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Allure-Aug 27th live review

boommer425

By boommer425,
in Royal Caribbean International

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boommer425

boommer425

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Hello everyone!

 

I will be starting my live review of Allure of the Seas on Aug 27th for Eastern Caribbean cruise. We unfortunately recieved news about a week ago some of our port times were shortened! This will be my first attempt at a live blog so bear with me on this.

 

 

I will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have on the way!

 

 

Now a little about me. This will be my 7th cruise and my 3rd on Royal Caribbean my first time on eastern itinerary. I have done 3 Westerns and 2 Hawaii and one Mediterranean cruise. Going along with me in this journey will be my lovely wife. This will be my first time on a 7 day for Royal as we had been loyal to NCL previously but had a great experience with my best friend on my last cruise on Independence of the Seas.

 

 

Pre-Cruise:

We drove down from Tampa (about 3.5 hour drive) to our hotel near the port. We decided on Residence Inn cruise port as I use to work for Marriott and this brand under the Marriott family honestly gets you the best bang for your buck in my opinion with the free breakfast and spacious room. Although it was a struggle to get the internet to work on my phone, it eventually worked. Today will be spent relaxing. I also have never been on a cruise before that someone even created a Facebook group and honestly I think it's great idea as I love seeing where everyone is coming from and how excited they all are to start a vacation! They actually have over 200 people on the page which is impressive!

 

 

I purchased the internet package for onboard and we will be staying in a boardwalk view balcony on the 8th deck! We also decided to get the 4 night dining package for 100 dollars. We are planning to go to Izumi for sushi, chops, and 150 Central Park. The last night will be TBD depending on our experience at chops or 150 Central Park and which we like better.

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dst

dst

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Following - we sail next Sunday so please keep the ship in good shape [emoji6]

We are also affected by the itinerary changes and disappointed in missing St Kitts

 

Looking forward to reading your live review

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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GINNY L

GINNY L

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I have been on numerous cruises on Royal but never on the Oasis class. I will be on Allure in October 2017 in a two bedroom aqua theater cabin with five other adults. First time in the star class and having a genie. Therefore, if you by chance in a star class I would like to get infor on that.

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cspryor

cspryor

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Have fun!!! I am so looking forward to this review as it will be my first time on an Oasis class in a little over a month!

We are ALSO on a boardwalk balcony on the 8th deck (we are 3rd from the aft)....how is the noise on the 8th deck?

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boommer425

boommer425

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Hello from pool side in Nassau everyone!

 

First I'll answer some of the questions I saw. We are 6 rooms back from the aqua theater I could hear a little noise when the crowd screamed occasionally but it was over by 11pm. The dining package was being sold on board and we got all our reservation times we wanted with no problem. The voom surf and stream was 100.73 pre cruise purchase. I'll have to look for the loyalty ambassador so I'll get back to you on that.

 

Embarkation:

 

I woke up at 730am and had breakfast at our hotel which was surprisingly good! We then got ready and went to park our car at Park n' go which is a great deal for 60 bucks for the week if you pay in advance. My hotel did offer transportation for 8 dollar per person but I honestly prefer park n go. We got to park n go at about 945 and they valet my car and unloaded our luggage and we were at the port by 10am. My tip is always make sure to tip your porter a few buck as my luggage was sitting outside my room by 2pm.

 

 

Check in was super easy and straight forward we had maybe a 5 min wait in line but it moved quickly. As long as you fill out the online check in information ahead of time your golden. We were then directed up stair to our gold member lounge to wait which we did for about 30-45 mins. They started boarding just after 11am and we were on board by 1120ish. First thing we did was make our specialty reservation for chops night 1, Izumi sushi day 3 lunch, 150 Central Park night 5, and night 7 chops.

 

 

My wife and I then proceed to explore the whole boat. All I have to say is holy cow this things is huge!!! We have been on NCL Getaway, NCL Epic and RCCL independence and this one by far beats every single one of them! The Central Park area was so cool it made you feel like you weren't even on a cruise ship. In Central Park is Park cafe, vintages, chops, giovanis and 150 Central Park. I also found it unique they had umbrellas by the doors in case of rain.

 

 

I am pretty good with knowing where I am in relation to things but this boat is so big even I got turned around and couldnt determine which way is which but near the elevation they have touch screens that direct you everywhere you need to go.

 

After exploring we grabbed lunch in the buffet which I think is my only complaint so far. The layout of the buffet creates a lot of traffic jams and doesn't flow very well. Overall the food was good I have no complaints on that. I did noticed multiple places to grab lunch including wipe out cafe and park cafe

 

After lunch I changed into my bathing suit to take advantage of the flow rider while I sent my wife to get the fire and ice pedicure for 49 dollars which was pre purchased. The line for the flow rider was never more than 3-4 people so I was able to go multiple times. If you have never done it before the sports team gets in there with you and helps you.

 

Our rooms were ready around 1pm but I didn't get there till almost 2pm and our luggage was right in the hallway as we walked to the room so we grabbed it and began unpacking. After unpacking we grabbed our cups from in the room and went exploring for the coke freestyle machines as the soda package is included with boardwalk balconys.

 

The Coke freestyle machines are located 2 on each side of buffet, in the wipe out cafe, two outside sorrentos. We did find most of the machine were out of the most commons things. On a side note they were refilled and fully stocked by morning of day 2.

 

We then had our muster drill at 415 which lasted maybe 20 mins and was pretty silly but it doesn't matter because we are on vacation.

 

After muster drill it was drizzling but the rain let up enough to go outside and watch the sailaway. I even looked out the back of the boat and you can tell the ship is only running on two azipods instead of three which is the speed restriction currently.

 

We then went back to the room to change and prepare for dinner at chops! We headed to chops and were seated right away as I checked the TV before hand and it told me all our reservation times were good.

 

Chops:

For those NCLer's following I find chops to be way better Cagneys and possible the best steak house at sea. I love a good steak and chops doesn't disappoint. Our waiter was awesome and I made sure to tell him we had show reservations at 745. We were in and out of chops by 710 for a 6pm reservation. We had the crab cakes, tuna tartare and jumbo shrimp which were all amazing. Chops has recent added a 16oz bone in ribeye which I decided to try and it was spot on and really good. The wife had the the 9oz fillet and it was good as well although she didn't let me have a bite of it. For dessert we had cheese cake, warm chocolate cake, and key lime pie which were all absolutely amazing. We then decide to walk thru the casino as I wanted to see the blackjack tables and they had tables ranging from 10-25 dollars per hand. We then headed to Mamma Mia which was pretty good but was long and towards the end my attention span started to give.

 

After a long day we called it quits and proceeded to bed. For those concerned about ship motion it never even felt like we moved. The only noise I could hear was the occasional scream from the aura theater from the shows but that was done by 11. I also want to to be known I was able to stream the games of thrones season finale from my HBO app with no problem!

 

Alright everyone that's all for now I'll update more after today but now it time to hop in the pool and cool off from warm weather in Nassau.

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