Allure of the Seas, 11/29/15, Western Caribbean

[Clarea]

Do you think it's a good ship for a 7 year old?

Yes!

[Dosido]

Do you think it's a good ship for a 7 year old?

 

The ship has Adventure Ocean which is the kid's club, with supervised activities during the day. Available - 9a-12p, 2-5p, 7-10pm.

 

Do note that the 7 year old will likely be unable to use the flowriders or zip line, as there are minimum weight and height requirements for both. You need to be 52" for boogie boarding and the zip-line, and at least 75lbs for the zip line.

 

My two nephews, 9 & 11 were both too short and too light to ride either. Of course, they still had a great time with their cousins, but would've liked to have done those activities too.

[traveline]

Thank you for informing me the Prohibition party was on day 5 10pm

[Dosido]

The Shows

 

The shows were kind of a mixed bag for us, with some being very good, and others were just okay. To be expected, I suppose, with guests tastes different across the board.

 

Sail Away Party - I truly wish I skipped this rather than sit through the sail away party - I missed some spectacular scenery for a lackluster, and frankly, pretty lame dance party at the aqua theater.

 

 

Oceanaria - despite the fact that there was no trampoline act in our showing of Oceanaria, I thought it was impressive, and lots of action - would say this was a “do not miss”

 

 

Mamma Mia - I did not see this show, but all of the women did, and said it was excellent, though a bit loud - they all loved it.

 

Blue Planet - A cirque wanna-be, I thought for the most part, this was a poor effort. There was a nice scene that was set to look like the cast was swimming in water, but other than it was a big mess. As it finished, I said “I’m not sure what I just saw.” - I would not attend this again.

 

Headliner Savannah Jack - High energy, rock and roll, with lots of crowd interaction, and some sing-along portions. The fiddle player is flat-out amazing. Great entertainers. In fact - so good, that we saw the early show, and turned around and went to the late show. The late show was almost completely different - in fact they only repeated two songs from the early show. Younger people would have liked the first show better, as it was more current, and older people the 2nd, as it covered music from the 50s through the 80s. Both were really excellent, though.

 

How to Train Your Dragon On Ice - A good show on a small stage, but if I hadn’t seen the movie, I’m not sure I would’ve understood the story line the way it was told on the ice.

 

 

Ice Games - sadly, we missed this one.

 

Comedy Show - The two comedians we saw were very funny, and not as raunchy as I had feared - glad to see that they, for the most part, kept their acts pretty clean. But why on earth do they only have one family comedy show?? And even worse, why is it at 10:45pm?!?

[Dosido]

The Ports

 

 

On this cruise, we decided that we weren't going to do any excursions while in port, as we viewed the Allure as the destination on this cruise, so the port reviews are short and sweet.

 

Labadee

 

Labadee - We loved Labadee - we got to the beach at Columbus Cove, and there were only 2 other groups there, so we had our pick of the beach. We signed up for the Dragon’s tail coaster, and my son and I rode it 10 times during the day - in fact, towards the end of the day, you can ride it with no wait at all. During the “busy” time, the longest we waited was 16 minutes.

 

Adreneline Beach Panoramic

 

It was tough to compare this to Castaway Cay on DCL. I love both, and would spend a day at either in a heartbeat! You can bike on Castaway Cay, but you can't ride the coaster or the zip line that Labadee has.

 

Sunset in Labadee

 

Falmouth - we got off the ship, and after 30 minutes, were ready to get back on. I already mentioned shopping is not my thing.

 

The Allure and Liberty of the Seas together in Cozumel

Cozumel - We had orginially thought about a beach day in Cozumel, but we couldn't come to a consensus on where to go, so we passed. Turned out it was a good call, as it rained much of the day, though my sister's crew went to Chankanaab, and still had a great time. Here, we got off, and after 30 minutes were ready to get back on - would definitely choose to snorkel or go to the beach next time we're here.

 

The Water in Cozumel - Amazing!

Edited December 16, 2015 by Dosido

[Dosido]

A few more port pictures to share

 

The tilt-shift photo of Falmouth made famous by Cheapodad, Harryfat1

 

Another picture from Falmouth

 

We met the Liberty twice on this cruise

 

My daughter would be proud of this one - Dad selfie with the Liberty!!

 

Don't think I've seen this picture before in reviews - it's the coastal walk on Labadee

 

Will and Dad on the Dragon's Tail Coaster

[Dosido]

Why not a few more? Some views from the Dragon's Tail Coaster

 

 

 

Okay, this wasn't aboard the coaster

 

 

This is what Labadee looks like if you get up early!

[kalliekae]

Nice review and great pictures. We were on this same cruise. We thought Labadee was very pretty and you captured it well. We saw a different Ice Show than what you saw. We enjoyed the Ice Games show and it had a Monopoly theme. It was a well done production with wonderful costumes. Sorry you didn't care for Blue Planet. We really enjoyed it and since we were seated in the back of the balcony, we noticed many were admitted as SRO.

[Dosido]

Sorry you didn't care for Blue Planet. We really enjoyed it and since we were seated in the back of the balcony, we noticed many were admitted as SRO.

 

So many reviews said how good it was, and we were definitely looking forward to it.

I kind of feel bad leaving a not so great review, but happy to hear that you had a different experience!

[SharkCruiser24]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review. We're thinking of trying one of these mega ships in the next few years. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your review and your pictures!!

[SoccerMom#3]

Great review and pictures. We're on Allure in a few weeks. I have the same feeling as you..More interested in the ship than the excursions since we've been to all three stops already. I think I'm just ready to be on a cruise :-)

[tiggyfrank]

Thank you so much for all this useful info and the compasses/teen schedule! Going on this in April, I changed a show time now so the teens wouldn't miss something they'd love. You're awesome! :D

[Dosido]

Great review and pictures. We're on Allure in a few weeks. I have the same feeling as you..More interested in the ship than the excursions since we've been to all three stops already. I think I'm just ready to be on a cruise :-)

 

Thank you so much for all this useful info and the compasses/teen schedule! Going on this in April, I changed a show time now so the teens wouldn't miss something they'd love. You're awesome! :D

 

Thanks for following along! I got so much great info in the months before our cruise here at CC, and I was hopeful that others would find another review worthwhile.

[Dosido]

Other on-board activities

 

We took part in quite a few "other" activities while onboard. I thought I'd mention a few of them that we attended.

 

Didn't think I had seen a picture of the birds on the boardwalk before, so here they are!

 

Dreamworks Parade - while I much prefer the Disney characters over the Dreamworks, we did find ourselves in the middle of the parade one day. We were just heading to Sorrentos for lunch. That didn't happen as the parade brought the Promenade to a standstill. It was a pretty good parade, though, as it was high energy, and visually interesting.

 

Belly Flop Contest - this was hilarious. The cruise director - yet again - makes this show what it is, and he was so good at hosting. The floppers were pretty entertaining themselves, but the comments and banter from the CD were so funny. I'd go again next cruise for sure.

 

Pets at Sea - pretty much a build-a-bear on the Boardwalk. We'd not choose to pay for this, but it was a great Grandma & grandkids activity, and they loved the result - replete with RCI duds.

 

 

Let You Entertain Me - I brought my niece to this show, only to be poured on, and eventually we gave up on the shower passing, and headed back to drier areas. What little we did see looked pretty amusing, though.

 

The Quest Game Show - we hadn't been to the Quest show before, but knew what to expect - kind of. It was a great time, and quite funny. The cruise director really makes this show, and ours was excellent. Was surprised how "interactive" it was. A good time, for sure.

 

Games

We took part in several of the trivia competitions, our crew winning the "brain teaser" trivia, and we took home the coveted RCI pens.

Scrabble - I played scrabble with a few others during their "tournament" time at On Air. Here I won a medal for my efforts. Now a fully decorated RCI cruiser.

Text Twister - this game is simple - just like the newspaper game "jumble" where they mix up the letters in a word, and you have to find the real word. However, there are words like "ooliths" and "pawkily" - so you need to be a wordsmith to do well here. We won the preliminary round, and took home a key chain here. Ooh, the swag you can pick up :-)

 

Art auctions - my daughter attended some of the art auctions, mainly to pick up the free lithograph, but she was amazed (as am I) that some works of art were sold for $90,000!

 

Seven of Hearts Card Room - we visited the card room many times to play canasta, chess, and cribbage. We brought our own cards, but each day they put out a large box of new cards for guests - and each day, by evening they were all spoken for. They have a few scrabble games, apples to apples, and chess/backgammon boards here, as well as computers to access the internet.

 

Adventure Ocean - the kids (3, 9 & 11) spent a fair bit of time at Adventure Ocean. The older kids loved that they could check themselves in and out at will.

 

If you're used to Disney's Oceaneer Club/Lab, you'll find this a little less organized in terms of administration. We had to fill out paperwork on the first day, authorizing who could check them in and out, and it was a bit confusing - for instance, my brother didn't put himself as someone that could check his son in/out, as he assumed (incorrectly) that being a parent would automatically allow him to pick his son up.

 

The kids initially seemed to think it was too organized (compared to Disney) in that you were expected to take part in any activity that was going on during your visit. (They were used to being able to play video games, etc. when they had been at Disney's clubs).

However, despite that, they went back each day, enjoying freeze tag, gaga ball, and other activities.

 

The Adventure Ocean area is broken up into age groups (though due to only 470 kids being aboard this cruise, they did occasionally combine the 6-8 and 9-11 groups).

 

The 3 year old loved the club, and often was doing coloring and crafting activities, and didn't want to leave.

 

All and all, I think Adventure Ocean is a good fit for the kids, especially since they could check themselves in and out.

 

A final note - unlike Disney, who provided wave phones for all (when we went 2 years ago) - the older kids had no way of contacting us when they were ready to leave. For the 3 year old, they gave us a wave phone so we could be contacted.

 

I'm not sure how I'd feel about my son having check in/out privileges if he were alone, but since the 3 cousins were always together, I had no issues with them having that freedom.

Edited December 19, 2015 by Dosido

[Dosido]

 

Staff

I thought the staff was excellent - almost across the board. Aside from our assistant waiter issue, we were impressed by almost everyone we met.

The sports staff, as I mentioned previously, was amazing. The cruise director, Luke Arrowsmith, was excellent - I'd say the best we've had in our 4 cruises - so friendly, high energy, and all around fun.

Our stateroom attendant was great, one of the best we've had, and our waiter was excellent as well.

 

 

The Bad and the Ugly

Only two items stood out as needing work to me.

 

Casino & Smoking - I'm not a smoker, and please don't take offense if you are. However, the casino's "smoke free" side is a joke - it's not segregated at all from the smoking side, so it means little to non-smokers. Either side reeks of smoke, and even if you just walk through the casino, the smell you picked up was definitely noticeable.

In addition - the entrance to the casino is directly across the elevator bank from The Grande (our MDR), and every time you went to dinner, you got to smell the smoke from the casino when you were entering or waiting for formal pictures at the MDR.

 

Debarkation breakfast - we waited in line for about 15 minutes to get seated in the MDR (American Icon) for breakfast on debarkation day. The line was there despite being tons of open tables. Once seated, we couldn't get coffee, despite multiple requests. The line of people waiting continued until after we left - why not just let people seat themselves?

 

The ship is 5 years old, and debarkation breakfast happens every 7 days - I would think they'd have this down to a science, not the chaotic, and frankly, unacceptable mess that it was.

 

That said, I thought debarkation (breakfast aside) was a much, much better experience on the Allure than on any of the Disney ships we've been on. The fact that we could eat breakfast at a reasonable time, and still get back to our staterooms before debarking was such a nice perk.

 

 

That just about wraps up our cruise, so I thought I'd drop a couple of Top 10 Lists

 

Things I loved about our cruise

 

10. The Seven of Hearts card room - we played cribbage, canasta and chess there several days, very nice spot to sit and relax.

9. My travel agent - Deb at MEI - so much help in planning and booking

8. No email, no texts, no TV, and no news for 7 days

7. Labadee - our crew loves a good beach day - and no hassle with cabs or tenders

6. The sports deck activities - such a great staff, and great stuff to keep us entertained

5. Dinner in the MDR - despite some hiccups, still a great experience

4. The Quest gameshow- this was a fun time with a lot of laughs

3. The Aqua Theater - home to Oceanaria, and just a cool place to hang out and watch a movie

2. The staff - very friendly and hardworking staff

1. Spending 7 days on the Allure with my entire family

 

 

 

Things I would change

 

10. Wipeout cafe - needs to rotate offerings throughout the week.

9. Debarkation breakfast in MDR needs serious help

8. Fire chef that cooks the scrambled eggs

7. Additional comedy shows for families - Really? One family show at 10:45pm?!?

6. More ice skating opportunities - the only ones we saw were during early dining

5. More drink stations with water/lemonade

4. Add chicken wings to the menu somewhere - chicken wings make every cruise better!

3. More dessert offerings at Park Cafe and Cafe Promenade

2. Better staff prep/training for activities staff

1. Make the casino smoke free - would’ve played cards, if not for the intolerable smoke.

 

Things I wish I had done/had time for (I guess I have to book another cruise!)

 

10. Snorkel in Labadee or Cozumel

9. Order room service

8. Try the sampler at Sabor

7. Go ice skating

6. Buy a Royal Caribbean hat

5. Attend the Captain’s talk

4. Attend the Central Park tour

3. Play dodgeball

2. Play Texas Hold’em

1. Booked another cruise onboard

 

Only one more item to cover - our post cruise excursion in Fort Lauderdale!

 

[spazzyjanet]

Thank you so much for the review! I appreciate the input on the sail-away show. I was already thinking of steering the family to deck 14 forward for sail-away so that the kids wouldn't know that it was going on. Glad to see that my instincts there were correct.

 

How were the mattresses? Did you find the night-time room temp comfortable?

[Irishfamily7]

Great review and great pictures!

Thank you for taking the time to share [emoji4]

Looking forward to our April cruise aboard the Allure!

[Dosido]

How were the mattresses? Did you find the night-time room temp comfortable?

I slept great every night :-) Mattresses were perfect, as was the room temp - very easy to control, and get a comfortable temperature.

Edited December 20, 2015 by Dosido

[Dosido]

We had a 3:30 flight out of Fort Lauderdale after the cruise. I had thought about what to do after the cruise (and I think I mentioned that I loved the fact that on Royal Caribbean, you don't have to disembark at the crack of dawn).

 

We had thought about a couple of options, including getting a cab or renting a car to sightsee, but those ended up being too much of a hassle, as my sister's flights got changed to 4pm (from early) so we would have to get two vehicles, or two cabs to haul everyone around.

 

 

When I was looking into that, I had assumed that we would use the "luggage valet" program. That service is $20 per person, and Royal prints your airline boarding passes, delivers them to your room, and you tag your bag with your final destination, put it out with everyone else's bags on the last evening, and you don't see it again until you arrive at your home airport.

To me - if you're thinking about cruising around FLL for the day, that would be $20 well spent.

 

If you want to take the Royal shuttle to FLL, rather than have to find a cab or arrange your own shuttle, it's $16.95 per person.

 

Since we didn't really want to sit around FLL airport, and we (I) thought sightseeing on our own would be a bit of a hassle, I checked out the post-cruise excursions that Royal offered.

 

There are two - and both end up at either FLL or MIA airports, so it's perfect for those that have flights departing after 2pm out of FLL.

 

 

The first was an everglades tour - which I thought would be pretty nice, but the reviews I read were not great, so I decided to take option two - which was a bus tour of Fort Lauderdale, followed by a boat tour of the intracoastal waterway. Cost was $57.95 pp. (It's actually not a bad deal cost-wise if you consider the $16.95 shuttle to FLL, and $28 boat tour that's included)

 

We met at 8:15 in Studio B, and headed off the ship, grabbed our bags, wound through the security/customs line, and found our bus.

 

 

The bus tour was pretty interesting, cruising around Fort Lauderdale and Las Olas boulevard, and getting a history lesson on the way. We also took a short walk along the waterfront, and past a historical museum and environs. Our tour guide was a bit over the top, as she admonished some of the passengers for talking while she was speaking, but other than that it was a pretty good tour and lasted about an hour.

 

We had several chances to take pictures of the Allure on our tour - from both bridges, and the water!

 

The tour of the intracoastal was really good, however. We rode aboard the Carrie B, and the sights, history, and tour guide here were amazing. I loved this tour, and would be happy to go again. We rolled past multi-million dollar homes, and multi-million dollar yachts.

 

After the 1-1/2 hour boat trip, we boarded the bus, and headed to FLL to end our excursion.

 

One of the small boats on the water

 

Steven Spielberg's 200 million dollar write-off

 

Recap

So, to recap - our cruise was totally amazing, and we loved just about everything the Allure threw at us. We don't expect perfection on our cruise, as our perfect might not be someone else's perfect, but it was pretty darn close.

I'm pretty confident that you'll love your cruise aboard the Allure too!

[Lionesss]

Thanks for your write up of the post cruise excursion.

 

Yours is the first one I have read.

 

Your review was very well done.

 

Our problem would be staying awake on an excursion such as this after non stop fun on the Allure, we would probably sleep on the bus/boat ride.

 

Thanks again.

[flinkerfrosch]

Love, love, love your review, thank-you! What great information and amazing pictures!

 

We're huge Disney fans as well, and have done 11 Disney cruises, and have experienced all 4 ships. We too thought we would try a new cruise Line- RCCL and picked the Allure:)

 

I have a few questions if you don't mind? I will be on the Allure March 6th with my 2 boys ages 6 & 8 (yes I'm cruising alone with them) but very excited!!

 

Here we go!

 

*On Labadee, We wanted to ride the Dragon Coaster with my kids, but I don't know how it would work if I take my 6yr old first, and have to leave my 8yr old at the top to wait while we return and Vica versa for my 6 yr old? Is this possible? They both want to ride it, but I don't have 2 of me lol

 

*Did you pre book tickets on line for the Dragon Coaster or just purchase them onboard the ship and or on the Island?

 

*Is the Quest (I think that's what it's called) an adult only show/game?

 

*My 8yr old loves basketball. Is he able to play pretty much whenever he wants or is their certain times it's closed to anyone?

 

*You mentioned the Kids Club (I forget what's it called on the Allure) and said your "older kids" could check themselves in and out? On Disney ships the age is 8 to be able to do same. Is it the same age for the Allure?

 

*My kids are also huge hockey players and love to skate. They're very excited to skate on a cruise ship! You mentioned they have limited times? Can you please elaborate if you don't mind?

 

*What time do you have to be out of the stateroom on debarkation day?

 

Thanks so much!!

Cheers:)

[Dosido]

Thanks for the compliments - glad that the review can help a fellow cruiser out!

*On Labadee, We wanted to ride the Dragon Coaster with my kids, but I don't know how it would work if I take my 6yr old first, and have to leave my 8yr old at the top to wait while we return and Vica versa for my 6 yr old? Is this possible? They both want to ride it, but I don't have 2 of me lol

 

*Did you pre book tickets on line for the Dragon Coaster or just purchase them onboard the ship and or on the Island?

 

Actually, you wait at the bottom, and there is plenty of room to wait for someone riding the coaster. We just purchased the tickets on Labadee - there's a kiosk/pavilion that you can fill out the paperwork and pay.

 

However, despite the way Royal writes up the description, you - as the paying adult - get a wristband, and you also get an additional wristband for your accompanying (under 12) rider. You can't take a different person each time - they are supposed to have a wristband. (The way I read it - you could take anyone you want - even a different person each time - but that's not how it works in reality.) They may be lax on the rules - so you might be able to take someone without a wristband - I should have asked, but didn't.

 

*Is the Quest (I think that's what it's called) an adult only show/game?

Yes. But it's not over the top crazy - just funny.

 

*My 8yr old loves basketball. Is he able to play pretty much whenever he wants or is their certain times it's closed to anyone?

He'll enjoy it for sure. But there are definitely times it's off-limits to open play. They have soccer tourneys, volleyball tourneys, dodgeball, etc. during some of the days, where he wouldn't be able to play pickup, but it's open for pickup play a lot more than it's scheduled for specific activities.

 

*You mentioned the Kids Club (I forget what's it called on the Allure) and said your "older kids" could check themselves in and out? On Disney ships the age is 8 to be able to do same. Is it the same age for the Allure?

Adventure Ocean. Our 9 and 11 year olds had the privilege of self checkout, and I think it goes down to 6 years old, as that's the range (6-8) for the Explorers group.

 

*My kids are also huge hockey players and love to skate. They're very excited to skate on a cruise ship! You mentioned they have limited times? Can you please elaborate if you don't mind?

I didn't go back and search the cruise compasses, but I think there were only 2 open skates (and at least one teen skate), and both that I saw were during or overlapped early dining.

 

*What time do you have to be out of the stateroom on debarkation day?

I didn't see a set time to be out of your stateroom - only that debarkation should be complete by 10:45. We had to meet at 8:15 for our excursion, so we left our bags in one of the rooms while we ate breakfast, and were out by 8. Compared to Disney, where you might have breakfast as early as 6:30 and have to be out of your stateroom then, this was pretty nice!

[balcony4u]

I seriously loved your review! I know you have already heard that, but I figured it never hurts to hear encouraging words!

[flinkerfrosch]

Thanks for the compliments - glad that the review can help a fellow cruiser out!

 

 

Actually, you wait at the bottom, and there is plenty of room to wait for someone riding the coaster. We just purchased the tickets on Labadee - there's a kiosk/pavilion that you can fill out the paperwork and pay.

 

However, despite the way Royal writes up the description, you - as the paying adult - get a wristband, and you also get an additional wristband for your accompanying (under 12) rider. You can't take a different person each time - they are supposed to have a wristband. (The way I read it - you could take anyone you want - even a different person each time - but that's not how it works in reality.) They may be lax on the rules - so you might be able to take someone without a wristband - I should have asked, but didn't.

 

 

Yes. But it's not over the top crazy - just funny.

 

 

He'll enjoy it for sure. But there are definitely times it's off-limits to open play. They have soccer tourneys, volleyball tourneys, dodgeball, etc. during some of the days, where he wouldn't be able to play pickup, but it's open for pickup play a lot more than it's scheduled for specific activities.

 

 

Adventure Ocean. Our 9 and 11 year olds had the privilege of self checkout, and I think it goes down to 6 years old, as that's the range (6-8) for the Explorers group.

 

 

I didn't go back and search the cruise compasses, but I think there were only 2 open skates (and at least one teen skate), and both that I saw were during or overlapped early dining.

 

 

I didn't see a set time to be out of your stateroom - only that debarkation should be complete by 10:45. We had to meet at 8:15 for our excursion, so we left our bags in one of the rooms while we ate breakfast, and were out by 8. Compared to Disney, where you might have breakfast as early as 6:30 and have to be out of your stateroom then, this was pretty nice!

 

 

Thank-you so very much for all your information!! You've helped a lot! I must say, your review is the best one I've read so far!

 

We're very excited for our March cruise, and thanks again!! :) :)

[dpcmh]

Thank you for a wonderful review. When you said your TA suggested the Allure after going on DCL, I thought wow - that sounds like something Deb would say. AND in your top 10 it was!!!! Too funny!!!! Getting ready to take our first Allure cruise and first nonDCL...She talked me off the ledge to give it a try. Can't wait, and your review was insightful!!!!