Ship was beautiful, Windjammer food was barely passable. The key to having a good dinner experience in the MDR is too try and request the same wait staff every night if you can while on My Time dining. The one caveat of this cruise was the fear of the norovirus. THe crew did an amazing job of cleaning and re cleaning and forcing Purcell usage. However, I was always concerned about still contracting it. It just added a bit of of fear factor.

Try to steer away from Windjammer when possible. Park Cafe is an excellent alternate for breakfast and lunch. Limited menu but you will not be disappointed.

Overall, it was a good trip. Enjoy!!!!

[micmacmissy]

Thanks- we are going in April and I'm trying to decide if I should book specialty dining every night or not.

 

Our kids enjoyed the MDR on Indy a few years back and found the food to be decent- wonderful service more than made up for it- but after so many reviews of MDR food being bad, I'm debating more specialty restaurants (which I don't think the teens would enjoy as much as the loud MDR atmosphere)

[eyeeye]

Granted, the food and service was not on par with Oceania or Celebrity, but it was quite adequate. It bothers me to spend extra money on specialty dining. I have no negative things to say about the MDR dinner. Windjammer was another story. Very chaotic and the food tongs were sticky and felt dirty. Not too appealing especially on a norovirus cruise.

[ubish00]

Love hearing your feedback on the Allure. We will be boarding the Allure for the first time on the weekend. Thank you

 

Just wondering....did anyone keep the Compasses and if so would it be possible to post them.

 

Thank you

[kerrycoco1]

[emoji106]

 

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[Mrsinsyder]

Were the characters from the Trolls Movie on Allure? Going in February and my kids would love that.

 

We saw the Trolls quite a few time, along with the Lion from Madagascar. I also caught Puss n Boots on the first night; unfortunately we didn't see him again after that :(

 

Edited December 1, 2016 by Mrsinsyder

[pontoon steve]

Thanks for the review. We will be sailing on her in Feb. First time on RCL