Exploring the Seas in 9 Days on Royal April 5

[MtnSeaGirl]

Wow!  Just returned yesterday on our 2nd Royal cruise.  This one was out of Miami on Explorer of the Seas.  Cutting to the chase, we had such a good time on Royal we booked a New England/Nova Scotia cruise for Sept 2025 to go with our 8 day Caribbean on Carnival in March.  

 

Flight out of RIC was good.  We arrived in Atlanta on time left on time as well.  Hit a snag at the FLL airport ( flew in there after reading Cruise Critic advice ).  The shuttle to the hotel never arrived even after calling the hotel. Seems Florida is having the same problem staffing as VA is. It is hit and miss.  Multiple shuttles from other hotels, but not ours.  Not going to ruin the trip so we grabbed an Uber.  Should have done that from the get go anyway.  

 

Easy Uber down to Miami the next morning leaving the hotel around 9:35 as we were unsure about the I-95 traffic. There was traffic but our driver did a great job.  We had a port arrival time at 11:00 - 11:30.  Arrived around 10:30. There were no lines at port, and they waved us in.  We just assumed we would end up in a waiting room after check in, nope, walked straight on the ship.  What a pleasant surprise.   

 

Did a little exploring of the ship. We found the Explorer easy to navigate.  She was in good shape to us for a gal with a little age on her. Elevators were surprisingly easy to snag throughout the cruise even on port days. For port days we just walked up a flight or two of stairs and down to the other elevators.  The lay out of the ship really helps with crowd control for sure.  Most of the time we did the stairs up and down anyway, but after a while we became rather lazy. 

 

We stopped the MDR to see if there was any chance of changing our My Time Dining to Early Seating as we booked that in error.  We were so grateful they were able to do that and heard later in the cruise that many could not change (MTD is differernt on Carnival so we messed that one up at booking and realized it after reading this Board). Lunch was at Chops for DH's birthday.  They did a nice job celebrating with us, and the food was good.  Someone explain to me how a cruise ship makes the best mashed taters???  Then, it was time to go see our room. We had booked a simple interior on deck 7, but did the room bidding for a Promenade View bidding the lowest possible.  We were pleased with our upgrade where we could watch the parades from our window on deck 6.  I cannot say we will bid again for a different room.  It seemed to upset the apple cart.  DH's power strip for his C-Pap and fan were not there. We had to go to Guest Services to get those as the info somehow did not transfer over.  For three days we were getting ship mail for the couple who were supposed to have had that room. Guessing they bid and were upgraded as well. We also had to inquire about delivery of water and other items we ordered and paid for months ago.  It was mostly all sorted out by the end of the day.  Our poor cabin stewardess was so confused as her sheet had us as someone else as well. At least the room cards were correct. 

 

Dinner in the MDR was great with exceptional service.  Service did fall off the the rest of the week with the Main Waiter even refilling glasses, but we think there was a snag in the kitchen as there were times our waiter would just disappear for 30 or so minutes.  Nothing to ruin our cruise about.  We had delightful couples to our left and right to talk with, and for the first time I wished we had all been at one table.  Still, tables for 2 are close together so it worked nicely.  

 

The first sea day you could find a chair pretty much anywhere you wanted except the Solarium even as late as 11 am. We are early risers to grab the first colors of the sunrise so that was never really an issue for us anyway.  Could not say that on day 8.  The ship was loud and I mean LOUD by Noon, chair hogs in full force with chairs being reserved with towels and books for up to 3 hours before we saw a body come rolling in around 10 am.  I guess everyone was trying to eek out every bit of fun they could that day.  I had begun to wonder if I were back on that other line again.  Day 9 was better although it could have been cause we hit a little rain and some wind.  I can't do direct sun all day so we always found someone who was searching for a couple chairs with this really sad expression on their face. Been there and know what that feels like. 

 

I want to thank all you who posted about Giovanna's.  That place is spectacular.  Our waitress told DH the steaks there were better than Chops; Yep.  I had the fish and the first bite brought back some great memories of long ago.  Service fabulous.  Tried Izumu on Day 9 which was also good. 

 

Ice Show was really good. We loved the energy, the colors, and of course the skaters.  We enjoyed the first group of singers/dancers in The Palace Theater; however, they changed out the troupe mid way thru to one who we thought were better.  Maybe because we saw their first show and were all jazzed up.  They were pretty amazing!  Saw one comedian who had me laughing out loud which I never do.  

 

Windjammer - This is one of the places Royal wins hands down and twice on Sunday. The variety, the taste, the staff, the being open until 3 pm.  I did miss Blue Iguana for breakfast, but Royal does a much much much better job.  I even learned I love Indian food as I would never have ordered it in the MDR in case I did not care for it ( even if the waiter tells me if I don't like it , I can get something else. I'm not doing that to hard working people ).  

 

We chatted with one loyal Royal who expressed to us how disappointed he is with Royal and how this was the worst cruise he had been on.  I sat there wondering if we were on the same ship. For us who have only cruised on one other Royal, the service, the entertainment, the pretty much most everything was really great.  So great we booked another cruise while there.  Kinda wonder what Royal was like when he cruised before.  I don't think he was being over the top. He was genuinely upset.  

 

We booked all our shore excursions thru Royal this time instead of independent.  This was due to the port times being short to us.  Did not want to miss the boat.  Dom Rep - tour guide was Oscar and became our fav excursion.  We did not realize that the mountain view of the hills and meadows , even though smaller, looked surprisenly like some of our Blue Ridge Parkway. The botanical gardens were lovely.  The Christ Statue hard to see due to the fog. Oscar does not control the weather.  We also enjoyed our St Kitts tour very much to Spice Mill Beach.  Antigua laid an egg. The tour description was a half mile beach with restaurant and bar in which you could get a snack or an early lunch.  Nope. None of that was there. The beach was maybe 1/4 of a mile if you stretched it out a little.  No bar except a tiny trailer. No snacks. No restaurant.  Beach not very nice either. Water was great.  Royal told us later they do not write the tour descriptions as they are done by the vendor, but they did mark the tour for future cruisers.  Grenada was the Rum Factory Tour with BBC Beach.  There was shade at the beach, but there were not enough chairs for everyone.  We had chairs, but about 20 did not.  No restaurant on our end. A small bar.  Facilities.  I would return to Anse next time.  We did not do a tour in St Thomas as been there too many times already, and it poured down rain much of the day.  

 

Really enjoyed exploring the seas with Royal.  Depending on our next Carnival cruise, we may switch over completely.  It brought back memories of how cruising was years ago.  

 

 

 

 

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

Thank you for sharing your experience, I'm so glad you enjoyed your cruise! 🙂