Mega Fun on a Mega Ship
Allure of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 32
8 Night Eastern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)
Sail date: February 05, 2022
Ship: Allure of the Seas
Cabin number: 6686
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 2 years ago
Review summary
Loved the ship and all of its amenities. The personnel were attentive and excellent. We had a wonderful, magical time! The food was delicious and varied.Embarkation
The transfer from Airport to Ship could have been better. However, once at the pier going through security and identified as a properly vaccinated couple could not have been better. We were on 6th floor going up ramps a little strenuous.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
We ate breakfast in the main dining room which did an excellent service and food. At Lunch we ate on the 16 deck with the buffet which again had a wonderful selection of great tasting choices. At diner we ate in the main dining room. The service was superior and they had a great wine list and I enjoyed excellently made Southern Comfort Manhattan's when ordering an excellent steak or prime rib; my wife enjoyed a white wine with the different seafood selections which were also excellent.
We did not partake of the other restaurants as we were not sure if they charged extra for their food selections. We had not studied the information enough before our trip to make this determination. Maybe some information could be put on the Stateroom TV screens that could spell these opportunities out while on the cruise with more available time.
Onboard Activities
The opportunities were there for us to enjoy - however I am 77 and my wife is 75 so Rock Climbing walls was out, The pools we did not partake as they are in full sun. On the ships we were on that were Princess line had a pool that was in a separate area away from the younger people just for older swimmers that were better suited for people out age.
Entertainment
1. The Ice Skating performance was outstanding. Living in Minnesota we are used to seeing Skating Ice performances but the Royal Caribbean's show blew us away. Better than Disney's on ice shows we have seen in Minnesota.
2. Next was the Water Show that was put on at night. Outstanding! Everything from the high dives (thanks to the 30 ft deep pool; the skill level of all the performing swimmers and the special effects all made this show memorable.
3. Mama Mia Show could not have been better. Excellent choreography and costumes along with the excellent singing. Suggestion: Maybe the sound system can be improved or microphones as it is all singing and at times the words could not be understood. We have seen and heard Mama Mia before so we could kind of under stand the parts that were not clear when sung during the Royal Caribbean's performance.
We did not see more opportunities but felt that we could have been more aware if - again they had been shown on the stateroom TV's.
Children's Programs
Not traveling with our children and grandchildren.
Service and Staff
EXCELLENT, OUTSTANDING, & SUPERIOR. 1. Our Room Steward was fantastic in seeing to out needs. Happy to be of help to us and keeping out stateroom implacable and ready for us. Responded to our needs and helped work with a water leak in the hallway that brought water into our stateroom by our bathroom.
2. Our Head Waiter and Assistant Waiter were like the dream team that you always wish you would have serving you at dinner time. They were happy and willing and professional in all they did. Again seeing to our needs and choices from the wine and dinner menu's. Keeping the dinner courses coming at just the right time but never standing over us but always attentive to our needs.
3. The service desk personnel, the internet staff, and the staff at the buffets were happy and well mannered as they saw to what ever our needs were at the time. ALL STAFF WAS EXCELLENT.
Ship Quality
Ship's layout and design was excellent in keeping all areas spacious and open so you never felt closed in. Up stairs on deck 16 in the buffet stations there was one station that could be changed a little to better accommodate on of the ships structural posts that must be in the place it was. The station could be turned a little to allow more room between the post and the buffet station.
Cabin / Stateroom
Cabin with a balcony on the ocean was a great upgrade. We want to state that the opportunity to bid on this particular upgrade and winning this stateroom made a HUGE difference to our overall enjoyment of your cruse.
Location was perfect for us to reach all areas of the ship with quick ease.
Our Stateroom attendant kept out stateroom impeccable even when a hallway water leak came into the stateroom and puddled water on the carpet in front of the entrance to our bathroom.
The size of the stateroom was very acceptable with the end of the bed and the wall being a little tight when walking to use the bathroom.
The stateroom was quiet with no outside sounds. Easy to fall asleep and the mattress and pillows very comfortable.
Ship tip
Do not be afraid on being on such a mega ship, it will meet all your expectations.
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida
This port is a traffic jam for wheeled vehicles trying to carry passengers to and from the ships.
It needs to be redesigned to smooth out traffic flow and access.
Streamline the bus service to and from the airport to the port - suggestion: use smaller buses with large baggage areas that can carry all the baggage for the customers using the bus. A 48 passenger bus or 60 passenger bus without enough baggage area on board the buses caused us to wait 60 min (1 hour) to get from the airport to the port. Leaving we again had to wait 120 min (2 hours) to get from the port to the airport. Use more smaller buses would solve this problem with they running every 15 min.
Excursions on this port; were taken in a previous trip but were very poor.
Good access and prepared to dock out large ship. Fun to look out at all the surrounding area.
We did not disembark from the ship at this port. Had been there before and found no need to see it again up close - excursion's were expensive.
Excellent port and one of the reasons for taking this 8 day trip.
Did not do an excursion as we had already done several on earlier ships voyages.
Again, love this port and its excellent pier. Fun port to visit.
Did not do an excursion as we had done many on other cruises
Lovely port to visit. People very friendly and respectful - even when they had not had customers for about 2 years.
We did the Sugar Cane Train ride which was great. A lot of fun to see almost the entire island.
MOST IMPORTANT was our bus driver who had incredible knowledge of the island and its history. He made our trip really enjoyable as we could hear what he was saying quite clearly and distinctly. As opposed to the train trip - which had the rails causing the train cars to move a lot and be quite noisy. The beverages on board the train were free and very excellent with many offers of refills. We would recommend this excursion to others.
Disembarkation
The good part was using the stateroom TV's to call up the different groups as they were
10 Comments
Shh813 2 years ago
Wow, great review. We were on the Allure in November 2019 and also loved it. We ate all our meals in the MDR except lunch we went to the Park Cafe which has their famous prime rib sandwiches and delicious salads besides many other things. I believe the only item you had to pay for was if you ordered a specialty coffee. Also loved how for breakfast you could order from the menu AND go to the buffet also. Saw all the shows you did. I loved them all but the ice show was my favorite. Wonderful wonderful ship.