*Live* Rogueperson's Allure of the Seas December 1 - 8

[MrFunInTheSun]

Phew. Glad all worked out well and you made it to Ft Lauderdale. 

[MD_Dan]

Rogueperson and fellow Marylander (we're near College Park),

 

We board immediately after you!  So I'll; be watching your posts very carefully.  We're also staying at Wyndham FLL Airport (before and after the cruise) so we'll be there also 12/8 (we board at noon).  Maybe we can meet up?

 

Its also our first time on an Oasis ship and we don't know if bigger is better.  So when you post, please give first impressions and ways to make avoid issues.  We'll be watching through your eyes.  Your comments may affect our packing!

 

My initial questions:

- Is the free onboard chat (via app) good enough or do I need RCL WiFi?

- Recent reviews have knocked food.  Have standards slipped?

- Promenade parades and shows - tell all

- How "dress down" are MDR and formal nights?

 

[FionaMG]

Glad you made it Rogue. We are currently sitting in the Imperial Lounge waiting to be escorted off the ship. Boo. ☹️

[Rogueperson]

1 hour ago, MD_Dan said:

Rogueperson and fellow Marylander (we're near College Park),

 

We board immediately after you!  So I'll; be watching your posts very carefully.  We're also staying at Wyndham FLL Airport (before and after the cruise) so we'll be there also 12/8 (we board at noon).  Maybe we can meet up?

 

Its also our first time on an Oasis ship and we don't know if bigger is better.  So when you post, please give first impressions and ways to make avoid issues.  We'll be watching through your eyes.  Your comments may affect our packing!

 

My initial questions:

- Is the free onboard chat (via app) good enough or do I need RCL WiFi?

- Recent reviews have knocked food.  Have standards slipped?

- Promenade parades and shows - tell all

- How "dress down" are MDR and formal nights?

 

Both myself and @death_star are UMD alumni.  It is actually where we met.

 

This hotel is 9.5 miles away from the port.  The only issue I have is that this hotel isn’t really convenient to anything if you don’t have a car.  Otherwise it’s a great place to stay.

 

 You can check out my other post for MDR menus and food.This go around, we will probably not eat at the MDR as much as previous cruises because we have the three specialty restaurant deal as well chefs table leaving only 3 MDR dinners.  From my  5 recent royal caribbean cruises in the last 3 years tell me, quality hasn’t really slipped in that time period.  Its been fairly consistent.  over a longer time such as 15 years, yes, it has.

 

 The new thing they do at main seating since 2018, is this one menu thing.  You order everything off one menu including dessert all at once. The result is a shorter dinner experience.  I’m still on the fence on how that affects the dinner experience.

 

 

Edited December 1, 2019 by Rogueperson

[death_star]

We stayed in the Element downtown, they oversold our original king studio so we were upgraded to a two room suite. It has a full kitchen including dishwasher and cook top. The breakfast is great with continental fare along with fresh frittatas. 

 

The gym and pool are quite nice. Parking is a bit of a downside here as it is valet only. They have a shuttle but not sure if it's to the port. This is a Princess hotel and they will take your Princess bags for you but not other lines. 

Edited December 1, 2019 by death_star

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, MD_Dan said:

My initial questions:

- Is the free onboard chat (via app) good enough or do I need RCL WiFi?

Chat is not yet available on Oasis.  You will need a wifi package if you want to use a texting app.

[Rogueperson]

32 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Chat is not yet available on Oasis.  You will need a wifi package if you want to use a texting app.

awwwww....

[anewell28]

Just got off the Allure today. Had a great time!! You will enjoy the ship, every staff and fellow passenger were so very nice. 
The food was excellent. Main dining room was delicious and much better than the dining room food we had on Indy of the Seas in January. The dog house and park cafe were yummy. We did the guacamole making class at Sabor one afternoon AMAZING. Would highly recommend that!!!

[Rogueperson]

You really need a car down here.  We were able to uber to a CVS and back and get our missing stuff.  How we managed to spend 61 dollars on miscellaneous stuff like shaving cream and soap.  Its actually better than last time.  That was over 100 bucks last time.  We have an 11:00 shuttle appointment to get to port.

[Rogueperson]

Traffic is stupid at the port as I feared.  

 

 

i’m really not sure how far i am from the port.

 

We are next to a train track and we have seen it come by and then reversed twice already.

[Rogueperson]

That train was what was snarling traffic for us.  Once that train cleared, entry into the port was easy.

 

This is our official door to ship time

 

We have our net up and running.

 

Speed is on the lower end of the O3B system, but its still better than the non O3B system.  Will we see 200 ms pings?

 

 

 

[Ourusualbeach]

6 hours ago, MD_Dan said:

Is the free onboard chat (via app) good enough or do I need RCL WiFi?

 

5 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Chat is not yet available on Oasis.  You will need a wifi package if you want to use a texting app.

 

4 hours ago, Rogueperson said:

awwwww....

Sorry thought you were referring to a Oasis.  

 

Allure does have the Chat feature available without having to purchase internet. 

[Rogueperson]

6 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 

 

Sorry thought you were referring to a Oasis.  

 

Allure does have the Chat feature available without having to purchase internet. 

Yes.  Just realized it.  So to is this, you need to connect to the wifi.  Once connect, open the app and in the upper right hand corner, there is a chat bubble icon.  Click that.  You need to add people you want to chat with.  It does appear to give notifications when your phone is asleep.

[Rogueperson]

We decided to sit down and have lunch at Sabor with @death_star at Giovanni’s.  19 bucks/person.  Not too bad.  

 

Here is menu for embarkation day. Not sure if its the same for all lunches.  

 

 

I got the pork belly.  This was an amazing.

 

 

and the Pasta Bolognese.

 

I caught my wife’s Salad

and my favorite dessert, Tiramisu which is quite good.

 

We are starting to pull out off dock note.  Its time to get crazy!!!  Hmmm, I’m feeling the of lunch.  Food Coma...

[Rogueperson]

And just like that, we have left the port and heading out to open sea.

 

[Rogueperson]

Before I forget, this is today’s cruise compass.  Its got more color in it as well as splitting it into separate categories.

[Biker19]

3 hours ago, Rogueperson said:

Will we see 200 ms pings?

I would expect it.

[SummerBeee]

Following your report this week. We are doing this sailing in January, and the eastern leg too. 

[Rogueperson]

Tonight’s dinner was in the MDR.  As usual it was a zoo getting in because its the first night.

 

Here is the menu.

 

 

I had the mushroom soup that was pretty decent.  It needed a little pepper, but I ended up putting salt on it.  Why?  Because we had two salt shakers on the table.  I noted one was salt and just assumed it was pepper.  Nope.  It was probably 15 cruises in and me making it to emerald level before i realized the holes on the top had a P or S shaped holes.  yup, i’m slow.

 

 My favorite appetizer, escargot.  I will only post this picture once but know i am getting 2 per night i’m in the MDR.

 

 

 Prime rib cooked rare.  Delicious!

 

 And for dessert, I got the warm hazlenut cake.

 

I also got a picture of the key pie my wife got.

 

We were the only 2 people at a six top.  We finished dinner in an hour and were still able to get to the Theater for our 9:30 reservation for Blue Planet.

 

I’ll go more into it in my next post.

[Rogueperson]

As I said in my last post, we had reservations for Blue Planet tonight.  We got decent seats.  The timing worked out well.  

 

Here are a couple pictures from the show.

 

The production value for this show was quite high.  But it was kind of in the same vein as The Gift on Anthem.  It was “wow, the effects and the sets were amazing... but what the heck did i just watch?”. Its not bad though i think the males in this production butchered mostly all their songs.  I think one was decent but the rest I kind of cringed when they sang.  The women on the other hand were amazing.  The lead female carried the show.  My wife who has more of a musical inclination than I said they were hired to do Mama Mia and you can already tell who they’re going to play by their voices.  This is just their contractual obligation to do another broadway type show.

 

 

 

 

 

[Rogueperson]

Here is Day 2’s crosses compass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m definitely noticing a difference in uploading photos on this system.  Its still fairly slow, but not excruciating so.  my previous live threads could take more than 20 minutes to upload the photos of the cruise compass depending on day.  This ship to upload all 6 photos before i finished this post.  Definite improvement.

 

 Also, this is the first ship i’ve been on that has six page, not the typical 4 on the cruise compass.  I ignore the inserts that are glorified advertisements, but this ship has activity inserts.

 

 Depending how I feel, I may check out the night club.  Not even sure where it is.  I think its Dazzles on 8?

 

[MD_Dan]

Rogue,

Love the Cruise Compasses - Keep 'em coming!  Can't wait to come home from work tomorrow to see your report.  We are seeing the ship through your eyes. 

 

Have a great time on your vacation but keep us in the loop from time to time.

 

Dan

[Rogueperson]

1 hour ago, MD_Dan said:

Rogue,

Love the Cruise Compasses - Keep 'em coming!  Can't wait to come home from work tomorrow to see your report.  We are seeing the ship through your eyes. 

 

Have a great time on your vacation but keep us in the loop from time to time.

 

Dan

This is a live thread.  So you’ll see lots. The only exception is if I’m off the ship for an extended period of time without wifi.  I only have 1 all day excursion and that’s in  Costa Maya.  All other days i have excursions that last maybe 3 hours.

[Rogueperson]

I don’t know if it’s me, or I’m just unlucky.  The texting through the app works theoretically.  The key for effective texting is notifications.

 

 When you’re sitting in your room thinking your wife is in the bathroom when in reality she’s at the piano bar having a grand ole time and she texts “you gotta check this guy out, he’s amazing!!!“, notifications is what stands between you joining here or not.

 

I finally do join her but after i miss the piano guy pull off Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, and Guns n Rosé’s sweet child of mine in amazing fashion.  At least I caught Devil goes down to georgia and U2’s I still haven’t found what i’m looking for.  In short, this is the best Piano guy i’ve seen in 4 years.  He rivals the guy  who had an impromptu jam session with a headliner act and pulled of a excellent rendition of Bon Jovi in the Schooner Bar.

[JamesEM]

Following along, booked for a b-2-b-2 next month.