Allure 6/5 a little dissapointed

[beckydsl]

This was our first Royal Caribbean cruise and while we loved the Allure, she was beautiful and huge, we were very disappointing by the lack of service and were wondering if this is a representation of how RCI is fleet wide. My husband has sworn never to cruise with RCI again. Our main complaints.. service except for the dining room staff, was dismal. We often were not served in the bars, never asked if we wanted more drinks, and when we did not order alcohol but ordered cokes from our coke package, we were often scowled at! Our room attendant was ok, he kept the room clean, we only got one towel animal the entire 7 nights. The towel policy was a bunch of crock, there was no depositing of towels at the gangway and it seems like RCI has decided that all the guests are thieves and will steal their gnarly beach towels. As many have mentioned, many unsupervised children running around and bored teenagers but they didn't bother me too much.

 

That said, Chicago was an awesome show, we missed the comedy show because our dinner ran later than expected (don't forget to tell them you have a show, a good waiter will try to expedite your dinner). We eventually found a good service team at the dining room and requested for them. Oceanaria was wonderful, and blue planet was interesting, though we weren't really into the singing and would have loved more acrobats. The Quest game show was hilarious and a must do!

 

 

The food at the windjamer was alright, we found we liked the solarium bistro better and it was less crowded and we could eat at our lounge chairs if we preferred. We never had trouble finding chairs both in the solarium and out at the beach pool.

 

All in all, we had a pretty good time, but the lack of service was a major let down especially this being RCI's biggest and newest ship.

[green eyed lady]

I totally agree about the service, but this is the first Royal cruise that we had mediocre service on. Last year on Oasis the service was amazing! And we were just on Navigator in Feb and service there was also great. I don't know what happened on Allure, but this had to be the unfriendliest group of employees I have ever seen.

 

And towel animals only 1 night? And to think I was unhappy because I only got them on 3 nights :eek: I love my towel animals so I was disappointed. My cabin steward was pretty awful. The first day I told him we need extra towels. Some days I got 3, some days I got 2. Many times I had to call for extras. That to me is unacceptable. :rolleyes:

 

I also felt the same way when we used our soda cards. :eek:

[mandycheer]

Wow! I'm shocked at our different experiences. The service we had was great almost everywhere we went. As for the towel thing, I do agree with that, but nowadays everyone is nickle and diming you. The towel animals we received every other night. It seems they are trying to cut down on the laundry or something. Our stateroom attendant went the extra mile for everything and I found everyone to be friendly and helpful, especially some of the bartenders.

[onefishtwofish]

green eyed lady and mandycheer...

Our experiences were right in between you 2 I guess....but agree with you on the towel animals!! :rolleyes:

We have 2 kids and they (as well as we!) look forward to the towel animals nightly and only got 3, so disappointed there as well....but he did a good job with our room and such. Also, as I have posted, I was disappointed in the way some passengers treated the ship. I truly think that because so many of them had their contracts ending and they were just done...However - we went on Oasis the very same week last year and it was wonderful - not like this, so.....not sure what happened here. :confused:

I loved Blue Planet! The dancers do need some work on timing and such, however I thought the show itself was innovative and combined a lot of different things. My 11 year old didn't think "Mother Nature" was the best singer though on the ship and said he thought others had better voices!LOL :p We had seen Abracadabra on Oasis last year, so didn't go this time but know they are good!

All in all, we had a fantastic cruise, but didn't like parts about it and that surprised us being the new ship...

:)

[stark]

I *did* have a good time. I spent most of my time at the EXCELLENT pool areas.

 

I am not a high maintenance person, and I can survive without even the barest of service... but I paid quite a bit for my ticket and this is Royal Caribbean's crown jewel of their fleet... So I expected much more than what I got.

 

I get the feeling that RCI is moving away from good service and a larger percentage of their ship and activities have a fee. I was also disappointed that I was unable to see any behind the scenes tour.

 

DRINKING:

 

The bar staff was pretty inattentive. I did have two good servers over the course of the week.

 

To illustrate how terrible the bar staff was on the Allure the bar bill only came out to $180 (not including soda cards) for two. Drinks were pricey and specials were sparse. On our last cruise (of the same length) our bar bill was over $400 -- with lots of 2 for 1 specials.

 

Also many bars allowed smoking! I have an adverse respiratory response to cigarette smoke. So a lot of those were off limits to me. However the ventilation was pretty amazing because standing outside these bars you could not smell the smoke.

 

The bar areas were nice but the staff did not make it a pleasure to hang out.

 

TOWELS: The towel policy had me seeing red because the dictators of the towel counters (only on deck 15) would snap at me if I tried to swap out my towels for fresh ones even while holding the nasty old towels in my other hand over top of the laundry bin. You must stand in line and wait and be handed your towel! One last bit, the towels had to be returned by 10pm on the last night. I often hung out in the hot tub after midnight....

 

ENTERTAINMENT:

 

Chicago was excellent.

 

Ocenaria was good and unique.

 

Blue Planet was advertised in a very misleading way. It was made to look like a cirque du soleil type show (which would not be surprising on this ship) but in the end it was a typical bad cruise show with poor covers of pop hits of the 70s and 80s. It had SOME acrobatics thrown in but I was bored to tears.

 

It also *seemed* like most things were closed most of the time and there was almost nothing to do from 5pm to 9pm (dinner time, I know). The rock climbing walls seemed to be rarely open even on at-sea days.

 

This got even worse on days when it was raining, because there was no way to really enjoy the outdoor areas... I know this is beyond their control but I felt that maybe the cruise director could have come up with some alternate indoor events to compensate.

 

The ice at the skating rink was very poor when we got there. I asked the attendant when they would Zamboni the ice (so I could return when the ice was better) -- he "didn't know". I heard later from a guest they only zamboni the ice before their ice show.

 

All classes/instruction sessions had a fee.

 

Room Stewards:

On our last cruise the stewards were like ninjas. You NEVER saw them and they would clean up your room, turn down the room, replace ice at all hours of the day no matter when the bucket was empty without being asked.

 

Our steward was friendly enough, and our room was spotless once a day. Got turned down once and only one towel animal... But he was constantly in the hall with his cart and we often had to squeeze around him. There was another steward in the same hall like this. Perhaps they were over-loaded with rooms?

 

 

FOOD:

I have had better meals out of my microwave than at the Windjammer! We ate there twice.

 

Dining room food ranged from good to excellent. Dining staff was attentive and I have NO complaints. Wine prices are a lot higher than I remember seeing previously.

 

Johnny Rockets is THE place to eat breakfast if you want a fry breakfast. They make it to order.

 

The Sorrentos Pizza was very good and open late.

 

The Dog House had some surprisingly good sausages but closed early (before dinnner - would have made excellent drinking food)

 

The Park cafe had some decent roast beef sandwiches.... A little bland in my opinion.

 

The Solarium Bistro was slightly better than the Windjammer but still had some suspect quality food. I liked the self serve water/juice (one of only 3 places on the ship!). They would often close to turn into the Samba Grill (for pay Brazilian steakhouse) before I was done hanging out in the Solarium (4pm-5pm-ish)... So no easy way to just get a glass of water or a quick snack.

 

---

 

PORTS:

Labadee was decent. Maybe a little rockier than I had hoped. But not bad at all. The zipline detracts from some of the natural beauty... but it does look fun.

Falmouth has NO BUSINESS being on any itinerary.. But I did get a good beef patty.

Cozumel was nice. The snorkeling was great (for the Caribbean).

[misslizzxo]

I am shocked and sad that you had such a bad experience on RCI. I have been on 3 (about to be 4) RCI cruises and my expectations have always been beyond exceeded. I wonder if maybe it was because of the massive size of the ship....they were maybe understaffed and overwhelmed?? But do give RCI another chance, but one of the smaller ships (the Freedom class and the Voyager class were amazing!) Those were my favorite cruises. Very little is an extra charge and the service was amazing.

-Lizz

[bravesfan19]

I was on the same cruise and had amazing service espically in the MDR. We had a 10 person table and even when our waitress got sick and had to get someone till fill in for 3 days the was no dropoff. We always go traditonal seating and not the anytime so that could be a factor.

 

I also had a coke card and had no trouble getting it filled up from the bar. Though I always keep my cup hidden till they ask me what I want. I was impressed that people was as friendly as they was getting it filled up. You still have to show the sticker on your sea pass card.

[beckydsl]

I was on the same cruise and had amazing service espically in the MDR. We had a 10 person table and even when our waitress got sick and had to get someone till fill in for 3 days the was no dropoff. We always go traditonal seating and not the anytime so that could be a factor.

 

I also had a coke card and had no trouble getting it filled up from the bar. Though I always keep my cup hidden till they ask me what I want. I was impressed that people was as friendly as they was getting it filled up. You still have to show the sticker on your sea pass card.

 

The MDR staff were excellent. We didn't realize we were able to request a waiter and his team until halfway through the cruise so we made sure to request for Kumar. However, the other 2 waiters/waitresses we got were great as well. No complains there, we even told them how much we appreciated their friendliness and attentive service and made sure to write it on the comment card.

 

Getting a coke wasn't the issue, it was the way they reacted when you asked for one, and once you order one, they never returned to check on you. Several times, we wanted an alcoholic drink after our soda and never got the chance to order one. There were exceptions, Conroy at the rising tide bar was very friendly and welcoming, and a female staff (Alexandria I believe) at On Air was very personable too. But truly those were the only 2 I had a good experience with.

 

I don't want to sound like I am complaining, the Allure had a lot to offer and I had a great time relaxing in the wonderful hot tubs and pools, the inattentive and unhappy crew just made the Allure less alluring!

[evelynmonica30]

I had a different experience, this is our 5th cruise with Royal, and honestly the service I have received has always been excellent. We are very picky travelers and at one time we had an issue on a cruise but it was not due to service. We traveled with a 4 year old and they pampered him everywhere he went. We celebrated his cruise aboard the Allure and he was made to feel special the whole week. The staff at the MDR went above and beyond to make sure he had his chocolate milk and fruit salad everynight. The specialty restaurants pampered us every night. I really can not say differently. In regards to the shows it is a matter of taste and opinion, I went to all and enjoyed them. I have a blog where I reviewed all the restaurants and some shows. I loved the Allure and plan on boarding her again soon... http://www.twoculturescook.com/?page_id=22

[hgmizzou]

We have not been on Allure yet, having just returned from Oasis a month ago, but we are planning on going next May. I must say that your experience on Allure is 180 degrees opposite what we experienced on Oasis and very different from many of the other reviews that I have read about Allure. You said you had a great cruise, but based on the number of complaints, I don't know that I would have.

 

These ships are floating cities (actually compared to the other ships they are entire metropolitan areas!!). You cannot expect the individual, personalized service that you would receive on a smaller, more expensive specialty cruise. These ships are like going to Disney World - they are BEYOND beautiful and there is ALWAYS something to do, but with that many people - sometimes something has to give a little.

 

When we were on Oasis our room steward, Stephan, was also always around with his cart (it was positioned right outside our door). We were very happy with this - as it made it easy to find him if we had a question or needed something. I am sure that if after the first night without a towel animal, you had just mentioned how much you love towel animals you would have found them every night. I now know that, based on your review, if we don't see a towel animal the first night - we will just have to give a hint and hope we see them the remaining nights!!

 

I hope you try RCCL again - I know that we are!! :)

[spammie]

Hi Becky. Thank you for taking the time to report back about "your" cruise experience. We have always cruised with RCCL until this past April. Unfortunately over the years the quality of food and customer service have definitely taken a nose dive on RCCL. Unfortunately I have lowered my expectations in both of these areas so hopefully I won't be disappointed when we cruise on Allure in September. We tried Celebrity in April and they know how to treat their customers! The crew on Equinox were without a doubt the friendliest crew we have ever sailed with. If Celebrity didn't send all their ships to Europe for the summer/fall we would be sailing on them. No cruise is a bad cruise but after all you shouldn't have to lower your expectations when cruising with RCCL to have a GREAT cruise experience.

[C & L]

6/5/11 Western Caribbean cruise:

 

Main dining room service was poor. We decided to eat in the Windjammer after the slow service.

 

As for towel animals: think there were 3. We had children on this voyage and they were disappointed in not having the animals in their room nightly.

 

Friendly service, always acknowledged, but it was poorer service on this cruise.

 

Guest services was top notch on this cruise.

[libertybelle41]

Shocking reviews (in my opinion) about the service of the crew. I've been on several RCI cruises and never, not once have I had a problem with rudeness, inattentive crew members, etc.....I've always started out being extra nice, trying to make a bit of small talk, asking about "their day" slipping a nice tip, for bartender or cabin steward, letting them know right off the bat that I appreciate what they do and I usually have very positive feedback in return.

 

I wonder if it's because the size of the ship? Several people have posted that it's around the end of their contracts, maybe that it (not an excuse though)?? If so I hope the crew is all rested up and in better moods for my Aug 7th cruise.:)

[jeanico]

I am sure that if after the first night without a towel animal, you had just mentioned how much you love towel animals you would have found them every night

 

Actually, no. I told my cabin steward that I loved the animals, and thanked him very nicely when we got one, but that didn't mean we got more than 3 during the entire cruise. That's OK, though... It's not like we could take them home with us at the end of the week! :p

 

I also think it's normal that we have to sacrifice a few of the smaller details when we choose to cruise on a ship this size. She's a real beauty, though, and I would sail on the Allure again in a heartbeat!

[LeeBob]

Our Steward told us that the policy only allowed for them to present towel animals every other day.

[bobmacliberty]

We were also on the 6/5 Allure cruise and were also somewhat disappointed in the mixed quality of service, as compared to the great service we had on the Liberty last summer. It's interesting through that our complaints are different from some of the others in this thread.

 

Our cabin steward (Raymond from Jamaica) was great. Very friendly and efficient. We also had an outstanding waiter in Mihai at Giovanni's Table, and a great bartender at one of the pool bars in Hopeton. We also enjoyed John Wayne (his real name) in the Schooner Bar and most of the other bartenders that we met.

 

MDR staff was poor. We did MTD and had several different waiter/asst. waiter pairs hoping for one that we could request for future nights, but no luck. We had one waiter ask if we wanted drinks before dinner. My wife was looking at the wine list trying to decide. The waiter gave her no more than about 3 seconds before he walked away saying (while walking away), "I'll come back when you decide". I think the MDR staff was way overworked on deck 5. If you can't wait 5 seconds for a guest to make a choice, there's a problem.

 

I also had a problem with guest services, although technically they were probably correct (as difficult as it is for me to admit that :)). We booked 2 rooms across the hall from each other...one for the parents and one for the kids. We had to do the booking with an adult in each room. No problem...we went through this on the Liberty and guest services adjusted our sea passes accordingly after we sailed. This time, the woman in guest services refused to change the sea passes saying that there must be a parent in each room. I told that it wasn't an issue on the Liberty and she just said that they were wrong in what the did. She gave us an extra sea pass for each room but that meant that both my wife and daughter needed to carry 2 sea passes...one for room access and one for identification/charging. First I've ever heard of someone being denied the request to shuffle sea passes.

[bajathree]

On Oasis last week I did a galley tour...I learned on this tour that are ONLY 2 staff members in the bar service area of the galley on each floor of the MDR that are responsible for all filling all alcohol related drink orders...that includes any wine, beer or mixed drinks....I found that quite:eek:

[bajathree]

We were also on the 6/5 Allure cruise and were also somewhat disappointed in the mixed quality of service, as compared to the great service we had on the Liberty last summer. It's interesting through that our complaints are different from some of the others in this thread.

 

Our cabin steward (Raymond from Jamaica) was great. Very friendly and efficient. We also had an outstanding waiter in Mihai at Giovanni's Table, and a great bartender at one of the pool bars in Hopeton. We also enjoyed John Wayne (his real name) in the Schooner Bar and most of the other bartenders that we met.

 

MDR staff was poor. We did MTD and had several different waiter/asst. waiter pairs hoping for one that we could request for future nights, but no luck. We had one waiter ask if we wanted drinks before dinner. My wife was looking at the wine list trying to decide. The waiter gave her no more than about 3 seconds before he walked away saying (while walking away), "I'll come back when you decide". I think the MDR staff was way overworked on deck 5. If you can't wait 5 seconds for a guest to make a choice, there's a problem.

 

I also had a problem with guest services, although technically they were probably correct (as difficult as it is for me to admit that :)). We booked 2 rooms across the hall from each other...one for the parents and one for the kids. We had to do the booking with an adult in each room. No problem...we went through this on the Liberty and guest services adjusted our sea passes accordingly after we sailed. This time, the woman in guest services refused to change the sea passes saying that there must be a parent in each room. I told that it wasn't an issue on the Liberty and she just said that they were wrong in what the did. She gave us an extra sea pass for each room but that meant that both my wife and daughter needed to carry 2 sea passes...one for room access and one for identification/charging. First I've ever heard of someone being denied the request to shuffle sea passes.

 

They are correct in that, that is the way it get's handled in that type situation....they do not change the passengers in the cabin....they only give you an extra key and it's up to you to decide who sleeps where. If the cabins were booked DIRECTLY across from each-other then they didn't need to be originally booked as 1 and 1...but once aboard they will only give you an extra key and not start to change passengers around.

[diva girl]

Onefishtwofish- FYI could you please change your color of print its very hard to read . Started reading your interesting remarks but it was too hard to focus because of the color. Your print color is too cool in the color range its receding into the white background not enough of a contrast. Just thought I let you know. Its one of my favorite colors but not for print unless you had a contrasting background color.

[Stags14]

This is all pretty shocking to me - never had a bad experience in regards to rude or uninterested crewmembers (nor have I noticed a decline over the years). Personally, it doesn't make much of a difference to me how many towel animals I get but bar service and just all around service is pretty important.

 

This is the first time I've read about such a consistently displeased crowd and I do not expect it to be like this when I sail on the Allure in September. If I were you though, I'd call them up and just comment about your experience and maybe they will pay closer attention to it (especially if they get several complaints). Maybe they just introduced additional employee cost sharing or something... who knows - work puts me in a rut from time to time as well.

[BillOh]

I certainly respect your opinion and your sincerity. I guess there can be a wide variety of opinions and experiences from week to week. I left Allure thinking the service was exceptional, with one small exception. However, I stopped buying the soda package a couple of years ago because of diet reasons, but I did agree with you completely about trying to get cokes at the bars. On my first Voyager cruise they had several drink stations that were dedicated to refilling soda packages. On Majesty there is a dedicated self refill station. I felt the service level on Freedom was exceptional, with this same exception, I got to the point I hid my drink container till I got service.

 

That one small exception I had on Allure was at the Guest Services counter where the lady did her job, but was less than personable.

[bajathree]

A comment on the beach towel check-out...I don't think it's really for the stealing part as much as people used to leave their towels everywhere...they would get just thrown in halls, elevators....just about all over the ship. I haven't seen a towel laying around in the hall or elevator since implementing the check-in check-out policy:)

[stark]

A comment on the beach towel check-out...I don't think it's really for the stealing part as much as people used to leave their towels everywhere...they would get just thrown in halls, elevators....just about all over the ship. I haven't seen a towel laying around in the hall or elevator since implementing the check-in check-out policy:)

 

On what ships have you observed such poor guest behavior? :eek:

 

I think its more about getting you to do their work for them (and occasionally making $20). Which on the Allure you pay a premium for the privilege...

 

Everyone I've told about the towel policy has been shocked. Especially experienced cruisers.

 

It is an inconvenience other ships/carriers do not have. Since beach towels are a resource I use very frequently, it becomes a large inconvenience fast.

[RaiderFaninNM]

Wow! I'm shocked at our different experiences. The service we had was great almost everywhere we went. As for the towel thing, I do agree with that, but nowadays everyone is nickle and diming you. The towel animals we received every other night. It seems they are trying to cut down on the laundry or something. Our stateroom attendant went the extra mile for everything and I found everyone to be friendly and helpful, especially some of the bartenders.

 

I agree as we had AWESOME service ANYWHERE we went on the ship! EVERY single crew member said hi and was VERY personable! Our stateroom attendant was 110% on the ball, towels replaced, bathroom was ALWAYS clean, got 3 towel animals, my only complaint was the crappy drinks at premium prices were weak and at times just plain crappy! Had dinner in the MDR 6 nights and enjoyed it everytime, ate at Chops and well was the single worst steak I have every eaten, luke warm, dry and terrible, will never go back there again. I found the Allure to be amazing and lots of hard working people doing everything they could to be sure you had a great time, Ken Rush was fun, looking to book either the FOTS or Oasis next spring…………

[Vegas Vic]

I *did* have a good time. I spent most of my time at the EXCELLENT pool areas.

 

I am not a high maintenance person, and I can survive without even the barest of service... but I paid quite a bit for my ticket and this is Royal Caribbean's crown jewel of their fleet... So I expected much more than what I got.

 

I get the feeling that RCI is moving away from good service and a larger percentage of their ship and activities have a fee. I was also disappointed that I was unable to see any behind the scenes tour.

 

DRINKING:

 

The bar staff was pretty inattentive. I did have two good servers over the course of the week.

 

To illustrate how terrible the bar staff was on the Allure the bar bill only came out to $180 (not including soda cards) for two. Drinks were pricey and specials were sparse. On our last cruise (of the same length) our bar bill was over $400 -- with lots of 2 for 1 specials.

 

Also many bars allowed smoking! I have an adverse respiratory response to cigarette smoke. So a lot of those were off limits to me. However the ventilation was pretty amazing because standing outside these bars you could not smell the smoke.

 

The bar areas were nice but the staff did not make it a pleasure to hang out.

 

TOWELS: The towel policy had me seeing red because the dictators of the towel counters (only on deck 15) would snap at me if I tried to swap out my towels for fresh ones even while holding the nasty old towels in my other hand over top of the laundry bin. You must stand in line and wait and be handed your towel! One last bit, the towels had to be returned by 10pm on the last night. I often hung out in the hot tub after midnight....

 

ENTERTAINMENT:

 

Chicago was excellent.

 

Ocenaria was good and unique.

 

Blue Planet was advertised in a very misleading way. It was made to look like a cirque du soleil type show (which would not be surprising on this ship) but in the end it was a typical bad cruise show with poor covers of pop hits of the 70s and 80s. It had SOME acrobatics thrown in but I was bored to tears.

 

It also *seemed* like most things were closed most of the time and there was almost nothing to do from 5pm to 9pm (dinner time, I know). The rock climbing walls seemed to be rarely open even on at-sea days.

 

This got even worse on days when it was raining, because there was no way to really enjoy the outdoor areas... I know this is beyond their control but I felt that maybe the cruise director could have come up with some alternate indoor events to compensate.

 

The ice at the skating rink was very poor when we got there. I asked the attendant when they would Zamboni the ice (so I could return when the ice was better) -- he "didn't know". I heard later from a guest they only zamboni the ice before their ice show.

 

All classes/instruction sessions had a fee.

 

Room Stewards:

On our last cruise the stewards were like ninjas. You NEVER saw them and they would clean up your room, turn down the room, replace ice at all hours of the day no matter when the bucket was empty without being asked.

 

Our steward was friendly enough, and our room was spotless once a day. Got turned down once and only one towel animal... But he was constantly in the hall with his cart and we often had to squeeze around him. There was another steward in the same hall like this. Perhaps they were over-loaded with rooms?

 

 

FOOD:

I have had better meals out of my microwave than at the Windjammer! We ate there twice.

 

Dining room food ranged from good to excellent. Dining staff was attentive and I have NO complaints. Wine prices are a lot higher than I remember seeing previously.

 

Johnny Rockets is THE place to eat breakfast if you want a fry breakfast. They make it to order.

 

The Sorrentos Pizza was very good and open late.

 

The Dog House had some surprisingly good sausages but closed early (before dinnner - would have made excellent drinking food)

 

The Park cafe had some decent roast beef sandwiches.... A little bland in my opinion.

 

The Solarium Bistro was slightly better than the Windjammer but still had some suspect quality food. I liked the self serve water/juice (one of only 3 places on the ship!). They would often close to turn into the Samba Grill (for pay Brazilian steakhouse) before I was done hanging out in the Solarium (4pm-5pm-ish)... So no easy way to just get a glass of water or a quick snack.

 

---

 

PORTS:

Labadee was decent. Maybe a little rockier than I had hoped. But not bad at all. The zipline detracts from some of the natural beauty... but it does look fun.

Falmouth has NO BUSINESS being on any itinerary.. But I did get a good beef patty.

Cozumel was nice. The snorkeling was great (for the Caribbean).

 

ALL of these complaints from a person who says "I am not high maintenance"?? I guess some people are experts at being miserable especially on a Caribbean cruise thousands of people would love to be on.