A few weeks ago, I wrote about our 7 day cruise in the
Caribbean on the Allure of the Seas. At
that time, I want to clarify my thoughts before writing more on our shipboard
experience.
In my opinion, I would like to sail an Oasis class ship like
the Allure on a repositioning cruise from the US to Europe (a sailing without
any/many ports of call). On a small
ship, I get cabin-fever after a few sea days.
On the Allure, I don’t believe it is possible to be bored – too much to
do!
If I had children traveling with me,
I would love to sail on the Allure to almost any destination. Again, many things for kids to do, including
an ice ring, Flow Riders, cartoon characters, children program… If I were going
with an extended group of family members, I would like to sail on the Allure
(or the Oasis) for the same reason – lots to do.
For the two of us to sail the Caribbean, the Allure is not
our favorite ship – it’s too big and carries too many passengers. Most of the activities
are facing inwards, towards the center of the ship. When I was onboard, I could forget that we were
on an ocean going vessel (not what I wanted to do). It felt more
like a combined hotel, shopping mail, and an amusement park. That is not the reason that we love to
cruise.
However, getting on/off the ship (including embarkation and
debarkation) was extremely efficient. I
was surprised that Royal Caribbean was able to move 5400 passengers so
quickly. The required mandatory drill before
leaving port was painless. We didn’t
carry our life vests to our drill stations, they ship’s crew is prepared to
pass out life vests when needed. We didn’t
feel overcrowded in the venues.
Personally, I like smaller ships…
