This was the second time that we travelled on the Allure o/t Seas. 1. The most impressive improvements were embarkation and debarkation. Not doubt RC has done a great job with Terminal A at Miami cruise port and the new procedure. Getting on board worked like a breeze. Also impressive reentry to the US just with facial recognition! 2. The second improvement to mention is the new RC phone-app, which makes it easy to see what is going on, during your stay at the ship. But there are still improvements possible. i.e. I found it difficult to find the arrival and all aboard times for port of calls in the abundance of activities listed. The same activities were also listed on the cabin-tv. While booked shows and shore excursions carried over to the phone, individually entered calendar events at the tv (non ship) would not be shown on the app. At one time the app froze and had to be reinstalled. Mostly though it worked fine. 3. We thought that this time the food in the main dining room was better than the first time we traveled on her. 4. The whole experience on board was also more enjoyable, but this I contribute more to our experience from last time, which helped tremendously to get the most out of a 7 day cruise on a ship of this size. 5. The shows, the main reason we returned to the Allure, were as good as ever, you just have to make sure you book the most convenient time for you beforehand. 6. The hostess in the Elite and higher lounge was of exceptional help with getting thigs organized and clarified as needed! Read Less

We chose this cruise as we have sailed Norwegian twice before and loved it and wanted to try this line as we’d heard great things. Embarkation and disembarkation - so smooth and hassle free I don’t know how they managed getting so many people on and off without any line whatsoever truly amazing. When we got on the ship is certainly impressive but the main deck just feels like a mall, with constant announcements and noise about art auctions, watch sales, drinks package and internet sails, it really did spoil the cruise for us as in the evening this was where all of the bars were and I just felt Like I was sitting in a shopping centre. The boardwalk deck was mostly geared towards children so we didn’t go there, we went to deck 8 often as we purchased the ultimate dining package and that deck was always quiet and pleasant as it’s open air. We went to Giovannis the most we loved it there, we also enjoyed Central Park and the Mexican but we weren’t keen on chops really. Overall choice and food quality was much better on Norwegian and I’d say the food was average even on the package. I wouldn’t go for the package again for dining as you can’t go to the Japanese tables or chef table without extra charges so it wasn’t worth it for us and on our day at sea we really Struggled to get into any restaurant at all. Cabin- we had an ocean view balcony it was a decent size and lots of storage and everything worked well. Staff - all amazing all so mega keen to please and very smiley and genuine no complaints at all. Shows - mama Mia we didn’t like we were both utterly bored but tbh musical theatre isn’t our thing, blue planet was great and the cruise director was really funny . Entertainment we found quite limited as you can only do each show once and there was very limited entertainment in the bars and we just plain didn’t like sitting in the shopping centre bars so we were in bed early most nights Sun decks - not much outside space plenty of hot tub space and good they have adults only area. We never ever queued for a drink and always bottles on offer in mobile bars so can’t complain about that. Again entertainment was lacking it seemed to be always really noisy with pretty average bands which were actually more irritating than entertaining It’s a great ship, it was spotlessly clean and service was impeccable but unfortanately The contact focus on shopping Really spoilt it for us and the main deck was totally focused on shopping . Read Less

We chose because we are crown and anchor members and were sailing with family and wanted these first timers to experience the great shows and mega ship As far as embarkation went it was fast and smooth as is with all our Royal Caribbean sailings, but the new terminal in Miami with facial recognition there were six of us and I was the only one that sailed through the new machines, the other five had to get into an extremely long and slow line, this caused usmt miss our shuttle to Ft Lauderdale so we had an hour to wait for the next! My husband was in a wheelchair and the rest of us stood waiting there are a few benches up against the wall of the terminal but with over six thousand passengers you can imagine no seats were available. We Enjoy Royal Caribbean but the dining experience has not been good on this cruise! Entertainment was very good! We sailed on the Oasis five years ago and thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience! One crew member was a complete waste of time in the dining room but the cruise director and his staff were fantastic .....and the rest of dining room crew were more than good! Our stateroom attendant Anne went above and beyond! The food in thnmain dining room was just acceptable there were no wow moments! Chops grill filet mignon was the one highlight for dining pleasure We have a cruise booked for the Spring and hopefully we will regain our enjoyment on that cruise. Our family felt the same which unfortunately made it a bit disappointing for first time cruisers think their expectations were high based on our previous experience. We will still recommend Royal Caribbean our motto can't be perfect all the time Read Less

So I’m going to break this down into sections starting from the beginning. We are a family of four with twin 23-month-old toddlers. We also traveled with the grandparents (80’s). We have been on several cruises, but this is the first with Royal. We booked a suite, so embarkation was a breeze through the suite lounge. The Miami port is beautiful and unloading our luggage was easy! You just drive into the parking garage and go to floor 3. The porters take your luggage and off you go to find parking. We went at 10 and it wasn’t too crowded. Once we got on board, it is a lot to take in. It’s a beautiful ship with so much to see. You enter into a promenade that has a bar, pizza parlor, other restaurants, and shopping. It really is stunning. We proceeded to floor 14 where the Royal Babies and Tots were located. We were allowed to book 16 hours initially. There is just one main play room with a tv and toys. The ladies are very nice there and the kids enjoyed their time. After day 3, they opened up additional hours. They are open for port days and go through til midnight. It is $6 an hour before 6 and then $8 an hour after 6. They give you a phone so they can reach you or you can call. It doesn’t work off of the ship though. There is a wonderful play area for the kids from 10-9 every day. You can also check out toys to take back to the room. There was only a night or two that we weren’t able to get time. We went and had pizza for lunch, which was actually pretty good. The cafe had sandwiches available also. The bar was easy to get to and we used our paper pass for drinks. The cards are on the door when the rooms are ready. At 1 o’clock we went to our room. I thought the rooms would be a little more modern, but they were a little run down. The ac didn’t work in the room and we had to wait for someone to come and fix it. Our room steward was so nice and very accommodating. We tipped him extra at the beginning, middle and end since our boys made quite the mess. We didn’t get our pack n plays until late in the evening and one was broken. So we had to wait into the evening and had to call several times to get a replacement. The boys were unable to nap so we had a pretty miserable afternoon and evening. We had a problem in that we didn’t get our in room purchases until 3-4 days into the cruise. We had ordered champagne, chocolates and other items that took several days to get and then it was also wrong. So it took quite a while to get that situated. We went to the dining room the second night. It took them 15 minutes to seat us and then we had to stand in the middle of the dining room because the individual that was supposed to seat us left us standing there because he didn’t know what table to take us to. Then we had to wait for a high chairs. It was a huge mess. We had wonderful service once we sat down and had a very nice meal. The dining room staff is hit and miss. We were able to dine three of the seven nights. The staff was also hit and miss. Some were wonderful, while others were very abrupt and didn’t smile at all. The food was better than average. The portions depend on the meal. The prime rib was huge and the lobster tails were very delicious. The desserts were also yummy. We doin that people wore whatever they wanted in the dining room. We even saw sweat pants on formal night. Which we personally dressed up because you’re cruising and it’s fun! We did dine at the Brazilian steak house and really enjoyed the food and the service. The service was really exceptional here and worth the price we paid. The food was hot and delicious. The roast beef sandwich at Park Cafe was everything we read about. Really delicious and the salads were good too! We definitely spent a lot of time at Park Cafe. The Dog house was a good pit stop for a delicious dog! I was disappointed that all of the food areas closed at 6. The buffet area was small so it was always hard to find a table at night. The food was pretty good at the buffet with lots of options. Again, the staff wasn’t very friendly. Finding high chairs was a bit of a challenge as well. The amenities on board are wonderful. There are plenty of pools. Although the kids pool area was sub par. The fountains were rarely on so the kids got bored easily. They do have life jackets on board for kids of all sizes. You can use them free of charge. We tried all of the onboard activities and we were quite happy with them. The golf is fun and they even have small clubs for toddlers. The Flow Rider is oodles of fun!!!! We even ice skated. There are limited amounts of time slots, but we never had any issues getting some ice time. There were plenty of areas for the kids to run off energy. We brought sweaters, but I would say that a majority of the ship was on the warm side. I never used my sweater on the ship or the dining room. On past cruises, I was freezing! If you are a poker player, then you’ll have table time every night with limited wait times. The slots are super tight. Super super super tight. There are plenty of black jack tables, craps and some other table games. The spa was wonderful and I really enjoyed my massage. Although I did pay for the additional time and didn’t receive it. So I paid for an additional 20 minutes that I never got. The massage was started late and I know what time we started because I texted my husband right before we began. So not too pleased about that. The upselling is rampant and so is the product push. We both had beverage packages so never had to worry about drinks. I would definitely recommend buying it precruise on discount. It is not discounted onboard. All of the drinks are delicious and they are not skimpy with alcohol. We did several excursions. The boys went to RB&Ts while we went ashore. The Secret River was amazing! We highly recommend it. The WiFi was a bit sketchy and I definitely couldn’t stream movies. It was good enough to text and to google. The app was really great. We could see all of the dining, activities and communicate with other people onboard through the app. The shows that we managed to catch were really well done. The comedians, not so much. We did have fun at the onboard games. They had movies every night wth lots of options and family friendly options. There are so many onboard activities! The kids had fun at all of the Dreamwork events with the animals. The parades are a lot action and happen on a regular basis. It’s really great and quite the event. We also did the DreamWorks breakfast. Although for a child event they didn’t have high chairs readily available. We had to stand around while they found us a table...again. It wouldn’t have been bad had it been at the entry but we were left standing in the middle of the dining room next to other seated guests giving us stares. For $10 a person it was ok. There are 3 different characters that come around for a picture about mid way through breakfast. We also did portraits in the Picture This studio. The photographer was super nice and our portraits turned out amazing. Expensive, but amazing! We pre-purchased the photo package, so we took advantage of that and had about 60 total pictures at all of the different photo stations. The concierge was lack luster. We called several times and we were told to go to guest services or our message was never returned. We did go to the suite lounge and they are pretty strict about children being well behaved as well as the dress code. We did not get to Coastal Kitchen this trip. Overall, we enjoyed ourselves because we didn’t let all of the inconveniences mess up our vacation. We did book another cruise, which we were super disappointed in the NextCruise office experience. Luckily, we have a travel agent so we got the onboard credit from the NextCruise office. We booked on a smaller ship with the hopes that maybe they would have a more personable experience. The staff was either super friendly or grumpy on Allure. There didn’t seem to be an in between. I would say that if you’re a couple with no kids, it’s probably a different experience. If you have super young kids, the options are much more limited. I would say if you have kids below the age of 3, save your money. A - Activities A - Royal Babies & Tots B+ - Food quality - dining room is ok, other venues are much better A - Embarkation/Debarkation A - Entertainment C/D - Friendliness of staff D - NextCruise office B - Food options, close too early C - Guest services - always long lines A - Room steward B - Wifi D - Casino - super tight slots and super Smokey but lots of fun (A for fun) A - Photo studio F - Upsellling is rampant and there’s always someone pushing something Read Less

We chose this cruise due to our parties schedules around the end of the year. This is the 3rd time we've cruised the Allure and each time gets better. We booked 5 of us into a Royal Family Suite with 2 bedrooms and 2 baths. This gave us the sky class. For those who have never experienced a suite class if you enjoy cruising try it at least once. You won't go back. Everyone on the ship was friendly and accommodating. We didn't eat in the Windjammer or the MDR; instead we booked 4 night specialty dining and dined the remaining nights in the Coastal Kitchen. We did not experience a bad or even disappointing experience anywhere. If there was any issue it was the pool was very cold. Of course we were cruising in late November so that was expected. Terminal A during embarkation was a breeze. Less than 10 minutes from shuttle to the ship. We arrived 1/2 hour after the rooms were available so we went right there and settled in. Luggage arrived just a couple of hours later Debarkation was a breeze too. The porters (and unfortunately the dispatcher from the shuttle service need to be better trained. There was no signage for the shuttle areas and it was very confusing. The dispatcher (from JetPort parking) kept stating we should go to area 7-8 but that was for private cars. The only areas that were actually marked was for buses. Read Less

We booked this cruise because we wanted to go somewhere over Thanksgiving and had never tried the Oasis class of ship. We booked a Central Park balcony. This was one of the first sailings out of the new Miami terminal so we decided to stay at the Hyatt Centric in South Beach pre-cruise. The hotel was very modern and clean. It was not beach front but you are permitted to use the chairs and towels the Lowes hotel has set up on the beach at no extra charge. The hotel was about a 10 minute drive from the cruise port. Embarkation was the fastest we'd ever experienced. From the time we got out of the Uber to the time we walked on the ship was about 15 minutes. Everything was very organized and Royal Caribbean's new terminal was spacious and worked great. The ship itself was amazing. For being 8 years old, the Allure really didn't show many signs of aging. Our cruise director Jimmy and the activities director Flavio were so much fun to have lead the cruise. 80s night was a blast, the Quest game show is a must, and there was never any shortage of fun activities going on around the ship. OceanAria was very unique and some of the dives performed by the divers were crazy. We skipped out on Mama Mia because we didn't have much interest, but we did see several of the ice shows, and they were fantastic as well. The headliner performance was the Edge Effect, a group of guys who perform songs with the human voice. Aside from Ocean Aria, this was probably the best show we saw. Those guys were 5 out of 5 stars. The food on board was great (save one for my Izumi review below). We ate at the MDR 3 of the 7 nights and each night the food was filling and flavorful. We had reservations through My Time Dining and never waited to be seated. Service in the dining room was a bit slow but you're on a cruise, so no worry. The Windjammer on board could be a bit bigger for the size of ship, but the staff did a very good job at peak times to seat people and improve the flow. The food in here was good and there was a great variety each time we ate here. Our room came with a free lunch at Giovanni's table. Again, we thoroughly enjoyed the meal and our pasta was great. It seemed as if there was only one server at lunch, which led to slower service, but again, not a huge deal. We dined at Izumi three separate times during this cruise. The first time (which I count as dining) we did the Sushi class. This started at 10am and was definitely worth it for the $30. We made a 4 different types of rolls and you eat them all when you are finished. Needless to say it was a very filling lunch. The second time we went to Izumi was for Hibachi. The meal was $40 per person, so a bit on the pricier side for Hibachi, but the food was excellent. My steak was super tender and our Hibachi chef made the whole experience very fun. The third time we went to Izumi was for dinner on the last night of the cruise and it was a disaster. We were seated and subsequently ignored for abotu 15 minutes before I could even grab a waitress to get us water. We waited again to put in our order and when our appetizer came out (pork dumplings), they were served upside down and looked fully burnt (picture attached). Our meals came out and one of the sushi rolls was completely wrong, so they brought out the correct one, and then informed us when it was served that they were out of avocado. The couldn't tell us that when we ordered? No compensation was offered and Royal Caribbean's support team still has yet to respond to my emails. We probably won't be dining at Izumi Sushi again and I definitely would've given Allure 5 stars if it weren't for this experience. As for the ports, we were a bit worried ahead of time that there would still be damage from the hurricanes considering we were stopping at St. Maarten and San Juan. St. Maarten was the first stop and the island is absolutely beautiful. We took a taxi from the port to Mullet Bay Beach (which is over by Maho). You could see a lot of repair work going on along the way, but they are definitely in the process of recovering. We walked to Maho Beach to see the planes at about 1pm, and then took a taxi back to the ship from there. San Juan was a beautiful stop as well. There was very little, if any hurricane damage visible here. We walked around ourselves and saw a bunch of the sites. It was hot, but the city itself is super nice and it was good to branch out from the typical beach stops. We stayed on the ship in Labadee, which ended up being awesome because there was almost no one on board. The service throughout the whole cruise, with the exception of Izumi Sushi, was great. Our room steward was excellent, the bar staff was excellent, and everyone we talked to around the ship was pleasant. To my surprise, the ship never once felt crowded, which seems crazy because of the size. There were always deck chairs available, which was surprising because this has been a problem on numerous other ships I've sailed on. We spent a majority of our time in the Solarium as well, which was very relaxing. I wouldn't hesitate to sail on an Oasis class ship again, it was definitely a unique experience. Read Less

We traveled as a family of 3 with our teen age boy. Will definitely do it again. Very impressed with how everything is so well organized including embarkation and disembarkation. It was our first cruise trip. Just want to share some tips with other first timers about this ship/trip. 1. Do not bring extension cord. We followed some Google advice and brought one, which was taken away and kept by security until disembarkation day. 2. There is no self-service laundry on the ship. 3. Bring some cash with you for extra tipping, Casino, & excursions. 4. Definitely check-in online and get your luggage taps and set sail passes to save A LOT of time on embarkation day. 5. There are two formal nights. People do dress up and there are a lot of professional photo opportunities. 6. Book as early as possible My Time Dining. At the same time though, we never had a problem walking in without reservations (except the Thanks-giving night). 7. Purchase photo package online in advance to get 20% saving. We loved our photo package (digital) and spent extra $100 for all print-outs. 8. Book the shows and purchase Internet access w/ discount early online. We loved Mama Mia, Aqua, and Ice-game!!! The Blue Planet was not bad either. 9. Bring a water bottle. I don't like to drink warm tap water. I fill it up and put in the fridge in the Cabin. You are NOT advised to fill water bottles at restaurants, but I did see people do it. 10. Drink package... If you want to have alcohols on the ship, definitely get one in advance online with discount. I think the refreshment package is a waste of money. If needed, classic soda package is probably enough for the family and kids. 11. We stopped @ St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, and Labadee. We used Bernard's Tour for St. Maarten. We didn't book anything for PR and Labadee. Definitely bring water shoes for Labadee since the beach was a bit rough. The Dragon Flight @ Labadee is a bit pricey but a once in a life-time experience. 12. Do not miss the SUN DECK on Deck 14, hidden gem... 13. I am not a fan of Windjammer's, but do check it out since it does have a lot of variety Read Less

My girlfriend and I sailed on a 7-night Western Caribbean cruise Nov 11 on Allure of the Seas. This was our 9th cruise on a Royal Caribbean ship and our first on an Oasis Class vessel. Embarkation We embarked from the brand new Terminal A in Miami. Since it was a new terminal there are still some kinks to be worked out. The traffic flow needs to be looked at critically and adjusted to improve access to the building. Inside there was some confusion about where we were to check in. The check in counters we have seen on earlier cruises were eliminated. Instead there were a series of lines marked “Set Sail Pass Passengers” but no indication of which one to use. Once our documents were checked we had to merge into a long line of passengers which moved fairly quickly. I estimate it took about 30-40 minutes to complete the process. We did not have to provide credit card information and did not have to wait to receive our Sea Pass cards; they were in an envelope on our stateroom door. Stateroom We were in a balcony cabin on Deck 7 on the port side of the ship in a midship location. Most of the storage space was in the closet area - there were veery few drawers available. There were two chairs and a table on the balcony which was of good size. Our luggage was not delivered directly to our room. We located it on the same deck and moved it into our room. Dining We used Anytime Dining which we prefer. Anytime guests eat on the Deck 3 level of the MDR. We ate at a table for 2 every night and were able to eat in the same section and have the same waiters throughout the cruise. I thought the food was decent and there were enough choices between the rotating menu items and the “always available” items. Service was good at dinner but uneven at breakfast. We did not eat in any of the specialty restaurants. I think that they should post the price of eating there on the menu. Options for lunch were limited since many of the venues did not open until mid afternoon. Ports We have been to all of the ports except Roatan at least twice so we viewed the ship as the destination. Unfortunately it rained all day in Roatan so most of the shore excursions were canceled and we stayed on board. In Costa Maya we booked a 2-hour sightseeing tour and although it was not arranged through the Shore Excursions desk, we were able to charge the cost to our Sea Pass accounts. The poverty of this area was very evident. Costa Maya caters almost exclusively to cruise passengers so there is little incentive to build hotels or nice restaurants and bars. Most of what building there is being done is to provide for the people who work inside the enclave. Entertainment This is the first cruise we have been on where it was necessary to make reservations for the shows. I presume this is because of the number of guests on board. We have seen “Mama Mia” both on stage and on film. We did not attend the Aqua show. I think RCI needs to work on their IT. When I tried to make reservations for the comedy show through our interactive TV I kept receiving “Error 9003". This turned out to be because the show was sold out. I am no computer programmer but I don’t think it is too difficult to display “Sold Out” instead of “Error 9003". We did bring this up to Flavio, the entertainment director, and he booked us for the Comedy show, the Blue Planet production show, and the Ice Show. Debarkation The debarkation process was very smooth. Once our number was called, it did not take long to get off the ship, go through Immigration, and retrieve our luggage. We did not have to fill out a Customs form. Again the traffic flow outside the terminal was chaotic but we were able to get a taxi in a reasonable time although the signage pointed in the opposite direction of where we needed to go. Read Less

As background information, my husband and I traveled on the Allure on November 5, on a 6-day Western Caribbean cruise. This was our 36th cruise each. Embarkation at the new Terminal A in Miami was quick and easy. Because everyone had gotten off the ship the day earlier in Fort Lauderdale, everything was ready for us. The only glitch they had that day was getting the luggage onboard; I understand there had been a mechanical problem. The ship is absolutely gorgeous and so easy to navigate. The neighborhood concept is fabulous. You do not feel as if you are on a ship! The Central Park and Boardwalk neighborhoods are wonderful places for a stroll. We did not feel as if there were 6,000 guests on the ship except for one day (a sea day) when we waited 20 minutes to be seated for breakfast in the dining room, as well as getting in the elevators when getting out to go to port and coming back to the rooms after being in port. The room was as to be expected (Deck 11, veranda cabin 11624). There was not as much closet space or drawer space as on the Allure (which provided a wardrobe on either side of the bed) but it worked out fine. As far as activities, there was always so much to do onboard that the daily program had a morning/afternoon page and an evening page -- with so many activities on sea days they needed to use teeny tiny type to print it all. There is something for everyone -- from trivia to The Quest, from the Love and Marriage game show to Dreamworks character appearances, from dance lessons to a lip synch contest, and much, much more! And yes, I did the zip line, which was fun and NOT scary! The service was excellent -- with buffet waiters always there to clean up, room stewards always smiling and greeting as you walk down the hall, and front desk personnel always happy to help. Port and shore excursions -- my husband did 2 scuba tours (one in Cozumel and one in Roatan) which he enjoyed, especially the one in Roatan, to Anthony's Key, which he said was his best scuba trip ever. In Costa Maya, we did the ATV Jungle and Beach Break tour -- a bit pricey but totally worth it! Dining aboard the ship was not fantastic but better than average. The lobster tail on formal night was a bit small. The desserts were always excellent. Our dinner at 150 Central Park was delicious -- the entrees were special but they kind of ruined it by placing a plate of plain mashed potatoes and vegetables on the table to share as a side dish. Tip -- go to Johnny Rockets for breakfast (it's free) and go to the Solarium for the buffet as opposed to the Windjammer. Entertainment was outstanding! Mama Mia was very entertaining and Blue Planet was creative and well executed. Ocean Aria (the aqua show) was a real WOW and the ice show was excellent, although I've seen more jumps and spins in other Royal Caribbean ice shows. The comedians in the comedy club -- Nery Saenz and Phil Tag -- were among the best I've ever seen on a ship or off. The featured entertainer, Joel Mason, and his comedy tribute show, was very entertaining. It's a real hassle to get tickets to all these shows online but I guess there is no other way with a ship of this size. The Diamond Lounge was never crowded, and we got immediate bar service -- unlike other Royal Caribbean ships. Disembarkation was as easy as embarkation was. In summary, I had, for years, hesitated to go on a ship of this size -- and I would still return to a smaller ship -- but now that I've been on the Allure, I must say this is my new favorite ship. You have nothing to worry about, and I would highly recommend it! Read Less

We were one of the first ships at the new port of Miami. Embarkation could not have gone better. We were on the ship in no time. Disembarkation was horrible. It took us over 2 hours to get off the ship. The new terminal is beautiful but I don’t think they were prepared for that many people coming off the ship. The ship is beautiful. Staff was top notch. We ate in the specialty dining restaurants. They were all excellent. A special thanks to our cabin steward Anthony from Jamaica and our server in Giovanni’s Althea (also from Jamaica) We enjoyed the shows and entertainment. The activities onboard are great. The ship had 6000 + people aboard but it is evenly distributed. We had no trouble with line or long waits for elevators. Our weather could not have been any nicer. They seas were extremely calm. I never felt the ship rock at all. In Cozumel we did the dolphinaris excursion. By far, one of my favorites. Swimming and interacting with the dolphins was awesome. Thank you Royal Caribbean Allure of the seas. We can’t wait for our next adventure. #loyaltoroyal. Read Less