Review: Allure of the Seas November 13-20, 2016 Sky Class

Hello! This is a very long overdue review of the cruise my mom and I took on the Allure of the Seas November 13-20, 2016. I had planned to live blog and/or Periscope during the cruise but I unfortunately wasn't feeling up to it. I do have a cruise planned for August on Adventure OTS so hopefully I can do one or both then.

This was our first time on one of the larger Royal ships and we weren't quite sure if we would like it. It was also our first time in a Crown Loft Suite and Sky Class so we were curious about how the suite service would compare to our previous experiences on Royal and NCL.

I *think* I still have the Compasses from the cruise and if I do I will post them either here or on my blog (shameless plug) once I figure out how to do it. I will do my best to answer any questions you guys have but I do apologize if I don't remember something since this cruise was a few months ago.

I just started this review on my blog as well so I will try to post everything here as I write it for anyone who would rather not go there (although I hope you will)! I'll start off with a review of our hotel and our pre-cruise stay.

Back in November my mom and I went on a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas out of Fort Lauderdale. We decided to head down to Florida a day early because even though we’ve cruised out of Port Everglades many times we’ve always flown in the day of the cruise and never actually explored the Fort Lauderdale area.

After reviewing all available hotel options we decided to stay at the GALLERYone, which is a Doubletree Suites by Hilton hotel. I’m not sure if I’ve ever stayed in a Doubletree hotel so I was excited to check this one out, especially when it had such positive reviews on Trip Advisor and here on Cruise Critic. I booked the room through Expedia and was able to apply my Expedia+ points, so the out of pocket price I paid for the room was $162.74 which I felt was a great price. I also used Ebates, which I highly recommend.

We only had one day in Fort Lauderdale so I wanted a hotel that was centrally located to all of the things we wanted to do. I bought a Groupon for the Water Taxi and there is a stop right at the hotel so that was definitely a plus. My mom and I were supposed to go to dinner at the Texas de Brazil restaurant in our hometown prior to the cruise but that never happened, so the fact that there was one within walking distance of the GALLERYone was another advantage. There was also an upscale mall within walking distance and a nice outlet mall within about 30 minutes if we (ok, if I) decided to do some shopping. We ended up not going to either mall but it was nice to have those options. We didn’t need the hotel to be right next to the cruise port (there are several hotels that are very close to Port Everglades) but we wanted to be within a 20 minute Uber ride and we were with the GALLERYone. Finally, we wanted to be near a Publix to pick up any food or miscellaneous items for the room and/or cruise and there was one within walking distance.

I think our flight arrived at FLL around 2pm, so by the time we collected our luggage, arranged the Uber and arrived at the hotel I expected our room to be ready for us. Once we arrived at the hotel we soon realized that might not be possible because it was clear that there was an event being held there. We waited in the lobby for about an hour recharging our electronics and people watching, but we got bored and decided to leave our luggage with the valet and explore the surrounding area. My mom went out to the pool area and found the dock for the Water Taxi so that was helpful. We walked out of the hotel and headed left, where on the left side of the road was the mall and on the right was a small shopping center with the Publix. Just a little further on the right was the Texas de Brazil, and we were really glad to see it because it meant we could definitely walk there for dinner that night.

We didn’t explore for very long and when we got back to the hotel our room still wasn’t ready so we sat in the lobby a bit longer. My mom was getting a bit frustrated by this time and went to the reception desk to ask for an ETA on when we would be able to access our room, and the receptionist gave us two vouchers for a $5 credit at the little store so we could buy a drink. That was very nice of her and we appreciated the gesture.

Finally, we were notified that our room was ready so we headed up to check it out. I booked us in a 2 Queen Bed Suite with Balcony and Canal View. They do offer suites with two separate bedrooms but since we were only going to be there one night we decided the standard suite would be fine. I really liked our room and it was more than enough space for the two of us.

After we settled in, we walked to Texas de Brazil for an early dinner. You do have to cross a busy road to get there but there is a crosswalk with a signal and there were always several other people walking too so it is a pedestrian-friendly area.

Dinner was amazing and afterwards we went back to the hotel to catch the water taxi. We weren’t planning on getting off at any of the stops and were just using it as a little tour of the area, but a few of the other passengers were using it to bar hop and I could see that being really fun. I think the guide mentioned that there was a way to connect to one of the taxis that goes to the Hard Rock hotel in Hollywood, FL and if we had more time we definitely would have done that. Since it was November a lot of the homes on the canal had their holiday lights up and it was very pretty to see them from the water. The full loop tour with no stops took about an hour and I would definitely recommend it. After the tour, we returned to the hotel and called it a night.

Unlike most extended stay hotels, breakfast wasn’t included with our room and we decided not to buy the breakfast buffet at the onsite restaurant. We made the quick walk to Publix and got some brunch there to bring back to the room. After we ate we went down to the lobby to check out and head over to Port Everglades. The hotel does offer a shuttle service but we decided to use Uber instead.

I can definitely see myself staying at this hotel again if I’m ever in Fort Lauderdale. The rooms were very spacious and the general area seemed nice and I preferred it to the area close to the port.

Will be following along.

Thank you for taking the time to write your review! I am looking forward the rest! I am glad you enjoyed the hotel. We are booked there in March for our Allure cruise. I am especially glad it is in walking distance to so many places!

We sail on Allure soon, i follow!

Will be following along.

We sail on Allure soon, i follow!

I think you'll love Allure. Not to give away the rest of my review but we were really concerned with the size of the ship and the number of passengers but this cruise made Royal our preferred cruise line and Oasis class our favorite class.

Thank you for taking the time to write your review! I am looking forward the rest! I am glad you enjoyed the hotel. We are booked there in March for our Allure cruise. I am especially glad it is in walking distance to so many places!

We really did enjoy it. The only thing I was slightly disappointed about was that breakfast wasn't included but there was the option of purchasing a rate that included it but of course that cost more. Walking to Publix to get something from their hot food bar worked out well for us so we would do that again the next time we stay there.

I hope to add more to the review later today (stupid work is getting in the way lol).

As I've mentioned before, the Allure was the biggest ship we've been on. Up until this cruise, the largest ship we cruised on was the NCL Breakaway and the largest Royal ship was the Radiance OTS, so the Allure was going to be a big change for us.

While we were on the water taxi the night before the cruise I got an email and texts notifying us that there was a GI (Norovirus) outbreak on the cruise before ours and that boarding would be delayed so they could thoroughly sanitize the ship. This would be enough to make anyone concerned but my mom contracted Noro on a previous cruise so she was worried that she would be unlucky enough to get it again (she didn't). We were told by Royal that we should get to Port Everglades around 1:00pm but since we had to check out of the hotel and didn't have anything else to do we still got there at our original time of around 11am.

Everyone else must have disregarded their assigned arrival time too because the terminal area was already pretty crowded. The suite area was full (well, a lot of people were using seats for their bags instead of making them available to other passengers) so a RCL rep created an overflow suite area in the general seating area. We did wait for about an hour or so before we were allowed to board, and in the future I think we'll try to board a little later in the day to avoid the initial rush.

This was my 19th cruise and my mom's 20th so I consider us to be pretty seasoned cruisers, but I was definitely wowed when we stepped onto the Allure. I had spent days looking at pictures of the ship, watching YouTube videos of the ship and Periscope broadcasts of the ship but nothing prepared me for how large and unlike the previous ships we've been the Allure is. I will say that we definitely noticed the lack of water views from public areas of the ship but there are plenty of places to see the ocean if you want to, you just have to seek them out a little bit more.

Since the Allure carries so many passengers our main concern about this ship was how crowded it would be. I can honestly say that the only time we felt like there were thousands of people onboard was when people starting boarding and the cabins weren't open yet. Once they opened the ship felt much less crowded, and the only other times we noticed how many people were on the ship was during normal "rush hour" times like before/after the shows, peak dinner time, etc but even then it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Unless you are really averse to being around a lot of people I wouldn't let the passenger size of the Allure put you off this ship (or any others in its class) because it generally didn't feel overcrowded.

The ship, being fairly new, was in excellent condition and I didn't notice any areas that showed a lot of wear. I'm navigationally challenged and even I found the layout to be user friendly and easy to understand despite the large size. The Oasis class has now become our favorite class based on the amount of onboard activities, the suite options and the size of the ship.

Ever since we saw pictures of the loft suites when they first came out my mom and I knew we had to sail in one one day. Until recently we were pretty loyal NCL cruisers because we liked the suite perks they offered and the 2 bedroom Haven suites. When we decided that we would go on Royal for our next cruise we of course looked at the loft suites. Unfortunately the 2 bedroom Aquatheater suite was already booked for our sailing so we decided to get the Crown Loft. We didn't realize that the Crown Lofts were in different locations on the ship so our next decision was whether we wanted to overlook the water or the sports deck. Since every previous balcony we had overlooked the water we decided to try something new and book the L2 which overlooked the sports deck, which saved us money as well since it was slightly cheaper than the L1. This proved to be a great decision as we loved being able to step out on the balcony (which was a very good size) and seeing what was going on below not just on the sports deck but even in the Boardwalk and Aquatheater. Yes, people can look up and see you but we don't do anything on the balcony where we need lots of privacy so that wasn't an issue for us. I did watch one aqua show from the balcony and while I could see everything it would definitely be better to watch from the theater.

When we booked the L2 I didn't realize it had two bathrooms until I did more research on it so that was a great surprise. The bedroom area was a bit tight once the beds were separated but it was perfectly manageable. The mattresses had toppers on them and they were still a bit firm (and I love firm mattresses) so I can only imagine how hard they would be without them. We had absolutely no complaints about the bathrooms and having one downstairs really worked for us because my mom used that one since she gets up early in the morning.

We absolutely loved being on deck 17 because it meant the only guest traffic in the hallway was from the other guests staying in the lofts, plus the corridor was much wider than the other passenger decks. We had breakfast every morning in the Coastal Kitchen and would stop by for drinks daily in the Concierge Lounge so being only steps away from both was a huge convenience.

For Blue Planet and Ice Games we did use the reserved seating that comes with the Royal Suite Class, and I understand what people mean about it being a somewhat awkward situation. People definitely gave us the stink eye when we showed our cards to the crew member and they allowed us in, and it was also a bit awkward when the crew member had to turn people away because they weren't eligible to sit there (either because they didn't have the right Seapass card or because the seats hadn't been released to all passengers yet).

We had My Time Dining and made reservations pre-cruise in the cruise planner. It wasn't until about night 3 that we saw that there was a separate check in desk for Royal Suite Class but there was never anyone there so we just kept going to the regular desk for people with reservations.

We got to know a few of people we kept seeing in the Coastal Kitchen/Concierge Lounge but unfortunately not everyone was so friendly. I realize that not everyone is going to say hello or be super friendly and that doesn't make them bad people but the overall vibe of the CK/CL was a bit snobby and we didn't really feel comfortable hanging around once we were done eating and/or drinking. A lot of people were Pinnacles and they definitely wanted to make sure you were aware of that.

Before taking this cruise we thought Royal wouldn't be able to compare with NCL as far as suite perks but we were pleasantly surprised. We really enjoyed the Suite Sun Deck as it allowed us to have a little more privacy than we would have on our own balcony, plus it was really underutilized so it was nice to have a place that was a little secluded.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention our suite attendant Carmen from Romania. She was an absolute delight and my mom and I both enjoyed the many conversations we had with her. This cruise was the first time I was actually sad to leave our attendant. I don't remember her assistant's name but he was excellent too, perhaps a bit distracted though because it was his last cruise before going home for vacation so who can blame him really!

I'm not great with technology but I'm going to try and insert a room tour I did, and hopefully it works.

[YOUTUBE]ueDilUXs9oA[/YOUTUBE]

I'm not great with technology but I'm going to try and insert a room tour I did, and hopefully it works.

 

ueDilUXs9oA

Nice video of your suite!

... I'm not great with technology but I'm going to try and insert a room tour I did, and hopefully it works....

Works fine, nice video.:)

Thank you for the review of your CL! I am looking forward to reading more. I have a question...did you hear any noise from the windjammer below in the early morning hours? I am a very light sleeper and I read in another thread that they heard slamming doors starting at 4:00 AM!

Nice video of your suite!

Works fine, nice video.:)

Thank you! I think I should have turned the camera horizontal but I'll know better next time.

Thank you for the review of your CL! I am looking forward to reading more. I have a question...did you hear any noise from the windjammer below in the early morning hours? I am a very light sleeper and I read in another thread that they heard slamming doors starting at 4:00 AM!

You're welcome! No, I don't recall hearing any noise from the Windjammer.

Thank you for mentioning noise, I forgot to talk about that. During the day when there was music playing outside or if there was an activity on the sports deck that utilized a microphone we could hear it very faintly in the cabin with the balcony doors closed. My mom said she could hear the movie from the Aquatheater on the nights we went to bed early but I didn't hear anything. You will hear some outside noise in the cabin but not enough to disrupt anything you might be doing, and certainly not enough to dissuade us from booking it again. I actually kind of liked the noise because it reminded me that I was on a cruise ship.

Thanks for the review.

Thanks for the review.

You're welcome, thank you for reading!

Food is always so subjective but I thought I'd touch on it a little bit. I've read lots of reviews here that suggested the quality of the food in the Main Dining Room (MDR) has declined in an effort to get passengers to pay for specialty restaurants, and prior to this cruise I would have disagreed. My mom and I both thought the food in the MDR this cruise was not as good as years past. We had dinner in the MDR each night of the cruise, with the exception of the one night we ate in Coastal Kitchen. The food in the MDR was far from bad and I always found something I liked on the menu, but having been on a lot of cruises I am starting to notice how the quality and taste is not where it used to be. We tend to eat only in the included restaurants for dinner and I don't see that changing but it's just something to note. We had high expectations for our dinner in Coastal Kitchen and it was definitely a step up from the MDR so I see us eating there more often when possible.

I have never been a fan of buffets (on the ship or on land) but my mom likes them so we usually stop in to grab something to eat there between meals. I can't remember if the first time we went was on Day 1 or 2 but, we decided to grab something before dinner. I was in line waiting for french fries and there was a group of 3 people, probably in their late teens. One of them was getting the french fries using the tongs, and one of the girls in the group got impatient and instead of waiting for her friend to finish using the tongs she just stuck her hand in the bowl and grabbed a handful of fries. I have never seen anything like this happen and told a crew member so he could get some new fries out. This would be unacceptable under any circumstances but this girl should have known that Norovirus was an issue on the cruise before ours and that we should all be vigilant about not contaminating anything.

Since we didn't go to the buffet after that, we ordered a lot of room service when we wanted something to eat but didn't want to leave our room. This was my first time ordering room service through the TV and I always got a phone call a few seconds after submitting the order to confirm and the food always arrived quickly.

I love donuts (as you can see from my profile picture lol) so I was looking forward to getting donuts at the Boardwalk. The first time I went I tried the strawberry frosted one and it was terrible. I tried again a few days later with the vanilla frosted one and it was much better so I'm not sure if that first one was just a bad batch or if the strawberry ones just aren't good. We stopped at Sorrento's a few times and it's not the best pizza I've ever had but it's not the worst either. I actually preferred the room service pizza to the one at Sorrento's.

I'll try to wrap up this review tonight by talking about the ports and entertainment but if there's anything else anyone wants me to cover just let me know.

I'm going to wrap this up by talking about the ports and the entertainment on the ship.

We stopped at Cozumel, Labadee and Falmouth so this wasn't the most exciting itinerary, but then again we were going for the ship and not the ports. The one highlight was that it stopped at Labadee because we had never been there before. We've been to Cozumel many times so I don't think we even got off the ship that day. In Falmouth we booked the Dunns River Falls and Bobsled tour through the Cruise Planner. My mom had been to the Falls years ago but it was my first time there. Neither of us climbed them so we watched the rest of our group do it and then we did some independent exploring. I don't think I'll go back now that I've seen them but I would recommend it to those who haven't been before. The bobsled was at Mystic Mountain and in addition to the bobsled there were ziplines and a water park (neither were included in our tour). I didn't love the bobled as I didn't like how (as the driver, mom's car was attached to mine) I wasn't sure how fast I should go because I didn't feel totally confident that we wouldn't fly off the rails on the turns. The best part of the tour was our guide Audrey, and she did her best to get the group to talk during the long bus ride but most people didn't seem interested.

I absolutely loved Labadee and can't wait to go back. Over the past few cruises I've suddenly become a beach person and I loved how private and uncrowded the Barefoot Beach area was. There was some kind of medical emergency that delayed our arrival into Labadee but luckily it didn't interfere with our 11:30 reservation for the zipline. This was my mom's third time ziplining and my second so we were both really looking forward to it. I liked how you have a little practice run on a small zipline before you go to the main one because even though we booked the zipling when there was a sale in the Cruise Planner it was still pretty expensive for what it was. Two things I preferred about this zipline over the one we did at Gatorland in Florida (which I recommend) was that this harness was more of a chair as opposed to feeling like you're being held up by your waist, and that the attendants released us down the line as opposed to us stepping off the platform. Even though this is an expensive excursion I highly recommend it and I can see myself doing it every time I go to Labadee. I'll insert a quick video of Barefoot Beach.

[YOUTUBE]QCZ6xn9iwhk[/YOUTUBE]

Lastly, I'd like to talk about the entertainment on the Allure. I'm so sad that I missed Chicago when it was being performed by Royal but Mamma Mia is one of my mom's favorite musical so that was the next best thing. This was our third time seeing Mamma Mia and I didn't notice much difference from the performances we saw in the West End and Las Vegas. I was able to see my first ice and water shows in Ice Games and Oceanaria and I was in awe that these productions were possible on a cruise ship. I also was able to sit on our balcony and watch the divers practice in the Aquatheater and the belly flop contest which was held there as well. My mom went on the zipline on the ship and she enjoyed it, but for some reason this one scared me so I sat it out.

Overall this was one of my favorite cruises due to the ship, the entertainment, Carmen and the Royal Suite program. We already booked our next cruise on Adventure so it will be interesting to see how we go back to the smaller ships now that we've been on Allure. Thanks to those who stuck around for this long overdue review and hopefully I was able to provide information that is helpful to you.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

Thank you for your informative review.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

Thank you for your informative review.

Thank you!

Could u post the compasses?

Could u post the compasses?

I'm hoping to have some time at work this week to scan them. If not, I should be able to do it over the weekend.

I was able to scan the Compasses, etc today and have added them to my blog. I'll include the link below for those who want to see them.

http://wp.me/p7xxri-9n

I was able to scan the Compasses, etc today and have added them to my blog. I'll include the link below for those who want to see them.

 

http://wp.me/p7xxri-9n

Thanks for the share.

Thank you!

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