Allure 19th Feb 2023 – the good, the bad and the icky

[AhaOhio]

Yeah! We finally did it. We had a cruise planned for around the same time last year, but that plan imploded spectacularly when our granddaughter tested positive for Covid just hours before our intercontinental flight.

So what was it like this time around – same destination different (and much bigger ship)?

EMBARKATION

I will start with the embarkation. We had (as advised by so many) booked the earliest possible time slot. We had also as advised by RCCL arrived at the terminal (new Galveston terminal) just in time for our slot.

And so had everyone else! The lines seemed to go from the terminal to the state of Delaware. And there was zero mentioning of any time slots.

This particular day was not extremely hot, but I would imagine that this extremely long wait outside could be outright dangerous for people with health conditions or small children. It just seemed so disorganized!

When we eventually got inside the terminal everything went very quickly and efficiently. There was one piece of information that we had never received (causing a minor delay) that I wish to forward here: If you are an international traveler with ESTA you NEED to bring a paper copy of your approved ESTA to the checkin before boarding. Nothing was mentioned about this and our papers were in our checked luggage.

Another thing to think about is to very thoroughly go through anything that is in your checked luggage. Some small item in a pocket could when noticed on the X-ray cause concern. Our son – who is a hunter – had forgotten an empty shell in one of his short pockets. This caused a very friendly and interesting behind the scenes tour of the security area of the terminal. Mind you the security staff were all extremely nice and friendly. Procedure is procedure so they for all obvious reasons have to check everything. Still sort of wonder what the fate was for the other (unknown) guy who had been caught with loaded mags…

So, for the good stuff.

One thing that was obvious wherever we were on the ship was the staff! Everyone was extremely nice, efficient, and helpful. That kept us smiling throughout the cruise.

Once onboard we had a quick lunch at Sorrentos which was quite good and made it up to our cabins. The luggage arrived very quickly. Here again a piece of advice: We were on the 14^th floor and it seemed as if this made it easier to catch an elevator as the only cabins above us were the suites on decks 17 and 18. It seemed as if it was much more difficult for cabins more in the middle of the ship.

It was also only a few easy steps to the pool deck which we frequented a lot.

DINING/MEALS

Then about the meals. This was really good throughout. We had every dinner except one in the main dining room and it was great every time. Much thanks to wonderful service (thanks Deepah, Guarav and Honey). There was a lot of variety and we always found something for everybody.

Breakfasts were split evenly at main dining room and Windjammer. We had no problems finding a table at the Windjammer and it was a lot better than I would expect. The way it is organized with different stations definitely reduces the queuing there.

We ordered room service breakfast one day when we were supposed to be on an early excursion. Whoever takes care of the orders would need to read the requests more carefully. A lot of what we ordered did not materialize including 2 teacups and around half of the food. Still better than for some of the neighbors who as we were told did not get anything at all after they had ordered.

We had one specialty dinner and two lunches. The dinner was at Izumi Hibachi and was great fun for everybody. It was dinner and show all rolled into one. Highly recommended!

The lunch at Sabor was also good. It is a fun place. Food could be a little bit more spicy but it was good enough.

The best meal we had on the ship was the “Taste of Royal” lunch at 150 central park. It was perfectly executed and the matching wines were perfectly suited to each plate. It also included – which we did not know beforehand – a behind the scenes tour which was very interesting. Great value. It was also great to see how much our grandchild enjoyed the food (especially medium rare filet mignon).

EXCURSIONS

In Roatan we went for the Maya Key tour as it had a bit of everything. The beach is pretty. There are quite a few animals to see. The lunch is OK. The snorkeling guides are fantastic! The guy who helped us assisted our granddaughter all along the best parts of the reef.
The downside is that the swimming area at the beach is cordoned off so only a rather small area is available for swimming. More like a splash pool in the sea.

Costa Maya was a disappointment in that we had high expectations for this stop (Mayan Ruins, Lagoon…) and the port was cancelled due to bad weather. Yes we know that this can happen and this if for the safety of the ship and us all. BUT when I have done some research I have found that this is a quite common thing for Costa Maya. Same thing happened the week before and apparently many times more. If this port is so prone to bad weather conditions would it not be better to consider another stop instead and change the itinerary?

Cozumel was definitely the best stop. We were on the “Royal Swim” dolphin experience. This was the coolest thing ever. We got to spend so much time with the animals. Had a nice lunch. And have the pictures to prove that we were all indeed pushed by the dolphins as well as pulled by their dorsal fins.

ENTERTAINMENT

As for entertainment on the ship we saw the ice show which was totally spectacular, most of the aqua show (until a technical error cased them to have to stop the performance) and Mamma Mia.

All are very good performances. For families with children, I would however consider not taking them to Mamma Mia as it is a rather long performance and if the kids are anything like our grand daughter they will have worn themselves out with other activities climbing or ziplining or just playing all day.

Room standard and disembarkation

One thing we did notice about our stateroom right after we got on was that the cleaning was less than perfect. There were quite a few crumbles on the carpet that never really went away at any time during the trip. This sort of indicates that the vacuuming is not done properly. Towels that we dropped in the bathroom to indicate that we wanted them replaced were back on the hangers. Things like that.

It was however as we packed up our stuff that we noticed one really icky thing – something that we would have alerted the room steward to if we had seen it before:  When we checked the bottom cupboard in the bathroom for any items we saw that there was a big blob of dried “dodo” in the toilet and that it had most likely been there at least since the previous cruise! This grossed us out as it indicated that toilets are not cleaned as they should be and particularly since from what we heard there was a norovirus outbreak on the previous cruise (which is why RCCL pushed embarkation times back half an hour).

Towel animals are nice and all but proper cleaning is important – especially when it concerns the bathroom…

 

And disembarkation went really smooth and quick. All luggage was easy to find. And all formalities were extremely efficient.

If only there had been some uniqueness to the numbers outside the terminal where the taxis pick up passengers. We told the driver that we were waiting by “number 6” and he said he was there but could not see us. Unfortunately the same number appears on both the back and front of the terminal. Not easy for anyone to know but it all was sorted fast enough.

[WAAAYTOOO]

Interesting that the shell or cartridge made it through airport security but was identified at the terminal !  Glad there weren’t any serious delays from that.

[AhaOhio]

20 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Interesting that the shell or cartridge made it through airport security but was identified at the terminal !  Glad there weren’t any serious delays from that.

Well a lot of things make it through airport scanners. I remember something that happened quite a few years ago when I traveled internationally extensively for work.

I had brought cake to the office and took a large carving knife in my briefcase to cut the cake as there were no utensils in the break room. A few days later I was due for a trip from Europe to Mexico and packed all paperwork and stuff in my briefcase which was one of those with leather on the sides and a large metal band around the middle. I had forgotten that the knife was still at the bottom of the case. BUT at no point during the trip did anyone notice it!

Also when I mentioned about how nice the security guys at the Allure were I really really mean it! I got to meet the top security boss and his deputies. All were the best people ever. Wish that I had took note of their names so I could have given them credit in my post-cruise review!

[GymMom]

Thanks for the post and glad you had a good trip!
My question is for boarding- Do you think having the RCCL "The Key" would have helped at all? 

We are thinking of getting it.

Thanks!

[Ampurp85]

2 hours ago, GymMom said:

Thanks for the post and glad you had a good trip!
My question is for boarding- Do you think having the RCCL "The Key" would have helped at all? 

We are thinking of getting it.

Thanks!

The Key will get you a good boarding time and priority, however if the ship is delayed with embarkation, it will be a moot point as everyone is delayed. 

[ScottD]

Has the room service been cut down to once a day yet? Maybe that's why some of the cleaning wasn't as up to par as usual? 

[Coda_Sarah]

I appreciate the comment about the elevator.  I booked on the 8th deck because I wanted to be near central park and closer to some of the stuff below us.  I wondered about the elevators especially on such a big ship.