Hens on the High Seas.....Allure OTS Feb 17

[tntodom]

Thanks for taking time to review! We have 88 days til our first RCI cruise & it's on the Allure. This is definitely up'ing my excitement!!  Can't wait to hear more! 

[mac66]

If it makes you feel any better the french onion soup on the Oasis in Dec and last week on the Freedom sucked as well. Very bland.  Must be the same recipe.  Didn't think to complain, just tried it both times and pushed it aside.

 

The other food in the MDR on the Freedom was very good, better than on the Oasis.  We are on the Allure in April so will have to try it again to see if they changed it. 

Edited February 27, 2019 by mac66

[davekathy]

4 hours ago, zdad59 said:

 

I will say that the French Onion Soup has been one of our favorites on other RCL cruises.    It just really missed the mark here....until we fixed it 

But just for your table as you said it was a miss for the masses. So not really a fix. 🤬 Hopefully that is an isolated issue only on the Allure. Hopefully the Freedom has the poblano pepper and corn soup you mentioned. Sounds yummy. Thanks for taking us along on your cruise. 

Edited February 28, 2019 by davekathy

[brillohead]

2 hours ago, davekathy said:

But just for your table as you said it was a miss for the masses. So not really a fix. 🤬 Hopefully that is an isolated issue only on the Allure. Hopefully the Freedom has the poblano pepper and corn soup you mentioned. Sounds yummy. Thanks for taking us along on your cruise. 

I had the roasted poblano soup on Freedom and Harmony both last year -- and I'm sincerely looking forward to it on Symphony in March.  It's delicious!

[davekathy]

3 minutes ago, brillohead said:

I had the roasted poblano soup on Freedom and Harmony both last year -- and I'm sincerely looking forward to it on Symphony in March.  It's delicious!

Thanks. I'll be looking for it. 

[zdad59]

Day 4:    Moy, Cozumel was fun.

 

Day 4 was a stop in Cozumel.    We weren't sure what to expect.    We had the Cozumel Mayan Ruins and Chocolate tour scheduled.   We knew the ruins on the island were nothing compared to Tulum or Chichen Itza, but we didn't want to do the 2 1/2-3 hour ride each way.      SO we went ahead with it.    Our tour guide was Moises, or "Moy", for short.   We really lucked out there.   He was really good.   Informative, funny, but not corny, and really had a lot or insight into the Mayan culture.    The site wasn't spectacular, but it was representative of the culture.    It was a ceremonial site and living area for the high priests.   Moy took us on a long tour of the place.    After that, a 10 minute stop at a beach for some quick pics.   The surf was very rough and the beach wasn't a water access point, so 5 minutes would have been enough.   The final stop of the day was a chocolate outlet, not really a factory.   It was informative on how chocolate was made, and it's history with the Mayans.   The guy that greeted us in paint and with a chant and incense reminded this Catholic school boy of my old altar boy days.   All in all it was a great excursion.     On the walk back thru the shops at the port, one of the shopkeepers saw out "Moy" tag and let us know that Moy's father was "the best tour guide ever in Cozumel" and that Moy and all their siblings followed in dads footsteps, with Moy being the top of the bunch.

 

Dinner in the MDR was good.   More of the special French Onion Soup, and a variety of main courses that everyone found tasty.   Some better than others, but no bad meals.   They did, of course, screw up our drinks again.

 

After dinner, we hit the ice show.    A couple from the Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle were sitting in front of us.   They hit us with a great photo bomb pre show.   The show, as always with the ice show, was very good and real fun.

 

Half way thru the trip and we're having a great time.    

 

Next Installment:    Roatan....The Road was long but result was spectacular.

 

The Mayan Altar Boy

 

Rough surf on the northern side of Cozumel

 

 

Gates of the Mayan Chocolate Factory.

 

The attack iguana at the Mayan Ruins site.

 

Ruins Pic 1

 

One of the best Photobombs ever !!!

Edited March 1, 2019 by zdad59

[zdad59]

Day 5:   The Most Beautiful Beach I've ever seen

 

Today was Roatan.     We booked a stay at the Mayan Princess Resort on the West Side beach area.     The Excursion area off the ship was SUPER BUSY.    We found our guide and bus in short order and were on our way.   Roatan really only has one road, and sadly that road is being re built.   So about 10 minutes into a 25 minute ride...all traffic stopped.   We were at a stand still for 30 minutes, until our side got their chance to use the one lane of the road that wad open.  

 

We eventually got to the resort, and it was unimpressive at the entrance.  As we got there, we were shown the beach and the guide pointed in the direction of the resort pool.    There were ZERO lounge chairs available on the beach.   We walked down the beach a little and found some open chairs, but we were informed that they were exclusively to those staying at the resort.   So we wandered over to the pool area.   The pool is three separate areas, all kinked by bridges and interconnected pool parts.   In the most remote part of the pool there were six empty loungers....the only six there.   We set up camp there and had our own little private area for the day.   It was a rough start, but we found a great place to do nothing for the day.   The pool was great and there was also a hot tub in the area.

 

After a while Mrs. Zdad and I to a walk to the beach itself.   Only about 30 paces away.    The softest sand, the bluest water.  The clearest water.    Calm and no waves.   It was spectacularly beautiful.   We waded in about hip deep and played a bit.   While the a school of silver, green, and yellow fish came swimming by and through our legs.   It was the prettiest beach scene I've ever seen.   Even more beautiful than the beaches in Maui.

 

Dinner was uneventful.   FOS (French Onion Soup) continues to be very good.    SO was the Poblano pepper soup this night.  Oh yea....they messed up the drink order again.   Same order every 5 days.

 

The Headliner show was a gent named Adam Kario, a comedy juggler.   A short show, running only about 50 minutes.  He was very entertaining.   I enjoyed the show a lot more than I thought I would.

 

No pictures today, so I'll just post an towel animal pic.   First time we ever got a stingray.

 

Tomorrow:   Salsa, Salsa, Tequila, and Blue Planet.

 

 

 

 

[zdad59]

Day 6:  Costa Maya Salsa and Salsa...

The ship got in a tad late into Costa Maya.    A very windy and choppy day.   Rough seas all over.   Anyone that had a snorkel excursion had it cancelled.    We had an 8:30 excursion set up but couldn't even get to the meeting place until 8:50.    That excursion had left, but the coordinator set up to put us in a 10:30 version of the same excursion.   It turns out that was a much better time.    The excursion was a salsa making session, a salsa dancing lesson, and tequila tasting.   It was really a fun excursion   We made guacamole, habanero salsa, and drunken salsa.   All three quite tasty.   Salsa dancing for this guy with two left feet was more funny than fun.    The tequila tasting was awesome.   Al local organic tequila...tasting a silver, reposado, anejo, and an extra anejo (aged 18 years).   I went through the tasting at least twice.

 

The evening show was Blue Planet.    Very well done I thought.   A visual extravaganza.   I highly recommend it.

 

We finished the day with a cigar, some cognac, and a little late night poker.

 

The living tree in Blue Planet

 

The Blue Planet pre show

 

The Costa Maya Port area.   Very nicely done.

 

Caribbean Weather forecaster

Edited March 3, 2019 by zdad59

[Gatordad815]

On 3/1/2019 at 9:53 PM, zdad59 said:

Roatan really only has one road, and sadly that road is being re built.

 

First of all thank you for the review and pics! You all look like a fun group! I’m particularly interested in your review as we will be on the same itinerary in a few weeks!

 

If you don’t mind me asking, how was the ride back? We have a reservation at Infinity Bay resort on our Roatan day, but with two small kids I’m not sure how they’ll do with a lengthy traffic jam, particularly on the way back. Any info appreciated!

 

Thanks again for the review and photos!

[zdad59]

1 minute ago, Gatordad815 said:

 

First of all thank you for the review and pics! You all look like a fun group! I’m particularly interested in your review as we will be on the same itinerary in a few weeks!

 

If you don’t mind me asking, how was the ride back? We have a reservation at Infinity Bay resort on our Roatan day, but with two small kids I’m not sure how they’ll do with a lengthy traffic jam, particularly on the way back. Any info appreciated!

 

Thanks again for the review and photos!

 

We breezed thru on the way back.   We hit the traffic pattern just right.   They still had things stopped, alternating directions.    Can't say what the wait was in the afternoon as we got lucky and never had to stop.

[jean-lynd]

5 hours ago, zdad59 said:

 

We breezed thru on the way back.   We hit the traffic pattern just right.   They still had things stopped, alternating directions.    Can't say what the wait was in the afternoon as we got lucky and never had to stop.

We hit the traffic pattern wrong - took us about an hour to get back. They said it usually takes 30 to 45 minutes. I hope this helps!

[Wildcatfish]

Loving your review!  Looking forward to more 🙂

[zdad59]

Day 7 and Disembarkment………. 

 

Day 7 was a sea day.  I always enjoy a seas day the day before coming back in.    The key to the day was relax.   A late breakfast in the Solarium Bistro.   We went and saw the day show in the Aqua theater.    It had a Dreamworks theme.   Cute but not nearly as good as Ocean Aria.   IN the later part of the day we got an Alpha, Alpha, Alpha call.   The 2nd of the week.

 

Dinner on our last night is always in a specialty restaurant.    This year we chose The Samba Grill, the Brazilian Steakhouse on Allure.    We had an early seat at 6pm.   You go get your salad and sides buffet style, and then they come around with different meats.   Its the typical red disc, green disc method.   The bacon wrapped chicken, the lamb chops (when done right) and the Filet were VERY VERY good.   There were 3-4 other cuts of meat that were tasty as well but didn't meet the quality of the other three.   For me, the filet mignon, was the best cut of meat all week.   The place did have a little trouble getting somethin medium.  Rare and Medium well seemed to be the standard.   Also the gauchos weren't walking around with different cuts like you would see in similar land based restaurants.    One other high note was when we walked in our drinks were waiting for us....ALL CORRECT !!   First and only time all cruise.  We came to find out Sally, our MDR head server came down to make sure the drinks were exactly right.  Additionally she brought down some Orange Sherbet for my dessert.  All in all the Samba Grill was very good, but not nearly the best specialty restaurant we've tried.   (Jamie's Italian holds that honor)

 

After dinner we strolled a bit and all walked to the Solarium Bar for one more drink from Kareme… Blue Hawaiians of course.    Kareme was a special bartenders.   He learned our names the afternoon of the first day and never forgot them.   He really made a difference in our trip.   Each couple gave him a real nice tip as we had our last drink.   

 

While we sat at the Solarium Bar, the Captain came on the intercom and said that due to a passenger medical emergency, the ship was making full speed to Miami, planning to dock around 1am.    For that reason, most public spaces on the ship would close by 11pm.   So that cut the last night a little short, but we did still have to pack anyway, so no big deal.

 

Disembarkment……  We were up around 7am the next morning and got ourselves ready to head out.   We were in group 10.  We had a light breakfast and at 7:45 am they called our number to go ahead and disembark.    Offloading was easy.   Quick through the line at the ship exit.   We hailed a porter at the bottom of the gangway and in less than 5 minutes had our bags and were heading for the exit.   The four of us heading for FLL ordered up an UBER excel and it arrived by 8:30, a 15 minute wait due to all the pick up traffic and people walking.   It was about a 30 minute ride to FLL and we were there shortly after 9am.   Flight home was easy, and we began planning for our next trip on Symphony in July.

 

Conclusions in the next post.

 

 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 3/3/2019 at 3:35 PM, Gatordad815 said:

If you don’t mind me asking, how was the ride back? We have a reservation at Infinity Bay resort on our Roatan day, but with two small kids I’m not sure how they’ll do with a lengthy traffic jam, particularly on the way back. Any info appreciated!

 

Thanks again for the review and photos!

We went to Infinity resort in December (on NCL) and there were no traffic jams.

[zdad59]

CONCLUSIONS:

• Royal Caribbean continues to give us value for our money.
• Allure crew, while good, was the "B" team compared to other cruises, particularly Harmony's crew.   Kareme and Sally were the exceptions.
• I like Allure's Solarium better than Harmony's, but not so much that I'd choose Allure over Harmony based on that alone.
• Food was good, not great.  The French Onion Soup adventure was unfortunate.   Had a good meal every night, but had to try some not great things to get there.
• Love the people on RCL.   The Cruise Critic meet and mingle was fun.   Putting faces to names was awesome.  Also everyone in the slot pull ended up $2 each !!!
• Mama Mia was super.  A don't miss show.   So much better than Grease on Harmony.
• Never saw the Captain in 7 days.   Very unlike Capt. Johnny on Harmony last year.    I think that's where the crew service issue starts.

We already have next years football cruise booked.   This time on Celebrity Summit, in Aqua class.   Out of San Juan and heading for the ABCs.

 

I'm always available to answer questions.

 

 

Itinerary.pdf

Edited March 4, 2019 by zdad59