Explorer of the Seas review 29th June 15, 13 nights Western Med cruise.

[TheGinBoy]

Got to ask, did you see Lobster as a supplement on the MDR menu at any point - or on the specialty ones? It's kind of a tradition of mine and not seen in mentioned on any recent European cruises.

[cymru cruiser]

Got to ask, did you see Lobster as a supplement on the MDR menu at any point - or on the specialty ones? It's kind of a tradition of mine and not seen in mentioned on any recent European cruises.

 

Yes as a supplement in mdr but I cant remember how much.

[TheGinBoy]

That's fine by me - it's my 30th birthday on the coming up cruise and fancy some lobster!

[saxopete]

Think it was 39 dollars can't be sure.

 

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[minsterman]

He’s too professional but it was very interesting

 

I don't care what you say, slagging off the crew and staff members in front of passengers IS unprofessional.

 

Great review by the way!

Edited July 22, 2015 by minsterman

[aussielozzie18]

Thanks for your review. Great reading and fab photos. Laughed at the stroppy comment. We had sulky on our cruise. Lol. The joys of cruising with teen girls.:)

[cymru cruiser]

I don't care what you say, slagging off the crew and staff members in front of passengers IS unprofessional.

 

Great review by the way!

 

That's the great thing about having an opinion they can be different from the next persons. It's a shame you refer to my opinion as " not caring what I say" for those who have no idea what you are referring to I'll fill them in that you have a dislike of Mike Cooke who is head of security. I know this because I read your post on him, but readers of my review who haven't read yours won't know what you are on about.

 

Thank you for enjoy my review once you vented your opinion of him lol.

[cymru cruiser]

Thanks for your review. Great reading and fab photos. Laughed at the stroppy comment. We had sulky on our cruise. Lol. The joys of cruising with teen girls.:)

 

Thank you for your comments I'm glad there are other parents who share my pain lol. The joke is she is no longer a teenager! Mmmmm.

[Ecuador]

cymru cruiser

 

Great review. Enjoyed meeting you and the family.

[Ecuador]

Lobster was $35 in the MDR.

[cymru cruiser]

cymru cruiser

 

Great review. Enjoyed meeting you and the family.

 

Hi Ecuador thanks for commenting on my review. It was lovely to meet you and your family also. Thanks for the Pullman bed photo op' lol.

Have you booked for next year?

[powelweb]

Loved your review- thanks for sharing...

[minsterman]

That's the great thing about having an opinion they can be different from the next persons. It's a shame you refer to my opinion as " not caring what I say" for those who have no idea what you are referring to I'll fill them in that you have a dislike of Mike Cooke who is head of security. I know this because I read your post on him, but readers of my review who haven't read yours won't know what you are on about.

 

Thank you for enjoy my review once you vented your opinion of him lol.

 

Good point - I'd forgotten that was a different thread!

 

For anyone who hasn't read the other thread and is getting up to speed, we came across Mike Cooke for the first time ever on this particular cruise, where he basically shouted at us for being late (even though we were actually 6 minutes early - his timings) for the last tender and then he proceeded to criticise other crew members on the journey back to the ship (not to us specifically to us but in front of us to other crew) which, in our opinion, was unprofessional.

 

Having said that, we've never met the chap before and this was our first experience of him. Presumably he must be ok at what he does to have become Head of Security. We saw him around the ship happily chatting to other people, so maybe he was just having one of those days but as the first time we'd ever come across him was on the tender, our opinion of him was obviously based on our experiences of dealing with him. I noted on the other thread that someone else had also made an official complaint about his attitude on a previous cruise.

 

As you say, it's good to have differing opinions and I'm sure there are people we have thought were great, that other people have had bad experiences with.

 

Generally we aren't the complaining type and usually put up with quite a lot! And this wasn't really a complaint, more an observation.

 

Back to your review - I haven't fully digested it all yet but have enjoyed reading it - I'm going to read again to take it all in.

 

We are going to do a brief review on what we did in each port to give people some other ideas but you've saved us a lot of work as yours is so detailed - thanks again :D

Edited July 23, 2015 by minsterman

[cymru cruiser]

Loved your review- thanks for sharing...

 

thank you for reading x

[quinnthetic]

Hi Cymru Cruiser

Really enjoying the review so far.

We are on the Explorer on July 26th and wondered if you could answer a couple of questions.

Most importantly, can you get draught beer on the Explorer or is it just bottles?

Also, a number of recent reviews have mentioned the lack of available sunbeds and the lack of seating in the bar areas. Is it really as bad as they are saying? Just looking for a bit of reassurance.

Many Thanks

Chris

 

Hi, i was also on this cruise. The draught beer is Heineken, they do Boddingtons, Fosters etc in cans and any amounts of bottled beers you like! ENJOY!!!

[quinnthetic]

Thank you for a fantastic review. We sail on Sunday and your info on Monaco has been especially helpful as we are planning to go by train too.

 

Michelle x

 

Hi, we went to Monaco by train and it was a nightmare on the way there! Waited for about 50 mins - some of the first to arrive - and when train arrived the pushing began! I was last on and the doors were trying to close on me, reminded me of a busy tube train! Go early is my advice, we waited until lunchtime thinking we would beat the rush...

[mickrh999]

Hi, i was also on this cruise. The draught beer is Heineken, they do Boddingtons, Fosters etc in cans and any amounts of bottled beers you like! ENJOY!!!

 

Hi,

 

Did you notice if they had any Cider?

 

Thanks.

Edited July 23, 2015 by mickrh999

[Ecuador]

Hi cymru cruiser

 

Glad to help with the photo.

No, we have not booked yet for next year.We're waiting to the offer changes after the 3rd Aug. Hope Royal introduce the drinks package and tips offer as they did last year.

[cymru cruiser]

Hi, we went to Monaco by train and it was a nightmare on the way there! Waited for about 50 mins - some of the first to arrive - and when train arrived the pushing began! I was last on and the doors were trying to close on me, reminded me of a busy tube train! Go early is my advice, we waited until lunchtime thinking we would beat the rush...

 

Wow what a difference a few hours makes. I'm glad we set off early after reading that.

[cymru cruiser]

Hi cymru cruiser

 

Glad to help with the photo.

No, we have not booked yet for next year.We're waiting to the offer changes after the 3rd Aug. Hope Royal introduce the drinks package and tips offer as they did last year.

 

Yep but check the prices don't go up accordingly. Our harmony cruise for next year was £3700 in the U.K on 29/6 when I checked availability before we left Southampton including drinks and grats.

Once on board the exact same cruise was £2800 excluding drinks and grats. We are not going to spend £900 in one week on drink and grats. So we booked on board before we even sailed from Southampton!

U.K deposit for a family of 4 is £600 on board deposit was £65. Crazy good deal.

[quinnthetic]

Hi,

 

Did you notice if they had any Cider?

 

Thanks.

 

yep, plenty of cider! think they had Bulmers and Strongbow though only in bottles! No Koppaberg either unfortunately.

[quinnthetic]

Wow what a difference a few hours makes. I'm glad we set off early after reading that.

 

It was pandemonium Cymru, the heat on the platform was unbearable and we were probably unlucky as to where the train stopped in terms of the doors. I had rubber marks on my hands and arms where it was shutting on me but my family were already on! Monaco next time i will give a miss. You were right, Villefranche was stunning and on our return we sat at the cafe for some Panache (shandy) and were truly ripped off in true Riviera style lol...brilliant tho and couldv'e sat there all day...

[cymru cruiser]

It was pandemonium Cymru, the heat on the platform was unbearable and we were probably unlucky as to where the train stopped in terms of the doors. I had rubber marks on my hands and arms where it was shutting on me but my family were already on! Monaco next time i will give a miss. You were right, Villefranche was stunning and on our return we sat at the cafe for some Panache (shandy) and were truly ripped off in true Riviera style lol...brilliant tho and couldv'e sat there all day...

 

The heat was unbearable. I've never complained about heat before but it was intense. We really welcomed our time spent underground Sat in Monaco train station on the way back.

I'd love to go back one day as we didn't fully appreciate it from about 12pm onwards because of the heat. We took my daughter to the doctors this week and explained about her breathing, he said the heat can cause that so has given her a ventalin pump for future scenarios. We'd have loved to have sat in a cafe on the sea front in villefranche that was the plan but we'll just have to do it another time.

[moshek]

Hi, we went to Monaco by train and it was a nightmare on the way there! Waited for about 50 mins - some of the first to arrive - and when train arrived the pushing began! I was last on and the doors were trying to close on me, reminded me of a busy tube train! Go early is my advice, we waited until lunchtime thinking we would beat the rush...

 

Thanks for advice, yes we are hoping to be off the ship as early as possible, luckily we are in a suite so get priority tender tickets (might be the best perk of the cruise).

I will prepare teens that train may be very busy, they are used to very busy tube trains so should be ok. I have already told them that even if lifts are busy when we get to station it is worth waiting rather than climbing stairs!

[minsterman]

We were on Tender number 5 (I think) and were on it at 9.45am and went straight to the station in Villefranche.

 

We ended up on the 10.04 (I think) to Monaco and there were about 5 people on the platform waiting! There was another train about 10 minutes earlier so maybe that was a bit busier, but I'd definitely say the earlier the better.

 

We were in Monaco about 10.15ish and had a good 4.5 hours there before getting the train to Nice, where we spent a further 2 hours, before getting the train back to Villefranche, where we had about an hour - just enough time for a wander round and to sit and have a drink overlooking the bay. Mmm lovely!