Allure of the Seas tips

[BermudaDice]

Hi - It's not too long before I head on my first RCL cruise.  My girlfriend and I will be on Allure of the Seas departing September 16 from Ft. Lauderdale. 

I am hoping that some of the veteran cruisers would be able to share some of their tips/advice.  I have tried to find and read as many blog posts as possible including things like the first time cruisers tips etc.  so I am more looking for tips from personal experience such as things that you later found out that you wished you knew at the time.  Either about the ship or the ports of call.

Some background:

• It is a 7 night cruise.  Itinerary: 2 days at sea, St Maarten, Puerto Rico, Labadee, day at sea.
• No excursions booked so far.  We have thought about doing a local excursion in St Marteen.  Probably self-explore San Juan.  Thought about a snorkelling trip in Labadee just to mix it up from just a beach day.
• We are in a Deck 12 balcony room.
• No kids.
• We both have the drinks package as it was included in the deal we got.
• We do not have any specialty dining package and I doubt we will do any.
• We are on My Time Dining.
• We fly in from the UK the day before and are staying the night before in the downtown Ft. Lauderdale Hampton Inn.  I think we plan on heading to the port as early as recommended on embarkation day.

Thanks in advance!

[KLA]

I spent two weeks on the Allure of the Seas for my honeymoon. 

Our favorite thing for lunch - go to Sabor and sit *at the bar* (this won't work otherwise). You can order one of their specialty margaritas (included in your drink package) and if you are sitting at the bar, order a fresh made round of guacamole and salsa with chips for $7 instead of paying the full $19/pp for a meal there. Nice way to spend happy hour! 

Our other favorite bars on board were consistently the Schooner Bar and Pub. They have awesome bar staff. 

I have some recommendations for walking around Puerto Rico if you do not have an excursion planned, as would many here! 

For a local excursion in St. Maarten, look at https://www.bernardstours.com/ - we had an AMAZING tour there and I wrote a review here that I would be happy to share. $5 deposit per person online ahead of time and pay in full in cash once you arrive.

Edit: Here's that review: 

 

Good plan for embarkation day, and good call on MTD. Since it's just the two of you travelling, everything is more laid back and you can do things on your own time anyway. Sometimes dressing up sounds awful after a long day running around in the sun and it's nice to just relax. 

[Matt]

Here are a couple of helpful blog posts

Top 10 Allure of the Seas hidden secrets

9 things to try on Allure of the Seas

Best spots on Allure of the Seas throughout the day

[Jonereno]

Hey - we'll be on your sailing!  First time back on RC since 1989 (yikes - I'm getting old!).  

Kayla - thanks for re-sending the info about Bernard's Tours - I looked it up back when you first posted it and when I looked for it a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't find your original post.  Great timing to re-post it!

 

Jon

[BermudaDice]

2 hours ago, KLA said:

For a local excursion in St. Maarten, look at https://www.bernardstours.com/ - we had an AMAZING tour there and I wrote a review here that I would be happy to share. $5 deposit per person online ahead of time and pay in full in cash once you arrive.

Edit: Here's that review: 

 

Thanks for the tips, KLA.  It was this exact company I had considered for St Maarten and on reflection I think it must have been from reading your earlier post.  I assume that, disregarding something cataclysmic, that there are no issues with this company getting you back to the ship on time?  Not that you would know all circumstances, but you didn't have a feeling that the tour group were careless with timings or anything?

I'd be more than happy to hear more on your recommendations for walking around Puerto Rico.  It is a 7am-2pm stop so my only plan was to try to see the forts when they open.  Hopefully both.

[BermudaDice]

2 hours ago, Matt said:

Here are a couple of helpful blog posts

Top 10 Allure of the Seas hidden secrets

9 things to try on Allure of the Seas

Best spots on Allure of the Seas throughout the day

Thanks Matt!  These posts have formed the basis of my research so far!

[BermudaDice]

38 minutes ago, Jonereno said:

Hey - we'll be on your sailing!  First time back on RC since 1989 (yikes - I'm getting old!).  

Kayla - thanks for re-sending the info about Bernard's Tours - I looked it up back when you first posted it and when I looked for it a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't find your original post.  Great timing to re-post it!

 

Jon

Hopefully you are looking forward to it as much as I am!  I have never been on a RCL ship so it will be a new experience for me.  Straight in at the deep end on Oasis class.

Perhaps we will be on the same Bernard tour if I do in fact end up booking that for St Maarten!

[Lovetocruise2002]

35 minutes ago, BermudaDice said:

I'd be more than happy to hear more on your recommendations for walking around Puerto Rico.  It is a 7am-2pm stop so my only plan was to try to see the forts when they open.  Hopefully both.

I found this guide really helpful for walking around Old San Juan.  We were just there in July and used parts of this plan...

http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/old-san-juan-walking-tour-1/

[mbk999]

Same itinerary, different date.  We are just doing a self-guided tour of old San Juan and the forts.  We are doing the RCI ATV excursion at St Martean.  Playing it by ear at Labadee but I might try the snorkeling as well.  There's a FOMO factor but I don't think I can fit in the Zip Line, Roller Coaster, and snorkeling.

[BermudaDice]

Just now, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I found this guide really helpful for walking around Old San Juan.  We were just there in July and used parts of this plan...

http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/old-san-juan-walking-tour-1/ 

This looks like some great info.  Thanks!

[Lovetocruise2002]

Just now, BermudaDice said:

This looks like some great info.  Thanks!

It is.  Takes some time to read through it all but it really is a good guide.  And if you have cell service in San Juan you can save it and use it as you go along.

[DunkelBierJay]

If you haven't pre-booked your shows, I recommend doing that to make sure you can get in before it's opened to those who didn't pre-book. Once you know the times of the shows, I would go in and book your preferred My Time Dining times for each night of the cruise. That way, you won't have to wait around too long for a table. If you don't want to pre-book your shows, you could set your times for MTD on boarding day in the Main Dining Room on Deck 3...we recently did MTD on Allure and it worked ok for us, although we didn't have the same servers every night.

In Sint Maarten, it's fun to get a cab to the Marigot on the French side, have breakfast and then head to the beach at Orient Beach, Maho Beach or Philipsburg.

[KLA]

2 hours ago, BermudaDice said:

 Not that you would know all circumstances, but you didn't have a feeling that the tour group were careless with timings or anything?

In our experience, we had no issues whatsoever. We were headed back to the ship several hours early and without incident. Even had time to shop and grab a drink while in port! 

Most of these tour companies are well aware that their reputation is on the line when it comes to getting cruise ship passengers back in plenty of time. 

[KLA]

2 hours ago, BermudaDice said:

I'd be more than happy to hear more on your recommendations for walking around Puerto Rico.  It is a 7am-2pm stop so my only plan was to try to see the forts when they open.  Hopefully both.

The forts will be easy to do in that time frame. If you'd want to go for a lunch stop, I know I and many others here enjoy Barrachina for Mofongo as well as the original Pina Colada (it was supposedly invented there!)

[kpersons09]

My husband and I were on Allure this past January. We loved going to Park Cafe for all the time it became our go to for everything but dinner. Also walking through the park area to end off the night was a beautiful way to wind down. The show Mama Mia was amazing and even my husband who is not a lover of musicals was blown away by the vocal talent of the cast. Make sure to catch one of the water shows as well since the aqua theater is unique to the Oasis class of ships it can be a once in a lifetime experience. Have a great trip!

[BermudaDice]

15 hours ago, DunkelBierJay said:

If you haven't pre-booked your shows, I recommend doing that to make sure you can get in before it's opened to those who didn't pre-book. Once you know the times of the shows, I would go in and book your preferred My Time Dining times for each night of the cruise. That way, you won't have to wait around too long for a table. If you don't want to pre-book your shows, you could set your times for MTD on boarding day in the Main Dining Room on Deck 3...we recently did MTD on Allure and it worked ok for us, although we didn't have the same servers every night.

In Sint Maarten, it's fun to get a cab to the Marigot on the French side, have breakfast and then head to the beach at Orient Beach, Maho Beach or Philipsburg.

Thanks for the tips!  I think we may be giving Mama Mia a miss since my GF has seen it recently in a theatre.  However I do like the sound of the Aqua Shows so I will be sure to look in to booking ahead of time.

In your experience with the main dining room were there times where MTD didn't work well or worked better?  I know the standard times have a couple of sittings.  Are you best to book a time which are mostly in line with one of the standard sittings or does it not really matter?

[BermudaDice]

5 hours ago, kpersons09 said:

My husband and I were on Allure this past January. We loved going to Park Cafe for all the time it became our go to for everything but dinner. Also walking through the park area to end off the night was a beautiful way to wind down. The show Mama Mia was amazing and even my husband who is not a lover of musicals was blown away by the vocal talent of the cast. Make sure to catch one of the water shows as well since the aqua theater is unique to the Oasis class of ships it can be a once in a lifetime experience. Have a great trip!

I've read in Matt's posts that the Park Café is where to go for the famous beef sandwiches so I'm sure we will seek that out early and see what else they have on offer.  As I said in a post above, I think we will be giving Mama Mia a miss since my GF has seen recently in a theatre however I do like the sound of the aqua theatre shows.

[DunkelBierJay]

4 hours ago, BermudaDice said:

Thanks for the tips!  I think we may be giving Mama Mia a miss since my GF has seen it recently in a theatre.  However I do like the sound of the Aqua Shows so I will be sure to look in to booking ahead of time.

In your experience with the main dining room were there times where MTD didn't work well or worked better?  I know the standard times have a couple of sittings.  Are you best to book a time which are mostly in line with one of the standard sittings or does it not really matter?

We never had an issue because we went pretty late, and there was only one night when we waited about five minutes. I've heard stories of people waiting around 20 minutes in the early seatings.

The Aqua Shows are great, but watch for Blue Planet in the Amber Theater. That show blew me away. Incredible visual effects on the stage. If you go with a reservation, try to get there early and sit high in the middle on the main level or close to the middle in the mezzanine (I think the middle is reserved for suite guests).

You are greeted with this view of a rotating earth as you enter, and that's before the show starts....it's kind of like Cirque du Soleil and just as good.

[rjac]

10 minutes ago, DunkelBierJay said:

but watch for Blue Planet in the Amber Theater

Incredible show!