First Oasis Class Experience-Allure
Allure of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 7
Helpful Votes: 262
7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)
Sail date: August 04, 2019
Ship: Allure of the Seas
Cabin type: Balcony
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
Would love to do it again on an Oasis Class ship like a lure, but the added cost for hotel airfare was not worth it. I'll wait until we get one in Galveston. In fact still need to do an insurance claim on the flight cancellation and extra Hotel night and costs.Embarkation
Super easy and fast compared to the freedom class in Galveston that we typically go on. Even the drop off outside was smooth with no congestion at all. Arrive there about 9:30 to 9:45 even though our setsail said 11am. probably within the first 10 to 20 people of getting in the terminal upstairs. Fort Lauderdale definitely has there process down! a.m.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Of course the kids love Sorrento's in the soft serve ice cream on the pool deck. We ate in the windjammer on embarkation day in the main dining room for dinner pretty much every night. We did try a tzumi one day for lunch which I would pass over next time. Not worth the cost. At Johnny rockets for lunch one day but again could pass on that next time.
Onboard Activities
Just hung out at the pool deck and let the kids play in the pools and the hot tubs. Did not do any other outdoor activities. people seriously need to stop reserving pool deck chairs at 7 in the morning while they're gone for four hours to eat and wake up.
Entertainment
Shows were amazing. Loved Ocean Aria, Momma Mia, and Blue Planet. We did not watch any headliner or comedy shows this time
Service and Staff
Stateroom attendant bartenders and main dining room waiters and assistant waiters were awesome. They did try to sit us one night in two different areas with two different sets of waiters that was unacceptable. We were there five minutes before or my time dining time of 6:30. the maitre d finally got us set in the same section at a different table but we still had our normal weight or an assistant waiter. They treated us like royalty for the rest of the trip after that fiasco. Usha the diamond concierge was pretty nice. She spoke to me and my daughter who will be diamond in January. My friend and his son were Diamond already. Looking forward to that perk when we get to that level in a few months
Ship Quality
love the newer larger Oasis class ship. First time on it. We stayed on Deck 14 and it was amazing. The spot we were at had a larger-than-normal overhang above us that sheltered us from the wind rain and sun. Anytime I booked on an oasis class in the future will be on deck 14 at this particular spot (14302). Our Cruise buddies had the room next to us (14300) so we had our Steward open up the small balcony partition between us.
Cabin / Stateroom
Nice size and clean. we did notice about three or four days in that we had a wicked vibration in our room and others felt it on the same deck during the evening hours. In fact my daughter's bed that was separated from mine vibrated more than mine and it bothered her. Did give me a headache once.
Ship tip
Don't assume it's too big to enjoy. We always sailed on freedom class which is much smaller and we thought that an oasis class would be too big and we won't like it. But once we got there really wasn't as big as we had thought and it was more manageable. I'll be happy with the Oasis Class when it comes to Galveston
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida
we flew into Fort Lauderdale from Texas Saturday before we disembarked on Sunday. Highly recommend that so there's no problems getting there the day of. We stayed at the extended stay on the main strip with Carrabba's behind it. We would just walk over to Carrabba's for lunch or dinner. Stayed at the same place when we returned since Southwest cancelled our flight back to Texas on Sunday. We had to leave Monday morning. We did not explore anything in the city though
Love this sport. Our van driver on way to cockleshell beach actually asked all of us how many chairs and umbrellas we needed so he called ahead of time to make sure they were there when we got there. When we did they said the section was reserved but after a few minutes of them talking to the manager they gave us the spots there because our driver had called them in. Happy we did because it got really packed and there was a lack of chairs and umbrellas later in the day. Loved their local beer. Loved the photo op at the top of the hill that shows the Caribbean and Atlantic oceans coming together
we were supposed to go to St Thomas but they replace that stop with San Juan do to propulsion issues on a lower. We were kind of bummed but San Juan was very nice. We took a tour that we didn't pay for until we walked outside the port. Air-conditioned bus and he was great and stopped at several locations for photo ops. We went to go see San Cristobal Fort but did not see the morrow Fort. the driver told us of a spot to check in old San Juan that sold homemade and pinatas. We love that. In fact after walking the streets and on our way back to the ship we had to stop there one more time for another empanada.
you always hear about Nassau in the Bahamas. The best part was coming in on the ship while we were talking to seeing the beautiful water in the large Atlantis resort in the background. Once we got off there were five ships there that day, very congested, the locals in the ports for transportation were very rude and aggressive. We ended up changing her mind of wanting to go to a beach and instead walk the shops for souvenirs. We did stop at their brewery across from the porch pirates and it was nice. Also tried some conch fritters next door. wouldn't mind staying on the ship in Nassau if we ever stop there again. Not as nice as I had thought. Too bad they couldn't have swapped out Nassau for either Key West, Turks and Caicos, or St Thomas. Broke my glasses the night before on the ship and it was a Dickens trying to find replacement sunglasses cheap in Nassau. Also found a little hat that covered my ears. Just a few minutes of standing outside at the shops in the port, sweat was dripping off me like a faucet that is turned on full blast. Very humid that day. Very hot
Disembarkation
ended up not doing self assist like we normally do in Galveston because there was no need for us to get off quickly because our flight was the next day. Our travel buddies did though and they got off smooth. We were number 69 out of 70 on the disembarkation list for baggage. We ended up sitting down on the promenade across from Sorrento's just relaxing. They called all remaining numbers about 9:30 in the morning. Walked off with facial recognition and only had to stop for about three seconds to flash our passports. that was the easy part. Once we were outside for rideshare to be picked up, it took 30 minutes for a Lyft to get there.the baggage guys were confused as to who was supposed to be driving in and we're in a sheriff's deputy came over and started arguing with them outside. Once that was resolved that flowed a little smoother. But nothing like dropping off in the morning.