My Week On The GREATEST Ship In The World! Allure OTS 10/30/11: A Pictorial Review!

[DarthGrady]

Wipeout Cafe

 

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

Deck 16: Why you shouldn’t visit the Windjammer on Allure,,,ever.

 

Aside from open decks for sunning, the only big draw on Deck 16 is the “Windjammer Marketplace”. It is the ship’s main buffet area, just as it is on all other Royal Caribbean ships. On Allure though, the Windjammer is almost comically under sized for the population of the ship. I don’t have solid numbers to back it up, but it seems smaller than the Windjammer on the Freedom Class (which carry much less people). I never ate there, but I did walk through Allure’s Windjammer once and that was enough for me. The crowding was ridiculous and it seemed like every single table was occupied. Thankfully I already knew about the Windjammer issues from reading Cruise Critic, so I was prepared to steer clear. The ship is designed so that passengers will disperse and use all of the other restaurants. Unfortunately most cruisers are still hard wired into the idea that there are two places to eat on a ship, the buffet and the main dining room. It’s not until a few days into the cruise that the herd of folks migrate into the others areas and discovers that there are more and better alternatives on board. The “Izumi” Asian restaurant and sushi bar is next to the Windjammer. It looked very nice, but we never ate there due to the surcharge.

 

Theses were taken during a slow time in the WJ

 

 

 

 

Izumi

 

[Waihekean]

Wow, indeed this ship is impressive. Love that ifinity whirl pool! Would spend a lot of time in there.

Coming along for an armchair ride, Thanks for posting a photo review:)

[DarthGrady]

Deck 17:

 

The highest deck of the ship is home to one of my favorite features of a Royal Caribbean ship, the Viking Crown Lounge. It has huge windows that look out onto the pool deck and the ocean. The VCL is a great place to sit, relax and enjoy its awesome views. The Pinnacle Chapel and Pinnacle Lounge flank the VCL; they are used for weddings and religious gatherings. The Loft Suites are also on this deck, but it’s doubtful that I will ever get to stay in one.

 

The Viking Crown Lounge

 

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

The Pinnacle Chapel

 

 

 

The Pinnacle Lounge

 

 

[DarthGrady]

Whew! After 200+ posts we have finally got through the ship tour! I am currently working on the day-by-day section of the review, so I will begin posting it up tomorrow along with lots more pics.

[Cupcrazy]

More random interiors

 

The icons for the neighborhoods next to the buttons in the elevators is helpful

 

Did you hit all the buttons?

 

Also, Fantastic review. I've seen a lot of reviews but none have had this many pictures of everything on the ship. I'm really enjoying seeing all the things and places I've never seen before. Can't wait to be on this ship.

Edited November 12, 2011 by Cupcrazy

[rnana73636]

Wow, I love your review. You have great pictures and lots of Pictures that I haven't seen before. I cruise on the Allure on Dec. 11, 2011. And your review makes me wish it was tomorrow. LOL This is one review that I will be looking for daily to see the rest of it. :D thank you for a wonderful review and tour of the Allure. ;)

[Virtopia]

Your pictures are really amazing; makes me very anxious for September to come so I can experience it.

[sunandseagirl617]

Grady,

 

Thank you for taking the time to post another beautiful review! I don't believe I've seen Allure showcased the way you have captured her beauty and I thank you for having the talent and taking the time to share with all of us...;)

 

Looking forward to the rest........

[sherilyn70]

My favorite place in Central Park is the Park Café. It is a free restaurant that serves sandwiches, wraps, soups and salads. They have a very good roast beef sandwich that I had several times. In the mornings they serve great breakfast sandwiches, the ham egg and cheese English muffin was my favorite. They also have a really nice “build your own bagel” station. My only complaint about Park Café is that it should have been bigger. After the first day, most folks figure out how bad The Windjammer is (more on that later). Park Café then gets very crowded, even with its’ outside seating. Some folks even had to sit at the patio tables of Giovanni’s Table.

 

Thankfully if it's too crowded I'll just enjoy the private water view from my balcony since it's an easy walk from there. I picked a D1 on deck 8 because of Central Park.

[LTyler]

Royal has set up an interesting retrospective of their first ship the "Song of Norway", as well as its comparison to Allure on Deck 15.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I somehow missed these Song of Norway pictures thanks for posting these!! The 1st cruise I went on I remember being right near that ship sooo long ago LOL!

[lrc04]

Great review. I can't wait for the rest.

[Ocean Boy]

Awesome review. Thanks for taking the time....

[SConnolly]

Outstanding review, truly appreciate the extra effort you have made to share your vacation with us.

 

We were dead set against cruising with 6,000+ fellow guests (no offense to anyone) but we seriously may have to reconsider to expericence it for ourselves.

[DarthGrady]

Outstanding review, truly appreciate the extra effort you have made to share your vacation with us.

 

We were dead set against cruising with 6,000+ fellow guests (no offense to anyone) but we seriously may have to reconsider to expericence it for ourselves.

 

I used to think the same thing, but you really don't notice the 6000 people. All the space really eats the crowd. The ship did not feel any more crowded than any of the other RCI ships I have cruised on; and a little less crowded than some of the Carnival ships I have tried. The notable exception would be the Windjammer, but that's easily avoided by eating in one of the other numerous restaurants.

[DarthGrady]

Day 1:

 

After the quick embarkation and exploration of the ship we found our way to the cabins. We were lucky to get one of the interior cabins where the bed is against the rear wall.

The other setup has the bed in the middle, with the couch closer to the back of the room. The former feels bigger even though they have identical square footage. The cabins are very well thought out with little touches that go a long way to increase guest comfort. The room had three outlet plugs, plus a hidden one under the desk. It has a dual IPod dock with speakers and a clock, ample closet space, flat screen TV, and a hair dryer. In the bathroom there is a good-sized shower with sliding doors and small shelves for storage. They also built in a low output night-light so that the main bathroom light does not need to be turned on at night.

 

The only weird thing in the cabin was the counterintuitive light switches. There is one large “master switch” that has to be on for anything to work. If it is not on, nothing but the bathroom will illuminate. Aside from that there are two smaller switches, one for the main overhead lights and one for the indirect lighting that shine onto the pictures on the wall. There is also a switch for the bathroom light and the vanity light. As if that were not enough, there are duplicates of the two smaller switches by the bed, which will only work if the master switch is on. Confused yet? I was for a while. I was constantly hitting the wrong one, or forgetting to turn on the master switch. After a few days I got the hang of it, but it seems overly cumbersome.

 

Our cabin

 

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

IPod dock

 

 

 

 

 

My wife explained that the little bar in the shower is for women to put their foot on whilst shaving legs

[DarthGrady]

 

Here is how the two different room configurations look

[clean1owner]

I noticed that about the same time you did. Serves me right for not looking before I leaped. I usually use Walgreens.com to host my images for these reviews. I decided to try Photobucket this time since their controls are so much easier. I didn't realize they capped the number of views for each image. I should have done more research! :o

 

Anyway, I went ahead and upgraded to the Pro account so you all can still see the images. Let me know if there are any more problems.

 

 

I can't find any of your photos on Photobucket. I typed your name in the search bar, but it didn't bring up your stuff. Is a link required?

[Virtopia]

Just a curiosity question:

 

As a Diamond member, why did you choose an interior room? I guess it affords you the luxury to go on more cruises with interior pricing; It's just surprising to see. Most Diamond or Diamond+ posts I've read, you'd think an interior room was similar to staff accommodations.

[Ocean Boy]

Just a curiosity question:

 

As a Diamond member, why did you choose an interior room? I guess it affords you the luxury to go on more cruises with interior pricing; It's just surprising to see. Most Diamond or Diamond+ posts I've read, you'd think an interior room was similar to staff accommodations.

 

I find it rather curious that you would ask someone such a question.

[BballinQT24]

I love reading your reviews and was so happy to find that you are posting this one. I really appreciate seeing a bunch of pictures of some different stuff than usual. Thank you for taking the time to post and I am looking forward to more!

[will773]

I didn't realize that the interior cabins had alternating configurations as well...interesting. The one that you got does seem better.