JordanLovesCruisin

I have two young boys and I usually put them in polo shirts and nice shorts 

Hi there! Going to Barbados in March and curious if anyone could recommend a beach that would be good for two little ones. Something with some shade or where we can rent an umbrella to keep my fair little boy out of the sun from time to time?

If not beach, then any other activity.

Thanks!

Hi there! Going to Antigua in March and curious if anyone could recommend a beach that would be good for two little ones. Something with some shade or where we can rent an umbrella to keep my fair little boy out of the sun from time to time?

If not beach, then any other activity.

Thanks!

We LOVE Carnival.

 

Did our first Royal cruise this year, on Oasis, in June.

 

LOVED many things, but at the end of the cruise, we missed Carnival.

 

 

 

Pros:

 

 

 

Beds were HUGE and comfy.

 

Entertainment blows Carnival out of the water. We don't bother on Carnival.

 

HUGE WOW factor on the ship. It's a MUST do, at least once.

 

Coke machines throughout the ship (freestyle)

 

More pools-Beach pool was AMAZING-chairs with umbrellas

 

Solarium was great, and unlike Serenity, we were able to bring 17yo DD

 

Park Café Roast Beef sandwiches (YUMMY)

 

Balcony on the hump was AWESOME!!!

 

Probably our best room steward EVER!!!! He was AMAZING!!!!

 

 

 

Cons:

 

 

 

Took forever to get ANYWHERE! Ship is just massive!!!

 

MDR menus were incorrect on the TV and at the dining room:mad::mad:

 

Staff just seemed miserable and somewhat rude most of our cruise.....

 

Food was horrible in comparison to Carnival. From pizza to ice cream, and everything in between!!!

 

DD missed the Caeser salad on Carnival. RCCL salad was BLAH!!!!

 

 

 

I would LOVE to do RCCL again, but DD and DH prefer Carnival, and I guess at the end of the day, I did too!!!:D:D

 

 

 

I am so happy we were able to cruise on one of the big girls......

 

Will definitely do it again.........

Same cons, except we preferred the pizza: :) my hips are enjoying the pizza now.

That's a good word, miserable. Our Giovanni's waiter told us that he has 29 days left and not a day more. So the morale was just off.

Loved all the amenities and offerings on Allure. They were fantastic. Like you said, beach pool was great!!! H20 zone for our little ones was perfect. It definitely is a must try ship, but I can have two carnival cruises for that price. :).

We likely won't do another massive ship just because we are over the ports.

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That was my issue on Allure too. Sub-par MDR experience. Lackluster service, long waits. No rudeness, just not the service I'd experienced and expect from RCI.

 

I also felt disconnected from the ocean on that ship; it is very inward focused.

 

Everything else was great but now that I experienced it I'm not in a major rush to go back. I like the medium-large ships, did not feel Allure was "too much" more just "not my thing"

I couldn't have said it better myself.

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So what was it that you missed from Carnival and what happened that would never happen on Carnival?

 

 

 

I know exactly what you are talking about as I feel the exact same way when I take an NCL cruise.

Every experience we have had with Carnival has been very positive. The dining room staff have always been attentive, asked us our names, and sort of remembered preferences.

On the first night, we asked for milk for my three year old. It took half an hour. We understood. We asked if it would be possible to have milk waiting when we got there the remainder of the cruise. We even said that if it wasn't possible, to let us know, and we would get milk from RS or WJ to bring with us. He assured it was no problem. Never happened.

We never experienced snotty WJ/Buffet staff on all of our carnival cruises. All of them had employees go out of their way to help guests, on this ship, it was almost as if some of them couldn't be bothered. Such as my high chair story I posted above.

It just feels friendlier, especially when it comes to younger families on Carnival

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This would have been first on the list for me. Took you a while to post about it but glad you did. When they make promises like this and fail to deliver, it can really impact your whole cruise, and that's unacceptable.

 

 

 

I hope you try to contact them for a resolution.

I'm going to try. I debating posting it because it was pretty personal and it's not like it is a common thing like poor dining service. Didn't know if it would impact anyone.

I will say that the Royal Babies and Tots staff were completely wonderful. They took great care of my little one 6/7 days. They were professional, compassionate and the nursery was clean.

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I wasn't impressed with Chops either. Try 150

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Also the Special Needs department guaranteed me certain things regarding my 3 year old with special needs and the Adventure Ocean staff regarding assistance with toileting assistance and pull ups. When I signed him up, they told me that information was incorrect and they could not help him or make exceptions.

I understand they likely do not want a child abuse/mistreatment allegation when helping a child use the restroom but I had confirmation prior to my cruise that his Needs would be met. The lack of communication there was upsetting as he was really looking forward to AO.

He did participate for four days. The fourth day he had an accident. Nobody called us and we had a phone. B was upset when we picked him up and his shorts were soaked. There were only 7 children in there with two staff so I'm not sure how nobody saw that. It was very obvious. After that night, he had panic attacks when we would try to take him back. He's autistic with sensory issues, fwiw.

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For the record, I totally don't expect the world. But I do expect my food to be the temperature I request and I expect my glass to be offered to be refilled.

A waiter in the WJ that was assigned to the section I was eating breakfast with my 11 month old at (this was at 7 am--almost right after opening) was standing around. I politely asked if he could find me a high chair for the baby since I had done a lap and didn't see one out (which Carnival usually has out in sight). He said "if you don't see one, they are all in use, but I'll check." There were maybe 15 people total in the WJ at this hour. No high chairs were in use that I could see when walking around. I waited for him to return, he never did.

Another WJ person refilling the mashed potatoes was talking to another employee about all of the "fat Americans"

Again, it's just things like this that got under my skin. I don't expect the world. I'm thrilled to be cruising, but I don't think anyone should stand for that kind of service

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Our main issue was the MDR.

Our water was never refilled. Never.

Our server was nowhere to be found unless he was bringing out a meal. Assistant waiter we only saw at the beginning of dinner.

Food came out incorrectly. Medium steaks cooked medium rare to medium. Raspberry dressing instead of ranch.

Johnny Rockets staff was phenomenal.

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We saved up and took a big family trip on the Allure of the Seas.

The ship was amazing, there's no denying that.

The service was rough. Several times my husband and I said "this would have never happened on Carnival."

When you spend nearly the whole week missing something you had somewhere else, I think it's a sign.

I know poor service and rude crew can happen on any ship, but it was just bad. I guess for $3400 I expected more, you know?

Anyone else have a similar experience?

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I don't understand service like that in the dining room. Don't these servers realize they are working for tips.

Exactly. I have been a server before. I could understand if they were super slammed. I could understand if they had an "off" night. We all do! I am very easy to please, but the drink thing is ridiculous. After being in the sun all day, we wanted water. It's half ice to begin with. Am I wrong for expecting more? Or is this the new normal? We have never experienced this.

I didn't adjust the tips or anything, he got his full amount, but I did want GS to have a formal report.

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Adopt me?

Sorry, yall. Life caught up with me now that we are home. BOO.

After signing the boys up for "Camp", we went to scope out our table. We were #625 in the Grande Dining Room. I was slightly nervous that we would be put at a large table that hated children. We were relieved to find that it was a table for four tucked away from the main drag of the MDR. It was right next to a window on the port side. We were pleased!

We went to our room and it's a room. It's tight. We requested a mattress topper and it was on the bed. I do wish it had better storage options. like, putting the space to sit in front of the mirror over to make three large drawers/cabinets for clothes, rather than two separate, small compartments. We had two car seats with us and three suitcases. The car seats fit in the closet with a suitcase and the other two suitcases slid under the bed. We had a room with a sofa bed for B. F slept between us.

Our muster station was at the Aqua Theatre which B thought was SO NEAT.

They made the muster video as "cute" as can be.

After that, we put the boys down for a quick nap and then got ready for dinner.

I couldn't tell you our waiter's name. Or the Assistant. I really couldn't. They were horrible. I do not like to complain, and I am REALLY easy to please. I was so thrilled to be on this ship. But the MDR service was the worst I have had in 12 cruises.

Issues we had:

1. Never asked us our names or wanted to chat. Okay, fine. Maybe the waiters aren't like Carnival's and dont care to know your name or where you're from?

2. SLOOOOOW service. Our waiter had 4- four person tables. The three nights we went there was only us and another family that showed up. IMO there is no excuse for the service to be that slow for 8 people.

3. Biggest issue- Our waiter/asst would disappear. Nobody filled up our water glasses. They filled them up at the beginning and then would never bother to fill them up again. We got smart and started filling up the children's glasses so we could have two glasses of water.

4. Two out of the three nights we had to send food back. The first night, my husband asked for ranch on his salad. When asked if he could have ranch, the waiter said of course. It came out with a raspberry vinaigrette. He's allergic to raspberries. The third night, we ordered our steaks Medium and they came out super bloody.

5. My son would ask for milk with dinner. The first night we asked him if that would be okay, to have milk with his dinner. He rolled his eyes and said "sure". The next two nights, we would ask for milk and he would say yes, then never bring it.

6. The Head Waiter never came to talk to us. He skipped over our table the first two nights. He seriously went to every table but ours in the area and asked how the food was, how their day was, etc. On Wednesday, we were fed up. He came by and asked how we were enjoying Grande. I said "honestly?"

"of course"

"honestly, we are very disappointed. our food is coming out incorrectly, our drinks are not being taken care of, and we never see our waiter. Service is taking two hours and it has now been 25 minutes since we ordered dessert."

So, he brought out a "peace offering" of whipped cream with a strawberry on top with our desserts. That warm chocolate cake and creme brulee? They were cold. We left. I went to GS and complained. This was on night 4. We decided we weren't going back.

So, anyways, after the first night of crappy experience, we decided to take the Chops hostess up on that $85/pp 3 specialty restaurant plan. We booked Chops for Tuesday, Giovanni's for Thursday, and the Brazillian Steakhouse for Saturday. We decided to do JR on Friday.

After dinner, we realized "holy crap. there's no welcome aboard show!" Is this a new thing? An Oasis class thing? It made us super sad because that's what "sets the cruise off" for us. Like, our tradition is to have a cocktail during the welcome aboard show.

That night, we sent B to camp from 745-9 and went to have a drink at the bar. Nothing too exciting. We walked the ship and just soaked it all in. I can't stress it enough, they put so much detail into this beauty.

NEXT UP: NASSAU

My wife and I were on the same cruise. I agree it is an great ship. I don't think we saw everything. In the beginning the food in Icon was so-so it did improve later in the week. We were not impressed with CHOPS in fact Judy said the steak she had the night before in the dining room was better. We were in 14249 overlooking Centeral Park the first two nights our cabin door didn't seal completely and howled like a banshee.

 

The negatives out of the way. The shows were fantastic and well done. The roast beef sandwiches were as everyone else has said tasty. As were the hot dogs. The jazz band that popped up around the ship were true professionals. We were lucky in catching a truly spontaneous moment when one of our fellow travelers started dancing to the band when it was on Boardwalk.

 

Our favorite spot was sitting in Central Park after dinner watching people.

Chops wasn't worth $42 a person IMO. Totally agree. Central Park was so peaceful at night. Glad you guys had a great time!

Laura is onboard now. Not happy with MDR food. The WJ is quite nice though. Had rack of lamb last night. Crew is great

 

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Thank you! We had awful MDR food/service on the Allure, so the bar isn't set too high here. Hope shes having a great time.

Are cookies out of fashion? On our last 2 cruises the have been hardly any in Cafe Promenade

Last week they had two varieties in promenade at all times. Both kept in plastic jars. Sugar free chocolate chip at all times and then either Oatmeal raisin or some coconut one. I was pretty disappointed in the lack of selection. I remember there being more of a variety on our honeymoon. The WJ does have 3 or 4 at a time though at night

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Going on in March. Curious to hear more recent experiences as well!

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Ours was the same the entire week

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We were able to get it this past Thursday on Allure at GT.

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I agree with the Johnny Rockets breakfast. The staff was amazing and food was wonderful. It was never crowded last week when we went.

The wipeout bar also serves breakfast foods like the wind jammer does but has a smaller line

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Yeah! See you then.

 

Interestingly we have two balcony cabins near the end of that hallway on 14. Curious as to if there will be a lot of traffic. (Especially since you're telling everyone!!! :D )

Just a lot of Adventure ocean kids :)

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Shrimp hoagie

Ham and Swiss

Turkey and bacon

Chicken salad

These were ones I remember from last week.

Honestly they weren't impressive.

The desserts:

Led Zeppelonis (similar to cake donut hole)

Cheesecake lollipop

Chocolate eclairs

Jello cups with fruit

Cookies

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It was a bummer for sure. It was $2.98 per shirt I believe. Not terrible, but still

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