Chapter 2: The Cabin
I splurged--its only three nights
11.19.2023 - 11.19.2023
Owner's Suite
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Just in case she hated it (as it turned out she pretty much does) I splurged on the cabin. There are many benefits to doing that, well beyond the accommodation itself. We get priority boarding which was amazingly speedy and smooth, priority tendering at ports which we did not utilize, priority disembarkation, priority show reservations made even before we boarded and dinner reservations through our 'concierge.' All of that is intended to reduce any time we might spend doing a thing we loathe: standing in lines. So far, there have been no lines for us even though it is crowded at peak times awaiting elevators and on the Central Park type thoroughfares.
One of the best perks, however, is turning out to be access to the suite lounge and private retreat way up on Deck 18 which is blocked by a gate through which only suite guests key cards grant access.
The cabana up there was our home while in port at Nassau. Having been in Nassau before, we had no intention of going ashore and that made the cabana even more valuable. As earlier mentioned, this cruise was meant to evaluate the vessel, not the ports of call on our short itinerary. We spent much of Saturday in the cabana and all of Sunday. It was delightful. I thoroughly enjoyed reading my book both days. I wonder why i never seem to have the time to take a day to myself to read a book when we are not traveling or some other activity. Somehow i seem to always have something that i have to do, don't ask me what. I guess i am wired that way. Today's port was CocoCay Island, which Royal Caribbean owns. It's a huge beach, massive water slides, trash and trinket kiosks, food, etc. Royal Caribbean bills the port as 'A Perfect Day' and uses a rendition of the Bill Withers Song, A Lovely Day, in their marketing. Paul and I consider the Bill Withers song to be our song. Even with that, needless to say we did not get off the ship.
If you go to YouTube and enter 'Allure of the Seas' in the search bar you'll find lots of video there produced by 'influencers' who make it their job to post video reviews--mostly candid and honest--about what they thought about their cruise and this ship and the cabins to be found aboard. I won't post about our stateroom peephole which, because of a broken cover, was stuffed with a bit of paper.
The 'Owner's Suite' we booked includes something called 'Sky Class' service. We have a concierge, complimentary internet (dubbed VOOM--the fastest internet at sea), and access to the 'suite lounge' and 'concierge club.' VOOM is quite good. The downside of that is that I am pretty sure we are enjoying that because of Starling, Elon Musk's vast array of satellites. Mr. Musk is someone about whom I have nothing good to say. Nothing.
We have an oversized balcony of course. But the balcony situation for half the balconies on this ship (fortunately not ours) is unique. Instead of looking out at the sea, due to the gargantuan width of the ship, there is a 'Central Park' in the middle upon which the interior cabins have overhanging balconies--that face inside the ship. That area is home to 60 full-grown trees and over 10,000 plants. Along its length are the entry points to tonight's Giovanni's Italian restaurant, tomorrow night's 'Chops Grille' steakhouse, ' yesterday's Sabor's' Mexican restaurant and a six-course tasing venue called '150 Central Park' where did not have time for a visit. A positive on the ship is their restaurants. They are well appointed, feel upscale, white table clothes (a preference for us), good service, good food. The negative, which could be anywhere, is being seated by a large party with no manners who are yelling down to the other end of the table. If you are a Seinfeld fan you know about low talkers, close talkers, and high talkers. We seem to have run into a lot of screaming talkers. This happened to us both nights. Tonight we walked out. The concierge tried very hard to please us for which i give them high marks.
They do the towel animal thing.
Depending upon your budget, you can go very upscale. This is called a Grand Suite.
And, of course, there was the 1167 square foot Presidential Suite on Deck 12. It slept eight in four bedrooms. It couldn't be booked online and was said to be in high demand. I'm sure the NetJets crowd would have loved it but I don't see them loving the ship its on. Go figure. In any event. they cut it up into two smaller suites during a 2015 refit. The ship is probably due for another refurbish. It is showing wear and tear. I guess with 5500 people on and off, that happens pretty quickly.
As a technical aside, I am always amazed at how high above the water you are on Deck 18. How does this ship not tip over? The critical point is that the center of gravity is very, very low, below the water line. That's because the engines and other machines, fuel and other 'dense' storage--along with several ballast tanks full of sea water--are down low while "negative space" areas like cabins, theaters, etc., are up high. Then there's the concept of 'center of buoyancy.' Ships 'displace' water equal to their own mass. There is an upward force from the water and a downward force (gravity) from that mass. Shipbuilders manage weights to keep the center of gravity low (not in the middle as you might imagine) and match the sea pushing up with the mass pressing down. Got that?