YSI

they started boarding around noon, but the cabins were not ready till 1pm

no, there is no requirement to reserve. it's just if you are not in the theater 3o minutes prior to the show, you might not get any seats. On the Allure you can make a prior reservation

Last week we came from back to back cruises on the Allure of the Seas and the Regal Princess. I think it will be interesting to compare our impressions according to our taste. The boarding process was flawless in both cases, and in both cases you need to wait aboard the ship until about 1 pm when rooms become available. We had The Central Park balcony on Allure, and outside balcony on the Regal. The room size seemed to be the same, while the balcony was much bigger on the Allure. Allure's cabin had enough power outlets for multiple chargers, while I found only two outlets on the Regal.

As far as the ship in a whole, Allure is more like a small city, while Regal is more like a cruise ship. To my taste, I liked Allure more. The Regal does not have stairs in the middle of the ship, and it’s too far to go to get the stairs (I try to avoid using lifts), while on the Allure the stairs are conveniently close to everywhere on the ship. With the new design, you cannot use the Promenade deck on the Regal (and its sister Royal) to go around the ship, as it was possible on all previous Princess Ships. On the Allure there is a walking/running track around the ship. Both ships charge to use the sauna.

All public areas were sparklingly clean on both ships, while the pool area was very clean on the Allure, but had a lot of garbage on the Regal. When we pointed out some garbage on the deck near the pool to an attendant on the Regal, he picked up some of it, but never came back for the rest.

At the same time, the Allure starts showing its age. We had our cabin reassigned during check-in as the original one required repairs. On the first night around 3am the toilet in the cabin stopped working (flushing). We were eventually told that the section of 5 floors got affected. They fixed the problem only after 10 am (over 7 hours without toilets in the cabin). I understand that these toilets can get clogged, but handling of the problem, communications, and decision not to start repairs before 9am in order not to disturb other passengers were done very unprofessionally.

Entertainment by far was better on the Royal Caribbean. Not just that their shows are much better, they also have multiple live bands playing simultaneously. The cruise director was outstanding, and The Love and Marriage show was one of the best we saw during our 30 cruises. Though we were pleasantly surprised with improved production shows quality on the Regal, they are still 30-35 minutes long, and you need to reserve your seats the same 30+ minutes in advance. The cruise director on the Regal was very dull, and he even delegated the marriage show to a deputy. The marriage show, which usually draws a huge crowd, was conducted in a very small Princess Live auditorium with very few seats, and a lot of people disappointingly walked away. For comparison, Allure's main theater was full for The Marriage show. There was never a slow moment on the Allure, the Royal Promenade was always full of action. On the Regal Princess there were very few activities even in the evening. It seemed like the only live band in the wheelhouse bar was spending more time for breaks than for actual performance. There were only two guest entertainers on the Regal, the comedian and tribute to the Four Seasons, both very good. On the other night they put a bar piano player in the Vista Lange as they didn't have guest entertainers.

Food. To our taste, it was much better on the Regal Princess, both in the main dining rooms and in buffets. Plentiful dishes, variety, and taste of buffet entries was astonishing on the Regal. On the Allure, one would have to go to different venues for different items, especially for breakfast. You go to one place for the omelet station, another one for pancakes, third one for bagels, etc. So if one family member wants eggs and another a bagel, you have to eat at different venues, or carry your food from one to another. On the Royal princess ALL breakfast items are in the same Horizon court. I never saw empty food trays on the Regal, but the empty trays were everywhere on the Allure. For many different dishes, they never refilled them once they were empty. During the last breakfast, the whole section of the buffet had only empty food trays.

We went to 150 Central Park and the Chops grill house on the Allure. The service in the 150 Central Park was superb, and experience of having food paired with wine was very memorable. As to food, the first four courses were just superb, while the last two were so-so. We had very bad experience at the Chops. I ordered medium rare filet mignon, but they brought me medium well. I saw that a couple at the next table had the same problem, so I ordered veal. It was properly done (temperature-wise), but I had to cut off about ¼ of an inch from the top as it was extremely over salted. At the Chops, they bring side dishes separately from the main entree, so when my veal arrived, all my side dishes brought with fillet mignon were already cold, but they were not replaced. Ditto for the silverware. I think that for the restaurant that charges $35 cover charge (on the top of what was already paid for the main restaurant) this type of service is absolutely unacceptable. By the way, the service in the main dining room on the Allure was excellent.

Though I spent too much time on negatives, both cruises were very good and I would highly recommend both of them. If I had to rate them (on a 10 point scale), I would give 9 to the Regal Princess and 8 to the Allure of the Seas.

Here are my ratings for different aspects of the cruise.

Overall ship 10 8

Rooms 10 9

Public areas cleanliness 10 10

Pool area cleanliness 10 6

Main restaurant food 7 10

Buffet food 5 10

Pastries, desserts 3 10

Food variety 7 10

Main restaurant service 10 7

Cruise director 10 3

Production shows 10 8

Activities, bands 10 5