This was a sort of last minute cruise. We generally sail with Celebrity on smaller ships. We cruised on the Edge the week before this cruise, and thought it would be fun to "compare and contrast" and try a huge ship. The two experiences were night and day. This review will be a little odd, as my intent is to inform on our experience, and the experience of those with kids.
Embarkation: Couldn't have been easier. Celebrity provided a complementary port transfer from Fort Lauderdale, which was very convenient. We probably;y got to the Allure about 10:30, and were on the ship within minutes.
Going from a new ship with roughly 2700 passengers to one with 6400 passengers is quite a switch. There were hundreds of people milling about, and it was difficult to know where to go. We headed up to the cafe for lunch, but the lines were pretty bad. This is a recurring theme. We had to eat, so we ended up at Johnny Rockets, which wasn't healthy, but it was tasty.
The ship is huge. There are parts we never saw, and we did a lot of exploring. The ship is starting to show some signs of wear but such things don't really bother me. No leaks, overflowing showers or any of that. For those with kids, you will be able to keep them entertained. Between the kids area at the pool, merry-go-round, ice rink, flow rider, etc, there is plenty to keep them occupied. And if you are an adult who needs a lot of activity, you are covered also. I'm pretty laid back, a chair and a book and I'm happy. The door was nice, and the staff kept the ship tidy. I am a former smoker, but even when I smoked I'd go outside. The casino is disgusting. I can't understand why RCL still allows smoking there, when Celebrity and other lines have done away with smoking in the casino. There is a huge smoking area on the pol deck, which is covered.
My thinking was that since school was in session, there wouldn't be too many kids. Apparently, there was a "kids sail free" deal, so there were 1250, which may not seem like a lot, but it felt like a lot more. Sadly, a lot of the kids weren't the best behaved. I didn't see the usual "hit al the buttons on the elevator" stuff, but I saw a kids run into an older guy who spilled coffee on the kid, and the kid's mom yelled at the guy with the coffee. So lots of kids running every where. I have kids, but they are older so I'm done with the ill0behaved kid thing.
Noise level. I've been on smaller RCL ships, and had to choose where I sat on the pool deck carefully as the volume always seem to be on 11. The same applied to the Allure. Even the guy running trivia was WAY too loud, let alone the person making announcements for pool events. The ship simply abounds in really loud places. I prefer quiet.
Vibration and movement: I think this size of ship would really appeal to people who don't like cruising, as there is pretty much zero vibration, and the ship is so stable I was unaware when we left port. I heard some people complain about the amount of movement, but I just don't agree. Maybe they are used to huge ships; I thought it was remarkably stable.
Dining: Not a fan. We had "my time" dining. They have multiple dining rooms, and you are assigned to one. If you want to try another, you have to wait until 8:30, and you can go to another if someone with timed dining doesn't show up. The buffet always had lines, but others I was cruising with said that wasn't their experience. Maybe it was my timing. We ate lunch in the buffet 5 times, 3 times we found a place to sit, 2 times we didn't. My wife thinks this is intentional to encourage paid dining. We ate in Chops one night, which was excellent, and Vintages, where we had wine an tapas. The service was great in both, as was the food. We also ate in Izumi. We were seated and waited about 15 minutes before we got water. 10 minutes later, they took our order. I think we were there about 45 minutes before we got served, and the waitstaff just didn't seem that interested. The food was fine, service not so much.
We generally don't take advantage of status perks, however, we went to the buffet for breakfast and once again, the lines were awful. Then we realized the Diamond Lounge was just up the hall from us. Hallelujah! No lines, continental breakfast, and when I asked, they got me yogurt. The second day I didn't even have to ask. The Diamond lounge was a place of peace when everywhere else was noisy. Decent coffee all day long, and complementary booze in the evening. We met some very nice people there.
So bottom line: Great if you have kid, or need a lot to do, not so great if you are more interested in just relaxing, meeting new people, and having a conversation. Maybe if I had a bunch of grandkids I'd do it again, but absent that, smaller, quieter ships for me.
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