Just back from Lady Allure!

[BecciBoo]

This may take a while with pics but it'll be brief.  Firstly, boarding is still a snap in the new terminal🥰  On in 15 minutes and finished with dining rez in 30 mins at Giovanni's, then salad and roast beef sandwich at Park Cafe...mmmmm

 

Our GTY balcony was fine, as I remembered from 2014 I think they carved a little out of the regular cabins and seemed small.  This made storing the Wheel Chair really difficult, but we did it, technique is everything.  When exiting entering anything, elevator, venues etc. I would get out and hubs would push it in, faster and less hassle.  But it worked great!  Saved my energy!

 

I prefer the old menus, but not enough to grouch about it.  It's basically the same just categorized into themes.  I was happy to see the portion sizes getting smaller, I hate waste.  But they were absolutely totally accomodating to any request we made.  We could order anything. My only complaint is the Strip Steak,  still tough and stringy, ick!  Chops was our first of 3 specialties.  And absolutely without doubt the best of all 3!  We loved Samba Grill also, but tooooo much food and we did it the last day, we were maxed out!.  Park 150 was not as good as I remember.  Giovanni's here wasn't the same as our Odyssey experience..   Didn't think JR's was very good.  They've changed the "Works", not the same wonderful veggie dish.  And I had a personal disappointment in the dry and leathery french toast of all things, both there and MDR.  All in all, not really any major complaints.

 

I took these pics of the towels which are NOT prison grade to prove it:

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by BecciBoo

[BecciBoo]

This is day 2 gorgeous weather:

 

[BecciBoo]

Trying to get a time lapse to post, but it's too big, will try some other method later.

 

We did all the shows and found them to be pretty good.  We walked out of Mamma Mia in 2014, but this version was pretty good.  Blue Planet was disappointing since they reworked the production post pandemic and in my opinion ruined it with a bunch of woke politicking.  Ish!   Aqua Show great as usual. And Blades was fantastic.  Had a blast with Finish that Lyric the MC was hysterical.  Don't miss anything he does! 

 

Our time in Coz was as usual our favorite place, we chose Resort for a Day to Allegro resort.  Stayed on board and enjoyed a leisurely day aboard for both Costa Maya and Roatan.  Allegro has 2 huge pools and a kids pool with play toys and a jacuzzi.  This hotel bought out Nachi Cocom which is just next door.

Edited September 11, 2023 by BecciBoo

[BecciBoo]

I am waiting for Hubs to help with compression on the time lapse vids, they were great.  But we loved the cruise.  Debarkation was harder than embarkation, but not too bad...on the road by 7:48am.

[firefly333]

I tried the works at JR last dec and also thought it wasnt what I expected. I remember a dish with lots of stir fried onion and peppers. Very few in what I got and half cooked scrambled eggs. I may try it again next week minus the eggs or ask that they cook the eggs well done. I havent tried it since, but will probably. It used to be so good. I too missed all the veggies.

[BecciBoo]

Exactly!

[TravelGirlinDallas]

On 9/11/2023 at 1:21 PM, BecciBoo said:

I took these pics of the towels which are NOT prison grade to prove it:

 

Those are MUCH nicer towels than we had on Allure in July. Maybe they are replacing them with better ones now?

[Ocean Boy]

Have they changed out the chairs on the balconies yet or are they still the ones with the short backs that you can't rest your head on and are not adjustable. They made the balcony fairly useless for me.

[BecciBoo]

No grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr  I much prefer the chairs with the foot stools that slide under than the ones they have now!  

[OCSC Mike]

We have a last minute Allure "bonus cruise" on hold for next month when she arrives at PC (waiting to see if my wife is able to swing it). I'm assuming we won't wind up going but just in case...

 

Any thoughts on non-MDR included food venues... WJ, Park Cafe, Solarium Bistro, Wipe Out Cafe featuring El Loco Fresh (or whatever the heck they renamed it)?

 

Did you visit the DL during happy hour for snacks?

 

Shocking that I'm asking about food, I know.

[BecciBoo]

Diamond Lounge: everything a knockout punch.  Coffee machine is new and works great, snacks were the best I've seen in many years.  We were cruising with family so didn't spend a lot of time there, but for the first time in years, we are tempted to spend more, at least on this lady.  Only real disappointment was the quality at Johnny's.  Didn't do too much WJ, we ate at Solarium Cafe often, breakfast and snacks, thought Sambas Grill was very good!  I felt guilty though, so much wasted meat, just couldn't hold it.  But worth the $$. Their short rib was to die for. I was quite satisfied with MDR.  Ate lunch a couple times at Wipeout, it is what it is...Taco Bell, but I think Taco Bell is better.  I love Taco Bell Chalupas!  Big hit of the venues was Chops which shocked us.  We'd almost sworn off it.  They were terrific.  Park 150 was a meh.  Giovannis, so so, not as good as the Kitchen on Odyssey.

[OCSC Mike]

36 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

Diamond Lounge: everything a knockout punch.  Coffee machine is new and works great, snacks were the best I've seen in many years.

 

Thanks, that's great to hear. I'm guessing it's the machine I used on Wonder (it was a new one I had never seen before). And I really appreciate when the snacks are good. They were amazing in the SL on Wonder (didn't visit the DL b/c we were being treated to a GS but I've heard it was mostly the same stuff) so I was hoping they were back to being good on other ships.

 

The DL snacks on Indy last year were the worst I had ever seen.

[Rudyard]

We were on the sailing right after yours. Love how easy embarkation was. We parked in the middle of the North Lot and were onboard within 20 minutes.

 

My only real complaints about my cruise would be the beds. Way too hard for me (and it already had two mattress toppers on it when we got to our cabin) so I didn't get much rest. Woke up sore and tired every day. Other complaint was the layout of the Windjammer. Whoever designed it should be fired. I enjoyed everything else so much that I won't let that stop me from booking again. Thinking about Harmony for next spring. 

[CariAnn]

On 9/20/2023 at 4:35 PM, BecciBoo said:

Diamond Lounge: everything a knockout punch.  Coffee machine is new and works great, snacks were the best I've seen in many years.  We were cruising with family so didn't spend a lot of time there, but for the first time in years, we are tempted to spend more, at least on this lady.  Only real disappointment was the quality at Johnny's.  Didn't do too much WJ, we ate at Solarium Cafe often, breakfast and snacks, thought Sambas Grill was very good!  I felt guilty though, so much wasted meat, just couldn't hold it.  But worth the $$. Their short rib was to die for. I was quite satisfied with MDR.  Ate lunch a couple times at Wipeout, it is what it is...Taco Bell, but I think Taco Bell is better.  I love Taco Bell Chalupas!  Big hit of the venues was Chops which shocked us.  We'd almost sworn off it.  They were terrific.  Park 150 was a meh.  Giovannis, so so, not as good as the Kitchen on Odyssey.

Is the Solarium Cafe open on Embarkation day? I would love to avoid the WJ madness on the first day.

[BecciBoo]

yes

[BecciBoo]

On 9/20/2023 at 5:34 PM, Rudyard said:

Way too hard for me

Remember the Princess and the Pea...and the Three Bears?  LOL.  To each their own.  Both of us slept better on this cruise than many past ones.  We thought the beds were "Just right".  In fact we talked about it every morning.  No toppers either.  They must've just been replaced I guess.

[Ocean Boy]

1 minute ago, BecciBoo said:

Remember the Princess and the Pea...and the Three Bears?  LOL.  To each their own.  Both of us slept better on this cruise than many past ones.  We thought the beds were "Just right".  In fact we talked about it every morning.  No toppers either.  They must've just been replaced I guess.

I had no issues with the beds and it has been almost two years since I was last on Allure.

[OCSC Mike]

27 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

We thought the beds were "Just right".

 

24 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

I had no issues with the beds

 

Mattresses can very greatly on the same ship. We had two different cabins on Indy last year... that were only six cabins apart. One was hard as concrete... the other perfectly fine.

[ticketsunlimited]

On 9/20/2023 at 6:34 PM, Rudyard said:

We were on the sailing right after yours. Love how easy embarkation was. We parked in the middle of the North Lot and were onboard within 20 minutes.

 

My only real complaints about my cruise would be the beds. Way too hard for me (and it already had two mattress toppers on it when we got to our cabin) so I didn't get much rest. Woke up sore and tired every day. Other complaint was the layout of the Windjammer. Whoever designed it should be fired. I enjoyed everything else so much that I won't let that stop me from booking again. Thinking about Harmony for next spring. 

RUDYARD, we were on this cruise as well.  First time in ALL of our sailings that my wife and I both felt the beds where a bit harder than normal.  Smoothest sailing that we could ever remember.  The gulf of Mexico was flatter and bluer than ever.  From the 12th  deck balcony it looked like you could scoop up the ocean and eat it.  Boarding the ship was a breeze.  Leaving was a bit of a mess as I believe the WIFI in the terminal was down for a bit and delayed some things.

Unfortunately I came home and was LEVELED with Covid.  Still in recovery mode.  The wife went unscathed.  Great trip overall.

[Mikew0805]

5 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

 

Mattresses can very greatly on the same ship. We had two different cabins on Indy last year... that were only six cabins apart. One was hard as concrete... the other perfectly fine.

That is true throughout Indy, suites included. I still love that ship though. I will be on her last sailing out of PC. Sad to see her go, but excited to have Allure, and then Utopia.

[OCSC Mike]

3 minutes ago, Mikew0805 said:

That is true throughout Indy, suites included. I still love that ship though. I will be on her last sailing out of PC. Sad to see her go, but excited to have Allure, and then Utopia.

 

I had a fine time on Indy for 11 nights last year but I do prefer Oasis class.

 

We rarely do short cruises anyway so not a huge deal for me. I do currently have Allure's first cruise from PC on hold though (a 5-nighter) just because it had a pretty good price and it mostly fits my wife's schedule... just waiting for her to make the final call; she has until Tuesday.

 

I was going to book a B2B on Utopia for spring break 2025 but even Wonder was significantly cheaper so I just went back with Wonder since they're nearly identical ships. Hopefully we'll fit in a Utopia cruise at some point.

[c-leg5]

On 9/11/2023 at 1:35 PM, BecciBoo said:

This hotel bought out Nachi Cocom which is just next door.

 

When did this happen?

 

Nachi Cocom has always been the beach club belonging to Del Mar and some other in town hotels as far as I know.

 

Allegro belongs to Barcelo group now. Can hotel guests go to Nachi now?

Edited September 22, 2023 by c-leg5

[BecciBoo]

Don't know when, but the manager said "They are our sister property now, we bought them out".  I knew 10 years ago Nachi was for sale, but we just kept going.  Don't know about hotel guests, But I sure prefer Allegro now.  Beautiful property.  Almost nobody was there, maybe 30 people near the main pool.  We loved it.  Don't know if Del Mar cooks the food like at Nachi, but there could be improvement on that point.  Nachi food was always good and fresh...this food was a bit Windjammer like to us.  But we are already looking at booking another day there next cruise.  We booked the day pass through Resort for a Day.

[c-leg5]

1 hour ago, BecciBoo said:

Don't know when, but the manager said "They are our sister property now, we bought them out".  I knew 10 years ago Nachi was for sale, but we just kept going.  Don't know about hotel guests, But I sure prefer Allegro now.  Beautiful property.  Almost nobody was there, maybe 30 people near the main pool.  We loved it.  Don't know if Del Mar cooks the food like at Nachi, but there could be improvement on that point.  Nachi food was always good and fresh...this food was a bit Windjammer like to us.  But we are already looking at booking another day there next cruise.  We booked the day pass through Resort for a Day.

Interested . That is the first time I have read that.
 

We have done day passes to Allegro in the past when we have had kids with us for the splashground. We have preferred Occidental ( they are a sister property next door the other way)  for adults for better food and quieter vibe but we haven’t been to either since they were bought out by Barcelo. 
 

I presume they have rebuilt at Allegro since their fairly recent fire? Have they rebuilt with more palapa roofs? Do you mean Allegro was like the WJ? I believe it used to be only a buffet available at lunchtime?

 

We have been to Nachi and Del Mar latino beach clubs and I thought they were all affiliated with the Casa del Mar Hotel.

Edited September 22, 2023 by c-leg5

[Etta1213]

On 9/20/2023 at 5:34 PM, Rudyard said:

We were on the sailing right after yours. Love how easy embarkation was. We parked in the middle of the North Lot and were onboard within 20 minutes.

 

My only real complaints about my cruise would be the beds. Way too hard for me (and it already had two mattress toppers on it when we got to our cabin) so I didn't get much rest. Woke up sore and tired every day. Other complaint was the layout of the Windjammer. Whoever designed it should be fired. I enjoyed everything else so much that I won't let that stop me from booking again. Thinking about Harmony for next spring. 

I agree that the Windjammer layout on Allure is difficult. Liberty, much smaller ship, has a far better Windjammer, not so squished.