I chose this cruise because I'd been on Allure before (27 Royal Caribbean cruises altogether) and thought this would be a great ship for my friend, who had never cruised the Caribbean. Allure did not disappoint.

We ate just about everywhere: main dining room, Sorrentos, Solarium bistro, Central Park deli, 150 Central Park. The food was the much better than I remember. Service as always was outstanding. We also went to all the shows except the headliner and the comedy show. Do not miss "Mama Mia", the skating show, and the diving show. Fabulous! Also, try to check out the interesting art in the stairways.

We took 3 excursions: (1) in Nassau we went in the glass bottom boat, but the sound system was so bad, we can't recommend it; (2) in San Juan we wanted to take a city tour, but they were full, so we joined a private city tour on the pier, and that was OK but not great; and (3) we took the drive-around-the-island tour in St. John, and that was terrific! Our driver loved people and told us so much. We saw some devastation, but could still enjoy our visits. Read more