Allure of the Seas Review
Delightful Journey for a First Time Cruiser
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So let's start this off by saying that I have NEVER cruised before. I went on this cruise with my father, so I'm 17 and he's in his 50's. He has cruised before. This exceeded our expectations many, many times.
Because I'm overly cautious, I had us fly in three days before the cruise so we could explore the city. We stayed at the Ritz-Carlton, Fort Lauderdale, which was wonderful although we didn't see anyone who would be cruising with us. After three relaxing days at the spa and on the beach, we went back to the airport to get a transfer to the port.
Even though we were offered several times to use Royal Caribbean's transfer service, we didn't as we used an outside source to take us to and from the port (FTL-Limo), which was nice and private. Getting to the port was a bit hard when they are trying to get 6000 people to the port and 6000 people away from the port. We entered the suite entrance around 11:30. The process of checking in was relatively quick, although the agents checking you in never really seemed to be crunched for time.
Cabin Review
Unlike many of the stories of people being booked in a JS and upgraded, we bought into the Crown Loft Suite immediately. For our sailing, the Sky Loft Suite was almost $7000 more for the both of us, so we stayed put with 1726.The cabin was long but not very wide. It still felt very roomy. If you have a lot of luggage, put the empty suitcases under the bed since there's a lot of room there! The noise in minimal outside and if you don't want to hear it, just close the balcony door and lock it. If you are friends with your neighbor, then you can get housekeeping to open the balcony divider and you guys can hang out. Also, the second story shower was amazing with three shower heads!The dual bathrooms was nice so we could get ready faster and there was enough closet space for us but we are just a father/son. As a whole, deck 17 was nice but many people considered it mysterious and unknown as I heard several comments about people not knowing what could be that high on the ship. Some people did react negatively to it though (heard on the elevator) since they're all loft suites.