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Review of Explorer of the Seas Western Route - Long



 
 
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Old December 28th, 2005, 08:27 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
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Posts: n/a
Default Review of Explorer of the Seas Western Route - Long

This is a bit lengthy, but hopefully some will find the information of
use. Feel free to copy this and repost anywhere there is an interest.

My wife and I - both of us in our late 50's - went on a 5-day
Western Route cruise just before Christmas (2005). This is
approximately our 20th cruise in as many years. Here are our
observations.

We arrived at the Port of Miami at 1:15 - later than we would usually
arrive, but we had a commitment in the late morning, and then we were
delayed due to an accident on the Florida Turnpike, so that was the
best we could do. We were surprised that the ship was not boarding.
We later learned that the ship boarded from 11 until around 12:30, and
then closed off boarding until 1:45. We do not know why. We had to
wait outside the terminal for a while - the terminal was closed.
Perhaps it was a US customs or security issue, but it was only a mild
inconvenience. Once the lines started moving, the cruise line did a
pretty good job moving people through the registration process, even
though the lines were long. We had pre-registered on line, which is a
good idea by the way. We were shown to a shorter, faster-moving line
for registration, and we were in our cabin by about 2:15. Lunch was
still being served in the Windjammer buffet, so we had a late buffet
lunch on deck 11.

Our luggage was delivered by the time we returned, so we unpacked and
took a brief tour of at least a portion of the ship. If you have not
been on a Voyager-class ship, it is hard to imagine how large it really
is. I am certain that there are areas of the ship we never found in
the five days aboard.

The mandatory lifeboat drill took place at 4:30, as scheduled. We tend
to try to go as late as we can to the drill - that way we do not end
up standing in the back of a huge crowd for half an hour. We timed
this one perfectly. We were among the last to arrive, and we only had
to wait a couple of minutes before listening to the directions and then
getting dismissed. I like the vests on RCL - I have a short, fat
neck (I am a former trumpet player with neck muscles where they are not
supposed to be), and the vests on some other cruise lines are actually
painful to wear. RCL's vests, on the other hand, have a large,
comfortable neck opening, if anybody actually cares.

After waiting until the crowds cleared, we enjoyed the drink of the
day, and then walked around the ship a bit. There is a chapel on deck
15. Deck 14 included the traditional round lounge characteristic of
RCL ships. I have already forgotten what was on the next couple of
decks - I think they were sports decks - and I believe deck 11 was
the pool deck, which also included the Windjammer buffet. We took a
look at the area for kids. There were quite a few kids on board, as
our trip coincided with many school Christmas holidays (to be
politically stupid - I mean politically correct, 'winter'
holidays). The kid's camp was well done - an eight year old at our
table could hardly wait for dinner to end so she could return to the
kid's camp. You rarely saw the kids and yet they had a great time as
well.

We found several lounges and a card room. There was a small library
one floor above, near our room (which was on deck 6) , and an area for
booking future cruises on our floor. Many floors had a nice balcony
view of the Promenade as well from the center area near the elevators.

The Promenade on the Explorer is in the center of the ship, with rooms
overlooking the Promenade area. It is designed like a narrow street
- perhaps suggesting New Orleans (before the flood). There are many
shops, including a Ben and Jerry's ice cream parlor, a Seattle's
Best Coffee Shop, and a pizza place on the "street." Free coffee
and tea as well as free pizza and snacks were available 24 hours a day
in this area. There was a charge for Ben and Jerry's ice cream and
for the fancy versions of the coffee. Free frozen yogurt cones were
available at certain times of the day, by the way, just outside of the
Windjammer area.

The Promenade 'street' was always crowded with people during the
daytime. The shops set up sales areas in the middle of the street to
push the on-board jewelry several times during the cruise, causing
intended congestion. A unique motorized ornament expanded and
contracted above the street all of the time - kind of hard to
describe. The ship held a costumed parade on the Promenade early in
the cruise - it reminded me of the Rio in Las Vegas.

At night the Promenade made for a pleasant stroll, interrupted once in
a while by the 20-something crowd, drinking and conversing loudly in
their normal four-letter word street language. I did not realize the F
word could be used in so many different contexts among friends. All of
the people we saw were very friendly to us though, though, day or
night, no matter what their ages or linguistic limitations.

The ship has two areas for passenger elevators, with two banks of
elevators in each area. There are 12 elevators in the front of the
ship, and twelve in the back. It never seemed like quite enough. Half
of the elevators were glass enclosed, with a view of the promenade and
other areas from the back of the elevator. If I had any complaints
about ship design, it would be a request for a few more elevators. The
ship is so long - it is a pretty good walk to go from one end of the
ship to the other, and it was a bit of a ways to the nearest bank of
elevators.

We prefer the scheduled, formal dinners, and we had an attentive
waitress (I think this was the first time we ever had a female in this
role). We usually finished dining before most of the other passengers,
and therefore thankfully we were able to leave before the singing
waiter extravaganzas in the restaurant. This ship has a three-story
restaurant, with a beautiful setting - balconies overlooking the
other two levels. We were on the top level. A live string quartet
played during most of the dinners, as I recall.

The food prep for the formal dinners was a weakness - it was just not
consistent - some days and some offerings were very fine, and some
were not up to par. As to the good stuff - the beef filets on Formal
Night were wonderful - I did not even need a knife to cut the tender
beef.

Most of the Desserts were fine. The Key Lime Pie and the Boston cream
pie were outstanding. The chocolate cake, however, was dry and
tasteless. I went for ice cream several nights, which was rich and
fine. The Shrimp cocktails were uniformly good, and the turkey on the
final night was moist and well prepared.

Traditional salads were hard to come by - there was never a
traditional tossed salad offered - although our waitress advised on the
second night that she could prepare a plain head lettuce and tomato
alternative every evening (not on the menu, by the way).

Every night there was a chilled soup offering - I found the
Strawberry Bisque to be inferior to Carnival's - it just was not
creamy enough for my taste, and Strawberry Soup is a personal favorite
of mine ever since the Don Ellis recording many years ago (if you are a
jazz lover, you probably know what I mean).

The alternative menu (which I chose twice because the menu offerings
did not appeal to me), featured steak and pasta with Marinara sauce -
the Marinara sauce tasted more like tomato paste - no seasoning at
all. The steak was at best mediocre. My table partners advised that
the lobster was tough and the much of the seafood undercooked.

I was not overjoyed with the menu offerings in general - the Italian
night was especially disappointing as I usually enjoy Italian food.
Menu offerings on Italian night were not to my taste at all.

I had hoped to have dinner in Portofino's (the extra-cost Italian
Restaurant), but there was nothing on that menu that even looked
remotely appetizing to me. I find Carnival, Princess, and Holland
American to have much more appetizing food choices for my
middle-American steak and potatoes tastes. I have always found the
offerings and food prep to be very good on these lines, and although
this was not what I would call bad, it was not what I had hoped for. I
hope RCL continues to refine their choices, and perhaps can learn from
their sister cruise lines as to what to offer.

I suspect the menu offerings are standard current RCL fare, selected by
a committee somewhere. Too bad. I do not think there will be a run on
those RCL cookbooks this season.

The food prep people were not particularly flexible, which I can
understand with 3000 plus guests to feed. I had found exceptional
flexibility on some other RCL cruises (my wife has some digestive
problems, and in some cases, the kitchens even made special food for
her). We did not request that on this ship - somehow it just looked
like it would not happen if we did. Even simple requests for slight
changes in the menu were out of reach - for example, on the final
night, I asked for white meat of Turkey - the waitress nodded and
appeared to understand, which to me implied that I would get white
meat. Naively I expected white meat. Instead I got the standard
white/dark meat plate.

The assistant waiter was excellent, as is often the case. My glass of
iced tea was never empty - she filled it constantly - often I did
not even notice until I reached for the glass. Bread and rolls are
excellent on most ships, and this was no exception. They are one of my
weaknesses. There was one formal night - the second night, oddly
enough.

On formal night, the ship's photographers seemed to take a break
whenever we were looking for them. People had to cue up in lines
waiting for photographers to show up to take pictures on formal night.
Odd - you usually fall over them (as a matter of fact, I did fall
over one a few years ago on a Holland American cruise - my back is
still sore).

Food service and quality at the buffet was great. We ate there for
breakfast and lunch every day. I never saw so many different food
offerings on a cruise ship buffet. Breakfast offerings included the
standard made-to-order eggs and omelets - the unique thing on this
ship was that the cue lines were never long. We had not experienced
that before on any ship. Perhaps it was our timing, or perhaps it was
just good engineering on the part of RCL, but it was amazing. RCL did
a masterful job of people flow management - there was never a line of
more than 3-4 people. I do not know how they did it, but the people
flow at the buffets was amazing.

The Midnight Buffet (actually at 12:30) was held on the 3rd night. It
was magnificent. We usually do not bother to go to these, but that
night I was doing well in the Casino and we were up later than usual,
so we went to take a look. Wow. 20 or more large ice carvings, and
very creative food presentations spread out over a large area made for
a beautiful buffet. We did not stay to eat however, just took a look
before retiring.

My wife and I have always enjoyed the ship layout of RCL ships, and
this mega-monster was no exception. The lounges are spread out around
the ship, and there was a large variety of entertainment available in
the afternoon and evening. Unlike Carnival, where all activities are
usually side-by-side, the RCL concept seems more relaxed and more
elegant.

The primary show lounge was quite large, and the seating unusually
comfortable. We were able to find good seating without having to make
a mad dash for the theater, as we normally had to do on many other
ships. The first evening entertainer was a singer - not a lame
cruise director doing impressions, as we had often experienced. The
singer was the man who sang the Happy Days theme song - he was very
entertaining (and I am not too enthused about singers in general). The
second night was a good production show - not as well designed as
many of the Carnival shows we had seen, but still well done. The third
night was Marty Allen and his wife. A funny, clean comedian - a
dying breed. They were great. The fourth night was another production
show, better than the first one. The final night was the RCL version
of the newlywed game - done on every cruise forever, but always
somewhat entertaining.

The sound system in the theater was very well done - voices could be
heard with clarity and you did not need earplugs to dampen the volume
(a Carnival problem on many of the Fantasy-class ships, we have found).
Bar service there was prompt and pleasant - I notice that the
tickets you sign now have an area to add an increased tip if you chose
to do so - we did not notice that on prior cruises. The basic tip
was already added in. The waiters in the theatre remembered our drink
orders and brought them promptly each evening. One waiter even
remembered our names. A nice touch.

One minor disappointment for this former professional musician - the
band was too small for the size of the venue. There were 5 winds (2
saxes, 2 trumpets, and 1 trombone), and 4 rhythm (keyboard, guitar,
bass and drums). I could rarely hear the bass. You just cannot
support the chordal structure of many tunes with so few players and
with this mix. They really needed more winds - one more sax and two
more brass would have gone a long way towards making the orchestra
sound like an orchestra. I am sure many of the passengers did not
care, though. Oh, well.

Daytime entertainment included the dreaded art auctions (yuck), as well
as a series of games from the name-that-tune levels to the more
athletic games. RCL does not deluge you with announcements about their
activities - you have to search them out in many cases.
Unfortunately, the daily activities paper does not explain what many of
the activities are. We went to a couple of activities that were not
what we expected, and probably missed some that we would have liked to
attend. RCL, however, does announce their art auctions and their bingo
games. I really dislike those art auctions, but I realize they make
big bucks for the cruise line, and although I like to gamble in the
casino, Bingo is not for me..

The timing of activities on RCL and Holland American (although the
median age of passengers on Holland American seems to be around 85 or
so - last time I went on Holland American I took my 82 year old
mother, and some guy hit on her...but I digress) seem superior to
Carnival to me - you can do most anything you want to do without
missing some other event - on Carnival activities always seem in
conflict with one another - poorly scheduled. If only we could have
figured out what some of the activities were. We found 'Majority
Rules' to be a pleasant game, but we had no idea what it was or even
that it was a group game when we went to see about it. We did not know
that 'Family Quest' or some similar thing was for families with
little kids, nor did many of the others that were there. I think the
people who prepare the daily activities guides see these activities and
games so often that they forget that passengers may not know what they
are. I mentioned it to the Cruise Director and wrote it on the comment
card - it will be interesting to see if they do anything about it. I
will not hold my breath.

In addition to a popular rock climbing wall and a full miniature golf
course, as well as a golf simulator, Explorer of the Seas has an
ice-skating rink on a lower deck. The ice rink is open to the public
during the day, and they have a featured show there on two nights.
Their ice show was simply spectacular - the quality of the skaters
and the design of the show were wonderful. At the ice show, you are
seated in a small theater, where you are only inches away from the
skaters as they do their leaps and act out their roles in the
mini-play. Seating is limited, and you have to get tickets in advance
so that they do not over-crowd the arena. We thoroughly enjoyed this
event.

You have to get tickets for the ice show well in advance - I suggest
getting these tickets at the first opportunity. I waited in line
twice, and asked for tickets (free) for two evenings, and we attended
both. This was a highlight for us - probably the highlight of the
cruise. We highly recommend the ice show for anyone who plans a trip
on the Explorer in the future.

On the second afternoon, we attended a presentation about the
scientific studies done aboard the ship. We were surprised to learn
that data from this specific ship is sent to the Weather Service and is
used to calculate and predict hurricanes and other weather-related
phenomenon. The information was interesting, but the presentation very
dry and as a result, it was at times a little boring. A tour of the
scientific labs was available, but the lecturer had pretty well put us
to sleep, so spent some time relaxing before dinner.

Our cabin was very nice by cruise ship standards. There was a small
private balcony with a sliding glass door. It took a while to figure
out how to slide the darned door - you have to rotate the door
handle, which lifts the door up onto its rollers, making it easier to
move. The bathroom, although small as always, had a practical floor
plan. The shower had a rotating plastic door, which could be moved out
of the way on tracks. There was comfortable room to shower for a
change. There was a lot of storage for bathroom items, and enough room
to use the facilities - often not the case on cruise ships. The bed
was large, but not very comfortable compared to some other ships. The
mattress, though, was hard and uneven. Lots of storage cabinets, along
with a full couch, made the room practical and comfortable, although
space in cruise ship cabins is always a little small. Where did they
find that huge cabin they used on the Love Boat series years ago? Must
have been 'artistic license.'

Seas were very smooth on the first three nights - you would not have
known you were at sea. I began to think it was because of the size of
the ship, but seas were a little rougher the final nights, and the ship
moved around a bit. It had an unusual motion in higher seas - a
little more 'jerky' than the other smaller cruise ships we had been
on in the past, rather than the side-to-side sway that we had
expected.. Still, the motion of the ocean was minimal, even though we
were on an upper deck in an aft balcony cabin. This unusual motion did
not cause the queasy feelings that my wife sometimes experiences at
sea.

Ports of call were Costa Maya Mexico and Grand Cayman. We have been to
these ports before, and so this time we did not plan to spend much time
ashore. We did some souvenir shopping near the ports for relatives,
but we did not take any of the tours. Grand Cayman was in pretty good
shape considering the recent hurricanes. There was still a lot of
construction (or perhaps re-construction) going on, but Georgetown
looked pretty good overall. We did not go inland very far in Mexico,
but we were surprised to see that the port at Costa Maya had been built
up quite a bit since our last visit there, several years ago. There is
now a larger, landscaped enclosed shopping area at the port, similar in
some ways to the pre-storm port area at Cozumel. In many respects I
think they tried to duplicate the Cozumel experience in miniature.
There are a lot of shops, all with the customary overpriced goods, as
well as an Internet café. A live band performed, with costumed
dancers. A large fountain in the center was designed for kids to play
in, and was enjoyed by a lot of the kids on the ship. A few sale items
were competitively priced at times, but as a whole, everything was
typically cruise-ship high.

A point of interest - the Internet café (called the 'Mayan
Connection) in the shopping area only charged $3.00 for ˝ hour of
Internet usage (VS 50 cents a minute on-board ship). The shipboard
Internet system was very, very slow and did not work properly when it
did function. I could not access my AOL e-mail on board ship, despite
having spent $15 in time while waiting for the system to find the
websites. The RCL Internet system makes phone line connections look
like Road Runner. The ship system apparently normally can access AOL,
but not on this cruise. I highly recommend the 'Mayan Connection'
Internet service if you make this port of call, and I would discourage
use of the on-board Internet access unless you are desperate.

Disembarking upon our return to the US was a slow process. RCL, to
their credit, advised the approximate departure times in advance for
different color luggage tags. We were in no rush, and our luggage tags
were the second-last color scheduled. The ship served breakfast until
9 AM on departure day as well, and they had CNN on TV in the primary
show lounge to help pass the time. We slept until 8, had a nice
breakfast, returned to the room to freshen up, and then went to the
library area to wait for the departure call. The call came about 20
minutes earlier than the printed estimate of disembarking time.

When our luggage tag color was called, we went to the exit deck, where
we waited to exit the ship for about 15 minutes, as people continued to
squeeze into the line ahead of us (the line was routed near the
elevators, and was not well controlled). We were in no hurry, so it
was more a question of watching how rude people could be. It was
mostly the kids in their 20's that pushed ahead of everyone else. I
guess they had places to go and things to see that simply could not
wait.

Once we exited the ship and went ashore, we found ourselves in yet
another line, waiting for a customs agent to review our documents. We
were fortunate here, as the customs agents routed us to relatively
short line. I laughed to myself as we were routed past many of those
who had pressed into the line to go ashore ahead of us.

After about a fifteen-minute wait, a friendly customs agent reviewed
our documents, and we then went to the luggage area. To our surprise,
our luggage had not yet been unloaded - but it came on an
airline-like conveyor in a few minutes. We were happy to be able to go
straight to the car once we got our luggage. No further delays this
time (nothing like having your dirty clothes unpacked and inspected in
detail - which had been the case on a few previous cruises).

The Port of Miami did not pre-charge parked cars - you paid on the
way out - so there was a bit of a wait to exit the parking garage.
Parking is now $12 per day. Some of those friendly young folks who
were in a huge hurry were in a shouting match near the garage exit,
making for some more free entertainment as we went to the car. Vandals
had knocked out the lights in the only working parking garage elevator,
so we went up to the 4th floor of the garage in total darkness along
with some other brave folks. Fortunately, the elevator made it and so
did we.

We made a wrong turn exiting the garage (there is little or no
signage), and as a result, we drove around the port a bit before we
found the correct exit. Eventually we got out of there and headed home
in moderate traffic.

All in all, we really enjoyed our trip on the Explorer. The ship has a
pleasant, practical layout. It is less art-deco than many of the
Carnival ships, and has a less formal feel than many of the Holland
American ships. In listening to other passengers, the biggest
complaints were related to the food, and as I said earlier - in our
view, it was just inconsistent - some things were wonderful, and some
were not. Given the opportunity and the extremely favorable pricing
that long time travel agent, Ray Goldenberg at Lighthouse Travel found
for us, we would definitely take this ship again.

  #2  
Old December 29th, 2005, 04:05 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Review of Explorer of the Seas Western Route - Long

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed review. I really
enjoyed reading it!

KimMCarr
"RJQMAN" wrote in message
oups.com...
This is a bit lengthy, but hopefully some will find the information of
use. Feel free to copy this and repost anywhere there is an interest.

My wife and I - both of us in our late 50's - went on a 5-day
Western Route cruise just before Christmas (2005). This is
approximately our 20th cruise in as many years. Here are our
observations.

We arrived at the Port of Miami at 1:15 - later than we would usually
arrive, but we had a commitment in the late morning, and then we were
delayed due to an accident on the Florida Turnpike, so that was the
best we could do. We were surprised that the ship was not boarding.
We later learned that the ship boarded from 11 until around 12:30, and
then closed off boarding until 1:45. We do not know why. We had to
wait outside the terminal for a while - the terminal was closed.
Perhaps it was a US customs or security issue, but it was only a mild
inconvenience. Once the lines started moving, the cruise line did a
pretty good job moving people through the registration process, even
though the lines were long. We had pre-registered on line, which is a
good idea by the way. We were shown to a shorter, faster-moving line
for registration, and we were in our cabin by about 2:15. Lunch was
still being served in the Windjammer buffet, so we had a late buffet
lunch on deck 11.

Our luggage was delivered by the time we returned, so we unpacked and
took a brief tour of at least a portion of the ship. If you have not
been on a Voyager-class ship, it is hard to imagine how large it really
is. I am certain that there are areas of the ship we never found in
the five days aboard.

The mandatory lifeboat drill took place at 4:30, as scheduled. We tend
to try to go as late as we can to the drill - that way we do not end
up standing in the back of a huge crowd for half an hour. We timed
this one perfectly. We were among the last to arrive, and we only had
to wait a couple of minutes before listening to the directions and then
getting dismissed. I like the vests on RCL - I have a short, fat
neck (I am a former trumpet player with neck muscles where they are not
supposed to be), and the vests on some other cruise lines are actually
painful to wear. RCL's vests, on the other hand, have a large,
comfortable neck opening, if anybody actually cares.

After waiting until the crowds cleared, we enjoyed the drink of the
day, and then walked around the ship a bit. There is a chapel on deck
15. Deck 14 included the traditional round lounge characteristic of
RCL ships. I have already forgotten what was on the next couple of
decks - I think they were sports decks - and I believe deck 11 was
the pool deck, which also included the Windjammer buffet. We took a
look at the area for kids. There were quite a few kids on board, as
our trip coincided with many school Christmas holidays (to be
politically stupid - I mean politically correct, 'winter'
holidays). The kid's camp was well done - an eight year old at our
table could hardly wait for dinner to end so she could return to the
kid's camp. You rarely saw the kids and yet they had a great time as
well.

We found several lounges and a card room. There was a small library
one floor above, near our room (which was on deck 6) , and an area for
booking future cruises on our floor. Many floors had a nice balcony
view of the Promenade as well from the center area near the elevators.

The Promenade on the Explorer is in the center of the ship, with rooms
overlooking the Promenade area. It is designed like a narrow street
- perhaps suggesting New Orleans (before the flood). There are many
shops, including a Ben and Jerry's ice cream parlor, a Seattle's
Best Coffee Shop, and a pizza place on the "street." Free coffee
and tea as well as free pizza and snacks were available 24 hours a day
in this area. There was a charge for Ben and Jerry's ice cream and
for the fancy versions of the coffee. Free frozen yogurt cones were
available at certain times of the day, by the way, just outside of the
Windjammer area.

The Promenade 'street' was always crowded with people during the
daytime. The shops set up sales areas in the middle of the street to
push the on-board jewelry several times during the cruise, causing
intended congestion. A unique motorized ornament expanded and
contracted above the street all of the time - kind of hard to
describe. The ship held a costumed parade on the Promenade early in
the cruise - it reminded me of the Rio in Las Vegas.

At night the Promenade made for a pleasant stroll, interrupted once in
a while by the 20-something crowd, drinking and conversing loudly in
their normal four-letter word street language. I did not realize the F
word could be used in so many different contexts among friends. All of
the people we saw were very friendly to us though, though, day or
night, no matter what their ages or linguistic limitations.

The ship has two areas for passenger elevators, with two banks of
elevators in each area. There are 12 elevators in the front of the
ship, and twelve in the back. It never seemed like quite enough. Half
of the elevators were glass enclosed, with a view of the promenade and
other areas from the back of the elevator. If I had any complaints
about ship design, it would be a request for a few more elevators. The
ship is so long - it is a pretty good walk to go from one end of the
ship to the other, and it was a bit of a ways to the nearest bank of
elevators.

We prefer the scheduled, formal dinners, and we had an attentive
waitress (I think this was the first time we ever had a female in this
role). We usually finished dining before most of the other passengers,
and therefore thankfully we were able to leave before the singing
waiter extravaganzas in the restaurant. This ship has a three-story
restaurant, with a beautiful setting - balconies overlooking the
other two levels. We were on the top level. A live string quartet
played during most of the dinners, as I recall.

The food prep for the formal dinners was a weakness - it was just not
consistent - some days and some offerings were very fine, and some
were not up to par. As to the good stuff - the beef filets on Formal
Night were wonderful - I did not even need a knife to cut the tender
beef.

Most of the Desserts were fine. The Key Lime Pie and the Boston cream
pie were outstanding. The chocolate cake, however, was dry and
tasteless. I went for ice cream several nights, which was rich and
fine. The Shrimp cocktails were uniformly good, and the turkey on the
final night was moist and well prepared.

Traditional salads were hard to come by - there was never a
traditional tossed salad offered - although our waitress advised on the
second night that she could prepare a plain head lettuce and tomato
alternative every evening (not on the menu, by the way).

Every night there was a chilled soup offering - I found the
Strawberry Bisque to be inferior to Carnival's - it just was not
creamy enough for my taste, and Strawberry Soup is a personal favorite
of mine ever since the Don Ellis recording many years ago (if you are a
jazz lover, you probably know what I mean).

The alternative menu (which I chose twice because the menu offerings
did not appeal to me), featured steak and pasta with Marinara sauce -
the Marinara sauce tasted more like tomato paste - no seasoning at
all. The steak was at best mediocre. My table partners advised that
the lobster was tough and the much of the seafood undercooked.

I was not overjoyed with the menu offerings in general - the Italian
night was especially disappointing as I usually enjoy Italian food.
Menu offerings on Italian night were not to my taste at all.

I had hoped to have dinner in Portofino's (the extra-cost Italian
Restaurant), but there was nothing on that menu that even looked
remotely appetizing to me. I find Carnival, Princess, and Holland
American to have much more appetizing food choices for my
middle-American steak and potatoes tastes. I have always found the
offerings and food prep to be very good on these lines, and although
this was not what I would call bad, it was not what I had hoped for. I
hope RCL continues to refine their choices, and perhaps can learn from
their sister cruise lines as to what to offer.

I suspect the menu offerings are standard current RCL fare, selected by
a committee somewhere. Too bad. I do not think there will be a run on
those RCL cookbooks this season.

The food prep people were not particularly flexible, which I can
understand with 3000 plus guests to feed. I had found exceptional
flexibility on some other RCL cruises (my wife has some digestive
problems, and in some cases, the kitchens even made special food for
her). We did not request that on this ship - somehow it just looked
like it would not happen if we did. Even simple requests for slight
changes in the menu were out of reach - for example, on the final
night, I asked for white meat of Turkey - the waitress nodded and
appeared to understand, which to me implied that I would get white
meat. Naively I expected white meat. Instead I got the standard
white/dark meat plate.

The assistant waiter was excellent, as is often the case. My glass of
iced tea was never empty - she filled it constantly - often I did
not even notice until I reached for the glass. Bread and rolls are
excellent on most ships, and this was no exception. They are one of my
weaknesses. There was one formal night - the second night, oddly
enough.

On formal night, the ship's photographers seemed to take a break
whenever we were looking for them. People had to cue up in lines
waiting for photographers to show up to take pictures on formal night.
Odd - you usually fall over them (as a matter of fact, I did fall
over one a few years ago on a Holland American cruise - my back is
still sore).

Food service and quality at the buffet was great. We ate there for
breakfast and lunch every day. I never saw so many different food
offerings on a cruise ship buffet. Breakfast offerings included the
standard made-to-order eggs and omelets - the unique thing on this
ship was that the cue lines were never long. We had not experienced
that before on any ship. Perhaps it was our timing, or perhaps it was
just good engineering on the part of RCL, but it was amazing. RCL did
a masterful job of people flow management - there was never a line of
more than 3-4 people. I do not know how they did it, but the people
flow at the buffets was amazing.

The Midnight Buffet (actually at 12:30) was held on the 3rd night. It
was magnificent. We usually do not bother to go to these, but that
night I was doing well in the Casino and we were up later than usual,
so we went to take a look. Wow. 20 or more large ice carvings, and
very creative food presentations spread out over a large area made for
a beautiful buffet. We did not stay to eat however, just took a look
before retiring.

My wife and I have always enjoyed the ship layout of RCL ships, and
this mega-monster was no exception. The lounges are spread out around
the ship, and there was a large variety of entertainment available in
the afternoon and evening. Unlike Carnival, where all activities are
usually side-by-side, the RCL concept seems more relaxed and more
elegant.

The primary show lounge was quite large, and the seating unusually
comfortable. We were able to find good seating without having to make
a mad dash for the theater, as we normally had to do on many other
ships. The first evening entertainer was a singer - not a lame
cruise director doing impressions, as we had often experienced. The
singer was the man who sang the Happy Days theme song - he was very
entertaining (and I am not too enthused about singers in general). The
second night was a good production show - not as well designed as
many of the Carnival shows we had seen, but still well done. The third
night was Marty Allen and his wife. A funny, clean comedian - a
dying breed. They were great. The fourth night was another production
show, better than the first one. The final night was the RCL version
of the newlywed game - done on every cruise forever, but always
somewhat entertaining.

The sound system in the theater was very well done - voices could be
heard with clarity and you did not need earplugs to dampen the volume
(a Carnival problem on many of the Fantasy-class ships, we have found).
Bar service there was prompt and pleasant - I notice that the
tickets you sign now have an area to add an increased tip if you chose
to do so - we did not notice that on prior cruises. The basic tip
was already added in. The waiters in the theatre remembered our drink
orders and brought them promptly each evening. One waiter even
remembered our names. A nice touch.

One minor disappointment for this former professional musician - the
band was too small for the size of the venue. There were 5 winds (2
saxes, 2 trumpets, and 1 trombone), and 4 rhythm (keyboard, guitar,
bass and drums). I could rarely hear the bass. You just cannot
support the chordal structure of many tunes with so few players and
with this mix. They really needed more winds - one more sax and two
more brass would have gone a long way towards making the orchestra
sound like an orchestra. I am sure many of the passengers did not
care, though. Oh, well.

Daytime entertainment included the dreaded art auctions (yuck), as well
as a series of games from the name-that-tune levels to the more
athletic games. RCL does not deluge you with announcements about their
activities - you have to search them out in many cases.
Unfortunately, the daily activities paper does not explain what many of
the activities are. We went to a couple of activities that were not
what we expected, and probably missed some that we would have liked to
attend. RCL, however, does announce their art auctions and their bingo
games. I really dislike those art auctions, but I realize they make
big bucks for the cruise line, and although I like to gamble in the
casino, Bingo is not for me..

The timing of activities on RCL and Holland American (although the
median age of passengers on Holland American seems to be around 85 or
so - last time I went on Holland American I took my 82 year old
mother, and some guy hit on her...but I digress) seem superior to
Carnival to me - you can do most anything you want to do without
missing some other event - on Carnival activities always seem in
conflict with one another - poorly scheduled. If only we could have
figured out what some of the activities were. We found 'Majority
Rules' to be a pleasant game, but we had no idea what it was or even
that it was a group game when we went to see about it. We did not know
that 'Family Quest' or some similar thing was for families with
little kids, nor did many of the others that were there. I think the
people who prepare the daily activities guides see these activities and
games so often that they forget that passengers may not know what they
are. I mentioned it to the Cruise Director and wrote it on the comment
card - it will be interesting to see if they do anything about it. I
will not hold my breath.

In addition to a popular rock climbing wall and a full miniature golf
course, as well as a golf simulator, Explorer of the Seas has an
ice-skating rink on a lower deck. The ice rink is open to the public
during the day, and they have a featured show there on two nights.
Their ice show was simply spectacular - the quality of the skaters
and the design of the show were wonderful. At the ice show, you are
seated in a small theater, where you are only inches away from the
skaters as they do their leaps and act out their roles in the
mini-play. Seating is limited, and you have to get tickets in advance
so that they do not over-crowd the arena. We thoroughly enjoyed this
event.

You have to get tickets for the ice show well in advance - I suggest
getting these tickets at the first opportunity. I waited in line
twice, and asked for tickets (free) for two evenings, and we attended
both. This was a highlight for us - probably the highlight of the
cruise. We highly recommend the ice show for anyone who plans a trip
on the Explorer in the future.

On the second afternoon, we attended a presentation about the
scientific studies done aboard the ship. We were surprised to learn
that data from this specific ship is sent to the Weather Service and is
used to calculate and predict hurricanes and other weather-related
phenomenon. The information was interesting, but the presentation very
dry and as a result, it was at times a little boring. A tour of the
scientific labs was available, but the lecturer had pretty well put us
to sleep, so spent some time relaxing before dinner.

Our cabin was very nice by cruise ship standards. There was a small
private balcony with a sliding glass door. It took a while to figure
out how to slide the darned door - you have to rotate the door
handle, which lifts the door up onto its rollers, making it easier to
move. The bathroom, although small as always, had a practical floor
plan. The shower had a rotating plastic door, which could be moved out
of the way on tracks. There was comfortable room to shower for a
change. There was a lot of storage for bathroom items, and enough room
to use the facilities - often not the case on cruise ships. The bed
was large, but not very comfortable compared to some other ships. The
mattress, though, was hard and uneven. Lots of storage cabinets, along
with a full couch, made the room practical and comfortable, although
space in cruise ship cabins is always a little small. Where did they
find that huge cabin they used on the Love Boat series years ago? Must
have been 'artistic license.'

Seas were very smooth on the first three nights - you would not have
known you were at sea. I began to think it was because of the size of
the ship, but seas were a little rougher the final nights, and the ship
moved around a bit. It had an unusual motion in higher seas - a
little more 'jerky' than the other smaller cruise ships we had been
on in the past, rather than the side-to-side sway that we had
expected.. Still, the motion of the ocean was minimal, even though we
were on an upper deck in an aft balcony cabin. This unusual motion did
not cause the queasy feelings that my wife sometimes experiences at
sea.

Ports of call were Costa Maya Mexico and Grand Cayman. We have been to
these ports before, and so this time we did not plan to spend much time
ashore. We did some souvenir shopping near the ports for relatives,
but we did not take any of the tours. Grand Cayman was in pretty good
shape considering the recent hurricanes. There was still a lot of
construction (or perhaps re-construction) going on, but Georgetown
looked pretty good overall. We did not go inland very far in Mexico,
but we were surprised to see that the port at Costa Maya had been built
up quite a bit since our last visit there, several years ago. There is
now a larger, landscaped enclosed shopping area at the port, similar in
some ways to the pre-storm port area at Cozumel. In many respects I
think they tried to duplicate the Cozumel experience in miniature.
There are a lot of shops, all with the customary overpriced goods, as
well as an Internet café. A live band performed, with costumed
dancers. A large fountain in the center was designed for kids to play
in, and was enjoyed by a lot of the kids on the ship. A few sale items
were competitively priced at times, but as a whole, everything was
typically cruise-ship high.

A point of interest - the Internet café (called the 'Mayan
Connection) in the shopping area only charged $3.00 for ˝ hour of
Internet usage (VS 50 cents a minute on-board ship). The shipboard
Internet system was very, very slow and did not work properly when it
did function. I could not access my AOL e-mail on board ship, despite
having spent $15 in time while waiting for the system to find the
websites. The RCL Internet system makes phone line connections look
like Road Runner. The ship system apparently normally can access AOL,
but not on this cruise. I highly recommend the 'Mayan Connection'
Internet service if you make this port of call, and I would discourage
use of the on-board Internet access unless you are desperate.

Disembarking upon our return to the US was a slow process. RCL, to
their credit, advised the approximate departure times in advance for
different color luggage tags. We were in no rush, and our luggage tags
were the second-last color scheduled. The ship served breakfast until
9 AM on departure day as well, and they had CNN on TV in the primary
show lounge to help pass the time. We slept until 8, had a nice
breakfast, returned to the room to freshen up, and then went to the
library area to wait for the departure call. The call came about 20
minutes earlier than the printed estimate of disembarking time.

When our luggage tag color was called, we went to the exit deck, where
we waited to exit the ship for about 15 minutes, as people continued to
squeeze into the line ahead of us (the line was routed near the
elevators, and was not well controlled). We were in no hurry, so it
was more a question of watching how rude people could be. It was
mostly the kids in their 20's that pushed ahead of everyone else. I
guess they had places to go and things to see that simply could not
wait.

Once we exited the ship and went ashore, we found ourselves in yet
another line, waiting for a customs agent to review our documents. We
were fortunate here, as the customs agents routed us to relatively
short line. I laughed to myself as we were routed past many of those
who had pressed into the line to go ashore ahead of us.

After about a fifteen-minute wait, a friendly customs agent reviewed
our documents, and we then went to the luggage area. To our surprise,
our luggage had not yet been unloaded - but it came on an
airline-like conveyor in a few minutes. We were happy to be able to go
straight to the car once we got our luggage. No further delays this
time (nothing like having your dirty clothes unpacked and inspected in
detail - which had been the case on a few previous cruises).

The Port of Miami did not pre-charge parked cars - you paid on the
way out - so there was a bit of a wait to exit the parking garage.
Parking is now $12 per day. Some of those friendly young folks who
were in a huge hurry were in a shouting match near the garage exit,
making for some more free entertainment as we went to the car. Vandals
had knocked out the lights in the only working parking garage elevator,
so we went up to the 4th floor of the garage in total darkness along
with some other brave folks. Fortunately, the elevator made it and so
did we.

We made a wrong turn exiting the garage (there is little or no
signage), and as a result, we drove around the port a bit before we
found the correct exit. Eventually we got out of there and headed home
in moderate traffic.

All in all, we really enjoyed our trip on the Explorer. The ship has a
pleasant, practical layout. It is less art-deco than many of the
Carnival ships, and has a less formal feel than many of the Holland
American ships. In listening to other passengers, the biggest
complaints were related to the food, and as I said earlier - in our
view, it was just inconsistent - some things were wonderful, and some
were not. Given the opportunity and the extremely favorable pricing
that long time travel agent, Ray Goldenberg at Lighthouse Travel found
for us, we would definitely take this ship again.


  #3  
Old December 29th, 2005, 05:30 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Review of Explorer of the Seas Western Route - Long

In article .com,
RJQMAN wrote:

I had hoped to have dinner in Portofino's (the extra-cost Italian
Restaurant), but there was nothing on that menu that even looked
remotely appetizing to me. I find Carnival, Princess, and Holland
American to have much more appetizing food choices for my
middle-American steak and potatoes tastes.


You should have done the other one onboard---Chops.

The third night was Marty Allen and his wife. A funny, clean
comedian - a dying breed. They were great.


Egads, those two are still an act on cruise ships!!! I remember them on
Grand Princess a few years ago.

It is less art-deco than many of the Carnival ships,


I must advise you that Carnival ships are not art-deco. They are
art-less-ness gone mad. They are not even close to art-deco. Art-deco
is a very tastefull and elegant style.

Thank you for the review.

--
Charles
  #4  
Old December 30th, 2005, 12:41 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Review of Explorer of the Seas Western Route - Long

"RJQMAN" wrote in message
roups.com...


One minor disappointment for this former professional musician - the
band was too small for the size of the venue. There were 5 winds (2
saxes, 2 trumpets, and 1 trombone), and 4 rhythm (keyboard, guitar,
bass and drums). I could rarely hear the bass. You just cannot
support the chordal structure of many tunes with so few players and
with this mix. They really needed more winds - one more sax and two
more brass would have gone a long way towards making the orchestra
sound like an orchestra. I am sure many of the passengers did not
care, though. Oh, well.



This was particularly interesting -- we don't often get knowledgable
reports in this area.

--
Visit my Iron Age Pages for technical and fun stuff (holiday specials,
too)!
http://pages.prodigy.net/feaudrey

 




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