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Cruise: The Megaship, Part II: Allure of the Seas
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An inside look at Royal Caribbean’s newest vessel
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BY BARBARA PECK
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| An outdoor area called Central Park on the Allure of the Seas; one of two climbing walls above the ship’s AquaTheater. |
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No one should ever take a two-night cruise on the world’s biggest cruise ship—unless they’ve already spent a week aboard it. Some of the journalists and travel agents who were with me on last November’s inaugural sailing of Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas did have that advantage, in a way. They’d already cruised on Oasis of the Seas, and the two ships are so similar it’s easy to find your way around Allure once you’ve gotten to know Oasis.
I hadn’t sailed on Oasis, however, so when I was invited to spend two nights on the Allure, on a “cruise to nowhere” out of Ft. Lauderdale, I jumped at the chance to check out the new ship. It was exhausting. When I’m on assignment, I can’t just sit around the pool, can I? Instead, I spent almost every waking moment exploring—checking out the various cabins and suites on view, scaling a rock wall, watching some shows, eating in the restaurants . . . just generally trying to cram a week’s worth of experiences into a day and a half.
TWIN BEHEMOTHS
It is an awesome ship. First, the size: Oasis and Allure aren’t much longer than other megaships—no more than 20 meters (about 65 feet). They make up for that in being wider and higher, in order to cram in all those cabins. (Allure is actually 5 centimeters—about two inches—longer than Oasis, so I can officially say that there is only one “world’s biggest cruise ship” and I have been on it.) Both ships hold about 5,400 passengers, but as many as 6,318 if every berth is occupied. And they’re more maneuverable than vessels a fraction of their size—they can slip into almost any port around the world.
NEVER A DULL MOMENT
Allure is stepping up the entertainment onboard, with a Broadway-worthy production of the musical Chicago; an ice show of How to Train Your Dragon, using puppets and kites and winsome Viking girls in pigtails; a jazz club and a comedy club; and an AquaTheater where performances and high dives take place in a 17-foot-deep pool. Thanks to a recently signed affiliation with Dreamworks, Allure is staging shows, parades and photo ops with the characters from Madagascar, whose adorable penguins tend to steal the show; Kung-Fu Panda; and Shrek (though the headbands with green, piglike Shrek ears seem like a poor substitute for Mouse ears). Perhaps even more significantly, the 3D theater and in-room TVs show Dreamworks movies within a week of their commercial release. My big chance to see Megamind!
During this sailing, Royal Caribbean even provided onboard celebrities, since we were sharing the ship with the cast and crew of the upcoming movie Jack and Jill. It wasn’t much of an inconvenience, except that portions of the decks were off-limits during filming, and lavish Christmas decorations made an off-season appearance. And we were able to catch glimpses of Katie Holmes and Adam Sandler, riding the carousel with their kids and stopping by the ice cream parlor.
IN THE LINE OF DUTY
One of my favorite places onboard turned out to be Central Park. Imagine a huge slice removed from the middle of the ship starting at Deck 5. A portion of that deck has been given over to a landscaped area with piped-in birdsong, sculptures, flowering plants and little cafés with terraces. And whereas interior cabins are windowless on most ships, here they open onto balconies that overlook this space, with access to the sun and air.
Wearing my reporter’s hat, I also toured the galleys of the main restaurant, Adagio—a maze of stainless steel surfaces, everything brand new and spanking clean. Down on Deck 3, Adagio has 25 pastry chefs who work their magic in shifts that cover 24 hours (thoughtfully, a tray of goodies was set out for us to taste). Less fun but just as fascinating was my tour of Allure’s waste-treatment center—hot, noisy, but also spanking clean. Royal Caribbean prides itself on its environmental awareness, using the motto ABC—“above and beyond compliance.”
RIDING THE WAVES
The most surprising thing about Allure is that, despite its massive size, not every space onboard is huge. As Royal Caribbean’s chairman and CEO Richard Fain put it, “The ship is so big we can afford to make small spaces.” It’s easy to find intimate corners as you wander about. And it’s also easy to not get lost—high-tech information boards around all the decks map out your location and, when you tap in where you’re headed, show you how to get there.
Any complaints? Well, a small one. This ship is so immense that ocean waves barely affect it. During my sailing, the movement of the ship was close to imperceptible—even lying in bed, I had to think hard to notice the slightest roll. I missed being reminded that I was on the open ocean—but that’s something that should make queasy cruisers happy. The rest of us will just have to roll with it.
NOTE: Information may have changed since publication. Please confirm key details before planning your trip.
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Published: January 4, 2011
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Photos: Barbara Peck(2)
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