marti314

I saw a lot of people with them onboard Allure two weeks ago. The one thing that was a bit surprising to me was there was only ONE size for all specialty coffees. It would be considered a SMALL in the terms of SMALL, MEDIUM, LARGE which i have seen in the past. If this is how all ships are the coffee cards might not bring as much value as the past when you could order a large which exceeded 5.00 USD.

If you are OK carting the diet ginger ale on to the ship they allow up to 12 (17oz) cans/bottles per stateroom.

Agreed, whats the easiest way for Airlines to wipe away their poor ON TIME percentage for a given flight? Change the flight number and move it + - 7 minutes and BOOM ontime percentage is set back to 100%.

This is human nature, 1 person tells 10 people about a bad experience. Getting them to rave about something they expected which met their expectations kinda just seems silly. I went to the store today, they had all the groceries i wanted in stock, everything rang up the correct price and my credit card went through without an issue ------ Sounds silly right? ? If 4000 - 6000 people are on a cruise ship every week and you only see say 800 reviews TOTAL for that ship over say a 5 year time period, i would say that means its pretty amazing!

You will see Bacardi, Jack Daniels, some generic tequila etc. Like i said its not TERRIBLE liquor just not the best stuff. I dont even remember them serving TITOS until we were well out to sea.

You will see your Bud, Bud Light, Shiner Bock, Miller Lite, Michelob Ultra. None of the PUB craft beers will be available until approx 7 pm.

It doesnt have anything to do with the liquor made in texas (Not much except TItos is made in Texas). Its all about the TAXES that Texas makes the cruise line pay on everything served while in port. They serve the cheaper brands so they can limit the taxes they own the state.

RCL allows you to utilize your drink package upon boarding, they will just have a limited number of liquors and beers available for you. Its not BAD liquor but its not the TOP SHELF stuff. Get yourself a few TEXAS TEAS (Long island with tequila in it) and you will feel ALL GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD until approx 7 pm when they serve all the good stuff.

Patience much? If you can predict the type of coffee maker in the suite you can surely bring your own pods but i am not sure there is any standard.

Ive booked 15 cruises through costco. Never had an issue. They used to offer OBC which didnt show up on your account until you were literally on the cruise which I didnt like because you couldnt use it in your cruise planner ahead of time. Now as you mention they offer a costco cash card which for those of us who shop there its as good as cash back off your cruise. They also have a callback feature on their customer service line so you do not have to wait 40 mins but they will just call you back. Ive waited days for EMAIL responses to cruise inquiries with smaller travel agencies, only to find out the inquiry required call in's or more emails.

shuffleboard on Allure is behind the aquatheatre show on deck 6, have never been on Harmony but surprised it would be different.

Had the UDP on Allure two weeks ago and CHOPS & Giovannis refused to seat us (Party of 2) because they were FULL with all the KEY people boarding. Was able to eat at Sabor but would have preferred giovannis.

I just got back from Allure and upon boarding they had the Buy one Get one 50% off posters all over the ship. What was odd was that price said 60.00 each (both people still need to purchase it) which would mean the package is 80 + 40(50% off ) / 2 = 60 per person. So they may have had an 80.00 dollar a day price on the DBP onboard the ship.

My guess is the space those large characters took up in the promenades will be replaced with more SALE tables of junk from china that people go bonkers over.... /end sarcasm

You will notice the lunch menu has an 8 oz FILET on it that in reality comes out at like 4 oz. Was extremely disappointed in chops, felt like the filet at Giovannis and 150 central park was so much better.

Agree, i was at Sabor twice on allure two weeks ago and 3 margaritas with lunch didnt taste like much of any tequila was used. You can do better by just asking a bartender who is friendly to make you a strong margarita and tossing an extra buck their way.

I just got off the Allure sunday. The refreshment package seems to be difficult to justify. You almost force yourself to get multiple coffees, multiple juices per day and sugary non alcoholic cocktails and sodas. Not because you actually want it or need it but because you feel you have to get it to "get your value". At Cafe Promenade they only had 1 size of all speciality coffees, i think it was about 12 oz cups now. realistically for that long of a cruise you are better just buying what you want when you want it then spending as you say 600 dollars on beverages that you will feel forced to consume.

There is no Guinness on draft. You can get it in a can and pour it perfectly yourself.. ?

The 3 drinks are loaded automatically every day on your seapass card but are ONLY available for use during the diamond happy hours (usually 4:30 - 8 pm). Also the diamond drinks only allow for the liquors and wines listed on the diamond drinks menu. The diamond wines are the 2.99 a bottle TISDALE wines you get a total wine.

I agree, being from Texas we all love heading to the beach for a few days but with that we bring coolers and coolers of beer, tents, beach chairs, beach grills etc. The texas beaches have absolutely nothing that would be of value to 4000 people getting off a cruise ship. There are no beachfront eateries, no beachfront bars (yes they are down the road but cruisers do not have vehicles).

except for this part: or for any other nonprivate use without the express written consent of Operator

per the Cruise Ticket Contract you agree to: b. Guest hereby agrees that any recording (whether audio or video or otherwise) or photograph of Guest, other guests, crew or third parties onboard the Vessel or depicting the Vessel, its design, equipment or otherwise shall not be used for any commercial purpose, in any media broadcast or for any other nonprivate use without the express written consent of Operator. The Operator shall be entitled to take any reasonable measure to enforce this provision.

Guessing royal will go after the manufacturer of the actual attraction as well and there will be a lengthy investigation to see if these things have some sort of defect or if salt water affects their lifespan etc.

Also during the Allure boarding last week they called "Pinnacle, Diamond Plus, Diamond, Emerald and Platinum all at the same time. It may depend on how many are in each tier as to if they break them apart.

Now to finish some of the comments: Ultimate Dining Package Review: I knew going into it that there would be a ton of food and this was an understatement. As we all know the speciality restaurants can be quick (1.5 hours) or seem like an eternity (2.5 hours). Going to specialty for Lunch and Dinner consumed about 3 - 4 hours of time each day. We enjoyed the personalized service and the options but after walking up to the windjammer a few nights to "Scope" out the food we said to each other "I want to try X Y Z", one night (chocolate night) in the windjammer we just took bowls of chocolate goodness back to the room and skipped desert in the specialty restaurant. All in all I wont do ultimate again, too time consuming, you want to try to get your moneys worth by using it but then it just makes you feel overly stuffed all the time (Especially with drink package). Ports: St Maarten: I had never done this but i opted to rent a car in St Maarten. This was scary because so many of these car rental places have shady practices so i chose the HERTZ which is right at the port. They gave me what some people would call a beat up jeep (take plenty of pics before you drive off and mark up the damage report). The vehicle worked great, AC was fine and it got us around the island. Drove over to Cupecoy Beach on the west side of the island for some snorkeling and beach time. The beach was busy but we were still able to find a spot. The snorkeling was pretty decent. Then drove up to Marigot for a late lunch. Went to a place highly rated called Le Tropicana, a French restaurant and it was amazing. I had a banana crusted red snapper covered in a green curry cream sauce, most unique and interesting thing i had tasted all week. If you find yourself up in this area I highly recommend this restaurant. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Walked about 9 miles this day, not sure where all we went but it was all so pretty. Started with a breakfast at Cafeteria Mallorca, I highly recommend this place for a nice local type breakfast and not too pricey. Had some street food for lunch (beef empanadas, rabbit empanadas) Labadee: What else can you say, this is always an amazing day at the beach(es) Disembarkation: Opted to roll my big luggages off the ship. Since i was on Deck 7 and disembarkation was on 5 it ended up not being an issue. The new facial recognition scanners they use for US residents was amazing. No customs agents anymore just stand in front of a machine, it will approve you and you are on your way. From the time we scanned off the boat till we were at the fiasco in the pick area was < 5 minutes. This goes back to the Terminal A traffic / Pickup & Dropoff mess. This time i was waiting for a bus but had no idea where to wait and people were just standing around everywhere but nobody had a clue where to go. Busses with luggage trailers kept pulling in that were too long to let other busses go by so it stopped traffic 100%. The traffic control was pretty much non existent, just seemed like a free for all. Opinion of Service : Stateroom attendant: Carl was great from the day we got on the boat until we got off. He would always greet us by name, did a good job with the room and what really impressed me is when I was coming down the hallway with my hands full he would run down the hall and open the door for me. This happened at least 5 times during the trip (maybe i should stop carrying so much), but he got a nice tip of of us for the week. Speciality dining: For the most part all service was excellent except for IZUMI. Some was exceptional some was good, but this is all you can hope for. Bar Staff: Just like dining you have some bartenders who are great and some that look like they dont want to be there and they make sure you know it. Needless to say the grumpy ones do not get extra money. Additional Observations: Upon boarding they had the buy 1 drink package get one 50% off. They offered the 10 drink card on day 5 The Pub Singer was fun - Charlie Jourdan Schooner Bar singer / Piano player - Joe Thomas - ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm i did not enjoy him and based on the very few people there every night not many people did Cruise Director / Activities Manager: Fun and not overly intrusive Love and Marriage Game show was one of the best ive seen ever!!! I have all of the cruise compasses for the week that i will get scanned in and send to Matt soon for posting.