Allure of the Seas Ocean View Balcony #14554 (with Cruise deets in description)

This sailing was in late July of 2023, and this cabin was pretty near perfect. We loved the location, as you can just go up one deck to to the Solarium. The Allure is a gorgeous ship, and I am happy to report that the Central Park is back to full glory after the devastating freeze decimated most of the vegetation. Our cabin Steward, Arnel, was great and remembered us from earlier in the month. When we book, we often get stuck with a dining time we do not like. I always go directly to the dining room (deck 3) and request a change as soon as we board. Jeremiah secured a great table for us at our preferred dining time on both of our summer cruises within just 5 minutes. He was very accommodating. Our dining service from Raheem and Wikiama (sp?) was perfect, but we were disappointed by the lobster on the 2nd formal night. The dining menu is okay, but we always find something we enjoy eating. If you order something and wish you hadn't, they will happily replace it with something else. I really like their strip steak. Always cooked perfectly. I was able to see Mamma Mia (wonderful production) again and got a great seat by arriving when the doors opened (45 minutes before the show). Sadly, people still try to save seats (like entire rows...so rude) or steal better seats during intermission. They just disregard the seating rules and cruise staff won't intervene other than making an announcement. My advice is to take open seats, regardless of people saying they are saved, unless it was just someone running to the loo. We witnessed this happen at the OceanAria Aqua show, and while the seat savers were upset (trying to save over 8 seats), the family looking for seats together did nothing wrong by sitting where there was availability. If you plan to go to a show and sit together, arrive together and go early for the best seats. The casino was just as stingy on this cruise as our last. I witnessed few large payouts, and although we always reach over 1500 points, we were not greeted by casino hosts at all. Not even a bottle of wine was gifted. RCCL needs to improve their casino operations. Smokers need to be restricted (smokers trying to smoke and vape in nonsmoking areas) and hosts need to actually host. Carnival always gives us a specialty restaurant meal and/or wine and treats delivered to our cabin. The bar service was better this time around. I did get great Brandy Alexanders and Bahama Mamas. My hubs ordered dirty martinis and Bacardi and coke. :-) My favorite places to grab coffee or tea were the Solarium Bistro and Park Cafe (in Central Park) when they were open. Unfortunately, they were not always open. I do wish they would extend their daily hours in both of these areas. We discovered you can order made-to-order omelets in the Solarium Bistro, and while they are not as good as Carnival's, my hubs was very happy. I'm not a fan of the Windjammer Buffet, which made me feel claustrophobic and always has a bit of chaos. The seafood sandwich for lunch in the dining room was fantastic. We love cruising both RCCL and Carnival, but we do recognize the subtle differences between the two cruise brands. They both have pros and cons. The biggest pro for RCCL is their cruise terminal in Galveston compared to Carnival's warehouse grubby. It is currently being updated to accommodate the Jubilee, so I am hopeful. RCCL also has embarkation and debarkation mastered compared to Carnival. The library is small but quiet and served as a work area for my hubs since he worked during this cruise. The internet was great, and should be for what they charge ($250 for 2 devices on 7 night cruise). I still can't get over all of the empty book shelves, though. Why build the shelves and not fill them? They have maybe 25 books there, and many are old or in foreign languages. Bring your own books. Wondering about parking? I prefer the north parking lot in Galveston, but booked the south lot to save a little money on our last two trips. I found the walk was very doable for us after dropping our bags with a porter. We are older and aren't as mobile as we once were, but found the walk to be fine, even in the heat of the summer. The Roatan port area is currently under construction while they complete the lazy river renovations that were stalled from the pandemic. A lot of progress was noted between our two trips there just a few weeks apart, so I am hopeful it will be completed soon. It has shops, bars, & restaurants but offers nothing else forcing cruisers out of the area if they want something fun to do/see. Carnival's Roatan port area is gorgeous, so I hope RCCL steps it up. Dear cruisers, please educate your family members on proper elevator etiquette. I was run down many times attempting to get out of an elevator by children AND adults. It's sad that so many have little regard for others. Overall, this was a great trip! We still didn't get to experience everything the Allure has to offer. it's that big!.