Allure of the Seas Review
Fantastic ship for familes but didn't like the unavoidable gratuities
Rating by category
Additional details
This was the first time we sailed on the Allure of the Seas after having been on Independence of the Seas (IOTS) for two weeks last year. My wife and I along with our kids ages 15 and 11 stayed in two interconnecting balcony rooms overlooking the Boardwalk. I have mainly positive things to say about the Allure of the Seas. In fact there are so many positives I couldn’t mention them all here. However, I think it is only fair to mention what I felt was disappointing. I appreciate some of my comments in this regard are my own personal take on it and may not be everyone’s experience.
Embarkation
Barcelona was very quick and we were on the ship within 25 mins of arriving at the port. There is a little Duty Free shop in Terminal C after you go through security and before you get to the RC check-in desks. RC say you can bring two bottles of wine on board per stateroom so I brought four bottles seeing we had two staterooms. Cost of a bottle of red “Jellybean” is €7 per bottle. If you're a wine buff then I'm sure you're wincing at my choise of wine. This did the trick for me as my pre dinner drink in the stateroom. Wine brought on board is supposed to be consumed in your stateroom only. Whether you decide to abide by that rule is up to you. We also bought a slab of soft drinks. The only security screening was on entrance to the port building. There was no security screning on our luggage going on to the ship. We walked straight on and they just scanned our Seapass cards.
Cabin Review
Boardwalk View Stateroom with Balcony
We stayed on Deck 14 overlooking the boardwalk which happened to be the highest deck in that area. Sometimes you would hear a thud over our heads when someone was running or when a deckchair fell. Not really a problem to be honest as this happened no more than a few times. We had a great view of the people brave enough to try out the zip line. There is a lot of noise from the Boardwalk but when you close your balcony door you really can’t hear anything at all. It certainly never caused us any problems. As expected it was very clean. Our stateroom attendant (Joaquim) was excellent and incredibly friendly, a real credit to the housekeeping team. Our kids stayed in the adjoining room which gave us all the space we needed. We had the option of having the interconnecting door unlocked as well and the balcony partition left open. This created a bigger living space and avoided a lot of clutter. The balcony overlooked the Boardwalk and we were about 7/8 balconies away from the Aquatheatre. This was great as we could people watch and see the shows from the balconies. On other cruises we have had a ocean view balcony and I must admit I really missed not being able to sit out on my balcony and watch the waves and/or watching ports coming in to view etc. On the Allure you are watching other peoples balconies. I can only imagine it must feel even more intrusive if you were on the lower decks.
Port Reviews
Palma de Mallorca (Majorca)
A long walk in to the town, a good 30 mins. The day we were there it was quite hot so maybe that's wwhy it felt so long to me. A taxi costs no more than €8 each way and only takes 5 mins. We went to the beach to the left as you approach the town. There are steep steps on to the beach but manageable. We hired a little padelo for €11 an hour. This was great fun at little cost.
Marseille
Marseille – You can’t walk to the town from the ship and have to pay €23 per person return for the shuttle bus. Taxi costs approx €40 return. We didn’t go in to the town as we had been there before on a previous cruise.
La Spezia (Cinque Terre)
There is a free and very regular shuttle bus from the ship to the port building. It takes about 5 mins. The port building has loads of information and a British lady working there was excellent at helping people sort out where to go and what to see. The market is only 2/3 min walk from the port building. We booked a car rental 5 months previously but when we arrived at the Budget car rental desk we were told there was no car available. Needless to say I was annoyed at this but was even more infuriated when the guy behind the desk just shrugged his shoulders and blamed head office for not sending them enough cars. Apparently this is a regular occurrence. My son and I paid €75 each to share a minibus with others to go to Florence/Pisa. Due to leaving late we didn’t have much time in Florence but still well worth it. Pisa was good too but we had been there last year on another cruise so went for an icecream and drink for most of the time there. If you really want to see Florence/Pisa then you may want to consider budgeting for an official ship tour. Florence is a good 90 mins drive from the port and Pisa is about an hour. I spoke to others on the ship and when I got back home and apparently Italian car hire firms’ sense of customer service is shockingly poor and it is not uncommon for people who have bookings to be told there are no cars available. My wife and daughter stayed in Le Spezia and said it was a beautiful place. Loads of great buildings, a large market and great shops.
Rome (Civitavecchia)
Highly recommend seeing Rome but the port itself is industrial and nothing to see.
Naples
This was personally my favourite stop. You had Sorrento, Pompeii, Mount Vesuvius, the Island of Capri and of course Naples itself. The ship docks right in the centre of the city so no shuttle bus needed. The port building was by far the best one I’ve been to and had plenty of shops. We took a taxi to Pompeii and then to Mount Vesuvius and finally a short tour of Naples including the palace overlooking Naples. It cost €130 but be very careful and ensure you agree the price in advance. Our driver was nice but constantly offering other destinations. Cost of getting in to Pompeii is €13 per adult and under 18’s who are EU citizens get in free. You have to leave backpacks at the gate but there is no charge for this. Mount Vesuvius costs €10 per person and is a 1km steep walk to the summit. Allow at least an hour and a half for this. Shopping in Naples is excellent and not too expensive.
Barcelona
Embarkation and disembarkation port. Have done the Hop On Hop Off bus tour and well worth it.