Hello from the Allure, 3/27 sailing!

[Icesk8rReedy]

3 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

 

I'll be honest and say that if I had to choose which of those was the "bad" show, it would be the ice show. I've never seen the Aqua show, so looking forward to that, and can't wait to see Mamma Mia. The ice show I could take or leave...

Choreography was bad, the "rolling dice" noise was excessive, and it just wasn't very good skating compared to what I've seen from RCCL.

[Ocean Boy]

6 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

 

I'll be honest and say that if I had to choose which of those was the "bad" show, it would be the ice show. I've never seen the Aqua show, so looking forward to that, and can't wait to see Mamma Mia. The ice show I could take or leave...

The Aqua Show and Mamma Mia are both awesome.

[CatLadyFemme]

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

The Aqua Show and Mamma Mia are both awesome.

Agreed. I actually liked the Blue Planet show too, but I guess they aren’t doing them anymore.

[coaster]

Deleted...Reviewed posts again and see where Samba Grill is not operating. Jinxed it as I stated the other day it was the only paid food venue we wanted to go to.....

 

Edited March 28, 2022 by coaster

[coaster]

Hopefully tapas are still available in Vintages. My secondary desire to spend a little extra for food.

[RJ257]

Hope you guys have a great cruise. Appreciate all your posting. My solo cruise on Allure finally happening on the 10th after a 2 year delay.

[CatLadyFemme]

54 minutes ago, RJ257 said:

Hope you guys have a great cruise. Appreciate all your posting. My solo cruise on Allure finally happening on the 10th after a 2 year delay.

We will see you on board 💜

[edeneyes]

5 hours ago, CityChickCruising said:

Just shared! 

Thank you so much.  Have a great cruise.  We can’t wait until our turn on the Allure next month.

[cruzer0007]

If you could post photos of a few of the “daily planner” sheets (or whatever form you can get this info) showing the live music options around the ship on your cruise, we would be grateful.  We sail in about 3 weeks, on the Allure, and might recognize a band or individual, and would love to know the current line up to help us build our excitement.  Thanks in advance.

[MrCruzeaddict]

It's great to see all the chatter on this board.  We're on the Allure in mid May and can't wait! This will be our 6th cruise since Sept. It's going to be different seeing a ship that's almost full for a change. We'll be able to watch the Aqua show from our Deck 14 Boardwalk balcony.

 

jd

Edited March 29, 2022 by MrCruzeaddict
wrong board

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, MrCruzeaddict said:

It was pretty quiet for a while.

It was?

 

Biker, who is pretty sure post whoring picked up during the COVID era.

[rdtpm64]

18 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

We are on the same sailing.

So are we!

[Lionesss]

Once again my repetitive question.

 

Can you find out if Luggage Valet is returning to FLL?

 

Thanks

 

 

[CatLadyFemme]

Have you stopped by the jazz club? Wondering how crowded it has been (if not,  no worries )

[cruisetorelax44]

On Allure May 8th for the first time. Got UDP.. thank you for posting the show schedule flyer! It will help us figure out what times we want to make reservations for dinner! Still sad here about the lack of Samba Grill, but I hear the mushroom soup is back in Chops, so I call that a win!

[CityChickCruising]

On 3/30/2022 at 5:04 PM, cruisetorelax44 said:

On Allure May 8th for the first time. Got UDP.. thank you for posting the show schedule flyer! It will help us figure out what times we want to make reservations for dinner! Still sad here about the lack of Samba Grill, but I hear the mushroom soup is back in Chops, so I call that a win!

It was!! Lots of happy people when we went to Chops.

[CityChickCruising]

On 3/30/2022 at 4:20 PM, CatLadyFemme said:

Have you stopped by the jazz club? Wondering how crowded it has been (if not,  no worries )

Hello, sorry, disconnected while I was on board! There was a GF section at breakfast at least in the MDR. I asked someone who said they had options marked during lunch and dinner as well.

 

The jazz club fluctuated in terms of busyness, but there were often a lot of seats taken up in there during performances! 

[CityChickCruising]

Hello! I disconnected while on board, but am now waiting at the airport after an incredible week. Happy to answer any questions, but general thoughts below.

 

The Allure is an amazing ship with plenty to do and an absolutely fantastic crew.

 

All of the staff is extremely excited to be back with larger crowds, but clearly grappling with the difficulty of being on board without the chance to get off. We were so pleased with our interactions with the crew, especially many of the newer team members who are just so excited for the chance to be on board, meet people, and grow with Royal.

 

The food was the best we’ve had on any of our five cruises by far. We ate in the MDR for breakfast and dinner, had Chops one night and ate lunch/snacked at Sorrento’s every day we were on board. Everything was piping hot, fresh and flavorful. The fruit was especially fresh and ripe, which my mom was super excited about.

 

The activities on board were really, really fun. Of my two criticisms/gripes, my biggest is the fact that the cruise director, Chris Brown, was MIA the entire cruise. We saw him one time, at the belly flop competition, and know he was hosting Love and Marriage, but other than that… his fantastic team was in charge of everything.

 

The Cruise Director’s staff, including Luke who we called our cruise director all week & has the star power to be on his way to CD if that’s what he desires, was absolutely amazing. Luke, Luciana, Roo, Adam, Felix, Mattias, the whole team was just so fun and personable and did everything they could to give us a fun week! We did basically every game - Battle of the Sexes, adult trivia, bingo, who wants to be a Caribbeanaire, etc. which were all led by the CD staff.. not the cruise director. The 70s party on the promenade felt much more lackluster due to the CD not hosting it like we’ve had on RC cruises in the past.

 

It was disappointing to see him absolutely nowhere, but basically that’s what I’d read on here and his team was amazing enough that I didn’t care as much as I would’ve otherwise.

 

My only other gripe is that they cancelled Costa Maya due to weather conditions - the reason I booked this itinerary was to see the ruins, so I was very very bummed although I saw the writing on the wall with the heavy waves crashing all night and the precedent of the past few weeks being cancelled.

 

They very well could’ve gotten us to a different port - Belize, Nassau, Coco Cay, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, even back to Cozumel or Roatan. We have seen them make it happen before and they could’ve done it again. Just disappointing when it’s a 6 night cruise with 3 ports and one is cancelled, but this is why we like to leave out of San Juan for a Caribbean cruise.

 

We absolutely adored Roatan - spent the day at Infinity Bay on the west side of the island after purchasing a day pass through Discover Roatan Excursions. The port is an absolute hellscape- all of the tour companies are forced to wait outside of the gates and you are immediately bombarded with 40+ tour companies yelling out their company name and squinting as you try and find who you’re booked with. The port logistics can definitely use work, but the island was so so beautiful and the people were incredible. We felt extremely safe here as two women, as well. Infinity Bay was AMAZING. I saw many sea animals while snorkeling, swam with 100s of fish flitting around in a large school, baby turtles… Said nope to the man who said he’d bring me 30 feet out to the left where sharks were, though! Some things I can do without 🙂 The drinks at Infinity Bay were sooo good. We didn’t end up taking advantage of the food included in our day pass as I wanted to stay on the beach, but heard it was fantastic. 
 

We paid $218 total for two people, which included (air conditioned) transportation to and from IB, our driver Marvin was wonderful and was there right on time, alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks from the beachside bar, a lunch, chairs right in front of the water and access to bathrooms and showers. Cannot recommend this gem of a resort enough - I am already planning a vacation to Roatan to stay at this gorgeous spot.

 

In Cozumel we went to Nachi Cocom which was as beautiful as reported. Drinks were flowing, food was plentiful and the water was gorgeous. It was allegedly booked up the day we went - it caps at 120-130, don’t know exact figure - but didn’t feel super crowded even then! We got there around 9am and got a great spot on the beach with two loungers and a little straw umbrella hut. We had some miscommunication with our taxi driver on the way back - I asked to go to Spice and Tea Market, and he dropped us off at a random grocery store. We made it their eventually, and it was as incredible and delicious smelling as my research showed. Bought a ton of spice mixes, some Mayan honey and the highly regarded vanilla extract! The team was very kind at the store and we loved visiting. We felt slightly less safe in Cozumel, but it wasn’t bad. I speak Spanish and heard some of the taxi drivers make some not so great comments as we walked up, but all that meant is we kept walking until we hit more cabs who weren’t being leery and creepy. 

 

Overall, I had an absolutely amazing time on our cruise! It never feels long enough, but we were able to soak up the sun, fun activities and enjoy some great food on our 6-nighter. I’m already looking into an ABC islands cruise as well as the new Panama itinerary that goes to Costa Rica - nothing like an unforgettable week to get you excited about the next one.

 

Happy to answer any questions you have! Will try and share pics in a separate post. 

[CityChickCruising]

Some food shots! Not sure why some are turned upside down, but not going to fret. Imade and Handoko, our wait team, were the best. We had my time dining, but they claimed us as their own after our first time dining with them. Imade had our drinks waiting for us every night - mai tai for me, frozen mojito for my mom, with fun straw wrappers (pictured below). I also don’t have a photo of it, but he made us a heart and rose bouquet out of napkins as a centerpiece! 
Garlic shrimp entree 

Tiramisu

Bavarian coffee from Chops! 

Mai tai with one of Imade’s fun straw wrapper creations

 

Mississippi mud pie with ice cream and sprinkles courtesy of Handoko and Imade! 

[CityChickCruising]

Marlina, our stateroom attendant, was a gem of a human. We loved getting to know her this week and hope to see her again! Some of her creations. Poorly captured are the little wooden rowers in the boat. So cute! 

[CityChickCruising]

On 3/28/2022 at 7:34 PM, coaster said:

Hopefully tapas are still available in Vintages. My secondary desire to spend a little extra for food.

Vintages was empty outside of a couple or two and a staff member most times we walked by… not sure if they were serving food as no one was really patronizing it! 

[CityChickCruising]

On 3/30/2022 at 5:04 PM, cruisetorelax44 said:

On Allure May 8th for the first time. Got UDP.. thank you for posting the show schedule flyer! It will help us figure out what times we want to make reservations for dinner! Still sad here about the lack of Samba Grill, but I hear the mushroom soup is back in Chops, so I call that a win!

Hopefully it’ll be back open by May! Fingers crossed for you. 

[CityChickCruising]

On 3/30/2022 at 4:08 PM, Lionesss said:

Once again my repetitive question.

 

Can you find out if Luggage Valet is returning to FLL?

 

Thanks

 

 

Hi there, I asked and they said they weren’t sure yet. Asked someone on board and someone at port as well for good measure. Same answer both times. 

[CityChickCruising]

On 3/29/2022 at 7:40 AM, cruzer0007 said:

If you could post photos of a few of the “daily planner” sheets (or whatever form you can get this info) showing the live music options around the ship on your cruise, we would be grateful.  We sail in about 3 weeks, on the Allure, and might recognize a band or individual, and would love to know the current line up to help us build our excitement.  Thanks in advance.

We didn’t get any cruise compasses, so I just did our planning on the app. We had DD and the Groove, Island Notes, DJ Big T, Acapulco Gold, Terri Davis Quartet, High C’s quintet.. the app lists all of this for past sailings if you want to go look as well!

[Ocean Boy]

I think you are fortunate to not have seen the CD. When I was aboard in January I thought he had zero personality. He did the most slow paced and boring Love and Marriage show that I have ever seen. I have no idea why he is the CD of an O class ship.