"Explorer" 10/23 review -- long

[nascarfans_wny]

It took a week to get around to sitting down and gathering my thoughts, but here is our analysis of a great week on "Explorer" from 10/23 until 10/30 . . . . .

 

Pre-cruise

We flew into MIA on Saturday, the day before our cruise, and arrived at our hotel, the Downtown Hyatt Regency, around 3pm – it was a great hotel (our room had an awesome view of the bay), and we have to commend AAA and/or Royal Caribbean on the choice. We realized that Kathy had not brought along a curling iron or sunglasses, so we took a taxi to the Bayfront Marketplace mall around 5pm to look for what we needed for last-minute provisions. We met up with some of our Cruise Critic friends (Pat & Tom and their neighbors Lee & Linda from NC, and Gerald from Houston TX) in front of Bubba Gump Shrimp Company around 6:30pm, and we had a great pre-cruise dinner with all of them – it was really neat spending some time with people I had talked to for months online. We probably spent at least an hour watching CNN and the local Miami TV stations once we returned to our room, trying to figure out how far away Hurricane “Wilma” was and whether our departure would be affected.

Embarkation

After a 9:15am big breakfast at the hotel, we were prepared to meet our group of 16 in the lobby at 11:15am, and were supposed to take an AAA/RCI-arranged shuttle to the Port of Miami at 11:30am. Due to the “impending arrival” of Hurricane “Wilma” (Miami was at that point included in Eastern edge of the “warning” zone), we found out at 10:40am that RCI had already started boarding the ship, with the intent of leaving port three hours early at 2pm, and we were supposed to get a taxi to the Port instead (and would be reimbursed on board). We arrived at the Port around 11am and passed our checked baggage off to a very nice RCI Porter, and then whisked our way into the terminal right behind some of the others in our group. Getting a pre-cruise photo taken and clearing the security screening were amazingly fast, and once we made it to a check-in counter with our pre-printed SetSail Pass, it only took about 10 minutes or less to get our SeaPass cards and start towards the gangway. I’m sure it may be that boarding had been in progress for an hour already, but this was probably our fastest boarding experience. Especially considering the mad scramble to get passengers boarded early, RCI really had their act together, and embarkation was a smooth and very pleasant process. We heard at 12:30pm that if we left at 2pm about 1400 passengers would miss the ship – we heard later that by being able to push back to 4pm only about 300 passengers were left behind.

Sunday afternoon / Departure

We found our cabin and checked out the balcony (we loved it), and soon after that met our Cabin Steward Dwight, who let us know that with the quick turnaround, he had not yet finished getting our cabin ready. We didn’t feel like we needed to get lunch in the Windjammer this time, having had a big breakfast, but knew we needed to get out of Dwight’s way, so we did tour the ship for a bit. One thing that our Cruise Critic group decided before the cruise was to wear Mardi Gras beads for SailAway, so we could readily recognize other CCers, and I think it turned out to be a good choice. Kathy and I got a number of questions from other passengers about the beads, and at one point we were joined in an elevator by a huge group of people wearing beads – it was SO much fun saying “Well, you couldn’t POSSIBLY be Cruise Critic people, could you ?” and finding out that we had just met our CC friend “LineDancer” and her group from FL. We will definitely suggest that CCers should agree on some sort of visual “signal” to wear for SailAway (others have worn a yellow ribbon) – it is tons of fun to be recognized by people you don’t even know as you make your first explorations of the ship. We did not make it to the Schooner Bar for our originally-scheduled meet with other CCers before the lifeboat muster drill (since it was supposed to happen at 3pm) because we didn’t know for sure when the drill would be – we finally had muster at 3:15pm (about an hour plus early), and we sailed about an hour early around 4pm. We made our way up to the Sky Bar (since we had originally planned to meet Ccers there after muster) for a post-muster SailAway “boat drink” and ran into our CC friend Gerald, and we also saw Pat & Tom from NC and were able to introduce them to Kathy’s mom as we left the Port. As we cleared the point at South Beach, we headed back down to our room to enjoy our balcony and the view of Miami receding in the distance, along with our “strawmosas” (a mixture of GooseWatch strawberry wine and golden spumante).

Staff

I’ve already mentioned our Cabin Steward, who continued to take care of us all week, and made some pretty decent towel animals for us (the monkey hanging from a clothes hanger was the best) – I still think the folks at Carnival are the experts with towel animals, though. On Sunday evening at 6pm we met our Waiter (Horace from Jamaica) and our Assistant Waiter (Cherryl from the Phillipines). Cherryl was kind of quiet, but very sweet, and she was very attentive all week – it was great that she figured out our preferences for rolls and coffee right away, and we didn’t have to ask her for much. Horace was an absolute scream, and was probably our best Waiter ever in 5 cruises. Every evening he would wait patiently as Kathy’s sister prattled on, would clear his throat and grin, and would offer his suggestions on what we should order for our dinner. Kathy and I ran into him in St. Thomas on our way to the Skyride to Paradise Point, and we each got an absolutely HUGE hug from Horace – it was like running into one of your oldest bestest friends. We had great fun playing and teasing with Horace through the week, and at our final dinner, we made sure to get pictures and hugs with him – I wish every waiter was so friendly and comfortable with the passengers he/she serves. I don’t remember our Bar Waiter’s name, but he was attentive all week and deserved a nice tip. We received a greeting each dinner from the Head Waiter, but other than that, he really did nothing that benefited us, and we left him off of our tips list at the end of the cruise.

The Ship

Our first RCI experience was “Sovereign of the Seas”, which we thought was a pretty cool ship (although I realize now that she was bit cramped), and since then, we’ve been on 3 various-sized Carnival ships. I spent months looking at the deck plans of “Explorer”, and thought that I’d be totally familiar with the ship before we boarded. I have to admit that I was a bit overwhelmed by “Explorer” (in a good way) for a day or so, and we really enjoyed exploring for the entire week – by Saturday we knew where everything was, and now we’re ready for another “Explorer” cruise. One thing I remember from an earlier cruise that I missed this time was the little “ship maps” that were handed out when we boarded our first Carnival ship – we forgot to bring along our RCI brochure, so we didn’t have the deck plans we’d studied for months, and a little “cheat card” would have been helpful. I can’t believe that we never made it up to the bow on Deck 4 to the Helipad and we never actually looked into Johnny Rockets, but we did get a good look at much of the ship. Despite the fact that we never found EVERY shortcut and cubbyhole, we really felt comfortable with this ship very early in our cruise, and it was a pleasure finding our way around all week. I honestly can’t remember anything I didn’t like about “Explorer” – after the recent September drydock everything looked nice to us (maybe we’re not as picky as some people), and I just thought that she was a wonderful vessel. “Explorer” is a grand old lady, and I would readily book a cruise on a Voyager-class ship again.

Our Cabin

I had been under the impression that Carnival cabins are generally larger than RCI cabins, but now I wonder. We were VERY pleased with our spacious D2 balcony cabin, which was only a few steps away from the forward elevators and stairs on Deck 7 on the starboard side, and we absolutely loved the balcony – we especially liked the sliding balcony door that you could lock open if you wanted to. I remember utilizing the extra pull-down bunk on “Paradise” to store our suitcases and other junk, but on “Explorer” we were easily able to put all of our stuff away in the ample closet and drawer spaces and store our luggage under the bed. We never felt at all cramped in our cabin, and we were surprised that our bathroom and shower must have been easily twice the size of our “Sovereign” facilities. It was nice to be able to sit on the little couch to watch TV, rather than being forced to lay on the bed to relax. I’m not 100% convinced that we NEED a balcony, but we were really happy with cabin 7238 -- Kathy insisted for this cruise that we have a balcony, and after having such a great cabin this time, it’s obvious that she will push for a balcony again on future cruises.

Meet & Mingle Party

An absolute MUST for any CCer ! We were very happy to see well over 50 people show up for our M & M party in Portofino on Monday morning at 10:30am. A few of us decided to bring extra “gifts” from our hometowns to be raffled off at the gathering (Kathy & I brought a bottle of Hazlitt “Red Cat” wine and someone brought “Moonshine Jelly”). The RCI personnel who assisted us with the M & M were pleasantly shocked to see so many of us there – they said that they often have 20-30 people signed up, and only see a half dozen show up. It was great getting a chance to put faces with “screennames”, and we loved spending the rest of the week waving and saying “Hi” to people as we moved through the ship.

Shipboard Activities

For the most part, we blew off the casino this trip – although at one point I was up $67.00 on a nickel slot machine. We managed to catch the end of the “Welcome Aboard” show in the Palace Theatre/Lounge, and did go to the midnight comedy show there the next night. Other than that, we skipped the Broadway/Vegas shows this time around, and instead, made sure we caught the Karaoke and Rock-A-Rokie shows in the Maharaja Lounge (one of our CC friends, Erica, was easily the best in the Karaoke show). We also had fun sitting right at the piano for “Name That Tune” in the Schooner Bar, although Kathy’s sister hated it. Our Cruise Director was Carly Boileau from England, who was OK – we didn’t dislike her, but I didn’t feel like she measured up to some of our other CDs. I have heard from others who absolutely loved Carly, so I can’t say that she was a real negative on our cruise, and I have to admit that she did a great job of EmCee-ing the “Love and Marriage” show, which was the funniest we’ve ever seen. We attended the Ice Show on Wednesday evening after dinner, and it was awesome – it was amazing what they were able to accomplish on such a small ice rink and it was a very exciting show. We finally made it to the pool and whirlpool on Wednesday, and for the second half of the week, that was our favorite thing to do. The one thing we failed to do was to go to Dizzy’s Jazz Lounge for martinis – just never got around to it, and realize that we really should have.

Food

We remembered after our first cruise on “Sovereign of the Seas” that RCI’s food was uniformly good, and compared it favorably to Carnival’s food (which isn’t horrible by any stretch of the imagination) during our next three cruises. This was the first cruise where I didn’t go nuts and order three entrees at dinner every night, although it was tempting EVERY night. The appetizers were so varied and good on “Explorer” that my plan this time around was usually to have an appetizer or two, or an appetizer and a soup, followed by a Caesar salad, only one entrée (hard to believe), and a light dessert. On Lobster Night I had to have a lobster tail AND scallop pasta, but I was generally a good boy this time around – I came home weighing what I did when I left. I cannot remember eating ANYTHING in the dining room that I did not like, and (here’s a surprise) the escargot appetizer was probably the best thing I ate all week J . We never managed to get up early enough this cruise to eat breakfast in the dining room, so I never got to enjoy Eggs Benedict all week, but we were very happy with the fare in the Windjammer and we made sure to have a made-to-order omelet each breakfast we had there. Again, maybe we’re just not that picky, but not eating at 5-star restaurants every other day, I think we can appreciate just-plain-good food. We certainly appreciated and enjoyed the excellent food in the dining room, but we were entirely happy with the cafeteria/buffet fare in the Windjammer that we had for lunch (or breakfast) most days. We did enjoy eating lunch in the dining room a couple of times, especially for the chance to meet new people and for the service, but the Windjammer proved to be a great alternative. We never managed to eat at Johnny Rockets or the Café Promenade or the Crown & Kettle, and I know we’ll need to take advantage of those great venues next time around. We made it to the Pool Deck Buffet, and enjoyed the Jamaican BBQ ribs – mostly the fun up there was all of the dancing, and we almost didn’t get around to eating anything. Kathy was not feeling well for the Grand Midnight Buffet, but I went down and took a bunch of pictures. I brought shrimp and sushi for me back to the room, along with chocolate strawberries for Kathy.

Extras

We made reservations to eat at Portofino at 9pm following our day (afternoon) in San Juan, and it was one of the best things we did on this cruise. In the end, it cost us $40 to eat there, plus about $35.00 for a bottle of Pinot Grigio, and a $20 tip for our server – it was MORE than worth it. The Shrimp Risotto and Beef Carpaccio appetizers and the pastas were awesome, along with the “deconstructed” Flourless Chocolate Cake – actually, EVERYTHING was perfect. Portofino is definitely a 5-star restaurant, with incredible service, and is more than worth the extra cost. On another note, I think we got the “shooter of the day” at dinner 4 nights during our cruise – it was nice either downing the shooter and drinking some coffee OR putting the shooter in your coffee for some added flavor, and we brought home 8 shooter glasses. It was fun, and we got 8 fancy shot glasses to bring home.

Ports

San Juan – we took the Old Town San Juan and Bacardi Distillery tour again, and it had changed since our trip on “Paradise”. We visited the “other” fort in Old Town (not El Morro), and then the distillery tour was mostly a multi-media deal – it was good, but I don’t know if we’ll take the tour again. After Bacardi, they drove us back through Old Town for a bit, and finally dropped us off a couple of blocks from the ship. We blew off shopping in San Juan this time around – didn’t feel like spending a lot of money on T-shirts, and such. We were very laid back all week compared to the mad dash of our honeymoon in 2001.

St. Maarten – we were intending to take a taxi to Orient Beach and go snorkeling on our own during the morning. We got up later than we expected to, and decided to have a lazy day instead. We ate lunch in the Windjammer, and then went into Phillipsburg for a short tour and shopping. The water taxi was only a couple hundred yards from the ship, and we bought a one-way ticket. We wandered through Phillipsburg for a while, and then walked back to the ship – not all that far.

St. Thomas – we decided at 9pm Wednesday evening to sign up for the Captain Nautica Powerboat Snorkel excursion in St. Thomas, and it was a great choice. We boarded a 30-foot rigid hull inflatable boat, and the captain beat the crap out of us on a 15-minute ride to Buck Island – it was a hoot ! We got to snorkel there for 45 minutes, seeing stingrays and turtles and lots of fish, and when we got back on the boat, they had Cokes and water standing by to help us “clean our palate” after snorkeling (translation: get the seawater and snot out of your nose). We made another rear-end-pounding sprint across the waters to an island south of the gap between St. Thomas and St. John, and got another 45 minute (or more) session of snorkeling on a great reef there. After that, we flew back to Charlotte Amalie, practically surfing on the big waves, and it was easily the best surfing excursion we have ever taken. After dropping our snorkeling gear at the ship, we made our way over to the Skyride to Paradise Point, and caught up with Kathy’s mom and sister (and the rest of the gang) up there for lunch. We once again blew off downtown Charlotte Amalie for shopping, and made a couple of quick stops in the Havensight Mall near the ship. I think St. Thomas is our favorite port (besides Key West), and we enjoyed stopping there again.

Nassau – we got up late (again), and decided on a late lunch in the Windjammer. We never left the ship, and enjoyed an “at sea day” in port, spending some time during the afternoon at the pool.

Disembarkation

Knowing that we had a 6pm flight out of Miami, we didn’t mind getting Beige luggage tags, but we did end up waiting quite a while to get off of the ship. We’re patient, and expected to have to go through this experience – it wasn’t unpleasant, just took a while. We finally made it to Customs after 10:30am, which was a pretty late departure, but we knew that we had the whole day to waste, so we didn’t mind too much. We were going to take a taxi to the airport, but RCI offered a $20 bus shuttle at the last second (a savings of a couple of dollars over what it would have cost to get the coupon at the Purser’s Desk), so we decided not to wait for a taxi. We had to wait a while for the bus to get loaded, but we’ve been through worse – I still think a taxi is a better choice.

Summary

I’d love to be critical and come up with a bunch of “caveats” or negative observations, but I can’t remember being unhappy during our week on “Explorer”. Sure, there were lines, and there were people who were just plain jerks – but almost every interaction we had with RCI staff was positive, and I really feel like we had an awesome vacation. Could it be better ? Sure. There is always room for improvement, but I’ll have to spend some time looking hard to find something bad to say about our wonderful week on “Explorer of the Seas”. We were very pleased with out latest RCI experience, and we will plan to cruise with RCI again in the future. Kathy says that there is no doubt that RCI had much better food (everywhere), and that the cabins are much nicer than we’ve ever had before.