Royal Caribbean recently released the last new ship in its Oasis Class of Mega Ships.  Next up is the even more updated Icon of the Seas.  With the larger number of ships now in the Oasis class one of the older installments, the Allure of the Seas, is (as of February 2023) now departing out of Galveston, Texas.  I have been lucky to take early trips on the new Galveston installments having taken the Liberty of the Seas’ maiden voyage to reach Galveston (coming from New Jersey) and now taking one of the early departures of the Allure out of Galveston.

The Galveston departures are popular, although not available year-round.  As a seasonal cruise port, you are never going to get a brand-new ship with this Texas island departure point.  In fact, the sailings available here are going to be on ships that have been in rotation quite a while.  According to the ship’s captain, the Allure is the Oasis class ship that is closest to the original design.  Nostalgic maybe, but not really a selling point.  We sailed on the Allure before and we did notice a few differences, not always for the better.  The ship was renovated in 2015.

Boris and I are taking a cruise out of Galveston on the Allure revisiting ports we visited just a few months ago on our Panama Canal cruise.   Why?  This is a special trip because of who we are traveling with.  Boris’ sister has three sons and the third of these nephews is getting married in the fall.  We have hosted parties for all of them, but we are doing something different for this couple.  Clyde has just gotten into a wonderful master’s program and won’t be able to honeymoon directly after the wedding.  They also have lots of parties already planned.  So instead of a party, the four of us are going to travel together.  Hopefully they will still like us after this weeklong cruise.

Clyde went on one cruise as a child and Bonnie has never been on one, so it will be fun for us to travel with some novices and show them the ropes.  There is also a generation difference, but cruises are great for multi-generational travel.

Living in Houston, we just have an hour’s drive down to Galveston. Boris dropped us off and then parked in a lot close to the new Royal Caribbean Terminal and walked back. There are also remote lots that offer shuttles to the terminal. While Boris parked at an off-site lot, there is also parking on site at the new Royal Caribbean terminal.  In spite of the large number of passengers, it was a good set up for boarding. It is faster if you have your bags pre-tagged.  We just printed the luggage tags off the Royal website and I bought inexpensive plastic sleeves on Amazon that you put the folded paper tags in.  Worked like a charm.  You always need to do your prep work-check in days before the cruise and complete your medical acknowledgement within 24 hours of departure.  Most importantly, you need to download the app on your phone and play around with it so you are familiar with the information and where to find the boarding documents.  Do not forget to take your passport.

On these mega ships, it is all about the on-board entertainment.  There is a diving show, a full scale/length Broadway musical, an ice-skating show, comedians, and production shows that you can make reservations for prior to sailing.  Reservations are the best way to ensure a seat and not have to wait in a long standby line.  Our first night we were scheduled to see Mama Mia.  There were technical problems right at the opening and after a 30-minute delay and no success at resolving the sound issues, they called it.  Unfortunately, this wreaked havoc on our schedule the rest of the week as they put the replacement show on the night we had reservations for the comedians.  We saw Mama Mia the third night, but had to go standby for the comedians on another evening.  On our first standby attempt, we didn’t get in to the comedy show after waiting in the standby line; the night we did get in we had to miss the production show and waited 45 minutes in line to get seats.  I do recommend making reservations, just be prepared to be flexible.

Boris and I have always enjoyed the advantages of brand loyalty.  We did check out quite a few different cruise lines when we started cruising decades ago, but settled on favorites where we could build credits and enjoy the perks of being returning customers.  On Royal we are at the Diamond level and get to enjoy a private lounge.  The last time on this ship, the Lounge overlooked the main promenade and was a great place to watch the parades.  It is now at a higher, quieter level overlooking the aqua theater and the back of the ship.  It also offers a great view of the zip line.  On our previous trip, entrance into the lounge came with free appetizers and drinks.  The appetizers are still there, but instead of free drinks in the lounge, you get four free drinks each day (up to a $14 value each) from any venue.  For us this worked out better, but there was less incentive to go to the Diamond Lounge Bar.

Clyde and Bonnie loved the lounge and the host had no problem letting them in although they are new Royal cruisers since they were traveling with us.  By the end of the week, they even went without us.  The lounge was never full.  Likely, they would not have been able to get in if it was generally full.  Boris and I could use our room key to get in 24/7.  The host is there during more limited hours but was a very helpful concierge for dining reservations and even tech issues with logging onto the internet.

During the day we checked out the various ship venues including the promenade (especially the pizza) where there is a variety of live entertainment including parades, Central Park, and the adult-only pool and deck.  None of us were up for the surfing, but it was available.  In the evenings we checked out a variety of the different bars and the live entertainment.  My favorite evening event was the Silent Disco where you wear headphones and can choose the music among various tracks.  The “watchers” get quite a show as people dance to music they can’t hear.  The dance moves can be rather entertaining.  During our week-long cruise, they offered it once on formal night out on the boardwalk, but it got a little hot in our evening clothes.  Another night it was offered inside in the skating arena.  I got some excellent video of Boris. 

Our second night aboard was the water show with platform (some quite high) and springboard divers and acrobats in a water setting.  Oceanaira was quite the show, although maybe a little overproduced.  The aqua theater and the shows there are unique to the Oasis class ships.

We had originally planned to do a weekend in the Texas Hill Country, but then pivoted to the cruise.  Booking our cruise later did mean we didn’t get our choice of time for dining.  We ended up in the flexible dining. Theoretically the flexible dining is great because you are not tied to a schedule, but on our sailing the lines were really long.  I don’t know how people made their show reservations using this method.  To avoid the problem, on the first day of the cruise Boris made us reservations at the walk-up venue for each night which worked out really well.  There is a separate dining room for diners on the flexible schedule. It was carved out of the original three-story dining room that was on the ship when it first launched. By the time the rest of the passengers figured out that you could make reservations at this venue, it was difficult to get your desired time.  We had no issues, were seated quickly, and they always got us out in time when we let them know what time our show was.

After a few days at sea, we will reach our first port of Routan, Honduras tomorrow.