I wanted to see how the big ships work. The check in and off ship was fast and easy. I thought I would be standing in lines but I was not. Maybe the ship wasn't full but there were still loads of passengers.I loved having cruise documents on the app and knowing cabins would be open at 1:30 (they were). Sea Pass was on my door.The storage seemed a little space but I was by myself so had room. My android phone did not fit in the charging station. I still wish there was music in the cabin (brought my own CD player). The entertainment choices were wonderful. From the shows to individual musicians. It was hard to keep on top of what I wanted to hear. Make reservations for big shows if you are a group. It will show up on your app and remind u that u have them. Food was good enough. I especially liked being able to have Indian curry when it was not on the menu. The buffets had big assortments of food. I would have like to have more gourmet cheese like brie to take to my room. Being a Diamond member I liked the free cocktails at bars during cocktail hour. That way I didn't need to go to a specific area for them. Loved the quiet of Central Park. Have booked another cruise in this area.The pools were crowded and water warm with all the bodies. I went to the solarium and kids pools to get in cool water. I loved Momma Mia and saw it 3 times. Read Less

Our first cruise ever was on our 25th wedding anniversary in 2002 on the Soveriegn of the Seas. My DW and I had never been treated so good. We did 2 other sailings with RCL as well as 2 with Disney, 2 with MSC, 1 with Princess. For this year's cruise we wanted to get back on RCL, so we booked the Allure. Never having been on a "Mega-Ship" we had concerns. We did our homework on the ship. DW and I watched TONS of You Tube videos (Thanks to all that posted!) and I studied the deck plans so we both felt comfortable with moving around on board. WELL ....... the ship was much larger than we could have imagined and even with all our homework we thought "Oh No, we're gonna be lost!" Not the case. Moving about the ship was so simple! The ship is simply beautiful! We loved the "Neighborhood" concept. We booked a Boardwalk Cabin with a great view of the Aqua Theater so we could see the show anytime we liked! John, our cabin steward was AWESOME!!! He treated us like we were the only people in his section! We absolutely loved him! The room itself was great plenty of storage space. Also I let RCL know that I had a CPAP for my sleep apnea and they had an extension cord and a gallon of distilled water for me to use during the cruise.How great is that?! The food was FANTASTIC and our wait staff of Andre(the giant) our assistant waiter, Marlon(Brando) our waiter and Aton(no nickname) our head waiter were absolutely wonderful! We were never in need of anything, anything we wanted we got! They were also just plain great to be around! Wonderful people. RCL's entertainment is top notch. Ocean Aria, Mamma Mia, Earl Turner (Headliner), Blue Planet and Ice Games ...... ALL AMAZING! We also went to comedy live and never laughed that hard in quite awhile! The entertainment staff is funny, engaging and just plain FUN!! Jimmy Rhodes (Cruise Director) and Flavio (Activities Manager) are the best! Jamezy and BeBe are great! We've never had that much fun playing trivia!!! Ice Skating in Studio B, The pools, hot tubs and "The Current" (not giving that one away), rock climbing wall, zip line sport court miniature golf, Flow Rider total thumbs up! The service is simply off the chart! The staff on RCL just can't do enough for you. Cristan (bartender at Sorrento's) and Iris (bartender at the Pool bar) are just the greatest! Other cruise lines do these same types of things and, although I've had good experiences with other lines, it's RCL's people and Customer Service that set it well apart from all the rest! I know I've left some things out but I'm at work writing this and, unfortunately, I need to get back to reality! Read Less

We arranged this cruise to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary! We were a group of 9, ages from 3 to 72. Everyone had a fabulous time! The kids programs for ages 3, 6 and 12 were really wonderful. The food was some of best we've had (we've sailed on Norwegian, Princess, Carnival, Disney, and Royal Caribbean). Our whole group ate at Giovanni's to celebrate our anniversary and I would definitely recommend it. The entertainment was amazing and we went to all the shows! We had a balcony cabin and the cabin steward was great. We didn't do any excursions through Royal Caribbean and did our own thing in ports. Our favorite port was St. Maarten. We reserved chairs and umbrellas ahead of time with Nik at Lazy Lizard Beach Bar which was an easy 15-20 minute walk from the dock. The chairs and umbrellas were right on the beach and all set up and waiting for us when we got there. We got 2 chairs, umbrella, use of a locker and restroom, Wifi and bucket of 6 beers or 2 cocktails for $20. Best deal anywhere! Nik and his wife were super nice and helpful and the food and drinks were amazing! Really the only thing I can criticize about the whoe cruise is all the upselling and charges on this ship. Charging for popcorn, really?? Also, the drinks were crazy expensive. Read Less

My husband, daughter and I just got off of the Allure on Sunday. We had the best time on this beautiful ship. Everyone from the cabin steward (Norman, room 6280) to our waiters (too many to mention) to the nice people that we met, including a family that lives about 10 mins from us, was wonderful. Our room (ocean view balcony) was very roomy and we had plenty of room to store all of our clothes and "stuff". There were 3 adults in the room, so we thought that would be difficult, but to our surprise, it wasn't at all. The shows were fabulous as well. We saw "Ocean Aria" and the comedy show (twice) as well at the headliner show. We didn't get to Mama Mia though and I'm sorry that we didn't. The pool games were all fun and the staff was energetic and entertaining. We thought the cruise director was very good and fun too. We especially loved him dancing in the "70's show" on the Promenade. All of the food was very good as well. We had my time dining and enjoyed different locations with different waiters every night. The buffet was delicious, hot and diverse too. We enjoyed all of the ports, but Labadee the most. We did the Orient Beach/Maho Beach excursion at St. Maarten and the traffic was a nightmare. We probably wouldn't do that again. We just shopped and walked around a bit (in the drizzle ) in San Juan. Getting on and off of the ship was a breeze too. We did expedited dis-embarking so we could pack our "beauty aids" with us in the morning and it wall went as smooth as clock work. Really the only thing that we didn't like, was having to say good-bye to this fabulous ship, but we will definitely be back. Read Less

I choose this cruise because it did sail to St. Thomas. Several days before boarding I found out that they would not sail to St. Thomas as planned. Royal would not allow any refunds or transfers to another ship. They did not even notify us. We found out by trying to book a shore excursion. We called Royal. They would not allow any cancellations or re-book or transfer to another ship. We spoke to the cruise director and captain about this. They just said they were following orders. The strange part about this trip is that we sailed right past St. Thomas on our way to a half of day in San Juan. San Juan is very close to St. Thomas, where we were promised a full day. The rest of the cruise was average. Moma Mia was good. Chops was great. Mainly for 30-40's crowd. I went in mid may to avoid all of the kids. I was wrong. Many kids on board. Had to leave chops and other restaurants because of screaming kids. Asked for a quiet table and each time they sit screaming kids right next to us even after a table change twice. No one listens. Read Less

I wanted to take my mother on an amazing vacation because she has never been anywhere further than 12-14 hours from home. My oldest daughter also came so this was a 3 generation vacation. The ship was full of anything anyone could want. My daughter enjoyed the shops, purses, clothes. My mother enjoyed the scenery on the ship and absolutely loved the balcony in our room. I enjoyed everything, especially watching my mother enjoy herself. Dining was as expected where the food was concerned as this is my and my daughters 3rd year in a row on a Royal Caribbean cruise. Our waiter Jesus and assistant waiter Jing Jing were amazing, entertaining, prompt, courteous and a joy to have serve us. The Aqua show was amazing. Wonderful performance and skill by all. A must see. Momma Mia was good but extremely long, I would suggest catching it earlier in the day rather than late. The Blue Planet show was another wonderful show, also a must see. Excellent choreography. As far as the service, guest services was helpful as always. Had a little issue with a cake I ordered to be delivered to my mother in the dining room the night of her birthday. It did not show up. I went to Guest Services to have the charge removed, which was done but they also called a manager to speak to us and promised to make it up to us. They kept offering us wine, we do not drink. The following night at dinner the manager asked if we had received the cake in our room, that he had it sent down, we did not. The following night they brought it to our table and serenaded my mother. I was a little disappointed in our meet and mingle. Apparently they took a poll and it was voted that the main thing everyone wanted to win was alcohol, so that is all they had to give away. Again, we do not drink. The last cruise I took, a year ago, had a lot more prizes and a lot more attendees. The saving grace of the meet and mingle was Flavio who hosted the meeting. He was a doll. He was super sweet, energetic and entertaining. It's a shame that someone recently posted that he needed to scale it down and not talk so much. I say, Flavio, don't take too much stake in what a few others say. Let your light shine and always be you, you're a much better you than trying to be what others want you to be, so continue being just the way you are, we love you that way. He was a true joy, not only hosting but getting to know everyone on a personal level as well. I felt he genuinely cared and wanted to get to know you. He felt more like a friend than anything else, enjoyed him immensley. All ports were very quick and efficient. I also very much appreciated the kindness and attention Danel and Ashkyr during the sales on the Promenade showed to my mother. They made her feel so special. Two great young men there. Read Less

Allure pretty much exceeds all expectations. This ship is so large that you don't really mind those sea days and doesn't usually feel crowded even with so many people on board. Embarkation: 5/5 Embarkation was the quickest we've ever experienced. They really have it down to a science. We arrived at 2 and were in the ship within 20 minutes. Cabin: 4/5 Pretty standard cruise cabin. Typical size. Nicely decorated. A few complaints: the outlets on the desk were worn out and our chargers wouldn't stay in without being propped up. The beds were very hard. The sofa bed is terrible. Cabin Bathroom: 4/5 Surprisingly larger than most. The sink/counter was very low for a tall person like me. The shower was a bit larger than normal as well. The light blue/green tile is very pretty. It also had a dim nightlight that was a nice touch as well. Dining: 4/5 The windjammer does a decent job managing the crowds, but it gets strained to capacity during peak times. The wipeout cafe is a nice alternative but has a limited selection. Other venues like the park cafe are underwhelming. The main dining room food and service were great. Service was a bit slow the first two nights, but things started to click after that. Breakfast and lunch in the Dining Room (only deck 3) offers a more relaxed experience and some unique items you won't find in the windjammer. Entertainment: 5/5 Allure really shines on entertainment. The OceanAria show was the best. It's amazing what they can do with such a small diving pool. Mamma Mia was also surprisingly good. I didn't really to expect to like it as much as I did. They have some really talented people on the staff. Ship Public Areas: 4.5/5 The Royal Promenade is one of my favorite features on RC ships, but this is one area where the ship feels its 6000 passengers onboard. It can get really crowded. The casino technically has a nonsmoking side, but it really smells terrible. Everything else seemed really nice and very clean. Outdoor Areas: 4.5/5 Central park and the boardwalk are really nice additions. They make the ship feel so much larger. Central park is a nice relaxing space. The pool deck is really large and there are so many pools and hot tubs scattered around. Chair hogging is a big problem. It can be hard to find places to sit. especially in the shade, on sea days. Although most the seats were "occupied", only about ~40% actually had butts in seats. Ports: 4/5 Our itinerary was changed by RC a month or so before departure due to "propulsion issues". Apparently they changed all of the ship's remaining cruises until it goes into drydock in December. We did not mind the change since we like Puerto Rico better than St. Thomas anyway. St. Kitts: There's really nothing there unless you book an excursion and there isn't much to choose from. We went ashore to shop for a couple hours and then came back to enjoy the uncrowded pools on the ship. Puerto Rico: If you've never been, go to the Castle del Morro. We have been before and elected to go to the beach. There is a public beach called Ocean Park which is a 10-15 minute cab ride ($14 each way). You can find umbrellas and chairs for rent. It was not crowded at all when we were there. The Carnival Magic was also in port that day. Nassau: There were five ships in port that day. If you are wanting to go to Atlantis, it is worth it to book with the cruise line because the bus picks you up at the pier and drops you at the casino entrance. We heard that the line to get into Atlantis if you didn't book with the cruise line was over an hour and half. Read Less

This is my first review ever on a ship. Previously, I have sailed with Carnival, Princess and NCL. We tried Royal because we heard great things about it and it did not disappoint. Obviously, there were some things that could have been improved on but overall, the cruise was great. Here are just some highlights. Pros: Embarkation - when we check in online about 2 weeks before, we were told to show up at 1pm. However, we had to be out of our hotel room at 11am and we didn't want to wait at the hotel, so we just went right to the cruise port.Even thought we had to be there at 1, we got there around 11am and were on the boat by noon. Very very smooth. We read before that Windjammer got really busy at that time and boy there weren't wrong, so we made our way to Wipe Out Cafe towards the back of the boat and had no problem. Staff: For the most part, all the staff we encountered were wonderful! My room attendant was on point with everything and very friendly. My other family members also enjoyed their room attendant. We chose My Time Dining and had reservations every night (more on that later). We loved our waiter and staff the first night so we requested them for the rest of the ship and they were again...wonderful! They knew our drinker order after the 1st night and were very timely with everything. If we needed to get to a show right after dinner, we let them know and they made sure we had plenty of time to eat and then find seats. Kudos to them! The only staff member that I didn't care for was someone at the Guess Service Desk. Royal offers luggage service now where they pick up your luggage the last night of the cruise and you don't see it until you arrive at your home destination. Well, because we were on a cruise, we lost track of time and missed the deadline to bring the form down to Guest Services by 1/2hr. Only a 1/2hr. We when told the worker, she was like Nope, you're too late and turned and walk away. Very very rude. Food: I am not a picky eater so maybe that is why I enjoyed what I ate. The options in the main dining room was great. I could always find something to eat. Wind Jammer is your typically buffet but they provide plenty of options. I preferred breakfast and lunch in the Solarium because it was a lot quieter and relaxing. Not as many options as Wind Jammer but it got the job done. We paid for one special resturant (Giovanni's) and it was fantastic! The food was great as well as the staff. I would go back in a heart bet. Room: Granted I was in a room by myself but there is plenty of room. Not sure I would share it with more than 1 adult though. Room was very clean and tidy. Everything worked great. Balcony was wonderful. Luggage (as I'm sure you are reading everywhere else) is scattered down the hall on Day 1 so you need to find it. Luckily, mine was right outside my door and so were the the rest of my families but I did hear some people mumble and grumble about it.The bathroom is tiny but worked well for my needs. Cons: My Time Dining: We chose My Time Dining and made reservations for most of the nights for 7pm. Now, you would think with reservations you could just go right in and be all set but no, you had to wait in line upwards of 15mins to even tell them that you were there. And then sometimes, you still had to wait to be seated. If we cruise Royal again, we would not chose that option. It was a joke. While the wait staff were fantastic, we didn't appreciate having to wait to be seated even with reservations. Elevators: There were over 6,000 people on board with 12 elevators so of course there would be waiting and sometimes they would be full. But the elevators are just plain wonky! You stand outside waiting to get in and notice that some of them aren't even moving?!?! Why has it been on desk 3 of 5mins while I'm waiting? Simply does not make sense. Ports of Call: We chose this itinerary because of the ports of call. We were suppose to go to St. Kitts, St. Thomas and the Bahamas. A week before our cruise, we got notified that something is wrong with the boat and we are no longer going to St. Thomas but now to San Juan. Been there, done that, had no interest in going back. Okay, fine I get it but still. We were looking forward to going to St. Kitts and the Bahamas still but were disappointed in the shore excursions. On St. Kitts we did a Scenic Railway Tour. Nothing that scenic about looking at broken down cars in people's yards, trash all over the place, etc. It surely didn't feel like the Caribbean. The highlight was St Kitts was that my dad found a Harley Davidson store and was able to buy a shirt. Don't waste your money. In the Bahamas, we didn't an Essential Nassau tour - again don't waste your money. Visiting a "Rum Cake Factory" really means going to a shack on the side of the street and trying a teeny sample of cake - along with the 50 other people that were there. And not sure why we need to drive around Atlantis to look at the buildings? Royal did a good job in selling this excursion. We were just the suckers who signed up for it. I would go back to the Bahamas but do a beach excursion instead as the beaches we drove by were very nice. All in all we had a wonderful family vacation. No vacation is perfect but we were able to relax, drink, eat and disconnect from the real world which is why we went. Also, the entertainment was great. I wanted to go back and see Mamma Mia again but simply didn't have the time. Read Less

We have been cruising with Royal Caribbean since we started - First Freedom of the Seas - Next Serenade of the seas and Now Allure of the Seas the boats get more and more beautiful and extravagant every time. Service amazing - Food Amazing and lots to do the only thing i can say the Boat was so big we only figured our way around her good on last day. The New Royal Caribbean Building was so easy to to embark through and the people were amazing. Cabin a bit small for four adults but ok Entertainment was great but they only play the Broadway show two days out of 8 Ports were good but had some bad weather not Royal Caribbeans fault Lots to do for Children traveled with a 3 Year old and an 13 Year old Have booked another 15 Day Transatlantic on her for Next year will know her by than. Read Less

We chose Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas because of its size, we had a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise, one thing that I have notice on our first port at Nassau, Bahamas was the weather, there was a slight drizzle of rain during the first 4 hours after the ship has docked, we booked an excursion for the Atlantis paradise resort in Bahamas through the RCI website, we were gathered at the Amber theater and an announcement was made by the tour excursion organizer of the RCI that some parts of the Atlantis Resort will be closed to guests and we were provided an option to either cancel and be refunded of our booking or we can proceed despite of the inclement weather, the rest of the port destination was excellent because it was all sunny. There are a lot of fun activities on the ship especially if it is cruising and at the sea all day, it was a good thing that we chose an interior stateroom, because we would just visit our room during nap time, most of the time we were outside of our cabin room, I would suggest to book a reservation for the my time dining, otherwise you would end up queuing during dinner at the main dining room, service were all excellent for our stateroom attendant Ashton and to our waiters for the dining room Sanket and Micky, & Tony the trio were all Indian National and Ramil a Philippine national, we ended up sharing a small amount of gratuities for those guys for their excellent service despite the fact that gratuities was all inclusive on our cruise package, ports and excursion were smooth and easy, we have just waited maybe at least 10 mins after the ship has docked and we went all the way to explore every port. We are a family and 3 grown-up kids with party of 5. Overall, we would love to booked our next cruise with Royal Caribbean for a Mediterranean cruise for a 7 or 8 days cruise. Read Less

This was our 3rd time on the Allure and 12 time on Royal, one of our favorite ships. EMBARKATION AND DEBARKATION - fastest I have ever had! Both took less than 10 minutes. Face recognition makes going thru customs a breeze, didn’t even have to show our passports or fill any paperwork out, make sure you put your pictures in the online check in prior to cruise! GENERAL INFO - We absolutely love Central Park, it is so peaceful in the morning and pretty at night. I love to grab a quick breakfast or lunch and typically love the roast beef sandwiches at Park Cafe but they were consistently fatty and grizzly this time. They have great made to order fresh salads, make sure you don’t get in the salad line if you aren’t getting a salad, jump over to the sandwich line at lunch. If buffet is crowded at breakfast, you can go to Wipeout Cafe, Park Cafe, Solarium buffet, and Johnny Rockets is no fee for breakfast. If you have the deluxe drink package, specialty coffees and milkshakes at Johnny Rockets are included. The ship is kept very clean, except for the bathroom on the fourth floor by the Grand Main dining and Casino, floor was always dirty and sticky. The ship will soon go in for refurbishment I believe which is needed. The food is good but they need to change up a tired menu. They did change the apple pie and it is MUCH better than the cold piece of pie that I can get at any grocery store they used to serve, now they are hot individual apple turnovers that were delicious. My recommendations would be: - offer two soups every night, one being a cream of any vegetable other than mushroom as -the menu is too heavy on mushrooms. - Offer two different salads each night - Get rid of the tired turkey dinner -strip steak need to be better quality -Caesar Salads offered nightly are less fresh than they used to be, no reason to be much different than one at Chops-Bring back bread sticks and serve the rolls warm, if possible. Pools- are great, never had too much trouble getting chairs unless we did not get out there until after 10:30, but could find one in the later afternoon. CASINOS- I get that it is a business and need to take advantage of fact that we are captive audiences but the payouts on video poker are lowest I have ever seen and machines are too tight to have fun. I don’t mind losing, but give us some playing time. And to only have 3 video poker machines in non smoking area is silly. I personally miss the old 5Xs machine. Also no one came to get drink orders for a half hr. The DELUXE DRINK PACKAGE- usually goes on sale a month or so before your cruise, worth it if you drink bottled water, fresh squeezed juice, specialty coffee and have more 3 or more drinks per day. This was first time we were DIAMOND Members but still got drink pkg because we didn’t want to feel like we had to get drinks at certain times between 5 and 8. We didn’t even go to Diamond Lounge until last night but we’re sorry we didn’t. It was so nice and the view of Boardwalk and back of ship was exquisite! Other than than that and the one free 8x 10 picture, we didn’t see much value in the much anticipated DIAMOND LEVEL. Couldn’t use the discount on any of my purchases and none of the drink discounts were needed due to having drink package. A bag of laundry, which is free on Celebrity on commensurate level, is only discounted on Royal. ENTERTAINMENT- the best at sea hands down! DON’t MISS THE DIVING SHOW OCEANARIA AT THE AQUA THEATRE, it is the best!!! THE SPA- they have wonderful services and I thoroughly enjoyed both massages, one of which was combined with a mini-facial. I was not happy with the “free ladies pamper party” which stated that “all who attended royal enjoy a free collagen face, eye and neck treatment and a complementary sun glow makeover. We applied our own face eye and neck cream and only 2 were chosen to get a sun bow “makeover which took about 30 seconds. Talk about false advertising! They did offer us a discount on a massage pkg which was nice but really left me with bad taste in my mouth! THE STAFF- Hard working and friendly! They work so hard and Royal needs to have more bartenders working the bars. The waiters in main dining room are great, especially Anak! Our room steward Carl was kind and efficient! BIGGEST PET PEVE- if I am paying for a balcony room and am a diamond level member, would it be possible to have toilet paper that is not equivalent to thin sandpaper? C’mon Royal, you are making TONS of $, this is how you treat the people who make that possible? I understand it has to be thin to accommodate plumbing on a ship but it can be better quality than that! Shameless! It won’t stop me from sailing but I should not have to bring my own TP. #Don’tBeSoCheapRoyal! Read Less

After looking into many questions before I leave for the cruise, I feel compelled to share my first cruise with our friends. After much deliberation we decided that some of the 50th birthday celebrations would be Cruise (for the first time). The date of the cruise was determined following family constraints for the Passover holiday of 2019 in April. Since this is the first time we make a cruise and after a thorough examination it was decided to go on one of the best - a large ship of Royal Caribbean. As stated, there were time constraints and therefore the cruise was chosen with the Allure Of The Seas, https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-sh…/allure-of-the-seas, Western Caribbean track, 7 nights with 4 anchors in NASSAU- BAHAMAS, COZUMEL-MEXICO, ROATAN-HONDURAS, PUERTO COSTA MAYA-MEXICO and 2 DAYS ONLY, Departure from Miami. Now it was left to choose which agency would invite the cruise. There are many opinions whether to order through an Israeli agency or through a foreign agency. After a thorough and thorough examination, I found out that the company Crozit, https://www.cruiseit.co.il/, with the agent Orit Cohen Rochov gave the best offer. As I mentioned, it was decided to order with a minimum risk and therefore the room with balcony to the ocean, on the 11th floor in the center of the ship (room number 11590 D2). The room is spacious enough, a double bed and a sofa bed, a shower with excellent water flow and a balcony facing the sea, television, storage closet, 110 and 220 volts power sockets. It is difficult to describe in words the experience of sitting on the balcony while sailing and sleeping with an open window and hearing the waves coming back - an experience! The ship is huge, really a floating hotel. Many different types of rooms, countless dining rooms, restaurants, cafes, 2 promenades with vegetation, casino, swimming pools, Jacuzzi, climbing wall, Omega, surfing and more. 2 notable restaurants for light meals: 1. Park Caffe - Salads, sandwiches, cakes and flag sandwich with roast beef 2. The pizza restaurant The ship has a wide range of performances, including Mamma Mia, acrobatic show with oceanAria, Ice Ice show, Blue Planet, Headliner Showtime and more. About 60-90 days before the cruise, the possibility of planning the cruise is open on the Royal Caribbean site, ordering an hour for dinner (17.30, 20.00 or "on my own time"), ordering the various shows on the ship and booking excursions at the ports. For convenience and schedule of performances we chose the time 20.00, we got a regular table in the dining room on the 5th floor and regular waiters. In accordance with our needs, we purchased in advance and at a discounted price Classic Soda Package, which includes soft drinks and cola and an internet package VOOM Surf + STREAM Voyage Package - 1 Device Additional alcoholic beverages, coffee, shakes and more can be purchased. It is also possible to purchase a 10-cup card or a 10-alcoholic card. Each room has the option of bringing 12 bottles of 17 oz and 2 bottles of wine to the ship. In the boat, at various meals, you will be served free glasses of water and juices. The ship anchored at the port of Miami in Terminal 1 of Royal Caribbean, we reached the port of the car rental agency in the city and left the port to the airport on a trip with uber. The check-in and check-out of the ship is carried out with remarkable efficiency with no queue and speed. The attractions we did at our ports were: NASSAU-BAHAMAS - taxi ride ($ 10 toward) Cabbage Beach on the island island Paradise Island, a beach with soft white sand and good water for bathing. You can rent 2 sunbeds + umbrella for $ 20, and there are street vendors selling drinks. You can walk to the beach of the luxurious Atlantis Bahamas and even enter the hotel grounds and be impressed by it. COZUMEL-MEXICO - A fun day of sailing to spectacular blue lagoons and dive snorkeling, booked through http://cozumelcruiseexcursions.net/cozumel-snorkel-tour-res…, at a cost of $ 50 per participant. ROATAN-HONDURAS - We booked a day trip to the island with a local operator named Francklin Gálvez, francklinalexisgalvezbonilla1@gmail.com, a nice guy who tries very hard to please the guests he accompanies. Franklin charges $ 20 per participant for a full day of pick-up and return from / to port and travel according to an agreed plan. ($ 10) Visit the Chocolate and Fun Factory at the stunning beach of West Bay Beach (one of the resorts, plus sun beds + umbrella $ 15) PUERTO COSTA MAYA-MEXICO - We ordered a $ 50 golf car from MAYAHUAL Local Golf Car, https://costa-maya-golf-cars.negocio.site/, marvin1907@yahoo.com.mx and drove to the beaches of the nearby village of MAYAHUAL Docking Port . In retrospect it is unnecessary and you can reach this coastal strip with a local taxi. The coast of the Costa Maya disappointed. Hope this summary will help others. I'll be happy to answer any question. Yaari Read Less

My Husband and I had a wonderfully relaxing and fun week aboard the Allure of the seas. Both embarkation and disembarkation were a breeze. The Allure is a beautiful ship. We had a boardwalk balcony and loved it! The staff on the ship were wonderful. They were all helpful and polite. Our room steward and dining room waiters were so accommodating and engaging with us each day. We went on an ATV adventure (Campo Rico) in San Juan that was really fun. I had never ridden an ATV before and found the tour well organized and easy to follow. One of our excursions was canceled at the last minute and we ended up staying on the ship - we have never done this before and had a fabulous time enjoying a practically empty ship! The Oasis class ships are really big and and the neighborhood layout is great for breaking up the crowds. However, we did find the elevators to be crowded and often took the stairs to avoid waiting for an elevator with space to arrive. Our only other small complaint was that we found the layout of the buffet to be confusing which caused congestion. We ended up going to the main dining room for lunch and were surprised to find that they had both menu and buffet options available. Allure of the seas is a great ship and we would definitely recommend it! Read Less

We were a family of four (2 children aged 11 and 9) travelling from Manchester (UK) to Miami. This may be a long review but I wanted to put something out there about how easy it is to do a cruise from the UK to Miami and it probably cost no more than a trip to the med. This was our 13th cruise and 4th to the Caribbean. It was our 3rd trip with Royal Carribbean and 2nd on the Allure (previous one was in the med). We decieded to do a few days in miami first and travelled from Manchester on the Thursday before. Unfortunalty Manchester dont do direct flights to Miami which meant we had to do a stop over to Paris. The overall journey time was 13 hours, which was a bit of a faff but worth it in the end. Like i said we did 3 days in Miami and stayed on Washington Avenue two blocks away from the beach, it was a great location with loads to do. Be warned it can be expensive to eat in that area and may be worth researching it a bit before you go, the average night time meal was around £100 for a family of four (just mains & drinks). In addition we did not get breakfast through the hotel and spent an average of S60 each morning. Embarkation Qucik taxi from the hotel to the port cost us $30 and we were there in a couple of minutes. The new port terminal fro RCCL is very impressive and embarkation took us less than 20 mins, with all there new technology which was great. Overview of ship There are no words to decribe it other than wow, as said before we had no idea that we were sailing it was that steady. its true you cant see all of it on a weeks cruise there is just so many things to do. Having been on it before you do notice things different and the reason you dont feel your on board with 6000 other people is that the segregation of not only the different neighbourhoods but the things in them area's mean you dont realise where people are.all the area's were fantastically clean and tidy Cabin We opted for an outside cabin this time and were on deck three. The rooms appear to be the same size of the balcony one's, but what we found was due to not having the balcony doors it felt you had more useable space. in addition our cabin steward was fantastic we saw her all the time and nothing was too much trouble for her. Daytime Activities There is so much to do you have to ensure you plan ahead if you want to do everything, because you will run out of time. All the activites we did were great (flowrider, rock climbing, zip line, ice skating, golf and pools), there was very little queues anywhere and the staff were really attentive. We have been on some of the newer NCL ships and always feel the top decks can be a little crowded and the pools small, but you dont feel like this on this ship, we never had a problem getting a deckchair and there were plenty of bar staff going round taking drink orders. Kids Club Now the boys are at an age where they dont really want to go into the clubs and had decieded from the offset that they did not want to go, however after three days in Miami, we were ready for a little break and asked them to go in on the first evening for a couple of hours, after some arguing they agreed (i threatened to throw their Nintendo's over the side...only Joking). When we went back to collect them after a couple of hours, they didnt want to come out (suprise, suprise). so for the rest of the week we had to force them out of the club so we could do things together, which of course they moaned. The kids club staff were great and there were a few brit staff, who were fantastic with them and made us feel very at home. Night time Activities Overall they were very good, but again you just didnt have time to see them all. We saw Mama Mia (again), the diving shows and the ice skating shows which were great. In fact my son wanted to go to the rink the next day and is now mithering me to become a contestant on dancing on ice (Sorry a brit joke). The bars were fantastic and the staff really attentive, escpecially the guys on the rising tide bar and in the pub. Food & Drink We mainly ate in the main dining rooms and buffet's for breakfast and lunch. They have a new way of controlling the buffet sections when busy and queue people outside until a table is free. This initially looked quite annoying, however the queue time was less than five minutes and it eliminated the need to find a table and walk endlessly round with your food until you got one, overall i thought this was a great idea. The food in the buffet was of a good standard. The main dining room again was good, we had my time dining and never really had to wait longer than 10 minutes for a table. The service was a little hit an miss at times, mainly really great service but on a couple of occassions really quite poor. The food was of a good standard but with the exception of the lobster, there was nothing really that wowed us. We also utilised the hot dog stand and serento's which was great and the kids loved them. We were fortunate to get the drink package as part of the holiday price and it really does make a difference as your not constantly checking your account. The drink availabilty was great, with loads of differnt things to try. Ports Saint Martin - We spent the day at Maho beach (The ones with the airport at the end). Getting there was really simple, we left the cruise terminal area and got in a taxi, not a long queue and we shared with others, it cost $16 per person return and the return taxi area is just next to the beach. The beach is not much to look at but seeing the planes come in was amazing. The sea was warm and kids had a great time, we got a couple of sunloungers next to the bar and I think these were $10 each for the day. The journey time was about 40 mins and the traffic was not that bad. The island is still a mess and its quite upsetting to see the damage from the storm a few years ago. San Juan - Bit of a strange one, we got off without the kids and just had a walk around, it was ok and the buildings looked very cuban in style. however the only thing was you didnt get a feel of the culture, but that could be just were we walked. Hati - We went RCCL private island, the good points were that the food and drink were included (as we had the drinks package). there is loads to do (if you want to pay for it) we let the kids do the water park area, we kept a close eye on them, however my little lad had to be rescued because we had fallen drop inbetween two of the inflatables, which got a little scarey. We also did the rollercoaster, which was worth it. Disembarkation and last day We had booked the return flight on the same day we disemarked, which is something we dont normally do if were travelling to the US. We had booked the hop on bus tour, that stored our luggage, something we were a little nervous about. We got off the ship at about 8am. The bus tour took around south beach, little havanah and downtown going back to bayside. We got off a couple of times and ended up back at bayside at about 1pm, we had a look around the shops had some lunch and then caught the 3pm shuttle back to the airport (all included) for our 7:40pm flight. The reason for the detail is that we were very nervous that there would be a lot of wandering/waiting around, however the day went really smoothly, we got changed in the airport ready for our night flight home.This trip is something i would reccomend. Overall Costs Just to give brits a little flavour of what it cost, overall for 11 days/10 nights we spent about £5300. The flights cost us £1300, we got a steal on the cruise at £2200 (including the drinks package). The hotel for 3 nights cost us about £500 and we spent about £1400, the majoity of this was in miami - £800, Trips - £200, cruise spend £400. Sorry about the long review, but if there are any brits out there, thinking about it, hope this helps Read Less

Our experience on the Allure of the Seas with Royal Caribbean Cruise. 3rd Cruise, 1st with RC. The entire cruise started out poorly with it taking close to a month to book our shore excursions due to having to go through a special area because of handicapped guests. The only way to reach them was email and it took them a week or two to respond the first couple times and after that, I was getting no response at all. I finally had to reach out to the executive office, and it was handled within a couple days with all shore excursions approved by the tour operators themselves. (Apparently the girl that was helping us got sick and there was no one helping or monitoring her email account and “we just slipped through the cracks-??”). At the time we booked our cruise (2+ months in advance), we booked through Royal Caribbean and provided them with all 8 of our birthdays and they arranged our 3 rooms accordingly and all was well it seemed. Over a month later, they decide to send an email and mention that we have 2 “minors” (18 and 20 yrs old) in a room by themselves which is not allowed unless they are in a room attached to ours. The first guy told me when I called that there was nothing they could do, the cruise was full, and we would have to pay extra to upgrade our room to get one next to them. I did not like that answer, so I called back again a couple minutes later to another manager and now there is no other rooms available at all because the cruise is at capacity. Needless to say, I had to make several phone calls and spend a lot of time finding an appropriate manager before they were able to “fix it” so we were all still able to go on the cruise. By Fix, I mean they changed the names around on the reservation, to make sure a adult was listed with a minor in each room. Mind you, this was very close to sail date so we had no other choice, and this “fix” effected us several times throughout our cruise when they could have easily told us this policy when we booked the cruise with the representative, so we could have worked out a solution early on before all the available rooms were gone. Getting on the ship wasn’t too bad and once on the ship, we head to the buffet to get food while the rooms were still being made up. The line was a mile long obviously with everyone having the same idea, so I went up and asked the employee standing at the front what other places were available to eat that were FREE on the ship. He mentioned 3, Johnny rockets being the only one we could understand, so we headed down there, all 8 of us with 2 elderly individuals in scooters. It took us 25 minutes just to get an elevator to take us down because it was so busy, just to find out Johnny rockets wasn’t free as the worker had advised. We ended up having to eat there anyway because everyone was hot, hungry, and aggravated. After eating we headed up to the rooms to find 3 of our bags missing from one room, and 1 bag from another room. At this point, it was past sail away time so we headed down the hall to find a steward to ask about the bags. We get half way down the hall and see two of our missing bags in front of another door. We found the lady that was taking care of all the baggage on the floor and told her about our bags being in the wrong place and one still missing on this floor and another missing on another floor. She wouldn’t let us take our own bags to our room, she said she would get them and bring them and find our other one, which I’m sure is some policy or something, but to be honest, they obviously didn’t do a great job the first time around so it was difficult to leave our bags, but eventually we did get all our bags that belonged at each of our rooms. We then try to set up the WiFi... I’ll just shorten that experience recall by saying we spent an hour between the WiFi desk and the App desk trying to get our WiFi package to work for all of us AND get everything re-situated with the apps because of how they had to list our names on the rooms to comply with their minor policy. (My information and plans were listed on my husbands app and our daughters on his, etc). After all this time wasted, we noticed we had different dining times listed on our sail cards even though we had prearranged to all eat at one time at the same table, this was apparently due to them rearranging our names due to the minor policy again. So next we go to the dining area desk and speak with them. Spent several minutes with them not being able to resolve it, so we were told they would contact us in the morning. We went back to the room to change and get ready for a late night show and the phone rings. It’s a lady from the shore excursion desk telling us we won’t be able to do the tours that we had arranged prior to boarding and had ok’d directly with the tour operators themselves. At this point I just told her I’d call back in the morning because we had spent the entire first day handling issues and had not been able to enjoy anything and I was finished. The second day we wake up and go to breakfast in the dining hall, and were met by two very rude employees. Apparently it is a very BIG inconvenience for the workers if you have a large party and/or scooters which we had both. We left breakfast feeling awful. Now looking into the RC app, our dining time now shows late dining instead of early dining and my daughter gets a notice on her door that our dining time was changed to a different dining area but with early dining, so off to the dining place we go again to verify what was going on. 30 minutes later, No one can figure out how the late dining got put in, and they verified the dining in the other dining area was correct. Ok fine.. so we go down and check out THIS dining hall and find it right next to the casino. You can smell a horrific smell of smoke coming into the restaurant and my daughter has health issues so obviously a smoky dining room isn’t going to work for us. Back to the dining booth with another promise of someone going to handle it before the day is up. Thankfully we had specialty dining that night and didn’t have to eat in the regular dining room. At this point, I again contact the executive office and let them know we have spent all of the first day and most of the second just trying to deal with issues and I was just about to the breaking point. I paid a lot of money to enjoy myself and be stress free; not spend the entire day handling problems. I then proceeded to the shore excursion desk to try to deal with the call from the night before. They told me I needed to go to guest relations because they knew nothing about anyone calling. I get to guest relations, wait in line for 15 min for them to tell me I needed to go back to shore excursions. I proceed back to shore excursions, and no one is able to tell me why the person called or what was wrong with my shore excursion. I spent over an hour there, had a break down and started crying, and finally she contacted the manager of the shore excursions. He also had no idea what was going on and said he would have to wait until the evening when the other workers arrive to find out who called and why they had called (because apparently she is the only one that knows what is going on with my shore excursion??) and would get back with me later in the evening. Also thankfully we didn’t have shore excursions until the 4th day. We went to dinner at our specialty restaurant and everyone was so nice. We thought it was because of the specialty dining, but the waiter actually asked us what happened for the dining manager to get involved because apparently they told him to treat us well. We also had a visit that same evening from the head of dining to hand deliver our new dining table number and he mentioned to let him know if there was anything he can do for us from here on out. While I agree that was great customer service, I don’t think people should have to complain to get treated nicely. We took a carnival cruise prior to this one and everyone was accommodating and kind all the time. We did have a great dining experience for the rest of the cruise in the evenings when they apparently knew who we were. The remaining lunch times were still met with rude staff that was annoyed at our large party and the fact that they had to accommodate us with disabled individuals. That evening when we got back to the room, we receive a phone call from the shore excursion manager saying even though we had prior permission to have the scooters on all of our excursions with the tour directors themselves, one particular excursion is now saying we have to push wheelchairs instead of use the scooters. These are the comments from the tour director after sending in a long questionnaire and all the dimensions of the scooters, and the height and weight of the people driving them etc.. Comments:  “So long as the guest can navigate 3 stairs on and off the bus/boat and the scooter/wheelchair can collapse and fit under the bus they are welcome to join the tour.” So now, even though we spent all this time and effort, sent in all required information they needed to get approval and got the approval from the tour directors themselves, they are now changing their mind and the shore excursion manager said there was nothing he could do because it was the tours themselves, it wasn’t Royal Carribean. (We did go on this tour with the wheelchairs and found we could have maneuvered the bus way better with the collapsible scooters versus the wheelchairs, not to mention all the effort it took for us to push them around all day, so it was extremely disappointing to say the least). If everyone wasn’t looking forward to getting off the ship and seeing the area, we would have just cancelled the tour. We actually seemed to have issues all throughout the cruise ship with accommodations and their scooters. In the dining room, the elevators, shops, etc. Their room steward told them that they only needed to call in the evening and the steward would come and pick up their scooters, charge them, and bring it back in the morning at what time they request, but 75 percent of the time they called, no one answered so we had to find a worker each evening to call for us. On the second day, a lady called my mother and was very nasty to her telling her she can not leave the scooters in the hall during the time they are in their room. We asked the Steward again and he said it was fine to leave them and no one could figure out who the mysterious lady was that called and was crazy about it. On the last day, we had two nice people who pushed my mother and my grandmother in wheelchairs part of the way but changed to another two individuals halfway through, around security. When we were outside, the guy told my mom she could keep the wheelchair out there until our ride arrived since we had to leave the scooters on the boat, but the lady pushing my grandma asked if she could stand on her own and then told her if so, she needed to give the wheelchair back. Now my grandma is almost 90 and can’t stand for more than a few minutes so I asked the lady if she could leave the wheelchair like the guy left moms, and she said she couldn’t and took it and started walking away. I followed her and asked her nicely to leave it and she said it was Royal Caribbeans policy they couldn’t leave more than one wheelchair (so if you have 2 disabled people, apparently one is out of luck). I ended up following her and tried to get her name off her name tag and she ripped her name tag off and started yelling about how she will call the cops, and she would not allow me to get her name. She finally went through a door and screamed to the guy that I wasn’t allowed in there, and I was just trying to explain that I wanted her name and even the guy tried to look at her name badge and she grabs it out of his hand and yells at him to quit touching her. He tells me who her manager is, I go speak with him but couldn’t give him much information on who she was because she snatched her name tag, and he said he would go and try to find out who it was but at this point our ride was there so we had to leave. I have never been treated so awful, not to mention my 89 year old grandma was left outside with nothing to sit on and there was no benches available. Also this problem was very minimal compared to the rest, but we found a few times when we went to go do activities (carousel and zip line specifically) they were closed even though they were suppose to be open. We also ordered room service with cokes and water and specified we had the drink package to cover the drinks, but when they brought it they brought Evian bottled water instead of the bottled water that came with our package and canned coke instead of a glass of coke that would come with our package. We ended up with over a $30 room service bill which should have just been the $8 service fee. Also, the “jewelry making class” consisted of you purchasing your own jewelry kit and following the directions to make it yourself while trying to hurry up and get it done before the next class started. After this, we did not attend any more of the “classes” and even cancelled our cupcake decorating class we had scheduled. We chose Royal Carribbean because their customer service and overall cruise experience is suppose to be unmatched, but found out first hand things aren’t always as they seem. I will give a huge shoutout to our amazing waiters for our regular dining time and our stewards, both which were very funny, nice, and accommodating. The shows were great, and the food was good, but overall extremely disappointing for the money spent and the time wasted dealing with all the problems. Read Less

Checking in on day 1 was Fast. We arrived at 10 and were on ship by 10:30. No lines – we went right up to the waiting area and were the first to board the ship when they started we saw a welcome Key members sign but that was all. No one knew of a special waiting area – they just told us to sit with everyone else and wait. (No biggie). This was at port of Miami on Allure of the Seas. Didn’t help with any special security lines – but that terminal is so streamlined you don’t need it anyway. They may have let some Star Class on first but didn’t notice but we did have priority over everyone else even wheelchairs access. Heard some complaints about "we were here first" but whatever I guess that's what we paid for. Carry Ons: Went to Amber Theater to drop off carry ons. They did not provide any internet access at this point or wrist bands or Sea Pass Cards. I saw the list of names – only a few pages so couldn’t have been more than 100 people. Stopped at Schooner bar to have a cocktail to kill some time since lunch doesn’t start till 11:30 – watched all the people coming on ship through the promenade. Very busy – my tip go anywhere else first. It’s like people wouldn’t leave the promenade when they boarded like they forgot the ship has 18 floors and many places to disperse. I could only imagine what the Windjammer would have looked like for lunch on Day 1 which brings me to chops. Lunch: Lunch at Chops was great. About 1 hour not 2 like some mentioned. Yes menu was a tad smaller than the regular lunch menu which is displayed outside the restaurant- but doubt we would have ordered anything else. Steaks were fantastic! After lunch we went back to our room (12:50) – our carryon was waiting for us on the couch. Rooms ready at 1 no early access for Key Holders but we managed to be in at 12:50. In the room was all the Key information - and how to access the internet. Shows: Shows were great and yes you still need reservations for majority of them even with the Key (they do scan cards to check) but we were able to arrive almost 5min before the show started walk past the stand by line and go right to our reserved section which was first level dead center second section back. Great seats. We’ve sat front row before and you miss so much – too close. Now anyone with reservations can also walk past the standby line as well but they don’t actually have reserved seats. It’s still first come first serve and saw many trying to get Into our section but they have Key staff protecting those seats till they release them few minutes before show starts. That was nice not having to rush to the shows early or worry about seats. Internet: Internet was not fast like at home but probably the fastest you can get at sea like they say. We put phones in Airplane mode and used WiFi for calls and FaceTime with the kids while we were away. No issues at all. Quality was good – not the best but hey, your out in the ocean. Tried one night to stream a Netflix show. Took a while to get going and started off bad quality and got a little better. Ended up not watching anything. Don’t really watch stuff on vacation anyway so just sat on balcony till I was too tired to look at the ocean anymore. Things like Music streaming and Facebook were fast and the music came in handy for our Impromptu Solarium parties in the pool. They should have added us to the Cruise Planner – think we had the old folks going better than the main pool area. But that’s another story. Activities: So they give you Key hours for select activities throughout your cruise. We didn’t use any of them though. But we did see what they looked like at the Key times. For example Flowrider was always 8-9am. And maybe we saw 5 people on line. Not sure about everyday what it looked like on all lines though. Also keep in mind – this is NOT a private hour for just you. It’s for all key members. Saw some commenting on comparing it to the private lessons for cost making it a no brainer. Wrong – that lesson is expensive and actually does get you a private hour. In any event with or without the Key – none of the lines we saw were longer than 10 people at any given time on any activity. I’m sure we missed some peak times that may have been longer though. Priority Ports and Tenders Not sure the Key helped on Allure. Every port we stopped at we just went right down the elevator to 2 and got right off. No lines ever at any port and we did get off when we first arrived. Maybe tenders would be helpful with the Key but our itinerary didn’t call for any tenders. Getting back on the ship was fast and easy too (no need for the Key) I don’t think you get priority anyway getting back on. Last day. We had to have any bags packed and outside the door by 11pm night before and tagged with Key tags. Next morning we took our time since we had nowhere to go anyway (2:30pm flight) Went to the MDR for breakfast. Fantastic menu. Had breakfast about 1.5hours then were told to go by the Champagne Room to get off with Key people. A staff member told us Key members left already? Huh? We were told we could go when we were ready. We walked off ourselves and when we crossed the bridge from ship to the terminal they were taking Key guests and suite guests to the “shorter” line. Still a line though for the elevators. After that it was a fast out the door. Not sure how the other line was. Chaos I’m sure. Then our bags were in a special area for pickup. And that’s that. The terminal needs work with the incoming and outgoing traffic though. It’s all mixed together. People coming and going (complete chaos) Overall Value: Good for some not for others. We were getting the internet already anyway so at the time we got the Key at $19.99 pp per day (Internet was $15 pp per day) So for us it was good. Some shows I found you could just walk right in on and get a seat. Not many “bad” seats to begin with. It’s not like your sitting in MSG or MetLife Stadium with 10,000+ people. For us getting on ship first was nice and the final breakfast was nice – even though anyone can eat in the MDR except Key gets an hour longer and on a separate seating area with a special menu. Priority ports were useless for us. On board activities were useless for us (and not really needed anyway) short lines to begin with either way. I also think they need to be a bit more organized with the program. Not everyone on ship (staff) knew what it was. Overall I would say if your already getting Voom and if it’s only $5 more per day then go for it. If you don’t need the internet then I think it’s very overpriced for what you get. I mean I can’t justify that money just for a Chops lunch and getting on the ship maybe 1 hour sooner than most others did. Even shows you’ll get great seats if you show up with a reservation maybe 15-20min earlier. A few clarifications in what I’ve seen on the forums prior: The Key – is per person per day for length of cruise -Must be purchase by everyone over 6 years old in room Internet – each member gets their own access code (you can use on as many devices as you want but must sign out of one before using the next) Flow rider- the one hour reserved slot is one hour for all key guest. You don’t get your own hour. I saw some people trying to justify the cost of a personal lesson to the key. Yes with a lesson you get more personal time but the key hours are shared with key members. So don’t think that’s an hour just for you only. And yes the add a Key sticker to your card And off topic but I don't see what the big deal is with Sorrentos Pizza. People say its fantastic but we live in Northern NJ and were have some of the best Pizza places. I guess if your from down south or somewhere that doesn't make pizza very good - then maybe? To me it was like eating a frozen Pizza - same with Sabor Mexican - eh. Ok but nothing special - wouldn't pay for that again. Read Less

My wife and I, along with her cousin and her husband, booked this cruise over a year ago and could hardly wait to get to this ship. My wife and I flew to Melbourne, FL to stay with her relatives before renting a car and driving down to Miami the day prior to the cruise. We spent the night at the Best Western Plus Airport in Kendall, about 25 miles from the port. This hotel was very nice with a hot breakfast buffet. We really enjoyed staying here, even though it was a little ways from the port. We passed a Bahama Breeze restaurant and decided to have dinner there. It was OK, nothing to write home about. Service was VERY slow. The next morning, we returned the rental car to the airport and took the rental shuttle to the port. It was here that we set our eyes upon the biggest ship we've ever seen. The Allure is huge! Traffic around the RCI Terminal A is horrendous, as construction of another terminal is taking place next door. People trying to leave the terminal while others are trying to get inside make for a huge mess. Once we handed off our luggage to the porters outside, we headed inside to a very spacious building. Checking in took less than 5 minutes before we headed to the waiting area. We finally got to board the ship after a 35-minute wait. WOW...is the first thing that comes to mind when you see this ship for the first time! It is huge both inside and out! It's like standing inside a large mall, with shops and restaurants galore. We proceeded to the Windjammer for lunch. It was NOT as crowded as we imagined. In fact, it was never crowded during the entire cruise. They have different stations set up so there are no long lines anywhere. There's so many different food selections for both breakfast and lunch. We enjoyed everything that we had. Great food! Around 1:00pm, they announced that all cabins were ready, so we headed down to ours (cabin 11-203). We had a Central Park Balcony cabin and it was fantastic! Loved it! Our steward was Andrew from Trinidad and he did a wonderful job tending to our needs and desires. Kept our ice bucket constantly filled. Great job! The little shower "capsule" took some getting used to, but we managed. The sheets and pillows on our bed was so very, very comfortable. In fact, we liked them so much that we bought a set later on in the cruise. I had ordered an extension cord, distilled water and a sharpe's container for our cabin and none were there when we arrived. I needed the cord and water for my CPAP machine. I arranged it with the Special Needs department six months ago and even had an acknowledgement from them saying it would be there upon arrival. Nope! Took 2 days to get the water, four days to get the Sharpe's container and never did see the extension cord. Good thing that I brought my cord with me in my CPAP case. Dinner in the main dining room was fabulous! The meals were very good and served quickly. We never spent more than 75 minutes in there. Our head waiter Clyde and his assistant Marvin took care of us extremely well. We never had anything that we didn't like and had as much as we wanted to eat. With all of the specialty restaurants on board, which we didn't bother going to, we couldn't have asked for better meals. So very, very good! The shops onboard were a little expensive for our tastes. There were not many t-shirts selections until the "20 for $20" sale on the last day. Michael Kors, Coach and the other stores didn't appeal to any of us. The evening shows (Momma Mia, Blue Planet, OceanAria, Ice Games and the juggler) were the best shows that we have ever seen aboard a cruise ship. Hands down! Very entertaining and professionally done. Outstanding! We found little things to do during the day, so we spent most of our time people watching from our cabin balcony. Enjoying every minute. I played a couple of trivia games. Let me tell you, RCI goes to no expenses when it comes to "trophies" for winning....a key chain! If you're lucky, you might win a highlighter! A far cry from a "ship on a stick" at Carnival. Bingo was so costly that we never played a single game. And we never set foot inside the casino. Too smoky for us. The Lido deck was as expected...very crowded in the afternoon. Chair hogs everywhere. If you went out on the deck right after breakfast, you wouldn't have any problems finding a chair or two. There are 5 different pools on this ship, with the best being the "Beach Pool", where you can place your chair in the water then lay back and relax. Caution...if you go back to play putt putt golf, DO NOT sit on the wooden benches along the side. There are covered with soot from the smokestacks on the ship. My wife's cousin ruined a pair of pants that she had just worn for the first time. You may also want to wipe off the chairs if you go to watch the OceanAria show, as they too are in line with the smokestacks. RCI tried to clean her pants for her but they didn't come clean. We booked an outside company for our excursion in St. Maarten. Went to Orient and Maho Beaches (2-hrs at each). Plus got all of the rum punch, water, sodas or beer that we wanted during the tour. It was so awful to see the hurricane damage at Orient Beach, our favorite place on the planet. But we still had a great time. And we enjoyed watching the planes come in over Maho. In San Juan, my wife and I stayed aboard the ship and enjoyed the hot tub and pool. The others in our group head off to explore for a couple of hours. We stopped last in Labadee. This place is beautiful. However, RCI needs to post where swimming isn't safe. We went to Adrenaline Beach, got 4 chairs before heading to the water. A life guard immediatlely told us to get out of the water because it was unsafe. He told us to head farther up the beach to swim. So we packed up, dragged our chairs 200-yards up the beach only to be told it wasn't safe there either! So we just gave up on swimming and laid back to sunbathe. You would thing that these areas should be roped off, but they weren't. But I will tell you what saved the day for us....a Labadoozie! This was the best drink that any of us had ever had! YUM! This was our 25th overall cruise, the 3rd with RCI. There were some things that we liked better than Carnival, but the the staff seemed to be a little rude on Allure and that turned us off. The food and entertainment was, by far, better than Carnival. But the ship was way too big for us 60+ year old cruisers. So much walking to get to everything. We should have done this ship years ago. Read Less

Embarkation went very smoothly. The food was delicious, both in the dining room and the buffet. Our dining staff, Taryn and Gabriel were so friendly and helpful. The pool was refreshing and our pool waiter was awesome. He remembered our room number and drink order. The pool band was great. They played some Island tunes that really put you in the mood to dance. I couldn’t believe how clean the ship was. Our room overlooked Central Park. I sat out on the balcony everyday while my husband showered. There was usually a band playing. In the evening there was either a guitarist or pianist playing in the park. It was very romantic. We went on one excursion with Royal Caribbean. It was snorkeling off of a catermaran. Then we got to jump off the boat and swim to a beautiful beach. Great vacation, everyone was happy and relaxed. Would definitely use Royal Caribbean again! Read Less

Our main purpose for going on this cruise was to get together with relatives that we don't see very often. We weren't particularly interested in any of the 3 stops (San Juan, St. Maarten, Haiti) but looked forward to a week in the sun after a cold winter. Positives: Food was excellent in all of the several venues that served free meals (we didn't try any of the specialty restaurants,) as good as on any cruise we've ever been on. Service throughout was superb, both in the dining rooms and from the cabin steward. The cabin was spotless, comfortable and adequate for a couple who don't spend a lot of time in a cabin. Negatives: Entertainment, which we don't expect to be highly professional on a cruise, was barely mediocre. There was an ice-skating show with various skits, one of which was a couple ice dancing to Pavoratti singing "Nessum Dormo." It was very good, and we expected it to be the finale. Instead, it was followed by a skit on "Jailhouse Rock!" I'd love to ask the producer how he figured he could follow "Nessum Dormo" with "Jailhouse Rock," but didn't get the opportunity. The biggest negative was LINES! Long waiting lines to get into the dining areas and for elevators, which often arrived full so passengers had to wait for the next one...and the next one...etc. One has to give Royal Caribbean an 'A' for effort, but they just aren't equipped to efficiently handle a crowd on a ship the size of the Allure. Read Less

My wife and I, along with our best friends, decided to try one of RC's "mega-ships," and this one matched up with the dates we could go. Allure was amazing! It is so huge with so many things to do. You really have to try not to have fun if you're going to have a bad time on this ship! Embarkation was the smoothest we have experienced (this is only our 5th cruise, but still). We were through in almost no time. We took off from RC's new port in Miami. Huge, but very efficient. Workers at the port were great! The ship itself is massive - the balcony cabins wrap around inside the ship, overlooking a couple different areas. We had an ocean-view balcony cabin and loved it. More roomy than other ship balcony rooms we've had. Nice bed, couch, room to move around. Bathroom was good as well. The only negative about the room was the closet - small and crowded. Did not compare favorably with the Princess ships we've been on. But minor issue - other than that, great room. The main dining room was great. Never went to any of the specialty dining venues - why, when the included food is so excellent? Food was as good as any cruise we have taken. Buffet was good. Not as many choices as Regal or Royal Princess, but all the food was very good. Excellent carved beef and ham! The place where this ship/cruise shined above the others we've been on was the entertainment. Wow! They have an aqua-theater on the back of all their Oasis Class ships which is amazing. Diving, acrobatics, humor, hand-balancing, trampolines...a little bit of it all. We saw "Mama Mia" in the main theater, and it was excellent. Great singing and acting as well. We were very impressed. They have an ice capades-like show as well in yet another venue. I didn't go in with high hopes. Seemed like a rather small rink to do any great tricks - but was I ever wrong! They could really skate - very fun show. The comedians were very good as well. As expected the one we saw late night was pretty crude, but we did enjoy the three different comedy shows we saw. Great variety of activities to join in on the ship. Quite honestly, I go on cruises to relax, so I spent a lot of time at one of the pools. Five pools offered more available deck chairs than I've ever experienced on a cruise. Along with relaxation, I also zip-lined, played mini-golf and shuffleboard, listened to numerous live musicians, and enjoyed just taking in the ship. We were especially impressed with Central Park, an area on the RC Oasis class ships with thousands of real trees and plants. Peaceful, fun to walk around, and fun to sit and play cards listening to a classical guitarist. Service was outstanding, especially our room steward (and her towel animals) and our wait staff in the restaurant. But others around the ship were great as well. No kids with us, but we explored the children's are just to see it, and it looked amazing! Our ports included Nassau, Cozumel, Honduras, and Costa Maya. Had a good time at each one. We did RC excursions at three of them, but decided to just walk around at Costa Maya. All stops were good. For my tastes, I'd prefer non-Mexican stops, but that's just me. Would we do it again? Absolutely! If you're paying, I'd leave tomorrow! Give it a try - you'll love Allure of the Seas! Read Less

Second time on the Allure in two and a half years. The first time blew us away. The second time was just another cruise. After having the drink package for the first time on the first cruise on the Allure I felt like it was a fair deal. Trying different high end cognacs(hennessyXO) , aged scotch(mcallen 12yr double cask), tequilas (don julio 1942), aged rums...etc in the Champagne bar for a minimal surcharge of a buck or two was quite nice. Left the first cruise with some nice ideas to stock my home bar and a guarantee i would buy the drink package on Royal Caribbean the next time i cruised with them. Then the "next time i cruise with them" happened for spring break of 2019. Was hyped up to get on the ship and get me a HennessyXO neat for a $2 up charge with the drink package and start my reexploring of the Allure. Upon ordering my drink, the bar tender kindly made sure i was aware the HennessyXO wasnt part of the drink package. i told her i knew there was a small surcharge according to the last cruise on the allure of $2. She then told me it is now an $8 surcharge above the drink package cost. I paused and started looking for something else to start my trip out with and asked where the Don Julio 1942 was which was also a $2 up charge. She said they dont carry that any more.(though they sell it in the ship store). Nor did they have the double cask scotch i was eager to have....so i settled on some RemyXO for a buck surcharge that i didnt even finish..Truly disappointed that i paid for the drink package to sip on zacapa and coke and old fashions all cruise. I could buy six bottles of zacapa and four bottles of makers mark for the price of the drink package and that would last me a year. Another knock on the drink package is how Royal markets how it is usable on their private islands. Labadee was a JOKE when it come to drinks offered. There was one special drink, "the labadoozy", and a bunch of bottom shelf junk. I ask for a long island and the bartender told me the didnt have sour mix....what, no sour mix at a bar..i told her to make it any way and just use more coke. My wife ordered a pina colada and was told the didnt do pinacoladas...you heard that right..we were in the middle of the Caribbean on a cruise port stop and couldnt get a pina colada. i just wonder if the people at the private beach with more money than all the other guest were able to get what they wanted. Totally disappointed with Royal in the drink package aspect. Wont do it again unless I can confirm what alcohols are available for a small up charge, and what drinks are available on their private stops. the ship itself is top notch always clean and well maintained, except for some soiled carpet areas and the smoke coming from the casino when going to dinner, theres not much of a better taken care of ship. dinners are better than the average cruise line that ive been on, (princess and carniva) and the workers seem to be in better moods on Royal than other cruise lines. We saw three shows while on the ship. The Blue Planet had some highlights but was rather slow for my liking, The Ice Games was my all time favorite of any show on any ship Ive been on(7 different ships). And my wife and i left half way though Momma Mia. To boring for how tired we were. Rock climbing wall and waver rider where very nice for the active. I made the best out of my hopes of sipping on fine spirits being baited and switched. We had a 14th floor boardwalk balcony which was nice to watch the aquatheater. All in all you cant go wrong with Royal from my limited experience. i just dont like change...especially when its change that doesnt make my trip better. Read Less

My first cruise aboard a REALLY big ship. Allure of the Seas is absolutely beautiful! Although huge it is fairly easy to navigate. It was amazing that this very large ship is so immaculate. Every venue was beautiful: clean carpets, not a spec of trash anywhere, furniture clean and comfortable, spotless public restrooms. Even though this ship had over 6,000 passengers, it never felt too crowded. There is so much to do and a total of three days at sea were never boring. Traveling with my 14 year old granddaughter was a delight as she found plenty to do in the Teen Club. Embarkation was quick and easy. Miami Terminal A: beautiful, easy to navigate with lots of very helpful staff. Food and dining was very good. We were changed to Anytime Dining (originally had 8:00 dining) which meant the only Main Dining option was the American Icon Grill (deck 3). The Grill is huge and beautiful. Food good and our waiter, Rommel, was excellent. Thankfully we were able to get a table for two at a window...fantastic! TIP: If you have Anytime Dining (American Icon Grill), be sure to make your reservations for the duration of the cruise IMMEDIATELY after boarding or first thing the next day. Even with reservations, the lines can be long but they move quickly (you're not always guaranteed to sit at the same table). If you don't make reservations, the No-Reservations line also moves pretty quickly and we were seated immediately once we reached the hostess podium. *Room service is lacking...full breakfast took an hour+ to be delivered (there is a $7.95 fee for hot food) and each of the three Continental Breakfasts (no fee) were incomplete. Staff was apologetic and returned with the completed orders but it was still a nuisance. TIP: When ordering the continental breakfast mark each selection with the number of persons, i.e., orange juice-2, yogurt-2, etc. *Windjammer Marketplace: very popular so there are usually lines, but they move quickly. Many, many food options and the food is good. Entertainment was phenomenal! We saw Mama Mia, the Aqua Theatre production and Blue Planet...all Broadway and Cirque Du Soleil worthy performances. Even my 14 year old granddaughter enjoyed them. TIP: make sure you make reservations when you book your cruise and get there early. Every staff person we encountered was welcoming, professional and helpful. Our room steward, Darwin, was wonderful, caring and courteous. Our waiter, Rommel, in the American Icon Grill, was a joy. He remembered every person in his area by name. He was attentive, remembering your food preferences (the way you liked your steak, etc.). Shore Excursions: *Phillipsburg, St. Maarten: beautiful beaches, lots to see and do. The independent tour included both the Dutch and French sides of the island with a chance to have a delicious Caribbean lunch. The tour meeting area was a challenge as it's located away from the other tour and taxi pick-up locations. Maho Beach (at the airport with planes landing right over the beach) is exciting and very crowed. TIP: if you're doing an independent tour, be sure to give yourself plenty of time by disembarking at least 30-45 minuets before your tour. *San Juan, Puerto Rico: always love visiting San Juan. We chose a cruise line tour (San Juan Cultural Tour). The cruise line made it easy to find your group with just a short walk from the ship to shore. Although we thoroughly enjoyed our tour destinations and our guide, unfortunately, the air-conditioning on the bus stopped working half way through the tour. *Labadee, Haiti: an absolutely beautiful island. The cruise line tour (Labadee Traditions) was great. It included a boat ride to Norm's Place Guest House with cultural information and performances. The Dragon Coaster was a blast. The beaches were clean with plenty of beach lounges available. The tram picks up and drops off at several locations throughout the beach area and was very much appreciated. Disembarkation was quick and easy. We disembarked late and even then there were lines in the terminal. TIP:If you're using a pick-up app, I suggest hiring a porter to help with bags and navigation to the pick-up area. Read Less

This was out first Royal Caribbean cruise. There were many, many positives, and the few negatives were minor. Arrival: Cruise tip #1 - Plan ahead for parking. The RC parking filled up at the port so we had to be shuttled to a different parking lot. This, although not tragic, was a bummer. Beyond that, getting on the ship was literally the easiest we have ever experienced. I was nervous given the volume of people but they way they manage the process is very efficient and easy for the passengers. Dining: We booked somewhat last minute so got stuck with My Time dining and the only reservation we could get was 5:30. With that said, our waitstaff was amazing. Food was great but we noticed the buffet carries much of the same so one night we did the buffet. We did a specialty dining and the food was great as well. I don't think it is worth the price though. If it is free take it, if not I can't recommend the extra spend. I loved how the ship has multiple places to eat and congregate in order to spread the crowd. This does not fully alleviate the crowds though. Be prepared to wait in lines at times just to get into the buffet or eat at other areas. Cabin: Ours was fine. Nothing crazy good or bad. We had an interior balcony over the boardwalk. It was neat but loud. I would probably choose something else next time so I can sleep in peace. Entertainment and Activities: Crazy...absolutely loved the ice show. The water show at the back of the ship was stunning. Even the kids water show during the day was neat. We did not care for the Blue Planet and skipped Abba (not our thing). As far as activities, there were many. We golfed, played cards (card room is great), played ping pong, zip lined, rock walled, ice skated, played shuffle board, had massages and more. Just strolling the ship was fun given the diversity of it all. The gym was very large and well provisioned and the walking track was nice too. Service: Very friendly. Very personable. We were able to carry on our tradition and get a selfie with the captain. I think he tolerated us, but was not thrilled :)... I don't recall any poor, unhappy, or otherwise substandard service. All were great. Ports: Nassau-yuck, not sure why they stop there. We stayed on the ship. Cozumel went shopping, Coasta Maya snorkeled, Roatan snorkeled. Roatan snorkeling was AMAZING right off the West Bay Beach. Don't forget that ship time and local time are different. Very important if you book your own excursions. Other notes about the cruise: The cruise critic party was fun and funny. Flavio (sp?) did a great job entertaining. The ship is an engineering marvel. It feels a lot like you are in a mall, not on a ship. Oddly enough the ship felt more casual to me. On formal nights there did not seem to be formal places to gather like other ships have. Not a huge deal since that does not really seem to be the market they are after. Overall we would do it again, but I could easily be swayed back to another cruise line that offers a lower cost (this was almost twice the price of our other cruises). Read Less

Overall a solid 4 stars. Bought the 3 package food upgrade but thought the main dining was on par food-wise with the premium restaurants and service wise was even better. Not that Chops and Izumi weren't good but wait staff in the main room ( for me) was better than either of those restaurants. Had the beverage upgrade as well and spots like the Champagne Bar were tough to get served at times. Speaking of beverages seemed like the one soda station next to Sorento's was out of order most of the cruise so it made it tough to get sodas when it was crowded. Played bingo a few times and wish they would switch up the bingo caller ( she was good) but it was the same jokes every time so it got stale. Another tweak I wish they would make was with the trivia. Don't understand why they have to pile all of the trivia right on top of each other as there are only limited seats. It just ended up with people standing over leaving. My room attendant was fantastic and getting on and off the ship was a breeze. One other nitpick. There was some confusion about when we were going to get to st maarten due to a medical emergency. We were supposed to get there at 8am but due to having to airlift a passenger off that got moved to 10AM because we had to sail closer to Puerto Rico. At some point though that switched back to 8AM but I'm sure I wasn't the only one who didn't get that info. Read Less

I will start out by saying that the cruise was great. The quality of service, food, entertainment for kids and adults were all spectacular. The onboarding experience was super quick. What I would like to review is the Key Experience. We purchased "The Key" for our family of five. One of our kiddos was under 6 years old so she didn't have to pay. The following benefits were to be included with our purchase: 1. Priority Boarding - There was no dedicated area. We had to ask around and finally were just directed to wait in the regular boarding lines. Not a big deal, as the onboarding process has been incredibly streamlined and fast. We were on the ship within 30 minutes of arriving at the port. 2. Taking of carry-ons to room: We did not find this service. 3. Lunch at Chops Grille on embarkation day. This is from 11AM to 1PM. We arrived around 1230 and were seated pretty quickly. This was a delicious meal. 4. Streaming internet for four. We only used two devices, as the children would not need internet access. The internet was fast. 5. Private times for Key members for big attractions like the Florider, Zipline and rock climbing walls. Here's the catch. The private times that are provided are mostly between 8AM and 9AM in the morning or 5-6PM. If you have a 5PM dinner, you're not getting that benefit. Nonetheless, because it is dinner time, there are no lines for the rock climbing walls at this time anyway. The time slots given were really disappointing 6. Priority disembarkation at the ports - we did not ever see or find any priority disembarkation areas for Key members. When we mentioned we were Key members we were pointed to the same line as everyone else. 7. Priority seating at the shows. "The Key" seats are held for 5 minutes, 15 minutes prior to showtime. If you do not arrive 15 minutes prior to showtime, you don't get the seats. If you get there 15 minutes prior to showtime, you're going to get good seats regardless. For us, there was no real benefit to us. 8. Breakfast on disembarkation day. This was good. It was a nice calm breakfast. Once done, there was to be an escort to disembark (again, supposedly cutting all the lines) but in actuality it was just an escort to the disembarkation line. Once again, no special benefit. All in all I felt like we had been suckered. The VIP experience advertised is not at all what you get. We would have saved a ton of money if we had paid for lunch at Chops and our internet packages. If you get everywhere 15 minutes early or are willing to wake up at the crack of dawn on your vacation - you're good to go. There is no value in the Key experience. Our joke for the week was that "the Key isn't real". Its not an actual thing. Hope this helps someone. I couldn't find any information on it here. Read Less