Just back from Allure of the Seas, Eastern

Great feedback and always good to hear experiences on both. We were on Allure and loved it...and have been on 2 other Royal ships and Disney Magic.
You often hear that comment about the washroom. It is smart to have the sink outside as it makes things more efficient and not tying up the washroom to brush teeth for example.
To me, the shows are apples and oranges and can't really compare. Disney are first class 'Broadway style' ...but they are Disney shows/stories. Royal, especially the Oasis class has amazing different kind of shows...a full Broadway show, Aqua show (which is totally different), ice show, variety show, cirque d'soliel type show. Totally different.
Also , interesting about the characters. Didn't you see Dreamworks all around on Allure? There were 2 DreamWorks additional shows when we went (ice show, aqua show) plus they were always around for photo shoots, parade, and also a character breakfast. Obviously not Mickey Mouse or Princesses, but no shortage.

We didn't notice the kids all over (we had our kids with us ourselves), but might have been the time of year you go. I agree..there are places that it's not appropriate to bring them.

Love to see any pictures. Glad you had a great time.

I agree with your assessment. We LOVE the Allure - currently our favorite ship. We thought the shows were excellent (daughter loves musicals) and the Aqua shows and Ice Shows are good fun. We saw 2 of each on our cruise - all different. The parade with the characters was fun and we loved the chocolate breakfast with the characters. We cruised President's Day week and hardly saw any kids. We LOVE that there are so many pools - and decent-sized pools! (The lack of any decent pools on DCL is one of my biggest complaints. Daughter can swim all day!) We love the extra activities - rock climbing wall, FloRider, etc. We had good food all around - and excellent food in the specialty restaurants. I loved that my daughter could dine with me in the specialty restaurants. We're booked on the Harmony in November and can't wait! She just might replace the Allure as our favorite!
 
Thanks for the review.

And awesome cabin by the way. Love the design.

I'm the dissident voice regarding the Disney shows I think... I've seen many Broadway shows and I don't think DCL compares to Broadway shows... (Close, but not there yet...) I haven't seen RCCL shows yet so I can't say if they are better or worst but can't wait to find out. Glad to know there are different types of shows. :)

I hope they have the trolls when we go there. Granted, I'm an adult... but I loved that movie.

I am with you on this! I really don't like any of the "non-movie" DCL shows (Wishes, Believe, etc.). We don't even bother going to them anymore.
 
I am with you on this! I really don't like any of the "non-movie" DCL shows (Wishes, Believe, etc.). We don't even bother going to them anymore.

Frozen was well done, singers were great but not quite the caliber I have seen on Broadway shows... But much closer from what Broadway does.

Regarding Dreams and Believe. I apologized to my husband for putting him through that. Lol
 
Thanks for sharing. ST Maarten looks barren.
It was very sad, I didn't even take many pictures because the landscape was still so devastated. There were people still living in tents right in the middle of the city. There were boats decaying on shore and some sunk in the harbor, only the masts sticking out above the water line.
 


I agree with your assessment. We LOVE the Allure - currently our favorite ship. We thought the shows were excellent (daughter loves musicals) and the Aqua shows and Ice Shows are good fun. We saw 2 of each on our cruise - all different. The parade with the characters was fun and we loved the chocolate breakfast with the characters. We cruised President's Day week and hardly saw any kids. We LOVE that there are so many pools - and decent-sized pools! (The lack of any decent pools on DCL is one of my biggest complaints. Daughter can swim all day!) We love the extra activities - rock climbing wall, FloRider, etc. We had good food all around - and excellent food in the specialty restaurants. I loved that my daughter could dine with me in the specialty restaurants. We're booked on the Harmony in November and can't wait! She just might replace the Allure as our favorite!

I wanted to book the Harmony for next summer, just to try another ship and she sails from Port Canaveral which is much closer to where I live than Port Everglades, but the same cruise was $750 more on her than the Allure. I will keep an eye out for any price drops and may switch if it does.
 
Some more about some of the activities we did on the ship. We love trivia, so went went to as many as we could. The staff was a lot of fun and we met a lot of other cruisers this way. We tried one scavenger hunt, but that was just too much for us, lol. You only got 15 minutes to run around the ship and collect the items, and those that have sailed on an Oasis class ship now how huge the are. We also did Bingo once. We loved to play on the Dream and often played more that once as they made it a lot of fun, almost like a mini show, but on the Allure it was just Bingo, with a little humor thrown in. We also went to a few of the karaoke sessions, family and adult, that was a lot of fun. The live band that plays in Dazzles was amazing, I think Centerpiece was their name.
We went to all the show except Mama Mia. The adult comedy show was great. We enjoyed the two ice shows and the aqua show. Blue Planet was ok, I just think we were expecting more of a Cirque type show and it was more singing than anything else. All the venues had comfortable seating (for the aqua show get there early to get a chair vs the hard bench). For a lot of the shows they were selling popcorn and drinks outside the venues, but we always went to one of the included/free places and grabbed a snack and drink to take with us.
We live in Florida, so we get plenty of sun and swim time, so we did not spend hardly anytime sunning or swimming. We did spend one port morning in the hot tubs since our excursion was not until after lunch. That was nice, had the whole tub to ourselves and it was one that overlooked the side of the ship so we could watch people roaming the pier and shore. We loved to walk around the track on Deck 5, not for the exercise but for the amazing views.
We never got around to trying the rock climbing wall, carousel or the flow rider, but we did go ice skating. If you go ice skating you have to wear long pants and make sure you have socks. We also had fun looking for all the "small wonders" around the ship. We spent a little time in the casino, just playing slots, and honestly the non smoking side was not bad at all. Played mini golf once, the course is pretty basic with no hard obstacles, just tread carefully as there are a lot of dents under the carpet you can see and it would be easy for one to trip. Table tennis was also fun, tables a little warped but what can you expect as they are exposed to moist salter air all day. On one of the sea days they had a family carnival out on the boardwalk with free cotton candy, hard ice cream and popcorn.
There are so many activities I recommend bringing a highlighter and marking the things you want to do each day.
rock wall.jpg aqua show 2.jpg aqua show.jpg boardwalk 2.jpg hanging hot tub.jpg casino.jpg merrygo round.jpg ping pong.jpg mimi golf.jpg planet earth.jpg
 
We are not big drinkers, so we did not spend a lot of time in the bar or lounges unless we were there for bingo, trivia, karaoke or another event. There are plenty of them around the ship for those that do like to hang out and have a drink or two. Husband drinks beer and they ran around $8.50 (with the included 18% tip) and I like a fruity drink, so I stuck to Pina Coladas and other frozen fruity drinks which ran about $11 (with included 18% tip).
blaze.jpg dazzles.JPG central park bar.jpg mast_bar.jpg rising tide.jpg pool-bar.jpg on air.jpg Bowstern.jpg saborjpg.jpg champagne bar.jpg
 


One thing that I really loved about this ship and think all ships should have them (hint hint DCL) is the information boards by the elevators on each floor. The touch screen interactive one was really neat and I love the one right next to the elevators that list everything on that floor. Also the elevators and shafts themselves were gorgeous.
info board.jpg info by elevators.JPG info board 2.jpg elevators 3.jpg elvators 4.jpg elevators.jpg
 
One thing that I really loved about this ship and think all ships should have them (hint hint DCL) is the information boards by the elevators on each floor. The touch screen interactive one was really neat and I love the one right next to the elevators that list everything on that floor. Also the elevators and shafts themselves were gorgeous.
View attachment 331156 View attachment 331157 View attachment 331158 View attachment 331159 View attachment 331160 View attachment 331161
Those elevator lobbies are very cool.
 
Again, we did not spend anytime in the pools, but here are some photos. One pool stayed open until 11pm and one hot tub was open (as far as we could tell) all night. The other pools and hot tubs closed at different time ranging from 7pm to 9pm.

hot tub.jpg kids pool.jpg kids splash .jpg pool 2.jpg pool empty.jpg pool.jpg solarium pool.jpg
 
Love your pictures....brings back great memories.
Ha ha...so true about scavenger hunt. For us, we just had to take pictures of art (and since we were the only famiy playing, we won...lol)
Btw....Mamma Mia is fantastic if you like Broadway shows.
 
Thank you for your wonderful review! My most recent cruise was on the Disney Wonder's April 2018 Panama Canal cruise (my 7th Disney cruise). However, I have sailed on 15 RCI cruises, and my next cruise will be on RCI's Oasis of the Seas in November.
 
Thanks for the info. We are on the Oasis next June in the Med. As much as we love our DCL cruises, we couldn't stomach the price of Disney in Europe. We booked two adjoining cabins for the four of us for significantly less than DCL.

Dumb question - do people decorate their stateroom doors on RCL like they do on DCL?
 
Thanks for the info. We are on the Oasis next June in the Med. As much as we love our DCL cruises, we couldn't stomach the price of Disney in Europe. We booked two adjoining cabins for the four of us for significantly less than DCL.

Dumb question - do people decorate their stateroom doors on RCL like they do on DCL?
Some do, but not to the level that you see on DCL. If you want to do it, go for it.
 
Just got back from a Western Caribbean trip on the Allure. This was our 18th cruise overall. We loved the cruise and the ship. A few thoughts:
  • Ocean view balcony was larger then the same category on other ships. Attendant was fantastic. This was the first cruise that charged for room service. Was this due to the number of guests?
  • We had main seating traditional dinning. Outstanding service by wait staff of Cynthia and Simon. They were lots of fun and very patient with the spills and silliness from our table of eight. Food quality was good-very good in all venues, but very standardized. No omelet or waffle stations in the windjammer, for example. I would assume this was due to the number of passengers. However, we found good breakfast items at Jonny Rockets. You can find smaller cafes around the ship that our less crowded for breakfast and lunch
  • The main shows were wonderful, but some of the venues for some of the smaller shows and activities were too small, esp. for such a big ship. Get to these venues early to get a seat. We all enjoyed the activities on board ship, except for the zip line. It looked like two clotheslines tied together. Not worth the wait for all the hassles of preparing to get on it. They would not let you ride unless you have closed toed shoes with socks, and all your pockets empty. Make sure you fill out your waivers online before you go and stand in line the first day to get a wristband that will allow you on the flow rider, zip line, ice rink, and rock walls. Best time to enjoy the pools and activities is when everyone else in in port.
  • Yes, there were minors everywhere, but they were behaved for the most part. Please remember that I am a retired school teacher. After 27 years of being surround by young people, I have developed a thick skin with regards to minors. Please remember that when the ship says adults only, they mean it!
  • We took tours in Cozumel and Costa Maya, but not ship sponsored tours. In Cozumel we toured the island with Trikes Cozumel. Very unique and lots of fun. In Costa Maya, we toured Mayan ruins with Native Choice tours. Our eight people got a private tour on our own van. We did not have any extra tourist trap stops and were the first people to arrive at the ruins. The guide was very knowledgeable and the driver followed behind us with a backpack full of bottles of cold water, Excellent tour at almost half the price of a ship sponsored tour. The only downside is the 10 minute walk out of the tourist area to their office. At the end of the tour they drop you off by the port security gate.
  • All in all a good cruise, but my wife and I prefer a smaller ship. We are use to getting to know the cruise staff , but the staff on the Allure were too busy with too many people. Would we go on the Allure again? Yes, we went with a group and then ports of call were unique.
 
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Thanks for the info. We are on the Oasis next June in the Med. As much as we love our DCL cruises, we couldn't stomach the price of Disney in Europe. We booked two adjoining cabins for the four of us for significantly less than DCL.

Dumb question - do people decorate their stateroom doors on RCL like they do on DCL?
Not near a much but we did see some. We did.
 

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