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Allure of the Seas Amplification


David G

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I have a sailing on the Allure in April 2021.  My wife and I have been on this ship the last two cruises and decided to do it again with the kids since it would be amplified and therefore more enjoyable for the kids.  With all of the Covid stuff going on they have suspended the amplification.  I called RC to ask about transferring our booking to the Oasis (almost a year in advance) and they informed me that we would have to pay a $100/person transfer fee for a total of $500.  This seems ridiculous to me as this is a direct result of Covid19.  I'm not trying to be petty, but I do think there should be some concessions made here.  Not only did we book this ship 100% because of the amp., but the cost was higher due to the amped ship.  I asked if we would be getting a refund of the difference in cost and we were also told we would not.  We love RC and are loyal to them no doubt.  Has anyone else reached out to them regarding this?  I'm curious to see what kind of responses others may have gotten.  I don't usually book with a refundable deposit because once we book, we ARE going.  I guess I learned something here.  I'm still hopeful that A.) The complete the Amp in time for our cruise or, B.) They reconsider the transfer fee to another ship.  Not like we are trying to take money out of their pockets.  We just want the amped ship.

Thanks!

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I am in the same situation as you , we have been on allure 4 previous times and only booked allure for this February 2021 because of the Amp and was told the same about the fees to transfer ,  we are not excited to go anymore if it is not refurbished ,  so disappointing, and we only take one vacation a year because of money....

don't know what to do now

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I too am booked on Allure for Easter 2021 and like other booked due to the pending amplification. Am gutted that the Amp is unlikely to now happen just have everything crossed that during the shutdowns it just might.

still, the price I got I was pleased with so won’t be to disappointed, just live in hope that we are all able to cruise again safely some time soon.

I have not reached out to my TA yet, but might do soon depending on what pricing does in the future.

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Royal does not know or simply have not announced it public yet, the date Allure will be reschedule for Amping: so, I suspect it a little difficult for them to consider any exemption of transfer fees, for valid reasons given. I imagine until then, may have to exercise some patience, if this indeed is the case. 

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Same situation. I booked on the Explorer for next spring based on their misleading advertisement. It made someone believe that the amplification already occurred. So I booked it and now it's not being amplified. They wouldn't refund my nfd or let me move the money to another cruise.

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I am also booked on Allure in December with family in 2 separate rooms.  Without the amplification we do not wish to sail on Allure.  We have reached out to our TA at MEI to help us.  We are hopeful we can go on Harmony instead (same date).  This would be an increase in revenue for them as the 2 rooms cost appx $500 more but we are ok with that but not willing to pay the change/transfer fee.  Time will tell if having an agent with MEI helps with this.

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We are on the first sailing out of Florida after Allure returns for the season (November 15); or that was the original scenario, not sure what it looks like now or if it will even be affected at all. I am happy going on Allure not amplified; I've never been before so won't know what I am missing.  What has me curious is if they will still get the 5 year dry dock general maintenance done in time, or if that's going to affect any future sailings once things get opened up and rolling again.

I considered switching to a different ship but this is the trip we've had planned the longest, our first 7 day, and have invested the most time, planning and finances in so the thought of cancelling and starting the planning process on another ship  is daunting. Then the price for our suite went down about $900 so I'm quite happy where we are! 

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I certainly don’t want anyone to think I am complaining about the Allure.  It is an amazing ship and you will love it.  We really just wanted to experience the upgrades and had Covid19 not happened we would have.  We aren’t asking RCC to lose money.  We just think it would be fair to switch to another ship that is amped. They literally would lose nothing.   We are loyal to RCC and that won’t change.  It does seem that the ports are so repetitive anymore that the draw becomes the ship itself.  We and our kids want to experience the upgrades that come with the amp.  
 

Hope you have a great trip!

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I am currently dealing with the same issue somewhat. I just wanted to let you know I DID reluctantly pay the change fee, what I didn’t know is they took it off my balance. I paid 200.00 change fee and that was taken off of my new reservation balance. so your not losing any money. Would be nice if they would tell you that.

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We are booked on Allure for the end of September out of Barcelona and aren't really bothered if she gets amped or not as none of the improvements are features we would be using. We booked because of the amazing price for an Oasis class ship. I've had a look at Harmony prices for the same cruise next year and it's waaaay more expensive. 

Luckily, we booked with a refundable deposit so we have some serious thinking between now and the end of June when final payment is due.

However, the decision may be taken out of our hands if the rumblings coming out of Spain, Italy and France at the moment are anything to go by. It looks like there is a very real possibility they will be keeping their borders closed until into October, in which case Royal will have no choice but to cancel. I'm not sure what other ports in the area can even handle an Oasis class ship.

They will definitely have to get the 5-year marine safety work done and the broken azipod fixed but I kind of suspect that once they have done that they will just ditch the European season and sail her back over the Pond in the hope of scraping back some cash in the Caribbean. I suppose Jewel, which is also over on this side of the Atlantic, may be able to salvage a few European sailings, since she is smaller and so has a much wider range of possible ports.

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22 hours ago, DanielB said:

I am also booked on Allure in December with family in 2 separate rooms.  Without the amplification we do not wish to sail on Allure.  We have reached out to our TA at MEI to help us.  We are hopeful we can go on Harmony instead (same date).  This would be an increase in revenue for them as the 2 rooms cost appx $500 more but we are ok with that but not willing to pay the change/transfer fee.  Time will tell if having an agent with MEI helps with this.

Well MEI was not able to get Royal to move us to another ship without the fee.  I know the Allure is amazing as she is but I sold my extended family on the Amplification features otherwise we would be doing Disney.  Hope they announce something soon....in all honesty I just want El Loco Fresh...my 12 year old nephew wants the slides and all.

 

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1 hour ago, DanielB said:

Well MEI was not able to get Royal to move us to another ship without the fee.  I know the Allure is amazing as she is but I sold my extended family on the Amplification features otherwise we would be doing Disney.  Hope they announce something soon....in all honesty I just want El Loco Fresh...my 12 year old nephew wants the slides and all.

 

A lot can happen between now and December, so you may as well wait things out a bit longer to see what transpires between now and your final payment date.

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  • 2 weeks later...

As I am sure many of you have seen, RC has started the Cruise with Confidence program.  I was able to transfer my cruise to a different ship at no cost.  The only thing I lost on was a larger than normal discount for selecting a Junior Suite.  In total it only changed my cost by about $200.  Better than the $500 it was going to cost me.  

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Cruise with Confidence!  A wonderful thing.  We were able to transfer our booking to the Oasis one week later for no additional charge...other than losing a discount that had been offered earlier, but still cheaper than the $100/person change fee.

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We're in the same boat, but decided to stay with Allure, since we scored the intern price for the DBP and know we will be sailing here again in the distant future..might even try for a TA if and when they decided to finish up the full AMPED process on her.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Appreciate this is somewhat of an old post but we are in exactly the same position. Booked on 8th August from Barcelona and we booked this booking purely because it was a newly amplified Oasis Class Ship. My final payment is due next month and with all the uncertainty around exactly what a cruise would be like even if it did go ahead, and the lack of amplification - I really don’t want to go on it anymore (but I respect other people can’t wait to get back to cruising.)

I do think it’s wrong that RC are not being sympathetic to people in this position - they were advertising a newly amplified ship so we are not getting what we paid for. I note the price for the same sailing is now £1000 less (I live in UK so they won’t price match).

I’d rather just have my £600 deposit back and book on a future cruise. I’ve emailed them today but don’t hold out any hope.

I don’t want to make final payment on the off chance it might go ahead (as I don’t want to go due to all of the above). If they don’t announce cancellation before my final payment date (which is looming) I think I’ll just have to forfeit my £600 deposit. ?

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4 hours ago, PieEater said:

Appreciate this is somewhat of an old post but we are in exactly the same position. Booked on 8th August from Barcelona and we booked this booking purely because it was a newly amplified Oasis Class Ship. My final payment is due next month and with all the uncertainty around exactly what a cruise would be like even if it did go ahead, and the lack of amplification - I really don’t want to go on it anymore (but I respect other people can’t wait to get back to cruising.)

I do think it’s wrong that RC are not being sympathetic to people in this position - they were advertising a newly amplified ship so we are not getting what we paid for. I note the price for the same sailing is now £1000 less (I live in UK so they won’t price match).

I’d rather just have my £600 deposit back and book on a future cruise. I’ve emailed them today but don’t hold out any hope.

I don’t want to make final payment on the off chance it might go ahead (as I don’t want to go due to all of the above). If they don’t announce cancellation before my final payment date (which is looming) I think I’ll just have to forfeit my £600 deposit. ?

You absolutely do not have to forfeit your deposit and since you said you would rather book on a future cruise you can use the new Lift & Shift programme (as @WAAAYTOOO suggested) to switch to Harmony next year. Same itinerary but Harmony already has pretty much everything that Allure was going to get during the "amping". Effectively, what the L&S programme does is slides your current cruise one year into the future, plus or minus 4 weeks, so essentially you could go on Harmony pretty much any time in July, August and into early September 2021. I switched our Allure booking from September 2020 to Harmony September 2021.

It definitely applies to UK cruisers as well as US. Lots of UK folks over on CC are confirming that they have done this.

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21 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

You absolutely do not have to forfeit your deposit and since you said you would rather book on a future cruise you can use the new Lift & Shift programme (as @WAAAYTOOO suggested) to switch to Harmony next year. Same itinerary but Harmony already has pretty much everything that Allure was going to get during the "amping". Effectively, what the L&S programme does is slides your current cruise one year into the future, plus or minus 4 weeks, so essentially you could go on Harmony pretty much any time in July, August and into early September 2021. I switched our Allure booking from September 2020 to Harmony September 2021.

It definitely applies to UK cruisers as well as US. Lots of UK folks over on CC are confirming that they have done this.

And if you don’t like any dates available can you not cancel pursuant to Cruise with Confidence (since they’ve extended that program since this thread began) and get a FCC in amount of deposit you can apply to any future cruise reservation?

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  • 3 years later...

Would be nice to get a Playmakers, or a much better way to watch sports.  Trying to watch the NFL games inside on divisional weekend was a joke.  Three years in a row that we've cruised on that weekend.  Harmony had plenty of room inside, even had games on at the ice rink, and Mariner last year had them on at the pool, as well as Playmakers.  

Sure, you could watch out back outside, but when it is 60 ish degrees and very windy, that isn't comfortable.  Doing it only in the karaoke bar and outside was pitiful.  

 

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According to the link in the above article features of the original plan for her amplification was

"...Portside BBQ, Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade, El Loco Fresh, Sugar Beach, and the Bionic Bar....the Music Hall... and Spotlight Karaoke..."among other things like the water slides I'm sure.

 

I do wonder if they'll keep those plans given the new things that have been unveiled recently as well as general response to things like the bionic bar and (my personal issue - the design of dazzles as music hall)

Edited by CrimsonCruiser
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You know, the one thing I certainly wish would happen, although I know it won't is padded seats/benches at the Aqua Theater. Just saying, sometimes during the early to mid part of the day, that's a great area to just sit & relax, read a book or watch the twin jumbotrons, maybe with cocktail in hand, and just take in the ambience, of the atmosphere..... on padded seating.

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40 minutes ago, Zambia-Zaire said:

You know, the one thing I certainly wish would happen, although I know it won't is padded seats/benches at the Aqua Theater. Just saying, sometimes during the early to mid part of the day, that's a great area to just sit & relax, read a book or watch the twin jumbotrons, maybe with cocktail in hand, and just take in the ambience, of the atmosphere..... on padded seating.

I actually wondered about that as well, but I imagine there's a cost and health factor in having outdoor seating en masse that can get soaked at any time. Just imagine the cleaning costs!

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2 hours ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

According to the link in the above article features of the original plan for her amplification was

"...Portside BBQ, Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade, El Loco Fresh, Sugar Beach, and the Bionic Bar....the Music Hall... and Spotlight Karaoke...

I hope they ditch the bionic bar.  What a waste of valuable real estate.

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1 hour ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

I actually wondered about that as well, but I imagine there's a cost and health factor in having outdoor seating en masse that can get soaked at any time. Just imagine the cleaning costs!

I get what you're saying; but, not talking about cloth cushion seats... more like fake leather/plastic/rubber like cushions.

 

Also, I know they are not going to remove one of the two Florida's, like on Wonder/Utopia; yet, I wished they would have a little more forward thinking and either replace one of the Florida's with a kids Splash Away Bay & turn the current SAB into another general use pool... or replace a Flowrider with an Infiniti Pool. Imagine the great views from the back corner of the ship at sea or at Port, from within the pool. 

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6 hours ago, Zambia-Zaire said:

I get what you're saying; but, not talking about cloth cushion seats... more like fake leather/plastic/rubber like cushions.

I could be wrong as I've never had to buy outdoor furniture but even those are more "water resistant" not water proof right? Like if you have those for a patio is still recommended to bring them inside if it's going to rain a lot, right? Cuz there's a foam cushion inside?

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I seriously doubt there will be a bionic bar. (Yay!) Likely Pesky Parrot like Utopia. Playmakers on boardwalk for sure. 

I would imagine vintages will go away and be replaced with Giovanni’s Wine Bar. I could do without adding Mason Jar however I love that bar! 

She has El Loco fresh but it’s where wipeout cafe was so really tiny. Hopefully she’ll get the real El Loco Fresh

Hopefully no Abyss slides but I’m sure she’ll get them. 

I wonder what they’ll do with the crown lounge? Maybe make that Giovanni’s like Utopia and move Izumi to Central Park? That’s an option too. Then they can take old Izumi and do the train restaurant 

I’m sure I’m over a billion dollars by now 😂

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