RCCL Allure of the Seas - Huge Photo Trip Report!

We just got back from a 7-night cruise on Royal Caribbean's new
"Allure of the Seas." I cannot say enough "awesome" about it! The
ship was about the closest thing to a "floating theme park resort"
I've ever seen. With three unique themed sections - Royal Promenade,
The Boardwalk, and Central Park, attractions that you would find in
theme parks - Carousel, Zip Line, Flowrider, Rock Climbing Wall, and
tons of high end shopping and dining, it was like staying on property
at a Disney resort, or a really nice European resort, like Europa
Park.

Between this ship and the new Disney Dream things seem to have taken a
HUGE step forward in the cruising industry.

Below is a link to our extensive photo report. I'll warn you that
it's nearly 500 photos, but you will get a VERY good and in depth look
at the ship.

Please also note that our sense of humor can be "PG-13" if not "R
Rated" at times, and if you are easily offended, you probably
shouldn't click this link! Although RCCL tweeted about our updates so
I guess if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for anyone!
You've been warned! Here's the link:

http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks...0&linkid=10080

Enjoy the update!

--Robb Alvey
www.themeparkreview.com

Oh, yeah, and I forgot to mention, to make it even more "roller
coaster" related, there was even an Alpine Coaster at one of our ports
(Labadee!)

--Robb

Continuing to represent the "old fart" demographic...

I don't get this trend toward these huge boats all of the lines are
putting out. I understand it increases their profits to pack more
asses in the tub, but to me that's gotta lessen the experience
somewhat. I took a bunch of cruises back in the 80's/90's and it
seemed like the boats were big enough back then! I can only imagine
the extra time involved with embarking/disembarking that many
thousands of people, much less the impact on a port when 2 or 3 of
these monsters show up.

Hope that Royal Carribbean is still holding up...they were by far my
favorite of the three companies I tried.

"Please disembark from my lawn."

Oh, yeah, I also forgot to mention - to make it even more "roller
coaster" related, one of our ports, Labadee, even had an Alpine
Coaster!

On Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:45:36 -0800 (PST), Theme Park Review wrote:

Oh, yeah, I also forgot to mention - to make it even more "roller
coaster" related, one of our ports, Labadee, even had an Alpine
Coaster!

"Although we managed to get the dumbest woman on the planet checking
us in!" LOL
--
http://moourl.com/CruiseCheep

On Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:12:03 -0800 (PST), Theme Park Review
wrote:

We just got back from a 7-night cruise on Royal Caribbean's new
"Allure of the Seas." I cannot say enough "awesome" about it! The
ship was about the closest thing to a "floating theme park resort"
I've ever seen. With three unique themed sections - Royal Promenade,
The Boardwalk, and Central Park, attractions that you would find in
theme parks - Carousel, Zip Line, Flowrider, Rock Climbing Wall, and
tons of high end shopping and dining, it was like staying on property
at a Disney resort, or a really nice European resort, like Europa
Park.

Between this ship and the new Disney Dream things seem to have taken a
HUGE step forward in the cruising industry.

Below is a link to our extensive photo report. I'll warn you that
it's nearly 500 photos, but you will get a VERY good and in depth look
at the ship.

Please also note that our sense of humor can be "PG-13" if not "R
Rated" at times, and if you are easily offended, you probably
shouldn't click this link! Although RCCL tweeted about our updates so
I guess if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for anyone!
You've been warned! Here's the link:

http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks...0&linkid=10080

Enjoy the update!

--Robb Alvey
www.themeparkreview.com

Beautiful picture essay Robb, it looks like you had fun. Seems there's getting
to be a large number of up charge restaurants in the new ships. I think the
only one I'd pay extra in would be Chops.

On Feb 22, 11:36*am, Pathetic Old BaSSclown
wrote:
Continuing to represent the "old fart" demographic...

I don't get this trend toward these huge boats all of the lines are
putting out. I understand it increases their profits to pack more
asses in the tub, but to me that's gotta lessen the experience
somewhat. I took a bunch of cruises back in the 80's/90's and it
seemed like the boats were big enough back then! I can only imagine
the extra time involved with embarking/disembarking that many
thousands of people, much less the impact on a port when 2 or 3 of
these monsters show up.

Hope that Royal Carribbean is still holding up...they were by far my
favorite of the three companies I tried.

"Please disembark from my lawn."

Embarking/disembarking took no time at all. We were all shocked. In
fact, if it wasn't for the dumb woman we got checking us in, we
probably would have been all checked into our two staterooms in under
10 minutes. Disembarkation was even easier. RCCL allows to stay in
your stateroom until your time to head out. We walked right off the
boat, picked up our bags and we were off to our car. No waiting for
anything. No having to go to a certain area of the boat and wait for
your number to be called.

The bigger ship didn't take away from anything, it actually added MORE
to the entire cruise experience. We are doing another one of the
smaller (which really isn't that small) Freedom class ships in
October, and the Brilliance next March which is even smaller. Should
be interesting to see how the smaller ships compare after doing the
largest in the world. Not once with a full boat of 6,200 people did
anything ever feel "crowded" as Royal Caribbean seems to have mastered
the concept of moving people around and crowd management. There were
times where, there would be a dinner service going on in the dining
room, a show in the main theater, and a show in the Aqua theater, and
you'd walk around the Promenade and it would be empty! They really
did such a good job of making sure nothing got over crowded at any one
time.

I had my reservations going into this one, and still cannot believe
how blown away I was.

--Robb "RCCL is also my favorite of the 4 cruise lines I've done -
RCCL, Princess, Carnival, NCL." Alvey

On Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:36:55 -0800 (PST), Pathetic Old BaSSclown
wrote:

Continuing to represent the "old fart" demographic...

I don't get this trend toward these huge boats all of the lines are
putting out. I understand it increases their profits to pack more
asses in the tub, but to me that's gotta lessen the experience
somewhat. I took a bunch of cruises back in the 80's/90's and it
seemed like the boats were big enough back then! I can only imagine
the extra time involved with embarking/disembarking that many
thousands of people, much less the impact on a port when 2 or 3 of
these monsters show up.

I'm with you on this one, Pal, wait until you have to tender in to one
of the Carib islands when these massive beasties are a float!

Hope that Royal Carribbean is still holding up...they were by far my
favorite of the three companies I tried.

They are doing superb MOF.
--
http://moourl.com/CruiseCheep

On Feb 22, 3:33*pm, Theme Park Review wrote:
Disembarkation was even easier. *RCCL allows to stay in
your stateroom until your time to head out. *We walked right off the
boat, picked up our bags and we were off to our car. *No waiting for
anything. *No having to go to a certain area of the boat and wait for
your number to be called.

Wow! So glad that's a thing of the past. I hated having to sit around
in a lounge or on deck, not being able to do anything fun. It's like
"your vacation is over, you probably have to fly across the country
now, and god help you if you're going through Atlanta". Our group
always seemed to be the last one called, LOL!

On Tue, 22 Feb 2011 15:42:38 -0500, Stu wrote:

On Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:51:23 -0600, Stu wrote:

On Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:12:03 -0800 (PST), Theme Park Review
wrote:

We just got back from a 7-night cruise on Royal Caribbean's new
"Allure of the Seas." I cannot say enough "awesome" about it! The
ship was about the closest thing to a "floating theme park resort"
I've ever seen. With three unique themed sections - Royal Promenade,
The Boardwalk, and Central Park, attractions that you would find in
theme parks - Carousel, Zip Line, Flowrider, Rock Climbing Wall, and
tons of high end shopping and dining, it was like staying on property
at a Disney resort, or a really nice European resort, like Europa
Park.

Between this ship and the new Disney Dream things seem to have taken a
HUGE step forward in the cruising industry.

Below is a link to our extensive photo report. I'll warn you that
it's nearly 500 photos, but you will get a VERY good and in depth look
at the ship.

Please also note that our sense of humor can be "PG-13" if not "R
Rated" at times, and if you are easily offended, you probably
shouldn't click this link! Although RCCL tweeted about our updates so
I guess if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for anyone!
You've been warned! Here's the link:

http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks...0&linkid=10080

Enjoy the update!

--Robb Alvey
www.themeparkreview.com

Beautiful picture essay Robb, it looks like you had fun. Seems there's getting
to be a large number of up charge restaurants in the new ships. I think the
only one I'd pay extra in would be Chops.

Of course I would have to put my teeth in and change my diarrhea
dripping adult diapers

That's be a good idea. LOL
--
http://moourl.com/CruiseCheep