Ryan Tallent

Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Number of Cruises: 3
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean
Name of Ship: Explorer of the seas
Sailing Date: July 10th, 2003
Itinerary: Eastern Caribbean

About me:

Hi my name is Ryan and I love cruises. I have been on a total of 3 cruises, I went on the carnival Sensation when I was in 5th grade, I went on carnival victory when I was 15, and on my most recent cruise I went on Explorer of the seas. I like to think of my self as a party animal. I love athletics and I love meeting new people. That’s one of the main reasons I liked this ship so much.

About my ship:

The ship I went on is on of 4 of the largest ships royal Caribbean has at sea right now, Explorer Of The Seas. It has a rock climbing wall, an ice skating rink, and even a full-length basketball court, not to mention the small putt-putt golf course and tiny roller blading track. It is a 138,000 ton ship and I believe it is the largest ship in service right now besides its sister ships.

Day 1;

Well my family and I took the long 13-hour drive from Virginia to Miami Florida where the port is to get on this huge ship. Once we finally got there, (very early) we went through the long process of getting on the ship. You have to fill out forms and go through metal detector after metal detector (its all worth it) but I didn’t mind because it’s for our safety. Now the rules on the ship are you have to be 18 to drink alcoholic beverages. But like I said I am a party animal so as quick as I could get on the ship I had a corona in my hand. I think being able to drink on a cruise is a huge part of the fun, plus my parents didn’t mind as long as I didn’t get busted. To get alcohol on the cruise was ridiculously easy, if you had cash you could ask anyone to buy you some and they would, but I will let you know right now they charge an arm and a leg for beverages. I had my parents buy me a coke card, for 20 bucks so whenever I wanted a drink I just showed the bartender my card and wham! He gave me a coke for free. I saved my money’s worth on that card because I must have drunk 10 tons of coke.

Pretty much the first day of a cruise you just walk around and get a feel for the ship, as well as go through the pane staking process of putting on your life jacket and sitting around for a while. But once again it’s for your safety so it didn’t bother me. I totally ditched my parents until dinnertime. I met a couple of guys that I decided to hang out with for most of the cruise, because after you meet some guys, you have no trouble meeting the ladies, which I may say were in a surfeit. (There were tons of girls my age) At the end of the day I went back to my room and got ready for dinner at 8 30 with my parents where I met my wader Dublin, he was awesome and he needed to be because we tip him. I don’t remember what was for dinner but I do remember it was great; there wasn’t a thing on the menu that I didn’t like. But you must ask what do you do after dinner its only 9 30 ish….

Well let me tell you I went to the basketball court, I love basketball, and there’s nothing like tearing up a bunch of rich kids on the basketball courts. But there’s one thing I hate about royal Caribbean cruises, and it’s how they do the clubs. I love to dance but I got stuck in the 15 to 17-club optics, which was a tiny mini club that was suitable for the 10 year olds. I know carnival is 16 and up for the club and that makes it a lot more fun, but I wanted to have a good time and I wanted to manage with what I had. I had met some girls the first night and danced a little bit but no one else would dance. It felt weird being the only guy with a bunch of girls on the dance floor. But I realized I could drink and once you have taken a few drinks you really don’t care. That night I went to bed around 3 30 in the morning and it was only the first night, I got a little drunk but it was worth it because I had a blast. By the way the beds were very comfortable.

Day2:

Day 2 was great it was a day at sea, and nothing is better than a day at sea. Those are my favorite days on the ship. Like I said earlier I am a ladies man but most of the girls would just lie out during the day and bake in the sun for hours. So I decided to go find the guys I had hung out with the night before and I wanted to find some competition on the basketball courts. Burn some of those calories I had gotten from all the eating. So I got all my basketball gear on and headed for the courts, where I found it impossible to make a shot because it was so windy. So I had to manage with the wind, but we got some full court basketball games going where my boys and I strait dominated. So while all the girls tanned we played basketball. The next thing you know dinner is getting under way, but I decided to skip the second night and go to Johnny Rockets, its this little pub where everything is like the 60’s and you get free hamburgers and stuff like that. It was great, and I didn’t even have to dress up. Now like I said before the night before club Optics was kind of boring and there weren’t many people there. So my friends and I went around and told all the girls to go the club that night. They all showed up, and I danced the night away! It was so much fun and I met 2 girls I kind of liked. So I did the usual tried to get with both of them. But in the end you have to pick one cause you can’t mess with a girl’s head. But I had split a couple sixers with a guy named mark. It was buy 6 beers and get the 6th one free. That was a whopping 20 dollars, but we split the price. I am not a big drinker but man a couple of beers can loosen you all up. I didn’t get to bed until about 4 or 5 that morning but it was amazing.

Day 3:

Day 3 we made a nice little pit stop in Puerto Rico. I will admit I just wanted to get drunk at senor frogs. So my parents took me there where I drank a margarita and some kind of Spanish beer but it was good. I went back to the ship and played basketball while my family kept on shopping, where my mom got some real expensive earrings. I was a little tipsy but I still wanted to play basketball. I had a great time, but I was looking forward to dinner that night, where I had New York style steak with this awesome sauce, one word, yummy. The word had gotten around to all the teens that club Optics had become pretty cool. I will take all the credit. So next thing you know it all the 18 year olds are trying to sneak in to club optics where we were all dancing and I was trying to decide which of these 2 girls I had met I liked better. The girl’s could dance and the music was great for the most part. It seemed like the club could have been a little cooler, I mean you would think the ship would target the teenage kids more than anyone. I made the best with what I had, and I took one of the girls to the very top deck where we laid down and looked at the stars until the wee hours in the morning, I will admit the deck crew is kind of annoying when your trying to get a romantic moment going, but they mean well, so I was off to bed to get ready for the next pit stop.

Day 4:

Was in St. Thomas or was St. martin, I don’t know I get them confused, but we went on the golden eagle catamaran, for our excursion. We had done it before along time ago and had a great time so we decided to do it again. Boy was it fun, they had all you could drink for free, and you know I took advantage of that. After that I was actually pretty tired so I went back to the boat and took a little nap, before I went to the basketball courts. But to my surprise they had a little camp for kids out there taking up the whole court. So I decided to give the putt-putt a try. I would have enjoyed playing with some of the girls, but getting them to stop tanning is like trying to get Bill Clinton to stop lying. I had fun playing golf and it was time to get ready for dinner, and the night life, dinner was once again not a let down. Food was good, but I think it was formal night, so we had to take a bunch of pictures for my family. I looked spiffy, but I felt under dressed because some people had on tuxedos, oh well I had fun, but was looking forward to the nightlife. Which was the best. The lady who runs club optics kind of gets teens together to do things as a group kind of like a camp but they never really worked out, but one night she announces the club wont let you in unless you where a toga. I thought that was a great idea, so I go back to my room with one of the girls I had met to make a toga out of my bed sheets, my toga was the best, I was rocking the cape and the whole get up. Every one said mine was the best. I hope so. That night I had managed to borrow my dads card which said I was an adult over 21, so I could buy all the alcohol I wanted, which I did and I got trashed and had an awesome time. I mean I had no worries I was on a boat.

Days 5-7

Well these last days consisted of a lot of clubbing, partying, drinking, and a little bit of fun my parents shouldn’t know about. Dinner was great every night, and the club got better and better as the cruise went on; I didn’t want to get off the ship for my life! I had made such great friends and even found one girl I kind of like and am still talking to, but I got all the e mail addresses and phone numbers to keep in touch.

Getting off the boat:

I hated leaving the ship, not because I had the best time ever but because it took forever. The line to get through customs took forever, getting bags took forever, and everything took along time. So you ask was it worth it? It was totally worth it I have never had so much fun in my entire life. I am a senior in high school now and am planning my next big cruise on carnival Conquest, so if you know anything about that ship let me know.

Highlights:
Basketball court
Drinking
Clubbing
Freedom
Food

The people who worked wanted to be there. And it made me happy to see them happy, and all of them always remember your name, till the last day when we left. You leave a lot of memories on the ship, but I know I enjoyed traveling with Royal Caribbean, but to set the record strait that royal Caribbean is way better than carnival. From a teenage point of view there very equal, maybe if royal Caribbean were cheaper it would have more teenagers on it, so for a teenager I would say ride on carnival, I mean the old people can always buy you drinks. But I had a blast I hope you enjoyed my story. Please feel free to send me some E-mail’s. Sorry I had to cut it short.

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