First time cruisers ensured to be "Allured"?? -April 2019 TR

pattyw · Apr 29, 2019

mevelandry said:
Now that's an interesting and detailed review! Can't wait to see the rest of it.

I booked The Key for our first RCCL cruise (coming in October) so thank you for the info on the Chop's Grill lunch ending at 1:30 PM. We'll make sure to board as early as possible.

Thanks for reading along!

Yes- we didn't get any detailed information of the Key lunch hours. We talked to another family who actually boarded the ship at 11 am. They were told that the restaurants were closed so they missed lunch, too. What the crew didn't tell them was that the restaurants would open at 11:30am for the lunch! So, no matter what time your online check-in says, be sure to be on board to take advantage of the lunch from 11:30-1:30. The Key is new and I think the staff are still getting acclimated to its offerings. Hopefully, by October the Key program will run smoother! :thumbsup2

We dined at Chop's Grille for dinner- it was fabulous! :goodvibes

pattyw · Apr 29, 2019

tltay2005 said:
Thanks for doing a review and sharing pictures. I got the email about the bidding for a larger room and ignored it as we do not spend much time in our room ( we have an ocean balcony booked), but seeing that large tub/shower may make it worth it. The shower in the balcony room we had last year was so small, you banged your elbows just washing you hair.

We did enjoy the room and all of its amenities! It was bigger than many regular hotel rooms we've stayed in! The Royal Up bid is worth it if your cruising style allows you to spend time in your room! I liked having our own lounge chairs on the balcony,too. We could enjoy sitting in the sun during the day without crowds! We could go to the bar and bring back a cocktail to enjoy!

tltay2005 said:
Since it was so close to sail date, did you get new luggage tags with the new cabin number?

You can print your own luggage tags off of the Royal website. As soon as our bid was accepted, the website was updated with our new cabin number. :thumbsup2

pattyw · Apr 29, 2019

So, after we settled into our room, we headed to the Windjammer for lunch before the muster drill. Yikes!! It was packed! This is when we were really sad that we missed our Key lunch! It would have been so nice to have a relaxing lunch in an uncrowded restaurant! But,we were seated within a few minutes and the lunch was very good!

Also want to mention that included with the Key program, we had a bowl of fresh fruit in our cabin! :thumbsup2

After the muster drill, we headed to - a bar for a drink! :thumbsup2

Here's the Daily compass from Day 1:

Frozen2014 · Apr 29, 2019

Great review so far. We've been on Allure and loved it! Wow...great room a d balcony.
Can't believe no one informed you of the hours of Chops lunch. And as they said...it's horrible how they assign check in time but they don't tell you that you can come earlier. I would have been livid with the timing and missing the key lunch hours.
Hope the rest was smooth sailing.

starvenger · Apr 29, 2019

pattyw said:
So, after we settled into our room, we headed to the Windjammer for lunch before the muster drill. Yikes!! It was packed! This is when we were really sad that we missed our Key lunch! It would have been so nice to have a relaxing lunch in an uncrowded restaurant! But,we were seated within a few minutes and the lunch was very good!

Sad that you missed the Key lunch and had to endure the lunch crush. With that said, it's almost a rite of passage to endure one a packed embarkation buffet and declare "never again"... only to repeat the mistake on your next cruise. Or so I've heard. From a friend. Yeah, that's the ticket. A friend.

pattyw · Apr 30, 2019

Frozen2014 said:
Great review so far. We've been on Allure and loved it! Wow...great room a d balcony.
Can't believe no one informed you of the hours of Chops lunch. And as they said...it's horrible how they assign check in time but they don't tell you that you can come earlier. I would have been livid with the timing and missing the key lunch hours.
Hope the rest was smooth sailing.

Thanks for reading along!

Yep- we were a little upset with the lack of information about the Key lunch! I guess whenever a new program rolls out there is some confusion. Hopefully, they will iron out the issues soon!

Also, it was difficult to go to guest relations to discuss any issues. The lines were super long- all the time- even late at night!

Yes- thankfully our cruise was pretty much smooth sailing! :thumbsup2

pattyw · Apr 30, 2019

starvenger said:
Sad that you missed the Key lunch and had to endure the lunch crush. With that said, it's almost a rite of passage to endure one a packed embarkation buffet and declare "never again"... only to repeat the mistake on your next cruise. Or so I've heard. From a friend. Yeah, that's the ticket. A friend.

I feel better now! Even pro-cruisers like "your friend" sweat the embarkation buffet lines!

I have to thank you for all the tips I read from your posts on this thread! So helpful! :thumbsup2

starvenger · Apr 30, 2019

Consistent long lines at GS are never a good sign.

To wit, I think I went to GS about 5 times last cruise, only one was what I'd consider long. And generally speaking, the lines seemed tolerable when I passed by. So it was probably an uneventful sailing for the GS staff.

starvenger · Apr 30, 2019

pattyw said:
I feel better now! Even pro-cruisers like "your friend" sweat the embarkation buffet lines!

I have to thank you for all the tips I read from your posts on this thread! So helpful!

Believe me, most veteran cruisers have a love/hate relationship with the embarkation buffet. And I now fully believe that when they say to "arrive at the terminal early", it's not to avoid the security bottleneck, but to avoid the crowds at the buffet.

Side note: if you late board an Oasis class ship again, go to Solarium Bistro or Park Cafe to eat. Still crowded, but not super crazy.

pattyw · Apr 30, 2019

starvenger said:
Consistent long lines at GS are never a good sign.

To wit, I think I went to GS about 5 times last cruise, only one was what I'd consider long. And generally speaking, the lines seemed tolerable when I passed by. So it was probably an uneventful sailing for the GS staff.

Yep- we were a little nervous about the consistent long lines at GS. We needed to get a replacement Key wristband. We went by about midnight thinking there would be no line, but there were still quite a few people in line and only one crew member at the desk.

I know that our friends had a few problems with their room-maintenance issues and then a plumbing issue. They had to sweat the line a few times and had long waits. Thankfully, we had no immediate issues that needed to be addressed.

starvenger said:
Believe me, most veteran cruisers have a love/hate relationship with the embarkation buffet. And I now fully believe that when they say to "arrive at the terminal early", it's not to avoid the security bottleneck, but to avoid the crowds at the buffet.

Side note: if you late board an Oasis class ship again, go to Solarium Bistro or Park Cafe to eat. Still crowded, but not super crazy.

Thanks for the heads up!

We tried the Solarium Bistro once- so good!! We didn't eat at Park Cafe- but the menu looked great and the location was nice!

Magical2017 · Apr 30, 2019

Thanks for all the great information!

pattyw · Apr 30, 2019

Magical2017 said:
Thanks for all the great information!

Thanks for reading along!

pattyw · Apr 30, 2019

We had My Time dining so our dining room was the American Icon. While we were free to come at any time, after the first night, we made reservations for dinner. They had two lines at check-in- one was reservations and one without. Obviously, the reservation line moved quicker.

The food choices at the main dining room were varied- the food was good and the service always efficient! We didn't always get the same waiters, though. I guess with My time dining and eating at different times, we weren't assigned a table and wait staff. We had friends traveling with us so we didn't sit with others as we had a table of 5 for our party.

It was nice having turn down service in the evening. Our trash was emptied, towels refreshed, and our room attendant always left a towel animal!

We also would get a Daily Compass and information about the port and its offerings.

pattyw · Apr 30, 2019

One of the best perks that we took advantage of almost daily was the FREE continental breakfast with room service! :thumbsup2

It was so nice to have breakfast delivered to the room at the time we chose and eat while we got ready! One day we did add pancakes, an omelet, hash browns, and bacon. It was a flat $7.95 charge plus service fee.

We also had breakfast in the main dining room. You could do the buffet and/or a la carte. The buffet was great! So many choices!

Our first port stop was Nassau. We didn't book an excursion, but planned to disembark and shop!

We had breakfast in our room and left the ship about 10 am. There were no lines then as most with excursion plans had already left.

We stopped for a picture:

pattyw · Apr 30, 2019

Our ship:

Our neighbors: Celebrity and Carnival:

Atlantis:

pattyw · May 1, 2019

We had a fun afternoon shopping in Nassau! Joe and I purchased some souvenirs and set off to find a men's shop. He forgot his casual pants and also brought the wrong shoes for his dress pants! We did find a men's clothing store. It seems like quite a few men also forgot their dressy clothing, too!! :laughing:

We returned to the ship about 2:30pm and had lunch at Sorrento's Pizza! Sorrento's became our go-to lunch/snack/late night snack venue!

pattyw · May 1, 2019

Cruised Compass Day 2:

pattyw · May 1, 2019

It was formal night!!

Joe brought a pair of dress pants, dress shirt, and suit coat. They needed to be pressed. Our room attendant took care of that for us! She delivered the freshly pressed items back to our cabin by 6 pm. He put his newly purchased dress shoes to use that evening! :thumbsup2

Our formal night attire was about in the middle- some ladies had capri pants and a nice shirt, men had shorts or pants and a polo shirt- some ladies had gowns, men had tuxedos. So basically, anything but beach attire is appropriate for formal nights. You can be smart casual or all out formal!

pattyw · May 1, 2019

Dinner was great!! Our friends- seasoned cruisers- suggested the escargot appetizer! Joe and I aren't fans of exotic food. They let us try one of theirs- so yummy!! They are cooked- no shells, and in a butter/garlic sauce!! They each ordered two orders a piece! We followed the next few times we ate in the main dining room!!

This is what was so nice about a cruise. You can order as many orders of an appetizer, salad, entree, dessert as you want!! :thumbsup2

All included!!

So, tip of the day- Order the escargot!

After dinner, we spent a little time in the casino! Joe and I are not lucky! We only played the penny and nickel slots- (big spenders :laughing:

) It was fun!! Then, we spent some time at the Piano Bar- Schooner's. So fun!!

Here's some pictures of Schooner's- note we took these on an afternoon when we were at port and Joe and I stayed on the ship. You can see how nice and quiet is in on the ship on port days!

pattyw · May 1, 2019

Here's the information that we received regarding entertainment and Bingo:

First time cruisers ensured to be "Allured"?? -April 2019 TR

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