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Will be traveling solo on this cruise. This will earn us Diamond sooner for our Nov, 2024 14 Night Transatlantic cruise.

ORLANDO (PORT CANAVERAL), FL NASSAU, BAHAMAS PERFECT DAY AT COCOCAY

Excited to be sailing this Saturday. Just sharing a little explanation about the late start for this thread. There is a fairly significant back story to this sailing and some reasons why it is starting at this time. I’ll share a portion of the story in posts below. First just the basics. We will be doing the 8 night southern Caribbean on the Allure of the Seas. It will be myself, wife and son. We have added my parents to sail with us this cruise. For anyone who chooses to follow along, I’ll try to do some brief but regular updates but as this trip is going to focus on the family time, so I’m apologizing ahead of time for any brevity or lack of updates.

Here we go again... Our last blog left off with a promise that our first star class cruise would not be our last. We’re making good on that promise! This will be number two, and we have two more already on the books. I promise that this won’t be ending any time soon. When I start talking about cruises now, my hubby’s first question is if it’s Star Class (he’s just as hooked as I am). Partners in crime on this cruise: Hubby & I (Tim & Kathy) Our youngest daughter (who was on our first star class cruise with us) and her best friend/our honorary daughter (Kenzie & Kayla) Mother-in-law and her youngest sister (Mom & Aunt Cindy) Ship: Allure of the Seas Cabin: 2 Bedroom Aquatheater Suite – deck 9 – Star Class! Dates: September 25 – October 1 Ports: Sailing RT from Ft Lauderdale (FLL) to Roatan, Costa Maya, & Cozumel Booked Excursions: Roatan, Honduras: Splitting up the group - Some on the All-in-One Tour & some on the Turquoise Bay All Inclusive Horseback & Beach Break Costa Maya, Mexico: Chacchoben Ruins Exclusive Drive (all of us) Cozumel, Mexico: Splitting up again - Some doing the All Inclusive VIP Dolphin Encounter & others enjoying the Chankanaab Day Pass with Lunch & Drinks Pre-cruise Hotels: We’re sporting Holiday Inn this trip both in town the night before our flights out, and again in FLL the night before the cruise. Flying: Five of us are flying in the day before from Oregon and one is coming from New Jersey (fingers crossed that we all make it on time with our luggage – which is now a thing we think about after @Lovetocruise2002's experience last Spring) Travel Insurance: Absolutely!! We got policy quotes and picked the best one for us through Insuremytrip.com (in case you were curious) This is a special trip for our family and all about memories and celebrations: Our 30th Wedding Anniversary (the original reason for this booking); Mom’s birthday; Kenzie's birthday; Kayla's birthday; and most importantly We want to give mom the vacation of a lifetime! I know…nothing special for Cindy listed above. Don’t worry - I’m sure we’ll come up with something before we cruise. Kenzie cruised with us last November on Anthem in a star class suite (her third cruise ever and now wants nothing to do with normal cabins). Mom and Aunt Cindy have both cruised a few times before, but it’s been at least 15 years, and they were nothing like this. Kayla has never cruised, but she heard all about our last one and was experiencing some serious FOMO. We're so excited to share this cruise with our family! A little history about our family... Tim and I: We're pretty chill individuals, but we know how to throw a bash, and we're all about making special moments happen around us. Kenzie, Kayla, and Cindy: All three could stay up for a month straight talking non-stop, and still have more to say. Cindy has a thousand family stories to tell and keeps us in stitches all the time Mom is the ultimate caregiver! She's been caring for everyone in her life (sisters, kids, husbands) for as long as she can remember, and it's hard for her to be pampered. We're going to make sure she is taken care of!! A little history about this cruise booking… This cruise was originally booked on Symphony in the same cabin type. We booked it in the middle of the shutdown and we thought we had gotten a really good deal. Royal said, “hold my beer”, and last Fall, they redeployed Wonder’s inaugural year sailings during the Summer of 2022, kicked Allure out of Europe, and opened up Allure sailings from FLL. Someone in our Star Class Facebook thread shared that she got a great deal and I had to look. The difference was almost $5K and it was a no brainer. Even though the itinerary was different, and it was one night less on an older ship, we had to follow the savings and we jumped ship (pun intended). Allure was supposed to be amplified in 2020, but due to the shutdown, it was only in drydock for regularly scheduled maintenance at that time. Because of the delay, this ship still has the Champagne Bar (instead of the Bionic Bar), Sabor Mexican Restaurant (instead of BBQ, I think ??), no Perfect Storm water slides, and no Ultimate Abyss (dry slides). I don’t know if they intend to change Giovani’s during the amplification, but we’re pretty happy it’s still on the ship because none of us really liked Jamie’s on Anthem. Oh! And Mom’s all-time favorite musical is Mamma Mia!, which is the show on Allure, so that couldn’t have worked out better! We’re two months out and planning has fully commenced! The things we’re looking forward to most are the food (of course), the aqua-theater balcony, the Dux mattress!!!!! (Kenzie is very jealous because she heard ALL about it last time), walks with Mom, drinking without being the designated driver, some great excursions, and making AMAZING memories together! I hope this blog is entertaining for you because I know we're going to have some very entertaining experiences! “Memories are the STARS that Brighten Our Dreams” ~Sharon Repp

I was also on the allure of the seas and as stated above we did not go to perfect day at coco cay and instead floated around the coast of Florida. To say the least I wasn't happy but I understood the situation and I was sure Royal Caribbean would make things right. Well now I personally am furious with the cruise line because of how I have been being treated. I am a newbie, this was my 1st cruise not only with Royal Caribbean but ever and I didn't know about using a travel agent before the royal Caribbean rep's started calling me trying to get me to book right now and bombarding my email about booking before whatever. I was shopping around looking at theme parks and then the cruise lines, seeing all the stuff that was available to do,blah, blah, blah, you know but perfect day at coco cay on top of Royals (apparently made up) impeccable customer service record sold me so the next time Royal Caribbean's Representatives called I was over eager. So I booked directly through Royal because I didn't know any better... so now however I'm getting no help from royal Caribbean in regards to getting some kind of compensation for my family due to no fault of our own not being able to go to perfect day at coco cay, because we never made it there, which is the whole reason I booked through Royal Caribbean instead of Carnival cruise line. To top things off I purchased a beach bed at perfect day i was now not going to be able to use and I was assured by guests services onboard after waiting for 20 to 25 minutes in line that I wouldn't be charged for it and that it had been refunded back to me already so we disembarked the next day and my bill looks about right only then to wake up the next day to find I had been charged another $200+ on 4 separate new charges. If what they charged me was correct then I would have to have spend $650-$700 because I was charged $550+ but I had I $116 credit for the port fee being refunded to me even though I only spent $400+ onboard minus my $116 should be about $300ish. That is about what I had already charged when I disembarked from the ship and then they waited another day to charge me more, the Allure of the Sea was already 2 days into another sailing with a whole new batch of passengers. I have called twice now and the 1st time I was on hold for 25 to 30 minutes so I could explain to a guy my issue for 3 minutes and then to be told I would be put on a short hold, a"SHORT" hold, while they reached out to post cruise guests services or something so now45 minutes later after a nonstop loop of how great perfect day at coco cay is and how I should book a cruise to royal Caribbean's private island... over and over when I didn't even get to go and that's one of the 2 reasons I was calling and random breaks and small pauses as if some one was coming on the line but nope and these pauses were not in the same spots on the recording but instead were random and the recording didn't skip my phone didn't lose signal briefly. I know this because it would say " come experience Royal Caribbean's beautiful and secluded private island pe......rfect day at coco cay. Enjoy a day in the sand and sun then unwind at captain Jack's Cantina or at whatever beach club with the Caribbean's la....rgest salt water pool or take a ride on 1 of the 3 water slides and exp....eriance north America's tall...est waterslide." Get what I mean and yes that's how long and how many times I have had to listen to it. Now I finally get to speak to Sky for less than 5 minutes, Sky whom was less than empathetic, sympathetic or helpful and she told me they had to contact the ship to get the details of my I don't know what exactly but to verify that they took to much money out of my account, not ever saying anything about any kind of compensation for my family missing our "main" destination/port even thoughI kept bringing it up. Thus far I haven't even gotten so much as an I'm sorry from the Cruise line except from the captain who decided to not take our ship to coco cay duringmy sailing. So far the only kind of compensation of any kind I've seen was on the day we didn't go to coco cay and it was only that you could get 20% off spa packages due to the inconvenience, so you had to spend more money on something that I at least didn't want to spend more money on to get your compensation for Royal Caribbean not providing you with what I, we all who sailed paid for. So again Sky was almost no help, then the 2nd time I called on hold again but not as bad as the 1st time to finally speak with Brad whom again had no apologies for the issues they were responsible for and was also less than helpful as well. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told that I couldn't they didn't have a supervisor on duty to assist me with anything and I wanted to speak to on I could call back later during peek hours when I should be sleeping because I work the graveyard shift to have to wait on hold for another hour to get to hopefully speak with a supervisor but not guaranteed. I have never been so completely disregarded and treated so unprofessionally in my life. Brad then told me Sky sent an email to the ship and they haven't gotten back to her or they're not getting back to her (really said both) so we dont know anything else right now so they're isn't anything that we can do for you at this current time that's when I was told nope cant talk to a Supervisor either. Even though this the 2nd phone call was on Thursday April 28 2022 which is 6 days later than the 1st phone call I made on Saturday April 22 2022 but just to be nice (even though they aren't) let's call it and say it's been 5 days between the 2 calls. So as of yet with the exception of Sky sending an email to the ship NO one at Royal Caribbean has done anything for 5 days in regard to me being over charged by $150-$200 and they're acting like, ehh whatever! However when they wanted my $4000.00+ for this cruise I didn't have to wait on hold, every one was super helpful and nice but now I'm owed something from them and putting aside any thought of compensation, not taking it into consideration at all regardless if I feel we are due something for having to miss the perfect day at coco cay. I was really and physically overcharged by Royal Caribbean by alot and that is my money I work hard for and to have it just be taken with no explanation or justification for any of the charges is at the very least upsetting. The added frustration I am having because I am not getting any help of any kind from anyone about anything and for Royal Caribbean to be doing nothing at all to help me alleviate this issue that they caused me to have to deal with is not only ridiculous its unprofessional. They say Loyal to Royal but why would I be? They haven't been anywhere near Loyal in anyway to me, in fact they have treated me worse than I've ever been treated by company I didn't work for in my life. I know that this was a long rant (call it what it is) but I need help with not only getting compensation from the cruise line for not going to coco cay but in getting my money refunded back to me they wrongfully took. I'm subscribe to and watch this/your YouTube channel all the time as of recent leading up to my cruise trying to get as much info and help in preparing to disembark as I could but this wasn't covered in the videos and I had already booked with Royal so I didn't know I could still use a travel agent after so please again can you or anyone help me out. This has left a bad taste in my mouth and I was loving my cruise experience until this and it's seriously making me rethink if I'll ever use Royal Caribbean again. I even waited until yesterday after again receiving no help to do my survey hoping that Royal would redeem themselves and I could say great things about them but nope! Again I need assistance please reach out and give any advice or help you can. Thanks for reading this post and letting me explain to someone what is going on be blessed and have a wonderful life. Yes I posted this else where again please help.

If I am reading things right, in order to sail with children 12 and older they must be vaccinated? Okay, so is the company going to refund my four after this date sailings? My daughter is 15 and while vaccination isn't off the table we want to wait for additional education before we give her this vaccine, so clearly our sailing 01 August 2021 is a no go. I paid with my FCC's please, will they be issuing refunds now? As an adult I am vaccinated, but I want to do my due diligence not be forced into something before I am ready. Thoughts? Anyone in the same boat here? @Matt am I understanding this correctly?? @Sharla what now?

August 1 thru August 8, 2021 out of Port Canaveral there are four 2 bedroom grand suites available two on deck 9 and two on deck 10 for the same price as 1 bedroom grand suites the same sailing. I almost bit but I really like the quiet on 17. So not sure if this is a mistake or even a good deal but wanted to share in case someone could benefit from this pricing, @Matt, not sure if this is by design or not but if my fellow sailing friends can benefit and save some money, I wanted to spread the word. If this is a normal thing, sorry but I share with the best of intentions. Enjoy friends,??

Hello, just wanted to share our honeymoon video I put together from our recent sailing aboard the Allure of the Seas! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltGsPYy6-pg

looking at booking the Crown loft suite L2-1738 on Allure, can anyone tell me what your view is, is it more basketball court or more ocean? TIA

While I am a new Royal Caribbean Blog poster, I have been a quiet voyeur on the page for almost one year! We booked our Spring Break family cruise back in May of 2018 during a Kids Sail Free event. Man, did we score an amazing deal! Oasis Class was not in our price range, but the sale was too good to pass up. We are anxiously awaiting (T minus 12 days) our first family vacation (excluding Disney with the whole extended family 2 years ago). About us: My husband and I are in our mid/late thirties, and we love to travel. We’ve been on vacation together almost once/per year since we started dating almost 13 years ago. We enjoy going to warm, tropical locations (since we live in a frozen-tundra: Minnesota). I cruised with my family when I was in college and absolutely fell in LOVE with cruising, but, ironically, haven’t been on a second cruise until August of 2018. We already had our March 2019 Spring Break booked and, Surprise! My husband earned President’s Club through his work, and we were treated to a 5-night Italian Cruise on Celebrity Reflection (ADP chartered the entire ship- it was an absolutely unbelievable experience). That was my husband’s first time cruising. He is a rather tall/big drink of water, and his hesitation with cruises in the past was the size of the room/bathroom and feeling claustrophobic. He had NO issues on our Presidents Club cruise and really enjoyed the experience (though it will be very different cruising on a 100% booked Mega Ship @ Spring Break). We have a seven-year-old son who will be celebrating his eighth birthday on the second day of the cruise, which he is rather excited about. We also have a five-year-old daughter who is an absolute joy, a social butterfly if there ever was one (don’t be surprised if she befriends you and your children at the pool or Adventure Ocean). We normally do adults-only vacations- when our kids were little it was imperative for us to take time to connect as a couple, and we are blessed with amazing parents who BEG to take their grandkids for the week! During our last AO trip in March 2018, I found myself missing the kids like crazy! They are not babies anymore, much easier to go out and do things with (plus SO MUCH FUN to hang out with), and decided that they are old enough to start taking on our “relaxation” vacations. We know this vacation will be more “work” than AO, and we will have times of stress and chaos, but I know we will have an amazing time as a family. We are flying into Miami on Saturday, March 9th. We booked The Key, so we plan to be at the port as early as possible to board/start enjoying the ship right away! We do not have any specialty dining plans (other than Chops with The Key), and only a beach excursion booked for St. Maarten (Orient and Maho beach). Other than that we plan to hang out as a family by the pool and around the ship, hopefully the kids will enjoy some time at Adventure Ocean, check out the cruise activities (my son is ALMOST heavy enough to try the zip line!) and eat, drink, and play! With The Key, we have internet access so I will try my best to post updates LIVE. If nothing else I will update you all when we get back. What else will there be to do in the remaining frozen months of MN winter (no more Cruise planning/daydreaming…might as well reminisce with pictures/write-ups of our adventures!)

I'm sailing on Allure in a couple days and saw the blog had listed "improved Pizza" as one of the top 10 stories this year. Has it really improved noticeably? I'm not a Sorrento's hater (eat a lot of the stuff when I'm sailing) but would be pleased if they upped the quality a bit. Thanks!

I have been a mostly silent Royal Caribbean Blog follower/listener since May of this year when we booked this Allure of the Seas September 30th Eastern Caribbean sailing. Before I go any further, I must say that I would be remiss not to acknowledge and thank @Matt for creating this community which proved to be an incredible asset for myself and my husband as we planned our vacation. We had an incredible time, Matt, this forum, your website and your podcast were absolutely invaluable to me as I planned our cruise THANK YOU! Next, I have read many live blogs on this site and could only aspire to blog with such excellence as @twangster so I must preface this by saying....I have no pictures to share and this review is in the rearview but nevertheless I thought it was a good idea to share our experience with the community! I will attempt to share each day's activities here for your enjoyment (and mine, reliving the joy of our vacation) ? So! I'll start with: Planning/Choosing this Sailing I haven't cruised since college but I have been on two cruises in the past. My first was on the Splendour of the Seas (many years ago!) and on Carnival Legend. My experience on Splendour left an indelible impression, one that made me love RCCL and my experience on Carnival was "meh", at best. My husband has never cruised before and I have been aching to book a cruise for the two of us. I stumbled upon this blog while I was doing cursory price shopping on Royal's website and thus began the effort to campaign for a cruise vacation with my husband who was quite skeptical of the experience he would have. In my past experience, I have been on two Western Caribbean itineraries and thus wanted to try something different. I was considering Eastern and Southern itineraries and we were thinking about the early fall. We live in New York so other than taking a cruise on the Anthem, we were going to need to fly to Florida or elsewhere so I was a little anxious to fly during hurricane season to Puerto Rico where most Southern itineraries were embarking from. Thus....we landed on Eastern itineraries. My husband gets bored easily so we thought an Oasis class was a good place to start and I like shiny new things....so trying out one of the megaships felt like a perfect idea. Taking the advice preached by many in this forum, we worked with a local travel agent and got a great rate on the Allure of the Seas in an oceanview cabin over the bow. Again at the recommendation of many here, I continued stalking pricing on the RCCL website and long story short ended up with an opportunity to move up to a Neighborhood Balcony Guarantee for literally an additional $20 (I felt like we stole the rate, honestly). Our Eastern Caribbean itinerary included St Maarten, Puerto Rico, Labadee and three days at sea. Our booking yielded a modest amount of OBC so we also booked a 2-day BOGO specialty dining package that we needed to use on the first two days of our cruise. We did not take advantage of a beverage package because we were confident that we would not drink enough to breakeven which proved to be a great decision. So I'll end my rambling here and try to add an additional entry for each day of our cruise ?

Hello I currently have booked a 1 bed room aqua theatre suite on Symphony of the seas but I just found out for the same price I can get a grand panoramic suite on Allure of the seas. I would like to experience star class but there are currently available on the date of my sailing. 1. Is there a drastic difference between the symphony of the seas and allure of the seas and which room should I choose.

Hello Everyone, I recently cruised on Allure of the Seas in February and filmed a video of our trip. Please take a look and let me know your thoughts! We had a wonderful time and enjoyed perfect weather sailing the Western Caribbean! Thanks, Ryan

Hello I am sailing on the Allure of the Seas. We have reserved two staterooms that are beside each other and have connecting doors. There are two kids and two adults. Is it possible for all seapass cards to unlock both doors? If so, how would we do that? Thanks in advance.

Thinking about doing an Eastern Caribbean cruise, would be flying from Manchester, England. The price of the whole cruise comes out at £3939 for Allure and £4029 for Oasis, so not worried about the price. Are there any differences in service/food quality or any noticeable things that differ these ships from one another?

Hello RCL fans! This will be my first post and so happy to be part of a great community. My family and I will be travelling in October on the Allure of the Seas for a Western Caribbean cruise. So excited to say the least. I'll be posting a number of different things hoping to get help from all of you in preparation for our upcoming adventure. My first question is to do with the Adventure Ocean Club. The kids travelling in our group will be of the following ages, 5, 6, 8, and 9. I was wondering if anyone had any great links to tips to get the most out of this club as well as if anyone knows of itineraries i can find for the club for each day of our travel? Obviously I'm looking for feedback from those who have used this program for their children. Thanks again and happy cruising to everyone!

I don't know if posting this on here is the best idea, but we're desperate. We disembarked the Allure of the Seas this morning, and one of my family members left their cell phone on board. We contacted Royal Caribbean about it, but I've read quite a few stories about cruise lines not making an effort to return lost items to their owners. So without wasting any more time, I was wondering if someone could find the phone for us and keep it safe until it can be returned. The phone is a Samsung Galaxy Note 5, and the phone case has a mirror on the back side. My guess is that it was dropped in Studio B (where the ice skating rink is) somewhere in the seats on the left side as you enter the rink. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated as there are precious memories on this phone.

Hi, We are a family of 4, looking to book a cruise on the Allure of the Seas. So far we have been quoted for an ocean view balcony and interior stateroom. The price difference between the two rooms for us is $700. For those that have been on the ship or Oasis class ships, is the amount worth it in the sense of actual room? I know the difference and pluses of a balcony, but we are considering it just on the basis of the room size. Any thoughts or experience? Other suggestions? Thanks!

We are cruising on the Allure of the Seas on the Western Caribbean itinerary on March 19th. We are looking for a good place to eat the night before. Laster year we cruised on Enchantment out of Port Canaveral and ate at Fish Lips and had a great time. It really got our trip off to an awesome start so I'm hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. We will be cruising with our girls (8 and 12) so we need a place that is family friendly. Looking for something moderately priced and would prefer something close to the port or with a ocean view.

I am considering purchasing the Deluxe drink package on my upcoming cruise on Allure of the Seas. I know I'll enjoy some alcoholic drinks but I am also a coffee fanatic and enjoy my espresso based drinks so this package may be perfect for me. I know Starbucks is not included in the premium coffee but what is included? And where is that premium coffee found on the ship? I apologize if this question has been asked! This is my first cruise! Thank you for all your help!

Hello Everyone - I bought the 3 Night Dining Package on Allure of the Seas and confirmed it. I have yet to be able to add the first nights restaurant. What am I doing wrong?

Hello Everyone - I was wondering if there will be a Couples Pass we can purchase to use the Thermal Suite all week during our Allure of the Seas cruise embarking this Sunday? If so, do you know how much it is?

Hello Everyone - Question about the Allure of the Seas - I am getting ready to embark this Sunday on the Allure of the Seas. I don't think I can drink enough to justify one of the Drinking Packages. Does anyone know if there is a Wine Package I could buy one onboard? Maybe 4, 5, 6, or 7 Bottle Package for the cruise?

Hello Everyone - Does anyone know if they have begun using WOW Bands - RFID on the Allure of the Seas?