Allure of the Seas next in line for the "Royal Amplified" treatment

Today, Royal Caribbean announced details of the upcoming $165 million in upgrades coming to Allure of the Seas as part of their "Royal Amplified" program.

Among the highlights from Royal Caribbean's press release are:

Fun in the sun:

• The 10-story Ultimate Abyss, the tallest slide at sea
• The Perfect Storm trio of waterslides, Typhoon, Cyclone and Supercell
• Splashaway Bay kids aquapark, featuring twin drench buckets, three waterslides, fountains, pools, water cannons and a Splash Pad for tots
• Reimagined pool deck, complete with The Lime & Coconut signature bar across two locations, a wider variety of seating and shade with cabana-like “casitas,” daybeds, hammocks and swing seats; new whirlpools on the top deck, and a reinvigorated, adults-only Solarium

For the kids:

• All-new Adventure Ocean, where younger kids can choose their own immersive adventures across an entirely new layout. The major makeover will bring to life interactive, personalized and unexpected activities and features in areas redesigned from top to bottom, including whimsical rooms with climbable creations at Play Place, hands-on art, science and tech fun at Workshop; friendly competition in physical, interactive games at Arena; the Hangout, to chill and make new friends over gaming consoles or sit back for some quality “me” time, AO Babies for babies and tots, and experiential activities at the multipurpose AO Junior space specially designed for 3- to 5-year-olds
• Maxed-out teen spaces, debuting a 360-degree transformation, with a secret speakeasy-like entrance leading into an exclusive lounge with gaming consoles, music, movies, places to hang out and a new outdoor deck
• Glow-in-the-dark laser tag in Clash for the Crystal City and Royal Escape Room – Apollo 18: Lunar Landing, an out-of-this-world expedition that challenges guests to solve puzzle after puzzle before time runs out

Munchies:

• Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar, a new take on a guest-favorite, will offer the beloved family-style, rustic dining experience with an enhanced menu of Italian staples, complete with hand-tossed pizza from the new in-house pizza oven, an expansive charcuterie station and a wide selection of wines and limoncellos
• Portside BBQ will serve up a menu inspired by popular barbecue styles across the United States, including brisket, pulled pork, chicken, burnt ends, mac and cheese, homestyle cornbread and more
• Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade for gameday watch parties on big-screen TVs, tournaments, bar bites with a twist and ice-cold brews
• El Loco Fresh, featuring casual Mexican “street fare”
• Sugar Beach, the sweetest spot on board with more than 220 types of candy and ice cream
• Bionic Bar by Makr Shakr, manned by two robot bartenders shaking up classic cocktails and custom orders

Entertainment:

• Music Hall, a Quantum Class favorite, will take live music to the next level with revolving setlists and cover bands, ample lounge seating on two levels and room to rock out on the dance floor
• Spotlight Karaoke, the dedicated karaoke bar with both main stage and private room experiences will feature thousands of songs to choose from, music trivia and themed nights

Allure will emerge from this transformation and begin sailing the Western Mediterranean from Barcelona in May 2020.  Following that, she will then move to Miami for the winter season of Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries beginning in November 2020.

Quick Review: Allure of the Seas, January 2019

Our first cruise of 2019 has now come and gone.  We have returned from our trip on Allure of the Seas and, as usual, we had a terrific time.  We really love the Oasis Class of ships, there is just so much to do.  This was our second trip on Allure and we've also been on Oasis twice and Harmony once.  Going to have to schedule something on Symphony soon so we can say we've been on all the Oasis ships.  That is, until Oasis #5 arrives in 2021.

For this cruise on Allure, we went on the cheap and booked an inside cabin on deck 8.  The inside cabins are actually quite nice on the Oasis ships and have plenty of space for two.  Our cabin was located conveniently near Central Park and was a nice central location on the ship.  No complaints at all about the cabin.

This was an Eastern Caribbean itinerary with stops in St. Maarten, San Juan, and Royal's private stop in Labadee, Haiti.  Unlike our previous trips on Oasis Class ships, this one left from Miami, so we got our first look at Royal Caribbean's new terminal which was just completed last year.  We arrived very early, around 10:30AM, and it was a bit of a zoo with people arriving and others still leaving.  Traffic was a mess and it took quite a bit of time to get to where we could drop off our bags.  After that, getting to the parking was somewhat of an adventure.  The terminal layout is good with everything under one roof, baggage drop off, parking, and check in, however we found that there wasn't much direction or signage on where to go.  We wound up almost leaving the terminal area because we missed the turn to enter the parking garage so we had to flip back around.  (Tip: stay to the left after you drop off your bags as the parking entrance is up a ramp to the left, if there are signs, I missed them.) 

Giant moving propeller at top of escalator in RCCL Miami terminal

Once we got all that sorted out, we proceeded to the check in area.  If you already checked in online, you just go to a rep who has a portable tablet that scans your paperwork and takes your picture, that's it.  That went smoothly but boarding seemed to be held up for some reason.  We got to the boarding area and they were not letting people on the ship just yet.  By this time it was about 11AM and there were already maybe a couple hundred people in the waiting area.  The waiting area appeared to be all one large room and I didn't see any separate areas for Diamond, Pinnacle, etc members.  The wait in the boarding area of the terminal lasted about 20 minutes or so and they finally started calling groups to board.  First time we've had to wait to board, a little inconvenient, but not the end of the world.

Terminal from on board the ship

Last time we were on Allure was back in 2015 and she still looks great.  We didn't notice any issues with her appearance or any lack of maintenance problems.  Everything seemed pretty "tip top" to me.  First thing we did was head for the Windjammer to get some food and plan our day.  Lunch was fine and we did some exploring until the cabins were ready at around 11:30 - 12:00.  That really signals the start of our cruise when we can drop off our stuff in the cabin and get to enjoying things.  After that, there was a quick meet & greet at the Trellis Bar in Central Park set up through the Crown& Anchor Society Facebook group prior to the lifeboat drill.  That was fun and it was nice to meet some new people.

Entertainment wise on this cruise, we didn't do too much.  We did get to the Aqua Show on the first night and it was great.  Unfortunately we missed Mamma Mia.  We did have a reservation but decided to not go since I was unsure I wanted to sit through about 3 hours of that.  From what we heard, we missed out.  Everyone we talked to who saw it, loved it.  Oh well, maybe next time.

On the all-important food side of things, we mixed up our dining with a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  We did eat dinner in the Dining Room a couple of nights and the food was fine, no issues.  Service, as always, was great.  On the first formal night we did Sushi at Izumi.  We absolutely love Izumi and this did not disappoint.  Maybe one day we'll try the hibachi side of Izumi.  The rest of the nights we kind of just grazed on the seemingly endless options on Allure.  Pizza at Sorrento's, Windjammer, Roast Beef sandwiches at Park Cafe, Dogs at the Boardwalk Dog House, etc.  There is no shortage of places to eat on Allure or her sisters.  The highlight, dining wise, may have been lunch in the Dining Room.  We haven't gone to lunch in the dining room in many, many years but we've been meaning to try it again.  I have to say, it did not disappoint.  I'm not sure if it's an Oasis Class thing or if they do it on all ships now, but lunch in the dining room on sea days consists of table service from a menu and/or a rather large buffet complete with fresh pasta station and other hot dishes.  On the last sea day, they had a huge dessert buffet with literally dozens of fresh cakes, pies, ice cream and other yummy stuff.  Definitely something to check out if you have a chance.

Dessert section of lunch buffet in dining room

As I mentioned earlier, we stopped in St. Maarten, San Juan, and Labadee, all places we've been to several times before.  We did get off the ship briefly in St. Maarten to walk around the port area and check out the shops.  We love San Juan but we were not there very long.  I believe we arrived at 7AM and were only there until 1PM.  Too early for us so we stayed on board.  At Labadee, we also stayed on board and took advantage of the relatively empty ship.

Allure in St. Maarten

Our evenings were mostly taken up spending time in the Diamond Club.  We really love the perks of being Diamond and we have met so many great people hanging out there over our last few cruises.  This cruise was no different.  We had a great time and the staff there is just fantastic.

Always sad to see a cruise come to an end.  One of these days, we'll try to book something longer than a week.  Tough to do right now with my work schedule though.

Allure and her Oasis Class sister ships are lots of fun and would be good for "new" cruisers as they have got something for everyone.  Allure is scheduled to undergo the RoyalAmplified treatment in 2020 after Oasis gets it done this year.  That should add some of the new features seen on the latest ships like Harmony and Symphony of the Seas.  We've already seen the changes to Mariner of the Seas and they were pretty cool.

Next up is Adventure of the Seas in April.

Hits:

• Tons to do
• Ship is still looking good
• Great staff
• Lunch in the Main Dining Room
• New friends

Misses:

• Missed Mamma Mia (totally our fault)
• Delays getting onboard (not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things)

Quick Review: Oasis of the Seas, October 2017

Another cruise in the books.  We can now say we have sailed on all the Oasis Class ships, at least until next Fall when Symphony of the Seas debuts.  Don't worry, we're looking at bookings for that one as well.

Oasis in Labadee

I'm sure by now, you are all well aware of all the innovations introduced with the Oasis Class of ships so I won't go into much detail.  If you haven't been on one of these engineering wonders, you really should try it.  I know there are some people who are very wary of these ships because they carry almost 10,000 people (6,296 max passengers and 2,394 crew) but they never feel overcrowded to me.  At times, the Windjammer Café may be a bit crowded at lunch and breakfast but there are other options for those meals (Café Promenade, Sorrentos, Park Café, Wipeout Café, etc) that most people avoid or don't seem to know about.  There is just so much to do and so many venues, that no one spot is ever really overcrowded.

This was a Western Caribbean itinerary with stops in Labadee, Falmouth, and Cozumel.  We've been to all 3 more than once so nothing new to report there.

Embarkation was quick and easy.  Oasis moved to Port Canaveral last year which made it nice and convenient for us to get to.  We were at the port by about 11:20AM and after dropping off our luggage and parking the car, we wound up onboard by 11:45AM.  Our cabin was a Central Park balcony cabin, a first for us.  It's a bit weird having other balconies on the other side of Central Park facing you, and not seeing the ocean.  A couple of times, I looked out and thought to myself, "what ship is that parked next to us in port?".  Of course, it was just the other cabins across Central Park.  Mainly, we booked the cabin because it came with some perks.  You receive a free bottle of wine, free gaming lessons, and a free lunch at Giovanni's Table, Chops, Sabor, or Johnny Rockets.  We don't gamble much so we didn't take advantage of the gaming lessons and the wine was nothing special.  Lunch at Sabor was good. 

View of Central Park from our balcony.

For this cruise we decided to buy the 3 meal specialty dining package.  For $85 per person you get 3 meals at any of the specialty restaurants, excluding 150 Central Park.  Considering that Chops alone is $50 per person, this is a good deal.  We ate at Chops, Giovanni's Table, and Izumi.  The highlight was definitely Izumi.  Chops and Giovanni's were very, very good but we've done those before.  This was our first visit to Izumi and the entire meal was excellent.  Izumi is an a' la carte menu but when you buy this package, they give you a credit per person, $39 each I believe.  You can choose either the Sushi side or the Hibachi side.  We did the sushi and it was fantastic.

There was some excitement and confusion on the morning of day 2, which was supposed to be a sea day, when we awoke to the captain announcing we would be docking in Nassau in about an hour due to a medical emergency.  At some time during the night, a passenger apparently took a spill and required more medical attention than they could provide onboard.  The decision was made to divert to Nassau on our way to Labadee in order to offload the passenger so they could get proper treatment.  We docked in Nassau right next to Allure of the Seas and offloaded the passenger to a waiting ambulance.  We only stayed there for about an hour and then we were back on our way.  Too bad since it would have been cool to get off at the port and get a couple of pictures of the sisters next to each other.  This stop delayed our arrival to Labadee by about 2 hours so the captain announced that we would stay 2 hours later to make up for that.  The good news is that we heard that the passenger that was offloaded was doing fine.  Good to hear.

Allure of the Seas in Nassau

The big change with us this cruise was that this was our first cruise as "Diamond" level on the Crown & Anchor Society loyalty program.  This is where the perks start getting real good.  Each night, there is a "Happy Hour" in the Diamond Lounge for all Diamond and above members from 4:30PM to 8:00PM.  During this "Happy Hour", you can get free drinks from a limited (not top shelf) menu, free sodas and bottled water, and there is a little buffet set up with hors d'oeuvres and other snacks.  If you can't make it to the lounge, you can still get 3 free drinks from the allowed menu at any bar onboard.  This is a pretty nice perk and the lounge was packed every night.  In fact, there was something like 600 passengers onboard who were Diamond or above, so they opened the Blaze nightclub during the "Happy Hour" each night for overflow.  We met so many wonderful people on this cruise, mostly during this event.

As usual, we had a wonderful time.  We love the ship and the crew was awesome.

One little tidbit of info on future cruises from Port Canaveral.  Our captain mentioned that Oasis would leave from Port Canaveral until 2019 and she will then go back into dry dock for freshening up.  He seemed to hint that Harmony of the Seas would take it's place in Port Canaveral after that.  He didn't mention her by name but he did say that it would be a ship 1 foot longer than Oasis. 

Hits:

• The ship is amazing, just like her sisters
• Diamond Club
• Muzik Express band in the Dazzles lounge.  Great band.
• The entire cruise staff was great, especially the bar crew in Blaze during the Diamond "Happy Hour".

Misses:

• Weather wasn't so great a couple of days.  Nothing we can do about that.
• Technical issues caused rescheduling of the Aqua Show a couple of times.  We weren't able to make any of the performances.  Too bad.  We loved the one on Harmony.

Quick Reviews - Allure of the Seas, February 2015

As I mentioned in my last post, we've been on 5 cruises since the last post on this blog.  I'm going to try to do some quick bullet-point reviews here and touch on what we liked and what we didn't (if anything 😊).

Allure of the Seas - February 2015:

Allure docked in Labadee.

Not too long after we got settled here in sunny Florida, we started planning our first cruise from our new home.  It wasn't a hard decision to make as Allure of the Seas was new and hot as well as the latest "World's Largest Cruise Ship".  It was a no-brainer.

Hits:

• Overall design/layout of the ship, simply amazing.
• Tons of things to do.  From activities, to dining, to entertainment, there was always something to do.
• Aqua Theater.  Never seen anything like it on a ship.  Fantastic shows there.
• Huge selection of dining options.  Standouts include: 150 Central Park, Samba Grill, Giovanni's Table, and the Boardwalk Dog House.  Didn't know what to expect at 150 Central Park (fixed menu) but it was amazing.  We actually went twice to sample both menus.  We didn't eat in the main dining room the whole cruise.

Misses:

• Rita's Cantina.  Didn't love it.

Overall, it was a great return to cruising for us after a 5 year absence.

World's Largest Cruise Ships Meet

Just a couple of days after arriving in Florida from Turku, Finland, Allure of the Seas had a chance to meet her older sister, Oasis of the Seas, as the two ships pulled alongside one another outside the port of Ft. Lauderdale making for a unique opportunity to see these spectacular ships sailing together.

Here is the video from Royal Caribbean.

Allure of the Seas arrives in Ft. Lauderdale

Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas has completed her transatlantic crossing from Finland, where construction was completed a couple of weeks ago, arriving today in her new home of Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

The ship's official naming ceremony will take place on November 28th followed by a special 4 night sailing to the cruise line's private port of Labadee.  On December 5th, Allure will make her inaugural 7 night Western Caribbean voyage.

Here are some pictures from Royal Caribbean's Facebook page.

Allure Clears The Storebaelt Bridge

Here is a video from Royal Caribbean showing Allure of the Seas clearing the Storebaelt bridge in Denmark on he way out to sea.  This is an important milestone for the ship as she heads toward her new home in Florida.  This video was shot in daylight, unlike the one posted when Oasis of the Seas made her passage under the bridge.

The ship is actually 73 meters tall and the bridge is just 65 meters tall, not good.  To make sure the ship does clear the underside of  the bridge, she was designed with retractable funnels on the smokestacks.  In addition to this, the ship needs to take on ballast and run at increased speed, both of which will cause the ship to ride lower in the water and help squeeze under the bridge.

Allure Of The Seas On Her Way To Port Everglades

Today, after some ceremony and fanfare, Royal Caribbean officially took delivery of their newest ship, Allure of the Seas.  Once all the necessary paperwork was signed, she prepared to depart Turku, Finland for her trans Atlantic crossing toward her new home of Port Everglades, Florida.

Now on her way across the Atlantic, Allure is scheduled to arrive in Florida in about 12 days.

Allure Of The Seas Passes Sea Trials

Royal Caribbean announced today that Allure of the Seas, the second ship in their amazing Oasis Class, has passed her sea trials with flying colors.  Looks like she will be ready for her delivery in December in plenty of time.

Here is a video of some of the sea trials from allureoftheseas.com.

Changes coming to Oasis Class with Allure of the Seas

Royal Caribbean is not a line that rests on their successes.  They are always looking for new innovations in cruise ship design to enhance the onboard experience.  Nowhere is that more obvious than in the revolutionary Oasis of the Seas.  There are however, aspects of that ship's design that they readily admit have not been a success.  So what is the most innovative cruise line in the world going to do about it?.  Make improvements of course.

The result will be some differences between Oasis of the Seas and her soon to be completed sister ship Allure of the Seas.  First up will be the boardwalk area.  In an early review, Cruise Critic noted that the Coney Island inspired neighborhood was virtually empty.  The cause - parents reported that they didn't want to walk through that area with their kids in tow surrounded by the many "for fee" shops and restaurants that their children would be drawn to.  Because of this, Royal Caribbean has decided to add a new free restaurant called the Boardwalk Dog House which will serve hot dogs and bratwurst with toppings.  It will replace the donut shop which will move next to the ice cream parlor.

Another dining option, Rita's Cantina, will be added to the boardwalk as well.  It will be replacing the Seafood Shack from Oasis but it will not be free.  Instead it will charge a more reasonable $4.95 instead of the Seafood Shack's $8.95 for adults and $4.95 for kids.  Rita's Cantina will be what Royal Caribbean calls a combo of a So-Cal Taqueria and Mexican beach bar.  In an attempt to draw more people to the spot there will also be live guitar music, drinks and dancing at Rita's.

Aside from the changes to the boardwalk, Royal Caribbean is adding guest kiosks to the Royal Promenade.  They will provide services such as the ability to view, print, and e-mail their onboard bill totals (folio in RCL speak), check the daily calendars and the option to look up and print airline reservations.

There will be the addition of the first Guess store at sea on Allure of the Seas.  The Coach store on Oasis has been a success so why not?

3D movies will also be making their way to Allure's main theater.  Royal Caribbean said that they will be showing first run 3D movies and that the capability will be added to Oasis of the Seas by spring 2011.

New water shows in the Aqua Theater and iPod docks in the cabins are more changes you can expect once Allure of the Seas makes her debut in December.

The line has also hinted that there are more changes to Allure to be revealed soon.

Allure of the Seas to debut early.

In what is becoming an increasingly common trend, particularly with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean has announced that Oasis of the Seas' sister ship, Allure of the Seas, will be completed ahead of schedule and a new inaugural voyage has been added.

This means that everyone who reserved the December 12, 2010 believing that it was the ships first voyage will now have to reschedule to the new date of December 5, 2010.  Anyone now booked on the December 12 cruise will be able to move over to the same cabin category on the December 5 voyage. Crown & Anchor members booked on the December 12 sailing will also get $100 per person to cover any flight change charges.

The option to switch cruises will be open until the end of February.