Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011
We are on board the RCCL Allure of the Seas. We boarded about 11:30 and it was as smooth and quick as we've been reading about on the Cruise Critic (CC) forum. My DH and I and over 6,000 of our new, close friends!
We met up with a fellow Cruise Critic couple, whom we met last night and had dinner with in Ft. Lauderdale. Together we walked to Central Park and had a delicious roast beef or tuna-melt Panini sandwiches. The food was very good. The Park Cafe is serving flavored water, which I found different and a welcome change from the norm. After lunch, we all walked around looking for the Internet room to get information about using on-line services. After getting the information we needed, we went to our cabin to check it out and settled in.
Cabin 12956: Right by the "hump" with a little bit larger balcony than the normal balcony. Would have appreciated some foot stools to stretch out with, since full loungers were not made available. But good views all the same. Nice size table out there for our dining with balcony/room service meals. Never heard any outside noises once the door was closed completely and properly. (But the door must be closed for the air conditioning to work--an energy saving system on this very efficient ship!)
If you're on a ship the size of the Allure, be prepared to walk anywhere! So the location of mid-deck had us walking to either the forward or aft elevator banks. It just couldn't be helped.
When we first entered our cabin, we noticed the shower had lots of moisture droplets on the glass doors. They never cleared up and we were convinced it was so damp and humid that nothing would ever dry in the bathroom. It was the last day of the cruise when we realized those droplets were an embedded pattern on the OUTSIDE of the glass! We had a good laugh of that!
Being a new ship, there's nothing to write about the bed, bedding, furniture; all new and in very good condition. The closet had double rods in one place to utilize lower space. No drawers for clothing--just nice shelves. We had no problems putting our 'stuff' away.
My hubby and I enjoy our iPads and I kept my keyboard out all two weeks. So there was enough space on that desk for all our electronics, plus the recharging cords. The iPod/iPhone docking station fits two, but one side was not working. The clock radio works with the iPhone dock, too. That was a nice surprise and we enjoyed our own music.
Oh! Got to tell everyone that the door and walls are metal! If you want to, bring magnets to hang notes like what excursions on what day and time; or what speciality restaurant/day/time; room numbers of fellow cruisers. This works out wonderfully--leave the scotch tape at home!
We were two people in that cabin. It had a sofa and small table. Can't imagine a third person in that size cabin.
Our cabin steward was fantastic. We wish him good health and happiness.