Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas is among the cruise line's most popular cruise ships, and for good reason.
She is the largest cruise ship in the world (as of the writing of this blog post) and offers guests so much to do onboard.
Here are some quick facts about Allure of the Seas that you might not have known about!
7. Her godmother isn't human
Every cruise ship has an honorary godmother, that attends the ship's naming ceremony and officially welcomes the ship into the fleet, but for Allure of the Seas, Royal Caribbean did something unusual by making an animated character her godmother.
Princess Fiona, from the Shrek films, was named Allure of the Seas' godmother on November 28, 2010.
Princess Fiona appeared in 3-D on the screen in the ship's Amber Theater to preside over the festivities, interacting with Royal Caribbean Chairman and CEO, Richard D. Fain.
The decision to have Fiona be the godmother is another part of the tightly knit deal between Royal Caribbean and Dreamworks to integrate the characters into the ships of the Royal Caribbean fleet.
6. Allure of the Seas is longer than Oasis of the Seas by accident
When Royal Caribbean was building Allure of the Seas, they wanted to make sure she was very close to sister ship Oasis of the Seas, because Oasis had been performing so well that the company did not want to ruin a good thing.
There is one key difference between the two and that is Allure of the Seas is 50mm longer than Oasis of the Seas.
Interestingly, the shipyard where she was build maintains this difference was not intentional.
STX Finland Project Director Topivo Ilvonen said, "Indeed this is a curiosity only. In a ship that is 360 metres long such small differences may occur due to the temperature of steel."
5. Allure of the Seas does not "squat" when going faster
Those that remember Allure of the Seas' delivery from the STX Finland shipyard may recall as she passed under the Great Belt Bridge, a story came out that by traveling at a higher speed in a shallow channel, the ship will be drawn deeper into the water.
The fact is, that is just not true.
The shipyard builders contend it is a myth that the "squat effect" would have any significant effect on the draft of the vessel when passing the Great Belt Bridge because the water is too deep.
4. Allure of the Seas offered the first Starbucks at sea
These days, many Royal Caribbean ships offer Starbucks beverages onboard their ships but the Royal Caribbean and Starbucks connection first began with Allure of the Seas.
The Starbucks at sea is operated under a license between Starbucks and Royal Caribbean and was first launched on Allure of the Seas.
3. Restaurants have been replaced and moved on Allure of the Seas
Allure of the Seas is just five years old, but has seen quite a bit of change onboard, including restaurant changes.
Rita's Cantina used to be on the Boardwalk for guests to enjoy, but in a recent refurbishment, Royal Caribbean replaced Rita's with another Mexican cuisine offering, Sabor Taqueria & Tequila Bar.
Japanese restaurant Izumi is still available on Allure of the Seas, but it was moved from its small location on Deck 16 all the way down to deck 4, and now includes Teppanyaki cuisine.
Coastal Kitchen, the restaurant open exclusively to guests booked in suites, took up residence on Deck 17, which used to be the location of the Viking Crown Lounge.
2. Electricity for the shopping district is provided by solar energy
The next time you do some shopping onboard Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas, you can feel better about the ship's footprint on the Earth because all the electricity in the ship's shopping district comes from the sun.
Royal Caribbean partnered with United Solar to install laminates that provide electricity for the ship's shopping district.
The 80kW system, which covers a floor area of 2,000m2, is listed to generate 111,108 kilowatt hours of energy a year.
1. Clarissa Parish designed many of the interiors aboard Allure of the Seas
Anglo-Italian muralist Clarissa Parish designed many of the beautiful decorations found around Allure of the Seas.
If you walk around Allure of the Seas, you will see her work without ever knowing one person was largely responsible for the art.
In fact, Parish also created a number of murals again for Royal Caribbean on the Freedom class cruise ships.
