They do most things great.
Allure of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 40
7 Night Western Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)
Sail date: January 14, 2018
Ship: Allure of the Seas
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 14653
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
royal Caribbean does try very hard to make you love them. they are very demanding on their crew to make sure you have a great trip. the food is mostly a thumbs up but could be better. A few days in the windjammer gets pretty old. their crew is very diverse and there can be communication barriers at times. The intercom they use to communicate to people for announcements is terrible. almost never understood a word they were trying to say. loud echo and their voices were very muffled. almost pointlessEmbarkation
leaving our bags outside at the curb when we arrived at the pier with non Royal Caribbean employees was a little unsettling. But everything did arrive to our room and check in was relatively quick and easy. The muester drill is a pain in the butt and a little drawn out with this video they make you wash after but I guess a necessary pain.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
the one gripe I have is when I booked my trip I chose a dining time of 8pm. when I got on the ship and showed up to dinner at 8 I looked at my seapass card and it said mytime dining. I couldn't seem to get a rational answer from the dining hall or guest services how that happened. the food was pretty good for the challenge they have. but I would suggest eating earlier in the night if you eat in the dining hall as they make this food in mass quantities and serve it throughout the evening. we are at Giovanni's and Sabor too and the food and service was excellent. You def get your monies worth as it's basically all you can eat with the cover charge. The waiters are great and in all honesty I will consider the dining package next cruise. fresher more creative food options.
Onboard Activities
The fitness center is 5 star and could stand up to most on land gyms. the trainers I saw working with people seemed very passionate and helpful to the people I saw them working with and the health presentations I saw them conducting. activities wise the is done fun stuff to do but we felt like they should have something listed outside each activity showing what their hours were. the hours seem to b all over the place. we showed up for rock climbing and waited around for a while while to talk to someone only to find out they were closing. on previous day we did rock climb and some of the have grips were very loose on the wall. the employee said the vibration of the ship dishes them loose. would think there is actually rational way to correct that. she complaint with zip line. no hours posted. people showed up at closing time and we turned away. seemed pretty disappointed. also our last night the cruise compass app said Ice skating open 830pm. we showed up at 830 and no ice skating . a guy guarding the door said he didn't know why that was on there. my kid was really disappointed as that was to b our last activity on the ship. also the arcade double billed us for every charge we caught that on our final bill summary. guest services said it was a glitch in the system... still not sure if they will refund us for that... the putt putt is pretty nice looking (could be more creative holes) like pretty boring course and not much features and there are like soft spots or like pot holes all over it u step in. don't know why...
Entertainment
ice games and ocean aria was pretty cool. but blue planet was painful to sit through. I thought it was more of like an acrobatics type show. it was a musical. the song choices/tone of the songs are dark and offsetting. we saw people sneaking out and we eventually did the same. I've feel bad saying this as I know their talent puts their hearts into it but this was not a good vibes we are on a cruise show. their lead male singer just kind of walked around the stage singing with like no dancing or choreography. was so weird. Mama Mia was cancelled due to cast sickness so I cannot speak to that show but I do know it is long. 2.5 hours.
Children's Programs
we loved their kids program. great teachers and variation of stuff they do with the kids. only annoying thing is they only do 3 hour blocks at a time. then you have to pick them up for 2 hours before you can bring them back for another 3 hour block. one day we wanted to hang out in the solarium. when we picked our kid up at 12 we had to figure out what to do with him for 2 hours before we could go back to the solarium. my wife stayed so we could keep our chairs as they are hard to get there and we couldn't bring our kids in there. would b amazing if they had more of a 9-5 or even like 9-3 option so we could enjoy our husband wife day together
Service and Staff
the staff on Royal Caribbean is excellent and I know they try so hard to make happy in what is a very difficult job. I think the guests can b the rude and unrealistically impossible to please. I witnessed a very rude guest on Labadi make a big fuss because he had to wait in line for 10 mins to get his free bbq lunch. Please b respectful to these people. they try their best
Ship Quality
Central Park is gorgeous and tranquil and very meticulously maintained. my fav part of the ship. the crew works pretty tirelessly to clean this ship that is the size of a city. the ship is starting to show its age. paint is looking rough in some places. decals are faded in areas. The carpet style and staterooms are kind of ugly and pretty dated but overall still very beautiful ship.
Cabin / Stateroom
comfy bed, great view over Central Park. a little bit larger balcony as this is wheelchair accessible room. the wheelchair ramp that folds up and down when you open the door is a pain. only 3 outlets in the room (3 total things you can log in at a time). none of which are in the bathroom. there is 1 outlets on the left side of bed and none on the right. room is close to the elevator and stairs which was a huge plus. the closet is annoying. can't access your hung clothes very easily. the lighting system takes a few days to figure out (overly complicated) the mini fridge is pretty mini. can't close the door with hardly anything in it. windjammer is only 2 floors up so we nice to walk up the stairs instead of waiting for an elevator.
Ship tip
try some specialty restaurants. cafe card is a good value. skip blue planet. keep an eye on your final bill. reward crew that go above and beyond. be respectful and not demanding. a thank you is all they want from you
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Labadee (Cruise Line Private Island)
I loved this place because the beaches are right off the ship. Royal Caribbean owns this area so you don't have shady beach locals bugging you to buy drugs or home-made alcohol. the lunch was great, the beaches are beautiful.
no close beaches. this is pretty much a shopping Port unless you do an excursion. would highly recommend an excursion as we did. went snorkeling, locals lunch place, tequila tour and beach stop. was the highlight of our trip.
Disembarkation
pretty flawless process. no complaints