This was my second cruise with Royal Caribbean. I sailed on the Oasis of the Seas in 2014. We ported out of Ft. Lauderdale, which I love. I was with my husband and brother, we are travel buddies. We had relatives from Tennessee on the boat as well. We stayed two days in Ft. Lauderdale at the Hilton Marina. The hotel was nice and it had a pool/restaurants/gym. You could see the port from my room and the airport was less than 10 min away. Embarkation was very quick we, were on the ship around 12pm.

The Allure of the Seas was not too much different from the Oasis of the Seas. There were a couple of changes in the restaurants and the shopping. There were more high-end stores on the Allure such as Kate Spade, Coach and Michael Kors. My stateroom was the boardwalk balcony. On the Oasis, my stateroom was Central Park balcony. The Central Park balcony was boring compared to the boardwalk balcony. There is more going on by the boardwalk. Both of those staterooms were very roomy. Nice shower and plenty of closet space.

The food in the dining area was decent, depends on what you choose. The food in the Windjammer was hit or miss. The deserts could have been way better. That is for both cruises. I ate at the Mexican restaurant called the Sabor for less than six dollars. The food was really good. I like that you have alternatives to the buffets. I really think the food in the buffet could be better. The food is not better than the Carnival food. If you are not a big liquor drinker, don't buy the liquor package and the same with the pop package. Read more