Once we were a bit settled in, we headed up to start having fun on deck! Allure of the Seas features some attractions- yes, attractions!- that you would have never imagined could have been on a cruise ship. The biggest mind-blower I think would have to be the Zip line. Yes, Allure (and Oasis) have a zip line for you to fly from aft to midship over 9 open decks!
A look from below up at the zip line:
While the line looks (and is) short, and the ride only lasts about 9 seconds- let me tell you it is more imposing than you would think. There are some restrictions. There is the usual height restriction (52"), and there also are weight restrictions. You have to weigh 75 pounds minimum and 275 maximum to go on the zipline. They do have a scale, and they will weigh you if they think you may be close to either end of the spectrum. You also have to be wearing shorts or pants and have socks/closed toe shoes. They do have some funky cloth and Velcro shoes you can wear if you did not bring your tennies. I used them, they are pretty comfortable and they have a large range of sizes. You have to also be 100% completely dry to go on the zip-line; they get a lot of folks straight from the pool that have to be turned away. As you might imagine there are waivers to be signed, the great thing is you do all of that online before you cruise, so all they do is scan your SeaPass card and all of the info pops up. So no more waiver lines! Yay!
We headed right to the zipline platform on Deck 15 aft. We were among the first zip-liners! When you first line up, they scan your SeaPass, then you go to get your harness. It is on the ground, you step in it and pull it up like a pair of pants, then the members of the staff will adjust and buckle it for you. (They aren’t all up in your business like they were on Independence putting on the Rock Wall harnesses if you know what I mean). Then you will get a helmet, and shoes if you need them. You can’t be wearing or carrying anything that could be considered loose: jewelry, stuff in your pocket, glasses*, etc.
*I have read on Cruise Critic that you cannot even wear prescription eyeglasses on the zipline. None of us wear glasses so I can’t comment on that for sure, but if you normally wear glasses and want to do the zipline, you might want to consider bringing some contacts with you.
A look at the loading platform from behind:
Ron and Brendan went first. Savannah did not weigh enough. She weighed in at 72 so we figured we’d let her eat a bit over the next couple of days and then try again.
Here goes Ron! (video- click picture to play)
Way to go, B!
I waited a little bit but finally decided to go for it:
A harness is not exactly the most attractive accessory
Here's my video. It is a bit long (about 1 minute) sorry about that!
(click picture to play)
Ok, for some reason I was pretty freaked out to try it at first. I had what we'll call a "minor incident" on the practice zip line in Labadee which basically resulted in me having to be yanked back up onto the platform after starting to go down the line when I wasn't supposed to be (Not my fault- I wasn't tethered in correctly). I lost a shoe and got a little shook up but was otherwise unscathed. (Right after that incident I had to be the FIRST person to go down the actual zipline- pretty skeery!) But even that didn't really freak me out like this did. Looking down 9 stories to hard steel and concrete and visualizing myself impaled on the carousel like a hot dog on a skewer...well...it was unsettling. The worst part though was after the ride, as I was getting unhooked, I was teetering so close to the edge of the landing platform.... I could totally sense how near the edge I was, at one point I even grabbed the padding which was on the plexiglass wall there, just to be holding something, and it ripped right off the wall! Somehow the guy got me safely unhooked and I managed to get off the platform OK. I began to think maybe I was just crazy and I wasn't really that close to plunging 9 decks to a gruesome death and that my eternal epitaph wouldn't really be on the Cruise Bruise site. Then Ron told me he noticed it too: if I had taken just one eensy weensy step back I would have been a goner.
Livin' on the edge:
But wait! There's more fun to come!