Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas cruise ship was the very first cruise our family of three went on back in 2012. We stayed in the Boardwalk balcony room and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Check out my review of the room and see why I suggest the boardwalk balcony cabin if you have kids.
Boardwalk Balcony – which rooms to pick!
First off, when booking your cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, try to book boardwalk balcony rooms on level 10 towards the back of the ship. These rooms always seem to be some of the first to go so try to snag them as quickly as you can. I suggest rooms 10321, 10323, 10325, 10327, 10329 or 10721, 10723, 10725, 10729 on the other side. These rooms have a great view of not only the boardwalk, but they can see the ocean out of the back of the ship and, most importantly, the AquaTheater.
If you have little kids that nap or go to bed early, the adults can sit on the balcony and watch the late night AquaTheater performances, movies, etc. while the kids sleep inside the room.
The room is 182 sq ft with a 52 sq ft balcony – pretty average for a cruise ship balcony room. It just happens to have an awesome view that not all rooms have. Here is our view from room 10323:
(Sorry for the low-quality images. Most of the were taken with a phone or a point-and-shoot cam)
Inside the Boardwalk Balcony Stateroom
The room includes a sitting area with a couch and table, private bathroom, hair dryer, TV, radio, phone, mini refrigerator and safe in the closet.
Our room was the perfect size for our little family of 3. Our stateroom attendant even had a pack n’ play brought in for my daughter. We had the option of keeping it in the room all day or they offered to remove it when we woke up. We opted to keep it in our room all day so she could nap in it. They even provided a little pillow and sheets for her.
To my surprise, once the balcony door was shut, you hardly heard a peep from outside the room. Occasionally we would hear a noise from the Boardwalk but it was fine.
The Bathroom
I felt that the bathroom was the perfect size for our family. The shower was quite large for the size of the bathroom. The sink area was a little small but that is to be expected on a cruise ship. If I were to change one thing about the bathroom it would be to remove the glass shelf above the sink to allow easier access to the sink.
Storage in the room
- Our room had a large closet with plenty of hangers for our clothes. There were also quite a few shelves in the closet for addition storage along with a safe.
- The bathroom had quite a bit of storage for our toiletries.
- There was a dresser/shelving unit near the TV. This was great for all of our clothes that didn’t need to be hung. The shelves were great for storing all of Charlotte’s toys and food.
- The mini refrigerator was perfect for what we needed. We kept some baby food and drinks in it.
- We were able to fit all of our luggage under the bed to keep it out of the way. It took us a few days to realize this but it sure did free up quite a bit of space, as you can imagine.
- The room had a few other little shelves for small items such as your room card, sunscreen, etc.
Kids and Family – Things to do on board the Allure
H20 Zone kids’ water park: We had an absolute blast with our 10-month old in the toddler pool. She was able to sit up in the shallow pool and enjoyed the colors and play areas.
DreamWorks Experience with characters from Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, etc: There’s so much to take advantage of with the DreamWorks Experience. Not only can you meet the characters when walking around the ship, you can attend character parades, watch them in the AquaTheater shows, watch DreamWorks movies and even enjoy meals with them. We did not get a chance to do the character meals but we really enjoyed the performances and parades.
Royal Babies and Tots Nursery: We took advantage of the nursery during dinner hours. The normal price for this dedicated nursery is $6/hour but in the evenings it’s $8/hour. This is well-worth it, in my opinion. You also can take advantage of their Babies 2 Go program and preorder Huggies diapers, wipes, baby food and more, so that you don’t have to pack it all with you. The ship also has an area where you can take your little ones to play with toys as a family.
Other ship features for kids and families include: teen programs and hangout spots, complimentary Adventure Ocean Youth Program, games and carousel at the Boardwalk and a 3D movie theater.
The Staff on Allure of the Seas
Our stateroom attendant was so sweet. She would fold our clothes and put them in neat little piles on the sofa every day. She also reminded us to always wear our sunscreen and to have fun! Charlotte loved the towel animals that our stateroom attendant left every day, except for the monkey! 🙂
Check out some footage from our trip:
If you are traveling with kids on the Allure of the Seas, I highly recommend the boardwalk balcony cabins. You’ll get to enjoy everything the boardwalk side of the ship has to offer while being within walking distance to everything else on the ship.
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What a great review! Thanks for much for answering many questions I had about taking the little ones on an RC cruise!