Shrek Takes On Mickey: The Dreamworks Experience Aboard Allure of the Seas 9/18-25

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Jen!!!! May you all be stylin in your "eatin pants" :lmao:
 
Happy Thanksgiving to my amazingly patient wonderful readers in the US! I can promise you one thing...there will not be an update today, sorry! And probably not tomorrow since I will be up for the next 26 hours straight. :scared1:

But I have the next part ready all I have to do is upload the videos! Hope those of you celebrating have an amazing holiday and enjoy!:goodvibes

And yes Kara, I will be sportin' my nice a size too big eatin' shorts thank you very much!:thumbsup2

And anyone in the St. Pete FL area at 2 AM with very strong coffee please drop by the post office? Thanks! :rotfl:
 
After the show, we stopped upstairs in the [promenade for some (more) Sorrento’s pizza for the kids.


198134_10150219065326164_502681163_9145479_7278374_n.jpg



allure2_59.jpg


allure2_55.jpg


Sorrento's is the Counter Service Pizza joint onboard. It is located in the Royal Promenade and is open from morning to the wee hours of the night- so it's a perfect place for those late night munchies. And to stuff the kids' faces whenever they get cranky. It is the equivalent of Pinnochio's on DCL except it is not on the pool deck.

The pizza is pretty equivalent too. We all like it. It's your basic pizza, it tastes pretty good IMO. But remember I'm from Florida so our standards aren't high down here. LOL!


They have a make-your-own pizza bar where you can pick the toppings, but we were always pretty content with the offerings they had already prepared. Our kids’ tastes don’t go much beyond the standard cheese & pepperoni, but Brendan had a couple of pieces of Chicken and Potato Pizza and really liked it a lot. (Chicken and Potato? Strange combination!)

Allure9-19338.jpg


Allure9-19339.jpg


Allure9-19340.jpg


Allure9-19342.jpg


Terrific service too- this staff member in particular was so friendly!

Allure9-19343.jpg


A stop by Promenade Café was also necessary for dessert- cookies! Brownies! Cinnamon Rolls!

Promenade Cafe is the little sandwich, coffee, and pastry shop. It is pretty much open 24 hours. They claim it closes at like 3 AM but the early bird mall walkers are up not long after that so it pretty much never sleeps. Not that I would know, because on cruises I never have trouble sleeping.

Both Promenade Cafe and Sorrentos are free and included so we ate to our hearts desire!

allure1_20.jpg


Allure9-19337.jpg


Dinner!

Allure9-19346.jpg


Allure9-19348.jpg


The Bridge Report. Really loved Capt. Zini’s video report from the bridge each day. But what we did miss so much on this ship is the channel on TV that shows the path the ship has taken and the current location and speed. Allure doesn’t have that. Since that info is covered in the Bridge report they don't have both, but we personally like following the course, so we were bummed about that.

Allure9-19353.jpg



After the kids were done eating, it was back to Adventure Ocean for them, as Ron and I had dinner reservations tonight at Samba Grill!

Allure9-19426.jpg


allure9-19-11menu.jpg


Samba Grill is a Brazilian Churrascaria onboard. Similar to restaurants like Texas De Brazil or Boizao on land, it is a Specialty Restaurant and carries a fee of $25 per person. Originally exclusively on Allure- due to it's popularity it is now being added to other ships in the fleet and you can now also find it on Radiance of the Seas.


Our reservation was fairly early- 7 PM. We had read that Samba Grill- which is actually located in a transformed Solarium Bistro can be very warm in the early evening due to its location in the glass walled solarium. I will say it was quite warm. Not as bad as we expected at first, but it seemed to get warmer and warmer as the night went by. Samba’s suggested dress is Smart Casual, so do keep the higher temperature in mind and dress as comfortably as you can. By the end of the meal we were flushed and sweaty. But then that might have been due to the drinks…..haha!

The Solarium Bistro transforms into Samba!

M31.jpg


Of note also is that although Samba is a specialty restaurant, they do not have an age restriction. So children are welcomed, and although the crowd the evening we were there was mostly adults there were a few kids around here and there- even one in a high chair. (Yes, you still have to pay the $25 fee for children- even for babies that don't eat). If we had known for sure that we would have gotten the half price deal (info to come), we would have brought the kids along as well. But in the end they had fun in the clubs and we had fun at a nice dinner to ourselves which we get - like never- so it was all good.


We arrived right on time for our reservation and upon checking in to the podium, Ron inquired about the 2-for-1 special. We had read in a review on Cruise Critic a few weeks prior that on one cruise Samba Grill was offered at a reduced cost for 2 for 1! Since meals there are normally $25/pp, this brought the cost down to $12.50/pp. What a deal! This price is really a steal for this meal, but we had not seen the special advertised on our TV so we did not know if they were offering it on our cruise. Much to our delight the hostess said they were indeed offering the special. We had prepaid for our reservation, so she had to give us a refund and then re-charge us the half price rate, which she did and brought our new receipt to our table within minutes! Wonderful!

Now, I’m not positive they had actually advertised the special, or maybe it was because of the special, but Samba was quite busy! Busier than I expected, anyway, and it would get even busier as the evening progressed. The ambiance was lovely. We had not yet been inside Solarium Bistro but thought it was quite a pretty restaurant space. I don’t have great photos of the interior because I didn’t want to turn on my flash and blast everybody but this is a general overview:

Allure9-19378.jpg


The subtle lighting and tabletop flameless candles really added to the serene atmosphere. There was a little “creek” with tiny waterfalls running right by our table, which I loved!

Allure9-19404.jpg


It all sounds so tranquil to look at the photos and hear it described, but in actuality the atmosphere was festive. The music- Brazilian Samba, of course- was upbeat, rhythmic, and LOUD! Very loud. Too loud, actually at first. When we arrived the Brazilian dancer was performing, and the music is much louder while she is dancing. At first I wondered if it would remain at that decibel level the entire meal, Ron and I could hardly hear each other, even from across our tiny table. But yes, when the dance performance is finished, the music returns to a background volume, which I much preferred.

About the dancer though, she and her costumes were quite gorgeous. I know Savannah would have appreciated her outfit! LOL! And man that girl can DANCE! She danced, and danced, and DANCED for long periods, at a frantic pace that made me sweat bullets just watching! And she was in impossible looking 5 inch stilettos! Impressive without a doubt!

Allure9-19366.jpg


Here is a video of the dancing!



We had been seated at a nice two-top table in the center aisle of the restaurant. We were greeted, our drink orders were taken and we were given a bread basket of these tiny buttery rolls. These were sooo delicious. They were still so soft and doughy inside, but quite crispy outside. Yum!

Allure9-19362.jpg


Allure9-19361.jpg


The view right outside our table:

Allure9-19400.jpg
 
At Samba grill- like most of the Brazilian Steakhouse chains, there is an indicator on your table that tells the servers when you are ready for more meat, and when you do not want any more meat. At Samba, there is a light on your tabletop. It is clear, or neutral when you have not begun your main course yet (i.e. when you are eating from the Salad Bar), green when you are ready for more meat, and red when you want to stop. There is a little switch on it to push to change colors. A great system!

Allure9-19365.jpg


While we were waiting for our drinks, the dancer stopped by. She asked if either of us wanted to learn the Samba! Actually if I had been less hot and in more comfortable shoes, I might have gone for it, but I declined. She did pose for a picture though! Some tables did take her up on the lessons, just a short little combination of footwork – she spent about 5 minutes per table teaching it. A nice touch!

Allure9-19417.jpg


Our drinks came out shortly. They did have iced tea here- (I expected they would, as the Solarium Bistro does also by day). We also both ordered a Caipirinha- which is the Brazilian National Drink, made of limes, sugar, and sugarcane rum. We had never had them before but were trying to be authentic with our experience. I expected it to be quite sweet, but on the contrary it was tangy, sour and quite boozy. Neither of us cared much for it, but we drank it anyway.

Allure9-19390.jpg


Our server- who actually turned out to be our assistant server/our “Gaucho” explained to us the process and invited us to visit the salad bar. Oh, that salad bar! Do your best not to fill up at it, because so much more is awaiting you, but it is really an amazing selection:

Bread & Cheese:

Allure9-19369.jpg


Salad:

Allure9-19384.jpg


Deli Meats:

Allure9-19386.jpg


Salmon on the left and the delicious little Garlic Toasts on the right (served with olive and mushroom tapenades).

Allure9-19385.jpg


Seafood:

Allure9-19388.jpg


Allure9-19389.jpg


Desserts:

Allure9-19374.jpg


My appetizer plate. Ron warned me not to fill up on “that stuff” and I scoffed.

(Yeah, he was totally right!!!)

Allure9-19379.jpg


After we finished our appetizer plates, we turned the green light on and the carnivore feast began!

Allure9-19397.jpg


First out came the sauces, seen in the picture below on the left. The top (green) one was Chimichurri which had a savory herb pesto type flavor, the middle coarse Sea Salt, and the bottom (red) one was Tomatilla (rich tomatoey flavor). These could be used with any of the meats you wished, but our Gaucho was sure to suggest which sauces properly complemented each of the meat options.

Allure9-19393.jpg


In the center of this picture you can see a plate of grilled veggies which consisted of corn, onion, squash, eggplant, and of course- the ever present RCCL halved tomatoes (EVERYWHERE!) LOL!

Allure9-19394.jpg


Also brought out was a serving of fries and fried plantains to share. Frankly we didn’t waste much time or belly space on the veggies or starches…because….

Here comes the meat!!!

Allure9-19395.jpg


This first cut of meat was the Picanha. This is top sirloin and is billed as Samba Grill’s signature cut of meat. I did think it was delicious. It was juicy and quite flavorful. Our Gaucho paid close attention to how we liked our meat (Ron Med to Med-Rare and me Med-Well), and he would always bring out a skewer with meat that had one side uncut so I could have the outside cut of meat, and one side cut closer down for Ron to also have it cooked to his preference. Great service!

Be sure to have your little tongs ready and grab the piece of meat before it falls to the plate. I let my first few cuts fall before I realized I was supposed to be all up in there with my tongs.

Tongs, don’t be shy!

Allure9-19418.jpg


Allure9-19396.jpg


More, please!

The next cut was Fraldinha, which is bottom sirloin. This was delicious as well, but we both preferred the Picanha that came before it.
Next up is the Frango, tender wrapped chicken breast in bacon. To die for!

Allure9-19398.jpg


I was ALREADY getting so full! We are not even halfway done, here folks!!!

Allure9-19411.jpg


Here comes the Cordeiro (Lamb Chops) I passed this up since I was closing in on my limit, but Ron had two of these and said they were fantastic!!!

Next out was the Beef Tenderloin. Along with the Frango (chicken), this was my favorite. So tender I could cut it with my spoon, smooth, creamy texture, just enough spice encrusting it. It literally melted in my mouth. If I wasn’t already SO FULL I would have had more..And MORE!

At this point my Red light was permanently on. I could take no more. Our table light stayed green for Ron though, since there were several more types of meat to sample!

Next came the Costelo, fall off the bone, juicy beef ribs. Ron thought these were spectacular. I love ribs, but not enough to split my stomach in two so I didn’t try them.

Following the ribs was the Alcarta- more top sirloin. Ron said it tasted much like the rest of the sirloin. He wanted more lamb & ribs, LOL!

Then out came the Lombo: Parmesan cheese and herb crusted pork loin. I’m sorry I was too bloated to even pick up the camera at this point! Haha! Ron said it was good!

Did you think we were finally done?? Of COURSE not, silly! Finally the Linguigo- Brazilian style cured pork sausage came to our table.

(Will it stop now? I surrender already!!!)

But no, our beloved skewer brandishing Gaucho wanted to know if there were any particular cuts of meat we’d like more of (and to gently chide us to leave room for dessert. Hey dude, thanks, but it’s a little too late for that now!) Ron did take a little more of his three favorites: the lamb, ribs, and tenderloin.

Allure9-19415.jpg


Please no more!

Dessert selections were soon presented to us. There was a flan (a lot of flan on this boat. And tomatoes!), a Passion fruit Mango mousse (if I recall correctly) and a Chocolate Torte. We were brought one of each, which was more than enough. I didn’t even try the flan, which Ron said tasted better than the one the evening before at Rita’s. The passion fruit mousse was good, but after one bite we saved the rest for later. The only dessert item we really dug into was the chocolate torte- which was delicious. It was such a shame I was too full to eat more than a bite or two.

Allure9-19420.jpg


We were also offered an after dinner shot (at an extra cost, I think $5) called a “Make Me Happy”. It had a chocolate/caramel/ Kahlua flavor and was quite good.

Allure9-19419.jpg


I was beginning to think that they would have to roll us out of this restaurant like Violet Beauregard after she turned into the blueberry in Willy Wonka, but somehow we managed to make it out under our own power. What a fantastic meal! Completely worth the $25 cover in our opinion and a steal at the discounted price of $12.50 each that we paid. Absolutely outstanding!!

Up Next: The Stuff We Did, and the Stuff We Didn't
 


You. Are. Making. Me. Sooooo. Hungry!!!!! That chicken looks incredible and the ribs sounded incredible!!!! OMG!!!!! If I had a drooling smiley, I would insert it here......
 
Jen, I feel stuffed just looking at your pictures! Wow -- talk about lots and lots of food opportunities at that Samba place :):eek::sick::guilty:!!!!!!!!!!!
 


Wow! Samba looks incredible!!! Will they give you just a bite size portion of all those meats???

Oh yeah...had forgot to ask earlier...does Allure have the yummy English Toffee cookies? They normally have them at Sorrento or one of the bakery cafes. I ate probably equivalent to my weight of those things on the Monarch last January.
 
Hey Jen & Ron!

We returned Saturday on our Thanksgiving Oasis cruise. The info you provided was great. We used your extremely useful tips all week.

At the Captain's talk he said since the Oasis first sailed almost 2 years ago, both the Oasis and the Allure have sailed full each Saturday and Sunday! That is a lot of people on these 2 huge ships!

And yes, we were on the Oasis that had a norovirus outbreak. Here is the story from the Fort Lauderdale newspaper: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/fl-ship-illness-20111127,0,7772492.story

Just a few random thoughts:

Amy Fickert was the cruise director. Never did figure out what the "big surprise" was the last night. I think it would have been better to have the characters appear on an upper area so everyone could see them, instead of in front of the mob scene down on the floor.

After watching sailaways for months on the port webcam, I was disappointed that our sailaway was late and we missed it because we had 6:00 traditional dining. There were about 6 ships in port but they all sailed one after the other - we did not sail until after 6:00 in the dark. And due to weather conditions thru the weak several Aqua shows and Splish Splash show had to be cancelled. But, we loved the ice skating show and saw it 3 times. Comedy show was good, too. The Motown singers were good as was Hairspray.

We were on deck 8, inside cabin 8141 - great cabin attendant and great location. Loved being on the Central Park deck. We took a tour of Central Park where they told all about the trees, plants and living wall. We also took the art tour and that was very interesting.

We only did the free food options and I would say it was so-so, nothing outstanding or to rave about. Just about everything offered in the MDR was also on the buffet. I thought surf and turf was steak and lobster but on this ship it was 3 garlicky shirimp and steak covered in a sauce. Lobster was offered another night. I was disappointed in the desserts - even the cookies did not seem fresh nor did the free donuts. We did get a great table for 2 that was by ourselves and on the railing. The Starbucks just opened on the Oasis and as ya'll reported, they do accept Starbuck's gift cards for payment, with the tip automatically added in.

We both had massages at the same time on our St. Martin day. They offer port spa specials that include a free glass of champagne. After the massage, the masseuse asked if I wanted champagne or water and of course I said champagne. She came back with water saying they were out of champagne. Huh? Ok. My dh was told the same thing but he kept saying it was included and pushed for it. They said they would have to go get more (hello...! yes, go get more!) and the whole thing put a damper on the massage as they made me feel like we were trying to get a darn glass of free champagne out of them. And, they really should get thicker robes. As I read on another thread on CC, you really can see thru the robes and have to wait in a public area!!! And of course, the tip was automatically added in, so what is the reason for them to do an extra good job? Dh and I had the same spa special but his included a head and neck massage that I did not get.

The ship is amazing and we are glad we did it. We thought we would book the Allure next, but once is enough on this size ship for us.

We parked in the RCCL port lot and rolled our luggage on. It is only dh and myself and we each had 1 rolling suitcase and 1 carry-on. I had read somewhere, seems if you have 2 rolling suitcases you have to wait in a huge line for the elevator. They want you to have 1 hand free to use the escalator, so that worked out for us. Great tip, there! One final irk.... seems our car has an ant infestation, inside and out, since parking there!

Can't wait to find out if Mickey or Shrek wins in your report. I know which one wins in our book!

Hope you don't mind me crashing in on your report. Thanks again for all of your help.
 
WOW!! Samba looked EXCELLENT!! Way to go Ron- Pods will be proud to hear you ate all that MEAT! :cool1: We go to Brazilian Steakhouses with Evie & Tom- and the boys can ALWAYS out-eat the girls...I always like the sirloin & ribeye the best...and the chicken hearts the least! :crazy2: I can't even IMAGINE how fat I would get on a cruise with one of those! :rotfl:

You are giving such amazing detail of your cruise- mine is like "We ate a sandwich then sat by the pool". :scared1: :lmao: Way to go, girlfriend!! I feel like I was on the ship with you!!:thumbsup2
 
WOW! Samba looked mouth-watering! I'd pay $25 to dine there, nevermind the $12.50 you paid! :eek: :thumbsup2
 
Now I now the answer to the age old question, "Where's the beef?" Obviously, it's at Samba! Mmmmmmmmmmm, looks great!
 
OK, you've had a day... new update, new update, new update!!!!

The next one is almost 100% new- Dis-exclusive content. I wanted to talk a little bit about the few things we did not get around to on Allure (because there is so much), so no copying and pasting- all new writing!

While you were away and recovering (glad to see you're feeling better btw) I went off to read some of your other trip reports. I noticed the year you did the Magic Halloween cruise, you made shirts for the family.

I did! Those were a lot of fun!

Were those just transfers or something else? And if they were transfers, which did you use- because those look like they held up well and that's one of the bigger complaints I've come across with using transfers is that they don't/didn't hold up well.

They are transfers and I took the recommendation of many on the Creative Dis-igns board and bought them from Amymickey- a Diser on the Creative Board. I'm not sure if we're allowed to post her website - I know she isn't allowed to- it's one of the dis self-promotion rules but it is her username dot com. :goodvibes They did hold up well- the shirts still look pretty nice.

Also, on that thread you show all the magnets you did for door decoration- did you use printable magnets, or did you use printer sticker paper that then stuck onto the magnets? I can't remember if you said or not- since I read the posts over the course of a few days.

Thanks!!

Ah, for the magnets I have cheaped out the last few cruises. I used to use magnet paper- then it got really expensive and hard to come by. I tried a bulk order from a magnet company one year and those bled ink everywhere. All over the door- kids would walk by and touch them, get ink on their fingers and then wipe their fingers on our door/the wall/other magnets. It was a mess. So after that I went to just straight cardstock and adhesive magnets. Super cheap, super simple and they look pretty good. Good enough, anyway! LOL! Hope that helps! Thanks for reading!

I would have loved to have seen the ice show on explorer- but no one wanted to leave the pool and go with me, lol! Very special that you got to push the button-

Haha! You should have just left them there! LOL! Boys! :lmao:

This ship looks like soooo much fun! And that hot dog bar... That would be a great place to hang out! Who doesn't love tube food?

It is a ton of fun! Or 100 tons of fun! LMAO! Tube food! That is awesome, I need to steal that!

Sorry I've been MIA lately, but I am all caught up now, Sista! Oh- and I just LOVE Sav's pj tank! :goodvibes

It's ok dear, I know..the rat race has got me too! And although I have still been stealthily reading don;t think I have abandoned you (or Kara either, I know just where I left off on her TR that she finished...oh last month!)...Yours I have been plastering all over my meet thread trying to plan up a deal with Thomas next year! So I'm kind of like Santa- always watching but i only come by once a year!

:rotfl2:

Kidding, I swear I will actually comment soon. I have plenty to spout off on, believe me. ;)

and Sav loooves her top!!! It's still a little bit big (why it's PJ's right now) but soon she will be showing it off at dance!

when it came to trip reportin'

20 pages??

OMG I know..and I'm only on Day 2! The one on cruise critic is approaching 100,000 views- can't believe that!


happy Turkey day!!

T.T.F.N.

Thanks Kris! Hope you had a great one! Your turn is coming up soon!

You. Are. Making. Me. Sooooo. Hungry!!!!! That chicken looks incredible and the ribs sounded incredible!!!! OMG!!!!! If I had a drooling smiley, I would insert it here......

Oh it was sooo good. Ron was totally enjoying the I Told You So's when I got so full so quick. But even he was seriously about to blow at the end! :lmao:

Señor DonDuck;43353211 said:
Samba Grill... OH MY! Mouth-watering update :goodvibes

Sorry I made you hungry! It was good stuff!

Jen, I feel stuffed just looking at your pictures! Wow -- talk about lots and lots of food opportunities at that Samba place !!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yes, and we were stuffed afterwards but we hit our food and bloat limit the next day after Johnny Rockets. I pretty much felt like I didn't need to eat anything the rest of entire week afterwards!!! And...well...I'm sure I shouldn't have. But I did! Haha!

Wow! Samba looks incredible!!! Will they give you just a bite size portion of all those meats???

They will. one of the last pieces I got I asked for a VERY SMALL slice and he still gave me more than I could eat but it was a small slice compared to what he was giving me when I wasn't specifying.

Oh yeah...had forgot to ask earlier...does Allure have the yummy English Toffee cookies? They normally have them at Sorrento or one of the bakery cafes. I ate probably equivalent to my weight of those things on the Monarch last January.

They don't have any desserts at Sorrento's on Allure- I know they did on Independence and do on some of the other ships. Cafe Promenade did have some cookies- different ones daily. I'm sorry I didn't notice if they had English Toffee. I went back and scoured my pics of Promenade Cafe but I couldn't make out the name plates of the different kinds of cookies, sorry!

Hey Jen & Ron!

We returned Saturday on our Thanksgiving Oasis cruise. The info you provided was great. We used your extremely useful tips all week.

Welcome back! So glad the info was able to help you onboard! :goodvibes

At the Captain's talk he said since the Oasis first sailed almost 2 years ago, both the Oasis and the Allure have sailed full each Saturday and Sunday! That is a lot of people on these 2 huge ships!

I absolutely believe it. Twelve thousand people a week! 12,000! :eek:

And yes, we were on the Oasis that had a norovirus outbreak. Here is the story from the Fort Lauderdale newspaper: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/fl-ship-illness-20111127,0,7772492.story

Oh no! That stinks!!! :sad2:

Just a few random thoughts:

Amy Fickert was the cruise director. Never did figure out what the "big surprise" was the last night. I think it would have been better to have the characters appear on an upper area so everyone could see them, instead of in front of the mob scene down on the floor.

Agree completely. It was the same on Allure. Not sure if you saw my parade segment, I finally got it up this week but i think we had the worst spots possible.

After watching sailaways for months on the port webcam, I was disappointed that our sailaway was late and we missed it because we had 6:00 traditional dining. There were about 6 ships in port but they all sailed one after the other - we did not sail until after 6:00 in the dark.

Yes, we were watching you and wondering what was going on! I even have a couple of pics I snapped. Sorry the 2nd one isn't so good, but I guess you were already at dinner anyway! Did they ever say why you sailed so late?

(I'll have to come back to upload the pics, photobucket is not cooperating right now and I don't want to lose this big post!)


That happened to us too on Independence, we sailed at 6:30, an hour and a half late. Since it was in January it wasn't totally dark yet like yours was but yeah it got really frustrating standing there forever not wanting to give up our spot but wondering what the heck was going on. So sorry that happened to you!

And due to weather conditions thru the weak several Aqua shows and Splish Splash show had to be cancelled. But, we loved the ice skating show and saw it 3 times. Comedy show was good, too. The Motown singers were good as was Hairspray.

Oh no! That is such a bummer!

We were on deck 8, inside cabin 8141 - great cabin attendant and great location. Loved being on the Central Park deck. We took a tour of Central Park where they told all about the trees, plants and living wall. We also took the art tour and that was very interesting.

Would love to do that! I'm going to have to next time!!!

We only did the free food options and I would say it was so-so, nothing outstanding or to rave about. Just about everything offered in the MDR was also on the buffet. I thought surf and turf was steak and lobster but on this ship it was 3 garlicky shirimp and steak covered in a sauce. Lobster was offered another night. I was disappointed in the desserts - even the cookies did not seem fresh nor did the free donuts.

Yeah I had read about the donuts being cold and crappy so many times I was totally shocked when we had them and they were good! But we only had them the one day (day 2) so I don't know if it was a fluke or if it was still so close to leaving FLL that they were still fresh...? LOL....!

I'm sorry the rest of the food was so-so.
I'm tired of the menu and we've only sailed twice with them. FWIW, something about the rotational dining and changing your location on Disney is so appealing- even though I know it has no effect on the food it just makes dinner so much more interestiing.


We did get a great table for 2 that was by ourselves and on the railing. The Starbucks just opened on the Oasis and as ya'll reported, they do accept Starbuck's gift cards for payment, with the tip automatically added in.

We wondered if it had opened on your cruise. Is it in the same location across from On Air and Boleros in the Promenade?

We both had massages at the same time on our St. Martin day. They offer port spa specials that include a free glass of champagne. After the massage, the masseuse asked if I wanted champagne or water and of course I said champagne. She came back with water saying they were out of champagne. Huh? Ok. My dh was told the same thing but he kept saying it was included and pushed for it. They said they would have to go get more (hello...! yes, go get more!) and the whole thing put a damper on the massage as they made me feel like we were trying to get a darn glass of free champagne out of them. And, they really should get thicker robes. As I read on another thread on CC, you really can see thru the robes and have to wait in a public area!!! And of course, the tip was automatically added in, so what is the reason for them to do an extra good job? Dh and I had the same spa special but his included a head and neck massage that I did not get.

Oooh yeah that would not sit well with me, either. Were the spa robes the terrycloth ones like in the staterooms or are they different? I wouldn't like that a bit. Did they go and "find" the champagne in the end for you? I hope so!

The ship is amazing and we are glad we did it. We thought we would book the Allure next, but once is enough on this size ship for us.

Well I can totally understand it- the big ships aren't for everyone and they can be the antithesis of the relaxing cruise vacation for sure.

We parked in the RCCL port lot and rolled our luggage on. It is only dh and myself and we each had 1 rolling suitcase and 1 carry-on. I had read somewhere, seems if you have 2 rolling suitcases you have to wait in a huge line for the elevator. They want you to have 1 hand free to use the escalator, so that worked out for us. Great tip, there!

That is good to know! Assuming I'd ever be able to pack a reasonable amount! Haha- probably never happen! :rotfl2:

One final irk.... seems our car has an ant infestation, inside and out, since parking there!

ooh! yuck! Ron said he has read about that being a problem in the parking garage lately. :sad2:

Can't wait to find out if Mickey or Shrek wins in your report. I know which one wins in our book!

Hope you don't mind me crashing in on your report. Thanks again for all of your help.

Oh heck no, so glad to have you following along! it stinks your cruise had so many issues! I'm really sorry to hear that. We were discussing if we would go on Oasis next time and, I think we may just stick with Allure!

WOW!! Samba looked EXCELLENT!! Way to go Ron- Pods will be proud to hear you ate all that MEAT!

LOL yeah he did good! He kept badgering me to just try a taste of the ribs, I couldn't do it. I would have thrown up I was so full!


We go to Brazilian Steakhouses with Evie & Tom- and the boys can ALWAYS out-eat the girls...I always like the sirloin & ribeye the best...and the chicken hearts the least!

Chicken HEARTS???!?!?! Blech! Glad Samba did not have those! Gross!

I can't even IMAGINE how fat I would get on a cruise with one of those!

Yeah I haven't been back on a scale since but I didn't lose weight. I don't think I gained a lot though. all of my clothes still fit. There have been come cruises where that wasn't the case. Ahem. :rotfl2:

You are giving such amazing detail of your cruise- mine is like "We ate a sandwich then sat by the pool". Way to go, girlfriend!! I feel like I was on the ship with you!!

Aww you're too kind, and what are you talking about your TR's are awesome!!!

You might enjoy the next segment where I talk about things we didn;t even do in great detail! Bwahaha! :rotfl:

WOW! Samba looked mouth-watering! I'd pay $25 to dine there, nevermind the $12.50 you paid! :eek: :thumbsup2

Yeah it was a super deal! And so super delicious! Now every time we go by Texas de Brazil we are jonesing to go eat there. (But we always have the kids so that one will have to wait!)

Way to go! I just short circuited my laptop from my droooooooool ...

:upsidedowOh now that's not the first laptop I have ruined nor will it be the last....:rotfl2:

morgansmom2000 said:
Now I now the answer to the age old question, "Where's the beef?" Obviously, it's at Samba! Mmmmmmmmmmm, looks great!

Ha! Love it! For sure it was, not a restaurant for vegetarians by any means! ;)
 
Welcome back! So glad the info was able to help you onboard! :goodvibes

I absolutely believe it. Twelve thousand people a week! 12,000! :eek:

Oh no! That stinks!!! :sad2:

Agree completely. It was the same on Allure. Not sure if you saw my parade segment, I finally got it up this week but i think we had the worst spots possible.

There wasn't a parade the last night, just dancing in a blocked off area that the characters danced in. And the whole crowd was dancing in front of that area.

Yes, we were watching you and wondering what was going on! I even have a couple of pics I snapped. Sorry the 2nd one isn't so good, but I guess you were already at dinner anyway! Did they ever say why you sailed so late?

(I'll have to come back to upload the pics, photobucket is not cooperating right now and I don't want to lose this big post!)

That happened to us too on Independence, we sailed at 6:30, an hour and a half late. Since it was in January it wasn't totally dark yet like yours was but yeah it got really frustrating standing there forever not wanting to give up our spot but wondering what the heck was going on. So sorry that happened to you!

They never said anything. I wish I had asked the Captain at his talk but didn't think of it at the time. It was disappointing as I had my family in NOLA watching the sailaway. And we had great aft spots with just another family standing there, but they gave up before us.

Oh no! That is such a bummer!

I am waiting for it to return this week to see if there were any more reports of illness.

I forgot to mention that on our second to last sea day (Oasis has 2 sea days at the end), as we were leaving our cabin on deck 8, there was a medical emergency announcement for a cabin on deck 8 (waaaaayyyy down from us) and people in uniforms were running down the hall. Later that day they made another medical emergency announcement calling for a certain type blood. At his talk, the Captain said passengers and crew came forward and the patient was stable. When we were disembarking, we saw an ambulance and fire truck right next to the ship.

Would love to do that! I'm going to have to next time!!!

Yeah I had read about the donuts being cold and crappy so many times I was totally shocked when we had them and they were good! But we only had them the one day (day 2) so I don't know if it was a fluke or if it was still so close to leaving FLL that they were still fresh...? LOL....!

I'm sorry the rest of the food was so-so.
I'm tired of the menu and we've only sailed twice with them. FWIW, something about the rotational dining and changing your location on Disney is so appealing- even though I know it has no effect on the food it just makes dinner so much more interestiing.
Plus, who can beat Mouse bars for dessert?!

We wondered if it had opened on your cruise. Is it in the same location across from On Air and Boleros in the Promenade?
Yep, same location.

Oooh yeah that would not sit well with me, either. Were the spa robes the terrycloth ones like in the staterooms or are they different? I wouldn't like that a bit. Did they go and "find" the champagne in the end for you? I hope so!

Oh no! The robes were not terrycloth! They were just extremely thin cotton! They said they would go get more and for us to come back. When we came back, we had to explain again, and they had us sit for about 5-10 minutes until they brought out 2 glasses. You would think we were begging for it or something. Heck, it was advertised to be be included in the price of the special! I knew something was weird right after the massage when she asked me if I wanted champagne or water. I mean, you think she should have at least offered another choice, like juice or something?

Well I can totally understand it- the big ships aren't for everyone and they can be the antithesis of the relaxing cruise vacation for sure.

That is good to know! Assuming I'd ever be able to pack a reasonable amount! Haha- probably never happen! :rotfl2:

ooh! yuck! Ron said he has read about that being a problem in the parking garage lately. :sad2:

Oh heck no, so glad to have you following along! it stinks your cruise had so many issues! I'm really sorry to hear that. We were discussing if we would go on Oasis next time and, I think we may just stick with Allure!

We already have next Thanksgiving booked on the Fantasy (loved the Dream - only too short) and are thinking of booking something in March. But, this time we are gonna look for a deal. Princess has been sending us some great specials! Last Thanksgiving on the Emerald Princess was fantastic.
 
YUMM-O!! That looks just like our fav restaurant when we were in Boise! Tucanos- Set up the same way - same foods -( Oh - no dancers there:rotfl2:) What a great dinner for $12.50! :thumbsup2 If I show this to Jim he'll want to book on Allure for sure!
 
Amazing trip report!! Have spent all day reading from page 1 and tidying up the house, taking breaks to come back to read the report as a treat from all the hard work of unpacking after our trip! We've done 3 DCL cruises and my DH says he'd like to take a non disney cruise sometime (shock horror!) and your TR really makes the Allure sound alluring! Do you happen to know how they are with dealing with kids with food allergies? DCL is so so good and looking at the food places so far I can't see too much that she can eat on the Allure (she's allergic to wheat, dairy, egg, potatoes, beef, soy, gluten plus a gazillion more!)
Also is there just one sit down restaurant that is free that you are assigned to or you have to make reservations for places that are extra cost? We once sailed Norwegian on their Hawaiian cruise and it was dreadful - it would take close to 3 hours to get fed at their sit down restaurants and the food would be cold. Most nights we ended up in the buffet just so we could get hot food! After that experience you can tell we were more than pleased with the food on DCL!
Anyhow, just wanted to say thanks again for taking the time and effort to do this TR! You and your family rock!:banana:
 
Jen, your report is making me jump right on to the Royal Caribbean website to check out prices.

I think if I showed the pictures of Samba alone to Mike, that would probably be enough to persuade him!
 
I miss your updates!!:surfweb:I think I know the problem? The USPS is gettting the way. somebody has to help Santa get the work done in the next 15 days:santa:
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts



Top