Allure of the Seas Review 7/2/17-7/9/17

[samb413]

So I'll start by saying I had a fantastic time aboard Allure of the Seas with my family. This was our third cruise, all were with Royal. We have previously sailed on Liberty of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas.

 

I sailed with my parents, siblings, boyfriend, aunt&uncle and cousin, so we had a nice size group. We all arrived in Ft. Lauderdale 1-3 days prior to the cruise. My family stayed at the Pelican Grand Beach Resort. Rooms were VERY spacious. Two King size beds and a separate sitting room with a couch/TV. We had a large shared balcony with other vacationers on floor two overlooking the ocean (Rooms on floor 2 and up had small, private balconies). Resort was somewhat dated but was renovated. We had two rooms and neither of the rooms had the updated decor that was featured in pictures on website (not a big deal). My only complaint is that the room lacked proper lighting, felt like I was showering in the dark:eek:. Beach was very nice. Pool was on the small side but it was fine. Lazy river was also smaller than anticipated but was a nice feature. Food was overpriced and just mediocre. We went to Aruba Beach Cafe in Ft. Lauderdale for dinner, food and drink was good.

 

Allure:

Ship is MASSIVE!! I don't think we will ever sail below Oasis class again! It truly is amazing! We had rooms ranging from an inside cabin to grand suite. My room was 12329--- balcony overlooking the boardwalk and aquatheater. LOVED my room. These rooms are highly sought after and often need to be booked a year in advance. They are a prime location because they overlook the aquatheater where shows are, but you also get an aft ocean view. Room was rocky on night one, but that was due to a storm. Other than that, we loved the room. It was about $200 cheaper than my parents ocean view balcony room and they had wished they booked a room like ours after seeing ours. I highly recommend booking a room like this. Only negative is that it is a longer walk to the lobby/elevator due to its location-- but it was well worth it. Bed was positioned in back of room, nearest to the balcony...which made the room seem very spacious.

 

Labadee, Haiti:

We were lucky enough to get a hilltop cabana to enjoy the day. It was AMAZING. I highly recommend booking one if you get the chance. We had to walk a short distance from the cabana to the steps in order to reach the water but it was okay. Steps are steep. We shared the stairs with two other cabanas but never saw the other guests really. Water was beautiful. We were at Labadee on our first cruise and this experience far surpassed our initial experience on Labadee. It was beautiful and relaxing.

 

My boyfriend and I did the zipline and I'm glad we did! It was a once in a lifetime experience. Very fun. We also did the aquapark with my cousin. It was fun but was a lot of work physically. A few of us got "rug-burn" when sliding down the slides that I guess were not wet enough. It was not pleasant. But we had a great time and laughed hysterically as we struggled to climb up the slides.

 

The BBQ lunch was very good. It was somewhat of a long wait to get our food but we had no complaints about the food itself. Hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken, ribs, shrimp, scallops, rice, fresh fruit, cookies.

 

Falmouth, Jamaica:

After extensive research we booked a private tour with Peat Taylor tours. We booked the "Cool blue hole, dunn's river falls and river tubing" excursion. It was an all day excursion. The ship arrived into port 60-90minutes late bc we had to stop to help a vessel in distress overnight. Unfortunately this put a damper on our already very busy day. I felt somewhat rushed during the entire excursion due to the amount of stops we had to make and how we now had 90 min less time to get everything done. From the ship to cool blue hole it took almost 2 hours to reach :(:(. This was the farthest location and so the guide wanted to go there first. There was a lot of traffic that day and three ships were in port so each stop was very crowded.:( $100 pp, $95 per child (big discount huh:'))

 

Cool Blue Hole: Was a neat, fresh water hole...considered by many to be a "hidden gem" in Jamaica. It was crowded due to the number of ships in port. It was somewhat strenuous in nature. WEAR WATER SHOES. It was a little dangerous as you are climbing rocks that are slippery and have water flowing down them. Guide was phenomenal. He made sure to guide us all to safety, hold our hands when needed and direct us how to walk/which way to walk. We jumped from various heights into the water below. There is also a rope swing where you can swing into the water. This was cut short for us because we needed to get to the next location.

 

River Tubing: This was a great experience! You carry your own tube to the river down below. A group of about 30-35 people travel down the river with you, as 5-6 guides tube with you. The guides are there to make sure everyone travels together and remains safe during the ride. They will give you an extra boost if you are straggling behind or make sure you don't hit the river bank/trees/rocks. They were VERY GOOD at keeping an eye on everyone and swooping in to make sure everyone was safe. EVERYONE in my group enjoyed this excursion. It was exhilarating and relaxing at the same time.

 

Dunn's River Falls: I did this when I was in elementary school but didn't remember much of it. It was strenuous. All but 2 of my group climbed to the top. Guide was very good in watching the entire group and making sure we were safe throughout the climb. It was difficult and scary at times but I'm glad we did it. It was a great experience. Guide was excellent with my 8y/o cousin and making sure she was safe throughout the climb. If you ever felt that you needed to stop you could exit at any time to the stairs on the left.

 

My only complaint about this private excursion is that they did not provide any food/lunch break. They had beer/water/soda available for sale but that is it. It was an ALL DAY excursion that was very adventurous in nature. I feel that they should have offered food/snack due to the length of the excursion and price. They wanted to stop for dinner at the end of the trip (7 hrs into the excursion).

 

Cozumel, Mexico: We booked a private excursion through Mystic Snorkeling. Cuchi was our snorkel guide and he was fantastic. The boat captain was also great--- I forget his name at the moment. They provided life jackets, snorkel masks and flippers. We went to three different locations and had ample time at each. Cuchi gave us options and let us decide where we wanted to go due to choppy seas. There were plenty of fish to sea! He was great with spotting them and calling us over to see. He also took many pictures with his underwater camera and sent us the pictures a day or two later. Pictures were GREAT. They provided beer, water, soda and fresh fruit for us to enjoy. I would highly recommend this excursion. It was $60 pp I believe.

 

 

Again the ship was magnificent. We loved the boardwalk, central park and extra food options available on Allure. Boardwalk hotdogs were surprisingly really good!! Central park cafe was a nice breakfast/snack spot. There were many "hidden gems" on this ship in terms of food options. Plenty of options you could dine at that many others did not even know about (for breakfast and lunch). Windjammer was very good. We did MTD at American Icon but visited the windjammer for a light snack during dinner hours on two nights. I was very surprised at the food selections. Cheese spread was amazing.

 

Service was top notch all the way around, as always.

 

The only thing I felt was missing from this ship was some of the smaller game shows. Unless I missed them, I did enjoy that on Liberty and didn't see it too much here on Allure. I saw a "Dancing with the Stripes" show on Liberty where guests paired up with crew members and danced in a "dancing with the stars" style competition. Do they still do this show? It was probably the best show I have ever seen and I only saw it that one time. Maybe bc it's a bigger ship but I don't feel that I got to know the activities staff as I did on the other ships. Mitch was cruise director was good, but Dru was by far the best (had him on liberty).

 

Overall we had a great time!! Any questions, please just ask!

[UK Fan]

Sounds like you had a great time!

[jpolm]

We were on this same cruise. I started my review but haven't had time to finish. We did blue hole with marvyns paradise tours and we got there before or after crowds because it was not busy at all. We also did the river tubing and it was just our family on the river. All was great. As well as they took us to scotchies.

 

We were on oasis 4 years ago so we kind of knew what to expect. Did u see love and marriage or quest or battle of the sexes they had these shows on different nights and seriously funny.

 

Glad you enjoyed you are now spoiled!![emoji12]

 

 

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[jpolm]

Btw we never ate at wj. Dh tried was so busy he said no not again. I wished we did but park cafe was our go to for quick breakfast.

 

 

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[easyboy]

Thanks for your feedback.

[Clarea]

Excellent report, thanks.

[Tralynn222]

Can you tell me what nights the formal nights were?

[jpolm]

Can you tell me what nights the formal nights were?

 

 

 

Day 2 and day 5

 

 

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[Dremac373]

Awesome review, thanks for sharing