MIAMI -- Three-time Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee was
named godmother of Royal Caribbean International's new ship.
Explorer of the Seas, a 3,114-passenger 142,000-ton ship, debuts
in New York on Oct. 16.
Following its arrival in New York and a series of events, the
ship departs for its first regular cruise on Oct. 28.
Explorer will join its sister ship Voyager of the Seas as the
largest cruise vessels afloat, and feature an ice-skating rink,
rock-climbing wall and inline skating track. The new ship also will
include working oceanographic and atmospheric laboratories.
Joyner-Kersee, who became the first woman to score 7,000 points
in the 1986 heptathlon, is the second Olympian to christen a Royal
Caribbean ship, following figure skater Katarina Witt.