Allure of the Seas Review 1/2/17-1/8/17

[wanderlust0713]

Hi everyone! My fiancé and I (unfortunately) just got back from our cruise on the Allure (1/2/17-1/8/17). I'm writing this review because I know I enjoyed reading every review I could while I was planning. This is my 14th cruise but many were when I was younger. We just cruised on the Carnival Paradise in May 2016 so that is the one that we have been comparing Allure to because it's fresh in our minds. I'm 22 and my fiancé is 26.

 

Embarkation and Debarkation- Extremely quick and efficient! Our rooms were ready for us before we even finished lunch on the first day and we were the first 1600 people on.

 

Food and Dining- The food didn't meet our expectations. The food in Windjammer was surprisingly good, but the food in the dining room fell short. There was also only 1 formal night on a 7 day cruise and we thought there would be 2. We also ate at Samba Brazilian Steakhouse and I cannot express how terrible the food was. We frequent Texas De Brazil on land and we were expecting the same and that is not the case at all. We actually ate one bite of each of the meats and just got up and left. It was that terrible. I cannot believe they charge people for that. We also tried Sabor Mexican Restaurant and it was just ok, nothing we would go back to. We loved park cafe and the roast beef sandwiches! We also loved Johnny Rockets for breakfast. The boardwalk donuts were not very good though. The frozen ice cream machines are not available at all times of the day, there are specific hours and they are mainly by the pool which may be a good thing because I ate too many lol. Room service menu was extremely limited.

 

Our Room- We chose the interior stateroom guarantee and ended up lucking out with 10-445 which was a large interior room. It was a great location and we had no complaints. We also really liked the bathroom layout and how the shower has a door closure unlike Carnival. Our room stewardess was Susie and she was the nicest lady ever! We absolutely loved her. We also liked that there was a clock and three outlets in the room.

 

Shows and Entertainment- The shows were absolutely incredible! We especially enjoyed Ocean Aria, Ice Games, and Blue Planet. We also loved the comedy show and the Quest (although it's not Adult Only like I had read). We booked some entertainment beforehand but we visited the desk to book the rest right when we got on the ship and had no problems.

 

Cruise Director- Our cruise director was Tim Connor and he seemed like a funny guy. Although, we didn't see him too much the whole cruise. He hosted the Quest and did great. We were a little disappointed because on Carnival our cruise director Calvin was one of the main reasons we had such a great time. We spoke to other guests who recently cruised on smaller RCI ships and they said the cruise director played a larger part on those. So maybe it is just because the ship is so large, but we were kind of disappointed.

 

Gym- My fiancé enjoyed going to the gym everyday. He said it was very nice and loved that it was open until 1am.

 

Shore excursion- I'm going to include this because I booked it through RCI. We did the Chacchoben Ruins in Costa Maya and it was great(ask for Ishmael Martinez)! Very informative and they provided water and an air conditioned bus. On the way back our tour guide, Ishmael, stopped at a village that grows pineapple and let us all try some and it was amazing!! American pineapple tastes bad to me now lol! The excursion was a little pricey but it was well worth it.

 

Pools- We didn't really enjoy the adult solarium area. Obviously it is somewhat covered since it is a solarium but we liked the open Serenity area on Carnival much better. The hot tubs were supposed to be 16+ and one night there was a group of kids that weren't older than 12 being very noisy while we were trying to relax in them. It was also very hard to find pool lounge chairs anywhere on a sea day. On the last day we woke up at 7:30 to lay by the pool and almost all of the chairs were already claimed by towels. Some of those people didn't arrive until 1pm that day.

 

Sports deck- We both did the rock climbing wall and zip line and they were fun!

 

Staff- The first day almost all of the staff members seemed very unhappy and impersonable. This made us feel like we were going to have a rough week but on the second day and throughout the rest of the week they seemed happier and more friendly which was nice.

 

Misc.- We enjoyed the whole experience with the photos. They are all uploaded to your card and you just have to insert it into the machine to see them. All of the public restrooms were very nice, clean, and large.

 

Overall, we had a nice vacation and we are glad we got to experience such an innovative ship! However, we feel that we, personally, had a better overall experience with Carnival so we will be sticking with them for the foreseeable future. If you have any questions please feel free to ask!

[packercruising]

Thanks for the prompt review! We will be sailing next month and I would be interested in whatever you have to say about Tim Connor. There does not seem to be much out there about him.

[wanderlust0713]

Thanks for the prompt review! We will be sailing next month and I would be interested in whatever you have to say about Tim Connor. There does not seem to be much out there about him.

 

Tim seemed like a funny guy when we actually saw him. He hosted the Quest and that was very enjoyable. He also hosted the belly flop contest which was fun. Other than that we only saw him close out shows. I'm not sure if that is just because the ship is so large, but he just didn't play a large part in the cruise experience like I've experienced in previous cruises.

[squiffynimrod]

I'm on the Allure Jan.15th.

 

Do you recall who the headliner act was?

 

Thanks.

[wanderlust0713]

I'm on the Allure Jan.15th.

 

Do you recall who the headliner act was?

 

Thanks.

 

 

For the show titled Headliner? It was called "Beatles Maniac". We didn't see it though.

[squiffynimrod]

For the show titled Headliner? It was called "Beatles Maniac". We didn't see it though.

 

Thanks. I hope it's still on when I go.

[Sam & Soph]

Thank you for the quick review. We will be sailing Feb 26. And hoping the Izumi habachi experience will be good. Did you pre reserve comedy nights?

[cruisinrealtor]

Thanks for posting your review. I just booked the Allure for next February.

I was on the Oasis last February and thought the food was out of this world but the desserts were down right awful. Sorry you found the food to not be what you were expecting. If you do ever go on RCCL again just have an attendant remove the towels. We've done that without any problems. I think you can save the seats but only for 30 minutes.

[Lionesss]

Thanks for the nice review.

 

Cannot wait till August, but I guess I have too.

 

Safe travels.

[828kathleen]

We also just returned from this same cruise. It is very interesting to see views from fellow passengers. Yes the entertainment on this ship is out of this world and the best I have ever seen on a ship. As for the food I am going to disagree here. We thought Sabor was fantastic pricing is very reasonable and the food was incredible. Not to mention the best Margarita's on the cruise . Santa gave us a dinner at Chops which turned out to be the best meal of our lives. From start to finish there just are no words to express how brilliant this meal was. Winjammer is what it is nothing special but it served its purpose. Main Dining room meals exceeded our expectations for the most part but did not come close to the quality of Chops. As for Tim he did a great job at pumping up passengers at every show . Personally we do not need the cruise director to be big part of our cruise to many other things play a far more important role . Now some Cons .... the beds are terrible and the hot tubs are not hot enough. Other then that this cruise totally exceeded all expectations.

[secrui]

Wanderlust,

 

You mention you were disappointed there was only one formal night in the main dining room on your 7 day cruise. If you look at most cruise booking platforms, and cruise line web sites, it's calculated by nights. Normally the ALLURE is a 7-night cruise; the nights being SU, MON, TUES, WED, THURS, FRI, and SAT. Because the XMAS and NEW YEARS holidays fell on a Sunday, those cruises had to be adjusted because PORT EVERGLADES is closed on XMAS (maybe NEW YEARS too). Your cruise was actually a 6-night cruise; MON, TUES, WED,THURS, FRI, and SAT, so that's probably why there was only one formal night.

[qwlter63]

We were on Allure Dec 4 to 11, 2016. It was our second cruise with the first one Year to the day earlier on Oasis. The food on Allure was no where near as wonderful as Oasis. We loved Sabor and ate their twice. It just seemed the meats were a lower quality and produce was not fresh.

 

 

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[Tiggercat]

Hi Wanderlust!

I am pretty sure that I met you and your fiance on the beach in Nassau...you asked me to take a picture of you guys....you are a very cute couple. I was a little concerned when you told my husband and me that you were going to Samba and that you frequented Brazilian Steakhouses because we thought it was just OK. We enjoyed the experience though it was our least favorite specialty restaurant. We went to Chops twice and could not believe how wonderful it was! The service was amazing and the quality of food was great. We also went to Giovani's and thought the pasta was delicious. They were really busy the night we were there so the service was a little slow...but the wine was flowing. We also enjoyed the Hibachi experience at Izumi...Joe and Alani were very entertaining and the food was really good. We were a group of 18 people and all of us came back talking about booking our next cruise on Allure. (Mine is in March)

I think everyone has different tastes and that it is great that you like Carnival and feel it is better suited for you. I hope you have a great time on your next vacation!!

[packercruising]

Tim seemed like a funny guy when we actually saw him. He hosted the Quest and that was very enjoyable. He also hosted the belly flop contest which was fun. Other than that we only saw him close out shows. I'm not sure if that is just because the ship is so large, but he just didn't play a large part in the cruise experience like I've experienced in previous cruises.

 

Thanks! Maybe ships that large should have 2 CDs. :rolleyes:

[wanderlust0713]

Thank you for the quick review. We will be sailing Feb 26. And hoping the Izumi habachi experience will be good. Did you pre reserve comedy nights?

 

You're only allowed to book one comedy night but yes we did!

[wanderlust0713]

We also just returned from this same cruise. It is very interesting to see views from fellow passengers. Yes the entertainment on this ship is out of this world and the best I have ever seen on a ship. As for the food I am going to disagree here. We thought Sabor was fantastic pricing is very reasonable and the food was incredible. Not to mention the best Margarita's on the cruise . Santa gave us a dinner at Chops which turned out to be the best meal of our lives. From start to finish there just are no words to express how brilliant this meal was. Winjammer is what it is nothing special but it served its purpose. Main Dining room meals exceeded our expectations for the most part but did not come close to the quality of Chops. As for Tim he did a great job at pumping up passengers at every show . Personally we do not need the cruise director to be big part of our cruise to many other things play a far more important role . Now some Cons .... the beds are terrible and the hot tubs are not hot enough. Other then that this cruise totally exceeded all expectations.

 

I'm glad you had a great time! At Sabor I had the chili calamari, but we did not have any drinks. I wish we had tried Chops! Yes, we also thought the hot tubs should have been hotter.

[wanderlust0713]

Wanderlust,

 

You mention you were disappointed there was only one formal night in the main dining room on your 7 day cruise. If you look at most cruise booking platforms, and cruise line web sites, it's calculated by nights. Normally the ALLURE is a 7-night cruise; the nights being SU, MON, TUES, WED, THURS, FRI, and SAT. Because the XMAS and NEW YEARS holidays fell on a Sunday, those cruises had to be adjusted because PORT EVERGLADES is closed on XMAS (maybe NEW YEARS too). Your cruise was actually a 6-night cruise; MON, TUES, WED,THURS, FRI, and SAT, so that's probably why there was only one formal night.

 

Royal Caribbeans website has it listed that 6 nights will have 2 formal nights. It also says there will be smart casual nights and there was not, so maybe it is just outdated. http://www.royalcaribbean.com/beforeyouboard/whatToKnow/whatToPack.do

[wanderlust0713]

Hi Wanderlust!

I am pretty sure that I met you and your fiance on the beach in Nassau...you asked me to take a picture of you guys....you are a very cute couple. I was a little concerned when you told my husband and me that you were going to Samba and that you frequented Brazilian Steakhouses because we thought it was just OK. We enjoyed the experience though it was our least favorite specialty restaurant. We went to Chops twice and could not believe how wonderful it was! The service was amazing and the quality of food was great. We also went to Giovani's and thought the pasta was delicious. They were really busy the night we were there so the service was a little slow...but the wine was flowing. We also enjoyed the Hibachi experience at Izumi...Joe and Alani were very entertaining and the food was really good. We were a group of 18 people and all of us came back talking about booking our next cruise on Allure. (Mine is in March)

I think everyone has different tastes and that it is great that you like Carnival and feel it is better suited for you. I hope you have a great time on your next vacation!!

 

Yes, that was us! The picture turned out very nice :) The service at Samba was great, but like you said we just went in with too high of expectations I believe. I'm sure it's very hard to run a Brazilian Steakhouse at sea like they do on land. I wish we had tried Chops! If we make it back on it will definitely be on our must try list! Maybe we should have read some reviews before going and tried Chops and Giovanni's. I completely agree that everyone has different preferences, especially in cruises. I'm glad you all had a great time and I hope you enjoy your upcoming cruise (and I hope you're not freezing back home ;) ).

[wanderlust0713]

Thanks for posting your review. I just booked the Allure for next February.

I was on the Oasis last February and thought the food was out of this world but the desserts were down right awful. Sorry you found the food to not be what you were expecting. If you do ever go on RCCL again just have an attendant remove the towels. We've done that without any problems. I think you can save the seats but only for 30 minutes.

 

 

 

I've seen people say that Oasis had a lot better food, so maybe we'll have to give that ship a shot ;) that's good to know about the towels! I saw the signs that towels will be removed after 30 minutes, but since it wasn't being enforced I didn't even think to ask.

[DivaMI]

I usually take these reviews with a grain of salt. Where one party might have a blast and enjoy the food. Someone else may not. I read them, Take what I need from them and keep it moving.

[secrui]

Royal Caribbeans website has it listed that 6 nights will have 2 formal nights. It also says there will be smart casual nights and there was not, so maybe it is just outdated. http://www.royalcaribbean.com/beforeyouboard/whatToKnow/whatToPack.do

 

Good point! I wasn't aware of that, so I was wrong and you are right and have reason to be upset.

[Tiggercat]

Also...Mama Mia was amazing and the comedians in the Comedy Club were the best we have seen. I wish I could remember their names. We were laughing long after the show was over!

[RoyalFel]

Hi Wanderlust! Thank you for taking the time to write a great review! My husband and I will be on the Allure in November. We sailed on the Oasis in November 2015 and loved it so we figured we should try the Allure out :)

I'm 26 and my husband is 27 so we are kind of close in age to you and your fiance. I have cruised with both Carnival and Royal and I'll never go back. We've also been on smaller Royal ships and by far I'd have to say Oasis is my favorite...so far. So if you guys ever decide to give Royal another shot, I'd say try that ship out :) It's awesome to see another younger couple that loves cruising like we do, whether it's Royal or Carnival! :)

 

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[riclop]

Hi everyone! My fiancé and I (unfortunately) just got back from our cruise on the Allure (1/2/17-1/8/17). I'm writing this review because I know I enjoyed reading every review I could while I was planning. This is my 14th cruise but many were when I was younger. We just cruised on the Carnival Paradise in May 2016 so that is the one that we have been comparing Allure to because it's fresh in our minds. I'm 22 and my fiancé is 26.

 

Embarkation and Debarkation- Extremely quick and efficient! Our rooms were ready for us before we even finished lunch on the first day and we were the first 1600 people on.

 

Food and Dining- The food didn't meet our expectations. The food in Windjammer was surprisingly good, but the food in the dining room fell short. There was also only 1 formal night on a 7 day cruise and we thought there would be 2. We also ate at Samba Brazilian Steakhouse and I cannot express how terrible the food was. We frequent Texas De Brazil on land and we were expecting the same and that is not the case at all. We actually ate one bite of each of the meats and just got up and left. It was that terrible. I cannot believe they charge people for that. We also tried Sabor Mexican Restaurant and it was just ok, nothing we would go back to. We loved park cafe and the roast beef sandwiches! We also loved Johnny Rockets for breakfast. The boardwalk donuts were not very good though. The frozen ice cream machines are not available at all times of the day, there are specific hours and they are mainly by the pool which may be a good thing because I ate too many lol. Room service menu was extremely limited.

 

Our Room- We chose the interior stateroom guarantee and ended up lucking out with 10-445 which was a large interior room. It was a great location and we had no complaints. We also really liked the bathroom layout and how the shower has a door closure unlike Carnival. Our room stewardess was Susie and she was the nicest lady ever! We absolutely loved her. We also liked that there was a clock and three outlets in the room.

 

Shows and Entertainment- The shows were absolutely incredible! We especially enjoyed Ocean Aria, Ice Games, and Blue Planet. We also loved the comedy show and the Quest (although it's not Adult Only like I had read). We booked some entertainment beforehand but we visited the desk to book the rest right when we got on the ship and had no problems.

 

Cruise Director- Our cruise director was Tim Connor and he seemed like a funny guy. Although, we didn't see him too much the whole cruise. He hosted the Quest and did great. We were a little disappointed because on Carnival our cruise director Calvin was one of the main reasons we had such a great time. We spoke to other guests who recently cruised on smaller RCI ships and they said the cruise director played a larger part on those. So maybe it is just because the ship is so large, but we were kind of disappointed.

 

Gym- My fiancé enjoyed going to the gym everyday. He said it was very nice and loved that it was open until 1am.

 

Shore excursion- I'm going to include this because I booked it through RCI. We did the Chacchoben Ruins in Costa Maya and it was great(ask for Ishmael Martinez)! Very informative and they provided water and an air conditioned bus. On the way back our tour guide, Ishmael, stopped at a village that grows pineapple and let us all try some and it was amazing!! American pineapple tastes bad to me now lol! The excursion was a little pricey but it was well worth it.

 

Pools- We didn't really enjoy the adult solarium area. Obviously it is somewhat covered since it is a solarium but we liked the open Serenity area on Carnival much better. The hot tubs were supposed to be 16+ and one night there was a group of kids that weren't older than 12 being very noisy while we were trying to relax in them. It was also very hard to find pool lounge chairs anywhere on a sea day. On the last day we woke up at 7:30 to lay by the pool and almost all of the chairs were already claimed by towels. Some of those people didn't arrive until 1pm that day.

 

Sports deck- We both did the rock climbing wall and zip line and they were fun!

 

Staff- The first day almost all of the staff members seemed very unhappy and impersonable. This made us feel like we were going to have a rough week but on the second day and throughout the rest of the week they seemed happier and more friendly which was nice.

 

Misc.- We enjoyed the whole experience with the photos. They are all uploaded to your card and you just have to insert it into the machine to see them. All of the public restrooms were very nice, clean, and large.

 

Overall, we had a nice vacation and we are glad we got to experience such an innovative ship! However, we feel that we, personally, had a better overall experience with Carnival so we will be sticking with them for the foreseeable future. If you have any questions please feel free to ask!

 

You liked the Paradise over the Allure, wow that is so rare.

[Cruzinbabe06]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.

 

Just booked the Allure for the May 7 sailing and already reserved the shows and booked the dining special for the first night, $15 per person.:D Hopefully we can dine in Chops, since it get good reviews.

 

So looking forward to trying the Oasis class.:)