Our review of the All Access Tour Allure of the Seas was one of the very first articles we published on Modern Life is Good. At the time we were still very much learning our way around WordPress. However, we feel it is a useful article which is not well covered elsewhere and therefore deserves a slight refresh. We hope you will find the review useful.
Allure of the Seas is an Oasis Class Ship owned by Royal Caribbean. The ship remains one of the largest Cruise Ships in the World. Everything about the ship is big and that includes everything we saw on the Allure of the Seas All Access Tour.
Following Christmas & New Year Celebrations onboard Allure of the Seas we celebrated my 40th Birthday. To start the day we had an amazing All Access Tour of Allure of the Seas.
The Allure of the Seas is one of the biggest cruise ships in the World and we had access to the Laundry, Engine Control Room, Galley, Stores, Backstage at the Theatre, the Helipad, Crew Areas & the Bridge.
Our tour started in the restaurant and we were met by our guide a member of the Cruise Director Staff. Scheduled to last around 3 hours we enjoyed an extra 90 minutes including a drink in one of the staff bars.
Older cruisers will remember when behind the scenes tours were included in cruise prices but unfortunately this is no longer the case. The tour is not cheap but is thoroughly enjoyable.
To tour you must be ready to do some walking and will have to climb several flights of narrow stairs. The stairs are a lot narrower and steeper than those found in passenger areas. You will also have to undergo several security checks during the tour.
At each venue, we were met by an officer who showed us around his particular area. The Laundry Master certainly seemed to enjoy his weekly visit and this section did go on a bit too long. Actually, it went on far too long but he seemed to enjoy himself.
Unfortunately, we were not met by any of the senior officers on the tour. The Captain must have had a well-earned rest when we went on the bridge as he was nowhere to be seen.
Everything on the Allure of the Seas is big and behind the scenes is no difference. The size of the operation is staggering and the Galley & Stores have to be seen to be believed.
The highlight of the trip for me was the Galley including an excellent tour led by one of the Executive Sous Chefs.
Crew areas were a bit surprising as I expected them to be a bit bigger. They also felt very clinical for staff who might be at sea for several months at a time. However; it was noticeable how clean everything was on the ship and that includes behind the scenes.
There was ample opportunity for photographs and questions throughout the tour but video is not allowed on the tour.
I would certainly recommend the All Access Tour of Allure of the Seas to any future guests. Royal Caribbean do offer this tour on many of their other ships and I will probably repeat on a future cruise.
Overall an excellent start to my 40th Birthday.
Further photographs from Allure of the Seas All Access Tour
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