Allure Review - March 29 - April 5

[PACrew]

The following is a brief review of our cruise on the Allure. I will also do a quick comparison to Celebrity as our past 3 cruises were on X ships. There were 9 of us traveling. Ill rate everything on a A to F scale.

 

Pre-Cruise – Renaissance 17th Street – Nice location and within walking distance to shops, restaurants and even beach (about 20 min). Pool was small. Our biggest complaint was that there were only 2 elevators for the hotel. On Sat and Sunday morning, it would take anywhere from 15-20 min for an elevator. Otherwise, ok property. Rating B-

 

Embarkation – arrived at 1200 and was on the ship by 12:15. Pretty quick and efficient. Rating A+

 

Ship – Nothing to say here but absolutely stunning. The ship is awesome. The layout is great and with 24 elevators, we never really waited more than a minute. The ship was clean and looked like it just rolled out of the yard. Some of the carpets needed some TLC but not really worth mentioning. With 6200 guests a week, that’s expected. New carpets are going in at drydock in two weeks. As for movement, barely noticed it and at points, it honestly felt like we were not moving at all. The beam of the ship definitely accounts for the stability. Rating A+

 

Cabin – Central Park Balcony – good location on deck 10. Could walk up or down (instead of elevators) with ease. Room steward was great. Asked for ice and wine glasses and had new ones everyday. Some members had some issues with cleanliness but they were rectified quickly with a call to guest relations. My only complaint would be that there is less storage here than on the X ships. The X ships (Eclipse and Silh) had cabinets above the bed which was nice for storage. Balcony was big and nice. Noise from CP was not really an issue. Most music stopped by 10pm. If you sleep before then, get a Ocean view balcony. One thing we noticed was that being in this balcony made you feel like you were in a resort rather than a ship. I guess this is because of the lack of water view and lack of ship movement. Typically, we use the balcony a lot when its an ocean view but this not so much. If we cruised next time, we would either get an Ocean View Balcony, Boardwalk (to see water). I would not spend more money upgrading from a promenade or central park view room to one with a balcony. I would probably get a OV room before a CP Room with a balcony next time. Rating A

 

Dining: I will break this down by venue:

- Windjammer – Good selection by a lot was repeated throughout the cruise. Food was good, not 5 star but acceptable. There was some seating issues when it got crowded but you never waited too long. They basically set up a line and had waiters take you to a table that was open so you didn’t have to stand around holding a plate of food. Pretty good idea actually. Per the Captain, they are moving Izumi inorder to obtain more space in the WJ so after drydock, this shouldn’t be an issue. It was nice to see servers walking around offering coffee and tea in the morning. Nice touch. Rating B.

- Samba – Very good. Nothing much else to say here. My only complaint would be having to look out at people drunk in the solarium hot tubs prior to 7pm but after 7, it cleared out. Rating A-

- Rita Cantina – Well, this restaurant is going away at dry dock so a review is kinda pointless. Service was good, food was good. Rating B.

- Park Café – Great roast beef sandwich as most know. Salads were great and breakfast sandwiches were good. We ate here frequently. It gets a bit disorganized when crowded but the only times it was really crowded was at the end of port days when people were lookoing for food around 4-5pm. The morning was never an issue. Rating A-.

- Sorrentos - Good pizza, enough said. Never really a huge line. Rating A.

- Café Promenade – My complaint here was they had the identical items every day. I don’t understand why they cant mix it up a bit. Otherwise, items were good. Rating B (it would be an A if they mixed up the menu)

- Solarium Café – great lunch spot. Good salad selection. We dined here often for breakfast and lunch. A healthier selection of items but they still had pancakes and eggs in morning. Rating A-

- Dining Room – Here is where we had issues. We had MTD and frankly, the service was lack luster. It was obvious that our servers were not interested in going above and beyond. There was no personality and barely a word said by them. Drink service was horrible and It also took 2.5 hours to dine the first two nights. Too long. We complained and then we were put in the “reset” section (waiters with gold vests). Once here, we received the RCCL service we remembered from the past. Great friendly servers and a great bar staff. Others in our party had early seating and they had no problems at all. Food: again subjective so take with a grain of salt but we didn’t care for it. TO me it was glorified cafeteria food. A few items were good but nothing remarkable. This was our biggest complaint. Our last three cruises were with X and the difference was amazing. Maybe it was an off week but we were not happy at all. Hopefully it was just our experience and not the entire ship. Rating C-.

 

Activities and Shows – Amazing. Plenty to do, shows, comedians were great! Quest was one of the funniest I have seen in a while. Rating A+

Fitness – we use the fitness facility. Selection of machines was great. Never had a problem getting one. Took two fly wheel classes. One was great, the other not-so. All depends on instructor. Rating B+

Pools – Chair hogs, yes. However, watch the chairs you want and if no one shows up in an hour, tell pool attendants and they will remove the items and the chairs are yours. Depending on where you wanted to sit dictated what time to get there. Beach pool with umbrella, get there around 7-730 on sea day. Rest of pools, there were seats until 9-10am. Rating A.

 

Bar Service – on this cruise, we encountered the most unfriendly and down right rude bar servers ever on a cruise. I wont go into detail but the level of rudeness we encountered was surprising. Sure, the bartenders at the sand bar and most pool bars were great. It was the servers who walked around that had the attitudes. This was prevalent all over the ship. On every cruise there are always some but this was remarkable the amount. Rating C.

 

Casino – we like to gamble a little…roulette, blackjack, craps. On the last three X cruises, we had a great time with the dealers and the dealers made us want to come back everynight. They were entertaining and personality. Again, we are not big gamblers but for $100 bucks a night on X, we had fun for hours with the dealers. It was worth it and typically at the end of the cruise, we broke even. Here, the dealers were like brick walls. No personality and frankly they appeared to not give a damn about whether they talked to you or not. As a result we didn’t spend much time there at all. It’s a shame because I know others felt the same way and didn’t gamble because of it. RCCL lost money for sure. Further, the smell in the casino is pretty bad. Half is smoking and the other half is not however the smell is there and the fact that they cover it up with deodorant vapor or something makes it worse. On the X ships, never an issue. Rating is a D. ( I would have given F but I won $650 on the penny slot at 12:30 am the last night).

 

Crew – we (as well as others in our group and people we met on board) felt that the crew as a whole was not into it. Sure, there were some great people (cabin steward, some bartenders, vintages bar servers) but most were not engaging and some were just rude. I don’t know if its because dry dock is coming up and the busy season has taken a tole but the morale of the crew was quite depressing. These guys work hard and when I cruise, I always tip above but this cruise, I didn’t tip much extra at all. Hopefully this was just my experience but in 20+ cruises, this was the worst morale/demeanor I have seen. Rating C-.

 

Ports – Nassau, too short to do much but beach in morning. Kinda a waste of time. St. Thomas and St. Marteen were great. Rating A.

Music – Schooner Bar entertainer was awesome. All the bands, live music, orchestra….were all incredible. They were all nice people as well. Rating A.

Chicago – Great talent here. It is not your garden variety cruise ship talent. These guys were good and talented. Great voices and great acting. Orchestra was amazing. The show is done after drydock and they are getting mamma mia as you know but I would expect the same level of quality. Rating A.

Does this ship feel crowded with 6200 people and 2k crew? No. Never felt crowded at all. It is laid out fell and never felt like 6200 passengers. In fact, I think it is less crowded than ships which hold 3k people. Rating A. Don’t this this deter you at all

 

Debark – Express, got in line at 7:30, was off and thru customs at 8:30. The problem was customs, not RCCL. Only 3 agents before 7:30…come on…for 6k people is ridiculous. RCCL did their job and obviously they cannot control US customs so no fault there.

 

Comparisons to Celebrity:

 

Embarkation – same, both have it down pat.

 

Activities/Entertainment – RCCL Allure wins this. So much to do at all hours of the day and night. The ship was alive well past 12:30 am every night. People always hanging out in promenade dancing, drinkning, singing…it was a fun place to hang out. Its obvious that the budget here is large as the entertainment was talented and the activities were plentiful.

 

Food – Celebrity hands down wins here. The buffet and MTD were great on X and never had an issue. Subjective is the word here but we vote X.

 

Service – Celebrity here too. RCCL has great service but not on this cruise. Hopefully it was a fluke

 

Weather was great all week except one day.

 

That is all. Any questions, please ask.

[dani negreanu]

Thanks for taking the time to review. For me it was very helpful, I was a bit worried about the 6200 pax :confused:

I think that the food on X, buffet and MDR, is better. That makes at least 2 of us :)

[garycarla]

Awesome, balanced, non emotional review. Thanks so much for sharing.

 

This is one of those reviews that you hope corporate reads and shares.

 

Personally, we spend a fair amount of money at bars around the ship and playing in the casino. Based on some comments made here, we may be saving some money this time around. We will see.

 

Thanks again for a well written review.

[rbschultz]

I'll be on Allure in December, thanks for the review. I've been on Oasis twice and on 12 Royal cruises, and have never experienced the poor quality of food or service you did (minus one specific restaurant on Quantum in February). As for ports, we also find Nassau to be one of the least if not least enjoyable port of call. Generally we will go to Atlantis or just stay on the boat. We also love St. Thomas and St. Maarten. St. Maarten wasn't part of our Quantum cruise itinerary, so we are excited to be going back and spending the day at Orient beach. I hope by December the crew can slap some smiles on their faces and show us a great time during vacation.

[PACrew]

Yeh, crowds were really not an issue. Sure, there is a line when getting on the ship and hour before departure but it moved quick. SUre the windjammer is busy on embarkation but what ship is it not. The ship is laid out so well. The touch screens were a great idea too.

 

Again, I hope some of my bad experiences were just my luck. There were some great people on board and we mentioned them in our survey.

 

Would I still cruise Royal, yes....in fact we are looking at a southern Caribbean for next year on the jewel.

 

Would I cruise on an Oasis class again - yes...but probably not until harmony or number 4 comes out.

 

That being said, dont let my review and bad experience deter you. We still had an awesome time and you will too!

[PACrew]

I'll be on Allure in December, thanks for the review. I've been on Oasis twice and on 12 Royal cruises, and have never experienced the poor quality of food or service you did (minus one specific restaurant on Quantum in February). As for ports, we also find Nassau to be one of the least if not least enjoyable port of call. Generally we will go to Atlantis or just stay on the boat. We also love St. Thomas and St. Maarten. St. Maarten wasn't part of our Quantum cruise itinerary, so we are excited to be going back and spending the day at Orient beach. I hope by December the crew can slap some smiles on their faces and show us a great time during vacation.

 

RBS, you will be fine. We never had a food or service issue either on prior RCCL cruise.. When we talked to the head waiter about the experience, he said typically it is the section manager who is not paying attention to the servers and over seating them. This was def the case. The waiters were overworked so I really dont blame them at all. Management issue as always

 

Orient was awesome. We had chairs at Sea Clubber. Great service and location. Best beach!

[rbschultz]

RBS, you will be fine. We never had a food or service issue either on prior RCCL cruise.. When we talked to the head waiter about the experience, he said typically it is the section manager who is not paying attention to the servers and over seating them. This was def the case. The waiters were overworked so I really dont blame them at all. Management issue as always

 

Orient was awesome. We had chairs at Sea Clubber. Great service and location. Best beach!

 

I love it there! Good lunch (get the fish!), free loungers, plenty of (paid) activities, great waves, and good sun.

 

Edit: I'm also very excited about Harmony. Mostly for the waterslides which look amazing.

Edited April 7, 2015 by rbschultz

[Lovincruisin1321]

Great review! I will be on the Allure for my first time in February. Celebrity has been slowly winning me over.

[PACrew]

All cruise lines are different. I feel RCCL and Allure really focus on entertainment and activities and it showed. Their programs were great and the talent was awesome! I feel Celebrity focuses on its culinary experience...they have said so much in press and media events. Bottom line, you cannot go wrong with either line.

 

RBS, we were at the Sun Beach Clubber in Orient. It was great!

[gr82cu2]

Thanks for taking the time to write your review. We'll be on Allure in only 12 more days for the TA to Barcelona. In the back of my mind I've wondered if service might suffer with the crew being worn out and the ship going to dry dock. And on our cruise we have 10 nights, 9 days in a row at sea so they won't get much of a break from the passengers. She won't be out of service for long but I wonder if they are replacing the majority of the crew which would contribute possibly to some bad attitudes.

 

We selected MTD for this cruise too. Generally we have liked it in the past and didn't feel like the service suffered. As a matter of fact, the hostess (on Explorer) got to know us when we walked up and tried to seat us with the same waiters each night. I guess that can be good or bad, LOL! Luckily, on Allure there are plenty of other dining choices included if we aren't happy in the main dining room.

 

I was one who said I would never sail on one of those huge ships but here we are, about to do it and I can't wait! The more I learn and read reviews the more excited I get so thank you again.

[RCI Cruisers 004]

Thanks for the review ! We are on her this Sunday for the Eastern itinerary also. Hope the crews attitude improves !

[garycarla]

...And on our cruise we have 10 nights, 9 days in a row at sea so they won't get much of a break from the passengers. She won't be out of service for long but I wonder if they are replacing the majority of the crew which would contribute possibly to some bad attitudes..,.

 

Though they "might" have a higher than normal turnover due the drydock, I would see no other reason to "replace the majority of the crew". That would be a major headache to bring in new people, train, etc. and then send the others somewhere else.

 

By the way, we are also on the TA (see below) and are a bit concerned with some of the issues. As long as they don't spit in my drink, I will be fine.

 

LOL!

Edited April 8, 2015 by garycarla

[riclop]

Thanks for your review.

[Jackamama]

Thanks for your balanced review.

 

We will be sailing on Allure for the first time in June. It's our first time on Oasis class and it helps to read reviews such as yours. Can't wait to experience it for ourselves! :)

[PACrew]

I wouldnt worry about it. It was just our experience. With 2k crew members, there are bound to be some people that arent on their best. My recommendation, hit the bartenders around the pool, expecially the sand bar on the starboard side. Those guys were great.

 

We were talking to our head waiter and as of last week, there were only 4k pass on the transatlantic so you should have some more room.

 

Have a great time!