Allure of the Seas Review
Rating by category
Additional details
This was our 1st Oasis Class Ship and it was just "OK". We were in a Balcony Room on the 14th floor in the front of the ship. My wife and I have now gone on 5 Royal cruises in the past 10 years and have been on Freedom and Adventure of the Seas previously. We've also been on Norwegian and Celebrity. We really looked forward to going on this cruise but left feeling... "eh".
Pluses. Getting on and off in Miami is a breeze. The on-line check-in process has improved so no more lines at the terminal. The entertainment. We were split on this. On the smaller ships the Main Theater shows were no reservations needed. Due to the amount of people on Allure EVERYTHING needed reservations. Momma Mia was good as well as the Headliner show. The rest were only "ok". This includes the Aqua show, The food was good in the main dining room. We don't do the specialty dining rooms for dinner. We did do "Johnny Rockets" for lunch which was good. Rooms service and dining room service were good as usual. The promenade shows were fun. We also went to the "Sushi Class" in the Japanese Restaurant and enjoyed that.
Cons. The big ship was like sleeping at the Mall. Not the "WOW" factor of the promenade of Freedom or Adventure of the Seas. The ship is just too big and crowded. We're used to the up-sell so it was pretty much the same. Our dinner and housekeeping staff made it a point to ask us to give them "10's" in the after cruise review. This was a first. We've never had staff tell us this before but there must be competition for these jobs. Our biggest con was men were allowed to wear shorts and flip-flops in the main dining room on Formal nights. Dress Code? What dress code! I heard that Royal has recently allowed shorts as part of the Casual Dining nights. On past trips men were stopped at the door. We asked our waiter about this and he said they recently never say anything. Also, we saw less of the cruise director on this ship than the other trips. We didn't even see him until Wednesday. The activities manager should be promoted to a cruise director on one of the ships. She was fun and EVERYWHERE. Lastly, This was a big ship so getting from point "A" to point "B" was a trek.