Allure of the Seas Reviews

This ship which is 9 months old is the sister ship to Oasis of the Seas but beats it to the title of the largest cruise ship in the world by a few centimetres. The ship can carry over 6,000 passengers and has over 2,000 staff. With numbers like this I was a little concerned that it would be just to big and there would be queues for everything. I need not have feared! the ship was almost full, yet boarding on the first day from Fort Lauderdale took less than 15 minutes. Cruise Club UK had arranged a special deal with Royal Carribean for this cruise and the benefits were 'All drinks included' and 'All tips and gratuties included'. Obviously this added a small premium to the overall cruise price but as an experienced cruiser I worked it out that I made a serious saving. Bravo... Cruise Club. There was some confusion with some bar staff on what 'All Drinks' included but this was easily clarified and included all ****tails, all beers regular and premium, all spirits, all soft drinks and glasses of house wine. You had to remember to point out the 'per diem' sticker on your boarding card when ordering drinks or they did try and charge you in error. The only anomaly was you could have as many $10 ****tails as you wanted but had to pay for a $3.50 bottle of water.
We had an indoor cabin on deck 10 with a balcony overlooking the central park. The cabins are well soundproofed with little noise intruding from outside. Quite novel to sit on the balcony and listen to the birdsong in central park, albeit recorded. The Ipod sound system in the cabin was a great feature and you could charge 2 ipods at the same time.
This is a party ship for young and old with so many things to do that there really is no need to get off of the ship at any of the ports. Nassau the first port of call is worth giving a miss. I have been there several times over the last 15 yrs and its still a dump. The ring of touts waiting to pounce on you at portside is nearly as bad as Casablanca. St Thomas is a little better in that it looks slightly cleaner and has jeweller shop after jeweller shop. St Maarten is my favourite, clean, interesting and I think better prices on cameras, jewellery, handbags and tobacco. 5 packets of Golden Virginia (250g) worked out at £12 and 200 english fags about the same.
The food and entertainment on Allure was simply fabulous. We saw Chicago and The Blue Planet in the Amber theatre which seats about 1200 people over three floors. We saw the Aqua show in the outdoor Aqua theatre at the rear of the ship. I would recommend that you reserve these shows online before you cruise, some shows like the Comedy Theatre were fully booked. You could still get in but you had to go 30 minutes before and get entrance on a standby system. I enjoyed the Jazz club and the Schooner Bar particularly. The Solarium is something else, especialy as its adults only. Great peace and quiet and at night a bar and entertainment centre for adults. The Royal Parade was probably one of my favourite areas as it had a British style pub with the biggest range of beers I have seen and a Starbucks and Cupcake shop.
We had mytime dining which meant we could reserve anytime or just turn up and they would accommodate use. The casual passengers who were happy in shorts and t-shirts all the time went to the Windjammer Cafe but those that wanted to make the effort in the eveening went to the Amber dining room which was on three decks at the back of the ship. We opted to sit with different passengers at a large table and each night we met some great Americans and of course other Brits. The seating reception made sure that you sat with other English speaking nations or you could end up with a table of Columbians and no spanish! As usual with RCCL, nothing was too much at the table. If you wanted 2 starters, 2 main courses and 2 desserts you could. I reckon the dining room service was the best I have ever received on a RCCL cruise and my last one on Splendour of the Seas was hard to beat.
One of the best techno things on this ship were the interactive screens all over the ship which told you where you were, what was on and where and how to get to it. I was with my daughter who had just turned 21 and therefore had an adult card for purchasing/consumption of alcohol. From past experience with my son on RCCL, I expected her to be constantly asked for her passport as proof of age in spite of her card. RCCL have sorted this out as the passenger's photo comes up on the till when the boarding card is swiped so they know what the passenger is and their age. In 7 days we did not get to see everything on Allure. We missed the Ice Show and never managed to get on the flowrider or zip ride.
I wish I had stayed on Allure and done the Western Caribbean for another 7 days.
I was on Allure as a 'old' dad with a 'young' daughter and we both had a brilliant time. Please, please Cruise Club UK give us some more RCCL all drinks and gratuties paid deals.