20220903 RCCL Explorer of the Seas ABC Cruise - Day 1 of 8 - Miami, and...we're off

Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas ABC cruise - Day 1 of 8

Port of Miami

Guess what we're doing?  Yup, we're back at sea again.  This time, it is an eight-day cruise to Bonaire, Curacao, and Aruba aboard Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas.  Those stops will be bookended by two days at sea in each direction.

We got up bright and early and hit the road shortly after 7AM for the 4.5ish hour drive from The Villages to Port of Miami.  As soon as we hit the Turnpike, we turned the driving over to Super Cruise and it managed most of the trip.

Letting the car do the driving let me enjoy the sunrise.

It also let me check out the interesting places along the way. Can I get Yeehaw!?!

We opted not to park at the port and used a place/service called WeParkinMiami.  You prepay (for much less per day than parking at the port) and pull into a parking ramp near the port.  Then, they are supposed to shuttle you to the port.  That was the plan.  In reality, we had to wait for over an hour, standing in a hot parking ramp.  There were four ships sailing out of Miami today, and this service only has three vans that hold ten people, assuming you cram ten into all the seats.  Live and learn.  The extra $100 or so it would have cost to park at the port would have been well worth it.  We're not looking forward to trying to get back to our car.

We did make it to the port and got onto the ship.  The last time we were on Explorer of the Seas, it was in the Mediterranean out of Southhampton, England in 2015.

The ship seems to be fairly full. With a capacity of 4,290, this is a large vessel.  I'll draw some comparisons with our last cruise on the Caribbean Princess.  That ship had fewer passengers and nearly the same crew compliment but service sucked.  So far, this cruise is like night and day with staffed venues and quality, friendly service.  Woo, Royal!

We sailed right on time at 4PM, heading out of Miami to the south.

When we first got on an elevator, we smiled at one of Royal Caribbean's signature items - the day of the week on the elevator floor.

I was looking forward to a change from our last couple of cruises in terms of WiFi. Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (or RCCL for short) advertized their VOOM internet as the fastest at sea. Overall, that seems to be true.  The one caveat is that it only works where there is WiFi, and in our room, there doesn't seem to be any. So, I will be forced to sit in a bar to write this blog daily for you, dear readers. I hope you appreciate the extent to which I work for you! ;-)

We tried our hand at trivia, but it didn't go well.  It was tough tonight.  Air Jordans came out in 1984.  Who knew?

After a nice meal in the Sapphire dining room, we missed the sunset but caught the afterglow.

Tonight's headliner was comedian, Nate Weatherup.  We had some good laughs in a completely family-friendly show.  We liked him.

We explored the ship and the shops as well as a brief stroll outside in the wind.

We settled in at one of our favorite places, the R Bar, to write this blog.

I didn't want to have more lemon drop martinis, but I didn't want to look out of place at the bar.  Yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! I will say that even in a public place with supposedly good WiFi, writing this on the ship's WiFi was a little frustrating.  I write a sentence and it takes up to a minute for the blog to catch up.  It's getting old quickly.

The next two days are sea days.  We'll be hanging out and trying things.  I'll try to get some ship and room photos and we'll see you tomorrow.