Just back from Allure. Here's my comparisons to the Carnival experience

[martini_guy]

Instead of a review I thought I'd just give a rundown of how some things compared to what I have been accustomed to on the newer Carnival ships (Dream, Magic, and Breeze).

 

First here's what I thought was better on the Allure than on the Carnival ships:

 

Seating - LOTS of places to sit all over the ship. This included in the buffet, public areas and bars.

 

Pool chairs - No sign of chair hogs and I saw the RCCL staff grabbing towels off of empty chairs all the time.

 

Pools - Nice sized pools and several of them.

 

Pizza - Was actually something I would expect from a real pizzeria.

 

Drink package - RCCL offers different drink packages. I chose the premium one for $49/day. Some of the liquors offered were higher end ones than Carnival offers. I was also not limited to ordering one drink every 15 mins which was nice if I wanted to bring two drinks back to my room to have on the balcony. There's also no 15/day limit not that I would've hit that amount. You can also use the drink package in the MDR which was nice.

 

Kids activities - How can you beat the zip line, ice skating, flow rider and rock climbing wall?

 

Here's what I liked better on Carnival:

 

Food - On Carnival, more variety in the MDR, the deli, the steakhouse is WAY better. The buffet in the Allure had a large variety but nothing cohesive. They would have one indian dish, one asian dish, etc. Not ideal if you feel like an indian or asian style meal. I also REALLY missed the Blue Iguana Cantina for breakfast and lunch. Guy's burgers is also a 9/10 for me vs Johnny Rockets which I would maybe give a 3/10 (didn't like it except for breakfast).

 

Trivia - Carnival has trivia daily and has several types per day. On the Allure, General trivia was offered once a day on sea days with a handful of other types of trivia.

 

Game/Activities - Those one off games and activities are offered daily or more in Boardwalk Plaza. They are usually run by someone who speaks English as a first language. This was a problem on the Allure where some of the activities were run by people with poor English language skills (including comprehension) which made playing some of the games very difficult and less enjoyable.

 

Bars - The Allure claims to have 26 bars, but many are only open on rare occasion (late evenings, before dinner, etc). The entire pool deck has 3 bars all within 1 min walk of each other. This makes for a long walk for much of the pool deck. I prefer Carnivals layout much better. The Carnival bars are also more of a place to hang out, where on the Allure it was more where people would get a drink and walk away with it.

 

Deli - The Allure version of the deli is the Park Cafe. It has some deli type offerings but with the exception of the Beef on Weck they offer which was outstanding, most of the deli type sandwiches were not very good. I badly missed the Carnival deli.

 

Comedy - I like the multiple shows offered throughout the cruise on Carnival. On the Allure one adult show is offered and one all ages show for the entire cruise!

 

Kids/Teen club - My daughter thought the club was 'ok' on the Allure but is demanding that our next cruise be on Carnival. She's very social and really enjoys the teen club on Carnival.

 

I'll leave it at that for now. I'm didn't make this thread to bash the Allure or Carnival. They both have great things to offer. I'm just highlighting what I miss from the experience Carnival offers. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

[momof3cruisers]

Interesting. We too were on Allure but back in April, after having done a few Carnival cruises. We had almost opposites of positives and negatives from you. LOTS of chair hogs. There was a grouping of probably 30 chairs with a book, a shoe, a towel etc pretty much daily and nothing was ever done. By about two p.m. Passengers would finally just start moving things.

 

We did not like their pizza at all, but from what I can gather, Carnival has changed their pizza since we last sailed them.

 

My kids MUCH preferred the RCCL teen club over Carnival.

 

Wholeheartedly agree with you on the food, trivia and game type activities.

 

So fun how people can see things so differently. Just goes to show that often you just have to go experience it for yourself.

[martini_guy]

Interesting. We too were on Allure but back in April, after having done a few Carnival cruises. We had almost opposites of positives and negatives from you. LOTS of chair hogs. There was a grouping of probably 30 chairs with a book, a shoe, a towel etc pretty much daily and nothing was ever done. By about two p.m. Passengers would finally just start moving things.

 

We did not like their pizza at all, but from what I can gather, Carnival has changed their pizza since we last sailed them.

 

My kids MUCH preferred the RCCL teen club over Carnival.

 

Wholeheartedly agree with you on the food, trivia and game type activities.

 

So fun how people can see things so differently. Just goes to show that often you just have to go experience it for yourself.

 

After talking to many people on cruises it seems like things can change a lot from month to month.

 

On Carnival with chair hogs it seemed insane to me. They just didn't seem willing to enforce it at all. Maybe it's new, but on my Allure cruise I was VERY happy to finally be able to get a seat.

 

On the Allure, the main thing on my cruise was people annoyed by the food. Even some first time cruisers were not happy. You could sit down at any bar and ask a random person how their dinner was and it was almost universally a bad experience. It really wasn't terrible but just didn't live up to most peoples expectations.

 

For the record I still think the Carnival buffet really sucks, as well as the pizza. But the deli, Indian, and Guy's burger are all fantastic.

Edited October 15, 2014 by martini_guy

[Spudder]

You can also use the drink package in the MDR which was nice.

 

 

We had no problem using Cheers in the MDR on The Glory.

 

Thanks for the comparison.

[Havingfun2010]

Instead of a review I thought I'd just give a rundown of how some things compared to what I have been accustomed to on the newer Carnival ships (Dream, Magic, and Breeze).

 

First here's what I thought was better on the Allure than on the Carnival ships:

 

Seating - LOTS of places to sit all over the ship. This included in the buffet, public areas and bars.

 

Pool chairs - No sign of chair hogs and I saw the RCCL staff grabbing towels off of empty chairs all the time.

 

They will remove them, also if you ask.

 

Pools - Nice sized pools and several of them.

 

Ship is huge with up to 6300 passengers....

 

Pizza - Was actually something I would expect from a real pizzeria.

 

Sorry, neither Carnival, or RCCL is like a real pizzeria, however, it is good.

 

Drink package - RCCL offers different drink packages. I chose the premium one for $49/day. Some of the liquors offered were higher end ones than Carnival offers. I was also not limited to ordering one drink every 15 mins which was nice if I wanted to bring two drinks back to my room to have on the balcony. There's also no 15/day limit not that I would've hit that amount. You can also use the drink package in the MDR which was nice.

 

You can also use the drink package on the private islands, and everyone in the room will not need to get one....RCCL trusts their guest.

 

Kids activities - How can you beat the zip line, ice skating, flow rider and rock climbing wall?

 

What are you talking about? Kid's activities? The last I was on, I did them all!!!!!!

Here's what I liked better on Carnival:

 

Food - On Carnival, more variety in the MDR, the deli, the steakhouse is WAY better. The buffet in the Allure had a large variety but nothing cohesive. They would have one indian dish, one asian dish, etc. Not ideal if you feel like an indian or asian style meal. I also REALLY missed the Blue Iguana Cantina for breakfast and lunch. Guy's burgers is also a 9/10 for me vs Johnny Rockets which I would maybe give a 3/10 (didn't like it except for breakfast).

 

Buffet on Carnival has more items, but has a poor layout for large crowds, with one line on each side. Part of the big picture is that RCCL places food stations around the buffet, which eliminates most lines. The drawback is that they have less variety. I would rather have less variety, than waiting in line.

Trivia - Carnival has trivia daily and has several types per day. On the Allure, General trivia was offered once a day on sea days with a handful of other types of trivia.

 

Game/Activities - Those one off games and activities are offered daily or more in Boardwalk Plaza. They are usually run by someone who speaks English as a first language. This was a problem on the Allure where some of the activities were run by people with poor English language skills (including comprehension) which made playing some of the games very difficult and less enjoyable.

 

Did someone say "international ship"?

 

Bars - The Allure claims to have 26 bars, but many are only open on rare occasion (late evenings, before dinner, etc). The entire pool deck has 3 bars all within 1 min walk of each other. This makes for a long walk for much of the pool deck. I prefer Carnivals layout much better. The Carnival bars are also more of a place to hang out, where on the Allure it was more where people would get a drink and walk away with it.

 

I'm confused about this. The Allure had beer stations set up on deck, as well as the bars. Each bar has sitting areas as well as the bar stools. Every neighborhood had bars open. The only bars not open were the clubs that were closed.

Deli - The Allure version of the deli is the Park Cafe. It has some deli type offerings but with the exception of the Beef on Weck they offer which was outstanding, most of the deli type sandwiches were not very good. I badly missed the Carnival deli.

 

Comedy - I like the multiple shows offered throughout the cruise on Carnival. On the Allure one adult show is offered and one all ages show for the entire cruise!

 

Kids/Teen club - My daughter thought the club was 'ok' on the Allure but is demanding that our next cruise be on Carnival. She's very social and really enjoys the teen club on Carnival.

 

My kids loved RCCL more than CCL. As far as your statement concerning Carnival, I would be careful of what your daughter wants. The teens are not supervised, and curfews are not enforced on CCL. Yes, it's more fun, but seriously, watch out for what "fun" means for a teenager on a CCL cruise. I'm talking about first hand experience.

 

I'll leave it at that for now. I'm didn't make this thread to bash the Allure or Carnival. They both have great things to offer. I'm just highlighting what I miss from the experience Carnival offers. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

 

You can't compare this ship to CCL. Nothing matches. What is "better" is a matter of opinion. However, the Oasis and Allure are awesome ships, and any comparision can not be accurate......

[KAP622]

Instead of a review I thought I'd just give a rundown of how some things compared to what I have been accustomed to on the newer Carnival ships (Dream, Magic, and Breeze).

 

First here's what I thought was better on the Allure than on the Carnival ships:

 

Seating - LOTS of places to sit all over the ship. This included in the buffet, public areas and bars.

 

Pool chairs - No sign of chair hogs and I saw the RCCL staff grabbing towels off of empty chairs all the time.

 

Pools - Nice sized pools and several of them.

 

Pizza - Was actually something I would expect from a real pizzeria.

 

Drink package - RCCL offers different drink packages. I chose the premium one for $49/day. Some of the liquors offered were higher end ones than Carnival offers. I was also not limited to ordering one drink every 15 mins which was nice if I wanted to bring two drinks back to my room to have on the balcony. There's also no 15/day limit not that I would've hit that amount. You can also use the drink package in the MDR which was nice.

 

Kids activities - How can you beat the zip line, ice skating, flow rider and rock climbing wall?

 

Here's what I liked better on Carnival:

 

Food - On Carnival, more variety in the MDR, the deli, the steakhouse is WAY better. The buffet in the Allure had a large variety but nothing cohesive. They would have one indian dish, one asian dish, etc. Not ideal if you feel like an indian or asian style meal. I also REALLY missed the Blue Iguana Cantina for breakfast and lunch. Guy's burgers is also a 9/10 for me vs Johnny Rockets which I would maybe give a 3/10 (didn't like it except for breakfast).

 

Trivia - Carnival has trivia daily and has several types per day. On the Allure, General trivia was offered once a day on sea days with a handful of other types of trivia.

 

Game/Activities - Those one off games and activities are offered daily or more in Boardwalk Plaza. They are usually run by someone who speaks English as a first language. This was a problem on the Allure where some of the activities were run by people with poor English language skills (including comprehension) which made playing some of the games very difficult and less enjoyable.

 

Bars - The Allure claims to have 26 bars, but many are only open on rare occasion (late evenings, before dinner, etc). The entire pool deck has 3 bars all within 1 min walk of each other. This makes for a long walk for much of the pool deck. I prefer Carnivals layout much better. The Carnival bars are also more of a place to hang out, where on the Allure it was more where people would get a drink and walk away with it.

 

Deli - The Allure version of the deli is the Park Cafe. It has some deli type offerings but with the exception of the Beef on Weck they offer which was outstanding, most of the deli type sandwiches were not very good. I badly missed the Carnival deli.

 

Comedy - I like the multiple shows offered throughout the cruise on Carnival. On the Allure one adult show is offered and one all ages show for the entire cruise!

 

Kids/Teen club - My daughter thought the club was 'ok' on the Allure but is demanding that our next cruise be on Carnival. She's very social and really enjoys the teen club on Carnival.

 

I'll leave it at that for now. I'm didn't make this thread to bash the Allure or Carnival. They both have great things to offer. I'm just highlighting what I miss from the experience Carnival offers. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

 

Loved your review

[cruizinisthebest]

You can't compare this ship to CCL. Nothing matches. What is "better" is a matter of opinion. However, the Oasis and Allure are awesome ships, and any comparision can not be accurate......

 

It's the OPs review. Not yours. He/she can compare whatever they want. Just because you don't agree with it (shocker), doesn't invalidate it. It's an opinion.

 

Thanks for your summary OP. Enjoyed it!

[LHARTWICK]

I appreciate your comparison. We've sailed on both RCCL and CCL, as well as others. When people ask us which line is our favorite, we never have a direct answer. It's more ship to ship rather than cruise line to cruise line. For us, no one cruise line is perfect. The only perfect line would be one that would combine all of the POSITIVE aspects of all of the lines into one. They all have good/bad, IMHO. We aren't loyal to any of them. It seems that if you only cruise on one line, you're missing the good aspects of others. Having said that, I certainly won't criticize someone for doing so - to each his own. Mixing it up just works for us. We have friends who will only use RCCL because they feel RCCL does absolutely nothing wrong. We like RCCL, but we also like others equally well. Again, thanks for the comparison.

[martini_guy]

You can't compare this ship to CCL. Nothing matches. What is "better" is a matter of opinion. However, the Oasis and Allure are awesome ships, and any comparision can not be accurate......

 

Yes this was only my opinion. Oasis and Allure ARE awesome ships but so are the Dream, Magic and Breeze.

[LHARTWICK]

but so are the Dream, Magic and Breeze.

 

Agreed! Dream and Magic are our two faves - hope to sail on the Breeze soon. Thanks again, OP!

[MaiTaiMary]

I enjoyed this comparison. Thanks! :)

[OCruisers]

Thanks for your time to do this comparison! Always great to have lots of different opinions! :D

LuLu

[Podna's]

You can't compare this ship to CCL. Nothing matches. What is "better" is a matter of opinion. However, the Oasis and Allure are awesome ships, and any comparision can not be accurate......

 

 

That's right and it was op's opinion. I agree there is no comparison also. I liked the Allure a lot but loved and preferred the Dream. Also my opinion.

[mom2tcdx2]

I have to say the Carnival Dream has been one of my most favorite ships, though my favorite cruise was my Trans-Atlantic on Disney. Each cruise has something different and I have found things I did and didn't like on each one. Someday I would like to try Royal, though their pricing has pretty much kept me away. I think it would be really interesting to see how the Allure or the Oasis are in comparison to other ships.

[NOSaints1]

One comparison is the price you pay.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[hirent]

Instead of a review I thought I'd just give a rundown of how some things compared to what I have been accustomed to on the newer Carnival ships (Dream, Magic, and Breeze).

 

 

Thanks for the comparison.

A lot of good comparison points.

 

We definitely want to cruise on the Oasis/Allure ships at least once.

[martini_guy]

One comparison is the price you pay.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Good point! That can be adjusted though depending on time of year, cabin type, etc.

 

For example, last time on the Carnival Breeze I had a balcony room in Feb and it was around $1200 each with taxes/fees. For this cruise on the Allure I had an inside balcony in Oct it was just over $1000 each with taxes/fees. I'm sure that an outside balcony in Feb would've been much more expensive.

[cruzmax]

Thanks for the comparison/review. We (a couple in our 50's) have cruised Royal, Celebrity, Carnival and Princess - and loved them all, for different reasons. We cruise on the newer ships, and have been thinking about trying Allure or Oasis.

I agree that on Carnival, the selection of places to eat is a plus. I love being able to have Ceviche at the Fish & Chips and love Mongolian Wok (on ships that have them). Guy's = yummy!

You made some very good points.

Edited October 16, 2014 by cruzmax
Spelling

[Orison]

Instead of a review I thought I'd just give a rundown of how some things compared to what I have been accustomed to on the newer Carnival ships (Dream, Magic, and Breeze).

 

First here's what I thought was better on the Allure than on the Carnival ships:

 

Seating - LOTS of places to sit all over the ship. This included in the buffet, public areas and bars.

 

Pool chairs - No sign of chair hogs and I saw the RCCL staff grabbing towels off of empty chairs all the time.

 

Pools - Nice sized pools and several of them.

 

Pizza - Was actually something I would expect from a real pizzeria.

 

Drink package - RCCL offers different drink packages. I chose the premium one for $49/day. Some of the liquors offered were higher end ones than Carnival offers. I was also not limited to ordering one drink every 15 mins which was nice if I wanted to bring two drinks back to my room to have on the balcony. There's also no 15/day limit not that I would've hit that amount. You can also use the drink package in the MDR which was nice.

 

Kids activities - How can you beat the zip line, ice skating, flow rider and rock climbing wall?

 

Here's what I liked better on Carnival:

 

Food - On Carnival, more variety in the MDR, the deli, the steakhouse is WAY better. The buffet in the Allure had a large variety but nothing cohesive. They would have one indian dish, one asian dish, etc. Not ideal if you feel like an indian or asian style meal. I also REALLY missed the Blue Iguana Cantina for breakfast and lunch. Guy's burgers is also a 9/10 for me vs Johnny Rockets which I would maybe give a 3/10 (didn't like it except for breakfast).

 

Trivia - Carnival has trivia daily and has several types per day. On the Allure, General trivia was offered once a day on sea days with a handful of other types of trivia.

 

Game/Activities - Those one off games and activities are offered daily or more in Boardwalk Plaza. They are usually run by someone who speaks English as a first language. This was a problem on the Allure where some of the activities were run by people with poor English language skills (including comprehension) which made playing some of the games very difficult and less enjoyable.

 

Bars - The Allure claims to have 26 bars, but many are only open on rare occasion (late evenings, before dinner, etc). The entire pool deck has 3 bars all within 1 min walk of each other. This makes for a long walk for much of the pool deck. I prefer Carnivals layout much better. The Carnival bars are also more of a place to hang out, where on the Allure it was more where people would get a drink and walk away with it.

 

Deli - The Allure version of the deli is the Park Cafe. It has some deli type offerings but with the exception of the Beef on Weck they offer which was outstanding, most of the deli type sandwiches were not very good. I badly missed the Carnival deli.

 

Comedy - I like the multiple shows offered throughout the cruise on Carnival. On the Allure one adult show is offered and one all ages show for the entire cruise!

 

Kids/Teen club - My daughter thought the club was 'ok' on the Allure but is demanding that our next cruise be on Carnival. She's very social and really enjoys the teen club on Carnival.

 

I'll leave it at that for now. I'm didn't make this thread to bash the Allure or Carnival. They both have great things to offer. I'm just highlighting what I miss from the experience Carnival offers. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

 

Being that Carnival never went forward with anything even remotely comparable to the Oasis/Allure, no comparison could even be made.

 

Sorry.

[jimbo5544]

However, the Oasis and Allure are awesome ships, and any comparision can not be accurate......

What a bunch of junk. Bigger my friend is not always better. Are they bigger, yes. Do they do a much better way of getting people on and off the ship yes. After that, it goes down hill. This superior RCCL thing is just your opinion.

[jimbo5544]

Being that Carnival never went forward with anything even remotely comparable to the Oasis/Allure, no comparison could even be made.

 

Sorry.

Thank heavens they did not go forward with behemoth models. If you are referring to size, we can agree on that.

[jimbo5544]

It's the OPs review. Not yours. He/she can compare whatever they want. Just because you don't agree with it (shocker), doesn't invalidate it. It's an opinion.

 

Thanks for your summary OP. Enjoyed it!

Very well said, on all points.

[Orison]

Thank heavens they did not go forward with behemoth models. If you are referring to size, we can agree on that.

 

Can't look at just size. I think, what, there are about 2000 more passengers on a ship twice the size? On can only dream of having 2000 passengers on a 110,000 ton vessel, ratio wise.

[jimbo5544]

Can't look at just size. I think, what, there are about 2000 more passengers on a ship twice the size? On can only dream of having 2000 passengers on a 110,000 ton vessel, ratio wise.

There is better use of space, that is true. As a frequent cruiser on Carnival, I really wanted to experience Oasis. Read my review of Oasis for my thoughts (both plus and minus). One of our son in laws is Diamond plus on Royal and we cruised with them on Oasis is March.

[martini_guy]

Can't look at just size. I think, what, there are about 2000 more passengers on a ship twice the size? On can only dream of having 2000 passengers on a 110,000 ton vessel, ratio wise.

 

The Allure is less crowded for sure, but also gives it a sort of sparse feeling for some things. For example at trivia which I would normally see at least 50 people on the Dream we would often get around 20 on the Allure.

 

I like how the Boardwalk Plaza concept just brings groups of people together to hang out. The seats in the Schooner bar are VERY nice but the layout is just not conducive to a social atmosphere that most people want for trivia and other similar games/activities.