Live from Explorer of the Seas 12/13/19-12/22/19

[sisocialworker]

Tonight’s dinner was at Izumi. At first the server said the unlimited dining package was up to $30.00. My email says $35.00. Then he checked with the manager and I was correct.  Why would a server say this?  A poor staffing issue, one sushi chef for the whole restaurant, 25 tables.... well that means I waited 20 minutes for my appetizer... unacceptable.... my sashimi was very good.... DS had DX sushi plate.... the rice was like mush, way over cooked for sushi rice.... tomorrow is labadee, a beach day with my favorite cabana #6 OW, dinner at Giovanni 

[sisocialworker]

Labadee is great...barefoot beach was half empty... guess suites and pins stayed on the ship. OW cabana 6 is great. The lunch included baby lamb chops and lobster tails

[sisocialworker]

[akiko03]

Ooh, looking forward to more reports as we will also be on this ship for the NYE 

 

I'm excited to visit the ABC islands as we haven't been to the Southern Caribbean yet.

[JalenR]

2 hours ago, sisocialworker said:

Labadee is great...barefoot beach was half empty... guess suites and pins stayed on the ship. OW cabana 6 is great. The lunch included baby lamb chops and lobster tails

 

Did you specifically request Cabana #6 when you received the email from the concierge? I want to try and get #5 and #6 for my upcoming April cruise.

 

Thanks!

[sisocialworker]

Yes I did specifically request it

[sisocialworker]

Tonight was dinner at Giovanni, we wanted calamari which only on the lunch menu, our server went and spoke to the chef and got it for us.... love that extra customer service, a nice tip was earned.... all the food was great too.... clearly the best restaurant on this ship service and food, everyone smiles and greats you. Hanging out in schooner bar, guitarist playing rock songs, deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, queen... can’t beat that entertainment on a small ship.... tomorrow is a sea day.... I’m going to try and have breakfast, so far I’ve only had coffee..... also room crawl tomorrow 11am.... saw this on the wall

[sisocialworker]

[sisocialworker]

Relaxing sea day. Had about 10 people for room crawl, great time, Izumi lunch, again the server says unlimited dining package is $30pp.... I had to train them.... thinking of speaking to loyalty ambassador?  After went to ice show... ok, not as good as show on harmony.... the story line was the four seasons..... really no story at all.... dinner at Giovanni, service is great, food good.... went to comedy show, very funny.... spent some time in schooner bar, a few drinks and some music.... good time.... tomorrow is Bonaire, breakfast in Giovanni, as suite guests, off the ship by 9ish.... doing rci excursion, best of north and south, 3 hours, than just probably walk around town.... dinner at Giovanni again, headline show is mark Preston, former member of letterman music group

[LadyLion_AP]

Sounds like a fun day! Thanks again for sharing! 

[sharonlacey]

Have a blast!

[sisocialworker]

Today we were in Bonaire.... the waves were very rough from labadee, lots of sick people.... but the weather is perfect 

bagel and lox for breakfast and off the ship by 9am.... rci excursion both and south.... about 35 of us on a small bus, with seats built for small thin people.... the bus should also have a clear dome so everyone can really see sights.... the driver did a great narration job... went to a museum of sorts and had some complementary- meaning prepaid-cactus liquor.... very tasty, also charging 50 cents to use the bathroom? , WTH is with that RCI

next stop slave huts, next salt piles, a good overall tour

went to test the pizza when we got back... no serrentos, so pizza choices very limited, I wanted a mushroom and pepperoni pie, not possible... either plain pepperoni or mixed vegetables ... RCI, really, instead went to johnnie rockets .... regular fast food

dinner was at Giovanni, ordered the branzino, after 15 minutes they come out and say they are out of it and only have halibut.... servers should know this and have a note in the menus 

tomorrow is Aruba, no excursion planned, just go out and walk around

[LadyLion_AP]

We’re booked on this tour for our cruise as well,  but not through RCCL. So I should bring coins. 😝

I did read that’s the waters are pretty rough. Sorry.
 

Wishing you an enjoyable day today!

[sisocialworker]

Good morning from Aruba.... great weather and blue waters.... sailing was rough last night... very windy and bouncing seas.....no plans, just a leisurely breakfast at Giovanni, banana  pancakes, and walk around.  We are in port until 9:30pm.... not what and where to go once it gets dark.... my risk tolerance is -1😳

[sisocialworker]

1 hour ago, LadyLion_AP said:

We’re booked on this tour for our cruise as well,  but not through RCCL. So I should bring coins. 😝

I did read that’s the waters are pretty rough. Sorry.
 

Wishing you an enjoyable day today!

If you are two people fine if not find a friend who needs to go they don’t have change 

[atush]

On 12/17/2019 at 2:59 AM, sisocialworker said:

Relaxing sea day. Had about 10 people for room crawl, great time, Izumi lunch, again the server says unlimited dining package is $30pp.... I had to train them.... thinking of speaking to loyalty ambassador?  After went to ice show... ok, not as good as show on harmony.... the story line was the four seasons..... really no story at all.... dinner at Giovanni, service is great, food good.... went to comedy show, very funny.... spent some time in schooner bar, a few drinks and some music.... good time.... tomorrow is Bonaire, breakfast in Giovanni, as suite guests, off the ship by 9ish.... doing rci excursion, best of north and south, 3 hours, than just probably walk around town.... dinner at Giovanni again, headline show is mark Preston, former member of letterman music group

 

I was on the first post TA sailing.  I found most staff incl all port staff and many on ship were new.  So knew nothing.  Paid for The Key, but al most all employees never heard of it.

[sisocialworker]

Good point, I haven’t asked if Rey were new

[sisocialworker]

Rough sailing seas getting to Aruba.... had banana pancakes at Giovanni, alway good and great staff.... spoke with loyalty ambassador about my good and not so good experiences.... she seemed less than interested in what I had to say, IMO

 

walked off the ship and toured the downtown area.  I guess I needed to do more research as I was hoping to find a big Dutch/German influence... in fact not one Dutch or German  restaurant anywhere, mostly Columbia’s and Venezuela food and language spoken?  I guess Aruba had a big immigration flow from those countries and all the Dutch want back to the Netherlands.  We even asked some policemen where are the authentic Dutch restaurants, he said there aren’t any.... WTH....did family soft archery competition, we came in 3rd, bronze medal, but it was fun... dinner at Izumi, good fish, service was ok..... tomorrow is Curacao and private journey, Jewish heritage tour.... afterwards we’ll walk around town, maybe it’s more Dutch ...love to have authentic lunch.... dinner at chops tomorrow night 

[sharonlacey]

Aruba is one of our go to Islands and they have many different cultures, mainly Papimento, which is a dutch culture, not sure why the police said that..  They have there own language.  We love Twist of Flavor, which is dutch.  Also lots of Germain places.  We love the Fish House which is on the marina near the airport and very local food.

[ptf2009]

On 12/14/2019 at 6:51 AM, suesnake2002 said:

All I gotta say about that window is ewww

We just got off Explorer on Dec. 8 and there were many windows like that. More disappointing was the entertainment and lack of things to do. Whoever is in charge of the schedule needs to learn how to spread things out, not cramp most activities in the last two days. Most of the crew appeared new and were trying to do their best. We'll stick with the newer, larger ships in the future.

[Biker19]

42 minutes ago, ptf2009 said:

We just got off Explorer on Dec. 8 and there were many windows like that.

@Thorben-Hendrik would agree with you.

[sisocialworker]

3 hours ago, ptf2009 said:

We just got off Explorer on Dec. 8 and there were many windows like that. More disappointing was the entertainment and lack of things to do. Whoever is in charge of the schedule needs to learn how to spread things out, not cramp most activities in the last two days. Most of the crew appeared new and were trying to do their best. We'll stick with the newer, larger ships in the future.

Fully agree, not much to do during the day 

[LadyLion_AP]

4 minutes ago, sisocialworker said:

Fully agree, not much to do during the day 

Ugh! Guess I’ll have to make good use of the beverage packsdge!

[kruzerci]

We are on the sailing and having a great time. I think the activities and schedule has been fine with the exception of the ice shows all being during the day. There’s plenty of sunshine and sun loungers for the daytime hours! Shows could be better but I expected such on an older ship. 

 
I will say the food is absolutely horrific. The MDR is mediocre at best and the Windjammer is by far the worst I have seen. It is essentially like a combination of frozen meals and kids food (soggy pizza, pasta, little burgers, hotdogs, sorry salad bars, and the grilled poor cuts of chicken or beef). I’m really embarrassed that this is our friends first Royal Caribbean cruise. It’s worse than the food at a mediocre all inclusive or casual chain restaurant. 
 

That said, the drinks are flowing, we have great ports and weather, and we have had excellent dinners at Chops and Giovannis multiple nights. 

Edited December 20, 2019 by kruzerci

[LadyLion_AP]

9 hours ago, kruzerci said:

We are on the sailing and having a great time. I think the activities and schedule has been fine with the exception of the ice shows all being during the day. There’s plenty of sunshine and sun loungers for the daytime hours! Shows could be better but I expected such on an older ship. 

 
I will say the food is absolutely horrific. The MDR is mediocre at best and the Windjammer is by far the worst I have seen. It is essentially like a combination of frozen meals and kids food (soggy pizza, pasta, little burgers, hotdogs, sorry salad bars, and the grilled poor cuts of chicken or beef). I’m really embarrassed that this is our friends first Royal Caribbean cruise. It’s worse than the food at a mediocre all inclusive or casual chain restaurant. 
 

That said, the drinks are flowing, we have great ports and weather, and we have had excellent dinners at Chops and Giovannis multiple nights. 

Great to hear a different perspective! 😊