Astonishing Las Vegas-Style Shows Elevate Family Vacation Entertainment on Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas

In reality, no one books a cruise because of the on-board shows. And often, cruise ship entertainment deserves the comic punch line treatment it often receives.

But if that's your experience with cruise ship entertainment, prepare to be surprised and delighted with the variety, quality and extravagance of the shows onboard Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas.

Wonder's shows combine Cirque de Soleil acts, immersive high-tech sets, and emotional soundtracks, all in intimate shipboard settings.Photo byDeanLand/OurTravelCafe.com

We recently sailed on Wonder of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship. For a family vacation that included our tween-age grandsons, we made the convenient, one-day drive drive from Marietta and Acworth, through Atlanta, down to Port Canaveral. (For more on our trip, visit our blog, where the site and author may earn revenue from advertising.) For those of us in Georgia -- even the Northwest corner that starts in Cobb County and requires enduring Atlanta traffic -- cruising means vacation without airfare.

Our 7-night roundtrip included stops in the Bahamas, Jamaica and Haiti, with two stops at private resorts exclusively for Royal Caribbean guests. And while we booked this cruise for the non-stop fun it promised for our prepubescent grandsons and us, we'll long remember -- and forever compare -- the onboard shows we enjoyed after we sailed each evening.

How can we describe the shows best? Think about combining Las Vegas-style Cirque de Solei acts, immersive high-tech sets, staging and props; and emotional soundtracks, all in intimate settings. Oh, and throw in a few circus-style high wire acts -- all performed while the ship is in motion on the ocean.

Imagine performing slackline acrobatics . . .Photo byDeanLand/OurTravelCafe.com

. . . synchronized with a high-flying partner . . .Photo byDeanLand / OurTravelCafe.com

. . . all while the ships moves with the motion of the ocean.Photo byDeanLand / OurTravelCafe.com

How good were the shows? Well, we'd pay admission to see several again if they came to a nearby venue. That's especially true of our two favorites, InTENse and Voices.

InTENse lives up to its name, including the capitalization. This water-based show performed in the outdoor aqua-theatre at the ship's stern featured a high-wire act, dancing, water ballet, high dives, acrobatics, aquabatics, and a sensational synchronized slackline ballet. The show is performed by an all-female cast.

Voices delivers an immersive musical experience combining live singers with a recorded music and video track delivered without the use of musical instruments. Instead, all the background music is performed by sound generating musical impersonators featured on the immense video walls.

In addition to these two marquis shows, Wonder featured a full array of comedic, music and other theatrical performances. There was even an ice skating show, complete with a Caribbean snowfall during the performance -- a true Wonder of the Seas.

Our cruise even featured an ice show, complete with Caribbean snow fall. Now that's a Wonder of the Seas!Photo byDeanLand / OurTravelCafe.com

For the full story about our cruise -- including our likes and dislikes, visit our blog at OurTravelCafe.com for an extended post and more photos.

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