Mommy Maddie Blog

• 🚢 Cruise ship: Allure of the Seas
• 📍 Departure port: Galveston
• 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Traveling with: family + teens
• 📅 Trip length: 5 nights
• 🌎 Ports: Costa Maya & Cozumel.

🚢 The Ship & Activities

The cruise ship is huge! Totally blows the Disney Dream out of the water. Here are some highlights of the Allure of the Seas:

• Rock climbing walls x2
  • one on each side of the ship – right in boardwalk
  • shoes are provided and someone harnesses you in. Lines can get long sometimes but it’s worth the wait!
  • wasn’t sure about the difficulty level of each path but I did the red one and had a lot of fun!
• Zip-lining
  • shorter than I expected – thought it’d go across a longer part of the ship but still really cool experience.
• Ice Skating Rink
  • the app only allows you to book once but you can head over at anytime to be waitlisted in case anyone doesn’t show up
• Super slide
  • dry slide, you’re sliding down on a cloth mat, almost like a sleeping bag so you can bring your purse!
• Waterpark
  • 4 waterslides
  • 2 pools
  • 2 splashpads
  • Two surfing simulators
• Escape room
  • this was a paid option so we didn’t do it
• Laser tag
  • reservations were impossible to get. Writing this now, I’m sure we could have tried to join the waitlist if we were there or organized enough but didn’t have a chance to
• Mini putt
  • this was pretty fun and on the top deck so it’s nice when you have the sunset.
• Sports gymnasium (volleyball, pickleball, basketball)
  • had both clinics, lessons and open-play by age categories (teens, younger kids, families..etc)
• Ping-pong
• Theatre
• Casino
  • great selection of games and machines. We had a hard time understanding how to use the slot machine (we don’t usually play back home either) and thought we had to use our seapass. Nope. You just put in the money and bet. We were SO lucky, we hit once and won $380!!!
• Outdoor water theatre
• Walking track
• Gym
• Spa

Tips:

• Would highly recommend going on port days and right at the early seating dinner! If you’re travelling during a busy kids season (March break, holidays..etc); consider taking the later dining option as there will be absolutely no lines! One day Ethan and I went ziplining and the slide down with no lineups!
• Sometimes found the timeslots a bit restrictive. There’s SO many things to do that it’s hard to keep up w/the schedule and I found myself missing things a lot.

Entertainment

• Main shows
  • Mama Mia
    • Just like a broadway show – very theatrical, great performers, even an intermission!
  • Aqua 80
    • Very cool stunts! Very much dependent on how rocky the seas/waves are! But once you watch it, you’ll understand why!
  • Blades
    • The one show we missed!
  • Planet Earth
    • Very abstract – we didn’t get it but the set designs were very cool!
• Entertainment
  • Karaoke
  • Comedy
  • Bingo
  • Casino
    • Took us forever to figure out how to pay but we ended up winning $380USD!

🍽 Food

Overall very great food options! There’s a very good selection of both complimentary dining options as well as some elevated experiences at an added cost.

Here’s some highlights of what we tried (also those that were complimentary)

• Windjammer buffet
  • tried and true buffet with an extensive variety of options
  • super easy for breakfast, especially if the boys’ sleep in
• El Loco
  • Mexican restaurans
• Solarium
  • close to the adults’ area but available for breakfast as a buffet
• Coastal Kitchen definitely worth it
  • make sure to go everyday and try to get a reservation for any time
  • We had 530 seating and sat w/my parents so we ate a light meal at 530 w/them then around 830 in coastal kitchen
  • food was very elevated – beef ribs, lobster, delicate appetizers and delectable dessert

Suite Perks

• Access to make dinner reservations at Coastal Kitchen (exclusive dining room for Suite members only)
• Walk-in closet
• Shampoo, conditioner and body wash
• Lavazza coffee machine
• Priority boarding
• Gorgeous balcony

Diamond Perks

We travelled w/my parents who are frequent cruisers who have Diamon Status! This included:

• lounge access – card access only offering air conditioned area with complimentary snacks, upgraded coffee machine (lattes, cappuccinos..etc)
• 4 complimentary drinks per day (alcoholic or smoothies); we tried to share this amongst all of us but were given complimentary soft drinks at dinner
• 1 free internet day per sailing
• 1 free photo print

Highly recommend going on Royal Caribbean Cruises again! We plan on sticking with this one too especially since we need to catch up to my parents’ status!