Allure of the Seas Central Park Balcony Cabin 14579 with some Cruise Deets (in description)

We stayed in this cabin the week of July 16th. We won our Royal Up bid ($100 pp) to move from an ocean view cabin to this Central Park Balcony. Unfortunately, this connecting cabin that sleeps 5 was full of 5 rowdy kids. We could hear just general conversation through the connecting door, but they were also yelling (siblings fighting) and slamming doors throughout. This made the cabin unpleasant for us. This cabin is also just below the pool deck, so there is noise from the Central Park down below and the pool deck just above. We were able to sleep with earplugs, and my husband loved sitting on the balcony at night. Still, I won't ever try for a Royal Up again after that connecting cabin nonsense. The preteens/teens on this cruise pretty much ran the ship. It was difficult to enjoy time in the card room because they took over playing games in there with rowdy behavior chasing families with small children and passengers wanting a more peaceful place away. They also ran amuck throughout the ship. So annoying! I thought teens had a dedicated area, but they sure seemed to be everywhere on this ship compared to Voyager class ships where I have never been bothered by kids or teens before. This was our first Oasis class ship, and while the ship is gorgeous and has a lot to offer, we missed the roomier dining rooms and large Windjammer found on the Voyager Class ships. We had a great dining table by the window and excellent service from Jessie & Lena, so no complaints with service. The Starbucks kiosk was awesome, and I was thrilled to be able to use my gift cards. They even serve Matcha hot, cold or frozen despite it not being on the menu. The Starbucks staff was super friendly, and I never had to wait long for my drink. The entertainment on board is great. We really loved Ocean Aria and Blue Planet. The Blades ice show was good, and although we were unable to get a reservation for Mamma Mia (sold out by day 2) we did get in via stand by for the 2:15 PM show on day 7. It sure seemed like all waiting for stand by were allowed in, and we enjoyed the show despite rude audience members talking loudly and seat hopping during the show. We also had kids forcing their way over and between our seats (at parents' suggestions) even stepping on my foot to get to other rows without going down the aisle. The level of discourteous patrons, kids and adults alike, was astonishing. They only offered 3 shows of Mamma Mia during our 7 night cruise. The main casino is huge, and we were thrilled to find the nonsmoking side was very manageable for us as nonsmokers. We wanted to play on some of the machines on the smoking side because they aren't offered on the nonsmoking side, but the smoke was overpowering & disgusting. The casino allows smokers to use the casino as their ashtray and smoke room; smokers just park and smoke without even playing in the casino. The little nonsmoking casino by Studio B is very small with less than 50 machines, little vibe and rarely had bar service, so we found ourselves in the main casino more often where Manuel offered excellent bar service. I sure wish the casino staff would interact with patrons like Carnival casino staff does. It seems they try to avoid passengers and seem annoyed just pointing to a sign on the wall when asked about casino perks. We learned everything we know about the casino policies, points and status from passengers, not the RCCL Casino staff, and that is truly sad. We did get a bottle of wine delivered to our cabin with a generic card, but no signature or casino host name was included. RCCL could learn some things from Carnival, where the casino host always comes to personally introduce themselves and offer us specialty dining (always 2 bottles of wine to enjoy at dinner, too). RCCL is just so impersonal compared to Carnival. I got a bad vibe from a white woman with attitude working the art gallery. Whenever I passed by her in the art hallway, she was scolding an employee or delegating with a stern tone. Therefore, we did not attend the auctions at all. There was a dark skinned female who made a point to smile and say hello whenever we walked through the art gallery hallway which we had to pass through to get to venues at the front of the ship. The Windjammer was crowded/congested. It was difficult to find a table on port days, so plan ahead. Our longest wait for a table in the MDR for breakfast was 13 minutes where the long line stretched to the carpeted entrance. We loved the Solarium & Central Park areas! The library was peaceful and had nice furnishings, so many shelves but practically zero books. Bring your own books! The card room had an assortment of board games, chess, puzzles and card games. Embarkation and debarkation were very easy. RCCL has those processes down with efficiency. Carnival could learn a lot from RCCL in that regard. Overall, we had a great cruise and look forward to cruising on the Allure again soon.