Nick Benotto

A reminiscence of cruising by Nick Benotto

I was introduced to cruising by my parents when I was five years old. I remember my mom
saying we are going to sail on a very big ship that had a lot of goodies to eat and a big playroom
for kids. Well, that caught my attention long enough for me to put down my toy cars, dinosaurs and building blocks and start asking questions. I always have a lot of questions about everything. What can I say? This Nick Benotto is a curious guy.

My first cruise was on the Celebrity Zenith, which is now retired. It was not one of the new
mega ships you see now but to a five-year-old, it was huge. I loved eating all the good food in
the dining room and later having snacks in the café. We had assigned seating for dinner each
night and the same waiters. That was great because after dinner they would do magic tricks to
keep me entertained and they would sneak me extra desserts. I would take a dip in the pool with
mom and dad or they would take me to the Kids Club where we did all kinds of fun activities
like face painting, arts and crafts, puzzles and scavenger hunts. One night counselors took us to
the buffet area where we could make our own pizza for dinner. This gave the rest of the Benotto family some adult time to relax.

We traveled on Zenith four times to Bermuda, a gorgeous island with pink sand beaches and fun
shopping areas. After two years we sailed on the Crown Princess. This was a much larger ship
and we had a balcony cabin, which was tremendously exciting to me. It was so really fun to be able to go outside on our own private area and watch the waves and sunsets whenever we wanted to.

Princess ships had great food and a much larger kids club with video games, movie nights, pajama night, talent shows and ball pits. Princess had great pasta, pizza and warm chocolate chip cookies. We visited Bermuda again but… we also stopped at St. Thomas, San Juan and Gran Turk/Margaritaville. All the ports were different and great in their own way. I expanded my food choices by learning to try new things in the dining room. Cruise ships are a great way to experiment with new and different menu choices because you can always order something else if you don’t like your original choice. I learned to eat lobster and even sushi on a cruise ship.

When we got home, we talked so much about our Princess cruise and all the great ports that even more Benotto relatives booked the same cruise with us the following year. They had never
cruised before but quickly learned how much fun it was. For the next few years we all sailed
together on the Caribbean Princess, enjoying balcony cabins, great food and the Kids Club.
We then decided to try cruising on the Royal Caribbean line and booked Empress of the Sea. It
was a large ship with balconies like the Princess ships and St. Thomas was swapped out for St.
Martin. The food was a little different but just as enjoyable as Princess. We were in a large,
multi-level dining room for dinner and sometimes we just went to the specialty restaurants like
Chops steak house or the Italian restaurant instead of the dining room.

As my cousin and I got older we aged out of the basic Kids Club but we still managed to meet
lots of kids our age to hang out with and go to the pool or the ice cream parlor. As the ships got
bigger (Anthem of the Sea) there was more to do. My cousin especially enjoyed the Flow Rider which teaches you how to surf. There were bumper cars, ice skating and basketball courts way
on the top deck of the ship. We tried the gym and ran the outside track that circled the ship. Our
parents were to be found at the adult pool, shopping in the elegant on-board stores, reading in a
quiet nook of the ship or just enjoying our private balcony.

In the evening, we all ate dinner together and then we went to see comedians, hypnotists or musical shows in the large theater. My favorite show was the Unexpected Boys, a cover group of the Four Seasons who sang all the Four Seasons and Frankie Valli songs from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. On our last stop we were introduced to a new port, Coco Cay, which was a private island owned by Royal Caribbean. It contained a huge water park, an expansive free form swimming pool surrounded by sand and chaise lounges, and a large restaurant which served food the entire time we were on the island. It
was one of my favorite stops.

Overall, my family sailed on about twelve cruises with various cruise lines and ships all with
different amenities and food choices and ports of call. The only bad thing I can say about
cruising is that on your last day you have to get off the ship and return to the real world. Entering
reality can be quite a shock but then you get home log onto your computer and start dreaming
about your next cruise.

Here’s a link to my blog post about Italian family recipes: Nick Benotto Italian Family Recipes: A Culinary Journey – Nick Benotto