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Trip report - Allure of the Seas Feb 19 - Spoiler alert, I loved it!

juliea344

By juliea344,
in Royal Caribbean International

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juliea344

juliea344

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I?m having severe post-cruise blues after my trip on Allure last week so I thought I?d recap with a review and try to live it all other again :) This review is mostly of the ship. I chose it because I am prone to seasickness and wanted to try a big ship. I did want to see Haiti but the rest of the itinerary didn't wow me.

 

We stayed at the Embassy Suites the Saturday night before embarkation. They had a really nice happy hour that went until 8pm in the bar by the pool. I think it started at 5 but I?m not sure since it was 7:30 when we arrived. They let you order 2 drinks at a time (!) which we enjoyed outside by the pool. The room was perfectly adequate for 5 of us. I traveled with my mom, sister, and 2 teens ages 14 and 16. We went to breakfast around 9am. It was PACKED with people. We were lucky to find a table. The breakfast was very much like the Solarium buffet, lol. It was included with the hotel so that was pretty great.

 

We left around 10:15 to head to the port. We took the $9 per person shuttle even though I know a cab or uber would have been cheaper. It was just so crazy with people in the lobby that the shuttle seems easiest. Many people paid in advance for this and then they seemed to be waiting in a long line for the shuttle. I just went outside and asked the shuttle driver if we could get in a van and they said yes immediately and we just got in and paid the driver. This was probably not protocol but whatever works!

 

Since we were in a suite we walked right into the port, no line, it was WONDERFUL. Super speedy and friendly service all around. We were in the suite lounge in the port by 11 at the latest. We wore our bathing suits under our clothes and by 11:30 we were lounging by the beach pool. We were very much the first people there. Other people on board seemed to be touring the ship but some time by the pool when it was uncrowded was my #1 priority.

 

My only gripe about Royal Caribbean is the lack of complete info on their website. Obviously I get most info right here on CC but I didn?t find a lot of detail (probably for lack of trying) regarding specific suite perks. Therefore I booked all my dining reservations and shows on the cruise planner in advance. I found out through the concierge email a week before cruising that I didn?t need a reservation for shows and once on board I found out that the concierge could basically get us into any restaurant whenever we wanted. Therefore we didn?t use any of our original reservations! Mostly because we had Mama Mia for the first night but the kids found out they had to go to the kids club then (or risk being shunned!) So once we changed Mamma Mia we had to change everything. I just wish I had known I didn?t need to bother making all those reservations.

 

Anyway.... We had no dinner reservation for night one due to originally scheduling MM at the awkward time of 8pm. I asked the concierge, Nancy, if we could get a table for 5 people in Coastal kitchen. She said they had nothing for 5 on this night but she booked us in the MDR at 6:00. Once in our room she called and said she was able to squeeze us into Coastal Kitchen! I should have taken her up on it but I felt bad for changing so many reservations that we kept MDR, American Icon. It was definitely my least favorite meal of the trip. The MDR was incredibly busy. There were 2 lines outside, one for reservations and one for no reservations. Nancy stressed that it was very important not to wait in either line and just go tell the host that Nancy sent us. Amen to this because both lines seems long and chaotic. It?s the little perks of the suite that really make it worth while. Service was excellent in the MDR and I liked our server although he was really pressuring us to come back every night and ask for him. Maybe because we overtip? Or he just liked us? I don?t know why but we didn?t enjoy the food so we knew we weren?t coming back. He also stressed that we should give him a 10 on the survey. Tacky? I don?t know if this is common practice but no one else on the ship asked for a good review. I noticed to survey asked specifically if someone asked for a good review. Hmmmm. Every time we saw this waiter around the ship he kept asking why we didn?t dine with him and reminded us how important the survey was. It was borderline annoying but luckily he was a nice guy.

 

Aside from the chaos of the first night the ship didn?t seem crowded to me at most times. Sea days by the pool were crazy, of course, but the perk of the suite sun deck was awesome. They had 5 or 6 private cabanas up there and surprisingly we were able to get one any time we wanted. There were also plenty of cushioned loungers and the bartender Windell was very pleasant and attentive. I have Independence booked for next year and I think this sun deck will be the thing I miss not having the most.

 

This review is getting pretty long so I?ll try to highlight other things we enjoyed:

 

Chops Grill - This is the only specialty restaurant we tried and it was delicious. I don?t eat steak but the seared tuna was one of the best tune dishes I?ve ever had. I?ve heard people complaining about the sides for being too small. I don?t understand this because you could order as many as you wanted. Our server was very attentive and when our spinach bowl was empty he came over with another bowl of spinach and spooned it directly onto our plates. Our wine glasses were never empty. We were so full when we left that we had no room for dessert (the desserts were huge). As we hemmed and hawed over if we had room to share a dessert our server ran away. He came back with ONE OF EACH dessert on a plate covered with plastic wrap to take to our room. I definitely recommend Chops.

 

Coastal Kitchen - This is the second thing I will miss on Independence. We enjoyed the remainder of our meals here. I can?t even begin to say enough positive things about this restaurant. Maybe it?s something about being on a cruise but every meal in Coastal Kitchen was the best meal of my life. Lol Our waiter named Inout (Johnny) from Romania was also the best waiter ever. He was so attentive and eager to please. We didn't want for anything when in the Coastal Kitchen. He was quick to make suggestions on what to order and we loved everything he suggested. Sometimes we would say ?we were thinking of ordering... something or other? and he would make a face and say he didn?t recommend that. Too funny! Johnny had our drinks chilled and ready to go before we even sat down every time. Another great thing was the Coastal Kitchen was locatied basically in the same room as the Concierge Lounge.I can't stress enough how awesome the concierge lounge is. They are worth the upgrade alone. You will have complimentary drinks 11am to 11pm (beer, wine, champagne) and from 5:30 to 8:30 hors doerves and cocktails are included.

Bingo - kind of a waste unless you?re REALLY into bingo. It took over an hour to get going and it lasted less than 30 minutes for 3 games. They really push the electronic bingo machine and then you find out that it?s all automatic so you?re not actually ?playing? bingo. You?re just sitting there waiting for your machine to beep indicating that you won. It was also expensive. I won?t do it again (I only did it because we had a rainy day). Funny thing is that the same guy won 2 of the 3 games. He walked off with $550 and a free cruise. Not too shabby!

On Air - we really liked the karaoke bar the first time we went. The DJ was funny and some of the singers were quite good. We were able to get seats by the bar and stayed about an hour until it abruptly ended. I thought it was open for karaoke all the time - I admit I don?t study my cruise compass very well. It?s actually only open at limited times. The second time we went it was a team competition. Both teams were pretty bad and there were no seats available so we left.

Vintages Wine Bar - It was always empty! Every time we walked by. I couldn?t believe that out of 6000 people we were the only 3 who wanted to go there. One night we got some complimentary bread and cheese, probably because they were bored. It was very good and much fresher than any other bread I had. They have a great selection of wines and they will let you try any of it. They also do flights.

Windjammer - This was my first RC cruise and everything I had read about it made me want to avoid WJ like the plague. Luckily my kids ate there a lot (because after day one we never saw them until 1am every night) and they really liked it and said everything I told them about it was untrue. So we tried it for breakfast and lunch and it was totally fine. It became my preferred location for lunch because I fell in love with the salads. Everything was always fresh, plenty to choose from. I mostly tried salads but the hot food looked good. I had some good Indian curry with rice. The food at Solarium and WJ for breakfast was the same so we opted for Solarium for the odd chance at getting an outdoor table. We could only get one once. It was very crowded for breakfast and the people there were the least friendly in my experience. And I?m talking about the staff AND the guests. Usually we grabbed a plate and brought it up to the sundeck to eat.

Park Cafe - I wasn't into it. We went there for the first lunch because of my irrational fear of the windjammer. There wasn't a lot to choose from. My sister's salad looked ok but nothing like the WJ. My tuna panini was decent but small. The place was extremely crowded and our food took longer than if we had just gone to WJ.

Wipe out grill - we only stopped there when we had a craving for fries or ice cream. The frozen yogurt was creamier and tasted better that the soft serve by the pools. It was never busy here.

Vitality Spa - This is the only thing I DID NOT like about this cruise. It?s a shame because I always enjoy scheduling spa time into my vacations. Never again on RC. After my massage the therapist put some "complimentary" eye creams on me after basically telling me my eyes looked like crap. 3 different creams. Then she rubbed coconut oil on my arms and said I need it for sunbathing and it's only $53. She was relentless. She wanted me to buy all the creams. When I said I liked my products at home she said I'll eventually need botox if I don't take care of my skin and that the cream she was selling was cheaper than botox so I should buy it. Not relaxing at all! Honestly, she was pushier than the market vendors in Labadee. And they physically pushed us!

Ports - We only did an excursion in Cozumel. In Jamaica we enjoyed the partially empty ship. We did the Beach snorkel and Tequila tasting at Cozumel. I honestly don't think I'd recommend it. I had fun but it wasn't quite as described. There was definitely no beach, the shore was very rocky. There was a small sandy area with beach chairs but not enough for everyone. We did this excursion because my elderly mom wanted to just walk into the water at beach level and look at fish for a bit through the mask but not actually put on fins and the whole nine yards. That wasn't possible in this area. We snorkeled in a huge group of 40 people and it was quite crowded. Nothing like flippers in your face! There wasn't much reef and honestly not a lot of fish. I saw a yellow ray which was cool but having snorkeled in St John and Aruba I found this snorkeling to be quite lame. The tequila tasting was 5 tequilas, literally half a sip of each. Don't get me wrong, I had fun and the tour guides were great but there has to be something better to do in Cozumel!

Labadee - It was beautiful and HOT. was beautiful. It must have been 95 degrees. We had a suite so we were lucky to have the Barefoot Beach are to ourselves. We rented a cabana on Barefoot Beach but that was totally unnecessary. It?s spacious enough with more than enough lounge chairs and shade. Next time I won?t rent one but if I was not in a suite I most definitely would rent one because the other beaches are mobbed. Nellies beach was sooooo crowded as was Columbus Cove. The opposite side of Labadee had rougher water but I saw people body surfing and having a good time. Each little beach on Labadee is different. I saw some actual fights over lounge chairs while I was taking the 10 am yoga class on the beach so if you want a lounger chair I'd try to be one of the first people off the ship! Beware the market at the top of the hill. I really wanted to look around and I wanted to spend money but they were so aggressive. People literally pushed us up the hill and pushed us into their shops and put bracelets on us and asked for $40! I can handle myself but my sister and mother were uncomfortable. It's really too bad because I won't be going to the market anymore. I didn't even make it past the first shop.

 

Entertainment - Mamma Mia was very good. I had never seen it before but, of course, I knew the songs. The second half dragged a bit. My kids left halfway through to meet their friends and they didn't miss much. We enjoyed the Headliner show which was an a capella group called Edge Effect. There were two comedians and I wish the first one could have performed all night. His name was Mike Pace and he was hilarious. My sides hurt from laughing. The second guy was just alright. Dazzles Lounge seemed to be an older crowd. We stuck our heads in and it was supposed to be performers from Mamma Mia playing hit songs. They mentioned Amy Winehouse in the Cruise Compass but the songs were old-timey and I didn't see anyone who was in Mamma Mia. We left. Casino was too smokey for me. The 70's party was a blast. Apparently they let people in the Rising Tide bar and gave them all light up glasses to wear. Then they sent it halfway up between the 5th and 8th floors. This looked like a fun place to be. I'd recommend trying it but go to the restroom first!

Alas, time to leave :( Again, it?s the little suite perks that make all the difference. Disembarkation was even easier than getting on. I had read that the suite concierges are no longer allowed to escort you off the ship. That was totally untrue. Dexter and Nancy personally walked us off the ship and it took 5 minutes from the door through customs. There were 3 available time slots - 7:45, 8:45, and 9:45. We took the last one because we had a late flight. We were in our cab by 10. They also serve a tasty breakfast in the Concierge lounge while we waited for our group time.

I miss the ship soooo much. I can barely muster the energy to get out of my pajamas! lol I?m sure I?ve forgotten stuff but this review is long enough. I?m more than happy to answer questions and keep reliving this dream vacation :)

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JJnumber1

JJnumber1

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Thanks for the review. We just got off the Navigator so I know the blah feeling you have coming down from a cruise high. We are on the Allure in November and I can't wait. Just a couple of questions....what is the dress code in the Coastal Kitchen for breakfast and lunch? Did you get a chance to go to the Diamond Lounge? It looks like a great place to be as well. We're in a suite so I plan on taking full advantage of the bennies.

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pudy68

pudy68

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Thank you for the review. I didn't think it was too long whatsoever. Makes me look forward to boarding her on 3/19.

Did you have any excellent desserts?

What kind of suite did you have?

Was there anything you didn't get a chance to do that bums you out?

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juliea344

juliea344

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Thank you for the review. I didn't think it was too long whatsoever. Makes me look forward to boarding her on 3/19.

Did you have any excellent desserts?

What kind of suite did you have?

Was there anything you didn't get a chance to do that bums you out?

 

 

I'm not the kind of person who orders chocolate desserts but everything chocolate was amazing. There was something called a Chocolate Bar in the CK which was my favorite. I'm more of a creme brulee/cheesecake kind of girl but I thought the creme brulee in the MDR tasted a lot more like Flan. The cheesecakes were so-so. Red Velvet cake at Chops was really good. Otherwise stick to chocolate!

 

We were in an Owner's suite because our original booking was in a Grand Suite, but then my sister decided to come so the Owner's was the only one that could accommodate all 5 of us. It was VERY nice.

 

Hmmm... We didn't get to any Aquatheatre shows which doesn't really bum me out but originally I had planned to go. I think we just spent too much time eating to get there, lol. My daughter informed me that the Flowrider show was awesome on the last day. I didn't even know about it. Overall I think we got to do a lot.

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juliea344

juliea344

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Thanks for the review. We just got off the Navigator so I know the blah feeling you have coming down from a cruise high. We are on the Allure in November and I can't wait. Just a couple of questions....what is the dress code in the Coastal Kitchen for breakfast and lunch? Did you get a chance to go to the Diamond Lounge? It looks like a great place to be as well. We're in a suite so I plan on taking full advantage of the bennies.

 

 

Well, I didn't even know the Diamond lounge was a thing for Suite guests! I thought you had to be a Diamond member. Honestly, I didn't even see it! I just had to look at the deck plan to even see where it was. It's good to know I can use it when I go on Independence but on Allure you really can't beat the views from the CL on deck 17.

 

I doubt they would enforce any dress code there for breakfast or lunch. Smart casual is fine. I accidentally went in there on the first night before realizing I was in shorts. They were nice lace shorts though and I felt fine. We never went for breakfast or lunch because we were always in bathing suit cover-ups at that time of day and I didn't think it was appropriate. For all I know other people may have done it.

 

Another thing about not having info in advance is that I didn't know there was wine, beer, and champagne in the CL all day. I never would have bought a drink package! But since I had a package I didn't go to the lounge until about 6pm daily.

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1620rock

1620rock

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Thanks for the review. We are booked on the Allure for October and it will be our first RC cruise do great to have recent info on Allure. Bummed to hear about the bad attitudes in the solarium as thought we might spend a lot of time in that adult only area. We won't be in a suite so will have to seek out another quiet area to chill.

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juliea344

juliea344

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Thanks for the review. We are booked on the Allure for October and it will be our first RC cruise do great to have recent info on Allure. Bummed to hear about the bad attitudes in the solarium as thought we might spend a lot of time in that adult only area. We won't be in a suite so will have to seek out another quiet area to chill.

 

 

I was only referring to the buffet lines and eating area! I'm sure the pool area is fine. It looked quite social actually. I didn't go there because I didn't like the fact that it's enclosed.

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juliea344

juliea344

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Great review thanks

Can you tell me where the concierge lounge is located, I can't seem to find it on the deck plans.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

It's on deck 17 next to the Coastal Kitchen. It's all windows and overlooks the sports pool and kids pool. I heard it used to be the Viking lounge or something like that.

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Clarea

Clarea

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Yes there is. Deck 17. It's my favorite place on the ship!

 

 

That lounge is called the Suite Lounge, not the Concierge Lounge. It may only be an insignificant change of name to suite guests, but it's a significant change for Diamond Plus level C&A members, who are no longer allowed access.

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juliea344

juliea344

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That lounge is called the Suite Lounge, not the Concierge Lounge. It may only be an insignificant change of name to suite guests, but it's a significant change for Diamond Plus level C&A members, who are no longer allowed access.

 

 

Oh, OK I get it. I think the sign might have still said CL but I could be wrong 😀

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katiel53

katiel53

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Thanks for your review. I am sailing on Allure in July with my son, daughter-in-law, granddaughter and daughter-in-law's parents. I have been on Allure previously and loved it. The others have not.

 

My question is about the kids program for 12-14 year olds. My granddaughter will be 12 and I am wondering if they have scheduled activities or if the kids just hang out? I know she needs to be there the first night at 8 to sign up/in so that she can meet other kids, but that's about all I know about it.

 

I'm sure she will have a great time, but she is a bit shy initially. Anything you can tell me about the club will be appreciated. Thanks

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