Allure of the Seas is a beautiful, enormous ship that has many things to offer all varieties of travelers. After reading the reviews, we decided to book specialty dining most nights, making advance reservations for my time dining on two nights. Once onboard the ship, on the first day, we visited the dining room and discovered the stench of cigarette smoke from the casino floats up to the dining room as the smoking section of the casino is located right outside the dining rooms. Why cruiselines cannot get away from cigarette smoking or recognize the dangers of second hand smoke to its passengers and crew when the dangers are well know are beyond me.

At any rate, we decided to book two more nights in specialty dining to avoid the smell. We were told at the time we booked we would receive the special we had already signed up for, which was a 30% credit for the amounts booked as an on board credit. Our first night we ate at Sabor, where the food was good, the margaritas cold and the server helpful friendly and attentive. Sabor is a la carte pricing so we did not receive the onboard credit, instead, they were to take 30% off the price, which did not happen. On the third night we went to 150 Central Park where we were charged for two tables- our table and the dinners of another table along with their drinks, in all an overcharge of almost $350. I went down to Guest Relations the next morning and was promptly informed I was charged correctly, and the receipt was printed for me. I explained we had 5 people, our ticket was correct, but the incorrect charge was for 6 additional people and a whole lotta drinks. The result- we will call and talk to the waiter. Without going into the painful details, I am still trying to get the overcharges taken care of, the on-board staff can only send emails to Miami, they have no authority or power to take care of obvious mistakes and it is impossible to have RC contact you.

Another issue was all shows need to have reservations made in advanced. I made all the reservations for my party, but when I went to enter, I was told my card was not in the system and I wasn't even showing on the ship. I repeatedly went to guest relations after being declined entrance, and again, no one could address the issue. It was extremely frustrating, and of course, right now, Royal Caribbean is too big to care. Read more