AbeFroman2

Excursion thoughts

We did three:

Dragon Fly Zip Line in Haiti

I am petrified of heights, but persevered to take part in the longest zip line over water in the world (or so they say). This was an awesome experience I'd recommend to anyone. You start with a small zip line to get a taste of it and learn the proper flight position, then go WAY up the mountain to fly down over the water with a beautiful view of the ship and compound.

Maragaritaville Beach Break and Snorkel in Falmouth

There was no mention of going to the Montego Bay location (which we did via shuttle that broke down on the way and took about three hours total of drive time), no beach break, and a rushed eating experience.

The good news is that the catamaran boat was a fun time and snorkeling was a fun experience. The bad part is that pretty much the rest of it was forgettable. We expected to be at the Falmouth location, and weren't told why the change was made.

We never felt unsafe in Montego Bay, but the bus breakdown caused some nervous moments. Wouldn't recommend unless you can be assured you're going to Falmouth location/getting the beach.

Dolphin Encounter in Cozumel

Oh, to do this again. The captain broke into our stateroom at 8 a.m. with news of the travel ferry advisory, which freaked us out, but the excursion desk assured we'd be safe, and safe we were! The crew for this excursion did a great job organizing travel via taxi for the five-to-seven minute ride to Dolphin Discovery. We did the encounter, which was awesome, and then ate lunch (also good) and saw the Sea Lion show. Then, we spent some time at the pool and beach. Great, recommended excursion.

One other Cozumel note: Unless you feel the need, we didn't see the point of going shopping downtown, as everything that's there is also in the port shopping area, which is secure.

I thought there was a Margaritaville in Falmouth. Maybe it was closed or booked for a private gig. Thus sending you to Montego Bay.

There is, yes, which is why we assumed it would be there. Again, not a huge deal as we felt safe for the most part, but about two and a half hours round trip on a shuttle was not expected.

Aboard Allure

We had a free port night speciality restaurant booking, so we went immediately to Chop's to make that. A worker was there and took care of it promptly, and off we went to the bar (and yes, Chop's was terrific).

I apologize but I did not see the on-board drink package price as we had booked pre-cruise. For those who ask if it's worth it: Totally depends on your drinking habits. As a relaxation drinker (and someone who LOVES Jell-O shots, which Allure has), I definitely got my money's worth. Girlfriend teetered on the edge a bit, but $12 glasses of wine got her over the price point needed to make it worth it.

Cell connection was brutal on the ship in port, just an FYI. Have AT&T, and struggled to connect all over. Surf and Stream was as advertised, and whatever the basic package is called was good, too.

Allure is a GIGANTIC ship. You know that when you book, but it's hard to envision until you actually arrive. That said, never did it feel crowded or like there were too many people on board. Recommend the WipeOut Cafe if you want an made-to-order omelette, as they aren't in the WindJammer. Personally, we found WJ quite limited on Allure, but guessed that had to do with the number of passengers.

And oh, by the way: We had an inside cabin, Room 8425. After having a balcony on Anthem (went inside to save money due to need for flight this time) it was quite the adjustment. But, since we merely slept and showered there, it was not that big of a deal.

Moving on to the pool, as you might imagine it's quite hard to find a chair in the sub on port days. Heard many complaining about how early people were out to reserve chairs. We hung out at the bars (Solarium and both pool side bars are great!) and waited for spots to open up, so it was no big deal.

One gem on this ship is the Solarium. Quiet, and often found hot tub or pool space quickly.

The Main Dining room was OK, but felt so rushed. Servers were different every night as was table location (We had MTD again but did not experience this movement on Anthem) and they often were rushed. One night, we waited 45 minutes for drinks to come. The food was good, but the experience was not typical of previous cruises. No biggie, though: Everyone did their best.

Trying to think what I missed, which I'm sure is a lot. We did not do mini golf, Flo Rider, the zip line, so have insight on those. The ice show was terrific, the comedian's funny but typical cruise line routine, and we skipped out on Mama Mia as we drank a tad too much Jamaican rum the night we had it scheduled. The ocean show was cool, too, and recommended.

Onto excursions!

Pre-cruise

We flew from Baltimore to Ft. Lauderdale with relative ease. Arrived around Noon, picked up a car at Hertz, and off we went to South Beach. And, no, you don't need a shuttle at FLL to get to rental car locations.

South Beach was more of a "since we're here" idea. It was OK. It's just a beach with some expensive restaurants, after all, but we enjoyed touring the outdoor mall, which is the Lincoln Road Mall, and the food at Tapelia was fantastic! Highly recommended.

After lunch, we just explored a bit before heading back to our hotel. The rental was a Hertz Hotwire deal that cost $34 plus $4.57 in gas.

We stayed at the:

Quality Inn & Suites Hollywood

Boulevard (FL708)

Hollywood, FL 33021

4900 Hollywood Blvd

Really a fine place for the price we paid, which was $189 a night. Other pre-cruisers got it cheaper, but stubborn me booked a cheaper one elsewhere only to see a rash of bed bug reviews fill up Trip Advisor. Yikes! The Quality Inn was clean, breakfast was fine, and try Rickey's across the street for dinner! Great food and beer prices.

Saturday, we went to Gulfstream Park and had a blast and made some money.

Sunday, we checked out at 10:30, got in an Uber at 11, and were at the check-in line by about 11:45. Traffic is a bit tough of course but moves along. Inform your Uber driver that he/she must show their driver's license to get passed port security, and you must show your passport and sea pass.

Embarkation was nice and easy. Security was quick, and even a small computer glitch did not slow us down too much. Port Liberty in Bayonne was less hectic, but Port Everglades was no problem, either!

Hi all!

As always thanks to all of the contributors here. It's the best place on the web for cruise info.

Just settling back into a routine after a wonderful two days in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale followed by seven almost perfect days aboard Allure of the Seas. Some thoughts from the trip and please feel free to leave questions. I'll be breaking it up into a few posts so you can skip what you're not interested in:

--Pre-cruise and Port Everglades info

--Thoughts on board the Allure

--Excursion thoughts

--Getting home

I did the on-board end of voyage package which got me three days of VOOM for $54.99. I also did a 24-hour pass earlier in the cruise for $19.54. Both of these were on Allure for the 2-25 sailing.

Back from a week on the Allure and wanted to check in about the Falmouth Maragaritaville Excursion.

Has anyone done this recently? We expected the excursion to take place in and around Falmouth, considering the RCCL ad for it mentioned a boat ride to the Falmouth location at the pier.

Instead, we were bussed to the Montegro Bay location, which was a surprise to say the least. Some backed out when that announcement was made, but we decided to go anyway. About two miles from the location, our bus broke down. Another came, we never felt unsafe, and everything worked out fine, but this change was bothersome especially considering the travel alerts there.

Did we miss something? Is this a recent change? Either way, it's a good reminder to research your excursions. We only did so cursory, and paid the price in a way.

I'm curious about the security on board. We all saw the video of the brawl on a recent cruise and what the security did in that instance, but typically, can any of you shed light on what they do besides handle boarding/disembarking? I saw them walking around from time to time but what do they have the authority to do? Are they mostly watching cameras all day?

Fortunately, we never needed to see them as our shipmates were great, but I did wonder when seeing someone passing by with a body camera.

Thanks for the GREAT insight from all.

FWIW, my girlfriend has problems with it on our first cruise, so for the second one she called up the doctor about a Scopolamine patch and had no problem getting one. Might be worth looking into, as once you're there, you're there.

I'm not familiar with Cozumel so I'm not sure if we are supposed to take a ferry or not to Chankanaab and Dolphin Discovery. Does anyone know if this is one of the excursions that will be cancelled?

Nope, you will be good to go. This is the exact excursion we did. Chankanaab is beautiful, the Dolphin Discovery staff is great, and the taxi operation to and from the location to the pier is fantastic.

For what it’s worth, the captain broke into staterooms on Allure Friday to share this news and say that all ferry excursions were being cancelled/refunded. We were a little concerned about doing our excursion, the dolphin encounter, but an excursions desk guide was terrific in explaining why it was safe to do. He was correct, we did it, and honestly it might have been the best part of the trip.

Jamaica, on the other hand.. we ended up in Montego Bay, bus broke down; never in danger, but was certainly sketchy, especially when the Margaritaville excursion had no mention of a bus ride or Montego Bay when booking.

I won’t try to compete with the outstanding Live review of the 2-25 sailing on Allure, but to pass some time between now and our 1:50 flight back home, anyone have any questions?

I will post some things specific to our trip — excursions, coming from out of town, etc., if there is any interest.

Enjoying following along while on board with you! Sure is a windy day Today on the pool decks.

Could someone please provide additional details about the mobile app that might make the customs process easier? We board Sunday and I would like to download it ahead of time if at all possible. Thank you!

Check-in was a mess on Feb 4 in terminal 18. No one was monitoring who was getting in which lines and it was as free for all. I never experienced that in terminal 18 before.

Sorry to hear! Guess we can only hope for a better experience. What time of day was that? Thanks!

Apologies for the new thread but the search function was not helping.

Did all of our online check-in with TA awhile ago, and she had mentioned boarding at after 12:30 p.m. Was a hectic day and did not think much of it, but it occurred to me over the last few days that, unlike Anthem where we had a set window, the Allure must just be a boarding free-for-all?

Is that true, or was my TA mistaken? Thanks in advance! We're flying in from the chilly north to Port Everglades for the first time, so this is new to us as usual Bayonne cruisers.

Signed up for the card during our February 2017 sailing and used it for mostly everything since with an eye toward our Allure sailing next week. Will probably discontinue using it beyond RCI purchases after this trip. As many have mentioned, the rewards simply aren't worth it compared to what's out there.

There was a shuttle running to a nearby beach. Can't recall what it cost but wasn't terribly expensive, maybe $15 round trip a piece and might have been less. Plenty to see and do in the area from food and drink perspective. We enjoyed it.

One CoCoCay tip: Bring plenty of cash if you like to souvenir shop. Lot of trinkets and stuff but no credit cards accepted (which, was obvious in hindsight, but did not think of it at the time).

My concern with the Uber is that since it's such a short ride that no Uber driver will want the fare?

 

Sent from my SM-T800 using Forums mobile app

Drivers aren't aware of where they are going until they accept it. Some might cancel on you if they are, say, 20 mins away, but I take short trips all the time and never have an issue finding one, even if it takes a minute or two.

I really feel bad for those that have issues. I use Chrome exclusively for all web browsing and have never had an issue with their website, outside of the occasional endless adding of a zero to my reservation number, which prevents me from getting into my booking. Even that, though, is usually cleared up by re-starting Chrome. Perhaps try doing it through Chrome going forward.

I apologize, I can't say we paid particular attention to this on Anthem back in February. I imagine it would be a bit difficult but probably doable. Have you tired contacting RCCL at special_needs@rccl.com, yet?

Looking at $55 for deluxe on Allure in February 2018. I know there's many threads I could search, etc., but is the best idea to recommend booking now and cancelling/rebooking if there is a drop? We will be buying it regardless, but feel a little unsure here, as when we booked out first cruise, on Anthem last February, it was on sale for a lower price about a week after we booked it, so grabbed it and forgot it, if that makes sense. Unsure what the experienced cruisers would suggest, as some of these prices above seem quite high. Thank you!

I had two extension cords in my carry-on that I forgot about until I unpacked that bad fully to repack near the end of the trip. Had no issues with security/boarding. Guess that may not be a typical experience, but it was mine.

Great review, thank you!

Anthem gets pretty backed up. On our Feb. trip that included tendering at CoCo Cay, they started handing out tenders at 7 a.m. and we didn't get ours until 9. We not on the island until about 1. Go early if you want to get off quickly, for sure.