Just back from the Explorer of the Seas 5/13-5/22/2010

[denisemac]

We are back from a wonderful vacation on the Explorer. This was our first cruise with RCCL, and I could not be any happier with our experiences.

We arrived in Bayonne about 10:00 am on Thursday morning (5/13) and found no traffic or congestion at all. Our boarding process was very smooth and we were on board by 11:45 am.

The Windjammer Cafe was not open and neither was the pool bar. At one point the line waiting to get into the Cafe was incredible. We decided to skip the lines and enjoyed ourselves sitting poolside and people watching. I am still amazed at the amount of complaining I overheard people doing on this vacation! But more about that later.

We had an aft jr. suite cabin on the 7th deck and I was very impressed with the size of the cabin itself. I loved the walk in closet, bath tub and TONS of drawers and shelves for storage, (of course I over packed).

The food in the MDR was well, put it this way, some nights I found things I loved and some nights, not so much, but......Someone else was cooking so no complaints from me. I might suggest that you stay away from the steaks offered, but other than that, all of our meals were fine. The staff in the MDR was phenomenal, and I enjoyed going there every evening just to see them. The buffet for breakfast and lunch in the Windjammer Cafe was very good, but there was not too much daily variety.

The ice skating show was FANTASTIC!

I can not say enough about how wonderful Adventure Ocean Club is. Our 5 year old actually cried if we asked him to stay with us and skip camp for the afternoon. The activities they do with the children are educational yet fun for the kids. Being a very paranoid mom, I was extremely comfortable leaving him in camp, and loved having a beeper in case he needed me.

We discovered The 19th Hole bar on the 14th deck, and this became our nightly hangout. We met some really great people there and the bartender Hadder made our nights so much fun.

We met so many nice people on this cruise! But what still has my mouth hanging open are the people that were at times down right nasty. Nasty to the staff, other passengers, and children on board. One woman even gasped and said "There are children on this cruise?" in a tone that sounded as if they allowed wild animals on board.

And I can not stand that people think it is ok to treat the men and women staff members like they are not human. Someone was even complaining on Coco Cay, because "it was WAY too sandy"!

I just giggled......guess some people will never be happy, even when they are vacationing the best way there is.

I have a lot of photos if anyone wants to see them, just ask, and I will be happy to post them.

[BoozinNCruisin]

I was also on this sailing with you and had an amazing time with the smoothest seas i have ever seen. Looking like we were sailing on a lake not the ocean. Just Amazing. I would love to see your pictures if you have time to post them. I am going to try to post my pictures sometime this week, still in post cruise mode and trying to unpack and catch up at work!

[*Sparkle*]

thanks for taking the time to post such a wonderful review. I love the Explorer and I am preparing for my third cruise on that beautiful ship!:D:D

[CMM]

Thanks for posting your impressions. We too are seriously considering our first cruise with Royal Caribbean on the Explorer so your comments are of interest.

 

Complainers are a downer too bad you were faced with some. On a Princess cruise a lady complained my ear off all through breakfast about how bad a past NCL cruise was. All I could think of was - get over it and enjoy this one.

 

So there wasn't lunch waiting when you boarded? Always seems like it is a mad house of people eating first thing.

 

We are really torn between this one and the Carnival Glory. Looking at Sept Canada/New England and it may come down to dates more than ship, but the Explorer sure sounds nice.

[pcdaddy]

We're boarding in just a few days, and reading your great review makes me even more impatient. Come on Thursday!!!:):)

[denisemac]

pcdaddy.....I am jealous..I wish I was sailing again! If you happen to run into a bartender Hadder, would you mind telling him that Denise, Carol and the 3 girls say hello, and we wish we were back with him at the 19th Hole! I think he will be at the pool bar for your cruise.

The seas were incredible...I really felt like I was gliding on glass.

The Windjammer was closed when we boarded, but I got the impression that this was not the usual. I think I heard that they were under going an inspection.

I can not rave enough about this ship, or the staff. I will definately post my pictures sometime this week.

We did the self debarkation and I was amazed at how fast we were off. Too fast....LOL! We waited in our cabin until 8:30 am, took the stairs(dragging our luggage, but it really was not bad at all. We have the luggage with wheels so we just pulled them down the stairs) down to the 1st deck, scanned our sea pass cards, and we were off. Customs was very quick, no lines at all and we were pulling out of the parking lot by 9:15 am. Of course, I was kicking and screaming the whole way!

[Sugar*Magnolia]

Thanks for your wonderful review! We board 6/26 and I just can not wait! This will be our 5th time on Explorer! Do you recall, was it the 6th or 7th night for the second Formal night? and was the other, Quest? Im almost positive it is nights 6 and 7...

 

 

Nooooo, Wait....lol I mean nights 7 and 8!! lol

[CaribbeanSun53163]

did the explorer of the seas blow its horn in any of the ports?

[denisemac]

I don't think it did blow its horn when leaving the ports. I only remember the horns blowing when we left New Jersey.

 

The 2nd formal night was on the 8th night I believe. The first formal night was on day 2. I do not remember when Quest was. I didn't go to the show but my daughters did, and they loved it!

 

The shrimp cocktail served at lunch one day in the Windjammer was unreal! They just kept loading up the huge bowl.

[MedicKen]

Very nice job. I wholeheartedly agree. My family and I were on Explorer at the beginning of the month. We were so impressed we turned right around and booked Explorer again for Sept.

[Beardie]

Re. lunch after boarding, are any of the dining rooms open for a sit down lunch? On previous NCL and Princess cruises, we found that there was always one dining room open, but it was not advertised, as they preferred most people to go to the buffet. Much less crowds, however, in the dining room!!

[*Sparkle*]

I think the MDR is open to Diamond/Diamond Plus members only

[Sugar*Magnolia]

Re. lunch after boarding, are any of the dining rooms open for a sit down lunch? On previous NCL and Princess cruises, we found that there was always one dining room open, but it was not advertised, as they preferred most people to go to the buffet. Much less crowds, however, in the dining room!!

 

If you are referring to the day that you board and set sail, NO, the MDR is not opened for any one for lunch.

[IWORK2CRUISE]

We are just back, too.

Apparently, there was an inspection going on at boarding time which caused the WJ to open late. It was unfortunate that so many people lined up waiting to get in. When we spotted a chance we got salads only and took them out by the pool.

We had been told that other than the WJ, the Cafe Promenade would be open but when we breezed by it was not open. I assume that this had to do with the inspection as well.

There was no lunch in the dining room either. However, they were showing a group of travel agents through.

OK. Flash forward to a great afternoon for sailaway and we stopped by Portofino to see if there was an opening for the evening. To our surprise we were seated immediately. I can still taste the wonderful shrimp risotto!

 

We had our 1st Promenade cabin on deck 6 (6281) which was right over the stairs that go down to the casino, across from the Crown & Kettle. We were not bothered by noise. The 2 parades were the 1st and last nights at 10:30 and we knew they were scheduled so it was no problem.

 

There were some very nice crew members and as stated by denisemac it is always upsetting to me when people take out their frustrations on the crew.

We were not exactly thrilled that some of the beers started running out on the last 2 sea days but it wasn't the fault of the bartenders and servers. I did overhear a passenger being very snippy and abrupt with a bartender and I felt badly for him.

 

We didn't rush to do everything on this cruise. I didn't even play bingo once. We saw some of the shows, played mini golf, went to the ice show, and I attended the Quest. I thought that Mike Hunnerup did a great job.

 

The Quest was on night 7 and the 2nd formal was night 8.

[crisndeefromde]

We are back from a wonderful vacation on the Explorer. This was our first cruise with RCCL, and I could not be any happier with our experiences.

We arrived in Bayonne about 10:00 am on Thursday morning (5/13) and found no traffic or congestion at all. Our boarding process was very smooth and we were on board by 11:45 am.

The Windjammer Cafe was not open and neither was the pool bar. At one point the line waiting to get into the Cafe was incredible. We decided to skip the lines and enjoyed ourselves sitting poolside and people watching. I am still amazed at the amount of complaining I overheard people doing on this vacation! But more about that later.

We had an aft jr. suite cabin on the 7th deck and I was very impressed with the size of the cabin itself. I loved the walk in closet, bath tub and TONS of drawers and shelves for storage, (of course I over packed).

The food in the MDR was well, put it this way, some nights I found things I loved and some nights, not so much, but......Someone else was cooking so no complaints from me. I might suggest that you stay away from the steaks offered, but other than that, all of our meals were fine. The staff in the MDR was phenomenal, and I enjoyed going there every evening just to see them. The buffet for breakfast and lunch in the Windjammer Cafe was very good, but there was not too much daily variety.

The ice skating show was FANTASTIC!

I can not say enough about how wonderful Adventure Ocean Club is. Our 5 year old actually cried if we asked him to stay with us and skip camp for the afternoon. The activities they do with the children are educational yet fun for the kids. Being a very paranoid mom, I was extremely comfortable leaving him in camp, and loved having a beeper in case he needed me.

We discovered The 19th Hole bar on the 14th deck, and this became our nightly hangout. We met some really great people there and the bartender Hadder made our nights so much fun.

We met so many nice people on this cruise! But what still has my mouth hanging open are the people that were at times down right nasty. Nasty to the staff, other passengers, and children on board. One woman even gasped and said "There are children on this cruise?" in a tone that sounded as if they allowed wild animals on board.

And I can not stand that people think it is ok to treat the men and women staff members like they are not human. Someone was even complaining on Coco Cay, because "it was WAY too sandy"!

I just giggled......guess some people will never be happy, even when they are vacationing the best way there is.

I have a lot of photos if anyone wants to see them, just ask, and I will be happy to post them.

 

I was on the cruise with you. The reason the Windjammer and bars were not open when you boarded was that the ship was undergoing a board of health inspection.

 

While I enjoyed my umpteenth? trip on the Explorer and have never complained, I did this time and loudly. Glad you enjoyed your trip

[denisemac]

crisndeefromde, I just read your posts about your experiences on board, and I had no idea all of this was going on. We were on deck 7 in an aft cabin, and did not have these issues, thank goodness. I did know about the pipes in The Chamber, but I thought that this was an isolated event. This is one topic I did not hear anyone complaining about, but in your case, I do not blame you at all for complaining!

I was directing my comments to those that complain about silly things, certainly not what you had to deal with.

I would not have been pleased at all either.