Royal Caribbean was our first cruise line, and there will always be something special about it for that reason alone. In 1997, on just a few days' notice, G and I boarded the Rhapsody of the Seas in her inaugural year for a 7-night cruise to Alaska. We had an absolutely amazing time (16 years and over 700 cruise days later!), and with nothing to compare it to, we decided that the Rhapsody was the best ship, and Royal Caribbean the best cruise line, period. Since then we've done six more Royal Caribbean cruises, and enjoyed them all. However, Royal Caribbean offers a huge variety in its ships, and we've found that we are happiest on its smaller ones, and consider the Radiance Class of ships to be the prettiest ones afloat. Because Royal Caribbean's recent builds have gotten increasingly larger, we've gravitated away from the cruise line, first to Celebrity Cruises and most recently to Princess and Holland America.
But, over the course of three winters, we've had plenty of opportunity to look at the behemoth Allure of the Seas, and it's nearly identical, but slightly smaller twin sister, Oasis of the Seas, who both sail week-long Caribbean cruises out of Port Everglades all year around (Oasis on Saturdays to Saturdays; Allure on Sundays to Sundays). Even if you're not a cruiser, it would have been hard to escape the fanfare when these two ships launched, the Oasis in 2009 and the Allure in 2010. They made news around the world, mostly for their size, but also for their "first at sea" innovations: an on board carousel, a zipline, an open back design and an interiors so large that 7 different "neighborhoods" would help passengers find their way. I remember sitting with G on the Maasdam in 2010 during a turnaround in Port Everglades, right across from the newly arrived but still unlaunched Allure OTS as a huge crane on the ship lifted tree after tree into its Central Park neighborhood. When we compared the size of the trees to the layers of balconies on the side of the ship, it was obvious that these trees were at least 30 feet tall. Sitting there on the 1200 passenger Maasdam, we felt like a child at the adult's table.
We quickly swore off ever going on these new ships- way too big, not cruising as we know and love it- and our opinion really hadn't changed in the years since then. But when we discovered we'd be disembarking the Royal Princess on November 3rd, and even though we already had the November 10th Royal Princess cruise booked, we started to explore other options. Luckily, these cruises are all Sunday to Sunday cruises, so we had a few. We could have stayed on the Nieuw Amsterdam for another 7 nights as it also cruised to the Eastern Caribbean, or returned to the Royal for the cruise we had originally booked, or try something new altogether. In a burst of spontaneity, we decided that moving to the Allure, providing us the opportunity to sail on the newest and biggest ships on three different cruise lines over the course of less than three weeks, was something we just had to do. The itinerary is almost identical to what we would have done on the Royal Princess, so, in this case, it's really all about the ship...and the amazing entertainment we know is in store for us.
We haven't been on Royal Caribbean since 2009, so that makes everything about this cruise feel a bit different, but what is really different about cruising on the Allure is that we've already been able to schedule all of our entertainment and one of our meals online. Yep, that's right. We have a schedule for the entire cruise. My first impression of the ship, without ever setting foot on it, is that this week will be less like a cruise to us, and more like a trip to Vegas. Based on that perception alone, I don't believe I could spend 120 nights on the Allure. But 7 nights? I can't wait!
Due to our loyalty status on Royal Caribbean - we're Diamond members of their Crown and Anchor Society because of our many cruises on sister cruise line Celebrity Cruises- I think we get some free internet on board the Allure. Not nearly as much as we get on Princess, but enough to stay in touch. That, coupled with the fact that one of our ports is St. Thomas where I have free 4G internet on my iPhone, will hopefully enable me to continue to publish posts. There might be some catch up to do once we return to Fort Lauderdale next Sunday, but I'll keep blogging every night in anticipation of updating the blog when I can.
Hang on to your seats...this could be quite a ride!
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| Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas 225,282 tons 5,400(!) passengers |
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| Our Eastern Caribbean itinerary (We'll be with the Royal Princess in two ports)  |