Our 25 Jan. 2015 cruise on Allure of the Seas was immediately followed by a family cruise on Disney Magic, departing on 1 February, so this provides an excellent opportunity to compare and contrast. First and foremost it is safe to say that the product offered by Disney is not the same as that offered by RCL and in my opinion is not something that bears repeating once the children all have their "memories." We have expressed our desire to bring our Grand Children on an RCL cruise however their parents insisted that the children’s first cruise must be with the mouse, so now with that ticket punched we look forward to the day we sail on RCL with our Grandchildren, with or without their parents.

Entertainment on Disney is typical Disney, very good but very predictable and a constant advertisement for Disney. It is not as exciting nor does it have the variety of entertainment offered on Allure. One of the most notable differences is the fact that Allure has live music for the shows in the theater, in the Jazz Club and throughout the ship, which is way better than the canned music that was used for all the shows on Disney Magic. The only problem with music on Allure is the constant barrage of beat driven, loud, hip-hop(?) music all over the ship. For example, we were on the sun deck on deck 14 forward and the music blaring from the speakers was so loud that normal conversation was impossible and drowned out the sounds of the wind and seas which we would have liked to been able to hear and enjoy. Allure, please provide for a few more quiet spaces for those of us who do not need a musical accompaniment to our every waking moment. One other disappointment was the poor use of the Viking Lounge, one of the most striking venues on Allure. The entertainment in this venue did nothing to draw folks or keep them there. Again a truly live music option and/or even using it for late night adult comedy would have drawn passengers up there instead of two “Girlz” doing karaoke by themselves for the each night. With the crowded dance floor in Sparkles, it seems another dance venue, maybe even one with a different music genre, like country music, would not be out of the question.

Of course we must mention food. Our servers on Allure were outstanding as they were on Disney. Unfortunately Allure has reduced the menu making the dining experience essentially a three course meal, while Disney offered four. Also it seems RCL has reduced the offerings in both variety and quality since we began with RCL thirteen years ago. The quality and variety offered on Disney was overall slightly better than Allure, especially when it comes to deserts, my favorite part of any meal. There has been much discussion lately concerning the push to get us to use the specialty restaurants by reducing the complimentary offerings on RCL, much less the coming change of dining format, so there is no reason to say more. One item that was missing from Disney Magic and was always available on Allure, was brewed coffee. Except for the foo-foo coffee sold in the adult area, all coffee was essentially instant coffee dispensed from a machine, yuck. Oh yes, and very important, on Magic the late night snack offerings were essentially all shut down at mid-night, so no late late night pizza on Disney. Read more