Background Information
We began planning this cruise vacation a year and a half ago when my cousin's wife brought up the idea. What started out as our two families quickly blossomed into five families, six cabins five kids and ten adults. We really couldn't have asked for a more fantastic travel group.
When setting this up, we reasoned that we had to be in a bigger ship with more to do, a more stable ride and more room to spread out. We also wanted to leave out of the New York Metropolitan area since most of our party could simply drive that morning (and to remove the airfare for the families). The Explorer of the Seas had all of this covered.