On Fri, 28 Dec 2012 04:31:50 -0800 (PST), "rec.travel.cruises"
wrote:

Allure of the Seas
9 December 2012
Ft. Lauderdale – Nassau -- St. Thomas -- St. Marten -- Ft. Lauderdale


The following review of our cruise is an opinion only. It may be inaccurate in parts as to fact and is only presented here as a report of our experience and our perceptions of our cruise. It in no way suggests that the reader should cruise or not cruise on the Allure of the Seas. The reader is urged to do their own investigation before deciding on choosing the Allure of the Seas. Their experiences may differ completely from ours.

Embarkation: We arrived by car at 10:00 A.M. on Sunday. It was the perfect time to arrive. Only a few stragglers from the previous cruise were still leaving and we were checked in and up to the 2nd floor holding area in 15 minutes. By 11:30 a.m. we started boarding. The RCCL Terminal at Port Everglades is the fastest and easiest boarding process of any cruise we have been on in the past.

Personally Ft. L is my second favorite to Baltimore.

Windjammer Grill: Windjammer is a good name for it, because it was jammed all week. It was extremely difficult to navigate for food and find a table. Since we boarded the ship early the on the first day, the grill was nearly empty. After we finished eating and exited, there were long lines of passenger being held from entering because the grill had filled up. Throughout the 7 day cruise the grill was jam packed with passengers -- staff would hold additional passengers at the entrance, on occasions, until the grill emptied. To avoid the crowds we had to get up early and be at the Windjammer when it opened. The food was a disappointment. There was a good variety but much of the food seemed to be prepared earlier and stored before putting it out on the hot tables. We noticed trays of waffles and pancakes precooked being held back until the hot table tray was emptied. Waffles and pancakes were hard and cold and did not taste fresh, as did some of the other selections. Even
though the Windjammer food was a disappointment, it was still better than the main dining room food.
I normally only eat in the cafeteria if the dining room is not open.
It seems the norm now for there not to be enough seats there.
It is also coming to be the norm that there are less crew to do more
work -
Entertainment: Where RCCL’s food is abysmal their entertainment is superb. There are so many shows and activities on the ship that we were kept busy for the entire cruise. Having reservation for each venue made getting a seat easy. But to get a reservation in the time slot you want, you must do so well in advance of your cruise online on RCCL’S website. One show, the Comedy Show was booked solid months in advance for the earlier shows and we had to settle for the 11:30 p.m. show. Passengers new to cruising who are not aware entertainment can be booked months in advance may find themselves shut out of prime time slots.

I'm not so much in favor of the pre-booking or standing in line to get
in to shows.

Tipping: During previous cruises we had changed from cash tipping to automatic tipping. On one of the last nights we would find tipping envelopes in our stateroom along with tipping vouchers showing our name and saying that our tips were being automatically credited to the particular crew member account. We would place the voucher in each of the envelopes and hand them to the crew on the last night. Another cut back of RCCL – no more vouchers to present to the crew. This has caused much consternation among both crew and passengers. With this new cutback of cutting out vouchers, the crew has no way of knowing if a passenger has indeed automatically tipped or not. The passenger has no way of knowing if the tips charged to their account actually reaches the crew members. Crew member have no way or reconciling tip money received or not received on their account with vouchers received, since the vouchers are now eliminated. In the future we will return to cash tipping. We do
not ave confidence our tips are finding their way to our dining and stateroom staff. Our dining and stateroom staff have no way of knowing is we just said we automatically tipped or we indeed automatically tipped.

I think this is that big a deal. I dislike the tip envelopes and
would prefer to do the automatic tipping and give an extra cash tip to
those crew who have done extra well. I have been told that if you do
not do automatic tipping that the crew has to turn any tips they get
from you in to the 'pot' - that they can't keep them. I do not know
if that is true or not, or how anyone would know if they got money
that they didn't report. On my last cruise one of the couples at our
table tipped everyone at the start of the cruise, and I must say they
got super service.

Ports of Call: Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. There were only 3 ports of call but because the ship is so large with so many venues, days at sea were a destination in themselves.

Shore Excursions: The cost of shore excursions has continued to climb to a point where they are no longer a value. For example, we have taken the Golden Eagle Catamaran on St. Maarten for many years. The price used to be somewhere around $45 and the boat were always filled to capacity with 80 or so passengers. We again booked the Golden Eagle while on the Allure at a cost of $84 each. There were only 27 passengers out of 6,000 who chose this venue. For some it is a case of not having the additional funds and for others, it is a case of having the funds but finding the shore excursion priced above a value for the money. Because of the steep increases in shore excursions, we choose only one and made our own arrangements for others while in port at considerably less cost.

Most of the time if I've been there before, I don't book a tour
anyway. And places where I have been a LOT (which do include Nassau,
and St. Thomas), mostly I have an idea of what I want to do as I've
done all the excursions. I might even stay on the ship and not go
ashore at all.
Past Guest Coupon Book: Here again we found more cutbacks. The coupon book for Diamond Passengers has been cut back and several items that were free are gone. For example, there were coupons for a free meal in Jonny Rockets. No more, that has been replaced with a two for one milkshake coupon. There are still some coupons that give something for free – 30 minutes internet for example. However, several of the free coupons have been replaced with buy one and get something off on the second purchase, etc.

Never found anything worthwhile in those coupon books.

Very interesting review.