Allure Aug 14th review

[Ajrls]

My husband and I usually cruise Princess and Celebrity, but wanted to try one of the big ships, so we booked the Western itinerary.

 

Embarkation- Fast and on-board within 10 minutes.

Took everyone's advice and skipped the Windjammer, headed to Park Cafe.

Busy, but able to find a table.

 

Room- Usually we just book an inside, but decided to splurge on a balcony. We were located on the 8th floor. Ample space for us, but I'm learning to pack lighter with each trip.

 

Dining- Didn't try any of the specialty restaurants. Was pleasantly surprised with the MDR food. Always found an entree that I liked. We did MTD, which is a first, but loved it. We were always seated at the same table, so had the same wait staff, both were terrific.

 

Windjammer- Didn't care for it, sooo many people. Went to dining room on at sea days instead of the buffet. Loved the salad bar and hamburgers served here.

Breakfast were much better here,also. They actually had has browns, unlike the Windjammer that had Tater Tots with a "hash brown" sign hanging over them.

 

Entertainment- Definitely better than any ship I've ever been on. We especially liked Oceanaria. Plenty to do during the day. Lots of fun on the Flowrider, though it depended on who was working it. Some were more helpful than others. Can't say enough about a young man named Alex.

 

Pool- I liked the separate pool area for little ones. Don't get me wrong, I like children, taught kindergarten, but I need parents to do their job. Don't let your child climb on the car on the Promenade, please tell them to quit running in and out of the elevators with their new friends.

I did see the pool staff bag up items left on chairs. Kudos to them!

Also, saw a fight break out because of it, security was called.

 

Ports- have visited these ports before, so we really didn't do much touring.

The ship was our destination. Lots of vendors right off the dock at Falmouth, stores are slowly opening, but plenty of little stands to walk among.

Haiti- got of ship, went to beach, water was refreshing, back to ship

Cozumel- took cab to town

 

Disembarkation- We did the Walk-off. Excellent, organized and timely!

In our car, and heading home before 7am.

Would suggest you park off site. We paid $45 for our parking that week. The shuttle picked us up at our car and loaded our bags. Waited about 5 minutes for them to pick us up at the ship for return.

 

Overall impression- A beautiful ship!! I didn't care for the amount of people, but it didn't bother husband. I know he wants to book it again, he felt absolutely NO ship movement, big plus and he had such fun on the Flowrider. Staying away from the Windjammer helped with my crowd issues. I think I just need to adjust my attitude (it is a big ship), or find a time to travel that's not a peak period. A smaller class ship with the Flowrider would work for me, but having him not worrying about motion sickness is important, too.

Would like to have seen more free dining options available after 9pm.

I believe the only places available were Cafe Promenade and Sorrentos. They do have room service, but having the Wipe-Out or Park Cafe would have been great.

 

I was a little leery about trying something new, but overall, we had a great time!:D

[Riverwinds 13]

Thank you for your review. Glad to see that you gave another cruise line a try and enjoyed your cruise. You may want to give RCCL another try on one of their Freedom class ships which are smaller than Allure but still a large, stable ship. The Freedom class would have approximately half the number of passengers.