Cruising ain’t what it used to be

Item: Allure of the Seas
Rating: 3.2
Author: JSThomasOTS

Allure of the Seas Cruise Review

JSThomasOTS

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 6

Overall rating:

3.2 out of 5

6 Night Western Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: September 25, 2022

Ship: Allure of the Seas

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

Cold beer and frosty cocktails made up for an overall poor culinary adventure and mediocre attention to health and safety protocols.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Embarkation was fairly smooth, though a long walk from where Uber drops off to when you board the boat. I have the key, and the line moved fairly swiftly.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

The food quality has gone downhill considerably since the last time I cruised roughly a decade ago. At the MDR, the food was very heavy and menu selections not all that appealing for this time of year. I was surprised that the cuisine did not match where we were in the Caribbean — I would’ve expected at least one jerk dish. You know, it’s bad, when room service was better than dinner for a few nights. Could get a nice big salad and burger, a lot lighter and honestly flavorful then the MDR Drink wise, I stuck primarily to beer — I got the buckets by the pool every day and did not have an unlimited drink package. Pro tip: if you don’t finish all the beers in one day, bring them back to your room. The following day, bring them back with you to the pool bar, and they will swap them out with cold. I got a cocktail, most nights, usually the frozen Mojito and piña colada.

Park Cafe

3 out of 5

Went here for lunch quite a few days, the salads didn’t taste very fresh. Not a lot of vegetable options across the ship, but specifically for a salad bar it was pretty lame. Most times I stuck to the roast beef sandwiches. I felt that the meat was low quality, lots of gristle and fat. The bread was also hard as a rock. It’s also worth noting that they don’t really have soft drinks here — they pour from a 2 L bottle wasn’t great.

Windjammer Cafe

1 out of 5

Do not under any circumstance go to the main Buffet. When I went up there to check it out, so many people, coughing, sneezing, etc. Simply put, it was gross and unsanitary. Can’t speak about the food, because I didn’t make it that far. Unless you wanna get COVID-19, avoid.

Solarium Bistro Restaurant

3 out of 5

I grabbed a brunch a few times here, never visited the wind jammer, so this was a close substitute. Selection was minimal and there was not much variety to choose from day to day. I stack mostly with fruit and proteins, which was reasonably OK. Mainly, leaving a review to let people know that I think this is a safer restaurant wind jammer.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

2 out of 5

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Love the spiciness of the cabin, I had an interior view of Central Park and it was at least a good 50 ft.² bigger than most interior rooms. Love that I could let light in during the day.

Ship tip

If you book an interior room on deck nine, there are two balconies by the aft elevator bank. Nobody really knows about it, so, if you keep it secret, it can be your little paradise.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

2 out of 5

They misplaced one of my luggage pieces, and the entire process was a total cluster. Do not under any circumstance take the ground shuttle to the airport. We were packed in like a kettle, everyone, coughing, and sneezing. Just not great — also took forever and they dropped us off at the wrong terminal so I had a long effing walk.

7 Comments

Other reviews of this sailing

A decent cruise considering the hurricane we had to avoid and not visiting a scheduled port.

Great ship! Great staff! Great cruise!

Great Cruise- Escaped the Hurricane