Royal Caribbean- Allure of the seas
Royal Caribbean: Allure of the Seas
December 4-9
There are a few important things to know about embarking. With this being my first cruise, there were some confusing moments and we had to ask questions sometimes. Fortunately, there are plenty of friendly staff to ask if you need any assistance. Be sure to have your passport, your printed luggage tags and have them attached to your suitcase, have your room number available, and have your Set Sail Pass ready on your phone. The Set Sail Pass you will do from the Royal Caribbean app to check in. You will have health questions to answer the day of and be assigned your arrival time. There will also be the safety portion that will need to be completed-don't waste your time doing this before you arrive like we did…this has to be done once you are on the boat including the videos. After showing your pass, you'll go through security, have to stop at one other desk and then you can head right onto the ship. With this many people, they have everything organized very well to make everything as smooth as possible. Once on the ship, you will head to your muster station (which can be found in the Royal Caribbean app) and a staff member will scan your pass. Do this as soon as possible to knock it off the to do list as everyone must do this before the boat can leave!
If you have MyTime Dining-book your dining time early on the app as soon as it lets you if you want the freedom of multiple choices. Our reservations were late everyday, which conflicted with our reserved shows. You can show up early and get on a wait list if someone doesn’t show up for their reservation. Another option is to do the early or late dining where you dine at the same time every day-whichever dining plan you want, it is chosen when you book you cruise. I did like the flexibility of MyTime Dining and we did have the same wait staff each time. A couple of evenings we ate at the buffet so we were not conflicting with our show time and we didn’t have to rush our meal. One night the buffet also had a Caribbean themed dinner, while the dining room did not. We really wanted that jerk chicken and pork and it was worth it. You can check the menus right in the app! For the most part, the food was not super special but we were well fed. In the future, I would consider doing a dining package and eating at some of the restaurants on board instead.
Drink packages-if you do not purchase one, then you will have access to water and juice everyday. I had the soda package and you must use the cup they give you. You will pick it up when you get on the cruise ship in the Royal Promenade at a kiosk. The cups have a chip on the bottom that the soda machines scan before you can get soda. My mom got the coffee package. This gives you a punch card to use during the week at the Café. Some drinks take more punches than others, so that is something to keep in mind.
You are also going to want to make reservations for any shows ahead of time. If you are unable to make a reservation because the show is fully booked, then show up to the entrance and wait. We were able to get into the "Mamma Mia" show a night early this way. Very simple as many people do not show up for their reservations.
We arrived to every show early and got amazing seats! The shows were very entertaining and we loved each of them!
Check in time-we were assigned to 1:30pm, traffic was practically stopped at the port, so we ended up being a little bit late even though we left in time to arrive an hour early. We took a Lyft from Orlando and I recommend scheduling a ride ahead of time since it is a bit of a distance and the driver can plan their day better.
Getting into your room: once we were on board we were told our room was ready. We went straight to our room and grabbed the keys that were waiting on the outside of the door. Our luggage showed up a couple of hours later. Keep anything you might want in a backpack when getting onto the ship so you have access to it-this includes a swimsuit if you plan on taking a dip right away! We had a balcony room, which was really nice. I woke up at sunrise everyday and headed up to the top deck to watch!
Your stateroom attendant will catch you at some point and communicate when you would like your room attended to. You will also be able to contact your attendant if you need anything, like extra towels. All of the staff was so incredibly friendly with smiles on their faces. It was refreshing!
Themed nights: 70's night, Formal night, Caribbean night, and a casual night. Dressing up is optional, but a fun thing to do! I always thought everyone went all out, but there were a lot of people who did not participate.
Excursions: if you do it through the cruise line, expect for it to be jam packed and typically more expensive. Don't be afraid to look for tours outside of the cruise line from places like Get Your Guide.
Check out this Boat Tour while you are in Nassau or this Food Tour
For a higher quailty experience, these are both great options instead of doing an excursion through Royal Caribbean.
DAY 1-Embarking
Lyft to cruise terminal from Orlando.
check in 1:30
Immediately grabbed pizza, then to our room and check in at muster station
Explored the pool deck
Got the cup for the soda package-at the Royal Promenade
Grabbed dessert at Café Promenade
Set sail 4:30-fun energy waving to people. We went to the front of the boat on deck 14. This is a really neat place to hang out with fewer people and a good place to see the sunrise or sunset.
At sunset, I saw a dolphin jump out of water!
Art scavenger hunt and champagne-this was pretty fun
“70s name that tune” activity
Dinner 7:45pm
Spinach artichoke dip, crab cake, shrimp cocktail
Aromatic chicken saag, prime rib, NY strip steak
Dark Chocolate custard, cheesecake, peanut caramel bar
Aqua show 10:30pm-high divers and acrobatics. Amazing talent!
70's disco party in the promenade
DAY 2-At Sea
Breakfast at Windjammer Buffet
Rock climb, zip line, boogie board
Lunch at Wipe Out Café (tacos, salsa, quesadillas)
Napkin folding demonstration activity
Art auction-honestly really enjoyed this!! Found out we won the scavenger hunt and got a free piece of artwork and then another one just for attending the auction.
Dinner
French onion soup, butternut squash soup
Beef tenderloin, chicken cordon bleu
Crème Brulé, warm apple cobbler, dark chocolate chip cookies
Bought artwork from the Art West Gallery
Blades Ice Skating Show
Explored the decks
DAY 3-Bahamas
Breakfast at Windjammer Buffet
8:30am snorkel tour
Rainbow Fish Reef for snorkel tour and rum punch. Water was rough and it was a windy day. Bring a bag you can zip up so your stuff doesn’t fall out.
Nassau straw market, cracked conch for lunch, virgin piña colada served in a coconut
Back to the ship-chicken quesadillas, ice cream, hot tub
Windjammer Marketplace for dinner-jerk chicken and jerk pork and a large variety of other foods
"Mamma Mia"show- funny, entertaining, great quality
Late night pizza
DAY 4-Coco Cay
Got chairs at South Beach
Explored the island, walked the nature trail, checked out the other beaches
Snorkel at Chill Beach-large snorkel area
Back onto boat around 4pm
Got my daily afternoon quesadilla from Wipe Out Café
Windjammer buffet for dinner
Late night pizza (cause why not?)
Bed early
DISEMBARKING
6:30am wake up-grab breakfast at Windjammer buffet
You have the option to get assistance with your luggage-the night before, you will place the tags on your suitcase and place it in the hallway. We opted to take ours off the boat ourselves.
We reserved the cruise transport back to airport. This was a big bus, simple and easy. We had no wait.
We had our flight later that afternoon, some people choose to spend a few days at Cape Canaveral or the surrounding area-even heading back toward Orlando for a couple of days.
This trip was a Sunday to Friday evening for us-this being one of their shorter cruises.
Travel agent assistance: Angela with Off the Radar Travel
Highly recommend doing this because she was able to assist us with our flights, picking a great room location, and helping with any questions we had and made sure we had everything we needed before we left.
Check out my packing list (here) for everything you need to pack and what you do NOT want to forget to bring on your cruise.