DCL fan does the Allure

[Tltay]

Here are a few pictures from some of the food service areas around the ship. We tried to eat at every venue at least once. In my opinion, the only place that really didn't have anything satisfying to eat was the Promenade. The only thing there that was worth eating were the cookies, but it was a great place to grab a cup of coffee. They offered a variety of sandwiches, but they were 95% bread and 5% filling. Oh yeah, the donuts from the Boardwalk were horrible. Everywhere else we ate the food was decent to good to very good. Only one thing stands out as being great and that was the chocolate souffle from the MDR, it was wonderful. We ate dinner 4 nights in the MDR (American Icon, our service team was great) and three nights in the WJ. I didn't take food pictures, sorry. The Solarium, Wipe Out Care and the Park Cafe had ice machines and the water, tea and lemonade available. At the other self service places they had water and tea but no ice. They usually had hard dipped ice cream and toppings each night in the WJ until 9pm. Soft serve yogurt was available on the pool deck (tucked away on the side of the bar) and in the Wipe Out. The WO was only open till 6pm and the stand by the bar was usually closed by 8pm, so if you want a late night ice cream cone, you are out of luck.

[Tltay]

More dining venues.

[Tltay]

Some more about some of the activities we did on the ship. We love trivia, so went went to as many as we could. The staff was a lot of fun and we met a lot of other cruisers this way. We tried one scavenger hunt, but that was just too much for us, lol. You only got 15 minutes to run around the ship and collect the items, and those that have sailed on an Oasis class ship now how huge the are. We also did Bingo once. We loved to play on the Dream and often played more that once as they made it a lot of fun, almost like a mini show, but on the Allure it was just Bingo, with a little humor thrown in. We also went to a few of the karaoke sessions, family and adult, that was a lot of fun. The live band that plays in Dazzles was amazing, I think Centerpiece was their name.

We went to all the show except Mama Mia. The adult comedy show was great. We enjoyed the two ice shows and the aqua show. Blue Planet was ok, I just think we were expecting more of a Cirque type show and it was more singing than anything else. All the venues had comfortable seating (for the aqua show get there early to get a chair vs the hard bench). For a lot of the shows they were selling popcorn and drinks outside the venues, but we always went to one of the included/free places and grabbed a snack and drink to take with us.

We live in Florida, so we get plenty of sun and swim time, so we did not spend hardly anytime sunning or swimming. We did spend one port morning in the hot tubs since our excursion was not until after lunch. That was nice, had the whole tub to ourselves and it was one that overlooked the side of the ship so we could watch people roaming the pier and shore. We loved to walk around the track on Deck 5, not for the exercise but for the amazing views.

We never got around to trying the rock climbing wall, carousel or the flow rider, but we did go ice skating. If you go ice skating you have to wear long pants and make sure you have socks. We also had fun looking for all the "small wonders" around the ship. We spent a little time in the casino, just playing slots, and honestly the non smoking side was not bad at all. Played mini golf once, the course is pretty basic with no hard obstacles, just tread carefully as there are a lot of dents under the carpet you can see and it would be easy for one to trip. Table tennis was also fun, tables a little warped but what can you expect as they are exposed to moist salter air all day. On one of the sea days they had a family carnival out on the boardwalk with free cotton candy, hard ice cream and popcorn.

There are so many activities I recommend bringing a highlighter and marking the things you want to do each day.

[Tltay]

We are not big drinkers, so we did not spend a lot of time in the bar or lounges unless we were there for bingo, trivia, karaoke or another event. There are plenty of them around the ship for those that do like to hang out and have a drink or two. Husband drinks beer and they ran around $8.50 (with the included 18% tip) and I like a fruity drink, so I stuck to Pina Coladas and other frozen fruity drinks which ran about $11 (with included 18% tip).

[Tltay]

One thing that I really loved about this ship and think all ships should have them (hint hint DCL) is the information boards by the elevators on each floor. The touch screen interactive one was really neat and I love the one right next to the elevators that list everything on that floor. Also the elevators and shafts themselves were gorgeous.

[Tltay]

Again, we did not spend anytime in the pools, but here are some photos. One pool stayed open until 11pm and one hot tub was open (as far as we could tell) all night. The other pools and hot tubs closed at different time ranging from 7pm to 9pm.

 

[Tltay]

Here are just some random photos from around the ship. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[Tltay]

More random pics.

[thisismylife]

No photos in your last 7 post that you mentioned would have photos.

[BillOh]

Kids, they were everywhere, including where they shouldn't be. They only have one adult only area, the Solarium which included a pool, two hot tubs and a buffet, and that is 16 and up, not 18 like Disney. There were never kids in the pool or hot tubs, but they were in the buffet area .

 

 

I haven't read all your replies, but the buffet area that you speak of in the solarium is the Solarium Bistro and it is not 16 and up only nor when it becomes the Samba Grill at night (at least in 2013). Kids should only be transiting the area. Nobody seems to mind if kids check in with parents in this area occasionally, but they shouldn't loiter. I've heard Disney's adult retreat is better.

[dcgrumpy]

No photos in your last 7 post that you mentioned would have photos.

I can see photos

[Tltay]

No photos in your last 7 post that you mentioned would have photos.

 

Crap, what happened!~! They were there when I posted them. Ugh, let me see if I can fix it.

[starlake]

I can't see the pictures either

[BillOh]

Crap, what happened!~! They were there when I posted them. Ugh, let me see if I can fix it.

 

 

It may not be you. I work for a Fortune 50 corporate giant and they block a lot of photo sharing sites. Others have mentioned seeing your pics fine in Tapatalk or the Forum App, I'm betting I will see them at home tonight.

[Tltay]

No photos in your last 7 post that you mentioned would have photos.

 

Ok, I have no clue how to edit a post, so I guess I will just have to add the photos in separate post.

[Tltay]

Here is a little bit about Labadee. It was beautiful and we did find a shady spot in Columbus Cove. The only bad thing (and I am surprised RCL does not have more control) were the local vendors they allow on the property that you have to pass to get there. They were just a pushy as those on Nassau. We could of waited for the tram, which would of made it easier when passing them, but we decided to walk. Again, just a firm "no thank you" and keep walking. We did not take the water taxi because two in our party were doing the zip line first thing (which they loved) so we went to Adrenaline beach first. While they did that, I did swim a little and the water near the shore way at the end was sandy and nice. I noticed a lot more rocks and grass closer to front (nearest the ship) beach area. I asked about an umbrella, as there was hardly any shade and was told they didn't have any (?) not sure if that was the case or he just didn't want to get me one, I was willing to pay for one if they were available. We did the jet ski/wave runner excursion, that was a lot of fun. Neat to see other parts of the island that you couldn't see from the beach or ship. The only disappointment for me, and again just a personal thing, is that I was hoping to be able to snorkel and see some fish. Honestly there is nothing to see in the waters, but they were nice for swimming. Also, the food was not that great, but that was ok, there was plenty on the ship when we returned.

Here are some pictures, sorry they are fuzzy, but it was actual the haze in the air. The captain said it was actually sand blown from the coast of Africa!

Photos that did not attach on the original post. Apparently my photos are too big. I managed to get some small enough to attach. Please let me know if they still do not show up.

[Tltay]

Another area that I see that RCL needs some help with is excursion organization (unless our experience was unique to this cruise). We booked two through them and both times the meeting place was off ship. One (St Maarten) was on the dock, that wasn't too bad, but the second was off the dock and on the sidewalk (San Juan). This was quite chaotic as there were numerous excursion groups trying to find their guide along with the locals trying to sell their own tours. Disney idea of having a meeting place on ship and exiting together is much better. We did the bus tour in St Maarten that takes you to both sides of the Island and the ATV tour in San Juan. the port area of St Maarten has all been rebuild and was really nice. The bus tour would of been good except there was still so much hurricane damage in St Maarten and Saint Martin, that it was quite depressing. At San Juan we had about an hour to walk around the area before our excursion. The area around the port is very nice and it was a short walk to a Fort. On the bus ride to the ranch we got to travel through down town San Juan, there is still minor damage, but not much. And boy do they love their graffiti. There is also a Walgreens and CVS right at the port if you need to restock on any needed items. The ATV excursion was a lot of fun, it was on a working Paso Fino horse ranch, we really enjoyed that one. Here are some photos of Jan Juan, will post St Maarten in the next post.

Photos that did not attach the first time.

[Tltay]

Here are some photos from St Maarten and Saint Martin. I didn't take a lot of photos since the island is still has a lot of damage and the landscape was devastated in some parts. There were people who were still living in tents in the city and boats were decaying on the shores. So sad.

pictures that did not attach on the original post.

[Tltay]

Here are a few pictures from some of the food service areas around the ship. We tried to eat at every venue at least once. In my opinion, the only place that really didn't have anything satisfying to eat was the Promenade. The only thing there that was worth eating were the cookies, but it was a great place to grab a cup of coffee. They offered a variety of sandwiches, but they were 95% bread and 5% filling. Oh yeah, the donuts from the Boardwalk were horrible. Everywhere else we ate the food was decent to good to very good. Only one thing stands out as being great and that was the chocolate souffle from the MDR, it was wonderful. We ate dinner 4 nights in the MDR (American Icon, our service team was great) and three nights in the WJ. I didn't take food pictures, sorry. The Solarium, Wipe Out Care and the Park Cafe had ice machines and the water, tea and lemonade available. At the other self service places they had water and tea but no ice. They usually had hard dipped ice cream and toppings each night in the WJ until 9pm. Soft serve yogurt was available on the pool deck (tucked away on the side of the bar) and in the Wipe Out. The WO was only open till 6pm and the stand by the bar was usually closed by 8pm, so if you want a late night ice cream cone, you are out of luck.

pictures that did not attach to original post.

[Tltay]

Some more about some of the activities we did on the ship. We love trivia, so went went to as many as we could. The staff was a lot of fun and we met a lot of other cruisers this way. We tried one scavenger hunt, but that was just too much for us, lol. You only got 15 minutes to run around the ship and collect the items, and those that have sailed on an Oasis class ship now how huge the are. We also did Bingo once. We loved to play on the Dream and often played more that once as they made it a lot of fun, almost like a mini show, but on the Allure it was just Bingo, with a little humor thrown in. We also went to a few of the karaoke sessions, family and adult, that was a lot of fun. The live band that plays in Dazzles was amazing, I think Centerpiece was their name.

We went to all the show except Mama Mia. The adult comedy show was great. We enjoyed the two ice shows and the aqua show. Blue Planet was ok, I just think we were expecting more of a Cirque type show and it was more singing than anything else. All the venues had comfortable seating (for the aqua show get there early to get a chair vs the hard bench). For a lot of the shows they were selling popcorn and drinks outside the venues, but we always went to one of the included/free places and grabbed a snack and drink to take with us.

We live in Florida, so we get plenty of sun and swim time, so we did not spend hardly anytime sunning or swimming. We did spend one port morning in the hot tubs since our excursion was not until after lunch. That was nice, had the whole tub to ourselves and it was one that overlooked the side of the ship so we could watch people roaming the pier and shore. We loved to walk around the track on Deck 5, not for the exercise but for the amazing views.

We never got around to trying the rock climbing wall, carousel or the flow rider, but we did go ice skating. If you go ice skating you have to wear long pants and make sure you have socks. We also had fun looking for all the "small wonders" around the ship. We spent a little time in the casino, just playing slots, and honestly the non smoking side was not bad at all. Played mini golf once, the course is pretty basic with no hard obstacles, just tread carefully as there are a lot of dents under the carpet you can see and it would be easy for one to trip. Table tennis was also fun, tables a little warped but what can you expect as they are exposed to moist salter air all day. On one of the sea days they had a family carnival out on the boardwalk with free cotton candy, hard ice cream and popcorn.

There are so many activities I recommend bringing a highlighter and marking the things you want to do each day.

photos that did not attach to original post.

[Tltay]

We are not big drinkers, so we did not spend a lot of time in the bar or lounges unless we were there for bingo, trivia, karaoke or another event. There are plenty of them around the ship for those that do like to hang out and have a drink or two. Husband drinks beer and they ran around $8.50 (with the included 18% tip) and I like a fruity drink, so I stuck to Pina Coladas and other frozen fruity drinks which ran about $11 (with included 18% tip).

pictures that did not post the first time

[Tltay]

One thing that I really loved about this ship and think all ships should have them (hint hint DCL) is the information boards by the elevators on each floor. The touch screen interactive one was really neat and I love the one right next to the elevators that list everything on that floor. Also the elevators and shafts themselves were gorgeous.

pictures that did not attach on original post.

[Rewind]

I think your review is pretty accurate. One thing that we experienced differently was the captain. When we were on Allure, we had Capt. Johnny and he was everywhere. Even saw him riding around the ship on his motorcycle a couple times.

 

I think that is just the personality of the different captains and they do switch out every few months.

[Grandma Dazzles]

Enjoying your review and following along.

 

A couple of people, myself included, have commented on the cost of Disney versus RC. It seems like overall you enjoyed your cruise, do you have any comparison/comments regarding this. Disney is usually so much higher in price.

[Tltay]

Again, we did not spend anytime in the pools, but here are some photos. One pool stayed open until 11pm and one hot tub was open (as far as we could tell) all night. The other pools and hot tubs closed at different time ranging from 7pm to 9pm.

 

photos that did not attach to original post