A week on Allure a week on Sillie - some observations

[Bobal]

I asked the question on these boards some time ago, whether a ‘not quite’ B2B on Allure then Silhouette would be a good plan and got a resounding yes, so here are a few notes from our trip for those who may be interested. I will also post this on the Celebrity board.

 

A bit of background: We have experience of both cruise lines, having sailed on RC 13 times (but never on a class bigger than Voyager class) and Celebrity 4 times previously (twice on S class and twice on Millennium). We decided that Allure may be a bit big and crowded and rowdy for us but we wanted to try it, so we booked Silhouette for a quieter, more ‘refined’ second week. We are a couple in our 50’s (well, he’s 60!) but we often cruise with our sons who are in their 20’s and (being from the UK) have sailed in the Med quite often.

I don’t wish to get too long-winded about this so will just make some general observations about the things which struck us as particularly different between the ships, and please ask away if you want to know anything else…….here goes…

 

The Ships: Without doubt S class ships are beautiful – stylish and classy looking and better than any previous RC ship we’d experienced (bearing in mind we’d never sailed higher than Voyager class). Allure just blew us away – not just the sheer size but the attention to detail, the many different areas, the fact that there are so many spaces to accommodate so many people, without feeling crowded. Having said that, apart from Allure, S class are still the loveliest ships we’ve sailed on.

 

Stateroom: This is probably a bit unfair since we were upgraded to a JS within a week of sailing on Allure, but it doesn’t detract away from the fact that S class cabins are woeful in their lack of storage space and clumsy organisation of the cabin. I know that the D1 cabin we had originally booked on Allure would have been better organised with better storage space than our C1 cabin on Silhouette.

 

Pool Deck: OK there’s LOTS more pool deck on Allure but there are also lots more people. There were many loungers available at any time of day on the deck above the pool deck and we observed pool butlers strictly adhering to the ‘no reserving’ rule on the very popular Beach Deck. On Silhouette, as usual with S class ships, the loungers were jammed in together with no room to even place a drink on the floor but, more to the point, the pool butlers were useless. We lay next to 2 loungers with only 1 magazine on each for almost 3 hours with no pool butler in sight and many loungers were covered by only a towel for hours on end with poor people wandering round looking for a lounger. To be fair this has not been the case on our previous X cruisers. Controversial I know, but I think the lawn is a big waste of space and since a great part of it was brown and fenced off even that didn’t provide a place for people to retreat to away from the sardines on the deck below.

 

Dining Room: We always dine Select or MTD. Select Dining tables for 2 on S class ships are mainly truly awful – arranged in rows of 4 tables for 2, each table 2 inches apart – i.e. a table for 8!! If I choose to eat on a table for 2, I really don’t want to sit with other people – I’m a friendly person and happy to meet people in other venues on the ship but I like to spend my dinner time with my husband. Whichever RC ship we’ve been on, they always have better seating configuration for 2’s. Service on both lines is very good in the dining room.

 

Food: Celebrity wins hands down in the MDR and the buffet. Speciality Restaurants are all about choice but we loved Qsine (again) on Celebrity and 150 Central Park was wonderful on Allure.

 

Smoking policy – yes, yes, I know, but I do have an opinion and others may want to hear it ;). As non-smokers we like Celebrity’s policy of non-smoking on balconies and were glad to hear RC had introduced it. Whether it’s being fully enforced is another thing – there were definitely some balcony smokers on Allure. But the decision by RC to have one indoor smoking room – the casino – is unbelievable. There’s a smoking half and a non-smoking half – how on earth does smoke know to stay on one side of the room. You could smell the casino approaching from the stairs one deck away. I hope it’s bringing more revenue for RC because I (along with others who would have normally spent time there) decided to stay away

 

Entertainment: The entertainment on Allure is fantastic but then a lot of money has been thrown at creating a wonderful entertainment experience and it is the very best I’ve experienced on a cruise ship but it’s unrealistic to compare the two (apples and oranges). Entertainment on Silhouette (without the big budget of Allure) was also very good.

 

Passengers: More families and younger people on Allure - this was spring break period – but not as many as we thought. However, there were around 2000 Brazilians onboard (for Mardi Gras) which probably swayed the demographic a little – and created a very smoky casino :( But, having read about rude people, pushing into elevators etc, it didn’t seem any different to any RC cruise we’ve done before. Celebrity had a younger demographic than our other cruises, probably because it was a one week cruise in the Caribbean and our other cruisers have been longer. This actually made for a much livelier atmosphere at night in the bars and the casino rather than the graveyard atmosphere of a couple of X cruisers we’ve done

 

One downside though is the effect the free drinks package has had on some customers. I have never – even on RC and even on the one and only Carnival cruise I did – seen a situation where, on 3 occasions, people had vomited due to excessive alcohol. This is not hearsay – once I saw a woman stagger into the restroom and heard the results (yes, gross!), once the entrance to the dining room had to be cordoned off and then again on the last night at the Martini Bar.

 

General stuff: Officers are far more visible and far more friendly on Celebrity – I can’t even remember seeing an officer wandering around on Allure. X still has those nice touches – eg cold towels on deck and on embarkation. Celebrity beat Royal hands down with their daily Zumba classes – a fantastic addition to the X ships. Unfortunately both seem to be upping the sell sell sell mentality – leaflets, messages on the phones, messages on the stateroom TV, people pushing restaurants/spa/sales – both lines as bad as each other.

Having said I don’t want to get too long winded look what happened – oops, sorry :o

 

Having read back over this I seem to be a Royal champion, which I certainly didn’t set out to be, as we felt we’d moved on to Celebrity as the cruise line which was our best fit. Perhaps it’s because the Allure does actually seem to be a step up from our other RC ships – or that our X experience was a step down from previously. Either way we’ll be sailing them again – already booked with both. :)

[Cruisin' Along]

Thanks for writing this review. We are considering both cruise lines for future cruises. I always enjoy reading the pros, cons and comparisons!

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Thanks for your review! Sounds like you had 2 great cruises!!

[cb at sea]

Pool BUTLERS?????

[Dave85]

Great review!

 

I was on Silhouette last September and a lot of your comments echoed mine precisely. Particularly regarding the pool deck... For such a beautiful, brilliantly designed ship I think they really missed on the S Class pool deck.

 

But, I'm glad to hear that the 7 nighter in the Caribbean was more lively on X. We had a graveyard sailing in the Med (longer and off-season, so expected), but if we were to go back to X we'd try a 7-nighter in the Caribbean and hope it's a little livelier like yours was.

 

As someone sailing Allure in May I'm encouraged to hear that the pool deck personnel on Allure were assertive about clearing away CHOG paraphernalia and keeping things clean. Always appreciated.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Dave85

[Bobal]

Pool BUTLERS?????

 

That's the name they have on the back of their shirts!

[little britain]

Thank you for your review and comparisons - as X and ACC fans in recent years we are taking our first cruises on both Oasis and Allure and were rather apprehensive about crowding issues, but the more I read it seems we have nothing to worry about!;)