Review - Allure 5/31 Med Cruise

[CactusGirly]

Some background: My husband and I and our 3 kids, ages 9, 10, and 12 were on this cruise. We stayed in one of the Royal Family Suites on deck 9 (9644). This was our 4th cruise, but our first on Royal Caribbean. Previously we've sailed on Disney and Celebrity. We travel fairly often in addition to cruising. We go out of our way to not just have well-traveled, but well-mannered children who immerse themselves in local cultures, and who are respectful and polite to anyone they interact with. We all love and appreciate good food and service.

 

I will break this down into categories: Service, Activities, Excursions, Cabin, Dining, Kids Clubs, Entertainment, Embarkation/Disembarkation, and Summary.

 

Service: Most employees we encountered were genuinely friendly, helpful and enthusiastic about their duties. In particular our room attendant, Hendra, and one of the servers at Coastal Kitchen, Ricki, knocked it out of the park. The one that holds me back from complete satisfaction was a manager from Bulgaria in the suite-only restaurant (Coastal Kitchen) who clearly did not care for Americans.

 

Activities: We only participated in one activity as a family, which was Bingo. Crazily overpriced, and was a total rip-off, but fun for the kids to pass some time.

 

Excursions/Ports: We did not use RCI for any excursions. In Rome and Naples we used RomeInLimo and were extremely happy with that decision, and in La Spezia we got the train to Pisa for the day on our own, which was fairly easy. In the other ports (Marseilles, Palma) we just got off the ship and wondered around to explore. We enjoyed all the ports except Marseilles, which seemed dirty and hard to manage for transportation.

 

Cabin: This was the shining light of the cruise. Being a family of 5, you either book adjoining standard cabins or you get a suite. We went the suite route and it cost us less money and was a fabulous decision. The best part was getting the suite perks that came along with it, which I will mention in upcoming sections. Kudos to RCI for having a family suite at this price point. Similar cabins on Disney would be exorbitantly/prohibitively expensive.

 

Dining: This is a big one for me. The food in most areas of the ship was disappointing. Disney and Celebrity have apparently spoiled us for what to expect when cruising.

 

One of the suite perks was the ability to order food from the MDR for room service, which we did on 2 occasions. Both times, none of our meals were good. We tried the Windjammer Buffet for lunch. Trying to find a table for 5 people is nearly impossible, and then once you do the food is just not good. Imagine a low-cost buffet restaurant, packed to capacity, where you look to your left and there is a woman in a "I don't get drunk, I get awesome!" t-shirt, and you look to your right and there is a man who you assume is drunk and homeless, until you remember you are on a cruise... nope, just another passenger.

 

We tried Johnny Rockets for lunch once and dinner once. It's an abbreviated menu from their normal restaurants, and again - the food was just not that good.

 

We ate at Central Park Cafe on embarkation day - it was a good choice that day, in a very calm and peaceful setting. The food was decent, but not great.

 

On our 2nd day on the cruise we discovered that the suite lounge had a happy hour. :D Every day at 5pm there is a lovely buffet set out of delicious appetizers, and the drinks are free. The attached restaurant, Coastal Kitchen, serves a very nice menu for dinner, where we ate most evenings on the cruise. We also had breakfast there on several mornings. Room service breakfast was good too - in the suites you are able to order from an expanded menu, which is very nice.

 

Kids Clubs: Our kids only went to their clubs once, due to the port intensive itinerary. For the girls (9, 10) the club was fantastic. They had a blast and didn't want us to pick them up. For our son (12) he was the youngest in a room full of teenagers, and it was a little awkward. I think he would have fared better with the girls. There were never many kids in the club when we went by.

 

Entertainment: We saw two shows on the ship, (3 if you count the belly flop contest). We saw Oceanaria, and How To Train Your Dragon on Ice. Wow - two different ends of the spectrum here. I'll start with Oceanaria. Another suite perk is reserved, prime seating for shows. You don't have to make a reservation, you just show up 15-20 minutes before the show starts and show your seapass card. That was fantastic. We had great seats. The show was amazing, and that's not hyperbole. Truly talented athletes, very well choreographed, nice music. Excellent! Then there was HTTYD on Ice. Ugh. No reserved seats, they were completely unorganized. It was ok though, we still got decent seats. The show itself was good for the preschool or very early elementary set. The ice rink is tiny, so not much room for great skating to occur, although you could tell they were good at what they did. The "dragon" was a blow-up creature on sticks that actually made us laugh. The best part of the show was when one of the characters snuck into the audience to wake up a woman who had fallen asleep, and scared the heck out of her.

 

Embarkation/Disembarkation: This was a breeze - both counts. We were on the ship within minutes of arriving at the terminal (suite perk?), and because we only had carry-on luggage we were off the ship just as fast.

 

Summary: The Allure is a huge ship that carries an astonishing number of passengers. I was worried before we sailed that it would feel like a giant, crowded shopping mall. It only felt crowded to me a couple of times - in the buffet, and near the pool. I think it lacks some charm that Disney and Celebrity have in the interior spaces. I did love Central Park, but it's such a small part of the ship. The promenade felt like an indoor casino-type mall to me. The kids liked the boardwalk area.

 

Would we sail RCI, and the Allure, again? Only if we had the benefits that came along with the suite - it was such a value add, and so cost effective for our family.

[kalliekae]

Thank you for your review of the Allure. We will be on her in November for the first time although we have sailed on the Oasis twice. It's always good to know how others viewed their cruise.

[LuCruise]

Thanks for the comments. Sounded good overall and suite benefits sound great. We're coming with kids too with our older one 10 . Can I ask what activities your kids enjoyed outside of kids club?

[CactusGirly]

Thanks for the comments. Sounded good overall and suite benefits sound great. We're coming with kids too with our older one 10 . Can I ask what activities your kids enjoyed outside of kids club?

 

We didn't do too many activities on the ship, we were in port almost every day for most of the day, except the sea day, so the kids were mostly exhausted. ;)

 

When we were on the ship, they loved the cupcake shop, which has different flavored cupcakes, cake pops, and Ben & Jerry's ice cream. There was usually never anyone in there, so easy to get a quick treat after dinner. We tried to go swimming on a couple of days - but it was a little chilly when the ship was underway. The kids didn't mind too much, and would jump in a hot tub to warm up every once in a while. (On the sea day the pool area was nuts.) There is a "Build a Bear" type store on the ship, not sure how much it costs, but the animals looked really cute and it was never busy. There were a couple of dance classes in the Promenade that looked like they were open to all ages that looked fun and that one of my daughters wanted to watch for a while.

[CactusGirly]

I forgot to mention that we also ate at Samba Grill... probably because it was so forgettable. The meat was tough, not much flavor, and the salad bar was just meh. It compared so poorly to other Brazilian steakhouses, like Fogo de Chao. It didn't help that this was on formal night, and our view was overlooking the hot tub in the adults only Solarium, where we got to watch a large swimsuit clad group get progressively sauced. We originally had 3 specialty dining reservations booked, and after Samba ended up nixing the other two in favor of the gratis Coastal Kitchen.

[LuCruise]

We didn't do too many activities on the ship, we were in port almost every day for most of the day, except the sea day, so the kids were mostly exhausted. ;)

 

When we were on the ship, they loved the cupcake shop, which has different flavored cupcakes, cake pops, and Ben & Jerry's ice cream. There was usually never anyone in there, so easy to get a quick treat after dinner. We tried to go swimming on a couple of days - but it was a little chilly when the ship was underway. The kids didn't mind too much, and would jump in a hot tub to warm up every once in a while. (On the sea day the pool area was nuts.) There is a "Build a Bear" type store on the ship, not sure how much it costs, but the animals looked really cute and it was never busy. There were a couple of dance classes in the Promenade that looked like they were open to all ages that looked fun and that one of my daughters wanted to watch for a while.

 

Thanks for your response. That's right...the current allure itineraries are quite port intensive....so different from when we go on it as a Caribbean cruise. Sounds like they could still enjoy some things.

[kkettle70]

Thank-you for your review. We will be going on the cruise in August. What did you do before you got on the ship?

[transam84]

Thanks for your candid review. I agree, the suites on Royal are the deal breaker for me. We had an aqua theater suite on Oasis and for the price point it was incredible. I can't find anything close for the money on any other cruise line. We try to sail only suites and love the benefits. We have an owners suite in Allure in Oct and I am very much looking forward to it. We will certainly be trying Coastal Kitchen.

[LittleFillie]

Thank you ... I work for the Mouse and couldn't agree more, love "my" Disney ships and yes Disney does spoil with food and cabin configurations. But am looking forward to my Allure experience - that's one huge ship. S,:)

[grandgeezer]

I forgot to mention that we also ate at Samba Grill... probably because it was so forgettable. The meat was tough, not much flavor, and the salad bar was just meh. It compared so poorly to other Brazilian steakhouses, like Fogo de Chao. It didn't help that this was on formal night, and our view was overlooking the hot tub in the adults only Solarium, where we got to watch a large swimsuit clad group get progressively sauced. We originally had 3 specialty dining reservations booked, and after Samba ended up nixing the other two in favor of the gratis Coastal Kitchen.

 

About two years ago we ate at the Samba Grill on the Oasis. We thought it was the best meal we've ever had in a specialty restaurant on any cruise line. How times change.

[Wirral Girlie]

I was on the same sailing as OP.

We also went to the Samba Grill, I thought the meat was good, one of the best rare filet mignon's I have ever had !

[Gig103]

I forgot to mention that we also ate at Samba Grill... probably because it was so forgettable. The meat was tough, not much flavor, and the salad bar was just meh. It compared so poorly to other Brazilian steakhouses, like Fogo de Chao. It didn't help that this was on formal night, and our view was overlooking the hot tub in the adults only Solarium, where we got to watch a large swimsuit clad group get progressively sauced. We originally had 3 specialty dining reservations booked, and after Samba ended up nixing the other two in favor of the gratis Coastal Kitchen.

Thanks for the comparison to Fogo. It's without a doubt one of my favorite land restaurants and as such I considered Samba Grill. I will save the money and hit up Fogo before or after my cruise.

[wdjpvaz]

So glad to read this as we are looking to book a royal family suite too. But there are only 4 of us (2 adults, 2 kids). Is this possible or is it true you need 5 to book that suite?