Last Minute on Allure - Live in D5. August 26th - Sept 2nd.

[Harrylinden]

I"ve been following alone on your latest adventure.My hubby and I were on the Allure in May on a B2B and your review brings back memories.What a lovely family you have,Owen is adorable and really seems to love all his adventures with You and Lisa,And grandma when she goes.I "ve followed all your reviews and enjoyed every one of them.Can,t wait till your next adventure and review! :)

[SMSACE6]

A&L_Ont, yes I surely did enjoy your review, and very much enjoy the humor too! I think, I was just being a bit too sensitive at that moment, and don't want to come across as a complainer. I will definitely be looking forward to your next review. October is not that far off. I know that it takes a lot of time and effort to make these reviews, so will look forward to more of them. Please disregard my momentary loss of sense of humor. I went back and read, and I got my sense of humor back LOL.

 

Regards from muggy Ottawa!

[billybob123]

Thanks for the review!

 

My son is much like yours - hockey loving, was in a camp the same week, even has the same backpack (Costco ftw) and one of the swimming shirts. I'm sure they would be fast friends. He's in his second year of atom, and frankly I just want evaluations to be done - only three more weeks of this. He really enjoys skating on the ship - even though he doesn't seem to notice if anyone else on the ice can skate, and endagers them routinely. I posted a video of him and his hockey playing buddies (from Ontario and Minnesota) nearly killing people out on the ice in my Oasis review from last year. Did you guys go skating, or do you ever go skating on board?

 

We are on Allure in March in neighbouring balconies deep back on the 12th deck. After the week, how did you guys find the walk back to your cabin? We were lucky on the Oasis to be right near the elevator lobby; this time we are way further back (1271x).

[bobmacliberty]

Thanks for another great review Andrew. For good or for bad, I'm a fan of your sense of humor. The world would be a better place if people laughed more and didn't take life so seriously.

[Tropical PJ]

Great review thanks so much for taking the time to write it!!

[ramja96]

Thoroughly enjoyed "traveling" along with you and your family. Looking forward to Harmony in October. Ciao!

 

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[BugsyCruiser]

Enjoyed following your latest adventure Andrew. Hopefully I get to meet you all in person some day

 

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[Miami Vice]

Thanks for the review Andrew enjoyed following along, until next time!

[A&L_Ont]

So the trip home, the actual travel part, was uneventful. There were a few interesting things though along the way.

 

Remember the hour we waited on the plane due to the lightning delay. Well our luggage was wet when we grabbed it on the carousel in Detroit. It must have been in an enclosed luggage trailer while it was waiting to be loaded, as it wasn’t soaked through but it was more than wet/damp on the exterior. When we sorted laundry last night some of it was physically wet. Good thing it was on the way home VS embarkation day. The cases are open and airing out before we put them away.

 

TSA inspected two of our bags as well. We think they wanted to find the crystal block in the one bag and my board in it’s own bag. We almost always get one inspection per trip, but TSA lost our one locks, but we have more.

 

 

Laundry was done by noon today and most things are back to normal. Except for one small item. It was more than just Lucy on the porch when we got home. It was Lucy and Sharon. She has moved in with us for a couple days as her septic tank is acting up. Her landlord had to look at it, so we told her to move in with us for the short term.

 

So today her landlord took a look at it. I can confirm it’s all good and I will get the honey wagon out tomorrow. She’s pretty good tenant, and she will confirm that her landlord isn’t a jerk. I had to deal with that on Saturday and a few work issues during the week but it only took a few hours out of the cruise.

 

Otherwise everything else seems normal around her. Hotter than Fort Lauderdale and almost an inch of rain in 50 minutes today. Groceries are stocked, Lucy’s not ignoring us and Owen’s lunch is packed. He isn’t looking forward to tomorrow but is excited for hockey practice.

[A&L_Ont]

Oh yes, and there was Customs at Terminal 18. It was a sugar show yesterday. It took us an hour to get through with luggage valet, from the gangway to stepping out the terminal. There were people there that it took 3 hours. Not the normal routine for T18. Hopefully it was a one off.

 

I will note that I did not see my “Napoleon” on embarkation or disembarkation day. I was hoping to see him pushing a broom or emptying a garbage can. No such luck.

[A&L_Ont]

I would have like to have more slide action from the Costs Maya water park, but regretfully they took our safety to their upper concern. No GoPro’s allowed on the slides. I only could have taken it if I had my head strap holder.

 

Safety in Mexico? What? Whatever happened to “badges, we don’t need no stinking badges”.

 

Lz7vZ0V1hHc

[A&L_Ont]

I love mango and I love sweet. Gotta remember this for our next cruise.

 

 

 

If they serve these cool tropical drinks on your Alaskan cruise, they’ll serve them on ours.

 

 

 

Thanks for taking us along on your cruise. But be honest. Two weeks ago today, did you think you’d start a cruise thread that’s already exceeded 40 pages?

 

 

Never in a million years. I always said I’d go at the drop of a hat, and in doing so it did bring a few things to light to which will be discussed in the final thoughts.

 

A&L_Ont, yes I surely did enjoy your review, and very much enjoy the humor too! I think, I was just being a bit too sensitive at that moment, and don't want to come across as a complainer. I will definitely be looking forward to your next review. October is not that far off. I know that it takes a lot of time and effort to make these reviews, so will look forward to more of them. Please disregard my momentary loss of sense of humor. I went back and read, and I got my sense of humor back LOL.

 

 

 

Regards from muggy Ottawa!

 

 

SMSAC, do not worry. Blame the heat, as it is scorching here too. My brother in law swears by Carnival. Maybe one day we will join them for an adventure or they will join us. Only time will tell. I know a few others that want to get us on NCL, and we will adventure when the time comes.

 

Enjoyed following your latest adventure Andrew. Hopefully I get to meet you all in person some day

 

Sent from my Google Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

 

Thanks Chris. I look forward to that day.

 

Thanks for the review!

 

My son is much like yours - hockey loving, was in a camp the same week, even has the same backpack (Costco ftw) and one of the swimming shirts. I'm sure they would be fast friends. He's in his second year of atom, and frankly I just want evaluations to be done - only three more weeks of this. He really enjoys skating on the ship - even though he doesn't seem to notice if anyone else on the ice can skate, and endagers them routinely. I posted a video of him and his hockey playing buddies (from Ontario and Minnesota) nearly killing people out on the ice in my Oasis review from last year. Did you guys go skating, or do you ever go skating on board?

 

We are on Allure in March in neighbouring balconies deep back on the 12th deck. After the week, how did you guys find the walk back to your cabin? We were lucky on the Oasis to be right near the elevator lobby; this time we are way further back (1271x).

 

 

First year PeeWee for Owen. Owen first skating ever was on Oasis in the Caribbean. I think you are right, they’d have a blast together. Girls have yet to be discovered but I bet the time will come. In the meantime sports always work for Owen. Super competitive and great in school. Certainly a great, balanced, likeable and sympathetic kid. He has tons of friends because of that.

 

As for deck 12 it was a bit of a hike but you get used to it. One advantage of being at the end was you had very little hallway noise at night. We like that part.

 

Thanks for the review Andrew enjoyed following along, until next time!

 

 

You are welcome. Besides a cheesie TV show your name reminds me of a tasty beverage. Good choice.

[A&L_Ont]

Final thoughts.

 

 

Shows.

Great as always. After being on Radiance, they felt like Broadway.

 

 

Food.

Chops was great and better than Giovanni’s. Giovanni’s menu varied to that of the one on Radiance. We liked the menu options on a Radiance better, an example no prosciutto wrapped mozzarella. Sabor has changed and not for the better. Not just the cover VS pay as you go factor. The menu has changed as well. Based upon this experience I doubt we’d go back. JR, always the same. WJ experience was good, exactly what we expected. All that being said said we had great service at all the venues. In fact the waiters in the WJ were very attentive. If there was an empty plate, it was gone. Need a drink, boom there it was.

 

 

Ports.

We liked our longer stay in Nassau. Our pier area tour in Cozumel was a blast, compared to Playa Mia with Owen. We loved our Roatan beach day, but as others stated watch for the sand fleas if there is no wind. Costa Maya and the water park. Be prepared for the stairs and water shoes might be good for the cement stairs and walkways. Take prepackaged snacks from the ship as their buffet was lacking in selection and steep in price. I guess you are a captive audience but at $25 for an adult for the day it was too much. $15 for a child, and not enough choice to warrant the price. We would go back with Owen, but it isn’t our first pick for just Lisa and I.

 

 

The Ship.

Allure was in good condition. That being said if you start to look, you can find things that could be better. Paint is worn in spots, nicks in the hallway walls, umbrellas at the beach pool that are beat up some.... items like that. But just like Radiance she has seen a lot of people over the last 8 years. None of these things effected our pleasure levels at all. If items like that ruin your holiday, don’t go.

Edited September 3, 2018 by A&L_Ont

[A&L_Ont]

The Cabin.

 

It was exactly what we expected. Compact and fully functional. I haven’t been in a washroom where I can be on the toilet, brush my teeth and start the shower all the same time. I didn’t actually do it but I bet you could if you tried.

 

On the negative, and smaller side I had to unstick the sink stopper a couple of times from under the counter. It’s easy to do, if you know what you are doing. The mattress is too hard. My shoulder and neck were sore and I put my money on the mattress. Hopefully they will be swapped out at drydock for softer ones.

 

On the larger negative, the air conditioning was barely cool in our room. To give you an example the hallway to the cabin was colder than our cabin, and it was set at the coldest setting for the entire week. Our balcony door was always shut and locked so it should have been running at it’s full capacity.

 

Our Steward had maintenance look at it twice and both times they said it was good. I guess it is all relative, but when Lisa has the sheets at her waist and just a sheet for Owen there has to be an issue with the air conditioner. In fact if you left the one half of the closet door open you got a better draft than if it was fully shut. I personally wonder if the cabin air filter was clogged not allowing airflow or the temperature thermostat had an issue. At the coldest Lisa though it was a safe 25C or around 78F. Lisa calls our house a meat locker, but this is one time that she was complaining about the heat.

 

 

 

Our Steward.

“Big O” was awesome. He didn’t know we were his guests because we were last minute bookers. Whatever we asked for he provided, and with a smile on his face. A true gentleman that I enjoyed quick visits with. I will hunt him up next time we are on Allure, just to say hi.

Edited September 3, 2018 by A&L_Ont

[A&L_Ont]

Pros and Cons of last minute booking.

 

Pros.

We are going on a cruise. You don’t have a lot of time to over think things. You don’t have a big/long countdown clock. We were able to book our reservations for shows and meals even with days left.

 

Cons.

You have to be a quick planner and your cabin is what is available. The one thing you should be aware of is there is a good chance your loyalty perks might not catch up to you. No notes of our perks were in our cabin, our selected amenities were not waiting and never showed up. We could have chased them down and waved our finger at the Loyalty Ambassador but that is not us. I am sure there are others that would. More of a heads up than anything, as it sure didn’t effect our cruise.

 

 

 

Final Score.

 

It could have been a 10 out of 10 but due to the hot cabin subtract 2 points for a final score of 8 out of ten. Would we ever book last minute again, yes if everything fell into place correctly. Will it happen again and in the near future, most likely not as we are always so busy between work, school and sports. It might happen again, but not for a long time.

 

Was it fun, you bet. Especially when people on the ship asked when did you book, and your answer was 3 days ago. It truly lived up to everything we expected because we had so little time to overthink it.

 

If you ever get a chance to book last minute, do it. It is fun and a little crazy. Sometimes you have to go with the flow.

[A&L_Ont]

Final wrap up to come. Just doing some BBQ for our first home cooked meal in a week. Sausages, baked potatoes and sweet corn. MMM.

 

I wonder if Sharon would do turn down for us tonight. :confused::D

[Clarea]

... On the larger negative, the air conditioning was barely cool in our room. ... .

Most likely one (or more) of your neighbors kept their balcony door open.

[A&L_Ont]

Most likely one (or more) of your neighbors kept their balcony door open.

 

Well that could explain a lot.

[A&L_Ont]

Guess you just rubbed up against me?

 

 

Today she was busy nailing cicadas.

[CruiseZog]

Great review! I bet I can guess which neighbor left their balcony door open. [emoji848][emoji263]

[fuinseog]

Oh yes, and there was Customs at Terminal 18. It was a sugar show yesterday. It took us an hour to get through with luggage valet, from the gangway to stepping out the terminal. There were people there that it took 3 hours. Not the normal routine for T18. Hopefully it was a one off.

 

I will note that I did not see my “Napoleon” on embarkation or disembarkation day. I was hoping to see him pushing a broom or emptying a garbage can. No such luck.

 

 

 

We also had a very slow disembarkation experience from Allure last year at Port Everglades customs. Waiting in like for an hour is not the way you want to end your vacation.

 

Thanks for the great review!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[scottygirl]

Guess you just rubbed up against me?

 

 

Today she was busy nailing cicadas.

 

 

 

She’s got to be a busy girl the cicadas are out in full force this year.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Ourusualbeach]

Another great review and just what I needed to get through the last 100 or so days until we board the Allure.

 

I’m curious as to what changed on the Sabor menu. Please don’t say that they gave remove the chicken wrapped jalapeño bacon poppers.

[A&L_Ont]

Another great review and just what I needed to get through the last 100 or so days until we board the Allure.

 

 

 

I’m curious as to what changed on the Sabor menu. Please don’t say that they gave remove the chicken wrapped jalapeño bacon poppers.

 

 

They still have them. Don’t worry.

 

Great review! I bet I can guess which neighbor left their balcony door open. [emoji848][emoji263]

 

 

Totally. [emoji6]

[A&L_Ont]

We have been home for just over 24 hours and Leo and Pal have not shown up, so far. The neighbours house is gone and they have a big hole in the ground. And last but not least RC has emailed what feels like to be a dozen times. Nothing has changed. LOL.

 

 

 

 

Emails from RC are nice. Not nice as the feeling I had printing these this afternoon.