Dosido

Just a note to say that your Celebrity Today pdf is still helpful today, as I haven't found anything newer online!  Thanks for the review, and for sharing.

Thanks so much for taking the time to review your Enchantment 3 day cruise. So looking forward to our trip in 2 weeks, it's nice to see pictures and a review from the same short cruise!

We are cruising on allure 5/22/16...My husband loves volleyball and basketball... Actually all sports lol. Where do you find out info about signing up for tourneys etc...

 

Is the cruise compass avail prior to sailing ?

 

 

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No, the first day's cruise compass won't be available until you board, and each night you'll receive the next day's compass in your stateroom.

Tournaments, etc. will be listed in the cruise compass, and are also posted at the sports "desk" on the sports deck next to the flow riders.

Usually, before the competitions begin, you'll find a staff member with a sign-up clipboard at the venue (sports court, table tennis area, etc.). They make announcements, but due to wind, noise, or other distractions, they're easy to miss.

Have a great cruise!

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Thank you for a wonderful review. When you said your TA suggested the Allure after going on DCL, I thought wow - that sounds like something Deb would say. AND in your top 10 it was!!!! Too funny!!!! Getting ready to take our first Allure cruise and first nonDCL...She talked me off the ledge to give it a try. Can't wait, and your review was insightful!!!!

That's awesome :) You'll have an amazing time - enjoy!

I've been on Allure and the Fantasy. I've cruised with 3 through 15 year olds on both.

The price difference was what had us try the Allure - $1k cheaper and two OV staterooms instead of one on Disney.

IMO, Royal's Adventure Ocean is serviceable for the kids, but is no Oceaneer's club/lab. The kids went, but not nearly as much as they did in the Fantasy, Magic or Wonder.

That said, they all loved the 3 Disney cruises and they all loved the Allure. I wrote a full review on my Allure cruise, but one thing no one has mentioned here is that your 6 year old will likely not be able to ride the flowriders or zip line due to height/weight requirements. Not sure if that's a deal breaker.

Where the Allure eats Disney alive is on the pool deck - so much better than any of the Disney ships. If you've only cruised Disney, the pool deck will knock your socks off.

I did miss the aqua duck, and the youngest that couldn't ride the flowriders definitely loved the aqua duck, and missed that too. You really can't go wrong with either ship, but I think we're probably going back to Royal before we go back to Disney, especially in light of the cost difference.

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Thanks for the compliments - glad that the review can help a fellow cruiser out!

*On Labadee, We wanted to ride the Dragon Coaster with my kids, but I don't know how it would work if I take my 6yr old first, and have to leave my 8yr old at the top to wait while we return and Vica versa for my 6 yr old? Is this possible? They both want to ride it, but I don't have 2 of me lol

 

*Did you pre book tickets on line for the Dragon Coaster or just purchase them onboard the ship and or on the Island?

Actually, you wait at the bottom, and there is plenty of room to wait for someone riding the coaster. We just purchased the tickets on Labadee - there's a kiosk/pavilion that you can fill out the paperwork and pay.

However, despite the way Royal writes up the description, you - as the paying adult - get a wristband, and you also get an additional wristband for your accompanying (under 12) rider. You can't take a different person each time - they are supposed to have a wristband. (The way I read it - you could take anyone you want - even a different person each time - but that's not how it works in reality.) They may be lax on the rules - so you might be able to take someone without a wristband - I should have asked, but didn't.

*Is the Quest (I think that's what it's called) an adult only show/game?

Yes. But it's not over the top crazy - just funny.

*My 8yr old loves basketball. Is he able to play pretty much whenever he wants or is their certain times it's closed to anyone?

He'll enjoy it for sure. But there are definitely times it's off-limits to open play. They have soccer tourneys, volleyball tourneys, dodgeball, etc. during some of the days, where he wouldn't be able to play pickup, but it's open for pickup play a lot more than it's scheduled for specific activities.

*You mentioned the Kids Club (I forget what's it called on the Allure) and said your "older kids" could check themselves in and out? On Disney ships the age is 8 to be able to do same. Is it the same age for the Allure?

Adventure Ocean. Our 9 and 11 year olds had the privilege of self checkout, and I think it goes down to 6 years old, as that's the range (6-8) for the Explorers group.

*My kids are also huge hockey players and love to skate. They're very excited to skate on a cruise ship! You mentioned they have limited times? Can you please elaborate if you don't mind?

I didn't go back and search the cruise compasses, but I think there were only 2 open skates (and at least one teen skate), and both that I saw were during or overlapped early dining.

*What time do you have to be out of the stateroom on debarkation day?

I didn't see a set time to be out of your stateroom - only that debarkation should be complete by 10:45. We had to meet at 8:15 for our excursion, so we left our bags in one of the rooms while we ate breakfast, and were out by 8. Compared to Disney, where you might have breakfast as early as 6:30 and have to be out of your stateroom then, this was pretty nice!

We had a 3:30 flight out of Fort Lauderdale after the cruise. I had thought about what to do after the cruise (and I think I mentioned that I loved the fact that on Royal Caribbean, you don't have to disembark at the crack of dawn).

We had thought about a couple of options, including getting a cab or renting a car to sightsee, but those ended up being too much of a hassle, as my sister's flights got changed to 4pm (from early) so we would have to get two vehicles, or two cabs to haul everyone around.

When I was looking into that, I had assumed that we would use the "luggage valet" program. That service is $20 per person, and Royal prints your airline boarding passes, delivers them to your room, and you tag your bag with your final destination, put it out with everyone else's bags on the last evening, and you don't see it again until you arrive at your home airport.

To me - if you're thinking about cruising around FLL for the day, that would be $20 well spent.

If you want to take the Royal shuttle to FLL, rather than have to find a cab or arrange your own shuttle, it's $16.95 per person.

Since we didn't really want to sit around FLL airport, and we (I) thought sightseeing on our own would be a bit of a hassle, I checked out the post-cruise excursions that Royal offered.

There are two - and both end up at either FLL or MIA airports, so it's perfect for those that have flights departing after 2pm out of FLL.

The first was an everglades tour - which I thought would be pretty nice, but the reviews I read were not great, so I decided to take option two - which was a bus tour of Fort Lauderdale, followed by a boat tour of the intracoastal waterway. Cost was $57.95 pp. (It's actually not a bad deal cost-wise if you consider the $16.95 shuttle to FLL, and $28 boat tour that's included)

We met at 8:15 in Studio B, and headed off the ship, grabbed our bags, wound through the security/customs line, and found our bus.

The bus tour was pretty interesting, cruising around Fort Lauderdale and Las Olas boulevard, and getting a history lesson on the way. We also took a short walk along the waterfront, and past a historical museum and environs. Our tour guide was a bit over the top, as she admonished some of the passengers for talking while she was speaking, but other than that it was a pretty good tour and lasted about an hour.

We had several chances to take pictures of the Allure on our tour - from both bridges, and the water!

The tour of the intracoastal was really good, however. We rode aboard the Carrie B, and the sights, history, and tour guide here were amazing. I loved this tour, and would be happy to go again. We rolled past multi-million dollar homes, and multi-million dollar yachts.

After the 1-1/2 hour boat trip, we boarded the bus, and headed to FLL to end our excursion.

One of the small boats on the water

Steven Spielberg's 200 million dollar write-off

Recap

So, to recap - our cruise was totally amazing, and we loved just about everything the Allure threw at us. We don't expect perfection on our cruise, as our perfect might not be someone else's perfect, but it was pretty darn close.

I'm pretty confident that you'll love your cruise aboard the Allure too!

How were the mattresses? Did you find the night-time room temp comfortable?

I slept great every night :-) Mattresses were perfect, as was the room temp - very easy to control, and get a comfortable temperature.

Staff

I thought the staff was excellent - almost across the board. Aside from our assistant waiter issue, we were impressed by almost everyone we met.

The sports staff, as I mentioned previously, was amazing. The cruise director, Luke Arrowsmith, was excellent - I'd say the best we've had in our 4 cruises - so friendly, high energy, and all around fun.

Our stateroom attendant was great, one of the best we've had, and our waiter was excellent as well.

The Bad and the Ugly

Only two items stood out as needing work to me.

Casino & Smoking - I'm not a smoker, and please don't take offense if you are. However, the casino's "smoke free" side is a joke - it's not segregated at all from the smoking side, so it means little to non-smokers. Either side reeks of smoke, and even if you just walk through the casino, the smell you picked up was definitely noticeable.

In addition - the entrance to the casino is directly across the elevator bank from The Grande (our MDR), and every time you went to dinner, you got to smell the smoke from the casino when you were entering or waiting for formal pictures at the MDR.

Debarkation breakfast - we waited in line for about 15 minutes to get seated in the MDR (American Icon) for breakfast on debarkation day. The line was there despite being tons of open tables. Once seated, we couldn't get coffee, despite multiple requests. The line of people waiting continued until after we left - why not just let people seat themselves?

The ship is 5 years old, and debarkation breakfast happens every 7 days - I would think they'd have this down to a science, not the chaotic, and frankly, unacceptable mess that it was.

That said, I thought debarkation (breakfast aside) was a much, much better experience on the Allure than on any of the Disney ships we've been on. The fact that we could eat breakfast at a reasonable time, and still get back to our staterooms before debarking was such a nice perk.

That just about wraps up our cruise, so I thought I'd drop a couple of Top 10 Lists

Things I loved about our cruise

10. The Seven of Hearts card room - we played cribbage, canasta and chess there several days, very nice spot to sit and relax.

9. My travel agent - Deb at MEI - so much help in planning and booking

8. No email, no texts, no TV, and no news for 7 days

7. Labadee - our crew loves a good beach day - and no hassle with cabs or tenders

6. The sports deck activities - such a great staff, and great stuff to keep us entertained

5. Dinner in the MDR - despite some hiccups, still a great experience

4. The Quest gameshow- this was a fun time with a lot of laughs

3. The Aqua Theater - home to Oceanaria, and just a cool place to hang out and watch a movie

2. The staff - very friendly and hardworking staff

1. Spending 7 days on the Allure with my entire family

Things I would change

10. Wipeout cafe - needs to rotate offerings throughout the week.

9. Debarkation breakfast in MDR needs serious help

8. Fire chef that cooks the scrambled eggs

7. Additional comedy shows for families - Really? One family show at 10:45pm?!?

6. More ice skating opportunities - the only ones we saw were during early dining

5. More drink stations with water/lemonade

4. Add chicken wings to the menu somewhere - chicken wings make every cruise better!

3. More dessert offerings at Park Cafe and Cafe Promenade

2. Better staff prep/training for activities staff

1. Make the casino smoke free - would’ve played cards, if not for the intolerable smoke.

Things I wish I had done/had time for (I guess I have to book another cruise!)

10. Snorkel in Labadee or Cozumel

9. Order room service

8. Try the sampler at Sabor

7. Go ice skating

6. Buy a Royal Caribbean hat

5. Attend the Captain’s talk

4. Attend the Central Park tour

3. Play dodgeball

2. Play Texas Hold’em

1. Booked another cruise onboard

Only one more item to cover - our post cruise excursion in Fort Lauderdale!

Other on-board activities

We took part in quite a few "other" activities while onboard. I thought I'd mention a few of them that we attended.

Didn't think I had seen a picture of the birds on the boardwalk before, so here they are!

Dreamworks Parade - while I much prefer the Disney characters over the Dreamworks, we did find ourselves in the middle of the parade one day. We were just heading to Sorrentos for lunch. That didn't happen as the parade brought the Promenade to a standstill. It was a pretty good parade, though, as it was high energy, and visually interesting.

Belly Flop Contest - this was hilarious. The cruise director - yet again - makes this show what it is, and he was so good at hosting. The floppers were pretty entertaining themselves, but the comments and banter from the CD were so funny. I'd go again next cruise for sure.

Pets at Sea - pretty much a build-a-bear on the Boardwalk. We'd not choose to pay for this, but it was a great Grandma & grandkids activity, and they loved the result - replete with RCI duds.

Let You Entertain Me - I brought my niece to this show, only to be poured on, and eventually we gave up on the shower passing, and headed back to drier areas. What little we did see looked pretty amusing, though.

The Quest Game Show - we hadn't been to the Quest show before, but knew what to expect - kind of. It was a great time, and quite funny. The cruise director really makes this show, and ours was excellent. Was surprised how "interactive" it was. A good time, for sure.

Games

We took part in several of the trivia competitions, our crew winning the "brain teaser" trivia, and we took home the coveted RCI pens.

Scrabble - I played scrabble with a few others during their "tournament" time at On Air. Here I won a medal for my efforts. Now a fully decorated RCI cruiser.

Text Twister - this game is simple - just like the newspaper game "jumble" where they mix up the letters in a word, and you have to find the real word. However, there are words like "ooliths" and "pawkily" - so you need to be a wordsmith to do well here. We won the preliminary round, and took home a key chain here. Ooh, the swag you can pick up :-)

Art auctions - my daughter attended some of the art auctions, mainly to pick up the free lithograph, but she was amazed (as am I) that some works of art were sold for $90,000!

Seven of Hearts Card Room - we visited the card room many times to play canasta, chess, and cribbage. We brought our own cards, but each day they put out a large box of new cards for guests - and each day, by evening they were all spoken for. They have a few scrabble games, apples to apples, and chess/backgammon boards here, as well as computers to access the internet.

Adventure Ocean - the kids (3, 9 & 11) spent a fair bit of time at Adventure Ocean. The older kids loved that they could check themselves in and out at will.

If you're used to Disney's Oceaneer Club/Lab, you'll find this a little less organized in terms of administration. We had to fill out paperwork on the first day, authorizing who could check them in and out, and it was a bit confusing - for instance, my brother didn't put himself as someone that could check his son in/out, as he assumed (incorrectly) that being a parent would automatically allow him to pick his son up.

The kids initially seemed to think it was too organized (compared to Disney) in that you were expected to take part in any activity that was going on during your visit. (They were used to being able to play video games, etc. when they had been at Disney's clubs).

However, despite that, they went back each day, enjoying freeze tag, gaga ball, and other activities.

The Adventure Ocean area is broken up into age groups (though due to only 470 kids being aboard this cruise, they did occasionally combine the 6-8 and 9-11 groups).

The 3 year old loved the club, and often was doing coloring and crafting activities, and didn't want to leave.

All and all, I think Adventure Ocean is a good fit for the kids, especially since they could check themselves in and out.

A final note - unlike Disney, who provided wave phones for all (when we went 2 years ago) - the older kids had no way of contacting us when they were ready to leave. For the 3 year old, they gave us a wave phone so we could be contacted.

I'm not sure how I'd feel about my son having check in/out privileges if he were alone, but since the 3 cousins were always together, I had no issues with them having that freedom.

Great review and pictures. We're on Allure in a few weeks. I have the same feeling as you..More interested in the ship than the excursions since we've been to all three stops already. I think I'm just ready to be on a cruise :-)

Thank you so much for all this useful info and the compasses/teen schedule! Going on this in April, I changed a show time now so the teens wouldn't miss something they'd love. You're awesome! :D

Thanks for following along! I got so much great info in the months before our cruise here at CC, and I was hopeful that others would find another review worthwhile.

Sorry you didn't care for Blue Planet. We really enjoyed it and since we were seated in the back of the balcony, we noticed many were admitted as SRO.

So many reviews said how good it was, and we were definitely looking forward to it.

I kind of feel bad leaving a not so great review, but happy to hear that you had a different experience!

Why not a few more? Some views from the Dragon's Tail Coaster

Okay, this wasn't aboard the coaster

This is what Labadee looks like if you get up early!

A few more port pictures to share

The tilt-shift photo of Falmouth made famous by Cheapodad, Harryfat1

Another picture from Falmouth

We met the Liberty twice on this cruise

My daughter would be proud of this one - Dad selfie with the Liberty!!

Don't think I've seen this picture before in reviews - it's the coastal walk on Labadee

Will and Dad on the Dragon's Tail Coaster

The Ports

On this cruise, we decided that we weren't going to do any excursions while in port, as we viewed the Allure as the destination on this cruise, so the port reviews are short and sweet.

Labadee

Labadee - We loved Labadee - we got to the beach at Columbus Cove, and there were only 2 other groups there, so we had our pick of the beach. We signed up for the Dragon’s tail coaster, and my son and I rode it 10 times during the day - in fact, towards the end of the day, you can ride it with no wait at all. During the “busy” time, the longest we waited was 16 minutes.

Adreneline Beach Panoramic

It was tough to compare this to Castaway Cay on DCL. I love both, and would spend a day at either in a heartbeat! You can bike on Castaway Cay, but you can't ride the coaster or the zip line that Labadee has.

Sunset in Labadee

Falmouth - we got off the ship, and after 30 minutes, were ready to get back on. I already mentioned shopping is not my thing.

The Allure and Liberty of the Seas together in Cozumel

Cozumel - We had orginially thought about a beach day in Cozumel, but we couldn't come to a consensus on where to go, so we passed. Turned out it was a good call, as it rained much of the day, though my sister's crew went to Chankanaab, and still had a great time. Here, we got off, and after 30 minutes were ready to get back on - would definitely choose to snorkel or go to the beach next time we're here.

The Water in Cozumel - Amazing!

The Shows

The shows were kind of a mixed bag for us, with some being very good, and others were just okay. To be expected, I suppose, with guests tastes different across the board.

Sail Away Party - I truly wish I skipped this rather than sit through the sail away party - I missed some spectacular scenery for a lackluster, and frankly, pretty lame dance party at the aqua theater.

Oceanaria - despite the fact that there was no trampoline act in our showing of Oceanaria, I thought it was impressive, and lots of action - would say this was a “do not miss”

Mamma Mia - I did not see this show, but all of the women did, and said it was excellent, though a bit loud - they all loved it.

Blue Planet - A cirque wanna-be, I thought for the most part, this was a poor effort. There was a nice scene that was set to look like the cast was swimming in water, but other than it was a big mess. As it finished, I said “I’m not sure what I just saw.” - I would not attend this again.

Headliner Savannah Jack - High energy, rock and roll, with lots of crowd interaction, and some sing-along portions. The fiddle player is flat-out amazing. Great entertainers. In fact - so good, that we saw the early show, and turned around and went to the late show. The late show was almost completely different - in fact they only repeated two songs from the early show. Younger people would have liked the first show better, as it was more current, and older people the 2nd, as it covered music from the 50s through the 80s. Both were really excellent, though.

How to Train Your Dragon On Ice - A good show on a small stage, but if I hadn’t seen the movie, I’m not sure I would’ve understood the story line the way it was told on the ice.

Ice Games - sadly, we missed this one.

Comedy Show - The two comedians we saw were very funny, and not as raunchy as I had feared - glad to see that they, for the most part, kept their acts pretty clean. But why on earth do they only have one family comedy show?? And even worse, why is it at 10:45pm?!?

Do you think it's a good ship for a 7 year old?

The ship has Adventure Ocean which is the kid's club, with supervised activities during the day. Available - 9a-12p, 2-5p, 7-10pm.

Do note that the 7 year old will likely be unable to use the flowriders or zip line, as there are minimum weight and height requirements for both. You need to be 52" for boogie boarding and the zip-line, and at least 75lbs for the zip line.

My two nephews, 9 & 11 were both too short and too light to ride either. Of course, they still had a great time with their cousins, but would've liked to have done those activities too.

Thank you for your wonderful review!! Headed on the Allure in April with my family of 7

Kids ages ranging from 16-9...

Can i ask if you did any excursions on the western cruise??

We did not do any excursions, as we viewed the Allure as the destination this cruise. We did visit X-caret on the mainland last time were were in Cozumel, which was a great day.

Your kids are going to love the cruise - so much to do on board!

Dining

So, here’s where I think Royal has some work to do. Largely, dining on the Allure was hit or miss. Some great meals, and some real disappointments. In fact, had the cruise ended after two days, we would have been very critical of the main dining room experience as a whole.

Specialty Restaurants

I visited two of the specialty restaurants. We had a full meal at the churrascaria, Samba Grill - where you get 9 courses of meat, a salad/appetizer bar, and desserts for $30 per person. I loved the experience, though, since you’re already eating a ton every day, didn’t have room for seconds. While my wife tolerated our “date night” meal, if you’re not a meatitarian, you might not enjoy it as much as I did. There were 5 courses of beef (top & bottom sirloins, filet, brisket, and ribs), linguica sausage, bacon-wrapped chicken, pork loin and lamb chops.

Located in the Solarium Bistro, it’s a quiet, intimate dinner with excellent food.

The rest of our adult contingent ate at Giovanni’s Table, where they dined out in Central Park patio, listening to piano music, and eating way too much Italian food. They rated it very good - perhaps a small step below Palo, for those that are familiar with Disney cruising.

I also sampled the gaucamole at Sabor. I had every intention to dine there again to try the dinner sampler, but we ran out of time. I love Mexican food, and believe that I make a mean gaucamole, but the table-side gauc here was outstanding. It comes with a bowl of pico de gallo, and a huge basket of chips for $5. Totally worth it, if you’re just passing by and want to try it out!

Some of our crew also tried Izumi for a sushi lunch, and loved it - Izumi is a la carte, and while hibachi style dining is only available at dinner time, sushi is available for lunch.

We made reservations for Samba & Giovanni’s the night before, so no need to book pre-cruise in our experience.

Main Dining Room

Our main dining experience started off pretty rocky. We’re a group of 14, and one of the main attractions to cruising is to scatter over the ship each day with different groups doing different activities, and come together for dinner as a group.

I knew going into the cruise that they did not have a table for 14 (which Disney did). And they told us that we would be sat at two tables. Little did we know, despite being “linked” all together that we’d be separated in the dining room - not even next to each other.

We remedied that the 2nd night, as they moved us next to each other, though we had different wait staff at each table, which meant that moving around each evening to the other table would be a pain for the servers who try to get to know your drink orders, preferences, etc. In fact, one waiter recommended against moving between tables.

More frustrating was the fact that there were obviously places that we could’ve sat all together in rectangular tables with the same wait staff. So (after talking with the head waiter at the end of the cruise) - this is the takeaway - make sure - if you have a large group - to go immediately to the dining area upon embarkation and talk to the Maître D' and nail down an acceptable dining experience right from the start.

Our waiter was excellent. Funny, sweet, quick to adjust her recommendations to your tastes. An ongoing joke with us was that she thought my choice of dessert one night was poor - it was, in her opinion, a dry cake. I loved it, as that’s my taste. So after that experience, she would tell me which dessert was like a dry cake - in fact I had three during the cruise, and loved ‘em all.

The assistant waiter, on the other hand, was not so great. I’m not sure if my expectations were colored by our Disney experience or not. On Disney, the assistant waiter was a large part of the wait team - he took care of the kids, drinks, bread service, cleared the table, etc, etc.

Here, the assistant waiter barely checked in - he brought the bread most days, occasionally brought us drinks, and we had to ask - sometimes repeatedly - for refills on drinks. Often the waiter cleared the table, and sometimes the head waiter checked in to move our dinner along.

Fortunately, on the 6th day, the assistant waiter finally brought my preferred drink - iced tea - before I asked, and brought a refill before the entree was delivered. Our thought was maybe he was new, and just learning the ropes?

For the most part, I thought the meals (and service) in the MDR got better each night of the cruise.

Other Complimentary Options

Park Cafe - Ate here several times, including embarkation day. Great build-your-own salads, roast beef, cubans, cole slaw and fruit cups.

Boardwalk Dog House - Love dogs, and liked the options at the dog house - though if you eat two, the buns are pretty filling. You can get cole slaw and potato salad too, but the cole slaw at Park Cafe is much better!

Wipeout Cafe - Kids loved it, but it was the same menu every day. I liked eating breakfast here before we hit the flowriders and table tennis tables. Build your own omelettes or over-easy eggs. Fresh fruit was always available, and ice cream (froyo) available after breakfast.

Solarium Bistro - They had a few more fruit options (like peeled kiwi), but otherwise it looked like the same offerings as Wipeout. We didn’t eat lunch here though.

Vitality Cafe - A few offerings - they had fruit parfaits that were tasty.

Sorrentos - Mediocre pie, but better is the make-your-own pizza - the topping options changed daily. Only water or soda available here - no lemonade.

Cafe Promenade - Not as many dessert options here as I’ve seen in other reviews, and they didn’t change daily. They had several small sandwiches, including shrimp rolls, which were good.

Johnny Rockets - I had the breakfast sandwich here, which was good. Also got to rock out to our choice of music from the juke box!

Boardwalk Donuts - I thought they were pretty good - my son had two every morning, so it was a kid favorite!

Windjammer - Some of our crew of 14 didn’t care for the Windjammer, but I thought they had pretty decent food, and lots of choices that changed daily. Most of the time we went there it was fairly busy (aside from early breakfast), but not crazy busy like on embarkation day.

Room Service - we didn’t get any room service, aside from the cookies our TA sent to us, which were quite good.

The Food

Onto the food. I’m not a huge foodie, and am pretty easy to please, but like flavorful/spiced or spicy food over quantity. I’ll let you know what I had each meal, and what I thought of each dish. You can see the hits and misses along the way.

Day 1

Park Cafe

Cuban panini, cole slaw & chips. While the panini is pre-made, and just warmed up on the press, it was very good. Loved the cole slaw. Chips are bagged Doritos or Ruffles - you can take them to go if you’d like a snack for later.

MDR

Seafood coconut soup - loved it.

Prime rib - one of my all-time favorite foods, this was a poor rendition - cooked to a perfect medium rare, it was much tougher than it should have been, and lacked flavor.

Carrot cake - very good

Day 2

Boardwalk Donuts - good

Park Cafe

Bagel & breakfast sandwich - neither would I order again.

Windjammer

Scrambled eggs - I had read a review that said they were inedible. I typically like buffet scrambled eggs - these were truly inedible - the worst eggs I’ve ever had, and I tried them 3 times during the cruise, as well as at Wipeout cafe - others also said they had a fishy taste to them.

Sorrentos

Chorizo and jalapeno pie - good (get the make-your-own over the ready made)

MDR

Scallops au gratin - very good

Filet Mignon - small, not very flavorful (while I expect less flavor from the filet, this was not a good version)

Buche Noel - very good

Day 3

Windjammer

Fresh fruits, and a pastry - fine, quiet early in the am before heading to Labadee

Labadee BBQ

Good jerk chicken, lots fresh fruit

MDR

Caesar salad - good

Tiger Shrimp - perhaps the best entree of the cruise for me

Lasagna - tons of meat, but lacking flavor after that - very little if any cheese here

(This was my only dual entree of the cruise - interestingly, we got smaller portions of tiger shrimp when we ordered two entrees)

Lemon Cake - very good

Day 4

Wipeout Cafe - omelette, french toast & waffle with strawberries - good

Windjammer

Didn’t write down what I had, just that it was good

Samba Grill

Excellent food, excellent service - great passion fruit mousse for dessert

Day 5

Wipeout Cafe - repeated the french toast & waffle with strawberries - good

Boardwalk Dog House - Smokehouse and Sicilian dogs - both very good

Sabor - guacamole - very good

MDR

Pepper & corn chowder - excellent

Thai Chicken & rice - excellent - we’re starting to hit our stride in the MDR!

Angel food cake - excellent

Day 6

Johnny Rockets - Breakfast sandwich - good

Park Cafe - Kimmelweck roast beef w/horseradish sauce, chips & cole slaw - excellent

Windjammer - tacos - mediocre, black bean soup - very good

MDR

Seafood ceviche - excellent

Sole - very good

Warm chocolate cake - very good

Day 7

Windjammer - scrambled eggs (again, and again they were horrid), followed up with french toast and waffle with strawberries to redeem my breakfast

Boardwalk Dog House - Vienna (good), Wunderdog (which is a brat, but was not my favorite type of brat).

MDR

Shrimp cocktail - good

Pork Loin - very good

Roasted pear dessert - good

Almond cake - very good

Day 8

MDR

Buffet breakfast, fairly poor. The service here was terrible, and the fact that they had tons of tables open, yet hundreds of people waiting in line for no reason was ridiculous - one of the few big managment fails of the cruise.

Great review, thanks so much for posting!

 

Which stateroom were you in? We're cruising on deck 3, starboard in a room that is adjoining (just booked that way). Is it easy to hear between the rooms? I'm concerned noise may travel easily through the doors...

3238 & 3240. The rooms are very quiet. We closed the adjoining door at night, and the only time we heard anything was when the other stateroom door was closed - and that was probably only because I was laying awake in bed waiting for the kids to wake up.

Oh, the other noise that you can hear is the water running against the hull. It's a nice white noise when going to sleep.

The Pool Deck

Wow! Coming from Disney, the pools were amazing. So many pools, and they had at least one pool open at all times, 24 hours a day.

The beach pool, the main pool, the sports pool, the H2O zone and current pool. The kids lived here some days!

The kids especially loved the H2O zone and the current pool. They played in those and alternated with the cooler hot tub, with breaks to head to the Wipeout Cafe for a snack. We have no idea exactly how much ice cream was consumed by our group of kids, but enough that they had to switch to strawberry instead of chocolate at some point during the cruise!

Only on one of the at sea days did the pools even seem remotely busy - often times we were the only ones in the pools. This may have had something to do with the fact that only 470 kids were on this cruise (the week before they said there were 1500!).

I loved the fact that there were cooler hot tubs for the kids, and, of course, adult areas when you wanted to have some quiet time away from the kids.

The solarium area is similar in scene to the adults only areas on the Disney ships. I will say, as a group, we did miss having the aqua duck water ride on board.

The Solarium

The Solarium Pool

On the last day (sea day), it was time for the crew vs. guests pool volleyball competition. Luke Arrowsmith, the cruise director, led the crew team. It ended up pouring rain for most of the competition, but we all stuck it out, and had a great time, though the fans had left long ago. That was an absolute blast, no one caring that it was raining so hard you could barely see, yet still laughing and carrying on and having a great time. We were on vacation, on a cruise ship in the Caribbean!

Before the rains came

The Sports Deck

Of all the amazing areas of the ship, the sports deck was where we spent the majority of our time. We tried everything the Allure threw at us: the zip-line, boogie boarding, stand-up surfing, soccer, volleyball, table tennis, and mini golf.

Our experience with lines for the zip-line and flow riding were different than expected. I thought the lines would be crazy long during the day - especially sea days - but they never seemed to be too bad.

We did hit the flow-riders and zip-line on day 1 after we had lunch, when there were no lines, but you could do the zip-line most days with very minimal wait - sea day afternoons there were 10-15 people in line. Every day the flow-rider was open, if you were there at when they opened (usually 9 or 10 am), there was a very short wait to ride. Evenings were also less crowded.

The rock wall lines were usually short - a handful or two deep, but again, if you’re there at 9am when they open, you’ll have little if any wait.

The Allure is head and shoulders above Disney here - Disney does offer a sports court, mini golf, and table tennis, but they do it on a much lower-key level. If you’re a table tennis fan (and we are) there are 6 tables, and they are enclosed to block much of the wind unlike at Disney.

There were also multiple competitions throughout the week. Soccer tournaments, volleyball tournaments, dodgeball tournaments, and table tennis (both singles and doubles) tournaments.

We were surprised by several things on the sport deck. One, the quality of table tennis play - there was a large group of players from the Vancouver TT club, and were very, very good - I was told one was in the top 3 of players in BC.

Another thing that surprised us was the flowrider riders. There were some hard-core riders whose sole reason for cruising was to ride the flowriders - we met one that was on for 3 weeks, and another that was on for 4! They were there almost any time it was open. And, boy, did they make it look easy!

If you’re on the fence whether to try the stand-up surfing, you should definitely do it. The riders were all super friendly, and were very supportive of new riders - going so far as to cheer for us when we did well, and give us tips each time we fell off the horse. The lines were never really long throughout the cruise, and we all rode many, many times.

Most reviews of the flowriders I’ve seen play up spectators that are there only for the wipeouts, but I found that while everyone oohs-aahs and woahs the wipeouts, they are also there to clap and cheer you on - even when you stink.

The boogie boarding was a lot of fun too - and the staff often rides with you giving you tips on what to try to move up to the next skill level. They made it lots of fun for everyone riding, and really seemed to enjoy their jobs.

The sports staff was second to none - super friendly and helpful across the board.

Central Park

I loved Central Park. Home to Giovanni’s Table, Park Cafe, Vintages, and 150 Central Park, it’s is a beautiful area, and offers music during the evening.

Park Cafe is home to the well known kimmelweck roast beef sandwich (which I thought was great), a nice cuban panini, as well as build-your-own salads, a breakfast bagel bar, and some sub-standard breakfast sandwiches that you may want to avoid. We ate here several times during the cruise.

The Promenade

The promenade is a beautiful area on the ship, where a lot of the action takes place day to day - Guest Services is here, Focus (photo shopping), bars, shore excursions, etc.

The promenade is home to Sorrento’s (pizza slices which are decidedly mediocre, but I did enjoy my made to order chorizo and jalapeno pizza quite a bit - much more than the already made pizzas). There are many shops on the Promenade, but as I’m not a shopper, I didn’t venture in to many, though we did take advantage? of the 2 for $20 t-shirt sale.

The Schooner Bar

The promenade is also home to some nice pubs, bars, and often hosts trivia either in the Schooner Bar or On Air (two places members of our crew frequented). The promenade also hosts the 70’s disco party, Dreamworks parade, and is one of the few places that you knew it was the holiday season - the Promenade was decorated with a large Christmas tree, and hanging snow flakes.

On-Air

The Rising Tide Bar - The only time I saw the fountain running!

The promenade is also the only place that the ship ever felt really crowded. During sales, the parade, the 70's party, and the muster drill, you'll know you’re on a ship with a few others.

Thank you so much Dosido for taking time out to post the compasses and info.This will be a great help to a lot of us cruising on the Allure. Do you know what time they had the Prohibition Party on day 5 ? Thanks again.

Hmmm....I didn't see that. I was under the impression that the PP was tied to Chicago, and thus wasn't going to be on the Allure.