We drove from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale the night before and stayed at the Crown Plaza near the port. It was a very nice hotel. The next morning we avoided the cattle jam and called a taxi which arrived within 1 minute. Arrived at the port at 11:00 and within 10 minutes were walking down the promenade deck. This ship is gorgeous and my grandson was wowing as soon as he walked on. We immediately went up to central park and had lunch at the park cafe. Yes, their roast beef sandwiches were to die for. Right after lunch we proceded to the carousel which my grandson was looking forward to riding it a billion times. He managed to ride it about 40 times. (close enough) We then registered him at the kid's club whcih we were pretty hesitant about because on his previous cruises on Carnival and Disney, he did not like it and wouldn't go back after the first time. Well, needless to say he loved it and wanted to go everyday. He fell in love with Salsa, one of the crew members that worked there and she made him feel welcome everytime she saw him. We then went to our cabin which was very comfortable for the three of us. We unpacked and went to the muster drill was was well done and very informative. The ship never felt crowded even thought there were 1400 children on board.

Dining: We only had dinner one night in the dining room which was on formal night. The service was excellent. The food very good and yes, FINALLY, escargots were back. Yes, I ordered 2 of them. We had dinner the rest of the nights at the specialty restaurants. Chops, very good, my daughter's favorite. Samba grill, awesome, my favorite. Giovannis was OK, Rita's fiesta was fun and food was pretty good. Izumu was great. Central 150 was to die for and was worth every penny. Natalia, our server was the best. She was so nice and friendly and was very knowledgable about everything she served us. For breakfast we ate at Johnny rockets once, the park cafe 3 times, which was very good. They had a bagel bar, egg sandwiches, yogurts and so much more. We ate in the dining room twice for breakfast which was very good and we had room service for breakfast once which was ok. For lunch we ate at Rita's once, very good, the dog house, excellent, the windjammer once, pretty good.

Shows: Comedy show- could not stop laughing. One of the comedians, Gry Delena was hysterical. Oceanaria- fantastic what great talent! Ice show, fantastic, also great talent there. Chicago, excellent but a little too long. That was my daughter's favorite but it was just a little boring for me towards the end. Blue Planet, amazing, probably my favorite. Didn't go the the headliner show. We loved the parade with the dreamworks characters. Loved the zipline. The service on this ship was very warm and friendly. The only thing that I was dissapointed about was on Boardwalk they sell popcorn and cotton candy for 2.50 which I thought to be way overpriced. On top of that they add a 15% gratuity on to it. Come on RCI, don't you think that's pretty petty. Talking about nickle and diming your guests! Maybe one day they can change that and maybe charge 1 dollar at the most or maybe free. But that's ok. Won't buy that again. There is so much to do and see that it is very difficult to do everything they offer in 7 days so I booked a back to back in September. Can't wait to go back. This was a very fun vacation. If you are thinking about booking the Allure, just do it!