Royal Caribbean International Allure of the Seas

Big and bustling, Allure of the Seas is the ultimate ship if you’re looking for a mega-resort experience at sea — and you don’t mind sharing your vacation with thousands of strangers. Like the biggest land resorts of Las Vegas or Orlando, it offers an eye-popping array of activities that ensure you’ll never be bored. And we do mean eye-popping. There is stuff on this ship you won’t find anywhere else at sea, from the (fun, if brief) zip line careening across the ship’s top decks to the family-friendly outdoor amusement area called Boardwalk (we love the hand-carved wooden carousel, Boardwalk Dog House hotdog stand and other Jersey Shore touches). Indeed, Allure’s deck-top areas are more impressive than those on any other ship at sea, other than its sister vessel, Oasis of the Seas. And its on-board entertainment is on par with the biggest Las Vegas casino resorts (we would rank the outdoor Aqua Theater dive shows as among the coolest things on the ocean, and the licensed-from-Broadway production of the musical Chicago as admirably close to the original).

With some of the most extensive children’s areas and programs we’ve seen and infused with DreamWorks characters such as Shrek, Allure is a great choice for families. The ship’s unusually diverse range of cabin sizes, meanwhile, is a boon for large, multi-generational families and other groups looking for a single ship that will satisfy a wide range of budgets.

The ship also flows incredibly well, despite its size. With as many as 6,300 passengers on board at a time, there are many areas of the ship that don’t feel particularly crowded. Surprisingly, there even are some quiet nooks on Allure, including (at times) the vessel’s much-ballyhooed, tree-lined Central Park. Still, make no mistake: Intimate, Allure of the Seas is not. This is mass-market cruising taken to an extreme, and if you’re the kind of person who demands uncrowded spaces and personalized pampering, this ship isn’t for you.