kurtp13

Good review. Clearly some highs and lows for you on the cruise.

I hope I didn't sound too negative. Not too many lows actually. I just try to view things objectively. Any problems I had were very small in the scheme of things. The app and arcade credit issues were not really important and the staff really was very friendly in trying to resolve them.

I did forget to mention the the first time I saw a drink card offered was on the very last sea day. $79 /10 drinks + gratuities. It may have been available earlier but I sure didn't notice it.

Sorry for the crazy run together words. I transferred from MSWord and didn't notice that happening

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Hi everyone. Here ismy review of the Allure of the Seas April 22, 2018 sailing.

We flew in and out of Orlando to visit friends and thendrove back and forth to Fort Lauderdale. Flights to Orlando were cheaper also. We stayed north of Fort Lauderdale in Embassy Suites – Deerfield Beachthe night before. Staying in town mighthave been easier, but the resort was very nice. We just weren’t there long enough to really enjoy it. We traveled with another couple, old friendsfrom our old home town. We met at theport when arriving for Embarkation Day.

· Coconuts Restaurant in Ft. Lauderdale for lunchon the day before

o Good – had the popular appetizer Scoobies (crabclaws) which were good.

o Expensive lunch including the $10 valet. We did order more than needed, the meals werelarger than expected.

o It felt like a kick off to the trip because ofthe location. I could have gone for acheaper option and been happy. Trafficin this area was a bit heavy when we were there.

· Rental Car

o Budget Cruise Port Rental car location changedand I didn’t get informed of the change. It was a confusing series of calls before I talked to a live person thatcould tell me the new location address. The person that helped me was from Avis that shares the location. Budget does not have much ability to link toa live customer service agent. This wouldhave worked fine if I had been informed of the change prior to arriving. As it was I was delayed at least an hourcircling the area and placing useless calls.

· Check in

o Lines for Diamond and Emerald used for lessercategories which would have made me mad if I wasn’t a lowly Gold member. They were also lined up about equal to ourlines.

o Smooth but later than I had planned to check indue to the rental car situation. Itwould have been much easier if earlier. My group waited for me to arrive so we were all delayed.

o The first-time cruiser line was faster than ourGold status line.

· First impressions – Embarkation Day

o Royal Promenade

§ Wow this is a big space and it’s easy to forgetyou are on a ship.

o Park Café – OK but crowded although we arrived laterthan I wanted.

§ I should have tried another buffet (Wipeout?) ora specialty restaurant.

§ Made the experience more stressful than needed

§ Chairs were very close together, worse when mostpeople had some kind of luggage.

§ Kummelweck sandwiches were OK but not worth thehype. I’ve had a real one somewhatrecently in northern NY for the first time, so I’m not an expert but I knewwhat to expect. I took two and combinedthem into one sandwich to increase the meat to bread ratio. Some of the beef was not trimmed well and wasvery fatty.

§ We only picked up to go items after thisexperience. But to be fair it was muchcalmer later. Never did any breakfastfood here.

o Bar in Central park- Slow, couldn’t scan paperseapass cards during the embarkation time.

§ Appeared the scanners were not turned on in anylocation. Park Café had the same problem. This caused unnecessary line ups. I walked away a couple of times because I waswaiting so long. I was concerned thatthe long wait at bars would continue, but after the scanners worked I had notrouble at bars.

· Boardwalk

o Really a fun unique area. But very dependent on what is open. There are times it is really dead and doesn’thave non-stop carnival atmosphere like I expected. Almost every space is an extra cost venue. Donuts were dry and no one in our party likedthem. The candy shop was really morelimited than I expected. The hot dogswere good but this space wasn’t open much. And it tends to impede traffic flow because it’s not clear where to lineup and kind of in a choke point. Thislocation could really use some fries, I sure missed them. The carousel was not open very often butfrankly seemed underused anyway. We rodeit once without any music playing which I thought was odd. Later I saw it operating and heard some musicplaying. It was never lined up when Isaw it operating.

· Activiities - Sports deck

o Zip line – I rode this 3 times on the firstday. Once suited up you might as well doit multiple times. It was actually alittle more thrilling than I expected. Make sure you understand what the ride operator is doing. My last ride I did not have the mainattachment clipped before the ride operator asked me to ‘sit in theharness’. So, he had to attach this outof the normal sequence after I said something is not right. If I had been released I would have had tosupport my weight with the hand grips. The secondary line was attached but it is very slack. The hand grips are a little fat and franklynot that easy to grip, at least in my opinion. That was my last ride.

o Flow Rider – I didn’t do well and tried thisonce. For me it was a constant spray ofwater in the face. I didn’t flipimmediately off the back, I spent most of my time forward at the bottom. I will probably try this on a future cruisebut didn’t feel the need to conqueror it on this trip. I was looking for a chill out on this trip.

o Putt-Putt Golf – This was fun but there weren’tenough adult golf clubs. We had toshare which wasn’t a big deal. There wasa big group ahead of us and so they had used a lot of the clubs. Still a fun time and not crowded.

o Arcade – I prepaid for this for the $20 amountand received a letter in my stateroom about setting my card at a specificarcade between 5-10pm. I was busy andthought I would catch up later. Apparently, this meeting time is to make sure the appropriate card iscredited. Like for a child that doesn’thave charging ability. I later tried togo into the Boardwalk arcade to complete my registration. I couldn’t do it on my own. Tried to call from there and the phone wasbroken. Went to Customer service. They said it will work the following day. Cut to the next day and my party of 4 go tothe arcade to play some skee ball. Carddidn’t work, phone was missing this time. I asked customer service to remove the charge, I was tired of messingwith it and it wasn’t worth more running back and forth to me. It took a couple more calls to get the creditreflected. This was an unneededaggravation so I probably won’t bother next time. I thought it would just work right away. Maybe that could be an option when purchasingit in advance. That is what I wasexpecting.

o Captain’s talk - Really funny captain. I enjoyed this more than expected. Lots of concerns about the life boats but theoriginal question of how people are seated on the boats was neveranswered. Someone asking about employeewages (wages to tip ratio) was pretty sharply rebuked which was a littleuncomfortable. But the other discussionitems were both interesting and funny at time.

· Dinner – Grande

o We didn’t do any specialty restaurants, exceptGuacamole in Sabor.

o Waiter was good but it took me a while tocalibrate to his accent.

o Asst Waiter was a nice fellow but seemed to getoverwhelmed

o Head Waiter was more attentive than any I havehad before.

o One night the staff was struggling

§ The next night I saw a Sabor staffer (blackshirt and tan shorts) helping out during a busy night. They could have used him the previous nightwhen they were struggling. I suspectthey asked for reinforcements after that night when they were in the weeds.

o I noticed one family coming in at least ½ hourafter the assigned time almost every night when they were in the MDR. No complaints or comments from the staff.

o We enjoyed the MDR and had early seating. We never felt rushed at all. I was a little concerned about that withearly dining. But I wouldn’t do it anyother way. I don’t think I would likeMTD. It just seems like more things toschedule and keep track of. I like that at the start of the day we allknew what time we were getting together. My wife and I missed one dinner when we returned too late from Falmouth. So it was dinner in the Windjammerwhich was fine.

o Food was hit and miss, typical of other sailingsI’ve had. Sometimes it looked good anddidn’t taste great. Other times it wasthe reverse. You had to taste somethings because they sometimes actually better than the appearance. Weird. But generally, it was good.

o We asked our waiter for curry dishes which hebrought most nights. I got that tipfrom Matt. This was a nice bonus and Ireally enjoyed the variety.

· Food

o All the food seemed luke-warm. Rarely was anything hot unless it was cookedto order.

o I was prepared for the worst so Sorrento’swasn’t a huge disappointment. But Idon’t know how freshly made pizza can taste so much like mid-grade frozenpizza. We did eat it in the evening whenat the lounges but only for the lack of any other hot food availability. The ‘pizza burger’ appeared to be a regularpizza with an additional crust put on top. That just felt like a way to push the bread even more.

o There should be some kind of casual to go foodoffering that is more substantial in the evening. Even if it was ala carte beyond the currentofferings. Near the other bars so isn’ta trek to find. I went on Mariner of theSeas just before they added a service charge to Johnny Rockets and it was openlater (I think it was until 11 or 12). That was fun and I confess I was there most nights.

o Promenade Café was convenient for evening snacksbut I have the same complaint about the bread to filling ratio. Most sandwiches were not very good. I did like the flavor of the Muffuletta butagain very skimpy with the filling.

o We sat in the Solarium much of the time duringsea days. Having the café (buffet) soclose by was a huge plus. We carrieditems out and back to our chairs which was really nice for a quick bite. I had a chicken breast that was so muchbetter than my expectation for a buffet item. Limited menu but so convenient and quick.

· Breakfast in MDR

o We did Breakfast in MDR 4 times and of theseonly 1 was really relaxing. The other 3were way too slow with things arriving at the wrong times. Mywife was not pleased with this experience. Normally I really like the relaxing pace but this didn’t have the samefeel.

· Breakfast in Johnny Rockets

o OK but not great. As I recall the pancakes were premade and notwhat I expected.

· Room service – We did this once after theCozumel port visit. Very good qualityfor burgers and chicken strips. Quickservice.

· Entertainment

o Mama Mia – Cute but kind of a silly story. Music, dancing and singing ability were topnotch. I’ve seen the movie and enjoyedthis much more. I thought the music wasrecorded but at the end they showed the band. I was really impressed at the level of musicians and singers.

o Jazz on 4 – specifically a show with the MamaMia conductor and some of the actors singing individually. Excellent. I was sleepy this evening and considered turning in earlier but was gladI didn’t.

o Ocean Aria Aqua Show – Excellent show. Get thereearly and get a seat that’s not under an awning. From way in back you won’t see the highdivers.

o Blue Planet – Good. A little weird but entertaining enough with agood mix of music dancing and acrobatics.

o Headliner - Las Vegas Tenors – We all enjoyedthis group. I met a man from Australiathat didn’t like it and we kidded each other a bit about our tastes. He indicated he was not familiar with many ofthe songs, which was surprising.

o Game Ice show. Great demonstration of talent but like some shows on cruise ships alittle silly. Overall veryenjoyable.

o Dazzles – The band named Centerpiece performedhere off and on in the evening. Excellent band especially the lead guitarist. I wanted to hear them more.

o Pub – Guitar player. Friendly guy. Not a great voice. A customersang with him one time and he was better. The customer sang in English which was not his native language. Kind of funny. I love this space. I would have liked to see some variety inthe talent. Staff was veryattentive.

o Schooner Bar – Piano player. Not my favorite. Seemed a little at odds with the patrons attimes. ‘I’m not going to play that now’. Talented but relied on his computeraccompaniment too much I thought. He hada list of songs and that was it. I tiredof him quickly. I would rather hear arougher piano only song than just a limited menu. I like the live experience for interactionand improvisation. I don’t want ajukebox. He was good but in the threetimes I saw him I heard Piano Man each time. Don’t blame that on the patrons, he saidsomething to the effect that it’s expected so he’s going to do it now.

o Comic show – I saw two shows in the Comedy Liveand the family friendly one in the theatre. Kivi Rogers was better IMO. I’mnot a potty humor fan at all, not a prude, it just seems too easy. A lot of both shows goes there. Even the family show goes in this directionmore than I would like. Some familieswould not be pleased with the content in the family show.

· Royal App – This was down more than it wasup.

o It would have been really nice if itworked. I went to Customer service andthey had IT reset my account after trying very hard to help me on thespot. It was almost funny watching themstruggle like I did. After IT reset myapp it updated. It worked for awhile butthey stopped again. It doesn’t stopcold, it just doesn’t display any schedule detail, just venue locations.

· Labadee, Haiti port – Stayed on the ship

o First time I’ve ever stayed on the ship at aport stop. It was so relaxing. The only thing to mention is that there areless towel stations and bars open. Whenyou see something you need, grab what you want and then go to your favorite location.

· Falmouth, Jamaica port – Hilton Rose Hall resort (non Royal excursion)

o The bus ride over was well organized and the busdriver talked on the way like a mini tour.

o We did have a fellow passenger that seemed alittle self-entitled. She asked for astop to get a Red Stripe beer. We hadjust walked through the port area with bars and we were driving about 20minutes to an all-inclusive resort. Thebus driver accommodated her and stopped at a local bar. I don’t really know but it seemed like wetook a convoluted route out of town to get there. The bar stop only took a couple of minutes,but there were some disgusted fellow passengers that couldn’t believe this onepassenger was delaying everyone else’s arrival. Lots of puzzled looks to each other around the bus behind this couple inthe front seat. People – remember youare not the only one that has value. Ifyou want special treatment, hire a cab to take you.

o Nice place. Very well kept. The lawn wasperfect and looked like a putting green.

o Food was OK but not great. The food on the ship was probably a littlebetter. The jerk shack was a nice touchand that definitely had some flavor. Ordering was a little like the soup cook episode of the Seinfeldshow. I went with a week-long guest wemet on site so I know I was doing it correctly but it wasn’t all smiles likethe rest of the resort. This visit kindof convinced me I wouldn’t like a week at an all inclusive as much as acruise. Very similar experiences,cheaper liquor in the drinks at the Hilton than the ship, I expect theentertainment is not nearly as good. Ithink more than about 4 days would be boring.

· Cozumel, Mexico – Turquoise Beach Bar

o I wanted to try little bar this after reading areview. It was accurately described butI had a different idea about what it was. It was a little more rustic than I expected. And I had the impression itwas going to be off the beaten path away from the heavier traffic area. It had a good view of the ships. We were the only ones there for awhile so wehad good service. They do serve food butthe food comes from the restaurant across the street. I have a picture of the server coming backacross the street with our food which was kind of funny to watch. A little like Frogger video game. No chicken dishes were available. My wife only ate guacamole. She has a little more confidence in chainlocations and wasn’t too happy with my selection.

o This bar had two levels and its open air. Downstairs we went to the restrooms and downthere were a pot belled pig and a dog. We originally thought the kitchen was downstairs, so it’s probably goodthis wasn’t the case.

· Casino

o Smoky and a little crowded in some areas of theroom. I only played out a free $5offered mid-way thought the cruise. Cashed out at a whopping $7 but that was more than my cruise mates thatfinished with nothing.

o I didn’t sign up for a group slot pull. I’ve done these before and enjoyed them butso many other things to do instead.

· Cabin – # 9607 Cabin was laid out well. The view over the Central park area wouldhave been perfectly positioned to hear the nightly entertainment if we had abalcony. I would try to get a balconyabove this location next time. Our cabinsteward was good and kept the room in good shape.

· Disembarkation

o Tried to use Lyft for a ride to car rental areaat the FLL airport. My phone data servicewas terrible and it appeared others were having the same problem. I set up a ride, hit enter and the signalcrashed requiring me to try again. Thecars that were picking people up were not marked and that caused people to stepout into the traffic lane and turn around. My brother in law does this on theside and he has stickers on his car so it can be identified easily. Cost would have been somewhere between $8-$10. After some attempts my wifefinally said let’s get a cab. Goodcall. The trip was $12 and we justjumped into a readily available cab. Saving a few bucks wasn’t worth the aggravation we were having for sucha short ride.

· Final thoughts

o The ship doesn’t feel crowded except at certaintimes, like peak times in the Windjammer or leaving the ship in ports. Elevators were sometimes a wait, like beforeor after shows but not a big problem. But the photo setups in the Royal Promenade were overdone. They seemed to be everywhere and blocked alot of traffic and most were nearly begging people to participate. These could be cut by half and still not becrowded. The exception was the one onthe actual staircase which then blocked that staircase for use which was reallyawkward when trying to get between these floors. Special events in the Royal Promenade alsomade things crowded but pulling the photo set ups away could have helped thistoo.

o I continued to have confusion about front andback of the ship which surprised me Iusually get oriented in a few days. Iwished there was some art work in the cabin halls to help get yourbearings. There are some ship diagramsbut these don’t really serve as ‘mile markers’ because they all look the same. We put a post-it note on the door to avoidcruising past our door by mistake which happened once.

o I loved the ship. So much live entertainment in theevening. Easy to get meals near whereyou are located. But it is so big anddoesn’t feel as connected to the water. It’s easy to forget you’re on a ship. I wasn’t even sure about how to access the mid-level outside deck atfirst. We are going to go with a firsttime ever cruiser on the next trip, so I suggested a Voyager class to providemore of a ship feel.

o Almost all the staff was excellent and reallyfriendly with rare exceptions. Eventhose that weren’t excellent were very good. Exceeded my expectations many times.

o I didn’t do the Meet and Mingle as I hadplanned. Too many other things todo.

o Dry erase wipe boards are probably not a favoriteitem of the room stewards. I noticedthat black marker smudges transferred to the door from the erasingresidue. I suspect they clean up easilybut would add an extra task to their work.

o We traveled with another couple and the gentwasn’t thrilled about the idea of a cruise. They had cruised before so they had some idea of what to expect but onmuch smaller ships and other brands (Carnival and Big Red Boat – rememberthose). First time on RCCL though. (Idid get the $25 OBC for a referral). Hesaid it definitely exceeded his expectations.

After we returned I needed to getanother trip lined up. I did talk tothe next cruise office but I was surprised that I could probably do a moretailored search to meet my needs on my own. They can find specific trips but I was expecting to sit down tell theperson all my priorities and be presented several options. But they are limited in the factors that canbe entered. There isn’t much advantageto using their service. As I recall for a refundable trip the bonus offered on boardwas $25 OBC. When I returned I booked aNov 2019 trip refundable fee trip on Adventure of the Seas with a specialincentive from BJs Warehouse that got me a great price and flexibility.

I booked Adventure of the Seas in Category: 8N (Ocean View) The Stateroom Number is 7206. It's a strange triangle layout. I found one video of a similar cabin on Mariner of the seas and a possible photo. But the photo I think was on Adventure had a pole next to the foot of the bed. It wouldn't be a deal breaker, but it does look awkward for getting out of bed. I'm not sure the photo was accurate. Does anyone have any experience with these cabins? It appears they are unique to deck 7.

Good to know. I saw it in a video on YouTube but haven't seen any mention of it after that. I won't bother finding any white clothes

This app appears to have been updated recently. Version 1.6.1 was updated 3/15/18. Maybe the text feature is available now? My Allure sailing 4-22-18 is just outside the limit of when i can check it out. It would be interesting to see if anyone has success.

When did they stop? Shuttle was still running in February.

I rented a car for my disembarkation at the Budget Rental location at the FLL airport. I did it because the rental was cheaper there and don't want to change at this point. Cars are becoming more expensive for my time period. Is there is shuttle to go from the port to the airport rental area? I have seen a variety of responses so far. It seems there might be, although not every company subscribes to the shuttle service. I have tried to call the office directly but after a few rings the national company responds but they don't know the answer. If not I will taxi or Uber to the rental area.

Will I need the mug with a chip to use Freestyle machines so is there a way to use a key card or WOW band? I would also prefer to use my double wall mug to stay cold longer. And I'm sure it's bigger than the mug provided with the soda package.

I would like to revive this thread. I saw a cruiser's YouTube video that showed people dressed for a white party. Does Allure of the Seas have this regularly? Has anyone seen this. I have looked through Cruise compasses but it's unclear to me from those. It they have one, I'll try to bring something, but trust me finding guy's pants in white isn't super easy.

Allure April 22 2018 sailing

I've only been to one M&M but I really enjoyed it for the chance to have familiar faces to talk to during the cruise. I hope ours happens as planned on Oasis in Nov

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I am also interested in Oasis programs as I booked a Nov 2017 sailing.

I found this episode about food preparation on Oasis which I enjoyed. It's not what was requested but it was interesting. This version has Vietnamese subtitles but the program is in English.

https://youtu.be/rfzzjCeTs68

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I missed the $5 'Internet thing' you referenced when talking about the M&M. Could you tell me more or point me to the right area?

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