tweis

Will be taking my first RCI cruise on the Allure next May and I've been reading about the drink price increases. Is there a drink of the day? If so, how much is it? I'm trying to decide if we should get a drink package or just pay as we go. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your cruise to answer our questions. I hope you have a wonderful trip. :)

You will have a great view aft and over the AquaTheater being right towards the end, it is a great choice.

 

My best advice would be to keep an eye on the rates and perhaps, if there is availability, upgrading after final payment might be a possibility. I'm sure you will have a great cruise regardless, Allure is my favourite ship :)

Thank you! Yes, I am certain it will be a wonderful cruise either way.

It will be based on the current rate.

 

The boardwalk balconies are nice but I would always go for an ocean view balcony. Can I ask, what is making you re-think your decision?

That stinks. The price was much lower when I originally booked...guess I should of booked it then. I'm only rethinking it because we really enjoy regular verandas but at the time the boardwalk balcony sounded really cool. I've looked it up and it seems like a great room (12327). Guess we will find out. ;)

It will be the cost of the cabin now.

Thanks. We've only cruised DCL in the past and upgrades are based on the rate when you booked so I wasn't sure how RCI worked.

We booked a boardwalk balcony on the Allure next May but now I'm kind of wishing we had booked a regular balcony. My question is, if I upgrade will it be based on prevailing rates or the rates from when I booked. Sorry, this will be my first cruise on RCI so I'm unfamiliar with how it works. TIA :)

Central Park accessible balcony

April18, 2015 $2350.00 that incudes the gratuities and insurance for both of us. Does not include any OBC, we booked last May when they were first offering BOGOHO. Now I see so many people are getting OBC, a call to my TA is on my agenda.

Oh yeah! We got $200 OBC also. ;)

Memorial Week 2016 $875 pp including taxes in a B-1 boardwalk balcony. I think this is a great price but I will continue to price check. :D

I am new to Royal but I booked a 7 night western on Allure for May 2016 during the BOGOHO "sale" for the 4 of us in a B1 balcony for roughly $3500 which seemed like a great price to me. Today, that same cruise with their new "sale" is $4430.92 and it does not show any OBC but does show a $210 discount on the third and fourth passenger. These new sale prices are more in line with what I'm used to paying for Disney. :D

We've never taken a vacation without our kids...strange I know. They're 15 and 10 this year and they've gone with us whenever and wherever we've vacationed. Actually, Disney wasn't about the kids...sure they love it. But it has always been mine and my husband's choice. They'd be fine if we went somewhere else, but the Disney cruises have been great...on the other hand, WDW is another story (increasing numbers of rude people have changed our view and enjoyment of our WDW trips).

 

Anyway, if we did ever choose to go on a cruise without our kids, we'd go on DCL again. We're not interested in the characters or the clubs or bars (since neither of us drink), but we do appreciate the great service. I hope we have the same service on the Allure.

We are a blended family so our children are with their other parent for about half of the summer so my DH and I take a week's vacation without them. Of course, we still take them on vacation but we do vacation without them also. DCL was our choice for our solo cruise last year because we had an idea of what to expect having been on the Dream for 5 nights the previous year. We did not explore the adult areas on that cruise and thought it would be a great opportunity to see some things that we missed. My DH loves laying around the pool relaxing all day but that just is not me....I like to be doing things. lol We just did not find that many things to do on our sea day but we had spectacular service. Unfortunately when we sailed this past April on the Magic, that was not the case. We had issues with our room steward and major problems with our dining rotation being printed on our KTTW card incorrectly and no one correcting it until we are sitting in the wrong MDR. I also did not care for being scolded by my server for not eating in the MDR and instead choosing to eat in Cabanas. :confused: We love cruising DCL but this last cruise really left a bad taste in my mouth. Over all we enjoyed the cruise, but it was not what we have come to expect from Disney. I'm certain that we will cruise Disney again in the future, I plan to cruise to Alaska with them in a couple of years, but right now I think we need a Disney break. We've did the parks and cruises for the last few years and I just think we are ready to give something else a try. We may absolutely hate Royal but I feel we need to at least give them a try. :D

I'm glad to hear such high opinions of Royal (of course this is a Royal forum :D) since we will be trying the Allure and Royal for the first time in 2016 after sailing with Disney for the last 3 years.

We love sailing DCL and like another poster mentioned, it is like being home but we had less than stellar service on the Disney Magic this past April and we have since cancelled our 2 other planned DCL cruises. My kids do not enjoy the clubs on DCL and I don't expect they will enjoy them on Royal but I do hope they will enjoy the rock climbing wall, zip-lining, flow rider, etc. on Royal like they have enjoyed the Aqua Duck and Aqua Dunk on DCL. They are no longer interested in the character meet and greets or the "See Ya Real Soon" party but do enjoy cruising so I'm hoping Royal will be a good fit for us.

As a PP mentioned, adult activity on DCL is kind of limited unless you want to simply lay by the pool all day. We have enjoyed mixology classes and there are some trivia games at night but the clubs are pretty much dead after 10 p.m. I am not a lay by the pool all day kind of girl and honestly I got a little bored when DH and I sailed sans kids in 2013 on the Disney Dream. I wanted to take part in some activities during the sea day but there was not much to do after our mixology class. Disney does offer a great product and I'm sure we will sail DCL again but for now we are taking a break from them and from cruising all together in 2015.

Thank you all so much. I'm sure I will have a lot more questions before we sail. :D

Some answers above in red.

So you just show up whenever you want? That's kinda cool but I'm guessing the terminal can get quite busy that way? Good to know that you have to swipe your Sea Pass card to get into these areas. I would hate to be somewhere that I'm not supposed to be. Thank you. :)

Technically, Royal only allows two bottles of wine per stateroom to be brought onboard. However, they frequently don't enforce the rule for water and soda.

 

Show reservations can be made on Royal's website some months before the cruise. There is no set time, you just have to check the website periodically.

 

C&A membership is not automatic, you must opt to join. You can join during or after your first cruise. You get one point per night of cruise, and an extra point per night if you stay in a Junior Suite or better, and an extra point per night if you are a single in a statetoom that normall holds two or more.

I'm kinda scratchin my head over this.......there is no time frame for reserving shows? What about excursions and such? So I can join C&A during my first cruise? Also, the wording was kind of odd to me but will every member of my family that is in the cabin get points or only the lead person on the reservation? Thank you.

As my title indicates, I have never sailed Royal before but booked Allure for May 2016. I have been reading these boards since booking and I have a lot of questions that I'm sure you wonderful people can answer for me. We have sailed Disney in the past and I'm sure some things are similar but after reading on here for the past 2 weeks, some things I'm just really not sure about.

1. On DCL cruisers can do their online check in, choose their port arrival time, book excursion, cabanas, adult dining, spa treatments, etc. based on their Castaway Club Level (new-75 days out, silver-90, Gold-105, Platinum/Concierge-120) how does this work on Royal and do you choose a port arrival time?

2. DCL allows you to carry on beer, liquor, wine, water, soda, etc. as long as it is in your carry on. From what I have read, I'm guessing that you can only carry on a bottle of wine on Royal?

3. It is my understanding that you need to make reservations for shows on Allure.....when is this done?

4. I have read about the Crown & Anchor society on the RCI website but I'm still slightly confused......how many points do you get per cruise? I saw on the website where it says that you can join while on a cruise but I'm guessing your first cruise has to be completed first? Are you not enrolled automatically?

5. I keep reading about lounges and such that are for certain C&A members and concierge....how do I know if which lounges are for whom? :confused:

I think that is all for now but I'm sure I will have a lot more between now and when we sail. TIA :)

We will be sailing Allure in 2016 and when I booked, the agent told me that I needed to prepay my gratuities for DD. This was not an issue for me since we prefer to prepay our gratuities.

All we know for sure is what Royal has revealed about Quantum:

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/quantumoftheseas/dining/restaurants/

 

We won't know what's being done to Allure until Royal decides to tell us.

Thank you. Hmmm.....so I'm guessing RCL agents are like DCL CMs....you can get a different answer from every one that you speak with. :D

It really makes no difference to us, the agent just mentioned it to me when we were going over dining. :)

I am totally new to the RCL section of these boards.......I normally sail DCL but booked Allure for 2016. The RCL agent I booked with told me that Allure would be getting Dynamic Dining (I knew nothing about this before booking) and that the new restaurants would be Chic, Grande and American Icon Grill- was he incorrect? It honestly makes no difference, we had no idea what dynamic dining was until Saturday....just curious.

I LOVED your review Gambee! I think your reviews have to be some of the best that I've read over here on CC. I have been reading your Allure review also and was curious if you rated certain areas of the ship like you did with the Dream? If you did, maybe I just haven't found it yet.

I hope you and your mother have a wonderful time when you embark on your next adventure. Happy cruising. :D

Hi Gambee,

I am really enjoying reading your trip report. I have been on the Dream twice now and it's really great to read someone else's perspective of the ship.

Royal Palace is my favorite MDR. I tend to over eat while there but all the food is so good. The Grand Marnier Souflee is amazing. I hope you save room for it next time. ;)

I can't wait to read about your day at Castaway Cay. :)

We would love to book a Disney cruise but were told that Disney doesn't post their interline rates until about six weeks before the cruise. By that time, the cruises, at least the shorter ones, will be full. What's the secret to getting a good deal????

I prefer to book early. There are discounted rates offered on some cruises once its past the paid in full date but not all and they are generally not less than opening day prices. Sailing at off peak times is probably the least expensive way to book but that isn't possible for us.