10 random thoughts about my Aug 27 Allure of the Seas cruise

[ashoor]

I did my 3rd ever cruise, this time on the Allure of the Seas (Aug 27-Sep3). Instead of doing a review, here are 10 random thoughts (in no particular order) on the whole experience. Despite what you may read below, the cruise was amazing and easily my best ever:

1-the beverage cup system is odd and even embarrassing I think. Kept seeing adults and married couples, sometimes even very nicely dressed on formal nights , holding their coke cup while walking in the promenade or other areas of the ship. We did too, but at least with us it was mostly in our son's stroller so we didn't have to oddly carry them around in our hands. Do you see it that way too?

2-I was very disappointed with the WindJammer. In fact towards the end of the cruise, I kept referring to it as the 'disappointment buffet'. It just had limited selection of most common items that you would find on almost every other buffet. This was the case for breakfast too. And this is coming from a person who is not very picky when it comes to buffets and dining in general. In fact, this was the case with room service too, where the breakfast items we ordered were tasteless. I guess food taste suffers when you have to cook for so many people.

3-seeing the huge amount of people each cruise stop brings to these small islands, I wonder how much economy does it bring to these communities? With all the excursions and other money people spend on local food and other items, I would think it is significant enough to make a dent if these cruise ships change location or were to visit less frequently?

4-one of the two comedians onboard (forgot which one, but I believe it was Rick Corso?) took the words out of my mouth: RC charges for popcorn but gives you the lobster and steak for free? Seriously, why such nickel and diming? On Princess, popcorn is free and plentiful. I understand it is more complicated than this, but at the very least don't have popcorn if you are going to charge for it.

5-Service was literally close to perfect! I would say at 99% satisfaction. Why not 100%? Well, here is why. On the night before our departure, we were at the photo booth to pick up our digital pictures USB. Two hours prior, we were sent a link to download the 10 pictures we had chosen. So on the second visit, my wife was looking at the paper pictures and comparing them to the pictures we had downloaded, when a sales person approached her and basically accused her of trying to illegally take pictures of the samples. It wasn't a nice comment at all. My wife explained to him that we had already paid for and downloaded the pictures from RC's link and that is what she was looking at. Needless to say, I wasn't too happy with his accusatory comments and complained to guest services. I made sure his name wasn't mentioned so he doesn't lose his job over it. But I just think they should know the process better than to accuse a client of taking screenshots of these pictures. But will just consider this a rounding error and make it 100%

6-the introduction of the Boardwalk and Central Park (CP) are amazing additions to the Allure of the Seas and other ships on the same class. But unfortunately, at least for CP, it came at the expense of better and larger pools. A lot of space was lost at the pool area to make room for Central Park below. The pools were almost always packed. For a ship this big, bigger pools are needed.

7-it is disappointing that we are in the middle of a large and dark sea but are only able to see a few stars even on a clear sky. I know the ship is massive and well lit but we should do better with star gazing in such a perfect setting. Maybe they should copy Princess' model and designate an area on the ship for star gazing?

8-in addition to the captain and the crew, I believe my 2.5 year old son talked and interacted with the most people on this ship lol. Basically, on almost every elevator ride, outing on the promenade, at the various restaurants or in the pool area, he would randomly say HI to anyone that came his way. He was having too much fun on his first cruise. Too friendly even for the seas! He must have interacted with at least 5-10% of people on the ship (considering we took the elevator some 10 times or more a day)

9-I won $320 on a .05 cent slot machine in Atlantis casino, using $5 only. In fact I won on my very first few tries. But this amazing win almost cost us the whole trip! .... read below...

10-embarrassed to say this but I almost became one of those people we laugh at: the ones that get back late to the cruise and almost miss it. Happened in Nassau. We were told by our tour guide that the last bus leaves at 12:45. At 12:25 we were about to exit Atlantis and I spotted the casino. I went in to quickly try it. I sat at a 5 cent slot machine. I put $5 in. Literally a minute in, I had hit some free spin thing and I ended up winning $320! By the time I took my voucher, found the cashier etc, some 10 min had passed by. When I left the casino and found our way to the bus area with my family it was around 12:45 and were told by some hotel staff that the last RC bus had left over 10 min earlier. We thought they were trying to make us take a taxi. But it was indeed the case. So we ended up taking a taxi who risked everything to get us on time. And he basically did an amazing job to get us there in about 7 minutes. It was just around 12:52 or so when we started running like crazy, while pushing a stroller, to make sure we don't miss the boat. I think we could have beaten Usain Bolt given our speed. Deep inside I knew we would make it, especially since I could see the gates were still there and the anchor rope still in place, but you never know! In fact, as we were running, my wife yelled 'it is moving' referring to the ship, but right away I knew she was looking at the moving water and had the illusion of a moving ship! Needless to say, we made it on time and about 10 min later the ship departed the port!

 

Until the next cruise....

[Grandma Dazzles]

Just FYI you do not have to carry your soda cup, unless you want a particular soda offered at a freestyle machine. Your Seapass card will get you soda at any bar - if the bar carries what you want, e.g cola, Sprite, etc.

[ashoor]

Just FYI you do not have to carry your soda cup, unless you want a particular soda offered at a freestyle machine. Your Seapass card will get you soda at any bar - if the bar carries what you want, e.g cola, Sprite, etc.

 

Oh yah I know that and did that frequently. But I wanted to do it myself and not have to wait at long bar lineups just to get a soda.

[Newtoncruise]

I think I saw your wife screenshot it the photos.....must admit I jumped to the wrong conclusion too!

 

Well done in Nassau!

 

We should have been there longer.......the ships propulsion problem really spoils this stop......for locals too!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Dennis#1]

I did my 3rd ever cruise, this time on the Allure of the Seas (Aug 27-Sep3). Instead of doing a review, here are 10 random thoughts (in no particular order) on the whole experience. Despite what you may read below, the cruise was amazing and easily my best ever:

1-the beverage cup system is odd and even embarrassing I think. Kept seeing adults and married couples, sometimes even very nicely dressed on formal nights , holding their coke cup while walking in the promenade or other areas of the ship. We did too, but at least with us it was mostly in our son's stroller so we didn't have to oddly carry them around in our hands. Do you see it that way too?

2-I was very disappointed with the WindJammer. In fact towards the end of the cruise, I kept referring to it as the 'disappointment buffet'. It just had limited selection of most common items that you would find on almost every other buffet. This was the case for breakfast too. And this is coming from a person who is not very picky when it comes to buffets and dining in general. In fact, this was the case with room service too, where the breakfast items we ordered were tasteless. I guess food taste suffers when you have to cook for so many people.

3-seeing the huge amount of people each cruise stop brings to these small islands, I wonder how much economy does it bring to these communities? With all the excursions and other money people spend on local food and other items, I would think it is significant enough to make a dent if these cruise ships change location or were to visit less frequently?

4-one of the two comedians onboard (forgot which one, but I believe it was Rick Corso?) took the words out of my mouth: RC charges for popcorn but gives you the lobster and steak for free? Seriously, why such nickel and diming? On Princess, popcorn is free and plentiful. I understand it is more complicated than this, but at the very least don't have popcorn if you are going to charge for it.

5-Service was literally close to perfect! I would say at 99% satisfaction. Why not 100%? Well, here is why. On the night before our departure, we were at the photo booth to pick up our digital pictures USB. Two hours prior, we were sent a link to download the 10 pictures we had chosen. So on the second visit, my wife was looking at the paper pictures and comparing them to the pictures we had downloaded, when a sales person approached her and basically accused her of trying to illegally take pictures of the samples. It wasn't a nice comment at all. My wife explained to him that we had already paid for and downloaded the pictures from RC's link and that is what she was looking at. Needless to say, I wasn't too happy with his accusatory comments and complained to guest services. I made sure his name wasn't mentioned so he doesn't lose his job over it. But I just think they should know the process better than to accuse a client of taking screenshots of these pictures. But will just consider this a rounding error and make it 100%

6-the introduction of the Boardwalk and Central Park (CP) are amazing additions to the Allure of the Seas and other ships on the same class. But unfortunately, at least for CP, it came at the expense of better and larger pools. A lot of space was lost at the pool area to make room for Central Park below. The pools were almost always packed. For a ship this big, bigger pools are needed.

7-it is disappointing that we are in the middle of a large and dark sea but are only able to see a few stars even on a clear sky. I know the ship is massive and well lit but we should do better with star gazing in such a perfect setting. Maybe they should copy Princess' model and designate an area on the ship for star gazing?

8-in addition to the captain and the crew, I believe my 2.5 year old son talked and interacted with the most people on this ship lol. Basically, on almost every elevator ride, outing on the promenade, at the various restaurants or in the pool area, he would randomly say HI to anyone that came his way. He was having too much fun on his first cruise. Too friendly even for the seas! He must have interacted with at least 5-10% of people on the ship (considering we took the elevator some 10 times or more a day)

9-I won $320 on a .05 cent slot machine in Atlantis casino, using $5 only. In fact I won on my very first few tries. But this amazing win almost cost us the whole trip! .... read below...

10-embarrassed to say this but I almost became one of those people we laugh at: the ones that get back late to the cruise and almost miss it. Happened in Nassau. We were told by our tour guide that the last bus leaves at 12:45. At 12:25 we were about to exit Atlantis and I spotted the casino. I went in to quickly try it. I sat at a 5 cent slot machine. I put $5 in. Literally a minute in, I had hit some free spin thing and I ended up winning $320! By the time I took my voucher, found the cashier etc, some 10 min had passed by. When I left the casino and found our way to the bus area with my family it was around 12:45 and were told by some hotel staff that the last RC bus had left over 10 min earlier. We thought they were trying to make us take a taxi. But it was indeed the case. So we ended up taking a taxi who risked everything to get us on time. And he basically did an amazing job to get us there in about 7 minutes. It was just around 12:52 or so when we started running like crazy, while pushing a stroller, to make sure we don't miss the boat. I think we could have beaten Usain Bolt given our speed. Deep inside I knew we would make it, especially since I could see the gates were still there and the anchor rope still in place, but you never know! In fact, as we were running, my wife yelled 'it is moving' referring to the ship, but right away I knew she was looking at the moving water and had the illusion of a moving ship! Needless to say, we made it on time and about 10 min later the ship departed the port!

 

Until the next cruise....

 

Interesting. Thanks for the write-up.

[easyboy]

That was a useful insight! Thanks for sharing.

[rmurray847]

I also would have loved to see free popcorn. But if they gave it out, everyone would want it. Then just imagine the clean-up afterwards!!