Just back from Allure.. long review.

[Trumpeter]

Our background... I'm a 45 year old IT professional from Toronto, Canada. My partner is a 29 year old (turning 30 on the cruise) opera singer/Exec Assistant. I've done 8 cruises prior to this one, all on RCCL except for one on Celebrity. Our goal on this trip was to experience the ship, rather than the ports.

 

Pre-cruise- We flew to Ft Lauderdale a day before sailing and stayed at the 'W' hotel. This is a favourite hotel of ours in other cities and did not disappoint. Wonderful room/ambiance with unique glass rain-style shower. Dinner at the hotel restaurant, '1500 Steakhouse', was top notch.

 

Boarding- We caught a taxi to the port for 11:30am. We were fairly early and the boarding process to all of 5 minutes. Our room wasn't ready until 1pm, so we explored the ship and had a simple lunch at the Park Cafe.

 

The Ship-

This is, by far, the most impressive ship I have ever seen. The public spaces are unmatched in size and atmosphere. The Central Park area is a lush garden lined with upscale restaurants and plentiful live greenery. The only artificial aspect is the piped-in bird sounds.

 

The Boardwalk area opens to the back of the ship, where an outside theatre is placed. Along the Boardwalk are casual food options (hot dogs, diner food, Mexican cantina, ice cream, candy) and the central attraction is a real wooden carousel.

 

The interior promenade area is similar to the same place on other big RCCL ships, with the exception that parts of the ceiling are glass, allowing light from the Central Park area to flow into the promenade and give it a much more open feeling.

 

The jogging track is a dedicated loop around the entry level deck, which avoids the deck chair areas. There is also a direct connection stairway from the track to the gym.

 

The Aqua Theatre at the rear of the ship reminds me of the Cirque du Soliel theatre in Las Vegas for their 'O' production, only in much smaller form. It impresses no less though, being planted into the back of a ship.

 

The sports/pool deck is as massive as you'd expect on the largest ship in the world. For a change, the adult solarium area has been placed in the front of the ship, above the bridge. This gives wonderful views when sitting on a lounge chair or soaking in one of the huge whirlpools that extend over the side of the ship (originally used on the Freedom class ships). Dual Flowriders, rock climbing walls, basket ball court, golf course, and a zip line over the Boardwalk offer lots of stuff for the active crowd. Kudos for the designers putting in 6 ping-pong tables in dedicated enclosures to keep away the wind and reduce the chasing of errant balls.

 

The entertainment area has the usual theatre, casino, and skating rink (well, usual for RCCL). In addition, Allure has a dedicated comedy club and jazz club.

 

All areas of the ship have a countless number of bars/lounges, some themed (like an English pub), some not.

 

The Food-

 

This ship has a lot of food options. When I say a lot, I mean that you might not find them all in a 7 day sailing. Or if you do find them, you may not have the time or appetite to try them all. The main dining room was a disappointment. Far from the traditional dining room experience with familiar table mates and waiter relationship, Allure's dining room is confused and run in a hap-hazard way. This may be due to the new 'My Time Dining' options and vast number of specialty restaurants making the consistent service and experience of the main dining room difficult (impossible?) to maintain. Where Allure shines is in it's alternative dining options. Here are the ones I made it too this time:

 

Rita's Cantina: Fun Mexican food. Yummy home made tortilla chips (which they ran out of near the end of the cruise)

 

Samba Grill: A Brazilian meat fest. They will bring 9 kinds of meat to your table in order and then start over again until you surrender. Occasionally, one of the ship's dancers will come out in a feathery costume and dance around the tables, samba-style.

 

Izumi's: Decent, not great, sushi. The selection is somewhat limited, but the atmosphere and service were outstanding.

 

Giovanni’s Table: Amazing Italian fare. Perhaps the best Lasagna I've ever had. Great service.

 

Vintages: A tapas bar with lots of wine selections. They have this new system where they give you an iPad and that becomes your menu. You pick things on the iPad app and they appear at your table. Cool!

 

Chef's Table: An exclusive event serving only 14 people every night. One of the ship's sous chefs walks you through a several course dinner with matching wines. This was an incredible dining experience, and reminded me somewhat of what the main dining room service used to be like in the past. We also got a RCCL cookbook in the package.

 

150 Central Park: This was the ultimate dining experience of our trip, even better than the Chef's Table. The chef, Molly Brandt, creates dishes that have to be tasted to be believed. The courses are set, and two of them were seafood. I don't like seafood, so the kitchen made me up something custom that was every bit as good.

 

Food Conclusion: If you're sticking to the specialty restaurants, you will have a culinary experience second to none on the seas. I was sitting next to a frequent cruiser of the luxury lines, and he stated for the record that the specialty food/service was on par with SilverSea or Seabourne cruises he'd been on. The Main Dining Room is good for a backup plan only if you can't get reservations to the specialty restaurants. It's ok, but not much to write home about.

 

The Entertainment:

 

Blue Planet: Typical RCCL production formula... 4 singers, 2 male, 2 female, and a dance crew. The sets were interesting. The songs were the usual pop covers. I was disappointed to see that the didn't use the ship's orchestra for the soundtrack, and it cost them when the playback died at one point. When they got it working, they had to skip forward to get back to the interruption point. That kind of thing is why you use live musicians RCCL!

 

Aqua Show: This was really unique for any cruise show. Of course, what other cruise ship has the room/technology for a hydraulic water stage with high-dive platforms? Again, most of the show's staging and ideas obviously stolen from a similar show by Cirque du Soliel, but impressive anyways.

 

Chicago: Finally! RCCL steps away from their standard production formula and something magical happens. A full vocal cast, live orchestra, great dancing, and smart staging makes this the best production show I've ever seen at sea. We need more of this!

 

Cabin- We did not go for one of the new Crown Loft suites, and can't speak of them, though we did have dinner with a couple staying in one and they are apparently quite phenomenal. Our standard D8 balcony was typical. Maybe a little smaller than other ships, though the bathroom seemed larger. The flat screen TV is great and the electronic services available (restaurant occupancy levels!) were impressive.

 

Going home- We did the express self-exit program and were off the ship in minutes. It was so fast, we were hours early for our 11am flight.

 

Special note: There is a 'sun deck' that's not really advertised much. It's got only one entrance at the end of a cabin hallway. It's a deck that's basically on top of the bridge. You can walk right onto the top of the bridge wings and get a bridge-eye view of all ship docking procedures. I loved this area.

 

Conclusion: We loved our experience on Allure of the Seas, and have already booked a back-to-back on her in early 2012. We've accepted that specialty dining is going to be our standard way of eating on board. We're thinking about ways to meet other people on the ship or have friends come with us so we can get a little of the traditional cruise dining with table-mates experience in the specialty restaurants. We also did not explore any of the ports offered, having been to those places many times in the past. We were on this cruise for the ship.

 

Our only real complaint, aside from the Main Dining Room as noted above, is that the Adults-only Solarium is not being enforced. Our cruise had a lot of children, and many parents were blatantly ignoring the rules. I was in one of the adult whirlpools and this man came up with his 8 year old son. He obviously stopped and read the sign stating that no children were allowed, then proceeded into the pool with his kid. We were snoozing on deck chairs in the solarium, only to be constantly interrupted by screaming/running children. Allure has great spaces and programs for children, and they need to enforce the rules so that adults can have their space too.

[davila1943]

Our background... I'm a 45 year old IT professional from Toronto, Canada. My partner is a 29 year old (turning 30 on the cruise) opera singer/Exec Assistant. I've done 8 cruises prior to this one, all on RCCL except for one on Celebrity. Our goal on this trip was to experience the ship, rather than the ports.

 

Pre-cruise- We flew to Ft Lauderdale a day before sailing and stayed at the 'W' hotel. This is a favourite hotel of ours in other cities and did not disappoint. Wonderful room/ambiance with unique glass rain-style shower. Dinner at the hotel restaurant, '1500 Steakhouse', was top notch.

 

Boarding- We caught a taxi to the port for 11:30am. We were fairly early and the boarding process to all of 5 minutes. Our room wasn't ready until 1pm, so we explored the ship and had a simple lunch at the Park Cafe.

 

The Ship-

This is, by far, the most impressive ship I have ever seen. The public spaces are unmatched in size and atmosphere. The Central Park area is a lush garden lined with upscale restaurants and plentiful live greenery. The only artificial aspect is the piped-in bird sounds.

 

The Boardwalk area opens to the back of the ship, where an outside theatre is placed. Along the Boardwalk are casual food options (hot dogs, diner food, Mexican cantina, ice cream, candy) and the central attraction is a real wooden carousel.

 

The interior promenade area is similar to the same place on other big RCCL ships, with the exception that parts of the ceiling are glass, allowing light from the Central Park area to flow into the promenade and give it a much more open feeling.

 

The jogging track is a dedicated loop around the entry level deck, which avoids the deck chair areas. There is also a direct connection stairway from the track to the gym.

 

The Aqua Theatre at the rear of the ship reminds me of the Cirque du Soliel theatre in Las Vegas for their 'O' production, only in much smaller form. It impresses no less though, being planted into the back of a ship.

 

The sports/pool deck is as massive as you'd expect on the largest ship in the world. For a change, the adult solarium area has been placed in the front of the ship, above the bridge. This gives wonderful views when sitting on a lounge chair or soaking in one of the huge whirlpools that extend over the side of the ship (originally used on the Freedom class ships). Dual Flowriders, rock climbing walls, basket ball court, golf course, and a zip line over the Boardwalk offer lots of stuff for the active crowd. Kudos for the designers putting in 6 ping-pong tables in dedicated enclosures to keep away the wind and reduce the chasing of errant balls.

 

The entertainment area has the usual theatre, casino, and skating rink (well, usual for RCCL). In addition, Allure has a dedicated comedy club and jazz club.

 

All areas of the ship have a countless number of bars/lounges, some themed (like an English pub), some not.

 

The Food-

 

This ship has a lot of food options. When I say a lot, I mean that you might not find them all in a 7 day sailing. Or if you do find them, you may not have the time or appetite to try them all. The main dining room was a disappointment. Far from the traditional dining room experience with familiar table mates and waiter relationship, Allure's dining room is confused and run in a hap-hazard way. This may be due to the new 'My Time Dining' options and vast number of specialty restaurants making the consistent service and experience of the main dining room difficult (impossible?) to maintain. Where Allure shines is in it's alternative dining options. Here are the ones I made it too this time:

 

Rita's Cantina: Fun Mexican food. Yummy home made tortilla chips (which they ran out of near the end of the cruise)

 

Samba Grill: A Brazilian meat fest. They will bring 9 kinds of meat to your table in order and then start over again until you surrender. Occasionally, one of the ship's dancers will come out in a feathery costume and dance around the tables, samba-style.

 

Izumi's: Decent, not great, sushi. The selection is somewhat limited, but the atmosphere and service were outstanding.

 

Giovanni’s Table: Amazing Italian fare. Perhaps the best Lasagna I've ever had. Great service.

 

Vintages: A tapas bar with lots of wine selections. They have this new system where they give you an iPad and that becomes your menu. You pick things on the iPad app and they appear at your table. Cool!

 

Chef's Table: An exclusive event serving only 14 people every night. One of the ship's sous chefs walks you through a several course dinner with matching wines. This was an incredible dining experience, and reminded me somewhat of what the main dining room service used to be like in the past. We also got a RCCL cookbook in the package.

 

150 Central Park: This was the ultimate dining experience of our trip, even better than the Chef's Table. The chef, Molly Brandt, creates dishes that have to be tasted to be believed. The courses are set, and two of them were seafood. I don't like seafood, so the kitchen made me up something custom that was every bit as good.

 

Food Conclusion: If you're sticking to the specialty restaurants, you will have a culinary experience second to none on the seas. I was sitting next to a frequent cruiser of the luxury lines, and he stated for the record that the specialty food/service was on par with SilverSea or Seabourne cruises he'd been on. The Main Dining Room is good for a backup plan only if you can't get reservations to the specialty restaurants. It's ok, but not much to write home about.

 

The Entertainment:

 

Blue Planet: Typical RCCL production formula... 4 singers, 2 male, 2 female, and a dance crew. The sets were interesting. The songs were the usual pop covers. I was disappointed to see that the didn't use the ship's orchestra for the soundtrack, and it cost them when the playback died at one point. When they got it working, they had to skip forward to get back to the interruption point. That kind of thing is why you use live musicians RCCL!

 

Aqua Show: This was really unique for any cruise show. Of course, what other cruise ship has the room/technology for a hydraulic water stage with high-dive platforms? Again, most of the show's staging and ideas obviously stolen from a similar show by Cirque du Soliel, but impressive anyways.

 

Chicago: Finally! RCCL steps away from their standard production formula and something magical happens. A full vocal cast, live orchestra, great dancing, and smart staging makes this the best production show I've ever seen at sea. We need more of this!

 

Cabin- We did not go for one of the new Crown Loft suites, and can't speak of them, though we did have dinner with a couple staying in one and they are apparently quite phenomenal. Our standard D8 balcony was typical. Maybe a little smaller than other ships, though the bathroom seemed larger. The flat screen TV is great and the electronic services available (restaurant occupancy levels!) were impressive.

 

Going home- We did the express self-exit program and were off the ship in minutes. It was so fast, we were hours early for our 11am flight.

 

Special note: There is a 'sun deck' that's not really advertised much. It's got only one entrance at the end of a cabin hallway. It's a deck that's basically on top of the bridge. You can walk right onto the top of the bridge wings and get a bridge-eye view of all ship docking procedures. I loved this area.

 

Conclusion: We loved our experience on Allure of the Seas, and have already booked a back-to-back on her in early 2012. We've accepted that specialty dining is going to be our standard way of eating on board. We're thinking about ways to meet other people on the ship or have friends come with us so we can get a little of the traditional cruise dining with table-mates experience in the specialty restaurants. We also did not explore any of the ports offered, having been to those places many times in the past. We were on this cruise for the ship.

 

Our only real complaint, aside from the Main Dining Room as noted above, is that the Adults-only Solarium is not being enforced. Our cruise had a lot of children, and many parents were blatantly ignoring the rules. I was in one of the adult whirlpools and this man came up with his 8 year old son. He obviously stopped and read the sign stating that no children were allowed, then proceeded into the pool with his kid. We were snoozing on deck chairs in the solarium, only to be constantly interrupted by screaming/running children. Allure has great spaces and programs for children, and they need to enforce the rules so that adults can have their space too.

who was the cruise director and how was the hot dogs

[Breezey]

Hello fellow Torontonian.

 

We sail the Allure in May. Our first RCI cruise and am blown away by the consistent reviews, You Tube video of the ship and the many photos.

 

Much of the experience for us will also be to enjoy the specialty restaurants.

We booked specialty dining for all but two nights. For now, we chose Chef's Table over 150 Central Park and didnt book Vintages. I suspect we should reconsider and also book 150 Central Park.

 

Do you or anyone else have any idea as to how easy it would be to get into Vintages if we dont book ahead. Or whether we should change out Izumi reservation as it seems to not be getting the greatest of reviews.

 

Thanks

[ChipLondon]

No problem dining in Vintages, they serve tapas style so it is not an allocated table situation. Just turn up, it is not a busy area, you should be fine.

[Tortelvis Himself]

who was the cruise director and how was the hot dogs

 

Allan Brooks is the cruise director and he's fantastic. The sausage I had was quite good and they have fried onions and peppers that you can put on them as well as ketchup, mustard and relish.

[jacksmom09]

Great review! I can't wait!

[KirkNC]

Nothing speaks louder than booking another cruise on the same ship while you are on board;)

 

Thanks for the review.

 

Kirk

[BillOh]

who was the cruise director and how was the hot dogs

 

 

Why would you quote an entire lenthy post and then ask a question, not related to anything in that quote?

 

Ok, that off my chest, to the OP Very interesting review, lots of perspectives I have not heard to this point yet. I haven't heard anyone say there was stairs direct from the gym to the track.

 

The solarium thing bugs me and I might have to speak up, I don't mind Voyager class ships or Freedom class ships because we can get away from all the kids. (I don't mind kids, but we like to have our options)

[hagadobe]

Allan Brooks was on the first day or so, but then it was Jimmy Rhodes for the remainder of the 2/20-2/27 cruise. Not sure what happened.

[eroller]

Allan Brooks was on the first day or so, but then it was Jimmy Rhodes for the remainder of the 2/20-2/27 cruise. Not sure what happened.

 

 

Allan Brooks had some sort of family emergency and disembarked in Nassau. He was replaced by Jimmy whom I thought did an amazing job, especially for having the join the largest and most complex cruise ship in the world with no advance notice.

 

Ernie

[cruisebunnies]

Great review ,please tell us which deck gets us to the sun deck over the bridge.

thanks

[1grandma]

Great review from a different perspective. My husband and I were on the Jan. 30th sailing and found the Solarium our favorite part of the ship. There were no kids ever when we were there. The healthy breakfast was wonderful, and we always found deck chairs.

 

FYI in the main dining room, we found that we could ask to be seated with our favorite waiters (Alonza and Fredi, Head waitresses Julia and Anna) on the island overlooking the piano. Several times we were seated with the same people. I loved the atmosphere in the dining room with the beautiful crystal chandeliers. After our 2nd evening, the waiters knew what we enjoyed and service was like being back in the old days of sailing.

 

We also plan on going back on this ship even though Labadee was the only port we visited. I understand Costa Maya is being replaced by Falmouth which isn't much of an improvement. The ship IS the destination.

[RichardE954]

Our background... I'm a 45 year old IT professional from Toronto, Canada. My partner is a 29 year old .

 

You go Boy!!

[tropiclvrs]

Great review, thank you so much for taking the time to write it up and share it will all of us!

 

Now for a couple of questions...

 

For your specialty dining, did you make all your reservations in advance or did you make any of them on board?

 

Did you have Captain Johnny? Do you have any insight as to what his rotation schedule is?

[Trumpeter]

who was the cruise director and how was the hot dogs

 

Cruise Director was Jimmy. Can't remember his last name. This was his first week on Allure.

 

The hot dogs were good. Comparible to what I can get on the street in Dowtown Toronto during the summer

[Trumpeter]

Great review ,please tell us which deck gets us to the sun deck over the bridge.

thanks

 

Deck 14, port side. Walk all the way forward along the stateroom hallway and you'll find a single glass door to the sun deck.

[Puffinater]

Thanks for the detailed review. Not good to hear they did not enforce the Solarium rules. On our Oasis trip they were strictly enforced.

[Trumpeter]

Great review, thank you so much for taking the time to write it up and share it will all of us!

 

Now for a couple of questions...

 

For your specialty dining, did you make all your reservations in advance or did you make any of them on board?

 

Did you have Captain Johnny? Do you have any insight as to what his rotation schedule is?

 

We booked all of our specialty dining in advance, with the exception of a second visit to Giovanni's Table for lunch on the last day. They were fully booked, but we threatened to jump overboard if they didn't let us have some more of that wonderful lasagne. They relented, potential news headline avoided... "Couple jumps over table denial"

[rthouse]

OP thanks for sharing your impressions. I can hardly wait to experience Allure first hand.

[Host Faith]

Thank you for your review. You just made me even more excited to sail her :)

[QTMichele]

Sounds wonderful! Thanks so much for your thoughts. Sorry to hear about the Solarium - hopefully it was the exception to the rule. I love my kids, but it's so good to have a place to GET AWAY from them! HA!

[bmiers]

Allan Brooks had some sort of family emergency and disembarked in Nassau. He was replaced by Jimmy whom I thought did an amazing job, especially for having the join the largest and most complex cruise ship in the world with no advance notice.

 

Ernie

 

I thought he did a great job as well!

 

Allure of the Seas - Jimmy Rhodes by blmiers2, on Flickr