Allure of the Seas in Europe

[Catperson]

I am thinking of booking a cruise in Europe on the Allure of the Seas.  I would like some opinions please from past cruisers who have cruised Europe on Allure or comparable or the smaller ships, Jewel or Rhapsody...which did you prefer?  Having so many more passengers on the larger ship, how did you find embarking and debarking the ship?  Was it more crazy in the ports with so many more passengers?

[taglovestocruise]

We have done the med on Mariner and Brilliance.  Have Allure booked for a B2B in Oct 2020.  Small ships are nice but we love the mega ships. Crowds on Oasis, Allure and Symphony have been almost non existent at times. Choose a smaller ship if you are really looking for a port intensive cruise and need to hit the sack at 9pm.  We sail mostly for the ship so Allure is our choice, we will be doing short excursions and enjoying the ship late into the night.The second leg will be the TA back to FLL. Oasis class is all about the ship not the ports.  happy cruising

[Ashland]

We've done the Med on Liberty and most recently on Vision.....I for one missed the bigger ship.

[little britain]

Allure is very port intensive.

i have just got off Oasis (same itinerary) and feel I have barely visited all the venues on board. Too much going on on the ship vs need for very early starts in ports.

[grapau27]

7 hours ago, Catperson said:

I am thinking of booking a cruise in Europe on the Allure of the Seas.  I would like some opinions please from past cruisers who have cruised Europe on Allure or comparable or the smaller ships, Jewel or Rhapsody...which did you prefer?  Having so many more passengers on the larger ship, how did you find embarking and debarking the ship?  Was it more crazy in the ports with so many more passengers?

Usually the major queues are at Tender Ports and because of Allures size they always dock at ports capable of docking her so usually not a major problem.

We have sailed Allure once and Harmony 3 times around Europe and are back on Allure next year and the facilities especially

Central Park and Boardwalk make it a must do ship.

We never thought Allure or Harmony felt crowded and they feel exceptionally stable.

[FionaMG]

If you can swing it in terms of holiday time and budget, doing a B2B, like @taglovestocruise is doing is a great idea. We were on Harmony for the inaugural season in the Med and met two couples at the Meet & Mingle who were doing a b2b. Their philosophy was that, since the ship repeats the same ports every week, this would let them enjoy half of the ports one week and the other half the other, while enjoying a nice quiet ship on the days they stayed on board, making for an altogether much more relaxing trip.