Why Not Take A Cruise on Allure of the Seas?

Cruise Ship Review: Allure of the Seas

Last week I went on a Caribbean cruise to celebrate Easter with my boyfriend and his parents.  The itinerary included Cozumel, Mexico, Falmouth, Jamaica, and Royal Caribbean owned Labadie, Haiti.  I have cruised on over 10 different ships over all seasons, but never I have seen as many children on a cruise ship as I did on this itinerary.  The next couple of paragraphs put our cruise into perspective with respect to the number of children.  The ship, which is the largest cruise ship in the world, was at capacity with half of the passengers being under 18 according to the captain.  The abundance of children was due to the overlap with spring break of many primary and high schools.  I generally have a lot of patience with children.  I don’t get annoyed by or complain about crying children on airplanes or in restaurants.  However, the cruise ship stocked with children started to wear on my nerves after an entire week.  I will give a couple of the most absurd examples.

The largest cruise ship on earth!  Allure of the Seas.

On the first day my boyfriend and I decided to go for a ride on the carousel.  Yes, Allure of the Seas has a carousel in its boardwalk neighborhood.  We were first in line and so picked out the animals we wished to ride, a bear and frog side by side, as we knew we would have first pick.  Right before the ride before us stopped two small children who did not speak English cut in front of us in line.  Of course two little children would not think adults would want to ride a carousel and probably did not realize we were in line so they went around us, we reasoned.  As we could not explain to them the situation, we let it go.  When the carousel was empty of its previous passengers the line was let in.  The children in front of us ran right and we walked left to the bear and the frog.  I climbed atop the frog, while my boyfriend stood next to the bear with his two hands on its head and rump, ready to hoist himself on, when the little girl who cut us in line climbed onto the bear from its other side, stealing it away from him.  Again we let it go and laughed it off.  However, occurrences of this nature continued to happen during the week.  A few days later I was more than terse when a flock of children under 8 years old at 9 PM at night invaded our mini golf game.  They started by running through the course, including the green we were actively putting on, then invaded our green and started hitting our golf balls around while I was in the middle of a turn.  We still had a great time on the cruise and thoroughly enjoyed the ship, although maybe not as much as if we had sailed at a less popular time. 

The children's pool are on Allure of the Seas, crowded with children.

Allure, being the size that it is accommodates a variety of entertainment and dinning options.  One feature we particularly enjoyed were the 3D movies.  While on the ship, we were able to watch both the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Home, both DreamWorks films.  We also made use of the flowriders.  Flowriders are unique to Royal Caribbean, and can be thought of a wave simulators which can be surfed or boogieboarded.  Allure has two.  This was the third flowrider we have tried.  Although the ride was in my opinion better than the Freedom class ships of Royal Caribbean and therein easier to ride, the lines to ride the flowriders were long, even when the ship was in port, which is unusual.  The long lines were likely just another side effect of cruising during spring break. 

Surfing on the Flowrider at the stern of Allure of the Seas.

Also in the area of the flowriders are a full size volleyball/basketball court, 9 hole mini golf course, and zip line which stretches across an interior courtyard in the ship called the boardwalk.

The 9 hole mini golf course on Allure of the Seas.  One of the flow riders is in the background.

The boardwalk is where the carousel I mention earlier is located.  One afternoon while the ship was in port, we spent and hour on the boardwalk just fooling around.  We finally rode the frog and bear on the carousel side by side.

Enjoying our ride on the carousel in the boardwalk.

I climbed my way through the children’s playground equipped with a slide.

Making my way through the play area.

We took photos with cut outs available across the boardwalk.

One of the cutouts available for photos on Allure of the Seas Boardwalk.

Two areas of complimentary dinning are also located on the boardwalk.  There is a hotdog stand open in the afternoon (although it lacks veggie dogs, a vegetarian can enjoy a bun with tons of toppings instead) and a donut stand open in the mornings.  Over the course of our cruise I had a chocolate donut (yum!) and a bite of a strawberry donut neither of us liked.  There is also a Mexican cantina and Johnny Rockets on the boardwalk, which guests can dine at for an additional cost.  Although Jonny Rockets is complimentary for breakfast, the food it serves can be found in other areas of the ship.

A deck down and further toward the front of the ship is the Royal Promenade, which can be thought of as a well-decorated mall in a ship.  The promenade is home to two more complimentary dinning options, the Café Promenade that serves sandwiches and desserts and Sorrento’s Pizza which serves pizza by the slice.  I was disappointed in Sorrento’s, because other Royal Caribbean ships which have a Sorrento’s onboard have a build you own pizza option, which was never available on Allure.  The vegetarian options at the Café Promenade however, was better than on other ships.  So I guess there is a give and take.  Also in the Royal Promenade were shops and bars, including the Irish pub, which had been a favorite of mine in the past. 

The Royal Promenade uncharacteristically silent while in port.

A few floors above the Royal Promenade is Central Park, which is a park completely enclosed by the cruise ship, except to the sky.  Our stateroom was located at one end of the park, and I so enjoyed walking through it I made a point to walk through the park whenever I needed to cross the ship, no matter what floor was my destination.  Central Park was just a pleasant place to sit and sip coffee, probably because it was mostly quiet and devoid of children.  Central Park is also home to my favorite complimentary restaurant on all Royal Caribbean ships the Park Café.  The Park Café was originally only on Allure and its sister ship Oasis of the Seas.  However, its fare was so popular, Royal Caribbean began installing them on every ship.  The food in the Park Café is not only delicious (the veggie quesadilla is my favorite), but it is also consistent.  Many of the menu items, like the make your own salad, quesadillas, three cheese sandwiches, and fruit cups are offered every day.  I like that at least in one restaurant on the ship there will be food every day I know I will love. 

Central Park located in the center of Allure of the Seas, always quiet and peaceful.

At night in central park there were often instrumental concerts, and three ritzy bars (vintages wine bar, the trellis bar, and rising tide bar) are located within the park.  A few specialty restaurants are also located within Central park, but I have not eaten at them, and so cannot attest to their food or service. 

Another adult-friendly area of the ship is the Solarium, which has a minimum age of 16 for admittance.  The Solarium is located in the bow of the ship on one of the top decks, with whirpools and beach chairs a plenty.  Also located in the Solarium, is the Solarium Bistro.  This bistro is buffet style healthy food, which we often found to be the least crowded food option on the ship.   We visited the bistro a few times for the healthier made to order miso soup and roasted veggies.  The last day of the cruise I had a bowl of charred tomatoes which became my favorite dish of the cruise. 

For those who like shows, Allure has a lot to offer.  We thoroughly enjoyed the Cirque du Solei style water show Aquaria and the musical Chicago.  Aquaria follows a bell hop lost at sea who discoverers a lost civilization of high flying acrobats and cliff divers.  I will remark that seeing Chicago was a big motivation for sailing on this cruise as I have wanted to see it live since the movie came out some years ago with Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta Jones.  Allure is going into dry dock for refurbishment in a few weeks, at which time Chicago will be replaced.  The life cycle of shows on each Royal Caribbean ship are 7-8 years.  Due to this reason, we try not to repeat sailings on ships until enough time has passed that the shows have changed.  On this sailing there was also a headliner show by an Abba tribute group Abracadabra, which we skipped, and the Royal Caribbean original show Blue Planet.  Blue Planet is a theme show, with the broad theme of planet earth/nature.  The sets were nothing short of fantastic, including a giant tree which spouts dancers and a combination of semi transparent curtains, CGI fish, and levitating harnessed dancers which created an underwater scene of a scale I would expect of an expensive Las Vegas Show.  However, like many of the other Royal Caribbean original shows, Blue Planet lacks something that could be added with little effort and elevate it from mediocre to amazing, and that something is a plot.  Blue Planet is a mish mash of songs, dance, and acrobatics, with little tying the scenes together.  About half of the songs had nothing to do with nature, and the lack of a plot left me so confused I did not realize there was a narrator who was playing mother nature until she was introduced as so at the end of the show. 

There were also two ice skating shows, Ice Games which is Monopoly themed and How To Train Your Dragon on Ice, both of which were entertaining to all ages.  Royal Caribbean has perfected the choreography of their ice shows to include just enough technical skating, not so technical but still fun skating (like back flips), comedy, and audience participation.  In Ice Games the audience follows a game of monopoly as rolls of the dice land players on different squares based on different areas of the ship (Boardwalk, Giovanni’s Table, etc.).  How To Train Your Dragon on Ice differs from other Royal Caribbean ice shows in that it follows the plot of the movie of the same name exactly, and it uses puppets (the dragons) quite extensively. When I mention puppets, what immediately comes to my mind are the smaller type muppets of Sesame Street.  The puppets of the ice show however, are routinely 6 ft. long or longer, setting them apart from their more common counterparts. 

For most shows, guests can make reservations online before their cruise or on their stateroom TV once on board.  The How To Train Your Dragon on Ice show is first come first serve only.  We had heard about it before our cruise began and kept an eye on the daily planner (on Royal Caribbean called the Cruise Compass) to be sure we set aside time to see it, which I recommend.  Although guests can reserve seats at shows (all of which are general admission) seats are released to folks standing in line ten minutes prior o the show start.  We arrived almost 30 minutes early to Chicago and Aquaria and found most of the good seats already occupied.  The Aquaria theater is half bench seating, and 20 minutes to show time all of the seating with backs was taken, leaving only bench seating.  Aquaria was our first show of the cruise and we learned the lesson to arrive extra early to get descent seats.

For the more active types, Allure offers plenty of ways to stay in shape.  Aside from the flowrider I previously mentioned, Allure features a well-equipped gym, the longest jogging track at sea at 0.4 miles, and the two tallest rock walls at sea, each 54 ft. tall.  All Royal Caribbean ships feature a rock wall.  On smaller ships, which have fewer shows and attractions, I would strength train or run on a treadmill in the gym every day then climb a few laps on the rock wall to finish off my workout.  Usually the rock wall on smaller ships is typically somewhat deserted, mostly due to the lack of young people and the fact most cruisers only want to climb once per cruise.  This was not the case on Allure, which had a substantial line for the rock walls each time they were open.  To their credit, I needed longer breaks than usual due to the fact the rock wall is so much taller than others I climbed on Royal Caribbean ships.  The line was also expedited by the self-belayers equipped on the rock wall.  On most ships, a crew member must belay each passenger on the wall.  Belaying is when a person standing on the ground controls the tautness on the rope and lowers the climber down at the end by letting rope out.  Self-belayers are little machines which slowly lower the climber down as soon as they let go of or fall off the wall.  The use of self-belayers means only one crew member was needed to monitor three climbers.  Self-belayers can be a little odd to use at first as climbers descend as soon as they leave the wall, unlike when another person belays them and there is a pause before they descend. 

One of the pair of tallest rock climbing walls at sea.

I broke down and bought a 24 hour internet package on this cruise, which cost $25 with the loyalty program discount.  Signs claimed the internet on Allure was the fastest at sea.  I support that claim, although the only other cruise ship I have used the internet on was Norwegian Epic.  This fact does not mean the internet is whatsoever fast.  I performed two speed tests of the internet on board, the results of which can be seen below.  Needless to say no one on the mainland would pay for internet this speed. 

Internet speed tests on Allure of the Seas.

One thing which supremely annoyed me more than any children could, was that the ship was charging for popcorn.  Popcorn is such a cheap food to make, it should be the last food Royal Caribbean should charge for.  We saw popcorn stands at all of the movies and outside some of the shows.  Norwegian Cruise Line also offers popcorn at its movie showings, but the popcorn is complimentary, as it should be. 

Before ending this post, I would like to write a few notes about the revitalization Allure is undergoing this summer.  In addition to the changing of shows, Allure of the Seas will also see changes to its dinning, payment systems, and staterooms.  Allure of the Seas in the long-term will be changing to dynamic dinning (Royal Caribbean’s version of Norwegian Cruise Line’s free style cruising).  As part of the change to dynamic dinning, the 3 deck tall main dinning room will be redecorated and split up into smaller dinning rooms, each with their own unique décor.   As per the payment system, currently guests on Allure of the seas use their stateroom key card (called a seapass card) to pay for beverages and shopping, as well as to enter their staterooms.  After the revitalization, the seapass card will be replaced with RFID wristbands.  At the beginning of the cruise, guests will be issued a wristband which they can merely wave near their stateroom door handle to open it, and in a similar fashion pay for all onboard purchases.  After the revitalization, Allure will be fully capable of instituting dynamic dinning and the RFID wristbands, although these features may not be instituted right away.  The revitalization will also include the addition of staterooms, which will result in the lost of some public balconies. 

I look forward to cruising on Allure again after the revitalization, and the shows have been swapped for new ones.  Although, I will probably cruise during a less-busy time of year. 

A special thanks to Bob for the great photos he took for me.