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Monday, October 21, 2019

Cruising On One Of The Largest Cruise Ships


Me and Soko love cruising. It's a vacation we can take without breaking the bank. We shared a post about how it can be very affordable. (You can read about it here.) We also like how easy it is to visit a few different places on one vacation. We like being able to unpack our things on the transportation that is going to bring us to our next destination. And while we are traveling to the next adventure, we are watching musicals, eating delicious meals or just relaxing by the pool. We chose the cruise we took last week, because we had never cruised on a huge cruise ship before. We wondered how if differed from the smaller ships we have been on. So we booked a cruise on one of Royal Caribbean Oasis Class ships, Allure Of The Seas, the third largest cruise ship in the world.

Three port stops, St. Maarten, San Juan and Labadee, Haiti, and four cruising days made up our 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise. Our favorite pastime on a cruising day is relaxing with a book which is something that we don't have time for in real life even though we are retired. You can find us by the pool or in the solarium, an area for adults only, any chance we can get. You can find the pool and solarium on large and small ships but you can't find Central Park on the smaller ships. This area turned out to be one of our favorites for relaxing, reading, eating breakfast or lunch or for just enjoying a cup of coffee in the evening.




Another fun area you can find on the larger ships only is The Boardwalk.   Boardwalk Donuts had a variety of delicious donuts available every morning.  We did treat ourselves to donuts for breakfast one morning.  We also went to Boardwalk Dog House for lunch one afternoon.   There were hot dogs, sausages, brats and all the toppings.  We both got the Italian sausage and asked for it to be topped with onions and peppers.  You can't find as many options for eating on a smaller ship, like you can on a larger one.   The coolest thing we found on the boardwalk, though, was the carousel.  That is something you definitely won't find on a small ship.






On the far end of The Boardwalk was the Aqua Theater.  There are no Aqua Theaters on smaller ships.  The divers and gymnasts were all amazing and created a thrilling 30 minute show.  I have never seen divers perform except when I have watched them on television during the Olympics.  It was a little nerve wracking watching them dive off a platform that was 30' high and land in a very narrow pool below.


I asked one couple, who were wearing pins that told us they were frequent cruisers, which ship they preferred, larger or smaller.  They answered larger because there were more opportunities and more areas where they could enjoy exclusive get-togethers with others who are also frequent cruisers.  This couple cruise on Royal Caribbean 12 times a year.  We have cruised about 5 times with RC, the first time being 15 years ago, but we have managed to achieve a platinum status which got  us an invitation to join a party.  This was a first for us and could have been because we were on a larger ship.  When we heard we would be offered free drinks, we made sure we put this event on our calendar.


There are lots of extras to enjoy on this larger ship, for sure, but there were times we would have liked to have been on a smaller ship with less people. Especially when we had to use the elevator. There were times when we couldn't get into an elevator because it was packed and we would have to wait for the next one or the one after that. Other areas of the ship can also get very crowded.



An older couple we met on this cruise thought it might be their last cruise because they were having a hard time getting from place to place. The length of the Allure is 1,881'. That's more than 5 football fields long. The eating and entertainment venues are usually on either ends of the ship so I can see how it would not be an easy task for someone who has trouble walking to get to a show that starts soon after dinner. The length of the smallest ship we have been on, Vision of the Seas, was half the length of the Allure at 915'. We are not there yet but I'm guessing that we will have the same complaint as the older couple some day.

After comparing large and small ships, we decided that we can have a good time on either ship. We are glad that we got a chance to cruise on the larger ship so that we don't have the feeling that we are missing out on something when we are on a smaller ship. We would have missed out on seeing Venice if we decided that we only wanted to cruise on a large ship as only smaller ships can get into their port.

There will be times when we go cruising for the destinations the ships will bring us to, so either ship will do or other times that we will cruise just for the sake of cruising and that is when we will, most likely, choose one of the largest cruise ships.

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