I consider myself a fairly seasoned traveller who is not "high maintenance", but this experience prompted me to alert others to proceed with caution when booking on Allure of the Seas. Before you book, especially if the cruise seems quite full even though you are booking far in advance, INSIST on knowing if there is a big group on the cruise because it can ruin your experience.

In our case, there was a group of 3000 people affiliated with Omnilife (all wearing purple shirts so easy to identify). This group overran the ship everywhere you turned and tended to travel in packs so that when they descended on a venue it created havoc (e.g. long lines, running out of food, lots of pushing and shoving). Many of the RC staff indicated they knew this was going to be a bad week after the first evening. RC seemed oblivious to the impact a group of this size would have on the other half of the paying passengers.

- The ship itself was well maintained and the cabins were well appointed. Read more