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Review: Allure of the Seas - 6 Nights Western Caribbean: First time back to Royal after 20 years

binro01

By binro01,
in Royal Caribbean International

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binro01 "Live from...." Rare

binro01

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Review of our Allure of the Seas (Feb 27th to March 5th, 2022) Western Caribbean Cruise:

 

Background: The wife and I are avid cruisers. This was our 10th cruise, and our second with Royal Caribbean after a long absence. Our last Royal cruise was in 2001, over 20 years ago on the Viking Serenade. Before this cruise, we enjoyed our Princess cruises as well as our NCL cruises, but their pricing is sometimes high for the amount of cruising we would like to do. We tried Carnival 2 times but found it lacking in both food and entertainment. So we decided to give Royal another shot. We always wanted to try the BIG ships but were afraid of the crowds and the post-pandemic restart gave us the perfect opportunity to see what they are all about.

 

The TLDR; of the review, We have found a new home with Royal! We had a wonderful cruise and we would say it was the best experience we have ever had. The food was fabulous, the entertainment was amazing and the staff was some of the best people we have ever met in the business.

 

Embarkation: We had an early check-in time of 11:00 AM at Fort Lauderdale terminal 18. The signage was easy to follow. They had the 10:30 and 11:00 AM groups in one line outside the terminal and any later people were placed in a different queue. We arrived at 10:40 AM for our check-in. We handed our larger luggage to the porters immediately and went on the line outside the terminal and were in the terminal within 5 minutes and proceeded to security check-in, which took about 10 min to go through. From there we had our documents checked within 5 min and up we went to wait for them to start boarding the ship. That wait was about 10 minutes. During this time I was able to connect to the ship’s WiFi and booked all my specialty dining and our shows. From leaving the car at the terminal drop off to being on the ship the total time was about 35 minutes. We were on the Allure at around 11:15 AM.

 

Food: We purchased the Unlimited Dining Package on the cruise planner for 168.00 pp (this price includes gratuities) for our 6-night cruise. This was an amazing value and well worth the price. We ate at Giovanni’s Table 2 times. (our favorite) for dinner and once for lunch, we at Chops for dinner once and had our embarkation lunch there as well. We ate dinner at 150 Central Park, Izumi Hibachi, and Izumi Sushi. We also had lunch at Johnny Rockets 2 times.

 

The food at all the specialty dining locations was great and the service was impeccable. We were very impressed. We loved the intimate areas of the restaurants vs the banquet hall feel of the MDR. We did eat breakfast a few times in the MDR, but mostly just went with the continental breakfast in the room that was delivered.

 

The only time we went to the windjammer was to grab a snack here and there. We also visited the Wipeout Cafe once for a quick snack of fries when we walked by.

 

Room: We stayed in an ocean view balcony stateroom on the 12th floor near the forward elevators. The location was great! It gave us easy access to all our dining in central park, as well as the solarium where we hung out a lot of the time. I was very happy with our room. I did try to Royal Up to a suite, and I did bid more than the minimum, but we were not lucky. Oh well. Maybe next time. The room was nice but I think I would have preferred the cabins with the bed closer to the balcony vs the bathroom. But that’s just my preference. Our cabin Steward was absolutely amazing. The bed was quite firm and he worked very hard to make it quite comfortable for us. He made our stay in our room very enjoyable.

 

Entertainment. All I have to say is wow! I was floored. The Broadway production cast of Mama Mia was great. I did not like the movie, and I really enjoyed this show. The Aqua Show was mind-blowing and the ice show was very entertaining. The Headliner was good. He was a singer in the famous band the Letterman (Think, Put your head on my shoulder) He had a great voice, but it’s just not my type of music. I’m more into classic and alternative rock, with some metal thrown in. Maybe soon, the cruise lines will cater to my age group, but as of right now I guess we are not the main target audience. The comedians were very funny. The live music on the ship was also great all over. From the pool deck to dazzles, to Jazz on 4. All very talented. I wish I had more time to take in the live music.

 

Itinerary. Western Caribbean is an OK itinerary. We love Cozumel and stayed at the very chill Nachi Cocom. Had a great beach day there. At Roatan, we did a Victor Boden tour and had a blast for a cheap price. Finally, we had a great day at Costa Maya at Jamies Beach Resort.

 

My wife had a Spa treatment and she said it was amazing and it was also a reasonable price for even a sea day. (119.00 for a 75 min Swedish massage) She also did a wash and blowout for our first formal night at the salon in the spa. (We booked this on the cruise planner for only 59.00 long hair)

 

Overall we had a great time. We are now anxiously awaiting our cruise on the Navigator of the Seas in April with our twin boys. We also visited the Next Cruise office and picked up a certificate for a future cruise that I’m currently researching and hope to book this week with the lower deposit and the OBC.

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I believe we can say we are officially Loyal to Royal, and can’t wait to achieve Diamond status. With the double points made on this cruise and the quadruple points on the next one (in a JS and booked during the double points promo) We will be well on our way there with 36 points in the bag and another cruise to book with the NextCruise certificate.

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Ronaldo807

Ronaldo807

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When you say you were able to connect to the ship's WiFi while in the waiting area, did you have to move to a certain area in the waiting area to get the signal? I have tried this in both Miami & Port Canaveral and neither one worked so I'm curious to hear about your experience as we will be sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale soon. 

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binro01 "Live from...." Rare

binro01

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4 hours ago, Ronaldo807 said:

When you say you were able to connect to the ship's WiFi while in the waiting area, did you have to move to a certain area in the waiting area to get the signal? I have tried this in both Miami & Port Canaveral and neither one worked so I'm curious to hear about your experience as we will be sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale soon. 

Once we were upstairs after our documents were checked we sat in the area next to the key and suite guests. I was able to see the ships WiFi and connected without a problem. I have an iPhone 12. I didn't have to walk around to seek out a signal. 

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binro01 "Live from...." Rare

binro01

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13 minutes ago, George C said:

We also love UDP , Navigator has less entertainment but still better than most , love there ice show,  we like suites and are diamond plus because of them.

When we are on the Navigator, we have the UDP again. I think on the short cruise, for only $100.00 per person, we will do quite well with the UDP. Especially since Playmakers is on the ship. We can hit there for lots of snacks and wings when ever we wish!

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sergel02 "Live from...." Rare

sergel02

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Glad you liked it!

 

We are currently on the Allure Eastern Caribbean, and it’s also our first Royal cruise after 20 years, the last being Radiance of the Seas. 
 

I also really loved the Aqua show, ice show, and Mama Mia (helps that I never have seen Mama Mia before). 
internet for me has been the best at sea, with Voom anyway. 

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