We recently spent a day at the STX Turku shipyard with a global mix of media. The point was to show off Allure of the Seas and wow was she looking good for 8+ weeks in advance of delivery. After many years in the business, including numerous trips to the shipyard in advance of a ship delivery, one develops a certain sense of what one will see. Occasionally, this produces cognitive dissonance when one’s expectation doesn’t match up with the reality.
I distinctly remember this confused feeling when I visited Voyager of the Seas in 1999 and her dimensions were so much bigger than what I had seen before. On our Vision and Sovereign Class ships, you could stand pretty close to the hull and still see the steel curving away at the bow and the stern. But standing next to Voyager at midship you could only see straight steel to either side.
This time the feeling was about the readiness of Allure. With every ship we have ever built, no matter what number ship in a particular class, the chaos of the final outfitting always produces the visceral reaction that there is no way the ship will ever be done on time for the delivery date. This is true even a few days in advance. Not so this time. Allure is so ready that even now it is obvious she will be completely ready for delivery on October 28th.
Congratulations to the shipyard, our newbuild team, and the operation for the current state of Allure.
We revealed our plans to have the Solarium Bistro restaurant area turn into the Samba Grill churrascaria for dinner on Allure. I will leave it to Lisa Bauer to give the details. We’ve gotten accustomed to announcing new features on new ships practically up to delivery. We’re not necessarily done.
Running Note – Ran my first 5k of the new season up and down the hills of Vista View Park in Broward (yes it is a former landfill). I’m not happy with my 19:31time even though I finished 13th overall and easily won my age group. 48 year olds should not be passing me in the last mile. Discussed the upcoming year with my coach and will point towards 1500 meters on the track. Lots of hard work ahead if I want to challenge the best runners my age.
LOOKS LIKE A GREAT SHIP. CANT WAIT TO GO ON THAT ONE IN THE FURTURE.
We want to wish you and your family a Very Happy and Healthy New Year!!!!
Lil and Harry Fiedel
P.S. Looking forward to sailing on the ALLURE Dec. 12. 2010
Adam, You’re an amazing guy. Wish you could bottle up all of your smarticles and knowledge and pass it along to many other CEO’s. Really, it’s too cool that you can do as much as you do. Congrats! Loved Oasis, am sure I’ll love Allure!!
Thank you for the kind words, Janey. We are happy to hear you loved your stay on Oasis of the Seas, and we are also confident that you will have an amazing time on Allure of the Seas as well.
Booked on the Allure in April 2012….looks fabulous!
We are happy to hear you will be onboard Allure of the Seas with us in April ‘12, cbrenner. We’re looking forward to seeing you onboard.
At first I thought that ship looked too big, but now I can’t wait to try it!
We would be delighted to have you on Allure of the Seas, James.
Family cruise booked on the ALLURE for January 23rd.. Sailed the Oasis last January what an amazing ship….Can’t Wait for the Allure sailing….
Grace, we’re happy to hear enjoyed sailing with us on Oasis of the Seas. We’re looking forward to seeing you onboard with us again this coming January on Allure of the Seas.
She is going to be amazing as her sister ship the Oasis! I cannot wait to sail on her Sept 4th 2011! Even more so now with a new Brazilian Steakhouse onboard which i love! Wow!
Hi Lisa, we’re happy to hear your excitement towards sailing on the Allure. We’re sure that the Brazilian Steakhouse will deliver the WOW as well as the other many activities and enhancements she’ll have onboard for you to enjoy. We’re looking forward to seeing you in September ’11.
Ship looks GREAT! Looking forward to my very first cruise ever in December onboard this amazing ship. My belated honeymoon vacation. Glad I waited and saved up for it. Hope I don’t get lost onboard. I’m so ready for the best vacation ever.
No question that the ship is going to be spectacular. But when I read your blog post, the term “cognative dissonance” took me back in time. In the late ’60s, I have the chance to study under Prof. Festinger, who developed cognative dissonance theory, in the Ph.D. program at the New School in New York. Obviously, everyone in the class expected him to discuss that, but he said that to him, it was old news, and he never talked about it. But unlike so many theories, it is still highly relevant, and understandable. Thanks, Adam, for bringing me back to my school days!
Beautiful ship! I watched the building of Oasis of the Seas on Discovery and OMG!!! Makes me want to quit my job and work onboard…
We agree with you schang42s, Oasis of the Seas is a magnificent ship. It took precise engineering and extreme attention to detail in order to bring you this masterpiece that is Allure of the Seas. If you’re ever interested, feel free to take a look at our career opportunities: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/ourCompany/career.do?
Dear Adam, I had booked Oasis for this past Feburary on a Liberty of the Seas sailing two years ago. A job offer came in to work at a cruise booking agency last year. How excited was I to have the opportunity to work in an industry that I love. I had to cancel my booking as my new job required all staff forego any vacations during “wave season”. I happily complied knowing that there were many opportunities to come. I am a Platinium member with RCCL and have been cruising since a teen when my parents took our family on a sailing on the Song of Norway. I have been lucky enough to have sailed on all of the Royal Caribbean class of ships since then. I’m hooked.
Unfortunatly, my job was eliminated at the end of June ’10. My husband lost his job in July. We are positive that this will turn around and that we will be able to join you on Oasis and/or Allure when the situation changes. For now, I will live vicariously through your blogs and the passengers that have sailed or will be sailing in the near future.
Bon Voyage!
Thank you for continuously choosing Royal Caribbean Donna. We lament your current situation and wish you the best of luck. We are definitely looking forward to seeing you onboard again with us, whether it is on Oasis or Allure of the Seas.
I am interested in working in this company and I have stcw98 BST, scrb, CMB, seaman book, passport, and work experience in the hotel please let me know if there are vacancies thanks
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Thank you for showing interest in working for Royal Caribbean Edy. Please take a look at our career page.
Hi Adam
Thanks for all ships.they get better and better
23 of oct. we go onboard Navigator crossing to Fl.
It will bee cruise # 100 and that`s after 30 years sailing only on RCCL ships. The first one was Nordic
Prince 5 of oct.With capt. Petersen. If it have been
today the ship need only 2 lifeboats, like them onboard Oasis. We spendt 14 days on Oasis and that was mega great.Will be back next year again
We love you and RCCL.
Bjorn & Gitte
Hi Adam,
We’ve been on the Oasis of the Seas twice, took the whole family in June. Everyone enjoyed the ship, entertainment and food. We’re looking forward
to sailing on the Allure of the Seas 5 Dec 2010 on its inaugural voyage. The ship is the vacation for us!!
Hi Adam, I wrote to you when my December cruise on Allure of the Seas was met with an unpleasant demise due to a huge Midwest winter storm. Your staff, Michelle in particular, did an awesome job helping me rebook on Allure of the Seas over Valentine’s week. My family, extended family and friends all had a wonderful time! Thanks to you and your staff for helping make our cruise a memorable one!
My wife and I just began cruising in May of 2008. After our first cruise we started calling ourselves cruisers. We booked our second cruise on RCCL and were blown away. We realized we discovered the start of a wonderful new relationship with RCI that we would plan to enjoy for many years to come. In the past two years we’ve been on Allure, Oasis, Liberty and Mariner. The Oasis class ships were a wonderful addition to the beautiful RCI fleet. We enjoyed the Oasis class so much we booked another cruise on Oasis of the Seas in May of this year. We’re in the process of planning another one or two cruises for this year. We just can’t get enough!
Thanks again to you and your staff!
Th
Thanks for sharing your story with us Kevin. We are so happy to hear that everything turned out well and we are so glad that we are able to help build a wonderful relationship with you. Our guests are always our number one priority. We are happy to hear you and your family had a fantastic time and we hope to see all of you back soon.