Thinking of Allure of the Seas

[mcrcruiser]

Nov 1 ,2020  Allure of the Seas sails from Barcelona Spain  on a 14 night trans Atlantic voyage to Miami . Although we have sailed many times on RCCL  & Celebrity ships ,we never sailed on  a ship of this size . We would book into a 4D ocean balcony cabin  ,if we do book this cruise 

 

 We would appreciate from those who have sailed this huge ship their likes & dislikes while  sailing in Allure of the Seas .Also how would you rank the food quality  & service   We have done to date 81 cruises ;but ,never in a ship this size  & really enjoyed Celebrity & Holland America  cruise lines for different reasons 

 

Thanks in advance for your replies 😋

 

 

[Clarea]

One dislike I have is the fact that the ship has so many guests that they need entertainment reservations.  Book all your entertainment as soon as possible.  Keep watching your Cruise Planner on Royal's website to catch when the various items are available for reservation.

[mcrcruiser]

Thanks for the tip .Yes we see that the pax can be over 5000 to over 6000 guests . That is a very large town LOL

Edited January 3, 2019 by mcrcruiser

[Cigar King]

There is already an active roll call for this cruise.  If you do decide to go, don't forget to join.

 

 

[BillOh]

5 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

One dislike I have is the fact that the ship has so many guests that they need entertainment reservations.  Book all your entertainment as soon as possible.  Keep watching your Cruise Planner on Royal's website to catch when the various items are available for reservation.

 

Hopefully in a 14 day TA, that should be less of a factor.   I've done and loved Allure twice, but never have done a TA.

[October17]

I’m also looking at this one, actually mailed my TA today to see about cabin choices. I’m undecided between far back on Boardwalk or ocean balcony...

[grandgeezer]

On 1/3/2019 at 7:11 AM, BillOh said:

 

Hopefully in a 14 day TA, that should be less of a factor.   I've done and loved Allure twice, but never have done a TA.

 We did this TA on the Allure in 2015. The big difference in this TA and a normal cruise is the high number of people who can get the free drinks during the Loyalty drinks period. They had Dazzles, Blaze, and Jazz on 5, or whatever deck its on, set aside for this and they were all pretty full. We were only about a dozen cabins from Dazzles so that was our preferred area. You had to be in line about 30 minutes before opening to have a good chance at getting a seat. Because of the few wait staff they had, your best shot at getting another drinks was go to the bar, and there were long lines there. After a couple of nights of this we just went to the Schooner Bar and used our drinks loaded on our card. Threes about the most we have anyway.

[Thorben-Hendrik]

On 1/3/2019 at 8:59 PM, mcrcruiser said:

Nov 1 ,2020  Allure of the Seas sails from Barcelona Spain  on a 14 night trans Atlantic voyage to Miami . Although we have sailed many times on RCCL  & Celebrity ships ,we never sailed on  a ship of this size . We would book into a 4D ocean balcony cabin  ,if we do book this cruise 

 

 We would appreciate from those who have sailed this huge ship their likes & dislikes while  sailing in Allure of the Seas .Also how would you rank the food quality  & service   We have done to date 81 cruises ;but ,never in a ship this size  & really enjoyed Celebrity & Holland America  cruise lines for different reasons 

 

Thanks in advance for your replies 😋

 

 

Ship is very open and CP and BW will have VERY limited use due to the weather...

Solarium will be unusable due to the weather/ cold winds most of the time... 🙄

Bad weather wil have the inside very crowded as this ship is not designed to be in  colder conditions! 👎

[Cigar King]

2 hours ago, October17 said:

I’m also looking at this one, actually mailed my TA today to see about cabin choices. I’m undecided between far back on Boardwalk or ocean balcony...

 

There's a very active roll call for this cruise.  If you do book, don't forget to join.

 

Cheers

[Ocean Boy]

2 hours ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

Ship is very open and CP and BW will have VERY limited use due to the weather...

Solarium will be unusable due to the weather/ cold winds most of the time... 🙄

Bad weather wil have the inside very crowded as this ship is not designed to be in  colder conditions! 👎

Very good points. The open areas on the ship out on the Atlantic are not going to be all the comfortable in November. Inside will probably feel much more crowded than it does in the Caribbean.

[taglovestocruise]

2 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

 We did this TA on the Allure in 2015. The big difference in this TA and a normal cruise is the high number of people who can get the free drinks during the Loyalty drinks period. They had Dazzles, Blaze, and Jazz on 5, or whatever deck its on, set aside for this and they were all pretty full. We were only about a dozen cabins from Dazzles so that was our preferred area. You had to be in line about 30 minutes before opening to have a good chance at getting a seat. Because of the few wait staff they had, your best shot at getting another drinks was go to the bar, and there were long lines there. After a couple of nights of this we just went to the Schooner Bar and used our drinks loaded on our card. Threes about the most we have anyway.

We were also on the Allure 2015 TA. Never had a problem finding a seat upstairs in Dazzles during the Diamond hours, and wait staff was extremely attentive.  We are also about to book the 2020 TA.  We did find the shows were still full throughout the cruise,  We just got off the Symphony TA and it was a fully packed mad house every night in Dazzles. Jazz on 4, and the Attic during Diamond hours. 

[Thorben-Hendrik]

5 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Very good points. The open areas on the ship out on the Atlantic are not going to be all the comfortable in November. Inside will probably feel much more crowded than it does in the Caribbean.

Yeah especially the Solarium in the very front is going to be freezing cold ❄ and unbearable windy! 🙄

[zentah]

We’ve been on 2 TA crossings, starting in Barcelona and we’ve never had anything but great weather. Not too hot and not cold at all. Of course we live in Atlanta GA so we don’t really go for the warm weather. 

[taglovestocruise]

On 1/3/2019 at 5:59 AM, mcrcruiser said:

Nov 1 ,2020  Allure of the Seas sails from Barcelona Spain  on a 14 night trans Atlantic voyage to Miami . Although we have sailed many times on RCCL  & Celebrity ships ,we never sailed on  a ship of this size . We would book into a 4D ocean balcony cabin  ,if we do book this cruise 

 

 We would appreciate from those who have sailed this huge ship their likes & dislikes while  sailing in Allure of the Seas .Also how would you rank the food quality  & service   We have done to date 81 cruises ;but ,never in a ship this size  & really enjoyed Celebrity & Holland America  cruise lines for different reasons 

 

Thanks in advance for your replies 😋

 

 

Don't give much credence to the opinions of those who have never sailed a mega ship TA.  We have done Oasis, Allure, and Symphony TA'S and have Allure booked for Nov.2020 which is after the refurb.  Solarium is enclosed and very comfortable, CP and BW are occasionally cold, but that would be rarely. Never seems crowded.  I think there was only 1 day the flowrider   was closed. One very positive aspect is that even though the ship is sailing with all cabins full it is shy about 1500 kids.  I will agree with Grandgezzer that there are way too many of us Diamonds, Symphony was a bit extreme with all of deck 4 being Diamond only for the nightly Diamond event.  This Allure sailing will probably see only Dazzles used each night. 12 night sailings on Oasis Class is now our favorite cruise.  Be sure to check out Royals Air2sea one way flights.  Last year they had Air France and Lufthansa at under $300.00pp, Norwegian air was priced as low as $232.00, we actually flew business class for $600.00pp from LAX.   check out the roll call and hope to sea you onboard.  

[Ocean Boy]

10 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

Don't give much credence to the opinions of those who have never sailed a mega ship TA.  We have done Oasis, Allure, and Symphony TA'S and have Allure booked for Nov.2020 which is after the refurb.  Solarium is enclosed and very comfortable, CP and BW are occasionally cold, but that would be rarely. Never seems crowded.

They have changed the roof on the Oasis class solariums?

[ILoveScotland]

I just got off the Allure this past Sunday.  I'd never cruised on one of the mega ships and while I'd never say never, I will say that I would prefer to cruise on a ship no larger than the Freedom class.  Part of the problem was that we had 6200 passengers on board with more children than I could never count, so it felt crowded at all hours.  I was also in a forward balcony almost under the bridge which meant I had to walk a lot.  That's not too bad in general, but it's a chore if someone simply needs to retrieve something from their cabin.  All in all I just felt like I was in a crowded mall at Christmas.

 

Did I enjoy the cruise?  Of course.  What's not to like when on the sea?  I just prefer smaller ships with 2500 passengers with lots of open spaces.  That means my favorite class is the Radiance class with the huge windows and the balcony cabins on the hump.

 

I think I may be in the minority, but that's my take on the Allure.  One positive for a TA is that you probably won't have a full ship and few, if any, children.

 

Beth

 

[gsb]

bigger is better!

[John&LaLa]

On 2/7/2019 at 10:14 PM, ILoveScotland said:

I just got off the Allure this past Sunday.  I'd never cruised on one of the mega ships and while I'd never say never, I will say that I would prefer to cruise on a ship no larger than the Freedom class.  Part of the problem was that we had 6200 passengers on board with more children than I could never count, so it felt crowded at all hours.  I was also in a forward balcony almost under the bridge which meant I had to walk a lot.  That's not too bad in general, but it's a chore if someone simply needs to retrieve something from their cabin.  All in all I just felt like I was in a crowded mall at Christmas.

 

Did I enjoy the cruise?  Of course.  What's not to like when on the sea?  I just prefer smaller ships with 2500 passengers with lots of open spaces.  That means my favorite class is the Radiance class with the huge windows and the balcony cabins on the hump.

 

I think I may be in the minority, but that's my take on the Allure.  One positive for a TA is that you probably won't have a full ship and few, if any, children.

 

Beth

 

 

Shame I can't read your comments,  you might want to change fonts in the future