Allure, Feb 17, Eastern, LOVED the cruise, NOT the ship!

[Verfai]

I was not really planning on going to write a review, but as I had a heck of a lot of time on my hands flying back home…And it’s a bumpy ride I can tell you that, so lucky you…here we go :D

 

First as always, who are we? We are a couple from Belgium in our early 30s, discovered cruising in 2011 and got addicted pretty darn fast :D. This was our 5th cruise with Royal but first time in the Caribbean.

 

Thought I might just give you all a few highlights and some of our inside thoughts on this cruise (don’t worry followed by a BUNCH of pictures ;) ).

Let’s start whit what most end with, our conclusion: “We did not like the Allure much and at this point we will not sail on an Oasis class again, we did love the Caribbean and the cruise”. This as what she is, is one beautiful ship that has way to many great venues and attractions, we had a great vacation, fantastic even, would even dare say the best :D…However, why did we mainly NOT like the Allure? Easy, she is TOOOOOOO BIG and did not have the feeling of being a ship anymore!!!

 

Which is a strange thing for me to say as I consider myself a “tec guy” that really has it in for the big massive moving engineering marvels….But when on a cruise, I want to feel like I am on a ship, the Allure is not a ship, it’s a floating hotel/resort/apartment/shopping mall complex, that does not really give you the feeling that you are on a ship floating in the ocean at all, which is actually a strange conclusion as she rocks and tilts like heck! We have been in heavy gales on the Navigator and that rocked and tilted less than what we experienced on the Allure, we were very surprised by this phenomenon (I do have to say the weather was not that great the first couple of days, but even in normal weather we felt a lot more motion than we ever did on Liberty or Navigator)…I will add if you are a cruiser and fan of Royal Caribbean you have to be on this ship at least once, just for the experience, but not a return ship (for us at least)…A Freedom class does feel like a ship and has near all the wow factor of the Oasis class.

 

The easiest example of “the not feeling like on a ship” is the pure lack of places you can view the passing ocean, not one bar in the royal promenade has a window that actually gives you an ocean view (loads of windows, like in the champagne bar, but they are blocked by artificial drawings, posters and stickers. Central park is extremely beautiful but totally enclosed by about 200+ inside balcony rooms that go sky high, the boardwalk whilst open in the back has a huge sail hanging there so you can’t really see any water plus here to the problem of the sky high inside balcony rooms…We had breakfast at Johnny Rockets one morning, sitting there I might as well have been in Brussels on a summers morning in some café. The bars that do have a great ocean view like in the Viking crown, which is absolutely beautiful, but the choice of the singers in that venue and music choice, set to a loud (and for those that don’t know me, I am a DJ as hobby) un equalized volume with two voices where one sings beautiful ad and the other is just crap...So we RAN from that, sad as the Viking crown is usually our favorite place for pre-dinner drinks, if they would have set the music a little less high it would be better for the people that don’t want to listen to it and enjoy the view…What we always did on LOS, the music is set higher more towards the night time, not straight in the evening.

 

But by now I guess you all get my drift, I don’t plan on writing a 40 page long review :D.

[Verfai]

Let’s tell some good…The Allure looks absolutely clean and beautiful plus is well run by the staff & crew, you can absolutely notice that she is not that old and everybody does there job well.

 

She has sooooooo many dining venues, you are sure NOT to need your belt anymore after the second day :D. Went to central park café on the first day for lunch (got onboard the ship at 11am, so go early to the terminal people, no crowds, easy on, great job there) and had the signature sandwich which is the roast beef one aka the Kummerwelck….Now that is one tasty thing, hmmmmm!

 

The board walk dog house, yet another great venue for a quick snack, choice out of 6 or so different hot dogs, all good.

 

If you want a free burger or simple hotdog with fries, nachos and other smaller bites, the wipe out café is an excellent idée for a quick snack.

 

Want it healthier? The Solarium bistro has loads of tasty (stagers exotic, like Belgian leaks :D ) things… The amazing smell when laying in the solarium when they start cocking just makes you hungry :D.

 

And for anybody’s needs there is still the windjammer if you can find it, as they have placed this in the Viking crown…What I find a strange place, but then again where should they have put it, as I can go on for hours on what they did place in all those other places onboard :D.

 

What I did find strange in the WJ, is that there is no longer an egg station there for breakfast…They make eggs but not the way you order it. If you want eggs made for you, Johnny rockets can help there for breakfast (no cover fee)

[Verfai]

Now here comes an interesting point for all you cruise critic fans out there…

 

We had classic dining at the late seating, one of the main things we really enjoy about cruising is the socialism of the people onboard, we have met some very interesting people onboard and have even made great friends (hopefully for life), so as we wanted to meet some new people on this cruise (we have always done my time on every other cruise) so we were very excited to meet our table mates on the first day :D.

 

We had a table of 4 so it would have been a hit or miss…So 8:30 comes along, we head down to the dining room, and our table mates where already seated, we were already getting excited as it was another young beautiful couple like ourselves ( ;) ).

We introduced ourselves quickly and sat, the hubby of the other couple first question is “is your name somewhere Verfai?” I reacted astonished as how would he have know that….He hesitates to go deeper on the question….But I insisted he continued as it is indeed my screen name on CC, and to all our surprises we were all on the roll call (also on the Facebook roll call)!

 

Out of 5000+ pax, how did Royal know to stick us together!? We concluded that this could not have been a coincidence….So is Royal Caribbean really following the roll calls in some way??????? Anyways, and this is the main reason we go addicted to cruising in the beginning :D people get along fast and well :D we ended up hanging out near every night and in in the day time sometimes.

 

N&J we had a true blast with you guys, made the vacation wonderful and into what we were looking for, hope to see you guys again somewhere, fair winds to you and the family!

 

On the note of the MDR, we were placed in the private seating area on deck 5 (look it up on the deck plans)…What complete moron at Royal ship design drew that!? You are basically banished from the MDR and miss anything that goes on there….Not what we were looking for, strange, strange and saw that a lot of Platinum and above people where sat there, could this have been the reason they sat us there? We asked the waiter and he could not answer us.

[Verfai]

What did we do as an extra venue at cover charge?

 

We did do the Prohibition Party, it looked like a good concept online, but why would they not make this a more mingle venue??? They place a bunch of chairs in an open circle towards the stage in the jazz club, so you are stuck in your chair…Did not like this about the event, about 90% did dress up for the event.

 

We did the samba grill, here to looked good online, yet we founds all meats that we got to be overcooked, some even dried out…We did have a good laugh about it as our table mates decided to join us for dinner here…We did have moooooore than enough to eat trough, but they need to turn down the heat in the kitchen.

 

We did Izumi for lunch, that was just great, the sushi is made in front of you and the wait staff are extremely friendly, if you want a great drink try the Sake cocktail there, it is stroooooong and good

[Verfai]

We did two excursions with Royal and one a DIY.

 

Frist up was the shallow dolphin encounter at Atlantis Bahamas, it was the lifelong dream of the girl to meet a dolphin and this was worth every penny we spend on it. Atlantis was beautiful and the dolphin trainers did a great job teaching you how to properly interact with those animals.

 

We spend about 2 hours at the dolphin bay and we spend about another hour to take pictures of this great resort…I do have to say, that the check-in of the excursion was a little chaotic, this is handled by the people of Atlantis not the crew of the ship…It did not go as smoothly as we were used to from Royal. To bad the ship leaves at 2pm, so you really need to check your clock and the last bus from Atlantis to the ship is at 1pm

 

We did a DIY, take a cab to Orient beach at Saint Maarten, this was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen in my life…Now comes the PGI18 part ;), we did go to both sides of the beach, all the warnings you get of the right side of the beach are untrue!!! The average was not 90, it was not all male voyeurs, plus were you were constantly bothered for buying something or getting a massage at the clothing part, the nude part had ZERO of this crap….If you have an interest to try something like this, go for it and do a stroll in Adam and Eve uniform down the beach, you might like it, nobody will look at you strangely (than again this was my European view of the beach).

 

On the last day we did an Everglades tour with Royal, this was wonderful, got an 45 minute airboat ride in the Everglades, saw about 4 alligators plus a bunch of birds and at the end you are treated to an alligator wrestling demonstration, you got to take a massive amount of pictures, you are constantly reminded the extra gratuities are widely excepted :D.

[Verfai]

To round up, the ship was packed, on sea days if you are not a towel hog or get up real early you will have a hard time finding a free lounge chair, you were able to find one at the very back of the ship between the flow riders.

 

We also did the zip line, fun but very short, you don’t really have the time to enjoy the view you get from that rush.

 

If anybody has any questions, shoot (skip the dumb ones please, this was our opinion on the ship and the cruise)

 

So we loved the Caribbean, just not the ship, we had a blast made great friends again (whooo) up to the next one…Only I have no clue what to pick ;) maybe the same cruise on a Freedom or “lower class”.

 

Pictures to follow tomorrow (unless there is zero interest, there are to many review of this ship out there)

[Familygoboston]

Thanks for your review! My DH felt a little like you, he likes things a little less "frantic" on his cruises, but we are on Oasis class again next month;) because we know the kids will love the shows and activities!

I for one, am an American who loves Orient in all it's forms;)

 

I am so glad to hear that you got to see the Everglades! It is an amazing ecosystem and one of the largest natural areas in our country. I like that foreign visitors get to see this part of " real" Florida, otherwise, they go home thinking the whole place is Miami beach ( or Hollywood, or Fort Lauderdale , or Ft Myers) and Disney world (or Universal or Lego land or sea world). There are many little pocket parks all around Florida where you can talk a walk on a boardwalk or paddle a mangrove and see the most amazing wildlife! So glad you got to experience that!

 

Looking forward to more!:o

[Cruising4]

Thank you for your review. We are considering the Oasis/Allure or NCL Epic for our next cruise. We've been on 6 cruises but none with more than 3000 passengers.

 

How were the crowds? Can the buffet and the ship overall handle that many people? It's unimaginable to me how that many people can get on or off a ship without a massive human pile up?

 

I think indoor places with an ocean view will get harder and harder to find, even on smaller ships. Most cruise lines seem to be putting suites or pay venues in those areas. I want to feel like I'm on a ship, not in a mall!

[Verfai]

Thanks for your review! My DH felt a little like you, he likes things a little less "frantic" on his cruises, but we are on Oasis class again next month;) because we know the kids will love the shows and activities!

I for one, am an American who loves Orient in all it's forms;)

 

I am so glad to hear that you got to see the Everglades! It is an amazing ecosystem and one of the largest natural areas in our country. I like that foreign visitors get to see this part of " real" Florida, otherwise, they go home thinking the whole place is Miami beach ( or Hollywood, or Fort Lauderdale , or Ft Myers) and Disney world (or Universal or Lego land or sea world). There are many little pocket parks all around Florida where you can talk a walk on a boardwalk or paddle a mangrove and see the most amazing wildlife! So glad you got to experience that!

 

Looking forward to more!:o

 

I went to Orlando in 95 with the parents, there we already saw the synthetic Florida ;) we did enjoy that, but this time as we are wildlife lovers we really wanted to see this, worth every penny, plus it dropped us off at MIA airport, the driver was wonderful and was a true tour guide.

And we did do south beach two days prior to this cruise, fun but I would not want to stay there for an entire week.

[Verfai]

Thank you for your review. We are considering the Oasis/Allure or NCL Epic for our next cruise. We've been on 6 cruises but none with more than 3000 passengers.

 

How were the crowds? Can the buffet and the ship overall handle that many people? It's unimaginable to me how that many people can get on or off a ship without a massive human pile up?

 

I think indoor places with an ocean view will get harder and harder to find, even on smaller ships. Most cruise lines seem to be putting suites or pay venues in those areas. I want to feel like I'm on a ship, not in a mall!

 

The crowds are well doable, there is a queue anywhere but never a long one, we did see a long line for the My time dining near every night. What we did notice was on prime times you did have to wait a long time for an elevator to pop up, we stopped counting the amount of times when we waited for 5 minutes and decided to take the stairs instead, we are young, but when the girl has her high heels on….oh dear :D

 

We never did the buffet for dinner, but at breakfast there was not really any issue, some things got depleted fast, but the staff was constantly filling it up again, you just needed 5 minutes of patience.

[jp1982]

This was so great to read! We are headed on the Oasis in April and I really can't wait, but I do like to actually see the ocean, so we'll see. Can't wait to see your pictures!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[scooter90]

I have to agree with you....I love Royal but am not ready for the Allure or the Oasis. I just feel they would be too big and too commercial for the type of cruise I want to experience. Having said that, I think you would be very pleased with the Freedom. She is a beautiful ship and has all the amenities you need without the hugeness of the Oasis class. Give her a try -- I think you will enjoy the Caribbean in the Freedom.

 

Looking forward to your pictures.

[Verfai]

This was so great to read! We are headed on the Oasis in April and I really can't wait, but I do like to actually see the ocean, so we'll see. Can't wait to see your pictures!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Your best bet is your cabin if you have an ocean view, the Solarium and somewhere on the open decks in the day…At night, good luck :s

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thank you for the review. I am excited to do Allure in 59 (!) days, but I also like to feel like I am on a ship. I know what to expect, though. So I think I will be ok. Since my DH loves the Promenade on other ships I think he will have no problem with the Allure. I am glad we have an OV balcony, though. Plus, I think we will like the Solarium. That has always been a favorite place of ours to hang out.

 

I am looking forward to your pictures.

[Verfai]

I have to agree with you....I love Royal but am not ready for the Allure or the Oasis. I just feel they would be too big and too commercial for the type of cruise I want to experience. Having said that, I think you would be very pleased with the Freedom. She is a beautiful ship and has all the amenities you need without the hugeness of the Oasis class. Give her a try -- I think you will enjoy the Caribbean in the Freedom.

 

Looking forward to your pictures.

 

Enjoyed LOS 3 times and NOS, so plenty of Freedom class already, just not in the Caribbean, so I guess so to :D. However you must experience this ship once, just don’t repeat ;) lol all their own opinion

[travelplus]

I was not really planning on going to write a review, but as I had a heck of a lot of time on my hands flying back home…And it’s a bumpy ride I can tell you that, so lucky you…here we go :D

 

First as always, who are we? We are a couple from Belgium in our early 30s, discovered cruising in 2011 and got addicted pretty darn fast :D. This was our 5th cruise with Royal but first time in the Caribbean.

 

Thought I might just give you all a few highlights and some of our inside thoughts on this cruise (don’t worry followed by a BUNCH of pictures ;) ).

Let’s start whit what most end with, our conclusion: “We did not like the Allure much and at this point we will not sail on an Oasis class again, we did love the Caribbean and the cruise”. This as what she is, is one beautiful ship that has way to many great venues and attractions, we had a great vacation, fantastic even, would even dare say the best :D…However, why did we mainly NOT like the Allure? Easy, she is TOOOOOOO BIG and did not have the feeling of being a ship anymore!!!

 

Which is a strange thing for me to say as I consider myself a “tec guy” that really has it in for the big massive moving engineering marvels….But when on a cruise, I want to feel like I am on a ship, the Allure is not a ship, it’s a floating hotel/resort/apartment/shopping mall complex, that does not really give you the feeling that you are on a ship floating in the ocean at all, which is actually a strange conclusion as she rocks and tilts like heck! We have been in heavy gales on the Navigator and that rocked and tilted less than what we experienced on the Allure, we were very surprised by this phenomenon (I do have to say the weather was not that great the first couple of days, but even in normal weather we felt a lot more motion than we ever did on Liberty or Navigator)…I will add if you are a cruiser and fan of Royal Caribbean you have to be on this ship at least once, just for the experience, but not a return ship (for us at least)…A Freedom class does feel like a ship and has near all the wow factor of the Oasis class.

 

The easiest example of “the not feeling like on a ship” is the pure lack of places you can view the passing ocean, not one bar in the royal promenade has a window that actually gives you an ocean view (loads of windows, like in the champagne bar, but they are blocked by artificial drawings, posters and stickers. Central park is extremely beautiful but totally enclosed by about 200+ inside balcony rooms that go sky high, the boardwalk whilst open in the back has a huge sail hanging there so you can’t really see any water plus here to the problem of the sky high inside balcony rooms…We had breakfast at Johnny Rockets one morning, sitting there I might as well have been in Brussels on a summers morning in some café. The bars that do have a great ocean view like in the Viking crown, which is absolutely beautiful, but the choice of the singers in that venue and music choice, set to a loud (and for those that don’t know me, I am a DJ as hobby) un equalized volume with two voices where one sings beautiful ad and the other is just crap...So we RAN from that, sad as the Viking crown is usually our favorite place for pre-dinner drinks, if they would have set the music a little less high it would be better for the people that don’t want to listen to it and enjoy the view…What we always did on LOS, the music is set higher more towards the night time, not straight in the evening.

 

But by now I guess you all get my drift, I don’t plan on writing a 40 page long review :D.

 

I could not agree with you more. I am also a tech geek who loves all the new innovations however I think the Allure/Oaisis should be left for later in life. This is the reason why I'm going on the Navigator as opposed to a larger ship.

 

If there was no sign at the port that said "To Ship" I would have thought I was entering a resort attached to a shopping mall. It amazes me how they can operate such a vessel of that massive size.

[srvdmy4usn]

Thanks for the review! I have been reading all of them I can find as we have a visit to the Allure this September. I know some people get all up in arms when people have anything negative to say, but I appreciate reading the bad with the good!

 

Do you think the lack of ocean view is more because of the placement of venues? I would guess if you were pool dwellers you would have been topside more often and maybe not have noticed the lack of ocean view. It is a bummer that the bars and lounges do not have windows, you have to love enjoying a nice drink and a relaxing view of the waves hitting the horizon :)

[Verfai]

Thanks for the review! I have been reading all of them I can find as we have a visit to the Allure this September. I know some people get all up in arms when people have anything negative to say, but I appreciate reading the bad with the good!

 

Do you think the lack of ocean view is more because of the placement of venues? I would guess if you were pool dwellers you would have been topside more often and maybe not have noticed the lack of ocean view. It is a bummer that the bars and lounges do not have windows, you have to love enjoying a nice drink and a relaxing view of the waves hitting the horizon :)

 

No its just the entire design that’s off imo, they went for max cabins (and I understand why they do that dont get me wrong)…But I would have made glass window elevator decks on the inside and outside in central park and the boardwalk, kind of like Brilliance and Serenade have in the center, so you see the ocean trough those window walls from the inside…But than they would have to offer up a whole bunch of cabins.

[Familygoboston]

I went to Orlando in 95 with the parents, there we already saw the synthetic Florida ;) we did enjoy that, but this time as we are wildlife lovers we really wanted to see this, worth every penny, plus it dropped us off at MIA airport, the driver was wonderful and was a true tour guide.

And we did do south beach two days prior to this cruise, fun but I would not want to stay there for an entire week.

 

Don't get me wrong- I love WDW- was just there last week, but I also hiked along the Cypress Slough boardwalk in SW FL and was delighted to hear two bard owls hooting a call and response across the glade to eachother, see baby alligators, a dozen species of transient birds and a really cool snake! I'm just always glad when visitors from other countries get the opportunity to see that part of FL too! Glad you enjoyed the tour:D

[gelo7]

Nice review.

[Sinppu]

I want photos!!!! :D

[Robo1098]

I can see where you are coming from about the lack of ocean views depending on the cabin you have. I have had ocean balconies on Oasis and Allure and I didn't notice the lack of ocean views. We also spent a lot of time on the pool deck or the overhanging spas. I didn't miss the ocean views that much but it would be nice to have some additional bars with ocean views though. The split down the middle design kind of limits ocean views from many venues. I enjoyed the Oasis class and will book again but I can see where some would miss the ocean.

[Verfai]

I want photos!!!! :D

 

LOL :D like you have not seen them yet my dear future affair to be :p

[Verfai]

I can see where you are coming from about the lack of ocean views depending on the cabin you have. I have had ocean balconies on Oasis and Allure and I didn't notice the lack of ocean views. We also spent a lot of time on the pool deck or the overhanging spas. I didn't miss the ocean views that much but it would be nice to have some additional bars with ocean views though. The split down the middle design kind of limits ocean views from many venues. I enjoyed the Oasis class and will book again but I can see where some would miss the ocean.

 

Errr, I indeed did not mention, we had a ocean view balcony on deck 10n plenty of view there...Its the rest of the ship, were the livelihood is going on that is the problem, cabins and there views are used for different kind of “things” ;)

[Verfai]

As promised the pictures,

 

Us:

I am to guy on the right side, my girl next to me and our friends J&N next to us

 

Notic how the bowtie has found its way in the sea ;)