Explorer OTS - May 4th. Ultimate Recap & Review (6500 words+scans+pics)

ultimatecruisemaster · May 22, 2007

Warning! This is a ridiculously long and excessively detailed recap and review of my most recent cruise. Keep in mind... it's a 'recap' as well as a review. Every night, I took down notes of what we did, and that's a lot of what I'm sharing here. There's a ton of info, including scans of cruises compasses and other documents. Plus, there's a link to our 200+ webshots album. Read at your own risk!

Explorer of the Seas

Five day, Western Caribbean Cruise - May 4th to May 9th

Miami, Fl - Labadee, Haiti - Ocho Rios, Jamaica - Miami, Fl

Room #8521

Background

We’re a mid 20’s couple from a place called Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It’s a city of just over 200 000 people, right across the river from Detroit, Michigan. I’ve cruised twice before, both with Royal Caribbean. My first cruise was with my family. It was a 14-day Baltic on The Song of Norway way back in 1992. Thanks to my parents, I got hooked young. Fast forward to 2002 for the next cruise. This was on The Brilliance of the Seas for a 7-day westward transatlantic. It was a company-sponsored trip, so I traveled with 8 of my co-workers from England to Boston. I love cruising and I‘m happy with my experiences so far with Royal Caribbean. My girlfriend had never cruised before. This was going to be an adventure!

The planning started around the end of 2006. The thought of taking another cruise just popped into my head one day. The girlfriend was enthusiastic, so I began searching for deals. We found this cruise on the RCI website listed for under $400 Cdn p/p for an inside. I put down a deposit and booked our flights through Orbitz. We applied for new passports and they arrived in a month. I applied for Crown and Anchor, and received credit for my past 2 cruises. Then… I discovered CruiseCritic. Now the obsession begins! Soon, I was combing through reviews, studying deck plans, browsing photo galleries and over-planning to the max! I kept an eye on prices, as they dipped as low as $349 Cdn. I never bothered calling for a price credit, though. Within the next couple of months, the prices jumped to almost $700 p/p. Thankfully, we booked when we did.

Now, my girlfriend and I had planned this cruise as just a nice little vacation for the two of us. However, as the date approached, I decided to make the cruise a whole lot more special. We’d been involved for a number of years now and had been talking about marriage. However, we were totally wrapped up in preparing for the trip, so I knew that she was not expecting me to propose before we left. Two days before the cruise, I presented her with a ‘Bon Voyage’ basket. In it was… tanning & massage lotions, a new perfume, a travel makeup case, an underwater camera, snacks, and a bottle of her favorite wine. She loved the little gifts. She was ready to put away the basket, when she noticed something else buried under the tissue paper. She dug it out, opened it up and was in utter shock. I proposed, and she said yes. She laughed and cried and laughed some more. My DG just became my DF. Now we were ready to cruise!

Embarkation

Finally, departure day arrives! We went to bed early and woke up at 3:00 am. Got ready and finished up the final touches for packing. My fiancées dad drove us to the Detroit Airport for a 6:45am flight to Miami. Security was a breeze. We boarded and reached Miami at 9:30 am. We got our luggage, hopped into a taxi and headed to the port. The taxi driver was pretty wild and ended up braking HARD twice during the drive. We made sure we had our seatbelts on. The fare is a set rate of $24. We were dropped off and had porters swarm us. We filled out tags and said goodbye to our luggage. The porter turns back to us and says, “Folks, I am the porter. You tip your porter.” Umm…. Ok. That was rather forward of him. We gave him a couple bucks and headed for the terminal. The Explorer is huge! It dwarfed the other ships at the port.

We entered the terminal building at about 10:30. There were about 20 other people waiting with us at the time. Then the room filled up quickly. We saw two bridal parties show up too. That was cute. Security started scanning people through at about 11:30am. We had our SetSail documents ready, so we got our SeaPass cards very quickly and easily. We cheesed for our boarding photo and hopped on the ship. We were in the Windjammer by 12:15pm.

Day 1 – Boarding and Sea Day

The buffet looked great. We filled up our plates and grabbed a table by the windows. Water, lemonade and iced tea were available to drink. I had roast beef, mashed potatoes, baked pasta and plenty more. Food was hot and tasty. I never found food temperature to be a problem. Pick your food & go. If you spend forever trying to decide what to get, you annoy everyone else in line and your food gets cold! Heck, the serving utensils at the buffet were often too hot to handle. It’s a bit annoying at times, but hey… the food was always hot too. I topped of lunch with mousse and a brownie. Delicious. I was a bit concerned about the food, because my fiancée is quite a picky eater. No problems though, as she loved all the food there. There was always plenty of comfort food, plus new things to try every day.

We headed down to our room at 1:00pm, and found it was ready. Just like we saw in the pictures. The décor and colors were nice, with the peach and teal. We were in #8521, an inside stateroom forward port side. Fairly close to elevators and stairs. Nice and quiet room. There were kids in the room next to us, and we heard them just faintly a couple times. The new bedding was nice and comfy. We slept great every night, thanks in part to the pure, pitch-darkness of an inside stateroom. The room is small of course, but perfectly adequate. Soon, our luggage arrived. We unpacked, putting the closet and drawer space to good use. We didn’t bring a shoe rack or extra hangers, but we did fine. We realized that we forgot sunscreen! It cost us $12 in the promenade shop.

Off we went, exploring our new home for the next 5 days. The Royal Promenade is an incredible feature. It’s a beautiful centerpiece to the ship. The solarium is nice and never had kids running around. The loungers in the solarium have padding with a dark red cloth cover. These seats can get hot! So put a towel down. We had the solarium hot tub all to ourselves for a while and just relaxed. Fiancée had a mango slushie drink. We got it with the souvenir cup the first time. Ask for a regular glass and you’ll save some bucks. Later, we had soft cones at the self serve machine. By the end of the trip, I became a pro at making cones. We ate a lot of ice cream.

When we got back to the room, we found a note saying that our dining arrangement had changed. We had been moved to second seating, and had a new table assignment. Hrmm… strange. Anyway, we relaxed for a bit in the room, then explored the ship some more. Played some ping-pong on the sports deck. Browsed the Promenade shops. We picked up 4 bottles of Cruzan rum for $25. It would be delivered to our room the last night. Muster drill was at 4:30pm. We donned our vests and headed to station A2, which was in The Maharajas Lounge. The drill took under 15 minutes and we were off again. We went up poolside for the Sail-away. Music was playing and people were dancing. We watched the Fascination and Majesty depart just before us. We took pictures and wandered some more. So 6:30pm rolls around, and we can no longer wait to eat. We decided to hit the Windjammer to have a snack, and then make it to the main dining room for dinner at 9:00pm. The light snack turned into a feast. There was just so much that all looked so good. I had asparagus and brie pie, pork with ginger sauce, sushi, sausage and cheese baked potato, mushroom caps, shrimp chips and more. I topped that off with an amazing Kahlua cheesecake. Lunch and dinner so far had both been amazing. We both ate way too much, and called off the dining room for the night.

We attended the Welcome Aboard Show in the Palace Theatre at 8:00pm. Cruise Director Allan Brooks was introduced. He was energetic and funny. He wasn’t overly goofy or peppy, but had kind of a nice sarcastic edge to him. We became big fans right away. The Gentleman Juggler Kristian Kristoff performed a decent routine. Comic Eric Lyden performed. The comic was decent, although you’ll wonder how long his set of impressions will go on for.

That night, we took some pictures of the ship. Browsed some more through the promenade shops. We practiced our salsa at the Aquarium bar, and picked up tickets for the ice show on Day 2. The Aquarium was a hot spot to be throughout the trip. Music floated through the Centrum and there was always a crowd dancing. There was no line up for the ice show tickets. By now, we had been awake for about 20 hours. We went back to the room and got ready for bed. We placed our room service breakfast order card outside the door. The gentle rocking of the ship caused the hangers in our closet to bang. Hang your clothes on them, or position them so you aren’t annoyed all night. Although the hangers swung around, you really couldn’t feel the ship move. Just a gentle swaying, rocking you off to sleep….

Day 2 – Sea Day

We got a phone call at 8:30am, telling us that room service was on its way. There was just enough time to get up and stretch out before the food arrived. We got scrambled eggs with bacon and sausage, and an omelet with hash browns. There was a plate of fresh fruit and a plate of pastries. The pastries are incredible. I had those danishes every day. Juice came in tiny cups. Servings are quite small for the breakfast room service, so order some extras and check off a few different juices. Tip a couple bucks and you got a nice breakfast in bed. It’s a great way to get a wakeup call and start your day off right.

With formal night in mind, my fiancée pulled her dress out of the bag, but found it terribly wrinkled. We searched for some information about laundry procedures, but came up with nothing. Finally, I found the laundry bag and card, well hidden above the closet. Same-day service must be put out before 9:00am. I filled out the form…. $6.00 for pressing a gown same day. We set it on the bed and crossed our fingers.

We headed up to the Deck 11, to check out the pool. By 10am there was a decent crowd there. Not a whole lot of chair hogs. Lots of poolside seats were still open. There were beautiful skies again today. We lay out, and had some soft cones again. We stopped by the Café Promenade for water and snacks. I had a shrimp sandwich and we shared chocolate chip cookies. The Café Promenade quickly became one of my favorite places on the ship. Delicious sandwiches, good deserts and much needed water. We headed back up to play some mini-golf. The course is in somewhat rough condition. It doesn’t look too pretty, but nothing interferes with the game. We watched some rock climbers and the basketball players.

Once again, we went to the Windjammer for lunch. More new dishes! Had some curry chicken, ribs, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and more. We wandered around the Windjammer, in search of seats. We did a few loops around the place. Not a free table to be found! It was quite hectic and crowded. So, we grabbed drinks and walked back to our room to have lunch. Food was great, but a little cold from the long trek back to the room. We watched ‘The Breakup’ while munching away. The fiancée’s gown had been picked up by the way.

At 2:00 we headed up to the pool for the belly flop contest. CD Allan Brooks helped make it very entertaining. The crowd really got into it, and we had a blast. Another event to make sure you attend. We found some loungers behind Adventure Ocean and tanned for a bit. Went up to the fitness center and enjoyed the nice big hot tub there. I stretched and spent some time in the aerobics room.

By then, my fiancée was tired, so I took her back to the room and she had a nap. I took a little walkthrough of the ship, and took some pictures. Then headed up to the gym for a workout. I did some lifting, trying out the different machines. Definitely a good workout, as I normally just use free weights on a bench at home. I swung by the Windjammer and grabbed a little carton of ice-cold milk to make a protein shake.

I woke up my fiancée and we both got showered and ready. We headed to Studio B for the Ice Show at 5:00. The show is another must-see. Very impressive what they do on the small ice surface. The costumes are a bit goofy, and the story is kind of strange, but the show is worth it. The highlight of the show is this one female contortionist/skater/acrobat from Montreal. She did a routine hanging from a hoop rigged up to float in the air above the ice. Amazing.

When we got back to the room, we found the dress ready. Thank goodness! We got ready for formal night. While leaving, we ran into our room attendant for the first time. We thanked her for taking care of the dress. Overall, our room attendant did a good job. Towels, bed, ice, everything was always in good order. She opened the door for me, when I was returning with water and cookies once. We put the ‘No Not Disturb’ and ‘Please Make Up Room’ cards to good use, so she never disturbed us, and the room was always ready when requested. Service wasn’t outstanding. But it was certainly good.

We headed up to the promenade for the Captain’s Welcome reception. We had a few glasses of free champagne. Took photos at 4 of the 6 picture stations. Took a picture with the captain too. If you’re going to buy photos, make sure you get there early so the lines aren’t long. Get lots of shots taken, so you can choose your best shots.

We went to the dining room, and found our new table. We chatted with our tablemates, a couple from Florida and a newly wed couple from Ireland. Within a few minutes though, the headwaiter came and said there was a problem with the seating. They looked at our table change note, and went to check the computers. Apparently, a mistake was made and we had to change tables again. This time, we were moved to a table with two older Swedish couples. Dining with these four was quite awkward. They didn’t speak much English… in fact they didn’t speak much at all. The wait staff seemed good. The waiter made sure to address us by name, and cracked jokes to try to liven up the table. The assistant waiter was always busy, and the headwaiter stopped by to check on things. Tonight, I had the shrimp cocktail, filet of beef and a couple of desserts. Fiancée had the duck. Food was presented nicely, warm and well prepared. Small portions though, just not the same as a big buffet platter. After dessert, we quickly left the awkwardness of the table. We decided that the dining room just wasn’t for us. There was a definite language barrier at the table, plus we weren’t big fans of spending 2.5 hours on dinner. We both agreed that we’d probably be doing the Windjammer from now on.

After dinner, we changed back into our casual clothes. Walked the Promenade, and walked through the busy casino. We found some loungers overlooking the pool, and just chatted and looked at the stars. There was a nice warm breeze, and we were all alone.

We missed the a-capella group Mosaic that night, purely by accident. I heard that the show was good though. Oh well. After midnight, we did attend Eric Lyden’s late night adult comedy show. The show was funnier than his routine the night before. More sex and fart jokes I guess. The crowd was a bit thinner than I expected, but still very responsive. Leaving the theatre is quite crowded. Such a narrow set of stairs, plus packed elevators. You need some patience. We made our way to the promenade deck, and played some shuffleboard. It was another funny little first for my fiancée. Busy day. Time for bed!

Day 3 - Labadee

Today, we got an 8:00am wakeup call for breakfast. We had the usual breakfast in bed, and got ready. We were still a bit hungry, so we made it up to the Windjammer for a little extra. The breakfast there is just average, I’d say. I had bacon, sausage, grits, biscuit, and pancakes. Bacon is tough to make good in large batches.

We headed down to the gangway at 9:30am for tendering. The line was moving quickly, and we made it right onto a tender. In just 15 minutes, we were on Labadee. We took some pictures, and started walking to our left. People came and offered us chair, but we declined. We found a quiet little beach, and went for a walk in the brush behind it. We found lots of lizards, crabs and colorful snails. We went in the water, and took some pictures of fish. We found some loungers and relaxed on the beach for a while.

On Labadee we booked the waverunner excursion. We met at the excursion terminal 15 minutes early, signed waiver forms, and left our belongings in some of the lockers provided. We didn’t have change, so we just left the locker unlocked. We were briefed on the use of the waverunner, and watched a 10-minute safety video. We donned our flotation vests, and I put on a harness for my fiancée to hold onto. I signed up as driver ($100), and she was a passenger ($30). The waverunners have two small compartments that you can put your stuff into. They’re not big though, and not water tight. We hopped on board and were off. HOOOOOOO WEEEEEEE!!! The waverunners are a load of fun. Neither of us had ever ridden on one before. It’s a bit tricky to learning the steering at first, but you get the hang of it quickly. You’ll cruise at around 60 mph, but touch 70 mph once in a while. You play follow the leader between about 4 stops along the island where you’ll pause and hear some info and history about Hispaniola. You can go as fast as you’d like, but you do basically have to stay in your position and follow the person ahead of you. Stay in line…. There are some dangerous reefs that the leader helps you avoid. The ride is pretty smooth at top speed. But you will hit a handful of big bumps that’ll have you yelling and laughing. At one of the stops, some locals come out in little boats and try to sell you some goods. I don’t think anyone bought anything. At another stop, the leader pointed out the new zipline. Told us that it was going to be ready on the upcoming Tuesday. We missed it by a few days! After about an hour (I think) of time on the waverunners, we pulled back into the dock. It was an absolute blast. Well worth the money, and definitely recommended.

We walked over and checked out the BBQ lunch. There were burgers, hot dogs, chicken, rice, and salads. Good, but nothing special. We ate while watching some dancers, drummers and acrobats. The costumes that the guys wore made us snicker. We walked through the straw market, but realized that I grabbed the wrong stack of money. Instead, I had my ‘tipping’ pile of ones. The sellers are pushy and really try to lure you to their stall. We only had a little money, so we just ended up buying a wooden bowl. Just paid the asking price of $10 and we got out of there.

We got back to a tender just in time for a departure. A quick ride, and we were back on the boat. After a hot day in the sun, my fiancée went to take a nap. I headed to the upper decks to go for a jog, sat by the pool for a while and hit the Promenade Café for snacks. Went back to the room to wash all the sand and salt off me. We browsed the photo gallery for pictures, took some photos at the bow, and then headed to the Windjammer for dinner. I had a mini grilled steak today. Those appeared several times throughout the cruise. Those became a staple of my meals. Also had leg of lamb, sushi, and smoked salmon. I ate more smoked salmon on this trip, than I’ve had previously in my whole life. Topped that off with some mint chocolate cake. All the cakes were very soft and moist. Another great meal! I’ve read people complain that the food in the buffet is cafeteria quality. They talk of the burgers and hot dog type fare. If you choose to eat burgers and fries, you get burgers and fries. There’s plenty of other great food out there. I hit all the different stations and tried a lot of what they had. So to me… the food was much more than just cafeteria food.

We went back to the photo gallery to purchase the photos we previously picked out. We got their special… 4 - 8x10’s and you get a free photo album. The album is very nice, and holds one photo of the ship and one of the 8x10’s. We had a Crown and Anchor coupon for a free small picture of the ship. Whoop dee doo. In the end, we spent about $160 on photos. We got 5 – 8x10’s, a handful of excursion photos, and the formal dining photo. Not a bad deal. They were beautiful pictures. The way they post all the photos up in the gallery can be frustrating at time, but is also kind of fun. They also have computer terminals that use some sort of face recognition software to bring up all of your pictures, if you’re less patient.

In the Promenade there was a little band playing. Singer rattled off a few familiar songs, backed up by acoustic guitars and a drummer. They were decent. We played some more ping pong up on the sports deck. Then went to the Love and Marriage show. Here’s another one not to miss. The guests were decent, but CD Allan Brooks really made it a good show. Make sure to check it out. Afterward, we went poolside for the midnight buffet… (which is at midnight). Line was long, but eventually got some ribs and tacos. Watched people dance for a while. We swung by the Chamber nightclub to see what was going on there. To our dismay, they were playing some older dance tracks, and the place was a bit empty. We went back to the room, watched a bit of Mission Impossible and went to bed.

Day 4 – Ocho Rios

We ordered breakfast in our room again today, at 8:00am. The food choices are the same for us each time. It’s getting a bit tired. We ate, got ready and went up top to take some pictures. Perfect weather once again. We swiped our SeaPass cards and walked right onto the pier. Passed through the Port Security and did some shopping at the little touristy spots. There are lots of pushy taxi drivers and tour guides trying to give you a ride. One guy offered to take us to a beach where we could drink Red Stripe and smoke some Bob Marley *wink wink*. We declined and continued shopping. We went to the 1000 Islands shopping center, walked through Margaritaville, but it was too early for a crowd. Shop around, because prices on the same merchandise fluctuate from store to store. We bought some very typical touristy merchandise and brought it back to the ship. Grabbed a mini lunch at the Promenade Café (I can’t stress how much I love that place) and went for our snorkeling excursion. Snorkeling too, was new to both of us. The boat took about 20 of us along the coast for about 10 minutes. They stopped, gave some instruction, put life vests on us and let us go. We were in the water for probably about 30 minutes or so. The snorkeling was fun. Only saw two types of fish though. And the coral was mostly just gray stuff. I drank a lot of seawater. The overall experience was great though, and definitely worth the $30 each. On the ride back, they played music and offered free rum punch or Red Stripe for purchase ($3). My fiancée got her hair braided on the boat ride for $45. Probably could have been cheaper. Oh well. After the excursion, we wandered over to the Taj Mahal Shopping center. Bought a painting for $20 and some more souvenirs.

We headed back to the ship at 4:00pm with a slight lineup to board. We hung out in the room and relaxed munching on chips and snacks we bought in the Promenade shop for $3.99 each container. We showered and realized that we both sunburned quite badly. Plus, drinking all that saltwater made us kind of sick. We both napped for a while. I woke up in about an hour, but my fiancée was still not feeling well. Perhaps suffering from a little sunstroke. She went off to bed for the night, so I was alone for the evening. Went up to the Windjammer for dinner with a magazine. Had prime rib, sushi, steak, and smoked salmon. There’s a bit of repetition in the meals now. A waiter stopped by and chatted for a while.

Went to the Variety Showtime presentation that night. The juggler Kristian Kristoff did a longer and better routine. Comedian Carlos Oscar performed. He was a very good storyteller, quite funny. It was a decent show to go and see. Tonight, there was a 70’s party in the Promenade. Entertainment staff performed as the Village People. There was dancing and lots of freebies. At the end, they led a train of people down to the Quest. The Quest Scavenger Hunt is an event you should definitely make it out to. If you want to participate, get there early and sit down by the floor. Have a few drinks and you’ll have a blast. Everybody was invited onto the dance floor, and that gave way to the 80’s Video Dance Party. Entertainers performed as famous acts from the 80’s. Lots of people danced. I hit the floor and danced a little. That finished up, and I wandered over to the Chamber. Every stop by the Chamber so far had been disappointing. Not our favorite music, or the place was empty. Tonight it was jumping though. I ended up dancing for quite a while. Met some people and chatted for a while. Forgot about the Gala Buffet entirely. Oh well. Called it a night, and hit the hay.

Day 5 – Sea Day

Didn’t get room service breakfast today. Just woke up around 9:00am to get ready. We made it up to the Windjammer for breakfast. Pretty much saw the same type of breakfast food there. Had the usual bacon, sausage, and pancakes. Added a made-to-order omelet though. With everything, of course! Only had to wait for one person in front of me. Omelet was great. Much better than room service ones. I was disappointed that I didn’t discover the omelet station earlier in the trip. The other meals today were a blur. Didn’t jot down any notes. So, no more food reports for Day 5.

Today we went around the ship and tried to pick up on some of the activities we missed. First, we went to Studio B for open ice-skating. It was my first time skating! We signed waivers and received our free skates. The skates are rental models; hard plastic boot with buckles. I inline-skate, so I picked up on it quickly. We did loops for about 15 minutes. There were some people on the ice with us, but not too crowded. One group of kids was having a blast out there. There were a couple other beginners, who were entertaining to watch. One guy took a pretty bad spill. The skating was definitely fun.

We walked around, and hung about the pool for a little while. We caught a tiny bit of the Mr. Sexy legs competition. Made our way to the sports deck, and watched the Crew vs. Guests dodge ball competition. This was a lot of fun to watch. The crew team lost a few, but dominated for the most part.

Also played another round of mini-golf. Quite a few people playing today, so we had to wait a bit at each hole. Today, we were shooting like pros for some strange reason. Probably because we had other people watching us. We walked over to try the inline skating track. They provided free Rollerblade skates for use. Nice skates. Not a lot of ankle support in these skates though, so they might be a bit tricky for beginners. We shared the track with maybe 6 other people. A couple of them were beginners. The track is the shape of a figure 8, and is wide enough to pass. Another fun little activity.

Also tackled the rock-climbing wall today. We got there 5 minutes before the session started, and didn’t have to wait in line. Signed a waiver, changed shoes, and donned the harness. The girl working the wall went to school in my city. We chatted for a bit. RCCL is famous for that rock climbing wall. I’m a big fan.

We then wandered into the arcade. Put $10 on my SeaPass and played a few games. Air hockey, arcade soccer and a few racing games. Just a little friendly competition between the misses and myself.

Attended the Farewell Production Showtime tonight. Allan Brooks did a ‘Top 10 Stupid Questions’ segment. Funny, but CruiseCritic had already spoiled it, hehe. The main show was ‘Fast Forward’ starring the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers. Singing seemed quite good. Choreography was on point. The sets were interesting too. For me, it seemed to drag on a bit though. There were a few filler songs with nothing too special going on. Was expecting a bit more to happen, considering it was the farewell show.

Tonight, we received our complimentary Crown and Anchor photo frame. Also, our luggage tags came. It’s sad having to have to pack up and leave. Our tags were red,

Which meant 7:30-8:30am departure. We packed up our bags, and left them outside the room. We did a lot of wandering the rest of the night. Taking goofy pictures around the ship. Then off to bed.

Day 6 – Disembarkation

We set our wakeup call for 7:00am. Somewhat surprised that we didn’t hear any announcements and didn’t have our room attendant banging on our door. We got ready, and headed out around 8:00am. No lineups, no crowds. Elevator came quickly. Walked right off the ship with no lines. Customs and immigration took a few minutes, but was relatively easy. We stopped at our luggage terminal, and picked a spot to park. We waited and waited. We saw the same luggage pass over and over and over. Finally after about 45 minutes, our luggage came by. It’s kind of a funny site in the terminal. Everyone looks so tired and sad. We felt the same way. My legs were still wobbly and my vision still rocked a little. The boat was moving a fair bit the last day and night. My sea legs didn’t go away until two days after getting off the boat.

We did things a bit backwards, and planned an extra night in Miami after our cruise. We took a taxi to South Beach and dropped off our luggage at the Greenview Hotel. We walked over to the Lincoln Road Pedestrian Mall. Had breakfast at Starbucks, lunch at Miami Subs Grill and dinner at the 11th Street Diner. Wandered up and down Collins and Ocean Drive. Went out to Mansion nightclub. Then hit they hay. In the morning we took the amphibious vehicle Duck Tour. This was the end of the trip! Back to MIA, for our flight back to DTW.

Random Notes:

- Gym facility is very nice. The hot tub there is great, and not nearly as busy as the outdoor ones.

- Labadee is a nice relaxed little stop. Waverunners were amazing.

- Ocho Rios snorkeling was a good experience. Wish we made it out to Dunn’s River Falls though. We saw pictures in the photo gallery, and it looked fun.

- Ports are fun, but I’m more of a fan of sea days, truthfully.

- I heard that the ship was sold out, but it only seemed cramped the one day, we couldn’t find any seating at the Windjammer for lunch. Otherwise, traffic was decent through the Promenade, and pool level loungers were always available. There were a few long waits for elevators, but we tried to take the stairs as much as possible.

- Rampant kids or teens never caused a problem. Didn’t see a whole lot of young people at all really. Lots of younger couples such as us, though. The drunkest, loudest people we saw were a 40-something couple on formal night.

- The theatre and 3-story dining room were impressive. Quite grand. Those big public spaces should stop you in your tracks.

- Go to the shows and events. Being a part of the planned events makes you feel much more like a part of the whole cruise experience. You’re participating, rather than just being another passenger on the ship.

- I wish the Windjammer had outdoor seating like on the Radiance class. Oh well. Make it to the rear of the Windjammer and grab a seat by the window.

- Food was good in the Windjammer. I notice that people complain that it’s cafeteria food with just burgers and hot dogs sometimes. Then don’t eat just burgers and hot dogs! There’s plenty of other very interesting and very good food there. By the way, the burgers and dogs are good anyways.

- I wasn’t a big fan of the pizza. I had a few slices here and there. Always seemed to be better in the Promenade Café, than in the Windjammer.

- Not much of the food stood out as exotic or gourmet. But many of the simple items and classics were amazing. Donuts, pastries, cakes were all very good.

- Overall the food was a hit. Especially considering that my fiancée is a picky eater. I can pack away a good amount of food, so I was in heaven. Buffet is a truly a gift from God. I love feeling totally bamboozled after a meal.

- The staff was friendly and eager to please. There was lots of hello’s and conversation in the hallways. I only recall one bartender at one of the poolside bars who wasn’t very enthusiastic.

- I don’t think I even want to go on another ship that doesn’t have the Royal Promenade. I think I’ve been spoiled. Also, the Café Promenade was one of my favorite spots on the ship.

- We had so much fun simply playing ping-pong and shuffleboard. There’s so much to do on the ship for any age category. Everyone is amazed when we mention that the ship had a rock wall and a skating rink.

- The colors, the décor, everything looked great. The rooms were bright and clean. Fiancée noted that she loved the lighting in the room, as it made your tan and complexion look great.

- It’s an absolutely beautiful ship. People were cleaning and tidying around the clock. Slight wear and tear, but you won’t even notice unless you’re looking for it.

- Take some time to just wander. Go through the stairwells and hallways of every floor. There’s so much art, photography and memorabilia everywhere.

- Very happy with the 5 day cruise. There’s enough time to do lots, all over the ship. It’s a good time frame. A 4-day cruise might be ok, but I think that a 3-day would leave me unsatisfied.

- Two spending surprises. During budgeting, I totally forgot about photos. Ended up spending about $160 on them. We were very happy with them though. We justified getting then by calling the ‘our engagement photos’. On the other side of things, we spent much less on alcohol than I had expected. We just bought a handful of drinks throughout the trip.

- Easily the best cruise vacation so far, of my few previous experiences. Perfect weather. Celebrated our engagement in style. Amazing activities. Great ship. Couldn’t have asked for more. I’m totally, totally hooked on cruising.

- My fiancée loved the trip, but isn’t as obsessed with cruising as I am. As a first timer- she was blown away by the amenities, service and entire experience. She would definitely cruise again, and would trust RCCL for her next experience.

- Loyal to Royal? So far. I’m hardly even interested in trying any of the ships I’ve read about from other cruise lines. I feel that anything less than Voyager class would be a downgrade. I would like to try Carnival just to be able to compare, though. I’ll give myself a few more years before I considering Celebrity, Princess, NCL or the other lines. Hopefully, the future is filled with plenty of other cruising opportunities!

Our wedding will likely be in September 2008. We probably won’t cruise again before then. But for the honeymoon, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a trip on the Freedom or Liberty…!

Webshots Photo Gallery

http://community.webshots.com/user/johnholler442

Cruise Compasses

Day 1

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/day1page1.jpg

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/day1page2.jpg

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/day1page3.jpg

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/day1page4.jpg

Day 2

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/day2page1.jpg

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/day2page2.jpg

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/day2page3.jpg

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/day2page4.jpg

Day 3

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/day3page1.jpg

Day 4

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/day4page1.jpg

Day 5

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/day5page1.jpg

Other Document Scans

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/welcome1.jpg

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/welcome2.jpg

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/behindthetags.jpg

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/usefulinfo.jpg

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/spa.jpg

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/depart1.jpg

http://www.dressed2kill.ca/cruise/depart2.jpg

Thanks for reading! Hope you survived and enjoyed my ridiculous review!

-John

kittymom65 · May 22, 2007

Congrats on your engagement, and thank you for the wonderful review!

melsdt · May 22, 2007

John, Thanks for your review. It was very enjoyable to read! Congratulations on your engagement :D

emmy · May 22, 2007

Very nice review John..thanks for taking the time to do one. We will sail on Explorer in April. as Canadians we always fly out of Detroit to save money.

Congrats on your upcoming wedding and do try the Freedom class ships.. I love them...

powelweb · May 22, 2007

First, congrats on your engagement- how exciting!

Second, we sailed with you on this 5 night Explorer sailing, and had just as much fun. Didn't we have fantastic weather?

Just to add to your wonderfully detailed review- we did see the Mosaics, and they were amazing- had to remind myself that there were no instruments.

Loved the ice show, but was a little disappointed it was the same show I had seen on my last Explorer sailing in Sept 2002.

yes, the Cafe Promenade is addicting- love those cookies. I kept looking for some butterscotch cookies they had on Mariner last November, but never found them. Tried the sugar free chocolate chip cookies, and they were pretty good.

Thanks again for your review- brings back wonderful memories.

Wendy

Waterdog43 · May 22, 2007

Congrats on your engagement!

Loved your review, thanks for taking time out and doing one. :)

Your pictures were great also!!!! :)

Linda

DPurcell58 · May 22, 2007

Nice review. How did you get your purchased photos on Webshots? Just curious.

juniorsmom · May 22, 2007

Congrats on your engagement. we were on the cruise before you and we had a great time. We are from Mississauga and I would do a cruise again in a minute.

ChristieNJ · May 22, 2007

Congrats, John! And thanks for that awesome and VERY well detailed review!!! Can't wait to go back on her this coming October! :) And now even more excited after reading your review. Going to look at your pics now!!!

perkyblue · May 22, 2007

Thanks for the great review and pics! In 11 weeks, I'll be on Explorer - Your review and pics have me even more excited now!

Sorry to hear that your dining arrangements were so messed up!

Congrats on the engagement -- What an exciting way to start a vacation!

wolfcathorse · May 22, 2007

You make a lovely couple! Nice pictures!

It'sRC4ME · May 22, 2007

Great review - I especially appreciate your use of actual paragraphs, instead of just blurting the whole thing out in one impossible to read block.

Also, good job on scanning the compasses - so many times they come out too small to really read.

ultimatecruisemaster · May 22, 2007

Hey everyone. Thanks for the kind words. Keep 'em coming, hehe.

Also wanna give a shout out to the MSRDT - Manatee Search and Rescue Dive Team. They were the CC Roll Call group. I said hi and introduced myself in the Roll Call prior to sailing, but unfortunately never met up with the group. I know they all had a blast though, they're a hilarious group.

Get in on those Roll Calls and make some friends, everyone!

Emmy: Spirit Airlines has some ridiculous specials to Fort Lauderdale. The airport is about a 45 minutes drive from Windsor, so we always fly from there too.

Powelweb: Summer in my hometown is very humid and smoggy. It was nice and hot, but we especially loved the dry, clean air. Catching a really fresh, soft batch of cookies is great.

DPurcell58: The purchased photos were all just scanned and uploaded to my webshots. I used a pretty high quality Samsung all-in-one.

juniorsmom: We kept flip-flopping about which date we wanted to pick for the cruise. We ended up choosing the May 4th because of cheaper flights.

ChristieNJ: Thanks for the 'All Things Explorer' thread. I've browsed that more than a few times.

Everyone who will be going on the Explorer in the future: As you've read before, a cruise is what you make of it. We were excited, we tried to be adventurous, and we didn't sweat the small stuff. Have a good time, it's an awesome ship.

NEPhillyLizzie · May 22, 2007

Congrats John. Will you guys cruise for your honeymoon. Thanks for sharing pics and the diary. I felt like I was there.

polarismom · May 22, 2007

Great Job!! Thanks so much!! Bravo on the Engagement!! You look like a wonderful couple enjoy Life!!! Polarismom of 4

Apoggi · May 22, 2007

John,

Thanks for that great review. Loved your pictures. You make a lovely couple. Congrats on the engagement. I really liked reading the compasses to see all the things going on around the ship. Can't wait til January when we will have 12 days of Explorer enjoyment.

Thanks again.

Ann

dolfinmusic · May 22, 2007

Congratulations on your engagement!! Thanks for the review and pics! I can't wait until the end of October! :D

KillaFee · May 22, 2007

That review was great - I love your enthusiasm! You guys are adorable couple - congrats on the engagement! :D

Laura

Latvish · May 23, 2007

Hey John Congrats on the engagement and I know we did not hook up on the cruise. But I know you saw me in my grass skirt for both the belly flop contest and the Sexy Legs contest.

Your review was very good and we also used room service every morning.

As Captain of the MSRDT I appreciate the shout out.

And since I am just over the river and up a few miles from Detroit...OK maybe 93 miles north.

We will try to hook you up for a Freedom or Liberty Honeymoon cruise.

Contact Sue on the Explorer boards as she is the accountant:eek: :rolleyes:

Hey everyone. Thanks for the kind words. Keep 'em coming, hehe.

Also wanna give a shout out to the MSRDT - Manatee Search and Rescue Dive Team. They were the CC Roll Call group. I said hi and introduced myself in the Roll Call prior to sailing, but unfortunately never met up with the group. I know they all had a blast though, they're a hilarious group.

Get in on those Roll Calls and make some friends, everyone!

Emmy: Spirit Airlines has some ridiculous specials to Fort Lauderdale. The airport is about a 45 minutes drive from Windsor, so we always fly from there too.

Powelweb: Summer in my hometown is very humid and smoggy. It was nice and hot, but we especially loved the dry, clean air. Catching a really fresh, soft batch of cookies is great.

DPurcell58: The purchased photos were all just scanned and uploaded to my webshots. I used a pretty high quality Samsung all-in-one.

juniorsmom: We kept flip-flopping about which date we wanted to pick for the cruise. We ended up choosing the May 4th because of cheaper flights.

ChristieNJ: Thanks for the 'All Things Explorer' thread. I've browsed that more than a few times.

Everyone who will be going on the Explorer in the future: As you've read before, a cruise is what you make of it. We were excited, we tried to be adventurous, and we didn't sweat the small stuff. Have a good time, it's an awesome ship.

Grammy111 · May 23, 2007

Thank you,John, I really enjoyed your trip! We will be going on the Explorer next Jan. and we can't wait to see her again.

AdMaven · May 23, 2007

Wonderful review; I gained 5 lbs just reading it! Congratulations on the engagement!

debalex · May 23, 2007

Fantastic review, John! Not too wordy at all for all of us cruise fanatics! :D

I just wish you had been on one of the 12 day cruises so we could have all those cruise compasses, too! ;)

Congrats on the engagement and a great cruise! :)

BILL-WI · May 23, 2007

First..CONGRATS!

Second, I look at all the new WebShots cruise photos everyday, and saw your photos over the past weekend. Now I can put a story to the wonderful photos.

Thanks for sharing!

BILL

Amy from Delaware · May 23, 2007

John,

I want to add my congratulations and thanks along with everyone else.

I was looking at the Compasses, and it looks like days 3, 4, and 5 only have the first page (posted 4 times each). Do you have scans of the other pages for those days?

Thanks!

Three Rings

ultimatecruisemaster · May 23, 2007

Good eye, Three Rings.

I copied and pasted the links, and forgot to change the numbers in the file names. The full set of corrected links is below. I can't seem to go back and edit my original post anymore.