To mark my 60th birthday in December 2019 we decided to try a cruise. I’d never really thought I particularly wanted to cruise. Linda was more keen than me, but if you want a holiday in December it’s a good choice for us, here in the UK.

We knew nothing about selecting a cruise so sought the advice of a local Travel Agent – Global Travel which was a good move but nearly turned into a disaster. We let ourselves be totally guided by the Agent who found us what transpired to be the perfect option for us. We decided to cruise with Royal Caribbean.

We were then guided through our choice of cabin, balcony or no balcony, where on the boat the cabin was situated (away from stairs and lifts) etc, etc. Flights were sorted separately, flying from Heathrow, London in to Miami with BA and then an overnight stay in a Sheraton hotel, before picking up our ship in the Miami cruise terminal.

We decided on a eleven day cruise around the Dutch Caribbean, probably because it suited our holiday dates the best. Our ship was Explorer of the Seas and catered for 4,500 passengers. We were due to sail to the Dutch Caribbean calling at Haiti, Bonaire, Aruba and Curaçao. In between ports we had sea days where we were free to make use of the ships facilities or just chill out on a sunbed.

I mentioned a near disaster with our travel agent in a previous paragraph. That manifested itself in the wake of a large UK travel company, Thomas Cook, going bankrupt during 2019. They were somehow linked to our Travel Agent, and the first we knew about that was when Royal Caribbean asked us for an outstanding payment of £3000 for our cruise. It surprised us because we had already paid that money to the travel agent a month or two before. After a few phone calls we discovered our money was in limbo, caught up in the Thomas Cook bankruptcy process.

To cut a long story short, Global Travel Agents were as helpful as they could be and Royal Caribbean agreed to hold our booking while we tried to sort out the matter. Luckily for us, another travel company bought out Thomas Cook and honoured our payment.

So, come December, we left a freezing cold Heathrow for Miami. The eleven hour flight was ok and we landed in the early afternoon, local time, to warm sunshine. So far so good. We then entered the living hell that is Miami Airport Border Control. The arrival hall was completely packed and very warm. We were part of a snaking queue moving slowly around the room with very few officials working to process the new arrivals.

Nothing much changed for an hour or two until people in the queue started fainting. Suddenly this seemed to prompt a flurry of action with more border police appearing and more border points being opened. The queue was split in two and we were fortunate to be near the front of the second column of people. We spent just under three hours in that airport – not good.

Things improved when we arrived at the Sheraton Hotel which was really good. We had a nice stay there, caught a taxi the following morning and then boarded our ship around midday.

As cruise ship virgins, entering the main deck of the ship was quite an experience for both of us. I knew it would be big but had no idea how big! The main deck was fitted out like a High Street with shops, cafe’s and bars. I don’t know what I was expecting but I was a bit blown away.

We couldn’t get into our cabins until later in the afternoon, so we made our way up to the help yourself buffet restaurant, chose ourselves some food and found a table. We didn’t know it up until then but the ship passengers were predominantly American. In fact during the whole cruise we only met one other British family on the boat.

An American lady on the table next to us picked up on our accents straight away and began talking to us. She and her husband were part of a group with two other couples sitting at her table and all were experienced cruisers – We’re talking sixty plus cruises when I say experienced. They were really friendly people and had lots of hints and tips for us. It was a really nice introduction to our cruise experience and set the tone for the whole trip. We bumped into the group several times during the cruise and they always stopped to catch up with us.

Our next big surprise was our cabin. It was superb and a match for most hotel rooms we’ve stayed in. We had plenty of room, a walk in wardrobe, a decent balcony and a large comfortable bed. Following a muster practice our ‘Sail Away’ was on time and we left Miami behind bound for Haiti.

We had a full sea day after our departure so we took advantage of that to watch an ice show on the ships internal ice rink. The professional show skaters were excellent and put on a great show. I said it was a big ship! The rest of the day we just wandered around, familiarising ourselves with the different bars, restaurants and activities that were on offer.

Our first port of call was Labadee, Haiti. It’s a royal Caribbean resort where you can chill on the beach, ride a zip wire and enjoy a Beach BBQ for lunch. It was ok but there wasn’t much there really. We left there during the late afternoon on route for Bonaire.

We had time to get to know the boat in between stops. We’re not really the dressing up type, so most evenings we gave the sit down restaurants a miss and used the help yourself buffet restaurant. We did try the main restaurant on one evening. The company was nice but once was enough for us.

Bonaire was our first stop followed by Aruba and Curacao. I’ll cover as one because there wasn’t that much difference between them all. Bonaire was a bit ropey. The more experienced cruisers were busy getting taxi’s to a nearby beach to go snorkelling. Aruba was very nice and Curacao fell somewhere between the two. We did book an excursion to go snorkelling in Aruba. That was good, not so much for the snorkelling because it was too rough for that many fish to be about but, the ride on the catamaran we went out on was excellent.

If it wasn’t for the fact we could get free Wi-Fi access in the ports, I think we would have stayed on the boat and taken advantage of it being a bit quieter. I don’t want to sound like a misery but all those places really had to offer was the usual tourist tat shops. They were always busy as well with up to three cruise ships in port at the same time.

I mentioned staying on the boat in the previous paragraph, which might sound a bit odd but there was a lot to stay on for. The boat had an ice rink, a climbing wall (up the funnel), a surf flow rider, a cinema and all sorts of talks and other entertainment throughout the day. Some were busy. I queued for two hours to ride the flow rider but it was worth the wait.

Our eleven days passed really quickly. I’d been a total cruise sceptic going in to this and came out being a total convert. Once we were home we tried to book another cruise straight away. The cruise was available but the flights were not going to be announced until April. Then covid hit in March 2020 and that put paid to that.

There’s a few negatives in my blog but my overall experience of cruising was really positive. It’s one of the best holidays I’ve ever had. Some of it was bizarre – watching the film ‘Elf’ on an outside screen whilst wearing shorts in warm December sunshine. Some of it was really funny. I have to give the Americans on board credit for entering fully into the spirit of everything put on by the entertainment team. The staff were incredible, the food was fantastic and I’ve no idea why we still haven’t cruised again.

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