Allure of the Seas Review - June 26, 2011

[fdthird]

Just back from a fabulous week on the Allure of the Seas and wrote an extensive review that is posted in the Review Section of Cruise Critic. I tried to include lots of information and some tips so if you are interested you might want to check it our...here's the link:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=85420

 

Had a great trip and liked most of what we saw, but did see a couple of areas that we'd like to see improved.

[ILuvCruisin']

Thanks for the wonderful review. Lots of great useable info.

 

Just have a few questions. How did the photo CD come out? Did it really include allof the pictures you all took during the week? My understanding is that they do not include the borders on the CD that you would normally get if you purchased the pics separatedly. For instance a picture in Nassau would not include the Date and the Island name. Is this true?

 

Thanks again.

 

Ms. Lillie

[Puffinater]

Thanks for the review. Good info.

[fdthird]

Ms. Lillie,

 

The photo CD did include all pictures that were taken...that is after we went and talked to them. When we looked at the kiosks we were missing the pictures that were taken at the Meet and Mingle. My wife asked and they did find 3 pictures...but then they somehow joined all those folks accounts to ours and we got all of their pictures too!

 

I'm torn about buying the CD again. Until the last formal dinner when they did the portrats going into the MDR we really hadn't gotten our money's worth. We hit a lot of ship's photographers, but there really wasn't a lot of pictures in our folder. In the end it worked out pretty well, but honestly I wouldn't have bought all the pictures if we hadn't had the CD.

 

Yes, the pictures on the CD are all without any of the fancy borders you see when you look at the printed versions.

[Puffinater]

Ms. Lillie,

 

Yes, the pictures on the CD are all without any of the fancy borders you see when you look at the printed versions.

 

This is some good information. Thanks for providing it.

[Jayfo]

What a nice, complete review. I'm sure I'll be re-reading this to get ready for our sailing. Thanks!!!

[fdthird]

Happy if the info helped as I got a lot of knowledge on this forum before we went and just want to pay some of that back!

[JerryAM]

We also were on the same cruise and purchased the Photo CD (in advance). Knowing that we would get all of our pictures on the CD, we had our pictures taken many times with various backgrounds. The "informals" taken off the ship and around the ship all showed up in our folio, except for one -- they place pictures on a wall of unknown parties so that once you locate it, it is then added to your folio. We were able to link 2 cabins together for our family to include our kids. The CD also had several pictures of my sister and her kids, although they were in a separate cabin. We ended up with 278 pictures on our CD, so it was worth it for us -- the next step for us is to get prints and books from an online service. As stated above, the borders are not included. Also, the photographers are of high quality in getting you posed so that the pictures are top-notch.

[VernaF7449]

Thanks for the great review - I will be on Allure on Sunday. I also booked Guaranteed oceanview and have Deck 3 cabin, that informationa bout cabin was also helpful to me.

[fdthird]

Have a great time...we wish we were back with you! Hope you enjoy yourself and make sure you see all the shows...they are fantastic!

[kath00]

Thanks for the great review! I appreciate your time. Only 600 days to go... :D

[fdthird]

A long wait but at least it's a back to back!!

[alohanails]

We also were on the same cruise and purchased the Photo CD (in advance). Knowing that we would get all of our pictures on the CD, we had our pictures taken many times with various backgrounds. The "informals" taken off the ship and around the ship all showed up in our folio, except for one -- they place pictures on a wall of unknown parties so that once you locate it, it is then added to your folio. We were able to link 2 cabins together for our family to include our kids. The CD also had several pictures of my sister and her kids, although they were in a separate cabin. We ended up with 278 pictures on our CD, so it was worth it for us -- the next step for us is to get prints and books from an online service. As stated above, the borders are not included. Also, the photographers are of high quality in getting you posed so that the pictures are top-notch.

 

278 photos! I don't think I have been photographed that much on all my cruises put together!! LOL!!!:D

[mickey-mouse]

Did the Allure stay in Nassau for extra hour, until 2 PM instead of 1 PM? I had read on some other threads that there was a rumor that the ship would now be staying there extra hour from now on?

[DonnaK]

Excellent review! Thanks for sharing so much useful info.

[fdthird]

Mickey, Not on our cruise. I think the extra hour starts this month. Captain Johnny said that if they stayed in Nasssu till 5 or so, then they'd have to use another engine and really crank out speed to make it to St Thomas on time. We woke up already docked in St Thomas so not really sure when we arrived.

[fdthird]

Just a heads up, there is video of the Allure's Summer Breeze Concert with the principles of Chicago up on YouTube...here's a link:

 

[GP Cruiser]

fdthird, would you happen to know the name of the bartender in the Champagne Bar the week you were on board? Was it Alok (AL)?

[fdthird]

Sorry no I don't. We were only there one night and never got close to the bar to have a conversation.

[bobmal99]

Did you say the CD cost $250.00 dollars???

 

I know you had 278 pictures, but if someone

only had 100 pictures would it still be $250.00.

 

Seems like an awful lot of money for one CD...

Wether it is 100 pics, or 300 pics..

 

What exactly did they do for $250???

[fdthird]

Yes...and that's if you pre-order! On the spot it's $300!! We didn;t have that many photos..only about 25 and we wouldn't have bought them all were it not for the CD. We will not be doing that again I don't think!

[fdthird]

Just booked for the Nov 13th cruise with the whole family...you could say we had a good time in June!

[JerryAM]

Since we prepaid for the CD ($240), we planned on getting many pictures (ended with 278 on 2 CDs). We moved the pictures from the CD to our computer and have ordered prints of various sizes (4x6, 8x10, 11x16, 16x20) from online Kodak and Shutterfly. Likely will also put together a cruise book. For us, it was worth it.

[fdthird]

I'll say it was!! We thought the same thing and hit all the photogs we saw getting on and off the ship but if we got 25 pictures it was a lot. Congrats on getting your money's worth! Great job and in your case worth the money!!