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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. |
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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. |
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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 |
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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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