We chose to cruise on the Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas because of the ship and itinerary. We are frequent cruisers. We have three children--15, 18 and 20 and we like the freedom and variety of activities that cruising offers for a family with mixed ages. On this cruise we traveled with four adults, two 20-year-olds, two 18-year-olds, and one 15-year old. I wish I had more good to say, but unfortunately, there's much to complain about.
1.) The pre-vacation stuff was simply a pain in the butt. The website couldn't possibly be less user friendly. I could go on for pages about the many things that are broken about trying to book shows, pre-buy services or dinners, make dinner reservations, etc. on the Royal Caribbean website. In the end I spent at least a half dozen hours on the phone with a various representatives and most of what I booked was still wrong upon boarding the ship. The only saving grace is that they were nice about providing the service--they did the best they could, but their systems seemed as backwards as the customer-facing website. Even though it was a pain, I strongly recommend going through the effort to pre-book everything. If you wait until you board the ship, you simply won't be able to get in to do much of what interests you.
2.) We found this particular cruise to be difficult for our family because there were strictly enforced rules about age...you could either do activities if you're under 18 or over 18, but there was remarkably little that 18 and 15-year-olds could do together. Also curfews for the 15-year-old were diligently enforced. And, these age restrictions weren't just for adult activities...it was for Dodge ball, Volleyball, etc. It frankly ruined the experience for our kids because the 15-year-old was either left out or the older ones weren't allowed to join in with the teenagers. While they've always voted for our family vacations to be cruises, after this cruise, they want to wait until everyone's at least 18 before we take another cruise.
The cabin was a typical cruise ship cabin. Nothing remarkable--good or bad. In my opinion, having a balcony is key as I love to hear the sound of the ocean and feel the breeze.
We stayed for several days at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale after the cruise. It was a great property--the beach was beautiful, pool was great, etc. Being near the Fort Lauderdale Spring Break craziness, yet apart with a private beach, etc. was perfect for our family.
We didn't disembark because we've been to Nassau before and are just so-so on the island, plus we were only at the port for a half day. By the time we got up and had breakfast we would have had less than 2 hours on the island. From the number of people on the ship, it seemed like many others did the same as us and didn't go to the island.
We always enjoy St. Maarten. We went to Orient beach. As always it was a great day!