Allure of the Seas with Kids (June 2011)

[Craving A Cruise]

LeeBob,

 

Thanks for sharing the pictures and giving such a detailed review. I can't wait until our family sails on the Allure. :D

 

Did your cabin have a sofa bed for the kids or pullmans?

 

Karen

[LeeBob]

Hi;

I just loved your amazing review and pictures.

Thank you for sharing with us.

I just have 2 questions:

What are the Pandemonium coupons? What are they for?

And where do you sign up for the cupcakes class? Online or on board?

 

Thanks

 

This promotion started about a week or two after I booked our crusie so I called to inquire about it. It basically provided two free cupcakes from the Cupcake Cupboard, two soda drink packages, VIP tickets to the Kung Fu Panda II movie, one keepsake photo and an exclusive meet and greet with Dreamworks characters (this was held around 11 or 12AM at the comedy club) on an at sea day. My son and I were the only ones there-- I think not many on our sailing had this package as I had added for $200.00

 

I priced these each out seperately and it probably saved us a little bit. Mostly I did it because we werre not able to book a "character meal" before hand. Basically, it was just a sheet with tear off coupons for each of these things that was in our cabin upon arrival.

 

The cupcake classes can be booked online just as you would your mealtimes, excursion, or other reservations.

 

NOTE: There are both children and adult classes...we had originally thought that my daughter and my wife would do this and I would spend time with my five year old son...but we had two reservations and they had to be used for the kids. No big deal, as we had anticipated this based on other reviews and after making the reservations. It would have not been cool if we had been seperated and one had to go unused--so just a heads up, if applicable. And besides we would never have been able to see the crazy monkey thing my son created!

[LeeBob]

Leebob

Thanks for the review.

I especially enjoyed the focus on what a 10 year old experienced.

I have two questions

1) what can you tell me about the kids menu in the main dinning room. Did it ever change and what sort of things did it have.

2) My 11 year old is not a huge fan of the structured play with younger kids and would be happy to have 1 hour a day in the play area just playing video games, hanging out and giving his parents a short break. He would prefer to be with the 12 year olds but he will be 3.5 months short of 12 when we cruise. I assume RCCL does not allow kids to move up (if anybody has any knowledge of this please let me know so I can prep him). Long story short do the 11 year olds have access to any sort of video game system?

Thanks

Dan

 

The menu did vary with soups/salads, and the main dishes, and of course, the deserts. Your son can also order from the adult offerings without any problems. That is what my daughter ended up doing the last three or four nights. Some standards like cheese pizza, chicken fingers, etc are on the kids menu. He'll find plenty to choose from, and can order from either menu.

 

At almost twelve, your son may benefit from going to the Adventure Ocean the first few days just to meet some people. If you are comfortbale with him being out on his own a little bit-- there is an arcade ($) near the wipeout cafe and the back of the ship. You may also allow for him to sign out of the kids area on his own...by checking the schedule for the activities (these will be dilivered to your stateroom each day if you register the first day)--you can plan around those, etc.

 

By the end of the week our daughter was not going to the club, and we were allowing her to got "get" something from different areas of the ship.

 

As for aging up -- I do not have an answer-- someone else might or you can simply request it and see what happens. Have a great time-- you all will love everything that is onboard.

[LeeBob]

What deck is this on? How do you get to this spot? This looks like the perfect location!!!!!

 

This area is on Deck Five... the walking track at the very back of the ship. You can go to the very back of the Boardwalk area and go down a flight of stairs or you can exit on to the side at the Promenade and walk back there.

[kath00]

You can "age up" your child to the 12 and up if his/her birthday is close enough. We did this twice on the Mariner last year. We spoke to the youth counselors the day we registered them and asked for it. They initially gave us a hard time and I said "why don't you talk to your supervisor or the director?" They immediately got back to me that it was fine to put her with the older group. ;)

 

The counselors are young themselves so if they say no, ask to talk to their boss. The supervisors are very understanding of your needs and go beyond the simple "they tell us to tell you no" reply. My daughter is very mature for her age and totally fit into the older group and had a blast on both sailings! Now if I tried to move my younger DD into an older group and she wasn't close to the next age group, they would have clearly said no as they don't want younger kids mixing with the preteens, etc. But that's the way it should be...

 

Katherine

[azpilot]

Enjoyed the review and pictures, glad you had a great time!

[LeeBob]

LeeBob,

 

Thanks for the review. Did you take a cab to the Port or did the Courtyard take you?

 

AND it included transportation to the port for two adults (not the kids).... I simply went to the concierge and asked that the vehicle arrive at 10:30 or so...we were on the ship by 11:20 or so. It was like a suburban and very nice.. I think I had to pay something like $20.00 including tip for the kids....sorry I don't remember exactly. Remeber to have your ID and creditials easily accessible so that you can hold them up to enter the port area at the guard stands...

 

If you stay here and you booked under this deal-- make sure that you discuss it with them at check-in... I booked through Marriott site and they did not seem to have it coded that way. I got it straighten out. It included not only the transportation but two drink vouchers from the poolside bar, and free breakfast each day too. This more than save us the additional amount for the kids, etc.

 

The rest of our transportation, I arranged through www.goairportshuttle.com

and they did a good job of being there right when we needed, etc.

Basic Town Car service ran about $40-$50 bucks depending on where we were going... In Fort Lauderdale, we took the Water Taxi around to several places and we loved it...

[LeeBob]

LeeBob,

 

Thanks for sharing the pictures and giving such a detailed review. I can't wait until our family sails on the Allure. :D

 

Did your cabin have a sofa bed for the kids or pullmans?

 

Karen

 

Karen,

 

They sofa turns into a bed. It basically pulls forward and the arm rests come off.. All the linens, etc are beneath the sofa. I know this because ti took me about ten minutes to figure it out the first morning b/c we were trying to turn it back into the Sofa to have more room and sitting area.

[LeeBob]

This promotion started about a week or two after I booked our crusie so I called to inquire about it. It basically provided two free cupcakes from the Cupcake Cupboard, two soda drink packages, VIP tickets to the Kung Fu Panda II movie, one keepsake photo and an exclusive meet and greet with Dreamworks characters (this was held around 11 or 12AM at the comedy club) on an at sea day. My son and I were the only ones there-- I think not many on our sailing had this package as I had added for $200.00

 

I priced these each out seperately and it probably saved us a little bit. Mostly I did it because we werre not able to book a "character meal" before hand. Basically, it was just a sheet with tear off coupons for each of these things that was in our cabin upon arrival.

 

The cupcake classes can be booked online just as you would your mealtimes, excursion, or other reservations.

 

NOTE: There are both children and adult classes...we had originally thought that my daughter and my wife would do this and I would spend time with my five year old son...but we had two reservations and they had to be used for the kids. No big deal, as we had anticipated this based on other reviews and after making the reservations. It would have not been cool if we had been seperated and one had to go unused--so just a heads up, if applicable. And besides we would never have been able to see the crazy monkey thing my son created!

 

I FORGOT... It also gave us a coupon for a free pet at sea... which we cashed in that first night.... My son got a Kangeroo... basically this is like the build-a-bear place at the mall... the kids said the quality was better with these tahn the ones the have done at build-a-bear....

 

They got to make a wish and place a star in their stuffed animals.. and the worker there was very nice and happy.