Cruising on the Allure of the Seas
Allure of the Seas, built in 2010, is the second build of 5 Oasis Class Mega Ships from Royal Caribbean with many options for your families or groups. We found boarding Allure to be such a smooth operation at Port Everglades, Florida. We went from the taxi, to check in, through security and onboard this ship within 30 minutes! When you board the Allure, you enter on the Promenade deck and are immediately in the action. This ship has so many things going on and to see, you really need a few days to learn your way around her.
Cruising on the Wonder of the Seas
In April I had the chance to sail on the newest Royal Caribbean ship, Wonder of the Seas. (In fact, she was so new she still had that new ship smell.) In case you didn’t know, she is the largest ship in the water today. With 18 passenger decks, 2867 total cabins, she can hold a whopping 6,988 passengers! In typical Royal fashion, The Wonder is equipped with multiple venues for groups of any size. If you need it, they can supply it…. small board meeting space, large conference rooms, stadium style seating for 1400 with all the electronic bells and whistles, cocktail parties, live music, space for product launches. It’s all there in one beautiful location.
Odyssey of the Seas
While this was not an inaugural event but the naming of the Odyssey it was certainly an event with excitement and energy. In my personal opinion this is the nicest most elegant Royal Caribbean ship they have come out with. The décor is truly stunning and the art work is classy instead of whimsical.
Honestly it really rough to do a review of a ship of this size with only a day to check it all out and give a full meaningful report. As with all of Royal’s new builds there is a heck of lot going on these ships from entertainment, dining options, and all sorts of activities.
One thing that Royal is increasing getting well known for is the high energy you experience onboard. Forget bring a book or two to read, not going to happen! I had a stern cabin which is bigger than the normal balcony but still with the same décor as the standard balcony cabin…
Symphony of the Seas
After a successful summer season cruising in the Med, Symphony of the Seas checked in to her new year round home in Miami. Her arrival also coincided with the opening of a brand new purpose built terminal to service her. The Symphony of the Seas is now the biggest ship in the World and the fourth in the Oasis Class series of ships.
With a total potential guest count of 6,680 passengers in 2,759 total cabins and suites and over 2,200 crew many people just say WOW that’s too big for me. Let me try to explain how this ship works and it works very well. Chairman Richard Fain’s attained his goal of “Car to Bar in 10 minutes” with his new terminal…
Mariner of The Seas
Normally we only do ship reviews of ships we have actually cruised on. However, this review is special and very significant for many reasons. The first is that this is the first time a major cruise line has put a front line ship in the 3 and 4 night cruise market year round. The second is that Royal Caribbean spent mega bucks on this mega ship to give her most of the same bells and whistles of their newest ship, Symphony of the Seas.
While not a new ship, she originally entered service in November of 2003, she is beyond a doubt the flashiest ship in the short cruise market. All of public spaces were totally redone this past May. She has the WOW Factor we all seek, particularly for newer and first time cruisers…
Anthem Of The Seas
The Anthem of the Seas is almost an exact twin sister to the Quantum of the Seas and is the second in an entirely new class of ship for Royal Caribbean, its has a guest capacity of 4,180 passengers based on double occupancy, mostly in balcony cabins. The Quantum of the Seas has been relocated to China after doing a short season out of Royal Caribbean’s port in Bayamon, NJ. (Image courtesy RCI – click to enlarge)
Diana Bloss and I did a two night pre-inaugural cruise on the Anthem and this is barely enough time to see all of the features on the new Mega cruise ships that are today’s norm. It certainly is not enough time to actually experience the many dining and entertainment options that the Anthem has to offer…
Liberty Of The Seas
This review is from a meeting perspective. Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas was the venue for the EGroup Communications fifth Annual “X-Change” a Mice Industry business forum. The Liberty of the Seas, along with 9 other ships, all offer some of the best meeting space and facilities at sea. These similar meeting spaces are versatile, wired for most a/v needs, out of the normal passage ways, and offer the ability to create one large room or 4 small rooms with a reception area leading into the meeting rooms.
The purpose of the meeting was to introduce around 30 MICE suppliers of Hotels, Cruise Lines, DMCs and tourist boards to about 30 hosted buyers in the MICE field. The Suppliers all had a table and chairs with…
Cruising on the Freedom of the Seas
Built in 2006, Freedom was the largest cruise ship in the world at that time! It’s since lost that title to the Oasis Class Ships but is still a mega sized ship! I just completed a 3 night weekend cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas.
Freedom received its 116 Million dollar Amped up refurbishment in 2020. This ship is a mega sized ship at almost 160,000 gross tonnage. With over 3900 passengers it offers a lot of activities for either group bookings or families. I think this ship, while in some minor ways is showing her age in the non-refurbishment sections, is otherwise holding up to the test of time on almost everything else.