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

[ladysail2]

On 12/20/2019 at 9:58 PM, sisocialworker said:

No problem, anyone feel free to respond.... we do eat in the MDR or windjammer because food never is hot, always lukewarm...

the MDR is too crowded and noisy to enjoy a meal

I found the food to be fine. I usually had the ceasar salad and shrimp cocktail, and an entree. Had strip steak one night, turkey, chicken and all was fine.  Only had one dessert, the Baked Alaska. Oh yes, had the lobster tail on the second formal night....well, I’m not sure one could fill a tablespoon measuring spoon with the meat that came out of that tail....oh my, so tiny.  
What could have ruined every evening meal....the screaming, screeching, unruly children.  Way too many of them for my liking. I guess there was a ‘kids sail free’ offer.....also, too many adults talking in the corridors late at night.  Woke me up on two nights....just inconsiderate people.  Thank goodness this doesn't happen often.
 

[berbician]

9 hours ago, ladysail2 said:

I saw signs on the bar counters selling the 10-drink card. I dont go to bars, but saw it in passing near the back elevators. I started seeing the signs in the last 3 days. They could have been there longer, I just didn’t notice them.

Thanks 

[ladysail2]

1 hour ago, berbician said:

Thanks 

You’re welcome!

[atush]

19 hours ago, kruzerci said:

I’m not arguing this with you. I don’t know what skin it is off your back that the food is terrible. Everybody on this thread has agreed about that. 
 

I have eaten at those chain restaurants when necessary in the past year. I don’t eat there when there is an option. What I’m saying is that the MDR was that quality and I don’t find that acceptable. If you do, more power to you, but if you find that quality acceptable, you are not “a foodie”. 

 

 

The food i ate in t he MDR wasnt bad.  Maybe it was for you, but not for me. Maybe it was what you chose to eat?   For me itt was generally OK, good in some places.

 

The Windjammer was awful, but that may have been the choices i made.

 

Applebees is pretty awful in general.

 

Insulting me, just because i disgree, is just juvenile. 

[lisa6191]

1 hour ago, atush said:

 

 

The food i ate in t he MDR wasnt bad.  Maybe it was for you, but not for me. Maybe it was what you chose to eat?   For me itt was generally OK, good in some places.

 

The Windjammer was awful, but that may have been the choices i made.

 

Applebees is pretty awful in general.

 

Insulting me, just because i disgree, is just juvenile. 

 

I think the bottom line is that food is just too subjective to really review for someone else. I have read everything from the MDR is exceptional gourmet quality food to the MDR is inedible garbage, and everything in between. Obviously the answer is that it depends on the sailing and the chef and the crowds and a million other things. I think it is very hard to make a generalization about cruise ship food.

 

Our experience on the same cruise that atush took was different from hers. We had the 3-night dining package. Our one MDR dinner was not good at all, our dinner in Chops was okay, we really liked Izumi, and we loved Giovanni's (best meal of the cruise by far, although I have read that others have been disappointed). We actually really liked the food that we had in the Windjammer, especially the one dinner we had there. We found the WIndjammer too crazy at breakfast for our taste, so we had all of our breakfasts after day one in the MDR and liked them very much. All lunches were from WIndjammer (unless we were off the ship) and we liked them fine.

 

Does that mean I'm right and atush is wrong? Of course not. And maybe the MDR food would have been better on a different night, but the night we went we disliked every item that both of us ordered, which pretty much never happens. 

 

That being said, we are getting the Unlimited Dining package on our next cruise, which is on Oasis. Mainly because there are so many choices on that ship, and I want to be able to try all of them if I can. I'm guessing we won't eat in the MDR for dinner because of our experience on Explorer, but who knows, maybe we will be missing out. I don't think we will go hungry though. 🙂

[lisa6191]

Forgot to mention, the escargot that people seem to universally like on these boards was horrible in our opinion. So go figure LOL.

[BuckeyeMark]

I appreciate those who are noting that food opinions are very very subjective.  We were on the Explorer the week before Thanksgiving and through the MDR was outstanding.  We talked a lot about how good the food was.  On top of that, we thought the Windjammer was outstanding as well - enough that we really struggled a couple of nights whether to go down to dinner or up to dinner!

Others, clearly, didn't have the same experience.  I am only adding this to say not everyone's experience with the food was "it's terrible."  We loved it.  Just loved it.

 

But we thought our comedian was awful.  See?  Different strokes for different folks!

[lisa6191]

3 minutes ago, BuckeyeMark said:

I appreciate those who are noting that food opinions are very very subjective.  We were on the Explorer the week before Thanksgiving and through the MDR was outstanding.  We talked a lot about how good the food was.  On top of that, we thought the Windjammer was outstanding as well - enough that we really struggled a couple of nights whether to go down to dinner or up to dinner!

Others, clearly, didn't have the same experience.  I am only adding this to say not everyone's experience with the food was "it's terrible."  We loved it.  Just loved it.

 

But we thought our comedian was awful.  See?  Different strokes for different folks!

 

So you were on the same cruise as us, leaving 11/19 right? Are you talking about the comedy magician? Jason somebody? If so, we thought he was hysterical. What we hated was the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons tribute thing, that was just godawful. We lasted about 6 minutes.

 

Always good to read opinions but obviously everyone has a different experience! I find a lot of it has to do with expectations also. If you are the kind of person who is always scrutinizing things and looking for things to complain about, chances are you will find them. On the other hand, we had somewhat low expectations for our cruise after reading some recent reviews about how the Explorer was a pit in horrible condition and needed to be totally overhauled. We did not find that to be the case at all and were delighted with the ship and our experience. Was there a little rust on our balcony? Sure, but I honestly didn't even think about it, and it certainly in no way ruined our time! I doubt I would have even noticed it if I hadn't been looking because of those reviews.

 

Anyway, hope everyone who is yet to cruise has an amazing time! 

[atush]

18 minutes ago, lisa6191 said:

 

I think the bottom line is that food is just too subjective to really review for someone else. I have read everything from the MDR is exceptional gourmet quality food to the MDR is inedible garbage, and everything in between. Obviously the answer is that it depends on the sailing and the chef and the crowds and a million other things. I think it is very hard to make a generalization about cruise ship food.

 

Our experience on the same cruise that atush took was different from hers. We had the 3-night dining package. Our one MDR dinner was not good at all, our dinner in Chops was okay, we really liked Izumi, and we loved Giovanni's (best meal of the cruise by far, although I have read that others have been disappointed). We actually really liked the food that we had in the Windjammer, especially the one dinner we had there. We found the WIndjammer too crazy at breakfast for our taste, so we had all of our breakfasts after day one in the MDR and liked them very much. All lunches were from WIndjammer (unless we were off the ship) and we liked them fine.

 

Does that mean I'm right and atush is wrong? Of course not. And maybe the MDR food would have been better on a different night, but the night we went we disliked every item that both of us ordered, which pretty much never happens. 

 

That being said, we are getting the Unlimited Dining package on our next cruise, which is on Oasis. Mainly because there are so many choices on that ship, and I want to be able to try all of them if I can. I'm guessing we won't eat in the MDR for dinner because of our experience on Explorer, but who knows, maybe we will be missing out. I don't think we will go hungry though. 🙂

Well said

 

I think though as far as MDR is concerned is the dished offered on the day.  And we had no past cruise compasses or menus to consult after several years in Eurooe/far east/australia so could not choose the One day we took at giovannis.  And you only had one day int eh MDR which may have been a 'off day'.  Our last day we didnt like the menu or our meals all that much, but if we'd had the menu befoehand we would have chosen that day for our Giovannis meal as we liked the offerings more th ngith we skipped MDR.

 

Also length of cruise.  we were only 5 nights, 4 in MDR. Migth be different for those there on longer sailings.

 

And again, would stress that our embarcation lunch from "chops' served in the MDR was very poor for first 2 course, ok for 3rd (dessert would have gotten good if served at an appropriate temperature- this was a constant probem with all MDR offerings)

123 Mark Twn Nov19 (1).docx

[atush]

7 minutes ago, lisa6191 said:

 

So you were on the same cruise as us, leaving 11/19 right? Are you talking about the comedy magician? Jason somebody? If so, we thought he was hysterical. What we hated was the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons tribute thing, that was just godawful. We lasted about 6 minutes.

 

Always good to read opinions but obviously everyone has a different experience! I find a lot of it has to do with expectations also. If you are the kind of person who is always scrutinizing things and looking for things to complain about, chances are you will find them. On the other hand, we had somewhat low expectations for our cruise after reading some recent reviews about how the Explorer was a pit in horrible condition and needed to be totally overhauled. We did not find that to be the case at all and were delighted with the ship and our experience. Was there a little rust on our balcony? Sure, but I honestly didn't even think about it, and it certainly in no way ruined our time! I doubt I would have even noticed it if I hadn't been looking because of those reviews.

 

Anyway, hope everyone who is yet to cruise has an amazing time! 

I agree about the Frankie Vallie thing.  The back ups were fine but the main guy was awful

[lisa6191]

9 minutes ago, atush said:

And again, would stress that our embarcation lunch from "chops' served in the MDR was very poor for first 2 course, ok for 3rd (dessert would have gotten good if served at an appropriate temperature- this was a constant probem with all MDR offerings)

 

Completely agree, although it was nice to have a calm lunch and not deal with the Windjammer that day. It didn't help that it was a very late lunch for us because of the delayed embarkation for that cruise. That was why we decided on the Windjammer for dinner that night, and like I said we really liked it, especially the Indian food. They had some great ribs also.

 

It's also a good point about checking the menus, which is hard to do on Explorer at the moment because it's not on the app. When we are on Oasis, we may find a night in the MDR that has things we want to try.

Edited December 23, 2019 by lisa6191
added a thought

[Tulsacoker]

1 hour ago, lisa6191 said:

Forgot to mention, the escargot that people seem to universally like on these boards was horrible in our opinion. So go figure LOL.

your not alone on that feeling 

[BuckeyeMark]

2 hours ago, lisa6191 said:

 

So you were on the same cruise as us, leaving 11/19 right? Are you talking about the comedy magician? Jason somebody? If so, we thought he was hysterical. What we hated was the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons tribute thing, that was just godawful. We lasted about 6 minutes.

 

Always good to read opinions but obviously everyone has a different experience! I find a lot of it has to do with expectations also. If you are the kind of person who is always scrutinizing things and looking for things to complain about, chances are you will find them. On the other hand, we had somewhat low expectations for our cruise after reading some recent reviews about how the Explorer was a pit in horrible condition and needed to be totally overhauled. We did not find that to be the case at all and were delighted with the ship and our experience. Was there a little rust on our balcony? Sure, but I honestly didn't even think about it, and it certainly in no way ruined our time! I doubt I would have even noticed it if I hadn't been looking because of those reviews.

 

Anyway, hope everyone who is yet to cruise has an amazing time! 

 

We LOVED the comedy magician guy.  He was absolutely hysterical. There was another guy earlier in the week who seemed to be of the Don Rickles School of Comedy.  "I'm mad about everything, and my wife hates me and I hate her."  He actually said the way to stay married is to fight.  Uh...

And I think you're so very right.  Cruises are a lot what you make of them.  Want to be unhappy.  You can be.  Want to be happy?  You can be.  It's kinda up to you!

[nicstress]

On 12/21/2019 at 11:56 AM, sisocialworker said:

Yesterday was good day. Dinner at chops was not great, the filet minion was chewy, 

Thanks for the laughs. I have never eaten a minion but I can imagine they would be CHEWY. And taste like bananas 😜🤣😂🍌🍌🍌

[sisocialworker]

10 hours ago, nicstress said:

Thanks for the laughs. I have never eaten a minion but I can imagine they would be CHEWY. And taste like bananas 😜🤣😂🍌🍌🍌

auto correct.....LOL

[OceansOfTravels]

Thank you so much for your review! I am sailing on the Explorer this Friday for my first RCI cruise in a long time, and I am very excited. I'm hoping things go well so I can start considering Royal more in the future. Quick question: did you find your sailing to be busy? You were right before Christmas so I imagine that it was. If so, did you feel as though the ship was too cramped with people? Do you think it could handle the amount that it had? I am just trying to get a general idea of if there will be long lines in the Windjammer, no available chairs to tan, and a long time to embark the ship after a port of call. 

 

Thanks in advance for your reply, glad to see that you had a nice time away, despite the hiccups!

[sisocialworker]

8 hours ago, OceansOfTravels said:

Thank you so much for your review! I am sailing on the Explorer this Friday for my first RCI cruise in a long time, and I am very excited. I'm hoping things go well so I can start considering Royal more in the future. Quick question: did you find your sailing to be busy? You were right before Christmas so I imagine that it was. If so, did you feel as though the ship was too cramped with people? Do you think it could handle the amount that it had? I am just trying to get a general idea of if there will be long lines in the Windjammer, no available chairs to tan, and a long time to embark the ship after a port of call. 

 

Thanks in advance for your reply, glad to see that you had a nice time away, despite the hiccups!

I did not find it "busy" at all...the usual crowds in windjammer and elevators at peak times.  DW is an "early" person, she said the windjammer is great at 7am..we are not pool/tan people so I cannot comment on deck loungers....getting on and off is a breeze, but were in a suite and had priority....we did see a long wait to get off as we walked right by the crowds waiting to get off....