Allure OTS Review (May 14 Sailing) - First Timer for RCL and for a megaship

[Tippyton]

Background - 1x HAL (Mexican Riviera), 1X Princess (Alaska), 2x NCL (Alaska and Western Caribbean), 8?x CCL.  Self, DW, 2X adult DD (21/24), MIL/FIL.  At this point we look at itineraries first and price, not necessarily line or ship. In no particular order...

 

Itinerary - only Costa Maya was new for us.  They cut the port time short before the cruise, so all board was 12:30 PM.  Our excursion had been cancelled due to this, so we walked (squeezed?) around the base port for an hour or so.  Like our short stop last year in Ketchikan on NCL - a completely worthless stop,  We did not venture out of the "trap".  On Cozumel we rented a jeep and drove around the island, stopping at a few bars and the Punta Sur preserve.    In Roatan (our 4th visit) we did the Jolly Roger tour through the ship.  We ended up in the water for about 45 minutes.  The catamaran was not near as well appointed as one we took in Barbados in 2019 (CCL trip), and the overall excursion was....boring.  Considering the price, I would go private tour again all day long.  A huge disappointment.

 

Ship - the ship was nice.  We did not feel it was difficult to get around or navigate as some ships seem to be.  The decor was more modern and lacked the kitchy (sp?) look many other ships.  It seemed more like a destination resort a la Gaylord Texan than a cruise ship, and there was plenty to do.  The downside was that with >6000 PAX, it is crowded.  In some cases (e.g. karaoke) a large crowd is more fun. Otherwise it was difficult to find a quiet spot outside of your room.  At the end of the day, I don't really know how I feel about that size of a ship.  I did love the 5th deck walking track going all around the ship - I love that feature on some of the older boats. 

 

Entertainment - We did Mama Mia and the Aqua show - both were probably the best shows we've seen on a cruise ship.  The music groups on the ship were all very good.  There was a group (5-piece band with a female singer) that played in Razzles and on the promenade and they were really good..  We also sat in on (also Razzles) a 9-piece jazz/swing band that played some old tunes from the early 20th century and on.  Very entertaining to listen to - I could have sat there if they played all night.  We went to the booking desk as soon as we got on the ship and reserved the two shows that were "no availability" pre cruise.  As mentioned above, if there is an activity you want to attend (karaoke, trivia, game shows, etc.) - best get there plenty early.

 

Room - we were on Deck 14 aft in a inside balcony.  Never really felt the ocean because we basically had flat seas the whole trip.  Again - the experience was more like a destination resort than a cruise ship  The rooms were decently sized and appointed well.  Beds were very comfortable if you like firm beds,  Our A/C worked fine - nice and cool if you kept the room shut up.  One of these days it would be nice to have the lines put light switches and plugs by the beds.  Oh well.  One minor complaint is that the towels were the thin, small white prison-grade towels.  Really?  The room was fairly well insulated from noise from the hallways or from the plaza - surprisingly so.

 

Dining/Food - Windjammer was average at best.  Aside from the 1st day, they did not have a lunch carving station.  The main entrees seemed bland and uninspired, and the variety lacked IMO.  We did my time dining for dinner.  Pre-cruise we could only get 8:30 PM (not knowing the new drill) but we went to the dining room right after we booked the shows and they had a 6:45 opening for 6.  Perfect!.  I don't like RCLs version of MTD.  Either you have a set time to eat or you don't.  On other lines you queue up for dinner on a FCFS basis or you have a set time to eat - but we were fortunate to get a good time and never had to wait on our table.  The managers do a phenomenal job juggling those who have reservation vs those showing up.  I think everybody gets seated fairly quickly from what I could tell.  We did find out if you have a set time and don't show up twice in a row they open your table up.  As it should be.  We did do breakfasts either in the MDR or Windjammer.  Both were fine options.  Did one day at Johnny Rockets for breakfast - food was cold and meh at best.  Did eat one day at the Mexican restaurant by the sports courts.  I did not like it- really and I eat anything - flavors were either off or bland.  The salsa was a pre-packaged poor-mans imitation of Pace.  I thought the dinners overall in the MDR were very good.  All of our meals came out hot, well-seasoned, and the vegetables were always cooked perfectly.  The desserts were pretty good too.  The only off day was Italian night.  Some in our party had lasagna and it had a weird flavor profile, and the noodles were more like pasty dumpling dough than a cooked noodle.  Very off-putting TBH.  The sole was over cooked per one on our party, and my Chicken Parmesan lacked in the parmesan department.  It was not what I expected but I did eat it and it tasted good.  My one real complaint in the food department...the salad dressings were horrible with one exception.  The dressing on the Greek tapas on Med night was good.  All of the other "home-made" dressings did not taste very good, and the others were the worst versions of what they pretended to be.  Think YMCA camp as a kid.  The vinaigrette was sweet and fake, the bleu cheese was bad, the ranch tasted cheap, and the Caesar was equally bad.  Good dressings, made fresh, are very easy and inexpensive and also can be readily done in bulk.  Come on RCL.

 

People/Clientele - OK, let the controversy start.  We really don't pay attention much, so there's that.  There were ~ 6200 PAX @ 98% capacity, and roughly 1000 children (per staff).  Did not see really untoward or out-of-bounds behavior, not did we really see any obnoxious, loud drunks.  By and large, a pretty normal crowd (remember - destination resort feel vs. booze cruise).  Discussed this with DW on the way home - I think the size plays into this positively. [Volume drowns out the anomolies?].  Retirees, families, mixed single/married groups, families.  all good.  As for the kids, really did not see any obnoxious kids standing out or running amok - they were all pretty well behaved. [Same getting lost in the masses phenomenon?]

 

Misc. - the app was ok, except the chat feature worked only part of the time.  I had the internet package and that worked ok for web surfing, emails, and even some streaming like YT.  Getting on the boat was quick, and getting off the boat was quick too (we self-disembarked).  Although thee were a lot of people (have to have the "when in Rome" attitude towards this), did you rarely feel completely packed.  In fact, I've never seen it easier to get on or off at any port than this.  No backlogs, lines, or people pushed up against one another.  Just another piece of the overall layout that was I think intentional to manage 6000 PAX.

 

I'm sure I forgot a few things.  Any questions I will try to help.  Bottom line - no reason not to cruise RCL in the future, and no good reason not to sail on a mega ship either.

 

EDIT - the Solarium is a nice space too.

Edited May 22, 2023 by Tippyton
Forgot something

[Deep68]

Thank-You for your review.

I have been contemplating taking this cruise in September for my wedding anniversary. 
There are not many options for the data of our anniversary and I am struggling to determine if an interior facing balcony on such a large ship is for us. There are no ocean view balconies available.

The price is right and I like the idea of all the things to do but am used to smaller (up to 3K) ships.

I too am looking at a room on 14th floor and was worried about any noise.

 

I have taken around 20 cruises primarily on HAL, Celebrity and Norwegian but did take 2 RCL cruises on smaller ships many years ago.

 

 

[Tippyton]

30 minutes ago, Deep68 said:

Thank-You for your review.

I have been contemplating taking this cruise in September for my wedding anniversary. 
There are not many options for the data of our anniversary and I am struggling to determine if an interior facing balcony on such a large ship is for us. There are no ocean view balconies available.

The price is right and I like the idea of all the things to do but am used to smaller (up to 3K) ships.

I too am looking at a room on 14th floor and was worried about any noise.

 

I have taken around 20 cruises primarily on HAL, Celebrity and Norwegian but did take 2 RCL cruises on smaller ships many years ago.

 

 

We were on 14 aft, interior balcony.  We could see out of the back of the ship FWIW.  Noise was not an issue.

[gluecksbaer]

Possibly not something you cared to look into, but my 12 year old wants to know if there is laser tag on the Allure?

[Tippyton]

9 hours ago, gluecksbaer said:

Possibly not something you cared to look into, but my 12 year old wants to know if there is laser tag on the Allure?

Didn't see any.  

[gluecksbaer]

Thanks!

[BecciBoo]

Thanks for your opinion.

 

Otherwise it was difficult to find a quiet spot outside of your room.  

 

In over 10 sisters cruises (Oasis class)  we have never failed to find plenty of spots to be alone, you just have to look for them.  And we have never felt crowded at all, maybe a little when shows let out and everyone rushes the elevators, but that happens on all ships.  There are tricks and tips to help with that I won't mention here.  Over all we prefer this class and will be on Allure for our 4th trip in Sept.  I suggest you do one again and be more investigative.

 

prison-grade towels.  We've never experienced this on any RCCL ship...did you take it up with your steward?

Edited May 23, 2023 by BecciBoo

[BecciBoo]

On 5/21/2023 at 9:33 PM, Deep68 said:

Thank-You for your review.

I have been contemplating taking this cruise in September for my wedding anniversary. 
There are not many options for the data of our anniversary and I am struggling to determine if an interior facing balcony on such a large ship is for us. There are no ocean view balconies available.

The price is right and I like the idea of all the things to do but am used to smaller (up to 3K) ships.

I too am looking at a room on 14th floor and was worried about any noise.

 

I have taken around 20 cruises primarily on HAL, Celebrity and Norwegian but did take 2 RCL cruises on smaller ships many years ago.

 

 

You might watch this You Tube video of Jeffrey's Central Park balcony which he loved...lovely ensemble music in the evenings even though no sea view and being right across from another cabin, didn't seem to bother him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDIaLhqE-ZA

Cabin is at 12:15

He has a whole series on Allure, very detailed.

 

Edited May 23, 2023 by BecciBoo

[jwlane]

On 5/21/2023 at 8:54 PM, Tippyton said:

In Roatan (our 4th visit) we did the Jolly Roger tour through the ship.  We ended up in the water for about 45 minutes.  The catamaran was not near as well appointed as one we took in Barbados in 2019 (CCL trip), and the overall excursion was....boring.  Considering the price, I would go private tour again all day long.  A huge disappointment.

Thanks for this---we 86ed it from our June 4 sailing based on this info.

[shof515]

On 5/21/2023 at 11:07 PM, gluecksbaer said:

Possibly not something you cared to look into, but my 12 year old wants to know if there is laser tag on the Allure?

i just got off the Oasis which is Allure sister ship, laser tag is in studio b 

[Tippyton]

49 minutes ago, jwlane said:

Thanks for this---we 86ed it from our June 4 sailing based on this info.

This time my choice was to DIY to West End and West Bay Beach but alas, I was not successful.

 

In the past we have done private tours through Victor Bodden and have had great success.  Doing a private tour you get to choose what you want to do and have a driver for the whole day.  We even stopped at a local bodega for coffee.  Highly recommend going that route.

[topnole]

On 5/21/2023 at 11:07 PM, gluecksbaer said:

Possibly not something you cared to look into, but my 12 year old wants to know if there is laser tag on the Allure?

I don’t think allure has it.  If it did, we missed it.  The other oasis class have it.  Allure has not been amped like oasis.  

[jwlane]

5 hours ago, Tippyton said:

private tours through Victor Bodden 

We used them many years ago (15+, son got bit by a monkey at an iguana farm---had to get rabies shots when we returned!) but booked thru Shore Excursions Group this time.

[Tippyton]

11 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

Thanks for your opinion.

 

Otherwise it was difficult to find a quiet spot outside of your room.  

 

In over 10 sisters cruises (Oasis class)  we have never failed to find plenty of spots to be alone, you just have to look for them.  And we have never felt crowded at all, maybe a little when shows let out and everyone rushes the elevators, but that happens on all ships.  There are tricks and tips to help with that I won't mention here.  Over all we prefer this class and will be on Allure for our 4th trip in Sept.  I suggest you do one again and be more investigative.

 

prison-grade towels.  We've never experienced this on any RCCL ship...did you take it up with your steward?

Maybe I miscommunicated.  I stated something like "when in Rome".  Perhaps I should have been more clear and direct, such as:

 

"This is a boat with 6000+ passengers.  There are lots of people.  Everywhere.  Library - Full.  Room with board games - Full.  Pool Area - Full ++.  Sorrentos - Full.  Cafe - Full. Ad nauseum.  However, I understand that there are 6000 passengers so I will roll with it and enjoy the vibe that a crowd creates, and perhaps find a spare chair or table somewhere and enjoy myself people-watching, reading, or staring at the ocean." 

 

Which is exactly what I did.

 

As for the towels, I was not looking for 4 Seasons towels, but I think RCL can do better.  The room steward has nothing to do with it as it was not unique to the room.  My comment was merely an observation, not an opportunity missed to be a pompous a** - I was on vacation and I rolled with all of it.

[dogsdogs]

I really like the Allure--was on it three times last year--but I never saw one towel that WASN'T prison-grade.  They really could do better!  Thanks for your review.

[BecciBoo]

11 hours ago, Tippyton said:

Maybe I miscommunicated.  I stated something like "when in Rome".  Perhaps I should have been more clear and direct, such as:

 

"This is a boat with 6000+ passengers.  There are lots of people.  Everywhere.  Library - Full.  Room with board games - Full.  Pool Area - Full ++.  Sorrentos - Full.  Cafe - Full. Ad nauseum.  However, I understand that there are 6000 passengers so I will roll with it and enjoy the vibe that a crowd creates, and perhaps find a spare chair or table somewhere and enjoy myself people-watching, reading, or staring at the ocean." 

 

Which is exactly what I did.

 

As for the towels, I was not looking for 4 Seasons towels, but I think RCL can do better.  The room steward has nothing to do with it as it was not unique to the room.  My comment was merely an observation, not an opportunity missed to be a pompous a** - I was on vacation and I rolled with all of it.

Wasn't being critical, just relaying MY experience.  We have never noticed Full anywhere but the theater. Our towels have always been fluffy and thick...that's all I can say.  What I meant about the steward is that  you can ask the steward for newer towels.  Nor did I imply you were a pompous anything.

Edited May 24, 2023 by BecciBoo

[gluecksbaer]

On 5/23/2023 at 10:04 AM, topnole said:

I don’t think allure has it.  If it did, we missed it.  The other oasis class have it.  Allure has not been amped like oasis.  

Thanks.  I was suspecting that since I haven't seen references to it on Allure.  I thought I would ask to set appropriate expectations early.

[topnole]

23 hours ago, dogsdogs said:

I really like the Allure--was on it three times last year--but I never saw one towel that WASN'T prison-grade.  They really could do better!  Thanks for your review.

I honestly don’t know what a prison grade towel looks or feels like, and I hope I never do.  😂

[topnole]

34 minutes ago, gluecksbaer said:

Thanks.  I was suspecting that since I haven't seen references to it on Allure.  I thought I would ask to set appropriate expectations early.

On Allure, the fun stuff for a 12 year old might be the zip line (if they are big enough), the rock climbing wall, and the flow rider.  Of course, the pools and just the ship itself should be really cool for a 12 year old too.  At 12, they may or may not be interested in kids club.  Don’t miss the aqua show.  Kids love it.   

[gluecksbaer]

1 minute ago, topnole said:

On Allure, the fun stuff for a 12 year old might be the zip line (if they are big enough), the rock climbing wall, and the flow rider.  Of course, the pools and just the ship itself should be really cool for a 12 year old too.  At 12, they may or may not be interested in kids club.  Don’t miss the aqua show.  Kids love it.   

From everything else I've read, 12 year olds on Allure are in the teen club, but we'll see with that.  One of my 12 year olds is very interested in the zipline and the climbing wall (the smaller one, of course, but she just hit 75lbs so she's good to go).  My less daring child was the one hoping for laser tag.  I'm sure he'll find plenty of fun things to do though.

[notscb]

On 5/23/2023 at 9:12 AM, BecciBoo said:

you just have to look for them. 

 

This sounds a bit cryptic- care to share where you find these spots for those of us who read that line in the review and did a double take about booking an oasis class?

[Engineroom Snipe]

On 5/21/2023 at 9:54 PM, Tippyton said:

Background - 1x HAL (Mexican Riviera), 1X Princess (Alaska), 2x NCL (Alaska and Western Caribbean), 8?x CCL.  Self, DW, 2X adult DD (21/24), MIL/FIL.  At this point we look at itineraries first and price, not necessarily line or ship. In no particular order...

 

Itinerary - only Costa Maya was new for us.  They cut the port time short before the cruise, so all board was 12:30 PM.  Our excursion had been cancelled due to this, so we walked (squeezed?) around the base port for an hour or so.  Like our short stop last year in Ketchikan on NCL - a completely worthless stop,  We did not venture out of the "trap".  On Cozumel we rented a jeep and drove around the island, stopping at a few bars and the Punta Sur preserve.    In Roatan (our 4th visit) we did the Jolly Roger tour through the ship.  We ended up in the water for about 45 minutes.  The catamaran was not near as well appointed as one we took in Barbados in 2019 (CCL trip), and the overall excursion was....boring.  Considering the price, I would go private tour again all day long.  A huge disappointment.

 

Ship - the ship was nice.  We did not feel it was difficult to get around or navigate as some ships seem to be.  The decor was more modern and lacked the kitchy (sp?) look many other ships.  It seemed more like a destination resort a la Gaylord Texan than a cruise ship, and there was plenty to do.  The downside was that with >6000 PAX, it is crowded.  In some cases (e.g. karaoke) a large crowd is more fun. Otherwise it was difficult to find a quiet spot outside of your room.  At the end of the day, I don't really know how I feel about that size of a ship.  I did love the 5th deck walking track going all around the ship - I love that feature on some of the older boats. 

 

Entertainment - We did Mama Mia and the Aqua show - both were probably the best shows we've seen on a cruise ship.  The music groups on the ship were all very good.  There was a group (5-piece band with a female singer) that played in Razzles and on the promenade and they were really good..  We also sat in on (also Razzles) a 9-piece jazz/swing band that played some old tunes from the early 20th century and on.  Very entertaining to listen to - I could have sat there if they played all night.  We went to the booking desk as soon as we got on the ship and reserved the two shows that were "no availability" pre cruise.  As mentioned above, if there is an activity you want to attend (karaoke, trivia, game shows, etc.) - best get there plenty early.

 

Room - we were on Deck 14 aft in a inside balcony.  Never really felt the ocean because we basically had flat seas the whole trip.  Again - the experience was more like a destination resort than a cruise ship  The rooms were decently sized and appointed well.  Beds were very comfortable if you like firm beds,  Our A/C worked fine - nice and cool if you kept the room shut up.  One of these days it would be nice to have the lines put light switches and plugs by the beds.  Oh well.  One minor complaint is that the towels were the thin, small white prison-grade towels.  Really?  The room was fairly well insulated from noise from the hallways or from the plaza - surprisingly so.

 

Dining/Food - Windjammer was average at best.  Aside from the 1st day, they did not have a lunch carving station.  The main entrees seemed bland and uninspired, and the variety lacked IMO.  We did my time dining for dinner.  Pre-cruise we could only get 8:30 PM (not knowing the new drill) but we went to the dining room right after we booked the shows and they had a 6:45 opening for 6.  Perfect!.  I don't like RCLs version of MTD.  Either you have a set time to eat or you don't.  On other lines you queue up for dinner on a FCFS basis or you have a set time to eat - but we were fortunate to get a good time and never had to wait on our table.  The managers do a phenomenal job juggling those who have reservation vs those showing up.  I think everybody gets seated fairly quickly from what I could tell.  We did find out if you have a set time and don't show up twice in a row they open your table up.  As it should be.  We did do breakfasts either in the MDR or Windjammer.  Both were fine options.  Did one day at Johnny Rockets for breakfast - food was cold and meh at best.  Did eat one day at the Mexican restaurant by the sports courts.  I did not like it- really and I eat anything - flavors were either off or bland.  The salsa was a pre-packaged poor-mans imitation of Pace.  I thought the dinners overall in the MDR were very good.  All of our meals came out hot, well-seasoned, and the vegetables were always cooked perfectly.  The desserts were pretty good too.  The only off day was Italian night.  Some in our party had lasagna and it had a weird flavor profile, and the noodles were more like pasty dumpling dough than a cooked noodle.  Very off-putting TBH.  The sole was over cooked per one on our party, and my Chicken Parmesan lacked in the parmesan department.  It was not what I expected but I did eat it and it tasted good.  My one real complaint in the food department...the salad dressings were horrible with one exception.  The dressing on the Greek tapas on Med night was good.  All of the other "home-made" dressings did not taste very good, and the others were the worst versions of what they pretended to be.  Think YMCA camp as a kid.  The vinaigrette was sweet and fake, the bleu cheese was bad, the ranch tasted cheap, and the Caesar was equally bad.  Good dressings, made fresh, are very easy and inexpensive and also can be readily done in bulk.  Come on RCL.

 

People/Clientele - OK, let the controversy start.  We really don't pay attention much, so there's that.  There were ~ 6200 PAX @ 98% capacity, and roughly 1000 children (per staff).  Did not see really untoward or out-of-bounds behavior, not did we really see any obnoxious, loud drunks.  By and large, a pretty normal crowd (remember - destination resort feel vs. booze cruise).  Discussed this with DW on the way home - I think the size plays into this positively. [Volume drowns out the anomolies?].  Retirees, families, mixed single/married groups, families.  all good.  As for the kids, really did not see any obnoxious kids standing out or running amok - they were all pretty well behaved. [Same getting lost in the masses phenomenon?]

 

Misc. - the app was ok, except the chat feature worked only part of the time.  I had the internet package and that worked ok for web surfing, emails, and even some streaming like YT.  Getting on the boat was quick, and getting off the boat was quick too (we self-disembarked).  Although thee were a lot of people (have to have the "when in Rome" attitude towards this), did you rarely feel completely packed.  In fact, I've never seen it easier to get on or off at any port than this.  No backlogs, lines, or people pushed up against one another.  Just another piece of the overall layout that was I think intentional to manage 6000 PAX.

 

I'm sure I forgot a few things.  Any questions I will try to help.  Bottom line - no reason not to cruise RCL in the future, and no good reason not to sail on a mega ship either.

 

EDIT - the Solarium is a nice space too.

Thank you for your time to share you opinion with us.

 

You were descriptive about your experiences. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

 

Your last words were no reason to cruise RCL in the future..

 

Thank you for posting. This is really what Cruise Critic is really about,

 

 

[BecciBoo]

15 minutes ago, notscb said:

cryptic????

There are little nooks all over the ship, it would take forever to share all of them, behind the Aqua Theater for instance or the jogging track, several there along with great teak steamers to sit in....

[Tippyton]

13 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

Wasn't being critical, just relaying MY experience.  We have never noticed Full anywhere but the theater. Our towels have always been fluffy and thick...that's all I can say.  What I meant about the steward is that  you can ask the steward for newer towels.  Nor did I imply you were a pompous anything.

Fair enough.  Apology accepted.😁

[Tippyton]

10 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

Thank you for your time to share you opinion with us.

 

You were descriptive about your experiences. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

 

Your last words were no reason to cruise RCL in the future..

 

Thank you for posting. This is really what Cruise Critic is really about,

 

 

You are welcome!  (Somebody missed a "not" 😆😁)

 

"I'm sure I forgot a few things.  Any questions I will try to help.  Bottom line - no reason not to cruise RCL in the future, and no good reason not to sail on a mega ship either."