Nice short get away

Item: Allure of the Seas
Rating: 4.7
Author: cpmasn

Allure of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas

cpmasn

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 19

Overall rating:

4.7 out of 5

Verified Review

4 Night Bahamas & Perfect Day (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 05, 2024

Ship: Allure of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 12725

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 9 months ago

Review summary

Number 37 is in the books!!!! I guess I'm more of a fan of 7 night or longer cruises as in my experience, the quality seems to be better. I am a real loyal to royal type so my review could be considered a bit biased but I always try to give a fair shake when it comes to reviews. If I am to be fair, I would say the MDR service was great but the food was average. This is not just a Royal issue either as I said before. This seems to be an industry issue where the food quality is sub-par in an effort to get the customer to pay for specialty dinning options. 20 years ago, it was an experience in the MDR but today it's cafeteria food served with a smile. My other issue is the gratuities have gotten out of hand as they only take care of your cabin once a day!!!!!! I believe you should tip when you get great service and not the other way around. We pay the gratuities through the onboard account and give extra when we see great service but the cruise lines need to watch all the nickel and diming as this will eventually turn people away (Gratuities on a 7 night cruise are $252) I tell people that the price of a cruise is the easy part lol!!!! It's all the rest that most people never consider that gets you. In my humble opinion, spend the money on a nice balcony and enjoy the peaceful time you get to smell the sea air and forget about all the issues at home. The Allure of the Seas does check off the boxes when you score her overall experience. The food could be better but if you do some specialty dining (great venues and still cheaper than paying for higher end cruises) it's a great little vacation and booking through makes it easy

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Very crowded and not what we usually experience at the diamond level

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

The food is consistently getting worse as it appears the cruise lines are trying to force people into upcharge specialty dining venues. The food was okay one the first and second night but it was moving in the cafeteria type food as the cruise went on.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

This is the only thing keeping the cruise lines going but that's even starting to slip as you want more for gratuities but only half the service. We personally give our room steward extra money when we get the service but $36 a day is a bit much as gratuities should be given based on the service received.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Allure was pretty clean for her age but she does need a dry dock. All credit goes to the crew here as she's well maintained

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

I enjoyed the cabin. I will say that the ICON and Wonder are overpriced for your overall vacation dollar and RCL is getting close to losing a share in the marketplace. We own 500 shares of company stock and while it has increased 81% over the past year, it has begun to slow down and is pretty flat in the $123 range. This could be an indicator that the quality is slipping

Ship tip

I think there's value in this trip yet 4 days is to short!!!! Once she is dry docked it is a nice ship

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Nassau, Bahamas

5 out of 5

Very impressed with the new port in Nassau. We've been stopping there since the 90's and it has really made some great progress.

Thumbs Up 0

Perfect Day At Coco Cay, Bahamas

5 out of 5

It's fantastic until you get to the crazy overpriced upcharge things to do. You are better off just relaxing on South Beach or going to the pool. It's a beautiful place and it has always been a highlight even before all the commercialization that's taken place

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

3 out of 5

8 Comments

Cruisers4Lyfe 5 months ago

Thanks for sharing

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

sstephan13 9 months ago

I agree thoroughly with a gratuities and quality of the food I am also a diamond plus member loyal to Royal but I am getting tired of being nickled and dined

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

javawoody 9 months ago

Appreciate your detailed review

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

basssacker 9 months ago

Thanks for your review I agree with many of your comments

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

Ruby13 9 months ago

Glad you had a great time

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

kef2016 9 months ago

Thanks for sharing your detailed cruise experience and ship tip. Glad you enjoyed your get away cruise.

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

Gwbigdog 9 months ago

Thanks for sharing

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

Niavlys 9 months ago

Thank you for your detailed review and advice

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

Other reviews of this sailing

Family trip

The Cruise was great, working with was terrible

Quick getaway