Just Back from Allure 8 day Southern Caribbean-thoughts

[3yorkies]

On 6/7/2022 at 11:30 AM, Itchy&Scratchy said:

but if you are dining at 8 pm, you will still miss the shows at 8:15 and 8:30 and, maybe, even a 9 pm show.

 

P.S. We had a 6:30 reservation for MTD this time and were usually seated by 6:30. But the service was very slow, and we missed shows at 7, 7:15 and 7:30.

I always do late dining and go to the shows before dinner and then the casino after dinner, and sometimes the late night shows.   I just don't want to eat before 8 or 8:30.  

[Mum2Mercury]

34 minutes ago, cruisebabe50 said:

I saw that you got a few good deals on Black Friday!  I didn't even know they did this.  What was the deal for the refreshment package?  We definitely will be checking on Black Friday from now on!

 

I thought they might have a July 4 sale -- and they claim they do.  

 

For our sailing it was about $78/day.  Now it says something like $98/day is the regular price, and now it's BOGO 50% off .. making it something like $73/day -- not exact numbers, but kinda close to what they're advertising right now for our sailing.  That's not a real sale.   

[Itchy&Scratchy]

1 hour ago, 3yorkies said:

I always do late dining and go to the shows before dinner and then the casino after dinner, and sometimes the late night shows.   I just don't want to eat before 8 or 8:30.  

unfortunately, late dining doesn't work for us. My DH suffers from profound acid reflux and cannot eat this late (even with all the meds), and we also have a kid with us who usually has dinner by 7.

[3yorkies]

1 hour ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

unfortunately, late dining doesn't work for us. My DH suffers from profound acid reflux and cannot eat this late (even with all the meds), and we also have a kid with us who usually has dinner by 7.

Fewer children in the late dining is another huge plus for me!

[Jaynay]

Thank you so much to the OP for sharing your thoughts and observations on your recent cruise.  I found it very helpful and I am sure many others did too.

[eabplus2]

Thank you

[Lisafourty]

Can you please post the Show Schedule, Sailing in 3 weeks

[Ocean Boy]

9 hours ago, Lisafourty said:

Can you please post the Show Schedule, Sailing in 3 weeks

Don't count on the show times on your sailing being the same as a previous sailing. I had everything planned out for my April sailing by using a list from a previous sailing but it turned out to be a waste of time, nothing matched.

[Steppy08]

Thanks for the review. We are headed on this ship and itinerary on Saturday! 
Glad to hear that you could still get show reservations decently getting on board late. Wish they would go back to being able to reserve before sailing just to avoid boarding day stress. 
hope you are recovering well! 

[baelor]

17 hours ago, rhino7176 said:

No it was not, as they should have been paranoid pre-covid.  Same thing at this point in time.  If paranoid about getting covid, then don't cruise.  Pretty straight forward what I said.

The issue is not with covid, though.  The issue was people coughing and sneezing without covering their mouths and other transmissive behavior.  The user never said that that was only a concern post-covid.  

[rhino7176]

On 7/8/2022 at 6:03 PM, baelor said:

The issue is not with covid, though.  The issue was people coughing and sneezing without covering their mouths and other transmissive behavior.  The user never said that that was only a concern post-covid.  

The sneezing and not covering mouths was always a problem before any of this, so why now is a concern more so?  Maybe cruising isn't a logical vacation for some then I suppose.  You can't control everyone that don't have proper manners.

 

 

[aubreyc1988]

any feedback on ports/shore excursions you did there? 

[baelor]

14 hours ago, rhino7176 said:

The sneezing and not covering mouths was always a problem before any of this, so why now is a concern more so? 

I never read anything stating that it was now more of a concern.

And if COVID is more dangerous than the common cold, which it is, then it is also understandable that people may be more aware of unsanitary conduct as a result.

[Air&Sea]

On 6/5/2022 at 10:43 PM, kateg said:

In no particular order here are my thoughts and observations for those who haven't cruised in a while (since Covid)  (like my family)

 

Food-the food was about the same.  We didn't notice any real deterioration.  Did notice more pre-portioned dishes in the Windjammer.  It was serve yourself for the most part.  My husband thought the pizza toppings at Sorrento's were more scant that in the past.

 

Service- We had great service all around....BUT our cabin steward looked exhausted.  It really felt like the stakes were higher for all the staff. They put on a good show-but the overall vibe was higher stress.  It's hard to put into words but I've never felt so guilty enjoying a vacation.  We tipped exponentially more than we ever have before.  

 

Boarding went very smoothly. We didn't experience any additional health checks or screenings.  It was very fast and very straightforward.  The only down side was we were only given a choice of a late boarding at 2:00 and our afternoon felt so rushed trying to get everything done before dinner.  It wasn't the best start to a cruise for us because of the time crunch.

 

My Time Dining -I am SO GLAD I listened to the advice on the board to avoid My Time Dining.  I switched to early dining about a week before our cruise.  It was lovely.  I thought it would be too early but it wasn't-at all.  As we left dinner each night, the lines for My Time (both with and without reservations) were out past the elevators some nights.  Compare that to the last time we had My Time (Dec 2019) and we never had to wait with a reservation-maybe we waited behind one other group.  

 

Booking Shows  I had no problem booking shows . That was part of the rush the first afternoon, getting the muster done, getting to our rooms, setting up WIFI and booking the shows.  I was able to get a seat to everything (I booked everything that could be booked) booking around 3:30 after boarding. And every show we attended  had extra seats after seats were opened to those without reservations.

 

Wifi-WIFI was as bad as others have said.  We had six devices worth of Zoom.  I was rarely able to open a web page, For some reason Facebook worked pretty reliably.  Checking email was a struggle some days.  Streaming hahahaha.  I mean if you are lucky or of you stay up really late it might work for you.  It was very hit or miss and mostly a miss.  And if you NEED to keep in touch with the outside world (work as it was for us) you can't count on the Voom.  We did get a nice credit because it was "down" for a few days.  We only learned this because we heard a few other couples discussing it...Because "down" and "working" ...there wasn't much difference.  We had better service on Labadee through Verizon than we did on the ship.  Bottom line-Its a LOT of money for very slow and very unpredictable internet.  Especially when we have had excellent service on other ships.  And not everyone has the luxury to unplug during a cruise.  If it weren't for internet we wouldn't have been able to go at all.

 

Traveling with a Minor (who isn't yours). Perhaps it was because the minor in question, my daughters friend, was 17...but no one seemed to care at all that she was with us and we were not her parents/guardians.  I really fretted over this prior to the cruise.  I had 3 separate notarized documents with me allowing her to travel with us and giving us authorization to make medical decisions etc.  No one ever asked to see it.  They let me sign her waivers without seeing it.  Let her board without it, disembark without it.  I thought it would have been a much bigger deal.

 

Illness-Unlike others have reported, I didn't hear coughing on our ship at all.  No one looked or acted sick   My group of 6 all made it through the cruise feeling fantastic.  It is true there are no OTC meds for sale in the shops except for antidiarrheals.    I have a sore throat tonight and will test myself tomorrow just in case.

 

Labadee-I thought Labadee looked great.  It seemed to be nicer than the last time we were there.  Lunch service was definitely better.  They had pre-packed salad options and I didn't see a single fly or bee.  

 

Over the Water Cabana-We got this on Black Friday for a deal!  It was $289 when we bought it and $1499 at the time of sailing.  For what we paid it was more than worth it.  The cabana came with a cooler of ice and Evian water, a sectional sofa, table, celling fan, electric outlets, two chaise lounges, an umbrella, 3 floating mats, and towels.  Sadly, our neighbors were unpleasant (lots of yelling at each other and their kids and the staff, 4 kids fighting with each other and lots of crying and screaming). Being so close to their drama really put a damper on what could have been a very relaxing and awesome day.  If you can get a deal and you have a small groups (we had 6) I would recommend it.  At 1499 I would not.  The beach area where they sit is pretty crowded...

 

Refreshment package -  We aren't big drinkers so on Black Friday (y'all they had great deals) we got everyone the refreshment package.  I told my kids and their friends 17,17,19,19 to go crazy and use it as much as possible and I think for us it was worth it.  We loved the fresh juice from the Vitality Café, The kids got milkshakes every day (be prepared to wait) and they drank tons of mocktails.  Everyone used the bottled water option and freestyle machines too.  The part I appreciated the most was the ease of getting a drink-no big wait except at Johnny Rockets.   

 

That's all I put in my notes that I think of that might be interesting to someone with an upcoming trip.  I'll try to check back to see if there are questions but I have a giant pile of laundry to work on.

We just booked the Allure to the Southern Caribbean for September. 

 

We chose the My Time Dinning and assume that we have to make the reservations when we board. You have given me the impression that the reservation times aren't that solid. Is that correct? 

 

Thanks in advance. 

[RoperDK]

4 minutes ago, Air&Sea said:

We just booked the Allure to the Southern Caribbean for September. 

 

We chose the My Time Dinning and assume that we have to make the reservations when we board. You have given me the impression that the reservation times aren't that solid. Is that correct? 

 

Thanks in advance. 

Not on the Allure, but Odyssey to Southern Caribbean.  Also, on Mariner recently.  We were able to book the days and times we wanted to eat for My Time Dining on the app a few weeks before boarding.  Tried to book another night closer to boarding and my preferred time wasn't available, but the next time slot was. We eat later, 7:30ish, and just walked right up to the desk and were shown to our table. We did not eat in MDR on the first night or formal night though.   

[Air&Sea]

3 minutes ago, RoperDK said:

Not on the Allure, but Odyssey to Southern Caribbean.  Also, on Mariner recently.  We were able to book the days and times we wanted to eat for My Time Dining on the app a few weeks before boarding.  Tried to book another night closer to boarding and my preferred time wasn't available, but the next time slot was. We eat later, 7:30ish, and just walked right up to the desk and were shown to our table. We did not eat in MDR on the first night or formal night though.   

Thanks for the insight. 

[brillohead]

1 hour ago, Air&Sea said:

We chose the My Time Dinning and assume that we have to make the reservations when we board. You have given me the impression that the reservation times aren't that solid. Is that correct? 

You don't HAVE to make reservations for MTD.  You can also just walk up to your assigned dining room and wait in line for a table.