In-Depth Allure Review: July 29th - August 5th

[m2inus]

Basic info first

Cruise: Allure of the Seas - July 29 to August 5

Itinerary: Western Caribbean

Cabin: 9th floor balcony, starboard side

Who we are: my wife and I - both 29 with no kids

 

So after cruising Oasis in June of last year, I was able to convince my wife to venture on the Allure for another adventure. Since being on both ships, I now consider myself an official Oasis Class expert, and would be happy to answer any questions as such. Also, I am sometimes a little blunt, but will give you my honest opinion about my experience.

 

We got into Florida on Saturday afternoon and stayed with some family in the evening. We were dropped off at the port on Sunday right around 11 AM. Security and check-in were a breeze and less than 10 min from being dropped off, we were being led upstairs to the waiting area. The ship wasn't cleared to board until around 11:30 ish, and boarding started with suite guests, then went down the list of importance for Crown and Anchor members. We are Platnum, and got on about 5 min after they finally started boarding.

 

On a side note, we were waiting near a family on the Make a Wish program. We were told there were two families on the cruise through make a wish, and I think it's a great thing that Royal Carribean does. There was also a benefit walk for the charity later in the week.

 

We got onboard and the ship was just as expected. I would say that Allure looked a little more beat up than Oasis did. We went on both ships at essentially the same point in their lifespan, each had been in service for a little more than a year when we were onboard. I dont know if I didn't notice things as much on Oasis, or if being on the same type of ship a second time you look at more details, but it definitely seemed that Allure showed much more wear. I'm not talking about anything obscene or overtly obvious, everything was clean and shiny for our cruise, but there were clearly areas where paint was wearing away and rust was coming through, and little things malfunctioning here and there. Again, nothing that would cause me to go out of my way to complain about, but it seemed that the little details were better cared for on Oasis

 

Once onboard we made our way to the Park Cafe for the first of our food gluttony. To my surprise we were the first ones inside. We got some salads and the roast beef sandwiches. I don't want to be exiled from Cruise Critic, but I was a little underwhelmed by the sandwich. I had it a few times throughout the week, and each time the meat seemed very fatty. Also, this may be the New Jersey Delicatesin in me coming out, but they only have yellow mustard on the boat. This sandwich, as well as the hotdogs from the hotdog stand, should definitely be graced with some good old-fashioned deli mustard. The Park Cafe claims to have "spicy mustard," which is really just yellow mustard with chopped up jalepinio and spicy stuff. It doesn’t do the sandwich justice.

 

After park cafe, we made our way around to check out the boat and found the hot dog stand. I had the Coney Island dog several times throughout the week and it was very good. I think the dog stand is a much better use of the space than the Donut Shack. But to my disappointment, they only had donuts out in the self-serve area on the Boardwalk until about 10 AM. I never made it down to get any and wished they kept them out throughout the entire day. Also, the dog stand closed around 7 PM, which was also disappointing. A good wiener is a great evening snack after having some drinks.

 

Now the boat and passengers. There were around 6,200 people on our sailing, so it was full but not at capacity. Sometimes, you realize there are six throusand people on the boat, but most times you don't. Anyone worrying about the crowds must realize that you will be on a big boat with lots of people, and sometimes all those people like to do the same things at the same time. If you keep that in mind and don't get crazy in large crowds, youll be fine. There will definety be lines for elevators after shows, and certain areas of the boat get crowded during events, but that's common sense. We never had a problem finding a seat in the shade by the pool, a desirable seat at a show, or even a table at the windjammer.

 

Also, there was about 20-30 girls/families celebrating their Quince (15th birthday celebration). On the first formal night they got all dressed up in their gowns and were parading through the promenade. I had never seen anything like it, and it was definety interesting. Apparently it is pretty common for these things to go on onboard.

[m2inus]

At just before 1 PM the cabins were opened up and we checked out our accommodations. We had an ocean view balcony, starboard side forward on the 9th floor. I think 9th floor was good because we were a few floors up from the promenade and a few floors down from the pools. We were also very close to the forward elevators, which was definitely a plus.

 

Our cabin was just as we remembered, with the bed closer to the balcony. My wife liked this layout better, she says it made the room more spacious and you could look from the bed out to the ocean, as opposed to the bed being closer to the closet. The room was nice and clean, and we met our cabin steward who was very nice and attentive. I requested ice and shower supplies and he kept both stocked throughout the week. He was a little forgetful though:

 

When we first got in the cabin we had someone else's shore excursion tickets waiting for use, but did not have ours. We handed the tix off to our steward and inquired about ours, and he said he would check their outgoing box. We asked a couple more times the next few days and he said he never got them, and suggested we call guest services. We had one excursion booked in Jamaica (more on that later), and since we did not have the tickets the day prior, we called guest services. They assured us they would look into it and get back to us. A few hours later we had a nice voicemail from some manager of the excursions, who apologized and said we could pick up our tickets from either the excursion desk or guest services. Well, it was about 8:45 and the excursion desk closed at 9PM so we beat feet down to the desk on the promenade to grab our tix. There was a long line and we asked one of the ladies who was closing up the area if we had to wait, and explained our situation. She said we had to wait, so we stood there for about 10 min behind people browsing through catalogs of shore excursions. Just when I was getting pretty pissed, the original lady came back over, asked for our room number, and a minute later handed us our tickets while we were still in line. I was glad we didn't have to keep waiting, but felt she could have done the same thing about 10 min earlier and I would have been much happier.

 

Also, we got our luggage very quickly and even had a bag waiting for us when we first got to the room. Later in the day, we came back to the room and found someone else's bag sitting in our cabin. This bag was clearly marked for a different deck, so we sat it outside the door and went on our way. Even later we came back and found the original rogue bag inside our room, with another new bag that wasn't ours inside. Both bags were clearly marked for another deck, so we found our stateroom attended and told him about our newfound luggage. He quickly removed them and apologized. I feel bad for the person waiting for their luggage for hours while it was sitting helplessly in our room. Now you know why it takes so long for your bag to arrive.

 

Also, I'm not a large guy, but the shower seemed extra small in our room. On two separate days, while showering, I knocked the shampoo dispenser off the shower wall and broke it into several pieces. Each time I was able to reassemble it, but i think Royal needs to reexamine their placement if that thing.

 

We went to the Amber Theater for the Muster drill, which was actually very quick and painless. They show a short video and then you are on your way. The problem was everything shuts down more than 15 minutes prior to the drill. So we were looking to find some water but were shut out everywhere we went. That was a bummer.

[m2inus]

The Food

 

After the sail away we had our first my time dining experience. I made reservations for each night in advance and never had to wait more than a minute or two to get a table. We ate around 6 ish each night and I never saw a line more than a few people for those who did not have reservations. Even when we would leave the dining room around 7, there never really seemed to be a line.

 

The food in the main dining room was always good. It wasn't anything extraordinary, but good with a decent amount of variety. On our subsequent trips to my time dining we were seated in a different section, which we liked, and requested the same waitstaff each night, which was never an issue. We had a table for 2 each night and had great service.

 

Because we were doing my time dining we got a notice that we could go to Samba Grill on the 1st or 2nd night for half price. The Interactive TV actually has a good notifications system where messages come right to your TV about all types events. We called and booked Samba for the second night (the first formal night). Samba was good, there is a nice salad bar and they have 9 different meats that come out in order. They also cook to order a Filet Mignon and lamb. Once they go through all the meet, you can request more of whatever you want. Everything was good, but nothing was really outstanding. If you are really a big meat eater I would recommend it, but we did Chops later in the week, which was a much better steak.

 

Chops was excellent. We went to Vintages beforehand and got a bottle of wine. This was my first time really in Vintages and it had a nice quiet vibe and comfy seating. The food at Chops was good and plentiful. Both my wife and I had the filet with four sides. The Red Velvet cake for desert was ridiculously huge but good. The bill was a little confusing. Since I pre-booked and paid for Chops prior to sailing, they wrang my sea pass card up and I got the bill for $0. I couldn't remember if gratuity was included (I'm sure like everything else that it was), so I tipped an additional amount. The service was great, so I didn't mind, but it would be nice for Royal to put a reminder on the bill that gratuity was already applied.

 

Since I'm talking about food, on our second sea day we went to Giovannes table for lunch. The food here was also great and it was actually pretty crowded. The lasagna was spectacular but I couldn't figure out if it had a white cream sauce or some kind of cheese on the top. My wife had a shrimp dish that she loved. The shrimp were so big, they actually looked like mini-lobsters, it was ridiculous.

 

Ahhh the Windjammer. We had lunch here a few days and breakfast here once. The food was good, nothing spectacular or different, but a good variety. As stated above, we never had a problem finding a table. But on the one day we went for breakfast the place was crazy. I think it was the day we were in Falmouth, but there were people everywhere. Navigating through the crowd was quite frustrating, so that was our only time there for breakfast.

 

We did breakfast at the Park Cafe once and the breakfast sandwich (similar to an egg mcmuffin) was delicious.

 

Most days we did breakfast in the main dining room. You can either do menu, buffet, or both. The menu was essentially every option they had in the buffet, but with more egg varieties. The buffet was good, and even though it didn't have as much variety as the Windjammer, it still had all the breakfast standards. Also, it was significantly less crowded, which was a plus.

 

We did the Solarium for breakfast and lunch a few times. Breakfast was good, with healthier versions of mostly everything. Lunch was not so great. They had a small salad bar and weird healthy crepe sandwich wraps, which were not good. We ended up leaving there and going to the Windjammer.

 

We were going to do breakfast at Johnny Rockets but the menu is very limited to grilled breakfast items (pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc). My wife is a big fan of fresh fruit, so we decided for another option.

 

I grabbed a snack at the Wipeout Cafe once. I think I had a Taco and some fries which were good. It's pretty much filled withy junk/snack food (which I love), so it's my kind of place.

 

We stopped at the Promenade Cafe and Sorrentos nightly. Both were good, and the cafe has a different variety of sandwiches every day. Both of these venues would have a line in the evening when a show would let out, but never more than a few minutes.

 

We did room service for breakfast a few mornings but only got coffee and fruit as a pre-breakfast snack. Most days the breakfast arrived early, and luckily they call you on the phone to tell you the food is on the way. It's better than a wake-up call.

 

There was self-serve frozen yogurt on the pool deck each day. It was vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry...unfortunately there was no swirl option.

[m2inus]

The ports.

 

Our first port was Labadee. We got off the boat and it was hot. We wanted to be at the beach, but didn't want to walk far and wanted some shade. So us and everybody else clamored from a spot under one of a few palm trees that were close to the boat. I soon found out that the beach was incredibly rocky, and to go somewhere where you can actually go in the water was a hike. Also, our shady spot was overrun with another family who essentially put their chairs on top of ours. This was a recipe for disaster and we soon got back on the boat and took advantage of some prime poolside realestate to relax. Also note that until the buffet is open on the island, there was no food or water to be found. They were selling bottled drinks, but that was all that was available until the buffet opened. I had purchased a water bottle prior to sailing and came prepared, but I would definety recommend bringing some supplies for the morning.

 

Jamaica was fun. We did the Catamaran and Snorkel excursion through Royal. You get into Jamaica around 10 AM, so it gives some time for a relaxing breakfast in the morning. All excursions then meet past all the shops, which is a little bit of a walk. We got checked in and had to wait about 30 min in the heat for our busses to arrive. They had tents set up but everybody was packed into one area, hot, and impatient. It was not so fun. Once we boarded our bus we had to travel about an hour to the Montego Bay area. Our bus broke down about 10 min into the trip...fun times. Luckily the buses somewhere behind us had enough room for everyone to cram in. So after about 20 min on the side of a Jamaican highway in the heat, we were on our way. The excursion was excellent. The crew of the catamaran was great, the snorkeling was good (the water was choppy....but not their fault) we saw lots of fish/reef, and they did a nice sail around part of the island. There was also Red Stripe on tap and Rumrunners, which were included. There wasn't any real food on the boat, so if you do this excursion, grab a banana or something from breakfast to take along. You'll be glad you did. After the excursion we got back on the bus and made it to the port. The bus driver was trying to convince us to stop for shopping or drinks on the way back, but everybody on the bus declined and we got back to the boat with no problem. We didn't do any shopping in Falmouth, but everything looked nice and we didn't get hassled.

 

Cozumel was the last stop, which was also good. We had nothing planned but some shopping, so we followed the shopping guide's recommendation and took a cab from the pier to the main shopping area for $7. It's important to remember that the ship docks early, and Cozumel is an hour behind ship time, so by the time we were reaching the shops, things were just starting to open up. The shops all basically had the same stuff, either nice jewelry and watches or Mexican crafts and gifts. Unlike Jamaica, the salespeople were very pushy and every place you walked past had people hassling you to come inside, look, and get a free gift. It was pretty annoying. We looked around and grabbed a drink and nachos at Senior Frogs downtown. We then took a cab back to the pier, where there is another Senior Frogs, and got more drinks and just relaxed. We checked out prices on all the duty free items (alcohol, perfume, tobacco) and it did seem like the prices on board the ship were pretty competitive.

[m2inus]

Some other random thoughts. I hardley ever felt the boat moving. In fact, a number of times I had to go look over the railing to ensure we were still moving. I wasn't even sure when we left most ports until I started seeing the island go past. The ride was that smooth.

 

I know there were lots of kids on the ship, but I hardley saw any of them. Yes, there are droves of teenagers that roam around in heards, but they weren't doing anything to disturb anyone. In fact, it was the parents who were more annoying than the kids.

 

Apparently the guest satisfaction surveys at the end of the week are a big deal. We had both our cabin steward and waitress remind us multiple times that we could/should mention them by name. They both were great so we did, but I found it odd that we were being propositioned for good remarks. We found out that Royal relies heavily on these for promotions, and if they get a "good" instead of "excellent" it can really affect them.

 

We did the express walk off departure and were told to leave between 6:45 and 7:30 AM. We walked off around 7:15 and only had to wait a few minutes for customs. I don't know why, but there were only 2 customs agents working for all the US residents. I don't know if it was because it was still early, but it seemed a little ridiculous. We were in a cab and almost at the airport by 7:30.

 

I think that's all I have, so if you have any questions I'd be more than happy to answer all of them. Also, I wanted to thank everyone else who has written reviews on here in the past. I trolled cruise critics for months before our cruise and really appreciated everyone else who shared their experience onboard.

[lemonade-sails]

Thanks for your review!

[troyandcarol]

Loved the review, thank you. You are a couple years younger than us and I remember cruising a few years back, this will be our first cruise with our almost 4 year old little girl. We are hoping we don't turn into some of those annoying parents :) Thanks again

[Familygoboston]

Thanks for your review! Sounds like a great trip.

Sweet Caroline is a bit of an anthem for Red Sox fans, ( its played at Fenway in the 7 th inning) and so the guy was probably from New England...most of us are Red Sox fans (except for some people in parts of CT- but we don't acknowledge them as New Englanders and just let the NY'ers have them;))

 

Oh BTW- we thought Earl Turner was a little old for us too, and we have 20 years on you! Not sure who they are going for with him? We always sit in the balcony for Headliners, so we can make a quick getaway.

[Puffinater]

Nice review thanks for posting.

[pasodancer]

Fabulous detailed review - thank you so much!

[JDuczman]

It was a very helpful review. I have two questions:

 

For the evening shows, when did you make reservations? Prior to sailing or once on board?

 

Is Giovannes included or is there an additional cost?

 

Thanks again,

 

Jackie

[m2inus]

We made show reservations prior to sailing. I think that option opens up online a few months prior to sailing.

 

Giovannes is an additional cost, but I think lunch is a few dollars less than dinner. I also think the menu is slightly different.

 

Hope that helps.

[nycruiser80]

Great review! I enjoyed reading it. You are not alone about the roast beef sandwich, it was good, but didn't live up to the hype IMO. Then again, I live in NY area and are used to certain types of foods. Nevertheless, the Allure had good food.

[TheRealJSki]

Awesome review! I have been on freedom class and this is my first adventure on an Oasis class. And with a GF who has no idea what to expect!

 

 

looking fwd to it more thanks to your review!!

 

jski

[SnappyNappi]

This is a great review! We are heading out on the Oasis in the Fall on the Western Itinerary so many things similar/same, I am sure. This will be our first trip on the Oasis Class ships, and it is funny but I was talking to my DH just the other day about the Roast Beef sandwich 'hype'. I think NYcruiser is on to something... being a 'Jersey Girl' we in this area here have different tastes and have access to different foods that are not available outside of our area... as other regions have access to differnt flavors and foods as well. (I mean really, what they call a bagel outside of the NY Tristate area is horrid!!) SO - while yes, I will ABSOLUTELY try one of those famous roast beef sandwiches, my expectation is that nothing beats a NY Deli Roast Beef sandwich and I will be happily shocked if it lives up to the hype for me. :)

 

Sorry if I hijacked your review, m2inus... It was definitely one of the better, more honest without being whiny, reviews that I have read. Thank you for taking the time!

[tennisstar28]

Nice review! I am sailing on September 2, 2012, eastern itenary. Now we need some pictures!