Other than the dining issues and our problems with our stateroom, this was a good cruise overall. I don't think we will go on the Allure again however, and perhaps stick with the other Oasis class ships for the future. We are scheduled on the Harmony in April 2020 and are looking forward to that ship.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Embarkation at FLL was incredibly smooth and took no time at all. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. We used Park & Ride nearby - was about 1/2 the price of parking at the port and incredibly professional and easy.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
We are all experienced Royal Caribbean cruisers - most of us are either Platinum or Emerald status. We understand that problems and hiccups occur, but this was by far the WORST experience with the main dining room we have ever encountered. They screwed up our dinner reservations and never fixed it - every single night was a battle to get us (a party of 9 in 4 staterooms) to sit together. And we had confirmed our reservations a week before the cruise. They also screwed up our seating at 150 Central Park and were not willing to help us fix it (and this was our special dinner to celebrate our parents 50th anniversary). When we did eat in the main dining room, the food was cold/substandard, my father never got served at all one night, and the staff was just confused and unhelpful. We wound up eating in the buffet because the dining room experiences were such a mess. We had one good experience at Giovanni's table - for my father's 75th birthday dinner - they took wonderful care of us and the food was amazing. It's the only reason I am not giving this rating a zero. (One more thing I will give a shout out to the baristas in the Promenade Cafe - they were wonderful and friendly and made great coffee drinks).
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We had a wonderful time otherwise on the ship. The pool areas were great and not overcrowded. Half of us stayed in the Solarium area which was very relaxing, and the other staff stayed at the kids area (we had 3 boys ages 5-11 with us) and the kids LOVED the pool area. The casino was huge and the non-smoking section was surprisingly not smoky at all. The staff were very helpful as well. We also did several of the trivia contests and the scavenger hunt and it was a lot of fun.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The entertainment was truly the highlight of the cruise. Momma Mia was AMAZING. The performers in the nightclubs were all very very good. We enjoyed the ice show immensely - it was better than the Oasis show by a mile. The family friendly comedians were also very very good. Definitely a highlight of the cruise.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
The service in the main dining room was abysmal but I've said enough about that already. On the positive side, our room steward SAM - was fantastic. very responsive and friendly. The baristas, casino staff, and pool staff and wait staff in Windjammers were also wonderful. Guest services was a mixed bag - there was one person - Nikita - who was very very helpful. The others were quite frankly useless and frustrating when asked even the most basic of questions.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The Allure is a beautiful ship and we were looking forward to cruising on it.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
The cabin is a bit smaller than what we had on the Oasis, but it was well laid out, the bathroom was just big enough and the bed was comfortable. The balcony was also perfect. The only issues we had with the room was the drain kept clogging and the a/c broke 3 times. Each time, Sam took care of it right away.
Ship tip
Double and quadruple check your dining plan and perhaps skip the main dining room all together.
Other than incredibly hot (yes it's the Caribbean in summer) we always love St. Maarten. We did some shopping and wandered around downtown and the port and enjoyed a low key day. Our nephews went to the Yoda Museum which we highly recommend.
We are going in November. Hopefully our dining experience will be better as there will only be 4 of us. I'm really surprised that your father wasn't even served one night. That's hard to believe. Last March we were on Carnival Conquest. Loved the ship, however, we had reservations way in advance for a table of 6 and they put us at a table for 12. Changed it for the rest of the cruise.
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