Allure of the Seas January 5-12, 2020 Trip Report

Magical2017

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 2, 2016
Hi All. We are back from our wonderful cruise!


I wanted to share some things about Allure for anyone who has questions. I traveled with DH and our two boys (14 and 11) in an ocean view balcony cabin booked as a GTY. We traveled without any drink packages or specialty dining and had a blast.

ARRIVAL: Embarkation was very simple. We did the pre-check in, so the process only took about 15-20 minutes. As we arrived upstairs, wrist bands were being handed out to children 12 and under. Our boys are 14 and 11, so YDS got a wrist band and we were one our way.


THE CABIN: Storage space in the cabin is plentiful. I did not need the additional hanging organizer I brought. The cabin was clean, and the furnishings were up to date. Our cabin steward was wonderful. We loved having the balcony and would book one again! The room had a sofa bed that our cabin steward pulled out for us each evening. The boys shared a double bed. It was not as cramped as I thought it would be. We kept luggage under the bed. The beds were very comfortable. This is a view from our balcony.

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FOOD: There are many included venues on Allure. We ate most dinners in the main dining room and had My Time Dining. We also ate at the Windjammer, Sorrento’s, Park Café, Café Promenade, The Wipeout Café, the hot dog kiosk, the donut shop, the Johnny Rockets included breakfast, and had the complimentary continental breakfast room service delivered. Our best meals were in the main dining room, which is American Icon for My Time Dining. We were able to get the same wait staff. We made reservations and did not have to wait. There were two lines—one for those who made reservations and one for those who just showed up. Those who just showed up had to wait. We would do My Time Dining again. I liked being able to choose when I wanted to eat. Our only bad experience was at the Johnny Rockets breakfast, and it only appeared to be our server. The other servers were attentive to their guests.


KIDS CLUB: The kids club was a hit. YDS did not want to leave. There was such a nice balance of structured activities and free time, and I love that the children were separated by age groups. The staff was fabulous. YDS begged to stay past ten on several nights. For the 12 and under group, there is a 7 dollar per hour fee for this. He loved the competitions they had and won prizes (a water bottle, stuffed octopus, pillowcase, and hat). We opted not to allow him to check himself out, but the 9-11-year-old group can do this with parental permission. ODS is extremely shy and did not want to go to the teen club or do many activities, even with encouragement. He hung with us a great bit of the time and preferred the ports over the ship. He read a lot. We were surprised he did not go to the sports court or the arcade. He says he loved just relaxing and not doing much but I think the ship was overwhelming for him. YDS would have stayed on board another week if we let him.



SHOWS: The Aqua show was amazing. We did not make any other shows.


SHORE EXCURSIONS: We booked the snorkeling, kayaking, and hiking excursion at Cas Cay through Royal. It was outstanding. The guides were very helpful and informative, and the scenery was just beautiful. We gave the kids underwater cameras for Christmas, so they took a lot of photos. It was nothing too strenuous so if you have kids aged 8 or older, then this is a great excursion. This is a view of the port in St. Thomas.



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POOLS: The pool deck was very busy and crowded, but you could find chairs in the shade at any time of day. The soft serve ice cream was in several places on deck 15. The only pool I went in was freshwater and just lovely. I kept to that pool the entire time.

Overall, it was a fantastic cruise. I think I might prefer a smaller ship and more ports for our next cruise, so we are looking at either Alaska or a Mediterranean cruise for 2021.

One thing to keep in mind is that itineraries are subject to change. We had two (one prior to the cruise and one during the cruise).
Back in September we received an e-mail that St. Kitts was being replaced with San Juan, and only for 5 hours. We were given the option to cancel without penalty. Allure has had a propulsion issue that will be fixed when it goes into dry dock. We opted to keep our cruise, as we were excited about sailing on Allure. It really is a beautiful ship! That ended up being fine--San Juan is a lovely port. We did not have time for the rain forest excursion, so we just walked around.
Unfortunately, there was some bad weather in the Bahamas so we could not go to Coco Cay. We went to Labadee instead. It is a lovely island but felt insanely crowded, like a level 10 day at Disney. We were the only ship docked there. It was very hot, and although the island looked like a lot of fun, we decided to go back and use the pool. It was not crowded, and we had lunch on the ship.
 
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