Adventure on the high seas

Adventure on the high seas

Enjoying a formal dinner on the Allure were (back row from left) Betty Passinetti, Mimi Graves, Shirley Bushnell, Stella Jones, Linda Finch and Kurt Bargmeyer, and (front row from left) Audrey Stacy, Ned Hagan, Dolly Hagan, Rachel Cassorla, Sue Campbell and Florence Bargmeyer.

What an amazing time we had in the Caribbean.  Allure, the largest cruise ship currently sailing  (225,000 gross tons, 1,187 feet long, 208 feet wide) was our home for seven nights. There were 5,672 passengers on board and a crew of 2,165. Sounds horribly crowded, but it just wasn’t. There was never a feeling of crowding, unless of course you were in the Royal Promenade  when they did a full parade down the center to celebrate the 100th sailing of this ship.  The dining room (all three floors of it) was a boisterous area, but you had an option to choose from 24 dining facilities and 37 bars and lounges.

This is a ship composed of “neighborhoods.”  Central Park is the first living park at sea.  It has 12,175 plants. Some of the trees are over 24 feet in height. There are even a few little birds that seem to have made the ship their home  (the crew keeps bird feed handy to keep them happy).

The Board Walk has a carousel to ride, a Coney Island hot dog stand, a Johnny Rocket’s restaurant, ktwo climbing walls, and at the end the Aqua Theater, the largest performance pool at sea with a depth of 17 feet.  High-divers climb the towers and propel themselves into the pool while the ship gently rocks back and forth  (they  did have to cancel the show a couple of nights because Hurricane Sandy made it just too dangerous).

On the sports deck we found the usual basketball court where often there was a soccer game being played, a beautiful putting course, two wave riders for learning to surf, and a zip line for the more adventurous.  Several of our party took advantage of the chance to try this out.

We found out that food consumption in an average week is 86,400 fresh eggs, 8,000 gallons of  milk and fresh cream. 45,000 pounds of fresh fruit, 62,000 pounds of fresh vegetables, 15,600 pounds of beef, 16,000 pounds of chicken, 1,500 pounds of coffee, 10,200 bottles of beer and 2,225 bottles of wine.  Vodka wins in the liquor category with 550 bottles.