SassyGirl

We had a fantastic cruise about the Allure of the Seas in April of 2016, sailing on the Eastern Caribbean route with stops in Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Martin. By way of background, hubby and I are a childfree, youthful couple in our 50s with about 12 cruises under our belt. To date we've sailed on RC, Celebrity, Carnival, Holland and Norwegian. On this cruise, we travelled with 3 friends, also in their 50s. We flew into FLL the day before the cruise and stayed at Hyatt Place. We were very pleased with this hotel which was really comfy and the room was large with a kitchenette and separate living area. It also offered a free shuttle from the airport and shuttle service to the port (extra charge, but reasonable). My friends stayed at the Renaissance which was a little closer to the cruise port and it was also very nice, although no free shuttle.

I will start off by saying this was the most enjoyable cruise we ever took. The ship was just FABULOUS and was the best ship we've ever sailed on.

I will comment on the highlights and lowlights from our perspective.

THINGS WE LIKED

- Embarkation and Disembarkation were very organized and ran very smoothly. Both processes took about an hour. We really appreciated how easy it was to get a taxi when we got off the ship. The staff guided us right to the taxis and there were probably dozens of taxis waiting to whisk passengers away. It cost about $14 for our taxi to the airport. We did the self-assist process.

- Our cabin: We had a category D8 ocean front balcony cabin on deck 7 in the forward part of the ship (7170) and it was fantastic. It was very comfortable, roomy, well designed with plenty of storage space. We liked being just a couple cabins away from the elevator so it was easy to quickly get wherever we wanted to go. We did not have any issues with noise in this cabin. The bed was very comfortable and I noticed underneath the mattress cover there was a memory foam mattress pad. We really liked the soft, high quality cotton linens and duvet.

We did smell cigarette smoke a couple of times while on our balcony and when we reported it to customer service, they were all over it. They addressed the offending passengers right away and then paid a follow-up visit to our cabin to speak with us to make sure there were no more problems.

The only way this cabin could be better is if there was a lounge chair on the balcony. In fact, I would rather have a couple lounge chairs than a small table and upright chairs. Also, while the linens are very high quality, the pillows are cheap and flimsy.

- The staff: Almost every staff person we encountered was warm and friendly, with very few exceptions. We were very pleased with our room steward who did a fantastic job. We didn't see him much and he didn't really interact much with us, but when we did see him he was friendly and our room was always perfectly maintained and spotless. We were especially happy with our waiters, Archie and Cornelia, who were just awesome, as was our sommelier (whose name escapes me now). They were so happy, friendly, sociable and attentive. If they saw we liked a particular dish, they would either bring us more or offer to bring more. Archie even brought a guitar to our table one night and serenaded us! What kind of amazing service is THAT!?

- Central Park: Words cannot describe how beautiful and wonderful this "neighborhood" is. What a genius idea. I've seen many photos of Central Park and knew it would be nice, but what you miss from the photos is the FEELING of being there - the soft breeze that blows through the park, the (piped in but realistic) sounds of birds in the daytime and crickets at night, the quiet and peacefulness of the area, the twinkle lights at night and all the beautiful and perfectly manicured plants and trees. Central Park was one of our very favorite areas on the ship.

- The Solarium: Another area that was even nicer in person than in all the photos I have seen. What you don't get from the photos is the nice breeze, the sounds of the fountains, and the New Age music that is playing, all of which make this area very spa-like. We spent most of our days in the Solarium and much preferred it to the noisier main pool areas.

The Boardwalk: Another very clever idea for a cruise ship and again, photos don't do this area justice. The sound of the carousel music combined with the smell of hotdogs, popcorn (sometimes) and cotton candy (sometimes), as well as the soft breeze blowing through and the sun shining down onto this area make it pretty reminiscent of a real boardwalk.

- The Jazz Club: They had a great jazz band (Simon Drew Quartet) in Jazz on 4 all week and they were amazing. My hubby, who is a big jazz fan, was in heaven and even those of us who are not as much into jazz enjoyed it because the band was so good. They also were very personable and friendly with the guests.

- Dinner in the Main Dining Room: All of us were pleased with the quality of food in the main dining room at dinner. Almost everything we ate was very high quality and delicious. I wouldn't say it is food that "blows your socks off" but considering the size of the ship and the number of meals that are being prepared, the quality was quite impressive.

The Ship Itself: The Allure is the most beautiful ship we have ever sailed on. She is extremely well-maintained, clean as a whistle and every area is beautifully designed with thoughtful touches everwhere. The flow of the ship is very good with the exception of certain decks where you cannot walk from one end of the ship to the other, but we figured out ways around this pretty quickly.

Other Food around the Ship: We were pleasantly surprised at Sorrento's Pizza which despite some bad reviews from other cruisers, we thought was pretty darned good, especially the made-to-order pizza (worth the 10 minute wait). Also, loved the cupcakes and Ben & Jerry's in Cups and Scoops (although extra charge of course). We also thought the Park Café was very good. We REALLY enjoyed lunch there on embarkation day...nice salads and sandwiches and eating in Central Park on a beautiful day is a real treat.

Specialty Restaurants: We only ate at one - Sabor for lunch - and it was good, especially the guacamole. We're frequent travelers to Mexico, so I wouldn't say the food here is comparable to the real thing, but it was pretty good.

My Time Dining: We had My Time Dining and we enjoyed it very much. I had made reservations on-line prior to the cruise and we rarely had to wait to be taken to our table. The couple of times we did have to wait, it wasn't for very long. We loved the flexibility of planning our meal times around the shows and times in port. The hostesses were so friendly and I loved how when they would call our my party's name they would say, "Madame ___ and Mr. ____". So cute.

- The Shows: we saw most of the shows and all were very good. Our favorites were Blue Planet and the comedy show. We also thought Ocean Aria was really good. We're not really into musicals, so we only stayed for half of Mama Mia, but it definitely was a high-quality performance and if you enjoy musicals, you will probably love it. Blue Planet and Ocean Aria are very obviously influenced by Cirque du Soleil, which is a good thing in our opinion.

The Royal Refreshment Drink Package: We love this package - fresh squeezed OJ in the morning, specialty coffees and things like espresso, mocktails, bottled water, etc. And here's something great that unfortunately we didn't discover until the end of the cruise....you can also get fresh-squeezed juice mixtures in the Vitality Café in the spa (where they use a juicer to make special mixtures). Note that the smoothies are not included in the RR package, but the juices are.

Excursions: We did not book through RC - we booked with independent tour companies I found via TripAdvisor and were very pleased. In Nassau, we just walked to the British Colonial Hotel (a 10 minute walk from the cruise ship) and got day passes ($65/per person includes use of their beach, hotel, chairs, umbrellas and $40 toward food and drink). In St. Thomas we did a tour with St. Thomas Adventures that included snorkeling off 2 different beaches, as well as a tour around the island and a stop for lunch. We saw lots of fish on one beach and sea turtles at another. In St. Martin, we did an island tour with Diederick Tours that involved a tour of the island, a visit to Orient beach and time for shopping and lunch. We loved these tours and they were very well done.

THINGS THAT COULD USE IMPROVEMENT

This cruise was awesome, but there is always something that could use improvement.

- Eggs and Home Fries: we had breakfast in several locations on the ship and good eggs were nowhere to be found. We enjoy scrambled eggs and omelets and all of the eggs we had on this ship were strange or gross (or both). The omelets we had (main dining room and Johnny Rockets) were made of eggs that had a sponge-like texture (little holes all over) and had the texture that gave the impression that some kind of additives were used (perhaps corn meal?). In the Solarium Bistro, the scrambled eggs were globular and watery. Also, good (real) hash browns were nowhere to be found. In some locations, the hash browns offered were the same kind McDonald's serves. We also had tater tots in another location and in the main dining room they did use natural potatoes, but they were shredded, undercooked and bland. One of our friends who had the fried eggs, which ARE obviously natural eggs, said that they were oddly tasteless. I am not sure why RC is skimping on these things because I believe natural eggs and potatoes are cheaper than these processed imitations. Maybe they are trying to save man hours on preparation time, but whatever the thinking - this needs to be addressed because the eggs and potatoes were just not good.

- The piped-in music in the public areas: From what I could see, the average age of passengers on the Allure was 45 - 60, yet the piped-in music in the Promenade and other public areas seemed to be geared at pre-pubescent kids...very annoying music. How about some music from the 60s - 80s? That would be more appealing to the average passenger.

- Lack of upbeat live dance music: We all love to dance, yet it was hard to find upbeat live dance music, except for Boleros which was Latin music. We liked that club, but it would have been nice to have an upbeat party band on the ship. We did stop in Dazzles one night where there was a live band playing, but the music was very down-tempo (Lionel Richie, anyone?). It would be great if there was a party band that consistently played upbeat dance music like disco, Motown, so passengers can really shake their booties!

- Chair Hogs on the Pool Decks and Solarium: RC really should address the pool hog problem. There were days where we could not find a seat and part of that was due to chair hogs reserving seats they weren't using. It's hard to know which unoccupied seats are legitimately unoccupied (i.e. someone is using the pool) versus a chair hog who just throws their belongings on a seat to "save" it for themselves for hours on end so it's hard to address on our own. It amazes me how many people are inconsiderate like this.

-Boardwalk Donuts: Not worth the calories. Pretty much like the cheap, processed doughnuts you buy in the grocery store.

- Self-Serve Soft Serve Yogurt: we all agreed, it was pretty bad. It was granular in texture and not creamy. Another thing that was not worth the calories.

- Time in Nassau: The ship is in Nassau from 7a - 2p, but we had to be back on the ship by 1:30, so it's not much time to enjoy this port.

I am happy to answer any questions!

Thank you! It is funny...at home I think getting dressed up is a pain, but I always like it on cruises.

Hi All

I keep a travel blog for all of our adventures, so you can view my cruise review here. Enjoy!

http://sassyduotravels.blogspot.com/2014/02/cruise-royal-caribbean-explorer-of-seas.html

Just got off the Explorer and I have to say, this is one gorgeous ship! Anyone who says she is in bad shape needs to have his eyes checked. Sure there are tiny areas here and there where some wear and tear is showing, but very minor stuff. 99% of this ship is in beautiful shape. GORGEOUS, GORGEOUS, GORGEOUS ship...my favorite ship so far!

I too just got back from the 1/31 Explorer sailing and NO illness issues to report. The crew was diligently making sure everyone was sanitizing their hands and the ship appeared to be spotless in every respect. I did not observe any ill passengers, nor did hubby or I come down with anything.

For the first 3 days of the cruise passengers were not allowed to serve themselves anything....the crew served EVERY SINGLE THING, even salt and pepper. After the third day, they let the passengers go back to serving themselves in the Windjammer, but the staff remained diligent at restaurant entrances with squirting sanitizer on everyone's hands and yelling "washy washy!" There was one staff person in the Windjammer who was so manic with his "washy washy" routine that it was like a running comedy show and he seemed to delight in being "washy washy man". We saw him in the main dining room in the evening and the other waiters referred to him as "Washy Washy". He was even pointed out at the farewell show and seemed to have quite a following. Too funny.

THANKS - great tips!

I am really excited for the cruise...especially because it is 9 days and there are a few sea days, which we really like.

Thanks for the responses, everyone...very helpful! I am especially glad to hear the thalassotherapy pool is free. I really enjoyed that on one of the Celebrity cruises we took, but on the last cruise I took (on Norwegian) they were charging something like $110 a week to use the pool and no day passes.

If anyone else wants to chime in, please do!

ETA: We are sailing on 1/31....a 9-day cruise out of Bayonne. So I am hoping few kids.

Hi All

Hubby and I are getting ready to sail on the Explorer and I have a few questions for those of you who have recently sailed on this ship.

1. What adults-only areas are there on the ship? (the ones I am aware of are the Solarium and Casino...any others?)

2. What is the flat fee to eat at Johnny Rockets? (the last I checked it was $4.95, extra for beverages, free breakfast...has this changed?)

3. Is there a charge to do any of these activities: in-line skating, ice skating, rock wall climbing, mini golf, thalassotherapy pool? If so, can you tell me what the charges are?

4. Aside from Portofino (which we know is supposed to be awesome!), what/where is the best food on the ship? Anything you've had that is extra good?

5. I plan to wear a full-length gown on formal night. Will I look out of place?

If you have any other tips to share, I would love it. Thanks so much and I will be sure to post a cruise review when we return.

Patty