This was our 11th cruise but the first with RCCL so we felt like newbies again. We traveled with our son, daughter-in-law and their 2 young sons (3 yr & 9 mos)and had adjoining cabins. Our overall impression of the Allure of the Seas is that it is quite impressive. A big ship with lots of different things to do and see. We wondered what it would be like to travel with 6000 other passengers and for the most part it went quite well.

Embarkation was quick and easy even with the little ones in tow. The check-in lines are organized by deck and customer level and there were plenty of agents for each category. Cabins weren't available until 1 pm but we knew that ahead of time and arrived at the port just a little before 1.

Our balcony cabin was nice but nothing special. Our room steward wasn't around when we arrived but he showed up later in the afternoon and was quick to take care of our request to open the door between our balcony and that of our son and his family in the adjacent cabin. There are 2 basic layouts for the balcony cabins: one with the bed near the balcony door and the couch and desk closer to the cabin door and the other with bed closer to the door and desk/couch nearer to the balcony. Ours had the bed closer to the balcony door and we would have preferred the other arrangement. Something to check on when making your reservation if you have a preference. A couple of nice touches in the cabin were the glass shower door and an interactive TV that provides a lot of info and services. Our cabin was on deck 14 towards the stern. We discovered a public balcony at the end of our hallway that could hold about a dozen people and looked out over the aqua theater. We dubbed it "the Veranda" and usually had it to ourselves. After a little exploring, I found similar public balconies on the 11th and 12th decks. Our room steward was very friendly and was quick to realize that with small children in our party we would need extra towels and glasses. Read more