I love to sail to relax, read and take in some sights when available. I can see the attraction of these big ships for families with children. There are some big deficits for me.
The necessity to spend your fits hour in utter chaos trying to find out what events are happening when and booking your events so they don't collide - and worry if you will get it done before they're sold out is pure hell! There is no reason this cannot be done prior to boarding with the technology today.
Soaking of technology, their app is very slow, poorly organized, not intuitive and inflexible. Their daily planning calendar, for instance, will only post an event that you "register" for from the info section. You can't put anything personal on your calendar? Just one example.
The signature flying lounge the used to adorn the stacks of RC ships is gone and a huge big loss. A place where climate control and beautiful vistas awaited a reader are sadly gone. The lounges either don't have windows or cover them with shades and a truly comfortable chair is very hard to find (this seems amazing to me). Style over function seems to be the priority!? Plenty of lounges for the sun worshipers but not so much for others. The noise and crowds are painful. And fleet wide the main dining is slipping badly as they push us into buying specialty dining packages. And whatever happened to their excellent desserts and pastry chefs. Desserts now are merely, usually, satisfactory.
I'm spoiled having started my cruise experience fifty years ago on my honeymoon. Boy have they slipped.
We were given the introduction to the new grand ship, the ICON. 50% bigger that Allure. Ugg, I hope I'm never talked into going on that one.
This was our first cruise since all the Covid insanity so we were excited and enjoyed it - but we should have waited for a smaller ship.
