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Just back from Allure 1/19/14 sailing!

93beachbum

By 93beachbum,
in Royal Caribbean International

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93beachbum

93beachbum

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So I just got back from my trip on the Allure. Instead of doing a review I thought I would just put together some highs and lows.

 

Highs

 

-Chops was amazing! Great food! Would recommend to everyone.

- Boardwalk balcony room 11313, (connected to 11311, who we shared with friends) balcony divider was opened which increased the deck space. Not as far of a walk as I thought it would be. Could see shows and out back of aqua theatre to ocean. 9 rooms back from end.

-Reserved all shows and had no issues with getting in. blue Planet and ice games were my favorites.

-guess what smokers! You can smoke on secret deck eleven port side! 2 ash trays out there. Only saw a few people out there over the course of the week.

-Frederick our room steward was amazing! Super friendly and accommodating! Always took the time to say hi and see how you day was going.

-Quest was amazing! My friend was a team captain! Oh what fun!

-no NORO that I heard of this week. Thankfully.

 

 

Lows

 

- a religious group with over 3000 people on board changed the vibe of ship. Add in the senior crowd and the South American crowd and there were not a lot of people in our age bracket of 30-45.

-double charged for bingo. It took two trips to guest services to fix. Kinda annoyed with how this was handled.

-Chicago show- while the dancing and singing is good, it's a LONG show...almost 2 hours. I guess I'm just not that into musicals.

-Windjammer food was predictable and not a lot of variety. Same things every day. Also the least amount of stations compared to freedom and jewel.

-MDR waiters in my time dining a little pushy with wine sales.

-casino slots were tight, though they called out a lot of big winners, never saw which machines they were actually winning on. Don't do the slots on last night! You will not win.

-cruise directer Ken Rush, is a little full of himself... Missed Richard Spacey from my Oasis cruise.

- elevator etiquette people! That's all I'm going to say on that.

 

Overall the cruise was great, weather was decent for January. Didn't do a lot of swimming or snorkeling on islands due to low water temperatures. This is usually my favorite activity to do when I cruise and I missed it because of the time of year.

 

Allure for some reason didn't seem as big as oasis was when I went on her 3 years ago. Maybe it's because I knew my way around. I think I only used forward elevators once all week. Everything I needed to be by was on the AFT section.

 

Overall great time relaxing and having fun with friends. Let me know if you have any questions.:)

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mmn531

mmn531

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Great info, I too was on Oasis and was wondering am I going to be a bit underwhelmed with the size etc. But hell, in the end I am on a cruise. As for Chicago, i am stuck as DW has us slotted for that. but will definitely put the kiddos in the kids club area.

 

Were you East or west? Would like to know if beyond the water temp, the ports were good for you.

 

thanks for the direct info!!

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93beachbum

93beachbum

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Did you make it to the jazz club? Or get to hear the guitar player in the pub? How were they? Wii be on board this time next week.

 

Never saw anything in jazz club, but I'm sure it was there. Guitar guy in pub was good when I heard him while walking by, but didn't really spend any time there.

 

Have a great trip!

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93beachbum

93beachbum

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Great info, I too was on Oasis and was wondering am I going to be a bit underwhelmed with the size etc. But hell, in the end I am on a cruise. As for Chicago, i am stuck as DW has us slotted for that. but will definitely put the kiddos in the kids club area.

 

Were you East or west? Would like to know if beyond the water temp, the ports were good for you.

 

thanks for the direct info!!

 

We were on east.

 

Nassau we just walked around for a little bit. Had to be back on ship by 12:30 pm kinda of a wasted port day.

 

St. Thomas- we rent a jeep, went to coral world because my friend was recommended by someone to go there. It was really lame, but it was only $19. I guess I'm spoiled by sea world, tampa and Clearwater aquariums. Then we drove to sapphire beach to walk around for a little bit.

 

St. Maartin- we took a cab to Orient beach. Rented some chairs from a random beach club. Beware a lot of locals asking for you to buy stuff. Didn't go in water, waves were quite rough. Then took a cab back a checked out some stores. I would recommend taking the water taxi to town from ship. We didn't do that ( I did it the last time I was there) and that walk is a KILLER! Back to the ship.

 

Water temps were probably ok for the average person, but I'm a FLA girl I like my pool and ocean temps warm.

 

Maybe you can take a nap during CHicago. LOL don't get me wrong they are good, but I determined I just don't like musicals.

 

Hope that helps.:)

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93beachbum

93beachbum

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Curious about the so called "religious" group?

 

What was it that changed the tone of the trip? why did it affect you?

 

Seems odd to me that you would bring it up unless they were in your face with trying to change you, etc

 

Ships take on their weekly personality based on the demographics sailing them.

 

The numbers of this group were over 3000, they were very family oriented and stuck to themselves. Which is fine. Had no issue with the group personally. It just changed the vibe of the ship. You could definitely see the personality of the ship change based on the types of people that are on the ship. IE spring break crowd, summer family crowd, senior crowd, etc.

 

This is just what I noticed based on my previous sailings. I have never noticed large groups before.

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riclop

riclop

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So I just got back from my trip on the Allure. Instead of doing a review I thought I would just put together some highs and lows.

 

Highs

 

-Chops was amazing! Great food! Would recommend to everyone.

- Boardwalk balcony room 11313, (connected to 11311, who we shared with friends) balcony divider was opened which increased the deck space. Not as far of a walk as I thought it would be. Could see shows and out back of aqua theatre to ocean. 9 rooms back from end.

-Reserved all shows and had no issues with getting in. blue Planet and ice games were my favorites.

-guess what smokers! You can smoke on secret deck eleven port side! 2 ash trays out there. Only saw a few people out there over the course of the week.

-Frederick our room steward was amazing! Super friendly and accommodating! Always took the time to say hi and see how you day was going.

-Quest was amazing! My friend was a team captain! Oh what fun!

-no NORO that I heard of this week. Thankfully.

 

 

Lows

 

- a religious group with over 3000 people on board changed the vibe of ship. Add in the senior crowd and the South American crowd and there were not a lot of people in our age bracket of 30-45.

-double charged for bingo. It took two trips to guest services to fix. Kinda annoyed with how this was handled.

-Chicago show- while the dancing and singing is good, it's a LONG show...almost 2 hours. I guess I'm just not that into musicals.

-Windjammer food was predictable and not a lot of variety. Same things every day. Also the least amount of stations compared to freedom and jewel.

-MDR waiters in my time dining a little pushy with wine sales.

-casino slots were tight, though they called out a lot of big winners, never saw which machines they were actually winning on. Don't do the slots on last night! You will not win.

-cruise directer Ken Rush, is a little full of himself... Missed Richard Spacey from my Oasis cruise.

- elevator etiquette people! That's all I'm going to say on that.

 

Overall the cruise was great, weather was decent for January. Didn't do a lot of swimming or snorkeling on islands due to low water temperatures. This is usually my favorite activity to do when I cruise and I missed it because of the time of year.

 

Allure for some reason didn't seem as big as oasis was when I went on her 3 years ago. Maybe it's because I knew my way around. I think I only used forward elevators once all week. Everything I needed to be by was on the AFT section.

 

Overall great time relaxing and having fun with friends. Let me know if you have any questions.:)

Thanks for the review.

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tinaky1114

tinaky1114

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Did you make it to the jazz club? Or get to hear the guitar player in the pub? How were they? Wii be on board this time next week.

 

I was on the Dec. 15th sailing. I did not make it to the jazz club. I spent a lot of time at the pub. Jimmy Blakemore should still be on and he is a lot of fun. Go up to the Viking Crown lounge for "Those Girls" duo. Tell them Tina from Ohio said hi.

 

Have a great time! I loved Allure. Staff was great during our week.

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ALANG

ALANG

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The religious group was a Jewish group of 480 individuals. They were identified on the ship as Kosherica, it was a kosher cruise for them. During a galley tour were were told the size of the group along with that they brought their own chefs and special utensils so that the food could be properly prepared. A question was asked during the tour asking about the Kosher buffet sign at the Wipe Out Cafe, this is when the guide informed us about this group and how the ship's galley was working with them.

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reney313

reney313

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Posted (edited)

We were on this same cruise. I am preparing a mini review as well.

 

I will say I fully agree that the vibe of the ship did change. I knew this group was sailing before I booked in March 2013 and I had no concern. That said, I don't think I would knowingly book with them again. It was really a culture thing. I am happy they are all able to book together. But, for the same (or opposite) reason I wouldn't book a spring break cruise, I wouldn't book with this group either.

 

Don't misunderstand, we had a FANTASTIC cruise. I LOVED it. But the demographics did change the atmosphere just enough to notice.

 

I saw a few questions around the Jazz on 4. We spent a few nights there for night caps. I was surprised how few people were there. We loved it, some really talented musicians, especially the bass player. He sat with us for awhile during one of their breaks one night and talked about his music, his really beautiful bass guitar, and other topics. They also played in the Promenade a few times and in Central Park one night. Do try and make time to head down there one night during the cruise. It is so hard to see everything, but I think this is really a great treat for at least an hour or two one night!

 

I didn't share the same luck in the slot machines. I won $900 on one spin one morning. That said, I do agree with absolutely not playing on the last day. It never fails, no matter what ship or cruise line I am with, but I have never won anything on that last day. I think it's a conspiracy :p

 

Elevator etiquette-AGREED. I actually noticed instead of people rushing the elevator before letting others out, the opposite. We would stand and let people getting off out and a group of 4-5 ladies (and I'm female!) would stand directly in front after exiting to figure out where to go, etc. while the rest of us who waited missed the elevator. Urgh! LOL. The elevators seriously were my biggest pet peeve of the cruise.

 

For MDR wine--we did not notice an issue, but we all had the Premium Beverage Plan so it was included. They didn't try to upsell to more expensive wine, which was nice. Our bar server in the MDR received the largest "extra" tips of the cruise for his service.

 

I'm glad you had a great time as well. I thought the weather was perfect (and water temps were nice after a few minutes--of course I'm from the midwest and not S. Florida. We have to winterize our boats :(

Edited by reney313
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ddsdoc

ddsdoc

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we were on this cruise as well and share the same sentiments with respect to the large jewish group and the manners in general of certain nationalities...can i ask how you knew in march 2013 that there would be a large contingent on board?....if i had known, i would have given serious consideration to another week....

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reney313

reney313

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ddsdoc

 

Sometimes you can goggle the ships name with the sail date and find groups that will be sailing. You will find ads saying "come join us" as we sail etc.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yep, that's exactly what I did. I find the group cruises typically start booking 6-12 months in advance. Sometimes I have to go 3-5 pages on google to get past all of the regular travel agent sites, but you'll eventually come across some.

 

I search for the sailing date and group. For example, "Allure 1/19/14 group cruise" and you can see the first listing is for the Kosher cruise. There was also a returning education cruise. Some are very small groups. Maybe just a travel agent that has held back rooms for a group (10-15 rooms, etc). There is continuing education on many cruises so this is nothing new and definitely does not impact anyone. I've also been on one that had the Mercy Ship volunteers. Again, their interests are so diverse that it doesn't really make a difference in the demographics and typical cruise clientele. You can also see if there is a large contingent of any certain commonality (Ex: Pandora cruise--I love pandora, but I think that demographic would also drive me crazy. Likewise, there are themed cruises that may not be to your liking such as Country Music or Blues.).

 

I've always thought I was extremely tolerant, but I found myself having a few moments of anxiety this time around.

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