Completely Disappointed after two weeks on Allure

[LEOwife]

We just got back from two weeks on allure (b2b eastern and western Caribbean itinerary). Our first week, we spent on Deck 14 in two balcony rooms. My MIL traveled with us. That week was fantastic. Great service. Room was spotless and Elisabeth (our state room attendant made sure it was baby safe). No complaints other than the Coke machines weren't all working. No big deal. But the second week was horrible. We moved to a family suite since another couple joined us. First day we got into our suite (that we paid over $12k for), we noticed it wasn't cleaned. He just changed the towels and linens. Floor wasn't vacuumed. It was dusty and the balcony was so dirty our feet turned black after walking on it. We have a crawling, super active 9 month old so we are picky about the floor. It also was really dusty. My husband and I are really allergic to dust so we asked them to come back in and make sure it's clean for us. This was a huge ordeal. The house keeping supervisor had to come and look over our room. She blamed it on the fact that the attendant was new and nervous. Okay, that's fine. My husband and I are business owners so I can understand that. Just use this as a training experience. He never really cleaned the room like Elisabeth did the first week. He just changed towels and linens. Then come Thursday, everyone in our room got sick. My husband started looking around the room and noticed air vents. He opened them up and found this: [ATTACH]369334[/ATTACH]

 

We called the concierge and housekeeping and we were told that it wasn't their department and then looked at us like we grew two heads. My husband had to tell them to call maintenance to put new air filters in and deep clean the room or buy us all plane tickets from Cozumel home. They fixed it and the concierge offered to cover my son seeing the ship Doctor. We went down there on Saturday (the nurse we saw was rude, but the Bulgarian Doctor we saw was super sweet). We showed him the picture of the filters and he said that there was mold, not just dust. Lovely. He said that he doesn't have any baby meds on the ship and told me to just keep him out of the room as much as I can. Yes the room we paid $12k for.

 

The suite service on Allure was useless. The concierge was never on time to meet with us. And pretty much hid behind his desk. We expected them to be more involved with making sure we were maximizing our suite experience.

 

Guest services was a joke. We spent most of our time last week dealing with them. First, it was because they were crediting the wrong person for canceling pre-paid dinners. We were first told that we each had to go down there and sign off on them. We went down there and someone else told us it was taken care of. Turns out it wasn't so we all had to go back down there. Then, I got double charged for some gifts and gear that I bought but never got the charges sorted out. The 1-800 number told me to just handle it on the ship. Got to the ship and, on Saturday, went to talk to guest services about it and he told me that they don't handle the gifts and gear department and can't give me a credit. Well, when I was dealing with that, he failed to mention that some how my credit card was removed from my account and didn't ask if I wanted to pay off my account before I leave. We found this out at 6:30 this morning as we were walking off the ship and was refused disembarkation. We barely made it to our 8 am flight.

 

We were really looking forward to this trip. We had two people that have never cruised before and one person that has only cruised on Carnival. My husband and I cruised on Allure for our honeymoon during her inaugural season and she kickstarted our addiction to cruising. Since then we have been on Oasis and Freedom. Honestly, after this week, I doubt we will cruise on Allure ever again and depending on how Royal Caribbean handles us asking for the doctors notes tomorrow so I can take my son to his normal pediatrician, we might not be back.

Edited November 22, 2015 by LEOwife

[marci22]

link doesn't work

[Merion_Mom]

It does sound like you had diametrically opposed weeks. I wish you luck in getting an adequate response from Royal Caribbean.

 

ayera-rodriguez@rccl.com may be able to help

[chengkp75]

Sounds like your service was sub-standard, but I have my reservations about a doctor who can recognize mold from a cell-phone photo. This typically requires microscopic inspection. I also have my doubts about this being mold in an A/C filter onboard. Typically, the air handlers drop the humidity during cooling to the point where mold won't form in the ducts. The moisture taken from the air is collected in drain pans, which have sanitizing pads in them to prevent mold and bacteria formation.

 

Your attachment doesn't work, but I would hesitate to declare anything as mold or not from a photo.

[F27TW]

. The house keeping supervisor had to come and look over our room. She blamed it on the fact that the attendant was new and nervous.

 

We found this out at 6:30 this morning as we were walking off the ship and was refused disembarkation. We barely made it to our 8 am flight.

 

.

 

That's one of the worst answers I can imagine ... You put the "new, nervous" cabin steward down in some inside cabins on Deck 1 to get his experience .. not the $12,000 Family Suite !

 

And ... did u really schedule an 8am flight out of FLL?

[cincicruisers]

Sorry you had a bad cruise. Not understanding why they would have newbie working on the suite rooms?? He may have just made that up. In my experience the newbies try harder to please while the seasoned seaward might not do as good of a job.

[cruisevv]

1. So so sorry about your experience.

 

2. Picture - can you re-attach it?

 

3. You made an 8:00am flight with 3 people and an infant? That's making my 9:30am flight looking more-and-more feasible! Thx

[Merion_Mom]

1. So so sorry about your experience.

 

2. Picture - can you re-attach it?

 

3. You made an 8:00am flight with 3 people and an infant? That's making my 9:30am flight looking more-and-more feasible! Thx

 

You would have to do self-disembarkation and take all of your own luggage. Can you handle that with a baby?

[Merion_Mom]

That's one of the worst answers I can imagine ... You put the "new, nervous" cabin steward down in some inside cabins on Deck 1 to get his experience .. not the $12,000 Family Suite !

 

And ... did u really schedule an 8am flight out of FLL?

 

FYI, there are no passenger cabins on Deck 1.

[LEOwife]

You would have to do self-disembarkation and take all of your own luggage. Can you handle that with a baby?

 

 

Totally. We've always done early flights. We got up at 5:30 and just transferred the baby from his crib to his stroller. Fed him his breakfast bottle on the way out.

[LEOwife]

I'm trying to repost the picture but it's not working from the cruise critic app :(

[riclop]

Wow it sounds horrible for that 2nd week and especially for the $$$ spent.

[cruisevv]

You would have to do self-disembarkation and take all of your own luggage. Can you handle that with a baby?

 

Don't have one, I always carry my own luggage and self-disembark was my original plan - so yes. ^.^

 

But seriously LeoWife, you have my applause. And thanks for sharing the photo again - can see it now.

[nelblu]

Sorry for your experience. Dis you adjust (down) your grats for the suite cabin steward.

[Ocean Boy]

FYI, there are no passenger cabins on Deck 1.

 

Then that makes it the perfect location for a new and nervous cabin attendent wh isn't doing his/her job very well.

[tugboat]

I'm trying to repost the picture but it's not working from the cruise critic app :(

 

Explains why so many folks get home with what they called a cold more like mold

[chengkp75]

Explains why so many folks get home with what they called a cold more like mold

 

And you can tell that from a 2" square photo? Without seeing what the other side of the filter looks like? If only one side looks like that, and the other side is clean, then the filter is doing its job. And the difference between particulate matter and mold is so obvious?

[Cindy]

Sorry you had such a bad second week. There's really no excuse for the cabin to be in that condition...regardless of the category or how much you paid.

 

I'm actually shocked you made an 8:00 a.m. flight. I would never risk trying to get out that early. Even if everything goes perfectly I think the chances of making it are stacked against you.

[BamaGuy44]

And you can tell that from a 2" square photo? Without seeing what the other side of the filter looks like? If only one side looks like that, and the other side is clean, then the filter is doing its job. And the difference between particulate matter and mold is so obvious?

 

No but a trained doctor looking at the photo and comparing that with the symptoms someone is showing can make a pretty educated guess don't you think?

[DEIx15x8]

I think this is a great example of why people can have two differing views of the same sailing. The general staff and functionality of the ship didn't change between sailings, but by moving cabins it raised the expectations while sadly also seeming to lower the quality of what was delivered. It seems to have been two very different experiences. I had a similar situation with my two Quantum sailings last year where the first was abysmal and the second was rather enjoyable.

 

It sounds like you enjoyed your previous sailing on the Allure, so I wouldn't let this one bad sailing throw you off her. You could easily get the great cabin steward and problem free sailing next time on her, or get another terrible cabin steward on any other ship with any line. If your hesitant about trying her again but like the ship, consider Oasis or Harmony next to change it a little bit but still get what you like.

Edited November 23, 2015 by DEIx15x8

[chengkp75]

No but a trained doctor looking at the photo and comparing that with the symptoms someone is showing can make a pretty educated guess don't you think?

 

I would think that before the doctor made a diagnosis, he would want to verify that he was dealing with mold, which can be determined pretty quickly under a microscope, which he would have. Further, how would he know that the filter was the source of the mold, and not someplace else, like behind the walls of a cabin or in the carpeting?

[A&L_Ont]

I would think that before the doctor made a diagnosis, he would want to verify that he was dealing with mold, which can be determined pretty quickly under a microscope, which he would have. Further, how would he know that the filter was the source of the mold, and not someplace else, like behind the walls of a cabin or in the carpeting?

 

I'd say you are 100% correct. From the OP's first post, the only mention of mold was from the doctor. The OP talked about a dusty room and a dirty balcony, unless I missed it.

 

I wonder if the the filters were just as clogged for the cabin they had the first week. Since the cabin was cleaned to their liking the OP's DH didn't investigate and inspect the cabin so closely and it went undiscovered.

[kennyken14]

I'm still impressed you booked and made an 8am flight. Even if you are up and ready to walk off immediately that gives you what 90 minutes to walk off, go through customs, get a cab, clear tsa, and make it to your gate. I know FLL is right next door but that takes some faith and courage in zero delays

[Thetrail]

I'm still impressed you booked and made an 8am flight. Even if you are up and ready to walk off immediately that gives you what 90 minutes to walk off, go through customs, get a cab, clear tsa, and make it to your gate. I know FLL is right next door but that takes some faith and courage in zero delays

I'm impressed at all by that move, what is impressing is that they made the flight at all!:eek::cool::rolleyes:

[Sherri914]

1. So so sorry about your experience.

 

 

3. You made an 8:00am flight with 3 people and an infant? That's making my 9:30am flight looking more-and-more feasible! Thx

 

 

Here's something to consider. We were on Oasis this past week. We were still waiting in customs after 8 and we self disembarked. We were in that line before 7am. Problem was, we didn't pull into port until 7 because (message from captain) we stopped to render aid to two stranded boaters at 3:45 am making us an hour late returning to port. So you just never know.