Allure of the Seas Review

5.0 / 5.0
3,138 reviews

Royal (Pain) Caribbean Cruise - Good, bad and overcharged for drinks

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Allure of the Seas
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jmoorefield
2-5 Cruises • Age 40s

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Sail Date: Oct 2017
Cabin: Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Large Balcony

This was my first cruise with Royal Caribbean. I traveled with a large group of ladies (80), Day one - Boarded this beautiful ship, found my room and went for a drink. When I caught up to my group they already had a drink in hand. They purchased the drink from a waiter walking around with a tray. Cost $9.95 plus 18% gratuity. Sounds great! Found a waiter who had 2 (we needed 3) drinks on his tray (drink of the day he boasted). He took us into the bar and delivered the third drink bragging about the deal he was about to make us. Cost $17.06 (included the gratuity) for each drink. What ??? Why would the same drink in the glass cost $5 more. I went to the bar who sent me to guest services. The guest service lady told me that the "other" ladies were undercharged and that they would correct their charge if I provided their room number. What? The five other ladies who signed for $9.95 plus 18% gratuity (I had one of their receipts to prove the cost difference) would be charged with $17.06 and they would correct it. What? You can't do that! They signed a piece of paper with the lower cost and you are going to fix it without their knowledge? I asked to speak to a manager. Guest services called the manager and they discussed the situation. She hung-up the phone and told me they could not do anything for me. I asked her to call him back and I would talk to him. He soon agreed to fix our three bills. Later that evening I requested a copy of our bill. Boy did he fix it. They charged us the $17.06 plus the $14.58. After a second visit to guest services they did refund both $17.06 plus the $14.58 and then recharged us for $14.58. So, my first couple hours on the cruise was fixing a billing issue. On the fourth day we purchased the punch card. This was a stress free way of buying drinks.

Due to hurricanes two of our ports were changed (many times). Atlantis was nice (don't waste your money on the discovery tour (you can do a self guided tour for free)). Cozumel and Costa Maya were poor replacements for St. Thomas and St. Martin. Cozumel was fine however Costa Maya was awful and gross. The shops in the dock were ok but don't leave the compound. We took the shuttle (old Toyota pickup with a trailer) to town. Felt very unsafe. Made it to town walked the beach and took a taxi (the shuttle was not offered on the return route) which stopped unexpectedly in the bad part of town. Quickly re-started the van and delivered us back to the ship. The taxi had every engine (warning) light on. I spoke with other travelers who booked the jeep tour. The jeeps were old and in poor condition too.

Other issues included a daily warm/cold shower (others had crazy hot water and could not shower without being burned) and several ladies we traveled with had other billing issues.

Cabin Review

Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Large Balcony

Cabin D1

Room was clean, staff was great however the shower was warm/cold.

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