Our Week on Allure 4/29-5/6 - Review...thoughts...observations

[LS6Caddy]

There have been a number of good reviews of Allure sailings that last month or two, which quite frankly I can’t compete with. But here are my assortment of thoughts and observations from our week on Allure. This was an Eastern sailing with stops in Nassau, St Thomas, and St Martin.

 

About us

This cruise was my 9th (5th with RCI),and the DW’s first. We traveled with my parents, aunt and uncle, cousins, and some close family friends…16 of us in all…most of which had cruised before.

 

Pre-Cruise

We got packed and got everything ready for our puppy and his week with my SIL. He knew something was up because he started losing his mind Saturday morning…but he is spoiled and well taken care off. Arrived in Fort Lauderdale Saturday afternoon and stayed at the Quality Inn Airport/Cruise Port. It is by no means fancy, but the price is reasonable and serves our group well. There is a nice pool area with a bar and they will allow you to bring in your own food and alcohol as well. There is also a Kmart (along with a few some other stores that may be useful) within walking distance for any last minute needs, as well as an assortment of eating options within walking distance as well. They offer a free breakfast…not great, but certainly satisfies until on board for lunch.

 

Embarkation

We got an email a few days before indicating that the Coast Guard would be doing inspections and that everybody should push their arrival time by 30 minutes. We stuck with our plan to arrive around 11:15 (despite what our designated arrival time was). Not much of any lines to speak of,got through check in quickly and upstairs to the waiting area. Sat down with my fellow prestigious platinum members for maybe 5 minutes and then they started boarding. Was on board getting a drink by 11:45. Rooms were delayed being ready until about 2:00…not sure if this was a result of the Coast Guard inspection or not, but no big deal.

 

As has been mentioned, 1 Sea pass card was on the door and the other was in the room. You board and get drinks (with or without the drink package) with your set sail pass.

[LS6Caddy]

Ship

The ship is in fantastic shape, especially for a facility that sees a revolving door of 6,500ish passengers week after week. If you want to be picky, you could find alight bulb out or something of the sorts, but by and large she is still very beautiful and in wonderful condition. I will echo what has been said a bunch on these boards…Oasis class ships really carry 6,500 passengers well. Doesn’t really ever feel crowded except maybe when a show gets out or there is an event in the promenade. And overall the elevators are fine, occasionally…usually around dinner…they would be pretty crowded and would have to wait for couple to pass by until you get one that has room. Mostly took the stairs…except when the DW was in high heels.

 

 

Stateroom

We were in balcony stateroom 7266. It is located on the port side directly adjacent to the aft elevators/stairs. It is a great location…a floor or two down and you’re to the boardwalk, promenade,dining room, casino, or theater. One floor up and you are to dazzles and central park. I thought there might be more noise than usual being right off the stairs/elevators…but that didn’t seem to be the case. It is really nice to be directly off the stairs/elevators. Room was in good shape. Bed location by the balcony. Plenty of storage for the DW and I. And our view directly down to the water in this location was not obstructed by a lifeboat. The only thing to note would be that if you go to the seventh floor on the aft starboard elevators or stairs you cannot get over to the port side. The first (and only time…I learned my lesson) time I did this was when I took the stairs up from the second floor after getting back on board in Nassau…to find that I couldn’t get to my room without going up or down a floor…felt defeated at the time…but I am pretty sure I needed the exercise anyway.

Edited May 14, 2018 by LS6Caddy
Grammar and Formatting

[LS6Caddy]

Staff/Service

There have been a lot comments on these boards lately about a notable decline in service on RCI in recent years. I couldn’t disagree more. We ran across excellent service almost every corner we turned. Bar tenders always seemed on top of it friendly. There were always ample servers walking around the pool decks to get you drinks. There was always somebody in the Wind Jammer to offer you coffee or drinks. Maybe some were friendlier than others, but I can’t come up with a single time where we were disappointed or put off by any member of the crew. Some crew members of note:

 

Our room steward Dwayne. He was magnificent. Room was always spotless. We got towel animals 5 nights. He was always very friendly and kind. We could not say enough good things about him.

 

Jenzah and Vivek…our dining room waiter and assistant waiter. They provided excellent service each and every night. We have had dining room waiters in the past that were a little more…relaxed…I would say…more talkative and more willing to banter back and forth with our sense of humor. I have a theory on that…more on that later. But they were friendly and on top of it each night. They made a point to learn our names. Didn’t scoff at any special requests…i.e. the warm dark chocolate cookie with ice cream for desert on nights it wasn’t on the menu. By night three they had us figured out and pretty much had our drink order waiting for us…though one night we tripped them up when we all sat indifferent seats at our table.

 

Our head waiter (his name escapes me at the moment). He was very on top of the special needs a tour table. My dad is allergic to shellfish and my cousin’s wife has a nut and shell fish allergy. Every night he came to the table with thenext night’s menu to take their order so that it could be prepared separately to eliminate the chances of cross contamination or to make something without the nuts. He was also there to fill in if our waiters were super busy.

 

Bar tender Brian in the Solarium Bar. Very friendly and funny. Always singing and joking. Go see him…he’s the guy yelling “weeeeeeeee”all the time.

 

The bar tenders on the Rising Tide Bar make a very stiff drink…spent a few to many hours there the first night.

 

Entertainment

The more I think about it after this trip, this is the one area where I don’t necessarily favor the Oasis class ships. While I like the shows and they are wonderfully done, I kinda miss the days of the simpler shows…the welcome aboard and farewell shows…comedians and magicians and hypnotist…the variety type shows. Everything on Oasis class are these big elaborate productions, and they are wonderfully done, but sometimes simple is just as good. Additionally,with the ship so big and spread out, you don’t get the same atmosphere around the pools where there is always a mixture of stuff going on. On Oasis class, things like the belly flop contest and pool games are done back at the aqua theater and it is not the same kind of atmosphere. And lastly, I miss the outdoor night time events that we got on Navigator, Liberty, and Princess ships…the pool party type events. It’s fun when they bring the nightclub up to the Solarium, which they also do on Navigator and Freedom class (last time I was on them), but they also have a night with an outdoor party with ice sculptures and the light up cup and all that…and you just don’t get that on Oasis class (for obvious reasons of course).

With that said:

 

Cruise director Jimmy Rhodes – He was solid, not my favorite CD by any means…but good. Not as visible…think the only time I saw him was the Love and Marriage show, the 70’s party on the promenade, and the Quest.

 

Entertainment staff – The entertainment staff was really good. Angel I believe her name is, the activities manager, was really good…she’ll make a great CD one day… as were a few other members of the staff. They did a good job with all the events.

 

Schooner Bar Singer John Hides – He is an interesting fellow. He is pretty good, has an eclectic song list. He definitely has a unique voice (the first time we heard him we were on the rising tide bar on 5 and had to decide if he was male or female) in a good way. I can see how he is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea and how his audience interactions can be a bit puzzling. We stopped and listened to him a little bit a few nights throughout the week.

 

Dazzles band Centerpiece – They were really good, had very vast array of songs they played. Definitely worth seeing and good dancing too. And their guitar player is legit. They ended the cruise playing Free Bird and he finished it with like a 3-5 minute guitar solo…very impressive.

 

DJ (can’t remember his name) – He was just alright. Played good music, but never stuck to a song…switched songs to fast and often.

 

Mama Mia – Great cast and production. Musicals aren’t really my thing, but I recommend seeing this for sure.

 

Ocean Aria – Another great and very impressive show. They had a hard time getting the show in this week. I know at least one night they canceled due to rough seas. And another night (our reserved night) they had technical difficulties with the pool and had to cancel the first show half way through and completely cancel the second one. But they did get all the make-up shows in later in the week.

 

Blue Planet – I only saw half of the show (more on that later), but what I saw was good.

 

Headliner, British Invasion – Beatles Cover band. They were solid, I wasn’t blown away or anything, but pretty good.

 

Comedy Show…Troy Thirdgill and Phil Palisoul – Troy was absolutely hilarious, he killed it. Phil started off a little slow but got his footing and put on a good show.

 

As always, the Love and Marriage show and Quest were must see. The older couple stole the show as usual at the Love and Marriage show and quickly became the local celebrities of our cruise. And the Quest was on point as well, with it changed up just enough so that the people who just brought the requisite items in a bag still had to work for it.

[LS6Caddy]

Food

I saved the food for close to last, as it is the most subjective. I (nor anybody in our group)are what you consider foodies. And we never do specialty restaurants…with the exception of Johnny Rockets. I prefer a good burger over a steak and french fries to a baked potato. I would say we found everything to be good to really good.

 

We had traditional dining and found plenty on the menu every night. I was never disappointed in anything, nor was anybody at our table. Our waiters were always willing to substitute if we asked. And the warm dark chocolate cookie with ice cream is where it is at for desert…just sayin.

 

Windjammer food was exactly what I would expect from buffet style food, always good in my opinion. There is definitely a sweet spot for breakfast…show up at 9:00 and you are good…9:30 and you will be waiting in a line to get in.

The sandwiches in the Café Promenade were probably the worst I’ve had on a RCI ship.

 

The Sorrento’s pizza is certainly not NY style pizza(heck…my mom is from NY and she has yet to find NY style pizza here in Colorado), but I don’t believe it is as bad as people make it out to be. Then again I always seem to eat there around 1:00 am after a night of fun and adult beverages…so maybe my judgement is not the best.

 

Few items to note about Johnny Rockets. When busy, whether breakfast or lunch, expect it to take a solid 45-60 minutes. So if you stop there for a quick bite for breakfast before getting off the ship for an excursion, leave yourself plenty of time…we were pushing to make our meetup time after leaving ourselves 45 minutes for breakfast. And you can get milk shakes from Johnny Rockets for free if you have the deluxe drink package. Unfortunately…or actually probably fortunately…we didn’t discover this until day 4. We got back on the ship from St Thomas and went and sat at the counter in there and had chocolate shakes and fries for free.

 

Spa

DW decided to go for a 75 minute massage mid-week. She really enjoyed it and said her massage therapist was great. That’s about all I know.

 

Medical Area

Unfortunately…for the first time…I can comment on the medical facilities. The DW, who has no known food allergies, began to have an anaphylactic reaction shortly after finishing dinner on lobster night (she had shell fish a few other times earlier in the week with no reaction). She started to feel a little tightness in her throat and rushed back to the room to take a Benadryl…she ended up taking 2 and we went off to Blue Planet. About half way through she was struggling even more to breathe. We left the show and used my cousins WiFi to face time her mom who is an NP…she recommended we get to the medical facilities immediately. We went down and met with the nurse who then got the doctor. They administered treatment for her and within maybe 15 minutes she was feeling significant better and we were on our way and able to enjoy the rest of our night. The interesting thing to note was that they asked multiple times if she had any known allergies or previous reactions, to which she said no. We were then told that since she did not have a previous history with it we should except to see anywhere from a $300-$600 charge on our room. However, when the nurse came to remove the IV and discharge her, she told us that the doctor told her that there would be no charge, so that was very nice of them.

Edited May 14, 2018 by LS6Caddy
grammar

[LS6Caddy]

Ports

Nassau – We did the snorkel tour offered through Royal Caribbean first thing in the morning. It was nice a little tour. Not too long, saw a lot of fish and corral. Did a little shopping and got back on the ship. It’s such a short stop it’s hard to get into anything. Some members of our group did the Graycliff chocolate factory tour and had fun on that. And the rest went to the Blue Lagoon and they really enjoyed that. I must say for me, the highlight of the stop for me was the sailing yacht that was parked in port. Come to find out it is the largest single mast sailing yacht in the world…the mast was taller than the Allure...apparently it is a pretty iconic boat in the yachting world. Wish I would’ve gotten more pictures.

 

St Thomas – Our group went to Magen’s Bay. Beautiful as always. It is missing some palm trees post hurricanes. But the beach and water is clean as always been. There is food and drink for sale as well as plenty of rental options (loungers, umbrellas, paddle boards, etc.). We just walked off the ship and got a taxi. I think it was $20 per person round trip. He dropped those that wanted to shop off in town on the way back and went and picked them up to return to the ship an hour later.

 

St Martin – We had nothing planned. We considered going to Maho, it is a favorite of mine and I just want too kind of make the trek through town to see how the island is coming along since the hurricanes. But, the weather was iffy. It was pretty windy and would down pour off and on. So we just went into town for a little bit to pick up a little something for my SIL for watching our puppy. A few members of our group took a snorkel trip, but with the weather they said it was pretty rough.

 

Disembarkation

The worst part for sure. But it went fine. We took our time getting off as we knew we would not be able to check into our hotel until the afternoon. Line was a little long for customs. Mobile passport is definitely the way to go. Our transportation got a little messed up and we ended up have to cram our group onto a bus that was already half full, so 3-4 had to stand up, which was no big deal. What was, was that the AC was broke on the bus…so that was not pleasant with an overcrowded bus that had to make a stop at the airport before dropping us off at the hotel.

[LS6Caddy]

Overall it was a great cruise. Ate too much. Drank too much. But there is no such thing as too much fun. The weather was a bit of a bummer. Pretty much rained our entire day 6 sea day and was cloudy the entire day 7 sea day. So it kind of put a damper on the outdoor activities on day 6 and forced everybody inside or to the Solarium. And they canceled the 20/20 party in the Solarium and moved it down to Blaze. I did download the RCI app (we did not get any WiFi package…we wanted to be away from it all for a week), and surprisingly I actually ended up using more than I thought. We are not ones to carry the compass around with us…so it was nice to be able to look up some events on the fly.

 

My two negative comments for RCI are this. First, I think their customer satisfaction rating system (where 10 is the only positive score...the DW knows a lot about this system as it is the same rating system her employer uses) puts a lot of pressure on the dining room staff in particular. I feel like they are so concerned with making a mistake that they can’t relax. We try and engage and joke with dining staff on cruises, and this was the least interactive they have ever been. And they apologize for the slightest things that don’t need an apology. One night something happened and our appetizers were a little slow coming out. We noticed it, but it was no big deal and we never commented on it, and you could tell they were so stressed out about it and apologized multiple times and even again the next night. They are human and they all make mistakes,and it just seems like they are put in a position where they are expected to be perfect night in and night out. And that’s not really fair in my opinion. Second, I wish more of the sports activities were open on port days.After we decided to only get off in St Martin to do a little shopping, we were going to do the Rock Climbing wall and maybe the flow rider so that we could avoid the crowds. Only we discovered that they were closed, save for the flow rider a few hours first thing in the morning, until late in the day. That was a little disappointing.

[sharse]

Great review so far... following to read more! I board in a little over 4 weeks! I’ll be in a balcony a few doors down from yours so was excited to hear it was a good spot with an excellent cabin steward.

[LS6Caddy]

Lastly, I’ll close with this. There are a lot of talks on these boards about the decline in service and food in recent years. And there is probably some truth in that. But what is not talked about enough is that the quality of passenger behavior is declining. Seems as though people want 5 star food, 5 star service, 5 star entertainment…but they only want to pay 2 star prices and behave as a 2 star customer. In a week,I personally saw: A guy drop his pizza on the promenade, look at it, and just walk away…A guy get rude with a bartender who had to tell him (kindly), twice, that he had to put out his cigarette because we were getting gas in St Martin and there was no smoking outdoors…A lady get very pushy and rude with the crew member who was scanning people on and off the ship because she thought he was taking too long…the same lady who expected other people to get off the elevator to make room for her…a guy get belligerent and use multiple profanities with the guy serving the popcorn outside the comedy club because he thought he was too slow…a group of people constantly heckling the piano player every time they were in the Schooner bar…and members of the audience booing the member of the entertainment staff who had to come out midway through our Ocean Aria show and announce that they had to cancel the show because they were have problems with the pool and the floor that rises up and down. Be A Good Person. It really is the most basic concept. We are all human and all have our moments. The DW knocked her shot of Baileys off the table by Starbucks…we didn’t just leave it and walk away or bark at a crew member to clean it up…we went and grabbed napkins and wiped it up and notified a crew member we spilled…it’s that simple. Talk to the crew and treat them with respect at the very least. They are working hard and most of them are trying to provide for a family who they don’t get to see very often. Better yet, talk with them,try and get to know some of them instead of looking at them as a means to an end. We ended up frequently chatting with a server in the bar area of the Solarium and we asked him a lot of questions about his life and where he’s from and all that. And at the end of the week he came up and thanked us for taking the time to talk with him on a personal level instead of just asking for a drink and moving on. He said it really makes a difference in how their week goes.

 

So that’s that, another one in the books and the next one to far away. If you have any questions ask away. I do have the Compass’ and a few other flyers and such. I can get them posted if desired. I apologize in advance for any grammar issues...the formatting got all messed up when I copied on the boards from my Word document. I tried to correct it all, but I am sure I missed some.

[queenfrostine22]

Love your review! Just got back yesterday from the allure 5/6 to 5/13 Nassau, Cozumel, Roatan, Costa Maya. I loved Allure! Enjoyed it more than the Oasis! I think plenty of your observations are spot on!

[BillOh]

Thanks for taking the time, lots of useful information. I hope to get back on Allure again someday.

[CORKY_Q]

Thanks for a great review! We enjoy the Allure, too.

[dpostman]

Thanks for the great review. I love your levelheaded approach.

 

Glad you had a great cruise.

 

dp

[JRudy33]

Fantastic review! And I totally agree with your ending comments. We always have treated all crew with respect and have had so much fun with them all!

[ScottieLuvr]

Thank you for your review! We hope to sail on the Allure someday. And your examples of the decline in (some) passenger civility are well taken. We should all pack our manners...and patience...for vacation.

[CP3o]

 

Second, I wish more of the sports activities were open on port days.After we decided to only get off in St Martin to do a little shopping, we were going to do the Rock Climbing wall and maybe the flow rider so that we could avoid the crowds. Only we discovered that they were closed, save for the flow rider a few hours first thing in the morning, until late in the day. That was a little disappointing.

 

 

Thank you for your review. This also annoys me and I wish rccl would get more complaints about it since I don’t think it would be that hard to improve.

 

Flowrider and Rockwalls are used extensively in advertising. There should be more options of times to use when might be trying to do something wo so much of a line.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[queenfrostine22]

You are right about the decline in civility. The crew on the Allure were really lovely and we saw other passengers act rudely, crudely and moody to the staff. Most crew members know English as a second language. It may take them a second or two to understand what you are asking for, or of them. It doesn't mean they you have the right to criticize, humiliate or yell at them. They ALL deserve respect for the work they do. Their work is constant, repetitious and hard. They are a large part of what makes cruising so wonderful.

[CruisingNole]

I loved Allure! Enjoyed it more than the Oasis!

 

Out of curiosity, why do you feel that way? I've been on both ships and I admit the sailings were several years apart but from what I remember, the ships are pretty much identical.

[scotmonson]

Lastly, I’ll close with this. There are a lot of talks on these boards about the decline in service and food in recent years. And there is probably some truth in that. But what is not talked about enough is that the quality of passenger behavior is declining. Seems as though people want 5 star food, 5 star service, 5 star entertainment…but they only want to pay 2 star prices and behave as a 2 star customer. In a week,I personally saw: A guy drop his pizza on the promenade, look at it, and just walk away…A guy get rude with a bartender who had to tell him (kindly), twice, that he had to put out his cigarette because we were getting gas in St Martin and there was no smoking outdoors…A lady get very pushy and rude with the crew member who was scanning people on and off the ship because she thought he was taking too long…the same lady who expected other people to get off the elevator to make room for her…a guy get belligerent and use multiple profanities with the guy serving the popcorn outside the comedy club because he thought he was too slow…a group of people constantly heckling the piano player every time they were in the Schooner bar…and members of the audience booing the member of the entertainment staff who had to come out midway through our Ocean Aria show and announce that they had to cancel the show because they were have problems with the pool and the floor that rises up and down. Be A Good Person. It really is the most basic concept. We are all human and all have our moments. The DW knocked her shot of Baileys off the table by Starbucks…we didn’t just leave it and walk away or bark at a crew member to clean it up…we went and grabbed napkins and wiped it up and notified a crew member we spilled…it’s that simple. Talk to the crew and treat them with respect at the very least. They are working hard and most of them are trying to provide for a family who they don’t get to see very often. Better yet, talk with them,try and get to know some of them instead of looking at them as a means to an end. We ended up frequently chatting with a server in the bar area of the Solarium and we asked him a lot of questions about his life and where he’s from and all that. And at the end of the week he came up and thanked us for taking the time to talk with him on a personal level instead of just asking for a drink and moving on. He said it really makes a difference in how their week goes.

 

So that’s that, another one in the books and the next one to far away. If you have any questions ask away. I do have the Compass’ and a few other flyers and such. I can get them posted if desired. I apologize in advance for any grammar issues...the formatting got all messed up when I copied on the boards from my Word document. I tried to correct it all, but I am sure I missed some.

I enjoyed your review and completely agree with many of your points. I sailed on Oasis in March and previous to my cruise and after my cruise I read many posts on CC tearing down the:ships condition; the food; the service by the crew, etc. I have to wonder if there are two Oasis of the Seas because I found the ship's condition and the crew's service to be wonderful. Food is very subjective but I will say that I have been cruising since 1986 and have completed 25 cruises with Royal Caribbean and I find the food to be as good now as it was in 1986 (I'm not a foodie) and with many more choices. I agree with you that I see the behavior of some passengers today to be much worse than it used to be. I know without question that you will receive responses from other people (crew) that are predicated on how you have addressed them. Just my two cents worth.

[CruisingNole]

I sailed on Oasis in March and previous to my cruise and after my cruise I read many posts on CC tearing down the:ships condition; the food; the service by the crew, etc. I have to wonder if there are two Oasis of the Seas because I found the ship's condition and the crew's service to be wonderful.

 

This is why you have to take what you read on Cruise Critic with a grain of salt. Based on some of the reviews I've read, you'd think some of these ships are low-rent slums.

[Eslader]

First, I think their customer satisfaction rating system (where 10 is the only positive score...the DW knows a lot about this system as it is the same rating system her employer uses) puts a lot of pressure on the dining room staff in particular.

 

Couldn't agree more with this. The "perfect or it's a failure" attitude is the quickest way to destroy morale in a workplace. It's the biggest irritant on a cruise for me now that Royal is doing it, because I know that people are going to be rating below 10's for any number of reasons, and all that's going to mean is that the crew, who is doing a stellar job, is going to get yelled at. This is a cruise ship, not a call center. Royal really needs to knock this off.

 

I did notice a decline in service last cruise, because there was a decline in crew members. And you know that someone is going to down-rate service and it's going to be blamed on the crew members rather than Royal's dumb decision to downsize.

 

 

 

they only want to pay 2 star prices and behave as a 2 star customer. In a week,I personally saw:.

 

The cruise I was on a couple months ago was the worst I've seen for this kind of behavior. One night we were sitting in Vintages chatting with the very nice and knowledgeable bar tender. Some lady walked in with an empty $70 bottle of wine, and a glass 1/4 full of what looked like a wine and iced tea mixture. Claimed the bottle was terrible, it wasn't even the right color, tasted awful.

 

 

Spent about 10 minutes berating the poor guy, who finally caved and gave her a refund, and it was obvious to everyone present that she was full of it and was cheating her way to a free bottle of wine.

 

 

She should have been sent packing, but then she wouldn't give him a 10 and he'd get yelled at all over again by his bosses.

 

I'm pretty firmly convinced that the perfect 10 system is telling the jerks that they have free reign to be jerks to the staff and try to angle for free stuff.

[ptf2009]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review. It made us more excited for our cruise in 6 days! Your last paragraph gave all of us reminders on how to treat people working on the ship and each other.

 

When we were on Harmony last fall our biggest frustration was when groups of people would cram in to an already full WARM elevator. When that was the case, we had to squeeze through the crowd to let us off. We only took the elevator when we had our uncomfortable shoes on for dinner, the rest of the time we used the stairs...even from embarking after being in port on deck 2 up to our cabin on deck 12.....just to avoid those constantly crowded elevators!

[LS6Caddy]

Couldn't agree more with this. The "perfect or it's a failure" attitude is the quickest way to destroy morale in a workplace. It's the biggest irritant on a cruise for me now that Royal is doing it, because I know that people are going to be rating below 10's for any number of reasons, and all that's going to mean is that the crew, who is doing a stellar job, is going to get yelled at. This is a cruise ship, not a call center. Royal really needs to knock this off.

 

The other problem is that I don't think passengers realize that an 8 or a 9 is a failing score, most probably assume they are still rating them favorably. The primary reason I know this is because of these boards.

 

 

I did notice a decline in service last cruise, because there was a decline in crew members. And you know that someone is going to down-rate service and it's going to be blamed on the crew members rather than Royal's dumb decision to downsize.

 

Couldn't agree more.

[queenfrostine22]

Out of curiosity, why do you feel that way? I've been on both ships and I admit the sailings were several years apart but from what I remember, the ships are pretty much identical.

 

Yes, the ships are identical but I found that the entertainment was more to my liking than on the Oasis.

The staff was a bit more friendly.

I believe the food quality was better on Allure in the specialty restaurants.

I also thought that the concierge on Allure were a bit more pleasant, a bit more personable and more available than Oasis had been when I was on it.

Just my observation.

I'm sure others will disagree.

[suesnake2002]

Thank you for engaging the staff in conversation. That is so much fun for me. I love to hear about them.

From laughing and having fun, cause there break is in feb. And they have to go back to cold Romania on their vacation.

To the couple Who both work on the ship to save for a better life when they return home.

It's all about the journey, not the destination

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

[VillaHappy]

She should have been sent packing, but then she wouldn't give him a 10 and he'd get yelled at all over again by his bosses.

 

I'm pretty firmly convinced that the perfect 10 system is telling the jerks that they have free reign to be jerks to the staff and try to angle for free stuff.

 

At first, I thought you meant that she gave him $10 for appeasing her. But then I read further...of course she wouldn't tip. ;)