My review of the Allure of the Seas- Hurricane Isaac cruise!

[dentistmEL]

We just returned from the 5 day Allure of the Sea cruise. For a little background information, I was traveling with my husband (we are both in the mid to upper 30's), my parents, and my two kids (ages 17 months and 4). This was my 21st cruise. I am a platinum member with Royal Caribbean but have not sailed them in at least 10 years.

 

I will say this was my second favorite cruise of all time! I will give you all the pros and cons but I know if you are sailing on this, you will love it.

 

Embarkation: This is where I will say I was the most dissatisfied. Given the magnitude of the ship and the fact we were on a sold out cruise, I thought check in was a mess. We had to wait over 45 minutes once we got on the boat for an elevator. Part of the reason was probably because everyone wanted to rush on the second that we were allowed to get on (we didn't want to miss another second of our cruise). I was just about ready to get off the boat for the mess of embarkation but am so glad we continued on.

 

Rooms: We had two balcony, adjoining rooms (11211, 11213) overlooking Central Park. We took two rooms because with two kids 4 and under, we wanted more room. They would have drove us crazy in the same room,lol. My husband slept with one kid and I slept with the other. It was perfect! The rooms are very nice. They had all the amenities of a regular cruise ship I have been on with perhaps slightly more space (my husband says no but I felt it was slightly bigger than any other cruise I was on). I loved that it overlooked Central Park because it was beautiful to look at and outdoors, which was a plus! We had a great room steward who made us towel animals each day. Housekeeping was immaculate with our rooms.

 

Entertainment: A+! Hands down the best entertainment on any ship I have ever been on! Please if you go on this cruise, go to all the shows. On this particular cruise, they were not stringent on reservations because they were trying to fit everyone in. I managed to get into every show (and one or two I did not even have reserved). Chicago was very good- not my favorite show, just because I am not a huge Chicago fan but the talent was amazing. OceanAria was awe-inspiring. I actually saw it twice it was that good. Along with the amazing talent, Blue Planet and Ice Games were equally as impressive. I swear they must scout out the Olympians for these shows. JUST AMAZING! The cruise director was alright, not my favorite but not bad. He seemed a little stressed during the cruise but that could have totally been me.

 

Food: Very good. I rate it a B+. In the past Royal Caribbean, had some standards that are no longer on the menu including nightly soufflés. However, they still have the chilled fruit soups in the main dining room. We did anytime dining and it was good. However, I will warn you that if you go around 8-9 PM without a reservation, you will have a good 45 minute wait. I highly suggest you making a reservation. We liked our servers so much the first night, we requested them the rest of the trip. We ate at two speciality restaurant- the sushi restaurant (Izumani) and 150 Central Park. I really liked both but 150 Central Park was my favorite. This is a good 3 hour meal so be prepared. The ambiance and tastefulness was second to none!

 

Activities: Since our ports were diverted to Bahamas and Cozumel, we did not do much in terms of excursions. Honestly I have been to both places many times and given our short stay on the boat, I wanted to enjoy it. We did briefly go to the Atlantis by a taxi and a local beach in Cozumel, but only for about an hour or two.

 

We greatly enjoyed the zip line and flow rider. We never got to use the rock climbing wall, mini golf, or ice rink but we plan to on our next return trip.

 

The pools areas are very nice! I preferred to sit in the solarium for a good portion of our trip since it was a kid-free zone. We did travel with kids but more on that after. We used the hot tubs and just relaxed. Bar service did hassle you with getting drinks but what can you expect on a cruise- that always happens! We did not hear much of the outdoor band but probably because of our location we were sitting near.

 

Service: I give the service a C+. Honestly, I was very disappointed with the service on this ship. I think part of the reason is the mayhem with the prior 9 day cruise, but the people who worked on the ship did not seem happy at all. Our waiter and room steward were excellent, but other people on the ship, just didn't seem to care. Hopefully it was just our cruise though. I do have to say though in the dining room, my dad got sick one night and the chef personally came out to find out what he would like to eat. That was one extremely gracious measure!

 

Kid club: THE BEST!!!!!! As I said before, I have a 17 month old and 4 year old. After being holed up in a hotel room with them in Ft. Lauderale, this momma needed a break. I signed the baby up for the Royal baby program which was so wonderful. It was $8 a hour and worth every penny. They gave you a beeper in case they needed you and were open from 9 AM-12 AM all days of the cruise. The older daughter went to the 3-5 year old program which was free. She had a blast and cried every night when she had to leave! It was a godsend to have this on a ship. I also recommend checking out the Madagascar characters, carousel, pool splash area park, and the Boardwalk if you have kids.

 

Disembarkation was a breeze.

All in all, this was an amazing trip. I can't wait to go on it again. I have a ton of pictures that you can check out here of the ship: http://www.the-mommyhood-chronicles.com/2012/09/wordlesswednesday-allure-of-the-seas-largest-cruise-ship-in-the-world/

[mj]

Great review. Thanks for sharing.

[gambee]

thanks for the review, loved your attitude specially considering how your trip was affected.

[dentistmEL]

Thanks!

[Ren1216]

Glad you had such a great cruise despite it being cut short. Good for you guys! :)

[ryano]

We just returned from the 5 day Allure of the Sea cruise. For a little background information, I was traveling with my husband (we are both in the mid to upper 30's), my parents, and my two kids (ages 17 months and 4). This was my 21st cruise. I am a platinum member with Royal Caribbean but have not sailed them in at least 10 years.

 

I will say this was my second favorite cruise of all time! I will give you all the pros and cons but I know if you are sailing on this, you will love it.

 

Embarkation: This is where I will say I was the most dissatisfied. Given the magnitude of the ship and the fact we were on a sold out cruise, I thought check in was a mess. We had to wait over 45 minutes once we got on the boat for an elevator. Part of the reason was probably because everyone wanted to rush on the second that we were allowed to get on (we didn't want to miss another second of our cruise). I was just about ready to get off the boat for the mess of embarkation but am so glad we continued on.

 

Rooms: We had two balcony, adjoining rooms (11211, 11213) overlooking Central Park. We took two rooms because with two kids 4 and under, we wanted more room. They would have drove us crazy in the same room,lol. My husband slept with one kid and I slept with the other. It was perfect! The rooms are very nice. They had all the amenities of a regular cruise ship I have been on with perhaps slightly more space (my husband says no but I felt it was slightly bigger than any other cruise I was on). I loved that it overlooked Central Park because it was beautiful to look at and outdoors, which was a plus! We had a great room steward who made us towel animals each day. Housekeeping was immaculate with our rooms.

 

Entertainment: A+! Hands down the best entertainment on any ship I have ever been on! Please if you go on this cruise, go to all the shows. On this particular cruise, they were not stringent on reservations because they were trying to fit everyone in. I managed to get into every show (and one or two I did not even have reserved). Chicago was very good- not my favorite show, just because I am not a huge Chicago fan but the talent was amazing. OceanAria was awe-inspiring. I actually saw it twice it was that good. Along with the amazing talent, Blue Planet and Ice Games were equally as impressive. I swear they must scout out the Olympians for these shows. JUST AMAZING! The cruise director was alright, not my favorite but not bad. He seemed a little stressed during the cruise but that could have totally been me.

 

Food: Very good. I rate it a B+. In the past Royal Caribbean, had some standards that are no longer on the menu including nightly soufflés. However, they still have the chilled fruit soups in the main dining room. We did anytime dining and it was good. However, I will warn you that if you go around 8-9 PM without a reservation, you will have a good 45 minute wait. I highly suggest you making a reservation. We liked our servers so much the first night, we requested them the rest of the trip. We ate at two speciality restaurant- the sushi restaurant (Izumani) and 150 Central Park. I really liked both but 150 Central Park was my favorite. This is a good 3 hour meal so be prepared. The ambiance and tastefulness was second to none!

 

Activities: Since our ports were diverted to Bahamas and Cozumel, we did not do much in terms of excursions. Honestly I have been to both places many times and given our short stay on the boat, I wanted to enjoy it. We did briefly go to the Atlantis by a taxi and a local beach in Cozumel, but only for about an hour or two.

 

We greatly enjoyed the zip line and flow rider. We never got to use the rock climbing wall, mini golf, or ice rink but we plan to on our next return trip.

 

The pools areas are very nice! I preferred to sit in the solarium for a good portion of our trip since it was a kid-free zone. We did travel with kids but more on that after. We used the hot tubs and just relaxed. Bar service did hassle you with getting drinks but what can you expect on a cruise- that always happens! We did not hear much of the outdoor band but probably because of our location we were sitting near.

 

Service: I give the service a C+. Honestly, I was very disappointed with the service on this ship. I think part of the reason is the mayhem with the prior 9 day cruise, but the people who worked on the ship did not seem happy at all. Our waiter and room steward were excellent, but other people on the ship, just didn't seem to care. Hopefully it was just our cruise though. I do have to say though in the dining room, my dad got sick one night and the chef personally came out to find out what he would like to eat. That was one extremely gracious measure!

 

Kid club: THE BEST!!!!!! As I said before, I have a 17 month old and 4 year old. After being holed up in a hotel room with them in Ft. Lauderale, this momma needed a break. I signed the baby up for the Royal baby program which was so wonderful. It was $8 a hour and worth every penny. They gave you a beeper in case they needed you and were open from 9 AM-12 AM all days of the cruise. The older daughter went to the 3-5 year old program which was free. She had a blast and cried every night when she had to leave! It was a godsend to have this on a ship. I also recommend checking out the Madagascar characters, carousel, pool splash area park, and the Boardwalk if you have kids.

 

Disembarkation was a breeze.

All in all, this was an amazing trip. I can't wait to go on it again. I have a ton of pictures that you can check out here of the ship: http://www.the-mommyhood-chronicles.com/2012/09/wordlesswednesday-allure-of-the-seas-largest-cruise-ship-in-the-world/

 

Thanks for the review! From what I can gather so far, the Cruise Critic members that were actually ON this cruise made the best of things and had a great time while we were all sitting here banging away at the keyboard over whether or not we thought the compensation was fair or not.

 

I hate to hear that about service but I can only imagine the stress the crew must have been under during those two cruises and the knowing they had to turn the ship around so soon again. They are people just like us and Im sure they have bad days and no doubt they encountered some very rude and demanding passengers during that time.

[JamesEM]

Thanks for sharing.

[foxgoodrich]

We were also on the 8/26 - oops, make that 8/28 - Allure cruise. We had a great cruise too, but it was just too short!

 

Our embarkation was incredibly easy, but we were there early, so we were among the first few hundred to board. We even had no line for the famous roast beef sandwiches in the Park Cafe! We were so enchanted walking around the ship, finding our way around and seeing everything, that we lost track of time and didn't make it to our cabin until after 2:00 that day!

 

I really had no major issues with service anywhere, except maybe in one bar when it seemed to take a looong time to get drinks (but that's pretty minor, really.)

 

BUT I do think some of the staff were a bit stressed - esp. the Guest Services people, and esp. on the first and last days. The lines were very long, and the wait was long to get up to the counter. They seemed overwhelmed. We had ordered some wine in our cabin from Gifts and Gear, but the wrong wine was there when we arrived. We had to stand in line for an hour on boarding afternoon to get it straightened out. (Once we figured out it would take awhile, I ran back to the cabin to get the coupons for free internet so we could take care of that at the same time.)

 

I know many people stood in those lines (more like big clumps than lines) for a very long time. And waiting made them cranky! The GS people had to have had the same situation on the last 2 days of the previous cruise, so that definitely had to be a hard job to have on Allure.

 

I thought the Cruise Director's staff were delightful - we met several at various activities - but I really did not care for Ken Rush, the CD. He was always showing up and interrupting things or delaying the start of some of the shows...apparently just to make an appearance. He seemed to be his own biggest fan. We actually didn't go to the Love and Marriage Game and avoided the parades since he would be the emcee - neither of us thought we could stand him for that long.

 

But all in all, it was a great cruise. We loved the shows we saw, and my only real complaint was that the 5 days we had just wasn't enough time on Allure!

Judy

[gambee]

You know RCCL should look into Ken Rush every review I review says the same thing about him. He is just blah and sometimes can be insulting to international travelers. I forgot where I read that, but it's here around somewhere.

 

Being that the Oasis twins are supposed to be their flag ships, they should have nothing but the best and that includes a solid CD.

[bunker1706]

I have been reading a lot the reviews from the 5 day Allure cruise and have been pleasantly surprised by all of the positive reactions. It's been a pleasure reading all of them.

[chipq]

It's not just a cruise, it's an adventure. Glad you shortened cruise was a good one. Thanks for sharing.

 

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