Just back from Explorer 12 day!

[above sea level cruiser]

Did they upgrade the beds? Did you have to take a bus to get your luggage or could you walk to it and then have somone pick you up after they went to the parking lot to get the car?

 

I'm not sure if they upgraded the beds or not - it sure seems like they did, ours was perfectly comfortable and huge!

 

When your colour is called, you walk off the ship, get on a bus and go to the terminal that is about 2 mins away. There there are signs on the wall with your colour & number and the luggage is all lined up.

 

Once you have identified and gathered all of your luggage a porter will assist you with it to the pick up point. My DW stayed with the luggage while I went and got the van. You follow the signs around the terminal to the pick up point (take note of what number you left your luggage at), load your stuff and go! Simple really. Some say it is a pain but we were off the ship at about 9:00AM and in the van on the way home by 9:30AM.

[megr1125]

AGREED! Why can't the smokers have a designated area OUTSIDE???

 

me three!!! smoke where you want..........just not inside the promenade please! ick! on Ex last time, it wasn't too bad, but that was before the no smoking in cabins.

[Maraprince]

You mentioned that there were only 2 midnight buffets during the voyage. What happens on the other nights? Is there anyplace other than room service where you can go to get a light snack? We are late sitting who usually get a small snack and a cup of tea before we turn in. Would like to continue doing so without having to order room service. Pluse my cabin mate is a diabetic who needs to eat every so many hours to counterbalance the insulin taken.

 

 

MARAPRINCE

[megr1125]

I don't expect that you can post all the menus, but was each night different?? do you have any highlights???? (we've cruised RC only so i pretty much know what they have and our 10 nights on Enchantment was actually 2 B2B so the menus were the same.)

 

i can check cruise dailies, but since y'all just got off, maybe you remember??

 

tia

[ABBE]

Did I understand you to say no midnight buffets at all? Does that include the gala midnight buffet, with all the picture perfect food?

[Maraprince]

What can we expect in the way of gifts for returning guests?

 

Any hints to pass along?

 

 

MARAPRINCE:confused:

[seadays4me]

You mentioned that there were only 2 midnight buffets during the voyage. What happens on the other nights? Is there anyplace other than room service where you can go to get a light snack? We are late sitting who usually get a small snack and a cup of tea before we turn in. Would like to continue doing so without having to order room service. Pluse my cabin mate is a diabetic who needs to eat every so many hours to counterbalance the insulin taken.

 

 

MARAPRINCE

 

The Promenade Cafe is open 24 hours for coffee, tea, and light snacks. I know, as I was there one night at 3:00 AM on the Explorer last week.

[citrus]

My husband and I were on the 12 day cruise. Unfortunately we had smokers in the next cabin, smoking constantly on their balcony. This made our balcony unusable due to the smell of smoke for most of the cruise.

 

A solution to this could be for cabins on one side of the ship to be non smoking. Maybe then we could enjoy the balcony which we have paid extra for.

[Maraprince]

The Promenade Cafe is open 24 hours for coffee, tea, and light snacks. I know, as I was there one night at 3:00 AM on the Explorer last week.

 

 

 

 

 

seadays4me,

 

 

That's exactly what we needed to know!

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

MARAPRINCE:D

[seadays4me]

Did I understand you to say no midnight buffets at all? Does that include the gala midnight buffet, with all the picture perfect food?

 

It was cut due to what the Hotel Manager said was a lot of wasted food.

[pach]

What time is early seating for dinner?

[above sea level cruiser]

My husband and I were on the 12 day cruise. Unfortunately we had smokers in the next cabin, smoking constantly on their balcony. This made our balcony unusable due to the smell of smoke for most of the cruise.

 

A solution to this could be for cabins on one side of the ship to be non smoking. Maybe then we could enjoy the balcony which we have paid extra for.

 

 

Don't forget - smoking is no longer allowed is cabins on RCL anymore and the smokers that booked balconies also paid extra to have one.

 

You solution though is a good idea. The only problem would be that if one non-smoker booked the smoking side because that was all that was available, you still would hear the same complaint.

[megr1125]

What time is early seating for dinner?

 

i think it is around 6

[maddea20]

Don't forget - smoking is no longer allowed is cabins on RCL anymore and the smokers that booked balconies also paid extra to have one.

 

You solution though is a good idea. The only problem would be that if one non-smoker booked the smoking side because that was all that was available, you still would hear the same complaint.

 

Oh good no more smoking in all cabins thats even better. I forgot you said that. They can just go outside on the decks now. My roommate on my Sept cruise is a smoker so she will have to just go up and out.

[Maraprince]

We are so looking forward to sitting out on our balcony so I do hope we do not have an issue with our neighbors and smoking. Both my cabin mate and I are non smokers -- I am a breast cancer survivor and cannot be exposed to smoke -- and we do not want to have to stay inside our cabin due to smokers on either side of us. The outside cabins were either located too far up front or on deck 2 which was too low. We are mid ship with a balcony and picked the location for that reason.

 

Just another thing to worry about now!

 

:( :eek:

[above sea level cruiser]

I don't expect that you can post all the menus, but was each night different?? do you have any highlights???? (we've cruised RC only so i pretty much know what they have and our 10 nights on Enchantment was actually 2 B2B so the menus were the same.)

 

i can check cruise dailies, but since y'all just got off, maybe you remember??

 

tia

 

 

Yes each night was pretty much different. Our waiter was amazing and brought us escargot not once, not twice, not three times but FIVE times!

 

Another highlight was something like a mussel - type appetizer served in the escargot dishes - it was absolutely perfect as well.:)

[above sea level cruiser]

We are so looking forward to sitting out on our balcony so I do hope we do not have an issue with our neighbors and smoking. Both my cabin mate and I are non smokers -- I am a breast cancer survivor and cannot be exposed to smoke -- and we do not want to have to stay inside our cabin due to smokers on either side of us. The outside cabins were either located too far up front or on deck 2 which was too low. We are mid ship with a balcony and picked the location for that reason.

 

Just another thing to worry about now!

 

:( :eek:

 

I don't know what you mean by this.:confused:

[Maraprince]

The available outside cabins were either located in the very front of the ship or on deck 2 (which we felt was down too low and we would be either under the dining room or too close to the ice skating rink with lots of traffic passing by) on our sailings. We look to book as mid ship as possible. To do so, we booked a balcony cabin that is located as mid ship as possible.

 

Mid-ship cabins work the best for us because there is less motion during bad weather and high seas. Both us take sea sick pills since we rather be a little sleepy rather than be sick!

 

 

MARAPRINCE

[above sea level cruiser]

The available outside cabins were either located in the very front of the ship or on deck 2 (which we felt was down too low and we would be either under the dining room or too close to the ice skating rink with lots of traffic passing by) on our sailings. We look to book as mid ship as possible. To do so, we booked a balcony cabin that is located as mid ship as possible.

 

Mid-ship cabins work the best for us because there is less motion during bad weather and high seas. Both us take sea sick pills since we rather be a little sleepy rather than be sick!

 

 

MARAPRINCE

 

You should try and aft cabin - we felt next to zero up and down motion but I'm sure those at the front of the ship were going up and down a bit.

[cruiseaholics]

what is the invitation to dance? i'm going on the explorer out of NJ on 3/18 and just trying to get as much "ahead" info as I can. also, are there certain theme nights? i thought i had heard about a red, white, blue night where everyone wore those colors to dinner and another night at dinner was 70's them and clothing. who packs this stuff without knowing ahead of time????? it would be nice if they posted this info before we all packed. :-)

 

also, final clarification needed - is it 2 or 3 formal nights on the 12 night? i've heard both answers.

 

thanks.

 

Polly

Invitation to Dance is an adaptation of Dancing with the Stars where couples audition early in the cruise. The finalists are then taught new moves by the ship's dancers and perform in one of the evening shows.

 

The theme nights are primarily related to the dinner menu, i.e. "Caribbean Night", etc.

 

There were 3 formal nights on this cruise.

What can we expect in the way of gifts for returning guests?

 

Any hints to pass along?

 

 

MARAPRINCE:confused:

We received navy blue tote bags with "Explorer of the Seas" embroidered on them. We also received a copy of the "Savor" cookbook as consolation for having paid the fuel surcharge that RCI recently added.

[above sea level cruiser]

Invitation to Dance is an adaptation of Dancing with the Stars where couples audition early in the cruise. The finalists are then taught new moves by the ship's dancers and perform in one of the evening shows.

 

The theme nights are primarily related to the dinner menu, i.e. "Caribbean Night", etc.

 

There were 3 formal nights on this cruise.

 

We received navy blue tote bags with "Explorer of the Seas" embroidered on them. We also received a copy of the "Savor" cookbook as consolation for having paid the fuel surcharge that RCI recently added.

 

WHAT! We never got a cookbook!:confused:

[cruiseaholics]

WHAT! We never got a cookbook!:confused:

Uh oh. :( Others we spoke to also received it with a letter from RCI. It's about the size of the other books in the cabin but our steward had set it aside with the letter on top of it... could it be that you missed it?

[above sea level cruiser]

Uh oh. :( Others we spoke to also received it with a letter from RCI. It's about the size of the other books in the cabin but our steward had set it aside with the letter on top of it... could it be that you missed it?

 

Possibly - what did the letter say?

[cruiseaholics]

Possibly - what did the letter say?

It talked about the implementation of the fuel surcharge last November and said that since we had an existing reservation when the charge was assessed (and didn't cancel) the cookbook was the "accompanying logo item" the company promised to give to those in our situation.

[above sea level cruiser]

It talked about the implementation of the fuel surcharge last November and said that since we had an existing reservation when the charge was assessed (and didn't cancel) the cookbook was the "accompanying logo item" the company promised to give to those in our situation.

 

Hmmm....I think I might just have to go look in my cabin next Sunday when it gets back. And spend 12 days reading the book.:D