Two of us embarked at Port Everglades, Florida and were pleasantly surprised at the easy and rapid boarding. I had expected otherwise considering the Allure of the Seas has a capacity of some 6,500 passengers. It was painless... until we got to the cabin.

We boarded about noon for a 5:30PM sailing. Our luggage was waiting for us outside our cabin. The cabin was tiny to the point that the corners of the mattresses had been cut off to allow room enough to walk by. The bed arrangement was wrong but no cabin attendant could be found. Finally, another staffer told me the attendant didn't come on duty until 4:30PM or so. About 5:30PM, an attendant finally arrived and asked for the beds to be corrected. He sighed and said he had just started and didn't know where the linens were to do that. He said "I'll take care of it when I get a chance... later."

Sorry to say, this lackadaisical attitude was typical of the dining staff as well. Over our objections, RCI had automatically added prepaid gratuities to our ship board account which amounted to over $165. This essentially removed any incentive for the staff to provide good service. Since we prefer to pay our gratuities in cash at the end of the cruise, personally, this was a major disappointment. RCCL's website says that prepaid gratuities are optional but after spending several hours in line over a period of several days at Guest Services, they were immovable. Read more