REVIEW: Explorer/5Nt. Bermuda (AKA "Family Bonding Cruise" !)

[trvlmil]

Great review! I have enjoyed reading from the start! We've been on the Explorer many times and going again this week and I love reading what others have experienced, enjoyed, hated, loved about their cruise!

Thanks so much for sharing! And you're right about the Dawn looking like a bus! LOL! Went on the Dawn once ....and normally when we like a ship we return. Nuff said? I will give Kudos to NCL Breakaway though - might not be attractive on the outside but that ship is beautifully appointed on the inside. BUT we still love the Explorer MORE! :D

Edited June 15, 2014 by trvlmil

[marci22]

Your description of the last day and disembarking is very accurate (unfortunately). They used to limit self-disembarkers; now I think 90% of people try it. Leads to chaos.

 

Do you remember what time you actually walked off the ship?

[EpcotBill]

Hey Bill .. sorry about that .. it should be fixed now. I am such a bonehead when it comes to Photobucket .. I deleted them all not realizing that this CC review still needed them in that library on Photobucket .. :rolleyes:

I see them now, thanks.:)

[Keith1010]

i enjoyed your post.

 

Keith

[Cruise Guy 17]

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to all fathers and grandfathers on Cruise Critic.

[F27TW]

Great review! I have enjoyed reading from the start! We've been on the Explorer many times and going again this week and I love reading what others have experienced, enjoyed, hated, loved about their cruise!

Thanks so much for sharing! And you're right about the Dawn looking like a bus! LOL! Went on the Dawn once ....and normally when we like a ship we return. Nuff said? I will give Kudos to NCL Breakaway though - might not be attractive on the outside but that ship is beautifully appointed on the inside. BUT we still love the Explorer MORE! :D

 

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it .. it's fun to re-live your trip this way .. once you get the hang of the Photobucket situation!

 

I have a friend who just went on Breakaway and said it was a great ship and to me, even though they slapped that garish paintjob on it, its not a bad looking ship on the outside. The Epic, on the other hand, yeeesh!! LOL

 

It makes me shound shallow, I know .. but I like knowing I'm on the prettiest ship in port! LOL

[F27TW]

Your description of the last day and disembarking is very accurate (unfortunately). They used to limit self-disembarkers; now I think 90% of people try it. Leads to chaos.

 

Do you remember what time you actually walked off the ship?

 

Marci .... yes it was a mob scene down there .. but a big part of it was the bussing situation. If we could all walk off the ship into the terminal, it wouldn't be so backed up.'

 

We we got to DaGama Dining Room on Deck 4 at 8:30 and were off at 9:45. That's only because we positioned ourselves at the front of the dining room. Those crammed in the back I;m sure were off a lot later than us.

 

 

The rest of our group had a different meeting place (someplace on Deck 3) and they were off the ship by 8:40 .. they were lucky .. though they still had to wait for us all to get off!

[Cruise Guy 17]

Carry-ons and suitcases are OUT need to finish laundry by Wednesday then I hope to sleep well Wednesday night. I think we should leave here by 9am the earliest to avoid traffic on 95? Last year and previous years left 10am, traffic insane.

[F27TW]

Carry-ons and suitcases are OUT need to finish laundry by Wednesday then I hope to sleep well Wednesday night. I think we should leave here by 9am the earliest to avoid traffic on 95? Last year and previous years left 10am, traffic insane.

 

Have a great cruise, CG17!!

[SnappyNappi]

Tony,

Great review and great pics! Sounds like you had a great time. We were on the 7-night Bermuda last October on Explorer and are booked on the 5-night that you just did this coming October. We are really looking forward to being on the Explorer for the last time from Bayonne in just a couple months (although also looking forward to Quantum and Liberty in 2015). Explorer is a great ship... in need of a few repairs and upgrades, but aren't we all as we get older? LOL! We felt the same way about Leigh and Erky... a bit quirky and almost bordering on awkward the first day or two but they definitely grow on you by the end of the cruise. ;)

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your story and review with us. Definitely enjoyable! :)

[Pomperaugrr]

I've been following along, but didn't have a chance to post. This was a fun review to read and well balanced. I enjoyed the humor as well!

 

We leave in 2 days and a wake up ourselves!

 

Eric

[F27TW]

Tony,

Great review and great pics! Sounds like you had a great time. We were on the 7-night Bermuda last October on Explorer and are booked on the 5-night that you just did this coming October. We are really looking forward to being on the Explorer for the last time from Bayonne in just a couple months (although also looking forward to Quantum and Liberty in 2015). Explorer is a great ship... in need of a few repairs and upgrades, but aren't we all as we get older? LOL! We felt the same way about Leigh and Erky... a bit quirky and almost bordering on awkward the first day or two but they definitely grow on you by the end of the cruise. ;)

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your story and review with us. Definitely enjoyable! :)

 

Thanks for such nice words and I'm glad u enjoyed the review! Yes we had a fantastic time ... i'd do it again in a second !!

 

Not sure if you;ve been on Liberty yet, but we did the Ft Lauderdale Western Carib back in 2012 .. and what a magnificent ship she is !

 

Do enjoy your October cruise on Explorer .. she;s gonna be pretty far away from us after that !

[F27TW]

I've been following along, but didn't have a chance to post. This was a fun review to read and well balanced. I enjoyed the humor as well!

 

We leave in 2 days and a wake up ourselves!

 

Eric

 

 

I am BEYOND jealous of you right now !! Have a great cruise !!

[gaechann]

Thank you for writing this review! I know it's a bit of a pain having done one myself for a cruise on the Radiance!

 

We are looking forward to having Explorer down here in Australia for our summer seasons from 2015-2016. We're very lucky to have Voyager, Radiance & shortly Legend here at the same time! Sad to be losing Rhapsody though!

 

I'm a bit "loyal to Royal" at the moment & will be until I get to Diamond status but then I think I'll be hearing Celebrity and/or Princess calling me to try their product!

 

Gae

[jerseygirlinsi]

Just caught up. So sorry to see its over. The beach looks awesome! When we went in 2010, the weather was absolutely miserable. Rained when we were 10 minutes off the ship, and the better part of that whole day! We did ride past the beach while on the bus, but didn't step off the bus. So i'm so hyped to see the pink sand in person.

The last morning sounds like a complete mess. And it is so true about the new face all of the staff show on that last early morning. I've experienced that same behavior on Royal and Carnival, but quite the opposite on Disney.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

[PFV]

Great review. My partner and I are doing a 9 day in February on this ship, out of Port Canaveral and are really looking forward to it! Thanks for sharing.

 

Paul

[F27TW]

Just caught up. So sorry to see its over. The beach looks awesome! When we went in 2010, the weather was absolutely miserable. Rained when we were 10 minutes off the ship, and the better part of that whole day! We did ride past the beach while on the bus, but didn't step off the bus. So i'm so hyped to see the pink sand in person.

The last morning sounds like a complete mess. And it is so true about the new face all of the staff show on that last early morning. I've experienced that same behavior on Royal and Carnival, but quite the opposite on Disney.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

Hey Jerseygirl! Im glad u got all caught up on my review!

 

Yea we were SO lucky the weather cleared up nicely for us that day.. and wait till u see it -- that damn sand IS a real pretty pink! I wished I had scooped up a little to bring home !!

 

To be honest ... the last morning wasn't that much of a nightmare .. we really did go in on it expecting it to me a bad scene .. so maybe that tempered the reality a bit ... getting off any ship I have ever been on has been kinda like that !!

 

Thanks for your kind words .. im glad u liked my review !!

[F27TW]

Great review. My partner and I are doing a 9 day in February on this ship, out of Port Canaveral and are really looking forward to it! Thanks for sharing.

 

Paul

 

 

WOW Paul .. 9 days on Explorer outta Cape Canaveral .. love to hear about it when u and ur partner get back!

 

I notice u're from CT too .. drop me an email and we can cruise chat!

 

F27tw@aol.com

[BriAlDam]

WOW Paul .. 9 days on Explorer outta Cape Canaveral .. love to hear about it when u and ur partner get back!

 

I notice u're from CT too .. drop me an email and we can cruise chat!

 

F27tw@aol.com

 

Danny and I board this Thursday on Explorer out of NJ for 9 nights Bermuda and Eastern Caribbean. So excited. Hope everyone has a fun cruise planned this year (and 2015).

- Brian

[F27TW]

Danny and I board this Thursday on Explorer out of NJ for 9 nights Bermuda and Eastern Caribbean. So excited. Hope everyone has a fun cruise planned this year (and 2015).

- Brian

 

 

You will love it ! I so wish we did the longer 9 day like u guys are doing!

 

BTW they have a Friends Of Dorothy (hate that name) at 5pm in the Champagne Bar some nights .. its posted on the bulletin board near guest Services.

 

The 2 times we went we were the only ones there LOL!

[F27TW]

Thank you for writing this review! I know it's a bit of a pain having done one myself for a cruise on the Radiance!

 

We are looking forward to having Explorer down here in Australia for our summer seasons from 2015-2016. We're very lucky to have Voyager, Radiance & shortly Legend here at the same time! Sad to be losing Rhapsody though!

 

I'm a bit "loyal to Royal" at the moment & will be until I get to Diamond status but then I think I'll be hearing Celebrity and/or Princess calling me to try their product!

 

Gae

 

Hi Gaechann!

 

Its exciting to see the Australian cruise market booming as it is now .. and nice for u that u are getting such a good selection of ships!

 

FYI a friend just did Legend last month (Copenhagen-Russia-Scandinavia) and loved the ship -- said it was in great shape

[renjrusa]

Thanks so much for sharing. Sounds like you have the real version of the "Modern Family" enjoyed every bit of your review and enjoyed the pics...

[NemoCrownie]

Just read your full review tonight. I LOVED it!!! You are a gifted writer - great sense of humor and just fun to read. Mind you, I will never depart from the East Coast or sail on this ship, but I was engrossed. Come sail out of San Juan with us it would be a pleasure to meet you both- and we are a straight married couple! Again, thanks so much for taking the time to do this awesome review!

 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tablet using Tapatalk

Edited September 7, 2014 by NemoCrownie

[F27TW]

Just read your full review tonight. I LOVED it!!! You are a gifted writer - great sense of humor and just fun to read. Mind you, I will never depart from the East Coast or sail on this ship, but I was engrossed. Come sail out of San Juan with us it would be a pleasure to meet you both- and we are a straight married couple! Again, thanks so much for taking the time to do this awesome review!

 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tablet using Tapatalk

 

 

Wow .. thank you so much for the kind words (RENJRUSA too!) ... always so nice when others enjoy your reviews and re-living your cruise with you !

 

They are a little labor intensive to put together, but worth it when I get comments like you both just left me !

 

And Nemo ... we may take ya up on that offer some time !

[alligeek]

Great review! I love how you really made this personal. Like you, I love the reviews that go beyond talking about how good/bad the food was and whether or not the beverage package was worth it. Not that I don't like those details too, but yours was one of the more interesting ones I've read. :) Kudos to you and your family for making what could have been an awkward trip seem like a lot of fun! You and Guy seem like a really fun couple.

 

I was thinking that due to where the ships dock, we would come straight at Bermuda, make that hairpin turn to starboard and dock at the Naval yard. So imagine my surprise when I saw us sailing and sailing and sailing for a long time with the island to port. Huh ? Did we circle the whole island early in the morning? I’m still confused at the route we took coming in .. maybe someone can enlighten me on this! [/font]

 

I wondered the same thing when we sailed in on the Grandeur last year. There are reefs surrounding the island, and I think the channel is set up to avoid the reefs. There's been talk about widening the channel for some time, but as you can imagine, there's debate about the damage to the environment vs. the extra revenue that would result.

 

Thanks again for your review! We're on the Explorer in a few weeks and if your "Washy Washy" person is still on board, I guarantee I'll crack up. :D