An "Allure-ing" Week

An “Allure-ing” Week

We just spent a week on the largest cruise ship in the world, Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas.
This ship is so large it takes an effort to find ocean views, unless you are in an ocean side balcony cabin. With two to a cabin the ship carries 5400 passengers. 

Our cabin was an INSIDE balcony.  It overlooked the center of the ship at the Boardwalk.  There are more inside balcony  cabins overlooking the inside of the ship at Central Park. 

This ship offers unusual activities: for the adventurous a zip line, for the risk takers two 5- deck-high climbing walls,  for the athletic two surfing pools, for northerners an ice skating rink, for the genteel a miniature golf course, for the young or young-at-heart  a merry go round, for the lucky a large casino, and for the unlucky a variety of bars.

This ship is family-friendly.  There is a pool area designed for children with many pools–even a water cannon.  Dreamworks characters such as Shreck, and the Lion King parade in the promenade and are available for breakfast with children.  Daytime entertainment for the family includes spectacular water shows at the outside theater.

In all the ship has 21 pool .Some are set aside for adults in the solarium. 

Evening entertainment varies from the usual evening shows. During the week we saw the musical “Chicago,” a show on ice in the skating arena, a variety show called the Blue Planet, a comedy show, a Motown show, and the exciting Ocean Aria.  The Ocean Aria was a mix of tumblers, trampoline, trapezes, dancers and divers.  Some of the dives started about 55 feet above the pool. 

Advice, reserve your place at these shows well in advance.  The shows are included in the price of the cruise, but the theaters cannot handle all passengers at the same time.  The shows do not run every evening.  We reserved six weeks in advance of sailing.  Many of the show times were already fully booked.  Booking is available on-line or your travel agent can book for you.

The service and food on the ship were quite good.  The main dining room is three decks tall and can get noisy at dinner time.  Many optional restaurants are available at an extra charge.  You can book those in advance or on board.  The cafeteria on board was excellent and not congested as many cruise ship cafeterias are.