I will give the benefit of the doubt to the city's rebuilding process following a number of storms that have left some significant damage but the items for sale and the suspect cleanliness has us cutting our sightseeing short. With the convenience of having the $1.4 billion dollar mega resort (the Allure) just steps away, we headed back quickly to enjoy the food and clean environment.

We did not see the value in spending the significant dollars to visit the Atlantis resort for two reasons; the contrived environment and the short stay before the departure. We found the amenities of the ship were far superior and judging by the thousands that either did not disembark or like us returned early, the pool deck was quite busy by 1pm.

The shopping is better in both St. Thomas as well as St. Martin so there was no real incentive to spend early.

Nassau

Originally we wanted to head to St. Johns to enjoy lunch at one of the amazing resorts, but the pending weather, the ferry schedule and the amount of traffic forced us to look at heading to Sapphire Beach on the East Side as an alternative. If you have never been to St. Thomas be prepared for a thrilling taxi ride on narrow streets that more resemble a roller coaster than a road. 

The Sapphire Beach resort is a beachfront resort with some good snorkeling and incredible views of St. Johns and the surrounding islands. The shade of the trees on the beach along with the available beachfront dining options made for a great afternoon. We secured an open shuttle van to return us to the port. Because the new port does not offer the amount of shopping options as the original port and downtown is in the midst of significant construction so we chose to avoid it this time.

St. Thomas

This became our best destination. With a recommendation from a local, we ventured to the Divi Beach Resort which is just a 10 minute cab ride from the port. This is actually a deluxe Time Share resort that sits on a calm cove with clear turquoise water, smooth sand and much lighter crowds. You can rent chase lounges and umbrellas and the beach-side bar and restaurant offers excellent food. You can actually sit through the presentation and earn a credit for the lounges and food or just head to the sand on your own.

When spent a few hours there and then caught a cab back to the port. We then took the water taxi to the shopping area. Granted we could have had the cab drop us off, but we wanted to enjoy the boating experience.

The shopping was good and if you are interested in jewelry, this is the place. To be honest, the pricing is on par with the jewelry district in NYC and the electronics are priced equally to some of the online shopping options. There is some room to haggle and the crowded lounges offer great people watching.

We plan to return to this Island when we can spend more time and visit the French side for the dining experience.

St. Martin

We opted for an extended balcony cabin on deck 8. This stateroom is located mid ship to keep any undue motion down for my wife. I will state that the room was extremely clean and well kept. There was ample storage space for two people and with the space under the bed, we were able to make our bags go away.

The room's environmental controls worked well as long as you remember to completely close the balcony door. The shower is compact but the water is hot and the pressure is strong. The same for the sink.

This cabin was extremely quite and we never heard anything from the hallway.

We both agreed that having our cabin on this deck was a good thing and besides our specialty dining arrangements in the restaurants that lined the park we would return here quite often throughout the cruise.Following the previous reviews on Cruise Critic we made our way back down to deck 8 to walk through Central Park and to have lunch at the Park Cafe.

Allure of the Seas Review

The Ocean Equivalent Of A Las Vegas Mega Resort

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Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Large Balcony

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