Family cruises: Allure of the Seas, the biggest ship on earth, is ideal for families
My husband Dan's face fell. 'It'll be like a floating Bluewater,' he sighed.
But our daughters, Charlotte, seven, and Jessica, five, could not have been more thrilled.
Family fun: Charlotte and Jessica were big fans of Allure and the freedom it gave them to explore
A few weeks later, there we were, in sunny Florida. Our first glimpse of the Allure Of The Seas was simply astonishingly glamorous; sparkling fountains, glittering glass lifts and suspended sculptures.
But what of the ship itself? Well, she is indeed huge - 16 passenger decks high, and 1,187 ft long, but also elegant and spacious - and, yes, you can feel her gently rocking. The Allure has 26 restaurants, an ice rink, a children's water park, climbing walls, and an area called Central Park, open to the sky, filled with 12,000 plants, benches, restaurants and shops.
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With 6,000 people on board, the decks around the pool heaved during days at sea - as did the main buffet restaurant. And it was noisy.
But an all-inclusive hol! iday has huge upsides, particularly if you are a young family. For a start, a great deal is included in the price, though not drinks, the all-day nursery, babysitting and some activities.
Teenagers have their own areas and activities and the staff were delightful.
Larger than life: Allure is the biggest cruise ship in the worldOne evening Dan and I went to collect them at 10.30 after dinner a deux and were told by Charlotte to go away and stop embarrassing her by arriving before midnight. So we returned to the piano bar for a Billy Joel and Elton John tribute evening.
Orthodontist Doug Lakeman, 55, from Michigan, told me this was his 22nd cruise, and the only way he could convince his university student children still to come away with their parents.
As well as the included restaurants, speciality ones included 150 Central Park, where we had the gastronomic experience of contemporary US cuisine for 15 a head.
Several of the over-touristed Caribbean islands we visited played second fiddle to the ship, but we thoroughly enjoyed a morning exploring Nassau in the Bahamas, where we visited Queen Victoria's statue in front of the Parliament building and the girls had their hair braided with beads.
On St Thomas, we went on one of the ship's excursions and snorkelled in turquoise sea with turtles and octopuses, while on St Maarten we marvelled at the iguanas basking on the rocks and sunbathed ourselves on the softest white sand.
As we docked in Florida and prepared to leav! e the bo at, Dan turned to me, tanned and smiling.
'We have to do this again,' he declared. 'I only wish we were staying another week.'
Take it from me, that is some recommendation.
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