A Week on The World's Largest Cruise Ship: A Photo/Video Allure (Western) Review

[Nicole721]

We headed back to the room, but Wendy wasn’t quite done making our room up yet, so we headed to the Royal Promenade to people watch for a little while. Oh, and we figured out where everyone was when the pool deck was empty – they were at Sorrento’s eating pizza. It was interesting seeing the Royal Promenade so busy in the middle of a sea day. On our other cruises, everyone flocked to the pools. On this one, no matter what time it was, the Royal Promenade was crowded.

 

 

Once we were confident our room would be ready, we headed back. We took turns taking showers (and I discovered I was burned like w-h-o-a despite two applications of an SPF 30 and a 50, respectively, leaving me with some really rockin’ tan lines) and I spent some quality time water watching on the balcony.

 

 

We’d decided earlier that we wanted to have lunch in the MDR, and once we were showered and changed, we realized we didn’t have much time before it closed. We checked the availability and once it showed green, we made a beeline towards the Adagio.

 

 

We were seated as soon as we walked in, at a table for the three of us (as we had requested) right at a window. Our first glimpse of the Adiago proved it was every bit as gorgeous in person as it was in pictures. Three levels, muted tones and an opulent chandelier hanging from the ceiling. It was just lovely.

 

 

 

A server quickly came over to explain how lunch worked – they called it Brasserie 30 and the 30 meant your meal would take no more than 30 minutes if you didn’t want it to. A basket of various breads was presented to our table with an olive tapenade spread that was pure salty delicious.

 

[Nicole721]

Our server also explained to us that we had two options: there was the Tutti Salad bar up front, where someone would make a made-to-order salad for you with your choice of four different lettuces and (there had to be at least) 20 different toppings. Out with the Tucci Salad bar, there was also a small buffet with a handful of hot offerings. Or you could order off the menu. We opted to order off the menu. Our server asked us if we wanted to do the salad, too. You don’t have to ask us twice. We love our salads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

 

 

 

 

The salad bar was plentiful in offerings. Probably more offerings than I’ve ever seen on a salad bar period. There was one issue though – they throw your salad into a bowl and chop it when they’re done putting everything you want together, and in between each salad, they dip the cutter in the same bowl of water before moving on to chop the next salad. I don’t have any food allergies, but I have major food aversions – most notably to seafood. The man in front of me had a salad loaded with baby shrimp and you can imagine my horror as they grabbed my bowl of salad, took the salad chopper with the shrimp remnants on it, dipped it in a dirty bowl of water with who knows what in it, and then chopped up my salad with it. Stephanie said I was being ridiculous and I probably was. I picked at my salad as I waited for my main course, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have if I had insisted they not chop my salad. If you have aversions and especially if you have a food allergy, insist they use a new utensil to chop your salad or request your salad unchopped.

 

[Nicole721]

Our main courses arrived not long after we sat down with our salads. We all had mixed reactions. Stephanie thought her Chargrilled Palm Sugar Chicken was fair and unmemorable. Mom thought her Potato, Leek and Spinach Gratin was bland (but to be fair here, she also didn’t bother trying the colorful sauce in the ramekin beside her gratin). I thought the Royal Beef Burger was decent. The sautéed portabella mushroom confit was a small singular mushroom strip and the burger tasted like it had been sitting in a warming pan for awhile instead of fresh off the grill (Carnival’s grills and burgers have spoiled me). The desserts were much stronger than the main courses – my Warm Cherry Custard Crepes were heavy and I only managed a few bites, but they were a perfect juxtaposition of sweet and tart, textured and creamy.

 

Chargrilled Palm Sugar Chicken

 

Potato, Leek and Spinach Gratin

 

Royal Beef Burger

 

Praline Chocolate Crunch

 

Warm Cherry Custard Crepes

[Nicole721]

After lunch, we headed to the Boardwalk, but it was crowded so we didn’t hang around there for too long.

 

 

 

Instead, we headed towards Central Park and settled in for some people watching.

 

 

 

 

[fairweather]

Loving you photo review and observations. You are really giving us a feel for how a first time RCI cruiser who is used to Carnival would see things.

 

Thanks for showing us the food choices inside the Park Cafe for lunch and breakfast. Noticed that the touchscreen in your room did not list Johnny Rockets as a breakfast option or maybe I misread it? It's not as if I would starve if it wasn't open everyday of the cruise. lol.

[Robinola]

Loving your review! Thank you for all your time and efforts!

[Aldeya]

Nicole! I just found your review on Cruise Critic but I'm a loyal follower of your blog for quite some time:)

 

Absolutely love your writing style and wonderful pictures!:)

Edited July 7, 2013 by Aldeya

[goofygal531]

 

We packed up the car, took the obligatory daily we're-in-Florida-here's-a-palm-tree-YAY picture and headed towards the airport to return the rental car.

 

 

 

 

 

Love the luggage tag holders! Where did you find them?

[frazzledrazzle16]

Love the luggage tag holders! Where did you find them?

 

I'll answer this one!!! I ordered them from Amazon after hearing about them somewhere here on CC. I'm usually the one taping/laminating our luggage tags and I'm always worried they're going to fall off! These worked wonderfully and we can reuse for our next RCCL cruise. :)

 

http://www.amazon.com/Cruisetags-NARROW-Cruise-Ship-Luggage/dp/B009PGOCUE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373253181&sr=8-1&keywords=royal+caribbean+luggage+tags

[Cruiser 2 too]

Enjoying your review. It is detailed and very informative. Thank you for taking the time to share!

[beej]

Just started your review and am lovin it. Since we'll be doing this and the Oasis in October, it's nice to read a review by a woman and what the three of you did. It really is great Thanx for writing it. I'll be sure to check out the blog

[Arch713]

Nicole- where did you go?

 

Love your review and blog and can't wait to read more!

[cruzegurl104]

I've been following your blog! Hope you can come back to finish, I love your writing style, and the pictures are great!

 

Don't leave us hanging!!!!:):o:cool:

[Maryscooking]

Oh please do finish! I'd love to hear how the rest of your cruise went! There were so many useful bits for me in the part you wrote already!

[Nicole721]

I'm sooooooo sorry for the disappearing act! A new initiative was sprung on me at work and forced all my deadlines up by three weeks. It has been insane! But my boss got me an assistant and things have finally settled down so...hopefully I'll have more writing time now!

 

So where I last left off, we were people watching out in Central Park. We stayed there for awhile, sometimes walking around and exploring and sometimes just sitting and watching. What I found interesting was that while sitting in Central Park, there was no real indication we were at sea. On the Boardwalk, you can see a bit of the seascape creeping in off the aft of the ship, but in Central Park, there’s no exterior views. The Allure is so large and the ride so smooth that you could sit in Central Park and have absolutely no indication you were on the water or on a moving vessel.

 

We eventually retired back to the room with a Tacky Room marathon on the Style Network while we took turns taking showers. I have to give props to Royal Caribbean here – I think the showers were much more functional. Where Carnival cabins have a shower curtain, the cabins on the Allure have curved sliding doors. There’s a bar to put your foot up on when you shave your legs in one corner and it just feels bigger even though I’m not sure it is.

 

Stephanie and I decided to walk around a bit while Mom blow dried her hair. We ended up at Wipeout Café at the tail end of their lunch hours and decided to stop in for a snack.

 

 

We were both a bit curious about the offerings at Wipeout Café. It doesn’t seem to get much attention in the reviews we’d read before our trip and unlike Carnival, which posts menus in nearly every dining establishment (including their buffets), there weren’t really menus for Wipeout Café. We stopped in and it was…bar food? I guess you could call it. Grill food. Bar food. Finger food. Burgers, hot dogs, make-your-own tacos, turkey sandwiches, fries, soft serve ice cream. The pretzel dog stuck out at us and we decided to split one of those. The pretzel part of the pretzel dog was fantastic – a nice, crusty exterior with good flavor. The hot dog part was uninspiring. The side of fries we split with our pretzel dog was much better – nicely seasoned and perfectly crispy.

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

 

 

We finished our snack and continued our stroll along deck 15. Deck 15 is where all the action is – the Flowriders, the zip line, mini golf. It was probably the busiest area we found on sea days.

 

 

 

Edited September 4, 2013 by Nicole721

[Nicole721]

After our lap around the sports deck, we headed back to the room to get ready for formal night. Our cabin was smaller than we were used to and we found it challenging for all three of us to get ready at the same time because of the lack of counter space. We took turns at the desk, took the obligatory formal night pictures on our balcony and then headed out to the promenade before dinner.

 

 

 

We felt that in comparison to our past Carnival cruises, people dressed up more on Carnival. We saw less gowns and tuxes than we usually see on Carnival, and I thought that was interesting given that Royal Caribbean still calls it Formal Night whereas Carnival has renamed it Elegant Evening to make it less formal. I think that our observation could be a result of the expanded number of options on the Allure. On Carnival, if you don’t want to dress up for elegant evening, your only choices for dinner are room service or the buffet on the Lido deck. On the Allure, there are numerous options for dinner that don’t involve dressing up beyond the buffet and room service.

 

With that, we headed to our first dinner in the Adagio and I have to say – our dining staff was the highlight of our cruise. We had My Time Dining (Stephanie had made us reservations before our cruise, though, for the nights we’d be dining at the Adagio) and we were lucky to have the same dining staff for all but one of the nights we dined there – John and Daniel. In all of our cruises, we have had many, many wonderful wait staffs, but we have never, ever experienced the level of service John and Daniel provided us when we dined in the Adagio. Nothing was impossible for them – anything we wanted, they made happen. If we asked “Is ______ good?” We’d get an honest answer. If we couldn’t decide between two things? They’d bring us both. They had many tables to service and always found the time to chat with us about our day and about theirs. They were the best of the best.

 

The bread basket came around first with way more options than I’ve seen in a bread basket that wasn’t being served at a Jewish deli. I’d heard a lot about these Savory Bites, so I opted for those and…they were just okay. They were bite-sized bread nuggets with a liberal dosing of poppy seeds. They were a bit dry throughout and I think I would have enjoyed them better if they were a bit doughier in the middle.

 

Savory Bites

 

The standouts for this meal, by far, were the chicken soup (with large julienned slices of vegetables and freshly cut chives floating on the top) and all of the desserts. We’d take a bite of one and go “That’s the winner,” before moving on to the next and declaring it the winner and doing the same with the third. I had ordered the Bittersweet Chocolate Souffle and I thought it was the best of the three, but really, dessert was the strong suit of this meal.

 

Royal Shrimp Cocktail

 

Shaved Cantaloupe and Honeydew Melon

 

Double-Boiled Chicken Consomme

[Nicole721]

Simple and Classic Caesar Salad

 

Oakwood Smoked Chicken Breast

 

Roman Vignole Salad

 

Carved Filet of Beef Tenderloin

[Nicole721]

Double Strawberry Cheesecake

 

Sky High Lemon Meringue Pie

 

Bittersweet Chocolate Souffle

 

After dinner, I noticed a self-serve wine station in the lobby of the dining room and upon closer look, I noticed that they had a Cline Zinfandel. I’ve been to the Cline estate before, on my first trip to San Francisco, and at a couple dollars for a tasting, I was sold! Except when I put my card in and they charged me, my wine did not come out. A nearby bar server noticed and said the machine was on the fritz and offered to get me a glass of wine from the back. I asked for the Cline Zin, they took my Sea Pass and came back with a $12 glass of some wine I’d never heard of…and a receipt for me to sign…because they didn’t have my wine in back and they already charged me. Come on, now. I wanted a $2 tasting of Cline Zinfandel. Not this Pinot Noir for $10 more. I thought that was shoddy service to bring me something I didn’t ask for and charge me for it before asking if I’d like it, especially since it was completely different from what I had told her I wanted. I wasn’t in the mood to argue, and I like red wine anyways, so I grabbed my glass and we left.

 

 

We wanted to take a ride on the Rising Tide bar, but it was taking too long to descend to the Royal Promenade, so we just took the regular elevators up.

 

 

We didn’t stay out on Central Park for too long because it got super windy, so we ended up going back to the room to change out of our dresses, and then we headed out to watch the sunset on the Solarium.

 

[Nicole721]

After the last of the afternoon loungers roll indoors, the Solarium becomes this quiet, almost secret place. The only people strolling by were those entering and exiting Samba grill. Situated at the front of the ship, there’s a fantastic panoramic view of the horizon and it’s just about the only place on the ship you’ll feel any motion.

 

 

 

 

 

After the sun dipped below the horizon, we decided to take a walk around since it was so beautiful out.

 

 

[Nicole721]

 

 

We headed back to the room for a bit before show time and the boat was finally beginning to rock a little bit. Apologies to anyone who ever sails with us, because I’m the one who gets onboard and starts hoping for motion because it makes me sleep better. The boat rocked gently and we got in an hour of Jerseylicious before we headed to the Amber Palace to get seats for Chicago.

 

 

Just like Oceanaria the night before, you need to make reservations for your shows in advance (Stephanie booked ours weeks before we boarded) and they scan your Sea Pass as you enter. 15 minutes or so before showtime, they’ll open the doors up to those without reservations. And even though everyone with a reservation is guaranteed a seat, people show up early. We came in over a half hour early and nearly the entire middle section was filled in, so we grabbed some front row seats off of stage left.

[Nicole721]

Chicago was fantastic. Truly one of the best shows we’ve ever seen at sea. It wasn’t Broadway caliber, but it was close. I’m a girl who loves her musical theatre and to see shows like this on a cruise ship…it’s just an entirely new level of amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

Once the show let out, we headed back up to the Royal Promenade and ended up with many of the other people who were at the show…at Sorrentos for Pizza.

 

[Nicole721]

Sorrentos isn’t 24 hours, but it’s open pretty late. They have four or so pizza’s pre-made and ready to go (cheese, pepperoni and two specialty pies), but they also have the option to make your own pizza. We just opted for some slices of pepperoni.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our late-night snack, we headed back to the room to watch, you guessed it, more Style Network. We had an early morning planned for the next day, so Mom and Stephanie filled out the room service breakfast card to hang on the door, we packed up our beach bags and headed to bed.

[elktoncruiser]

Glad your back. We leave in just under 5 weeks.