Royal Caribbean announce that luxury liner Allure of the Seas will spend a season stationed in Europe during 2015.
This comes after the company announced that Oasis of the Seas, the premier ship in the Oasis Class section of the fleet, will visit Southampton in October 2014. A first for the mega-liner.
Allure will be stationed in the Spanish city of Barcelona, from which she’ll sail week-long cruises around a number of popular Mediterranean ports, including Civitavecchia, Italy.
This new itinerary starts after the ship emerges newly refurbished from her ‘drydock’ in May 2015. She will tour the Mediterranean until October 2015.
Both ships are usually based in Port Everglades in Floria, where they typically sale Caribbean itineraries.
About Oasis Class Ships:
The Oasis Class ships were launched at the end of last decade, in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Before the ships were officially announced, they were referred to by their code name of “project genesis”.
Allure of the Seas is currently the largest and biggest passenger ship in the world, surpassing Oasis of the Seas by only 2 inches. The ships were meant to be the same size, and are the same gross tonnage, but it is likely a change in air pressure on the days of the readings contributed to the small difference! After the two Oasis Class ships were launched, they surpassed the Freedom-class ships, which previously held the title.
A third Oasis Class ship is planned for delivery in 2016. She is set to supersede Oasis and Allure as the largest passenger ship in the world. When built, the yet-to-be-named ship will be 2.15 longer and 2,418 GTs heavier than her fleet mates.
The third Oasis Class ship will also be more energy efficient than the two previous ships. She’s being built in France after the company failed to come to an agreement with the Government of Finland (the STX Finland shipyard built the two previous vessels.)
The contract with the shipyard does include the option to build a forth ship for delivery in 2018, but this has yet to be exercised.
On their website, Royal Caribbean International describe their Oasis Class ships as a “feat of architecture and imagination.” Both ships have a distinct interior design, with the decks split into seven neighbourhoods, making the ship much like a floating city. There are 5-deck high Central Park and Broadwalk areas that provide holidaymakers with an ‘outdoor’ area to visit during their stay on the ship. The area boasts lush tropical gardens, upscale restaurants, plenty of shops and even a working funfair carousel, which kids love. Speaking of children, the Oasis Class ships also feature the “DreamWorks Experience”, which is so much more than a performance or show featuring DreamWorks characters! Kids are pretty much guaranteed to love it!
