Cruise Ship: Explorer of the Seas
Cruise Destination: Western Caribbean
Cruise Dates: August 14-21, 2005
Guest Contributor: Christopher Kausch
Spending a week on Explorer Of The Seas was like living in a floating city in the vast sea, not to mention how pampered I felt by the treatment I received from the staff and the amount of entertainment I had. In addition, there was a lot to explore and discover while expanding my horizon for the ultimate vacation.
The hard part of the cruise was planning it and checking in. My family and I flew to Ft. Lauderdale for a cheap price and stayed at a Best Western Hotel for an evening in order to relax ourselves for the stressful but exciting day that followed. One important suggestion before going on a cruise is to always arrive at least one day proir to the departure of the ship. If for some reason a flight is delayed due to inclement weather or arrives at the airport late, you will still have time to check in at the port and check in. Besides, you never know how long check in at the port may take. My family and I arrived at the port around 10:00 am and were all checked in efficiently since all the necessary travel documents were oraganized and ready to present.
Now, it was time to board the boat. Before I stepped onto the gangway, a family photo was taken and it caught us by surprise. My first step onto the outdoor promenade on Deck 4 was the gate toward a week of paradise. I was appalled by the ornate décor of the Parisian style promenade and the glass elevators as they were the first parts of the ship to catch my eyes.
When we checked into our room, everyone including me were impressed that such a small stateroom was so tidy and comfortable. I never felt claustrophobic even though I was expecting it upon entering the room. My only complaint was that the the boat vibrated poorly and awoke me several times during the night.
My fist meal on the boat was spent at the Windjammer Café. I was very impressed with the service and the food. There was such a variey of food, I found myself making two or three trips to the buffet and trying a small sample of everything. In fact, I found myself experimenting with foods new to my taste buds such as Thai chicken with steam broccoli and eggplant quiche with onions. Yum!
After lunch, I purchased a the drink package with my Sea Pass Card as this provided much benefit to purchasing soft drinks. I would recommend it so you would not have to remember to bring money with you when buying soft drinks.
The pools were nice and relaxing. However, they were very crowded in the afternoon and the saltwater rapidly dehydrated me even when it went up through my nose. However, it was a fun experinece swimming in the pool at night when I went to the teen pool party. In addition, I won a Royal Caribbean golden medallion after winning a relay contest. I anticipated on the prize and swam for my life across the pool, head submerged, breathing little, but it was worth it. I never really considered myself a decent swimmer but my skill at the pool certainly showed me that I was wrong!
The Muster drill was a real bother for me. I understand why it was imperative but it was time consuming and there were better ways to spend the time rather than stand in a line huddled closely together with people and sweat like crazy wearing a bulky lifejacket. One suggestion to make this more exciting is to prepare the lifeboats and have everyone step in if they want to.
At last,it was time for dinner. I had mixed feelings about the food, servers, and had anticipated on meeting people. It turned out to be nothing but fun and laughter. We dined with the Sloan family form Virginia and it was a perfect match for our family as the two children Wendy, age 12, and Robby, age 4, were a perfect match for myself, age 13 at the time, and my sister Elizabeth, age 6. Our servers Cetin from Turkey and Svitlana from Ukraine were very pleased to serve us and were very kid-friendly toward Elizabeth and Robby. Each night, I had the opportunity to try new foods, from pesto escargots to zucchini and aubergine with minestrone, and my favourite dessert was the rum cake. A very cute and memorable experience was when Elizabeth and Robby ordered macaroni and cheese and hamburgers, and split a dish of ice cream. It was quite a sight.
I found out about Optix, the teen disco with an arcade and computer station and I was glad that I took the opportunity to meet other teenagers who would be cruising on the ship with me. At first, I felt nervous and shy, but I quickly warmed up, and introducing myself to others was a piece of cake. For the rest of the vacation, I spent the majority of the time hanging with other teenagers, mainly Wendy, from Chantilly, VA, Dave, from London, Jena, from Chicago, Wesley and Eric, from Ontario,CA Julian, from Salem, MA, Jannina from Heidelberg, Germany, and Rachel.
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