Allure of Seas Review-May 6 Sailing

[sucramfree13]

I just got back from my sailing on the Allure, which sailed away on May 6, and I wanted to a review. It was the least I could do since I read reviews of this boat like crazy in preparation of my cruise.

 

I sailed my family, a group of 11 including kids. This was my first cruise with Royal Carribbean, but I have been on approx. 6 Carnival cruises in the past. This cruise blew those carnival cruises out the water. The Allure is just on another level.

 

Shows:

 

I didn't see half of the shows on the ship unfortuntely as we found it hard to catch them many nights because we had 8:30 dining time in the main dining room and we usually made 8:30 reservations at the speciality restaurant. In the future, all in the group agreed that 6:00 dining would probably be best for shows and other night time activities

 

The shows I did see were:

Ocean Aria- we caught the tail end of it but we saw enough to be amazed. It was an excellent show and really wish I had saw all of it. It had acrobatics, diving, and even a little comedy

 

Blue Planet- I liked this one. It personally didn't wow me, but I can easily see others loving it. It had a lot of dancing and singing, which is typical in plays. The scenery changes were amazing as the scenery changed from all the world's different terrains and enviroments, such as the forest or the dessert. One tip- don't sit really close like my family and I did( third row) as much of the effects are lost when your that close. You are more likely to see things your not supposed to see.

 

Let You Entertain Me- I also caught the tail end of this but it seemed very nice. It was similar to Ocean Aria except with a actual storyline and Madagascar characters

 

Food-Ok Maybe I'm just unsophisticated, too easily to please, and not accustomed to good food ( which is certainly possible, but in my defense I have been to many good fine dining restaurants and I am an amateur chef) but I found the food at ALL the venues I ate at to be very good, or at least very good most days. Maybe Carnival's food is just subpar, and I've accepted that for average. I don't know, but I do know I enjoyed the Allure's food.

 

The Main Dining Room- I though the food here was excellent most days. I couldn't understand why some cruisers avoid this place. The cold fruit soups( gazpachos) were really good. I will say the desserts were kinda average but i didn't care too much as there was plenty of good desserts elsewhere I can get on the ship.

Service wise, our waiter didn't do a particulary good job the first two nights but was phenomenal every night after. My parents 29th anniversary took place on the ship so I ordered a cake, which was very good. My father brought professional pictures of there grandchildren as a gift and ask the Head waiter to hide it while he presented her a cheap necklace as a gag gift. She LOVED the real gift.

 

Chops Grille-fantastic. Simply fantastic. I had a huge shimp and crab cake which was good and a porterhouse steak for my entree. The crab cake was very good but the porterhouse steak was one of the best steaks I've ever had. My father and my other family members said the same. I ordered two desserts. The creme brulee, which wsnt that good in my opinion, and the red velvet cake, which was without a doubt the best red velvet cake I've ever had.....EVER!!! So moist and so flavorful.

 

Giovanni's- really good. We order family style and every thing was tasty. I'm sorry I can't remeber what we ate as we ate here the first night but I fully recommend them. I do remember we all tried the eggplant parmesan and it was amazing. And I don't even like eggplant.

 

150 Central Park-........... Please try and go here. Best meal on the ship I had by farrrrrrrrrr! They served 6 courses and each course activated your entire tongue, with sweet,sour,spicy,bitter, ect to be found in each course. They were changing the menu after my sailing so I won't go in to what specifically was served but the root beer molasses glazed duck I had for the entree was just.......indescribable. I should add the courses are very small but you feel perfectly full at the end of the meal

 

Johnny Rockets- Very good. My mother and I ate hear for lunch about 3 times. Best burger on the ship in our opinion. We also made friends here with two of the crew and we many times just came there to say hi.

 

Boardwalk Hotdogs- I only ate here once but I wish I ate here more often as my coney hotdog was very good. My father and my uncle loved it and went here very often for the smokehouse dog.

 

Boardwalk Ice Cream Parlor- The only reson I can think of for coming here is for the waffle cones, the toppings, and the many choices of flavors because I found this place to be very average. I think liked the free ice cream on pool deck better actually. the ice cream just did not taste premium to me at all.

 

Boardwalk Donuts- pretty good in my opinion. Good amount of choices and nice for port days when you need something on the go.

 

Sorrento's-Ok. Just really something to eat if you happen to be hungry walking thru the promenade late at night. I guess it was good for what it was but I would definately not eat here in the day time.

 

Cupcake cupboard- I read many bad reviews of this place saying the cupcakes were dry and mediocre so I went there with low expectations. These cupcakes were FANTASTIC. If they were any moister they would have been mushy. They are really big( big enough to share) and very rich. My favorite flavors were orange dreamsicle and vanilla with vanilla icing. By the way, the icing is made with real vanilla beans!

[BillOh]

Blue Planet- I liked this one. It personally didn't wow me, but I can easily see others loving it. It had a lot of dancing and singing, which is typical in plays. The scenery changes were amazing as the scenery changed from all the world's different terrains and enviroments, such as the forest or the dessert. One tip- don't sit really close like my family and I did( third row) as much of the effects are lost when your that close. You are more likely to see things your not supposed to see.

 

Great observation that someone will benefit from. We found this out accidently. We booked Blue Planet and the show was scheduled to end right before dinner. Rather than sit on the main floor and fight all the crowd after the show, we chose to sit on an aisile in the balcony and besides making a clean getaway and getting to dinner on time, the show was very easy to watch from the balcony.

 

Sorrento's-Ok. Just really something to eat if you happen to be hungry walking thru the promenade late at night. I guess it was good for what it was but I would definately not eat here in the day time.

 

Did you try the made to order personal pizza? I found that to be better than what was just available on walk up. Did you try Johnny Rocket's for breakfast? It was a good no charge option to the windjammer buffet which most people agree is too small for this class of ship. Thanks for posting, I enjoy reading all reviews.

[sucramfree13]

Stateroom- My parents and I stayed in an Owner's suite which was nicer than we imagined. Last time we stayed in a suite was on carnival in a penthouse suite when I was sick. It was nothing compared to this room. Last couple of cruises we were in closet-like rooms but my parents brought this room since it was there anniversary and we would be able to invite our whole group over if we liked.

 

You can watch as many videos of the room as you like but I still don't think you can really grasp the room. It was very spacious and nicely decorated.Wayyyy to much storage (which I suppose is a good thing). the bathroom was gorgeous as it had a nce sized shower, a bidet, jacuzzi tub, grante countertops and double sinks. The balcony was so much bigger n person than it was in pictures. My couch bed was suprisingly very comfortable and soft. We had a pillow menu in our room which we enjoyed. I really likd the memory foam isotonic pillow

 

Since we were in a suite we had an upgraded room service menu which was very nice. We were able to order pankcakes and french toast for instance for breakfast. Room service was typically cold for breakfast but hot for lunch and dinner.

 

Our stateroom attendent, ronald, was the best we had so far. Really nice and attentive and even made my parents two swan towel animals and a towel heart filled with rose petals for their anniversary evn though we only told him once.

 

Suite ametities and service- We really felt pampered being in a suite. We got so much stuff. We got daily fruit plates and cheese & cracker plates. The suite only sail away party on the helipad was very nice. They served champagne and nonalcoholic fruit punch at the party.We got perfered seating at the shows thru the concierge.

On labadee, we got a private suite beach and my family was able to rent two hilltop cabanas which were wonderful. If you are looking at gettong a cabana but unsure which one, get the hilltop. It is so peaceful and serene up there.

 

The concierge lounge has to be the biggest suite perk. It was beautiful It served free breakfast( during breakfast they even serve free fresh squeezed orange juice that you must buy everywhere else on the ship) and lunch and was open before and after dinner for hors d'oeuvres and free alcoholic beverages. And you could order as many as you wanted too. The men in our group( minus me as I am underage) went there every night for free drinks. I went there every night to for the ambiance and the free nonalcoholic drinks. My father said they had the best vodka gimlet he ever had. The lounge also had a 24 hour coffee machine that had the best coffee by for on the ship, not even considering it was free.

 

I do want to add that my 3 adult family members that were not staying in a suite said they really liked how royal went about giving the each amentity to the suite guest as they said they never felt it was flashed in there face and they never felt left out. All the suite ametities, they said, were presented in a very low key fashion.

 

 

I know I wasnt very detailed, but I about to head to work, so If you have any questions please feel free to ask me. I will be posting the rest of my review later. i also plan to post pictures here and some videos on Youtube.

[sucramfree13]

Did you try the made to order personal pizza? I found that to be better than what was just available on walk up. Did you try Johnny Rocket's for breakfast? It was a good no charge option to the windjammer buffet which most people agree is too small for this class of ship. Thanks for posting, I enjoy reading all reviews.

 

Actually I didnt try the personal pizzas but they did look good. My uncle did and he said he enjoyed his,.

 

I also did not go to Johnny rockets breakfast although I tried. I though they ended breakfast at 10:30 instead but they ended at 10:00. They food looked really good though.

[irishgal432]

 

The concierge lounge has to be the biggest suite perk. It was beautiful It served free breakfast( during breakfast they even serve free fresh squeezed orange juice that you must buy everywhere else on the ship) and lunch and was open before and after dinner for hors d'oeuvres and free alcoholic beverages.

 

This is the first that I have heard about the OJ in the concierge lounge! My husband will be so excited. Also, I heard that they serve beer and wine during lunch. Did you notice that?

 

Thanks for the review... I am leaving on the Oasis in 12 days.

[sucramfree13]

This is the first that I have heard about the OJ in the concierge lounge! My husband will be so excited. Also, I heard that they serve beer and wine during lunch. Did you notice that?

 

Thanks for the review... I am leaving on the Oasis in 12 days.

 

Yes I did notice that. To my knowlege all types of alcohol was served from lunch time to about 8pm