Yes equipment is included. It's really cool. A guide takes a group out throughout your time there and shows you cool things. I think there's another excursion that doesn't include snorkeling equipment so you could take your own.
We were on Allure in December, and we had no complaints. I liked the fact that it didn't have the slides. We enjoyed the promenade, the dining options, and the shows were great. Mamma Mia was an improvement over the other Broadway shows we've seen.
We love all the Oasis class ships, including Allure. All the entertainment options are fantastic. There are many specialty dining options and we really enjoy those in Central Park. I agree that I wish it had a Playmakers, but with so many other choices we still think it’s a great ship.
Welcome to the boards!
Having no Playmakers is the worst, but OceanAria is the best. But considering you are new to RC, the best and worst from seasoned cruisers won't really matter as you should go into the experience with the most open mind. Something that is the best/worst for someone else might be the opposite for you. I would suggest looking at Matt's blog and post about the Allure.
We absolutely loved cruising on Allure in April 2022, so much so that we booked her again for this upcoming April. The ship just felt really elegant to me and had so much to do onboard. I'm super happy that we got a 7 night on her this time rather than the same 6 night we did last year because I'm thrilled to have an extra day on board with no port stop! My only complaint about the ship from last year is that we felt that there wasn't a ton to do late at night, but maybe that is because we don't drink (bars were open...). Food choices were very limited after 9pm and I got sick of pizza. But that may have been helpful that we went to bed earlier and weren't so sleepy to get up for our port activities.
I loved OceanAria and the music in Mamma Mia, ice show was so-so. "Family" comedians weren't that great, but ok. I take my enjoyment of the entertainment with a grain of salt - it's all free and if I really don't like it, I can always leave and do something else. We didn't end up doing the adult comedians, but hoping to on this upcoming cruise. Food was pretty good, IMO. We primarily tried to eat in the MDR, due to my husband's preference, for most meals, but did try out some of the other places. I LOVED Central Park and the Boardwalk - both new to me since that was our first Oasis ship. I really enjoyed the free dance classes they offered. Our Voom worked pretty well (although it has switched to Starlink since then). Really enjoyed the zip line.
My kids were happy to have 2 Flowriders. They liked going ice skating one of the days. The teen club seemed great, although neither of my kids really hung out with kids they met there - the oldest hung out with other teens from our roll call that we connected with beforehand (and met for the first time right before walking them all to the teen meet up the first afternoon). My younger teen really didn't end up connecting with the other kids and would either hang with the older sibling's group, or just stay with us. I think he was intimidated by a lot of the older boys in the teen club (he was still 12 and there were a lot of 15-17 year olds on our sailing).
Pools seemed nice but we didn't spend a lot of time there since we had so many water activities during our port days. We chose to do a lot of the other stuff on board instead during the sea days.
My favourite thing about Allure is that when on the boardwalk you have a clear line of sight to the water. The other oasis class ships all have the Ultimate Abyss in the way.
Allured guest reacted to TravisMA81 in Tabyana Beach Snorkel Lunch excursion
