Allure of the Sea-Not that Alluring- summary of trip

[mpunt]

So I have had the past 5 days to really think about the cruise we just took. This is our 3rd cruise, but our first with Royal Caribbean. The first 2 were with MSC, which we really enjoyed but the kids (13 & 15) really wanted to do one of the big ships, so we decided to spend the extra money and go for the Allure. After reading many reviews we were so excited for great food and great service and a great trip. What we got was very mediocre. Everything started out great. Check in was super, we arrived at 230 to no line. Walked right on. Our room 12729 was in a great location and had a good amount of space for 4 of us and we had a great view of the Aqua theater right from our balcony, also the beds were very comfortable. We also had a bonus area 5 ft from our door was the back of the boat with 10 lounge chairs, which is open to everyone, but no one was ever around. Our steward Brendan was awesome. Anything we needed he was always there with a smile. Dinner the first night was My time dining. Service was pretty good and food was good, nothing special, but enjoyable. Our weather the entire time was beautiful. On day 2 we stopped by the teen club just to check it out for the kids, there were a few activities on the daily compass that the kids thought sounded fun. The guy there was nice, the area was a good space so the kids were optimistic and so were we .On our last cruises there were so many activities around the pool and in the evenings, even group exercising. That is not the case on Allure of the Sea. The daily activity sheet shows lots of events, but really there is not much. The cruise directors entertainment staff was AWFUL. They really are not interested in having a good time with the guests. They are not cheerful or even pleasant. On day 2 we decided to do the scavenger hunt at 2:30, no announcement that it was happening. So we left the pool and headed down to Dazzles which was the meeting spot, no lights were on and there were about 14 people there and it was 225pm. 230 no activities person, 235 no activities person at 238 a woman walked in with no smile, no hello she put her bag down and said sorry I'm late i was at another activity as if we were bothering her that we were there. Really awful attitude and VERY not friendly. She handed out papers with questions said get in groups of 6 and go. We added another little boy to our group and off we went. We came back (in first) and she still seemed annoyed. This was very typical, if you passed any of the staff on the boat they didn't say hello or smile they just talked among themselves. Dinner the 2nd night was Izumi. Very good. The hot rock was great for our son to cook his own steak on. The show Chicago was very good. Day 3 the pool is very congested, since there is a giant space in the middle for the Boardwalk and Central park. 4 small pools 1 kiddie, 1 sport( although only 2 events were there the whole cruise) and 2 general pools. Lots of chairs for sitting not lounging and then lounge chairs on lots of different ledges with no leg room or space to walk to get to your seat. There is a small stage which had a calypso band every so often. We were really ready for fun at the pool but there really was very little, on our other cruises there was stuff going on all the time, on this cruise you really had to search it out. There was one activity at the pool and we did take part in it. The Flowrider was good and so were the bartenders and music on the back deck. We went to Bingo and there are only 2 choices $34. or $67 which to me was a bit steep for 4 games. Again the staff was an issue, besides Gill calling crazy slow he was on stage with the microphone and took a 3 minute phone call while we all just sat there and waited for him to finish. Our first stop was Ladabee. We went to the beach for about an hour, the kids and husband went on the coaster and said it was fun. We went back to the boat to take advantage of the extra space by the pool. Turns out that was what most of the other cruisers did too. Our other dinners were giovanni's, food was very good and 150 Central also good the 6 salts were delicious. The my time dining remained ok and lunch at Park central was very good. Windjammer for most breakfasts just because it was easy, had an omelet one morning from wipeout and bagels at park central another morning. Our excursions from jamaica were great. I booked them on my own. We used Courtney Taylor tours ( I definitely would recommend them) and went river tubing and then lunch and then river rafting on the Martha Brae. If we go back we will definitely hit the Blue Hole. Cozumel we went to Mr. Sanchos beach club and it was very fun. Great pool, great staff and fun water activities. The comedians on the boat were really funny, and the ice skating show was entertaining. You know when you go on a cruise that you are going to pay for extras but it was very very noticeable on Allure of the Sea that you were going to pay for EVERYTHING. When you look at the daily schedule almost every other event was one that cost money even a cappuccino at the end of dinner. Every night RC had at least 10 photo areas to take pictures. Each picture cost $26. They really pushed purchasing those and announcing every shopping event, but yet they never announced any other event. Disembarkation was a nightmare!!! It took close to 2 hours to get off the boat. I understand it was a large boat, but by that time we were so ready to be off the boat that 2 hours was just not acceptable. After going on Allure we probably won't go a cruise for a long time it really was not a great cruise or worth the money spent.

[CoronaCRZR]

WOW, no enter key on your keyboard?

[f1mauro]

My eyes hurt.

[Cindy]

You might have better luck with responses if you repost that with some paragraphs. I couldn't even read it.

[birdofsong]

It sounds like there were quite a lot of things you liked about this cruise. I don't think anybody is going to like everything, but based on your assessment, I don't see this as a "bad" cruise. I'm not making light of the things that you had issues with. I do think that the staff needs to be invested in helping to make sure you have a good time, and I'm glad your steward did that, and that your meals were good.

 

I was on the Allure in July. I had a wonderful experience. I noticed that the staff was incredibly friendly with us, but perhaps not *as* friendly with some other people, and I chalk that up to the fact that we went out of our way to get to know them and get involved in activities (of which there were many).

 

I'm not saying we loved EVERYTHING, but I think our expectations were realistic about it.

[PCWalton1]

So I have had the past 5 days to really think about the cruise we just took. This is our 3rd cruise, but our first with Royal Caribbean. The first 2 were with MSC, which we really enjoyed but the kids (13 & 15) really wanted to do one of the big ships, so we decided to spend the extra money and go for the Allure. After reading many reviews we were so excited for great food and great service and a great trip. What we got was very mediocre. Everything started out great.

 

Check in was super, we arrived at 230 to no line. Walked right on. Our room 12729 was in a great location and had a good amount of space for 4 of us and we had a great view of the Aqua theater right from our balcony, also the beds were very comfortable. We also had a bonus area 5 ft from our door was the back of the boat with 10 lounge chairs, which is open to everyone, but no one was ever around. Our steward Brendan was awesome. Anything we needed he was always there with a smile.

 

Dinner the first night was My time dining. Service was pretty good and food was good, nothing special, but enjoyable. Our weather the entire time was beautiful.

 

On day 2 we stopped by the teen club just to check it out for the kids, there were a few activities on the daily compass that the kids thought sounded fun. The guy there was nice, the area was a good space so the kids were optimistic and so were we .On our last cruises there were so many activities around the pool and in the evenings, even group exercising. That is not the case on Allure of the Sea. The daily activity sheet shows lots of events, but really there is not much. The cruise directors entertainment staff was AWFUL. They really are not interested in having a good time with the guests. They are not cheerful or even pleasant.

 

On day 2 we decided to do the scavenger hunt at 2:30, no announcement that it was happening. So we left the pool and headed down to Dazzles which was the meeting spot, no lights were on and there were about 14 people there and it was 225pm. 230 no activities person, 235 no activities person at 238 a woman walked in with no smile, no hello she put her bag down and said sorry I'm late i was at another activity as if we were bothering her that we were there. Really awful attitude and VERY not friendly. She handed out papers with questions said get in groups of 6 and go. We added another little boy to our group and off we went. We came back (in first) and she still seemed annoyed. This was very typical, if you passed any of the staff on the boat they didn't say hello or smile they just talked among themselves.

 

Dinner the 2nd night was Izumi. Very good. The hot rock was great for our son to cook his own steak on. The show Chicago was very good.

 

Day 3 the pool is very congested, since there is a giant space in the middle for the Boardwalk and Central park. 4 small pools 1 kiddie, 1 sport( although only 2 events were there the whole cruise) and 2 general pools. Lots of chairs for sitting not lounging and then lounge chairs on lots of different ledges with no leg room or space to walk to get to your seat. There is a small stage which had a calypso band every so often. We were really ready for fun at the pool but there really was very little, on our other cruises there was stuff going on all the time, on this cruise you really had to search it out. There was one activity at the pool and we did take part in it.

 

The Flowrider was good and so were the bartenders and music on the back deck. We went to Bingo and there are only 2 choices $34. or $67 which to me was a bit steep for 4 games. Again the staff was an issue, besides Gill calling crazy slow he was on stage with the microphone and took a 3 minute phone call while we all just sat there and waited for him to finish.

 

Our first stop was Ladabee. We went to the beach for about an hour, the kids and husband went on the coaster and said it was fun. We went back to the boat to take advantage of the extra space by the pool. Turns out that was what most of the other cruisers did too.

 

Our other dinners were giovanni's, food was very good and 150 Central also good the 6 salts were delicious. The my time dining remained ok and lunch at Park central was very good. Windjammer for most breakfasts just because it was easy, had an omelet one morning from wipeout and bagels at park central another morning.

 

Our excursions from jamaica were great. I booked them on my own. We used Courtney Taylor tours ( I definitely would recommend them) and went river tubing and then lunch and then river rafting on the Martha Brae. If we go back we will definitely hit the Blue Hole.

 

Cozumel we went to Mr. Sanchos beach club and it was very fun. Great pool, great staff and fun water activities. The comedians on the boat were really funny, and the ice skating show was entertaining. You know when you go on a cruise that you are going to pay for extras but it was very very noticeable on Allure of the Sea that you were going to pay for EVERYTHING. When you look at the daily schedule almost every other event was one that cost money even a cappuccino at the end of dinner.

 

Every night RC had at least 10 photo areas to take pictures. Each picture cost $26. They really pushed purchasing those and announcing every shopping event, but yet they never announced any other event. Disembarkation was a nightmare!!! It took close to 2 hours to get off the boat. I understand it was a large boat, but by that time we were so ready to be off the boat that 2 hours was just not acceptable. After going on Allure we probably won't go a cruise for a long time it really was not a great cruise or worth the money spent.

 

Does this help? :)

[breezy_carol]

I wanted to read it but couldn't get past the first three lines.

 

ETA, thanks Bill. Now I can read it.

Edited November 29, 2014 by breezy_carol

[reallyhooked]

RCI just isn't your cup of tea. They don't twist your arm to spend extra.we enjoyed Allure. The tables in MDR were a bit close, but no big deal. Hope you find a cruise that' s more suited for your taste. Patience & a smile.

Edited November 29, 2014 by reallyhooked

[Bronx12]

Overall, imo, sounds like you had a good time. You commented that the food was good, the room was good, your stateroom attendant was good, embarkation was good, the only issue you seem to have was some of the staff, the lack of announcements, and disembarkation, where you technically could have done express walk off.

We look through the cruise compass and highlight the different activities we are interested in doing. Some of the activities get announced, some don't, but we have planned our day and know where we need to be and when. Sorry that you feel that it was a waste of money. We have cruised about 10 times, and we make our vacations fun, even if things might not be quite what we thought. We have spent the money and we make lemonade if we are handed lemons:) We also choose to express walk off. Hopefully, this experience hasn't tarnished you too badly from cruising in the future.

Edited November 29, 2014 by Bronx12

[transam84]

As others have mentioned, you note quite a lot of positive things that you enjoyed. You complain about lack of activities but sure looks like you did quite a bit and most of them you seemed to enjoy. Also pay items are a personal choice. No one is forced to partake. I am just confused as you seem to have been disappointed in a cruise on which you liked so many things. Hmmm??? :confused:

[molly361]

Does this help? :)

 

Yes thank you!!

[American Bear]

As others have mentioned, you note quite a lot of positive things that you enjoyed. You complain about lack of activities but sure looks like you did quite a bit and most of them you seemed to enjoy. Also pay items are a personal choice. No one is forced to partake. I am just confused as you seem to have been disappointed in a cruise on which you liked so many things. Hmmm??? :confused:

 

Hmmmm?

We are D+, and have taken RCL cruises that weren't so good, could be just a bad week for the crew, bad week for other cranky cruisers, or problems with the ship, etc.!

We'd suggest the OP take another cruise on a smaller ship, the Allure/Oasis aren't our cup of tea either!:)

[Merion_Mom]

1. Thanks to PCWalton for doing what I would have done.

 

2. That is the most positive negative review that I have ever read. It sounds like you liked almost everything. But you still have decided that you had a bad time. HUH?

 

3. I was on the same cruise. Had no problems. Liked all of the things that you liked. :)

 

4. Who told you that the Allure had "great food"? I have never read that anywhere. You seem to have chosen specialty dining for most of your dinners and really liked them. That's a good thing, right?

 

5. Most people feel that making announcements all the time is a BAD thing. Read and mark your Cruise Compass. Take responsibility for knowing when and where activities are.

 

6. I had less interaction with the CD's staff than you did, but experienced no sour faces or attitudes. Guess I'm just lucky. ;)

 

7. After all of the "bad things" that *I* have heard and read about MSC, I find it fascinating that you prefer it over the Allure. The Allure is amazing, with more activities than most people can experience in a week. General agreement is that a B2B is highly desirable for this reason. Having been on both Oasis and Allure several times, including B2B cruises, I agree with that view.

 

8. Please enjoy whatever cruise or vacation you next choose.

 

:)

[Cindy]

Thank you to PC Walton!:)

 

Mpunt, I'm sorry you have an overall bad feeling about the Allure, even though it seems like you enjoyed many of the things you did. We got off the Oasis a week ago, and we were super impressed with the ship, food, and entertainment. I thought the Compass had so many things to do that I couldn't have gotten to everything I wanted to do even if I was on for a month!:eek:

 

It's RCI's practice to not make a lot of announcements...passengers need to read the Compass and make a note of what they want to do because there won't be verbal reminders on the PA system for most activities. I prefer it that way, but if you're used to lots of announcements I can see why you expected things to be different. I don't like constant announcements interrupting whatever it is I'm doing!:D

 

I hope your next cruise meets your expectations!

[Starry Eyes]

You mention so many positive things.

Even one of your negatives is, to many of us, a huge plus- fewer announcements. Reading is fundamental.

I am sorry to hear that some activities staff seemd sour during your interactions. I have not had such an experience with activities staff; usually they are very cheery and energetic ( almost annoyingly so;)).

Two hours to get off a huge ship is not terribly out of line; use self disembarkation if you want to get off faster.

Perhaps you did not feel you got enough value for the money...after all your teens convinced you spend more on the big ship they wanted. maybe smaller, less expensive ships are more you.

[loubetti]

Thanks for breaking down the wall-o-text!

 

So, now, just what was the problem with this ship/cruise?

[Merion_Mom]

Starry Eyes, thank you for reminding me of one other thing that I wanted to mention.

 

mpunt was right about one negative.

 

Disembarkation was a major mess and PITA. I was very annoyed and aggravated myself. If I hadn't been in line with my friends, so we could chat and while away the time together, I probably would have exploded.

 

So this is one VERY legitimate complaint of the OP.

 

:(

[Lionesss]

Bill, thanks for making it readable (sp)

 

The only thing I got from the OP is he did not like much about the---

 

"BOAT"

 

I personally loved the ship:D

 

Happier sails ahead.

 

Sea Ya

[Irie]

We were recently on the allure and had an almost flawless trip. Any complaints are pretty minor. Did notice a slight bit more pressure to buy things.

 

With pre-paid tips we spent $57 onboard. Most of that was extra tips.

 

And we did a lot of stuff!

[dundeelass]

Well with so many cruises to compare to, i must admit i am looking forward to the allure in january alot. i have been on a boat that looked like the tug that pulled you out of the port and it was amazing. thank you the big red boat.

Just back from the queen eliazabeth a few weeks ago and it did not live up to the hype.

 

Sailed many times with Costa, some one week cruises cost $300 each and were fab. Everyone has a differant idea of what a good cruise should be but for me its meeting and making new friends. Food is second of course, being a foodie thats important too.

 

Dont let a few bad things put you off cruising, just try a differant line. Holland America has to be one of my faves with the NCL Epic a close second.

 

For us as a family its just great to escape the Scottish weather and laugh together. :p

Edited November 30, 2014 by dundeelass

[mpunt]

I love the responses that have been written, and when i wrote the review my main idea was to be sure for people to know that we had a nice vacation, just not a great vacation.

 

We did highlight things to do on the cruise and many of the things were good. It also depended on us. If you went to the 1 guy on the flowrider that was helpful then you had a good experience if you went to the guy who could care less then not so good.

 

We went to my time dining 4 nights and service got worse as the cruise went on. Our waiter actually told us he was counting the seconds to be off the boat. I would be too if I worked 6 months straight. We did make an attempt to get to know the staff there was no interest.

 

Also many of the teen activities were cancelled during our cruise. The Allure size boat may just not be for us

[Starry Eyes]

Starry Eyes, thank you for reminding me of one other thing that I wanted to mention.

 

mpunt was right about one negative.

 

Disembarkation was a major mess and PITA. I was very annoyed and aggravated myself. If I hadn't been in line with my friends, so we could chat and while away the time together, I probably would have exploded.

 

So this is one VERY legitimate complaint of the OP.

 

:(

Sorry to hear it was a bad disembarkation. Do you know the cause of the messy disembarkation?

 

Over the years, we have had lots of easy disembarkations, but we have also had some slow disembarkations on different cruise lines. The bad disembarkations usually seemed to be customs and immigration delays; ship staff seems as frustrated as passengers on these occasions. sometimes I can see ways that ship staff could, perhaps, have ameliorated the frustration a bit, but generally the root of the problem seemed to outside the cruise lines control. Once the backups and frustrations develop, the spiral can get ugly. Hope the next one is better.

[Merion_Mom]

Spaniel Lover's Allure video:

 

[YOUTUBE]UcGpcSaJIvQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

(he gave me permission to re-post)

Edited November 30, 2014 by Merion_Mom

[scottrn7]

Sorry to hear you had just a mediocre experience on Allure. We went on it just to check the ship out, was not into the activities too much. There is one thing that we have noticed on our past cruises where the staff is not warm, or seemed interested in customers it is due to moral overall. We had been on Mariner for the first time and noticed that the service we were accustomed too just was not the same as previous cruises.

 

Staff seemed short tempered and "bothered" even by our presence at times. My wife and I had befriended one of the managers who was over SeaTrek dive shop and we had drinks with him one night along with one of the couples we were traveling with who brought up the observation of staff not being what they normally should be. His comment was "if the crew are not happy, the customers will not be happy, and that is all I am going to say...".

 

I have remembered that and applied it in my management style years after that and yes, it will make a difference in customer's satisfaction in spite of bad outcomes.

 

Don't give up on future cruises with RCCL, each one is different with different experiences and personalities of it's own. We always look forward to see what the next one is like and the more we participate, the better the cruise!

 

The cruise directors entertainment staff was AWFUL. They really are not interested in having a good time with the guests. They are not cheerful or even pleasant.

[fsjosh]

I was on the same cruise, and the disembark deal was a mess. We had a 9:30 luggage tag and didn't clear customs till almost 11:30. The Ship staff didn't seem to know what was going on, just that the gangway kept getting closed. We used a couple porters for our luggage and they were blaming it on customs. That they had decided to change some stuff recently and it was backing things up. I have no idea what it was.

 

On the staff, we had some good experiences and some bad. The ones we had to deal with(room and dining) were all pleasant. The ones we had options on(mainly bartenders in our case), were a mixed bag. Some were great, some were bad. We just gravitated towards the good ones. We didn't really mess with activities or the CD staff much as that's not what we are into when we cruise.

 

We had fun and would do it again in a heartbeat if finances allowed. lol