First Consecutive Cruise on Allure of the Seas - a Diaster

This was our first time taking consecutive cruises. We picked the Allure on November 6th and 13th thinking that as it was such a big ship two weeks wouldn't be too long on it.

Unfortunately the first week the ship ended up with the Norovirus and this meant the ship had to go through a major cleaning when we docked in Fort Lauderdale. You would think RCL would have had experience dealing with this situation for consecutive cruisers but you'd never know it from the way they handled it.

We were told we were either going to have to take an excursion in an air conditioned bus of Miami or sit in the terminal until 2:30ish. The majority of people picked the excursion. RCL didn't given us any vouchers for lunch, the bus wasn't air conditioned, it was an open top bus and if you opted to sit downstairs (where there was room for 10 people) you couldn't see outside. The bus we were on almost broke down and we got back to the pier at 3:40. A complete waste of our day. All RCL offered us was a $60. credit for bar service to be used in two days. Not acceptable.

I'm now considering cancelling the other trips we have booked with RCL due to the poor customer service - we currently have 12 cruises booked. (I was in customer service until I retired in May and this is not how you treat your clients.) The guest services on the ship were great. They handled our concerns upon our return well but we feel that RCL didn't handle the consecutive cruisers appropriately. Giving us $60. is not acceptable for losing a whole day on the ship. 

Food has gone down considerably on RCL ships since we first started cruising with them. You cannot even find the scallops anymore. The menus haven't changed for years and are getting very monotonous, especially since they repeat the menu each week if you are doing back-to-back cruises. 

This was the first time we have been so far forward on a ship and I won't do it again. We were on deck 7, cabin 7408 and although our cabin was fine, except for the closet door not staying open when the ship was rocking, when the ship was docking the whole cabin vibrated due to the ships side thrusters. Stay in a cabin overlooking central park instead if you can.

The shows on-board were excellent, specialty restaurants amazing, especially 150 Central Park and Johnny Rockets is a good place to go for breakfast.

Lots to do on the ship if you want to. As usual there are way too many people leaving towels and stuff on their chaise loungers and not appearing until later in the day. RCL needs to improve on policing this matter.