First Cruise - Allure of the Seas

Item: Allure of the Seas
Rating: 5
Author: JLM5

Allure of the Seas Cruise Review

JLM5

Contributor Level: Second Mate

82 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 70

Overall rating:

5 out of 5

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 25, 2019

Ship: Allure of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 8548

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

This cruise was to be a 7 night Eastern Caribbean cruise with 3 port stops, but because of Hurricane Dorian, it changed to a 10 night Western Caribbean cruise with 5 port stops. RCL was great in how they handled all this, and because I had done so much research before our first cruise, we were able to easily adjust to all these changes and we had a fantastic time and we loved every moment of this cruise. My husband and I both agree this was the best vacation ever!

Embarkation

5 out of 5

We arrived at the cruise terminal by Uber at 11:20 AM, and we were walking on the ship at 11:45 AM. I was like a little kid on Christmas morning! I was beyond excited. We had lunch at the Solarium Bistro Buffet. This buffet in the Solarium was not crowded, it was relaxing and the food was very good with many healthy options. Our room was ready and our suitcases outside our stateroom by 1:30 PM.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

We enjoyed all of our meals in the MDR. We had My Time Dining. We scheduled our dining time around our show reservations. So, we did not eat dinner each evening at the same time, but we did have the same waitstaff each evening; which we loved! We did not do any specialty restaurants. The Solarium Bistro Buffet for breakfast & lunch was a hidden gem!

Cafe Promenade

5 out of 5

Great place to get a late night snack, desert and specialty coffee.

Vitality Cafe

5 out of 5

Great service! My husband enjoyed the protein shakes/smoothies after working out. Those shakes were included in his Refreshment Package. They also served some specialty coffees and I was able to use my coffee card here.

Sorrento's

5 out of 5

Pretty good pizza and cookies! Great late night snack!

Park Cafe

5 out of 5

We enjoyed lunch here a few times. They would assemble your salad in front of with the items of your choice. Also, good place to get specialty coffees (you can use your coffee card), sandwiches and dessert.

Windjammer Cafe

4 out of 5

The food was good, but not our favorite place to dine just because it was a little busy. We enjoyed the Solarium Bistro Buffet, MDR, Park Cafe and Cafe Promenade more.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

My husband did the FlowRider, both boogie board and stand up, on the very first day with hardly any wait time. We did the Zip Line on the 2nd day with NO wait. We played Trivia a few times in the Schooner Bar. Get to trivia like 10 minutes early to get seats. Trivia gets full. My husband worked out almost every morning. He said the gym was pretty busy each morning, but later in the week it was not as busy.

Entertainment

5 out of 5

We enjoyed all of the entertainment. Especially, Mamma Mia, Aqua Show, Ice Skating Show and the comedy shows! See the OceanAria Aqua Show at night when it is dark! We also enjoyed watching Aqua Man in 3D in the Amber Theater.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

We really enjoyed getting to know our waitstaff and our room attendant! Ask them questions. They do enjoy talking about their families back home. Everyone was super nice.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Super clean ship! Well taken care of in all areas.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

We loved our ocean view balcony cabin. On the second day, we left a note for our room attendant for a mattress topper to be put on our bed to make it more comfy. Our room was clean and had plenty of space for us to totally unpack.Do bring heavy duty magnets and an over the door shoe organizer to store things. It was really nice having these items. We were on the starboard side, but out of the five ports we went to, our balcony was facing the port 4 out of the 5 stops when docked. That was a treat!

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

We waited to disembark until we had to! Until they kicked us off. 😂 We were out of our room at 8:30 AM. We were leaving the ship at 9:35 AM. We were in our Uber by 10:00 AM. I’m not sure if that was normal, but it was super smooth and the only real wait was for the Uber. We called for the Uber once we had our suitcases. There was no wait at customs.