My wife and I just returned from a cruise aboard the Allure of the Seas (Dec. 8-Dec. 15 sailing). It is a fine ship with lots of areas to explore, namely, Central Park on deck 8, Boardwalk on deck 6, and the Promenade on deck 5. My wife and I found the Central Park Cafe to be a great place for lunch where salads, soups and sandwiches are the main fare offered - lots of healthy selections there. There were a couple of days where we wanted something heavier so we opted for the Windjammer. For breakfasts we opted for the main dining room but initially we tried Wipeout for made-to-order omelettes and other offerings. For dinners we were at the main dining room but disappointment ensued where we found ourselves in a small auxiliary room, Overture, where we could not see the waiters dance etc. It was basically an overflow room. Having said that, our waitresses were excellent and the food was good.

We loved the entertainment. Chicago, Abbacadabra, Oceanaria, Ice Games, the adult comedy show, and the water show were amazing. We also took in a "How to train Your Dragon" ice show. A criticism though is with the scheduling. Shows were generally scheduled after 9pm for the most part. The early shows were not an option for us because of our early dinner 6pm seating but preferably, 8pm would have been much better for us. Keeping on the scheduling theme, many of the activities were scheduled at the same time throughout the afternoons on sea days and I would have like to see some staggered times with some of the more popular ones including Bingo and some of the lectures etc. Be prepared for a lot of walking on this ship. Boardwalk was located at the aft part of ship while our stateroom was in the forward area - that was a 10 minute walk from one to the other. We hit the gym one afternoon - great gear there and the track on the 3rd deck can be accessed right from the facility.

Needless to say, our port stops of Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten were out of this world. Unfortunately, due to the asipod and a lifeboat issue at Nassau, our stay in St. Thomas was too short. Captain Johnny et al. handled the situation with class and every stateroom received a credit for the shortened port stay. Missing from the cruise compared to others that we have sailed on were the ice sculptures, chocolate buffet and fruit displays. But my wife and I chalked that up to the fact that with 5600 people aboard, the ship is more about dealing with the conveyor-belt of people rather than focusing on the intimacy factor that you might enjoy on smaller ships. And that is where we will be headed back to in the future but we are glad that we experienced the largest cruise ship in the fleet.