allure 6/3/12: thoughts, praises and complaints

[sddbb]

BACKGROUND

 

we were on the allure of the seas for the 6/3/12 sailing(western caribbean). we are a family of 3 with a toddler and we are experienced travellers before and after the baby. this was our second time cruising, first time with rccl. we had an aft oceanview balcony cabin on deck 6. we prepaid our gratuities.

 

COMPLAINTS

- our biggest complaint is how rcl handled our transfers to fort lauderdale airport after debarkation. we purchased airport transfer to fort lauderdale on board. we were given nothing after our seapass was charged, and were told that we only need to give the staff our cabin number. however, for some reason ours were not on the list, and we didn’t have any vouchers so we almost couldn't make the bus. fortunately we kept our receipt to prove that we did buy the transfer.

 

- given there were so many elevators, elevators were kind of slow especially during the not so busy moments. it seems that many of them weren’t even moving

 

PRAISES

- we are definitely not overtippers. we usually just tip the standard 15%. however we were so happy with our servers in the MDR that we tip our waiter and assistant waiter extra at the end of the trip. they were very accommodating with our needs and requests especially with the toddler. each night we go to dinner knowing we will be well taken care of .

 

- we also found the balloon artist very creative, very pleasant and very friendly

 

- the cabin and the ship was kept clean throughout, and during the 7 day sail they cleaned the balcony once. not sure if they actually vacuum the cabin though

 

- the free video booth, and the free toy-pending program is great. these little extras make the whole cruise more memorable

 

THOUGHTS

Shows - we saw Chicago, OceanAria, Ice games, blue planet, how to train your dragon, let you entertain me. There are definitely lots of talents being showcased between these shows, and i enjoyed all of them. Chicago stood out because it was very well rehearsed. the rest of the shows were ok - i thought they put too many things at the same time which is actually distracting, e.g. singer + dancer + gymnasts all performing on the same stage at the same time

 

Cabin AC - we planned to use the balcony while DS naps for 2 hours each day, and we were worried that the AC wouldn’t work if the balcony door wasn’t locked. I am glad that wasn’t the case. as long as the balcony was closed, the AC kept running.

 

MDR & free food in general - while it’s not michelin star quality (which we didn’t expect them to be), we certainly found the food to be more than acceptable. a variety of food was offered each night, and i found the seafood items had the best consistency in terms of quality. we also enjoyed the dog stand and we had breakfast almost everyday at johnny rockets. the only day we didn't have breakfast at JR was the first sea day where they had the character dining. the character breakfast was ok - i wish they would have more than 3 characters.

 

overall we had a great and relaxing time and would definitely love to try the oasis in the near future!