We just got back from a western Mediterranean cruise on beautiful Allure of the Seas and it was the best trip we ever took. We flew to Rome five days early so we could do some serious touring before departing on the ship. We stayed at a small Roman hotel called the Diocleziano which was wonderful. Elegant, friendly, and gorgeous bathrooms. I would have liked to stay for several months.

On Thursday Sept 10th we took,a shuttle for the Port of Rome and boarded in record time. Half the ship got on the previous Sunday in Barcelona so instead of 5000 passengers trying to board it was only half of that. We had long shore excursions planned for every day except the one sea day and we were generally off the ship by 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning and sometimes did not get back until 7:30 in the evening. All of the shore excursions were RC sponsored because we didn't want the ship sailing without us! No matter how late we got back the dining staff always found a table for the six of us so I am so grateful to them for that. After a long day of touring it was so nice to relax in the dining room and not have to put up with the mayhem in the Windjammer.

The shows were wonderful, especially Mama Mia and the Aqua theater show. I was very impressed with how Allure handled the shore excursions. The night before the shore excursion our tickets would be on the door and the time and the meeting place. After everyone assembled in the morning we left the ship in our groups and board the buses for our destinations. Very organized, especially when compared to being dumped in some of the Caribbean ports a few years ago on a different ship. Leaving the ship was so sad but again it was very organized and we were off and on our bus to the Rome airport in record time. I just wish the cruise could have been longer and we could have had a few more sea days to really enjoy the ship. Oh well, maybe next time. Read more