The Allure of the Seas is big. Very big! It dwarfs any ship moored next to it. It is 16 decks of living, dining and pure entertainment fun. A 17th deck of higher end living quarters exist and is only open to gold card holders.

My trip to the Eastern Caribbean (Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten) occurred in mid-March, 2013. It included a mix of 20 year olds through mid-70's in age (basically, 3 generations of my family). The level of entertainment provided everyone with plenty of options for various activities including a Zip-line, 2 wave runners, 2 rock climbing walls, 2 arcade rooms, kids play rooms (managed by the staff), multiple indoor and outdoor hot tubs (very large, 12 -- 20 people), multiple pools, including adult only as well as kiddie pools, several music venues (to dance to as well), a comedy club, jazz club, casino, numerous dining facilities, more bars than I could visit on a 7 night trip, or one could find a shady spot and just read. You can't go wrong with this vessel, unless ...

The ship is very big and therein may be a problem for some. To go from one end of the ship to the other can easily take 10 minutes. But if you have difficulty in walking, it can turn into a 20 -- 25 minute walk. Additionally, the entrance and exit portals use a ramp system for passengers to gain or return from shore. I noticed, when compared to other ships docked nearby, that multiple levels of ramps where needed, and multiple entrance/exists were also required just to handle the 4000+ passengers. So expect a bit of time to be required to get to any one point on the ship or on/off the ship. Read more