ak333
Aug 6, 01, 7:42 pm
Although I have lurked here at FlyerTalk for a while, I am new to posting. I thought that before I post my trip report on the air side (which I'll do in a day or two), since I already had this review written, I would post it here for everybody:
Cruise Review: Explorer of the Seas 7/21/01 Eastern Caribbean
Introduction
This was our 7th cruise together. We decided to go on this particular cruise last November when we went to a Royal Caribbean/Celebrity presentation by their local sales representative. My wife took one look at the video on Explorer and said, “We have to go on that ship.” So we did. This was our third time sailing with Royal Caribbean, and our third cruise in 2001, so I will be comparing some aspects of this cruise with our previous cruises on the Grand Princess and Carnival Destiny as well our cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas, which we took last July. I will say up front that we had a fantastic cruise on the Explorer of the Seas.
Pre Cruise
We spent a few days at Walt Disney World before arriving in Miami the afternoon before the cruise. My wife’s parents joined us in Miami as well. We spent the night at the Courtyard by Marriott MIA Airport South, which is our usual Miami pre-cruise hotel. This property has three of Marriott’s brands: Marriott, Courtyard, and Fairfield Inns. We can almost always get a free night using our Marriott Reward points there, plus they have an airport shuttle and are only a few minutes away from the pier. We had an excellent dinner on Friday night at the Hereford Grill across the street (sort of) from the hotel. The hotel arranged for a van to pick up the four of us and all of our luggage at 10:30 Saturday morning. The van was right on time ($8.00 per person) and we were at the pier at 10:45 AM.
Embarkation
Check-in was a breeze. Since we got to the pier so early, I thought we might have to wait a little while, we were checked in immediately. While we were checking in at one end of the terminal, my mother-in-law (who was in a wheelchair) was escorted to a separate check-in area and their formalities were handled quickly as well.
Our Cabin
We had cabin 9608, a Category “C” suite with a balcony, right in the middle of the ship. We met our steward almost immediately, and he said that he was still making up our cabin (although it looked just about finished to us), but we could leave our things and explore the ship. Our cabin steward also had already converted the beds from two twins into one queen for us. This was the largest cabin that we have had and we enjoyed it immensely. The balcony was used by both of us quite a bit, and we could sit out and read while listening to our walkmans and watch the scenery pass by. This is the fourth time we have had a balcony and find it hard to go back to a cabin without one. I will say that if we have a balcony we spend much more time in our cabin than when we do not have a balcony.
The Ship
We were on only the 39th voyage of the Explorer of the Seas; she is less than a year old. The amenities that this ship has are amazing. The Sports Deck on deck 13 has all the goodies: Nine hole miniature golf course, inline skating track, and the basketball court. One more deck up on the back of the funnel is the rock-climbing wall. On deck three is the ice skating rink; although we did not skate there we did see the ice show that was performed. The ship is in excellent shape, and we saw very little wear and tear. She has fifteen decks including the Viking Crown lounge and the wedding chapel. The main dining room is three decks high and is on decks three, four and five. The Windjammer and Island Grill are on the aft of deck 11 as well as the alternative restaurant, Portifino’s. The showroom is two decks high and is on decks three and four. I would be remiss to not mention the Promenade on deck five; that is where all the shops are as well as additional bars and the Café Promenade. Twice weekly parades are held on the Promenade as well as the Captain’s cocktail party. Also the purser’s desk is on deck five as well. The casino, along with a few bars is on deck four. The Adventure Ocean (kid’s) program as well as the game room are on deck 12. There are two main pool areas on board, both on deck 11. Towards the bow is the Solarium, which has the adults only pool, and this time (unlike our cruise on the Enchantment) we noticed that the staff was keeping kids out of the pools and Jacuzzis. A little farther aft, but really in the center of the ship on deck 11 was the main pool area. This is where all the action is, compared to the relative quiet of the Solarium. There were many additional various bars spread around the ship; I don’t think that we even saw them all. The elevators were a little slow at times, but they all worked (except one). However, we very rarely used the elevators and walked up and down the stairs 99% of the time-no weight gain on this cruise for us! We also enjoyed a tour of both the Oceanography and Atmospheric labs on the ship. It was very educational to see the work that was being done, and we both appreciated the fact that RCCL included it on the Explorer of the Seas.
Service
The service that we experienced on this cruise was sensational. Our Cabin Steward, Cesar from the Philippines was wonderful. He kept the room very clean, the ice bucket full, and we very rarely saw him. He also made us some very cute towel animals a few of the nights. Our dining room waiter Pedro from Portugal was one of the best we have ever had. My wife has some food allergies, and after being told of them on the first night of the cruise was very cognizant of what was being served and made changes when appropriate. He was also very personable and made some good suggestions on the food being served. Our Assistant Waiter, Sunil from Trinidad and Tobago was also excellent. He had our preferences down on the first night and never forgot them. He was also very personable. Both our waiter and assistant were also the waiters for the Captain’s table. The one night that the Captain and his entourage ate at the main seating with us, we did not notice any degradation in service, even though both of our wait staff had an extra table. I would also like to mention our headwaiter, Juan from Spain. My mother-in-law can only eat certain foods, and each night Juan would show her the menu for the next night, and if there was nothing on the menu that she could tolerate, Juan would arrange an off menu main course. He also had a special anniversary cake made for us. One of my wife’s allergies is to coconut, and their usual anniversary cake has a coconut icing, so per her request he arranged for a lemon cake that was better than any of our deserts in the main dining room all week. We also ate at Portofino’s one night and the service was very professional and polite in there as well. Even the service at Johnny Rocket’s did not leave anything to be desired. The service on this cruise was miles ahead of Carnival, and even a bit better than the great service that we had last year on Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas. It is hard to compare to Princess since we used their Personal Choice dining, but suffice it to say we were extremely pleased with the service we received on the Explorer of the Seas.
Food
In the main dining room, the food was very good on this cruise and a definite improvement over the food on Royal Caribbean last year. The menu changed sufficiently that I had plenty of choices each evening. I particularly enjoyed the Filet Mignon, Chicken Cordon Bleu, and the Prime Rib. My wife thought that although she found a lot of different choices (and she enjoyed the lamb and most of the fish dishes), and she agreed that the food was better this year, it would have been better if the chefs did not try to “improve” the food with nuts, which is her major allergen. The Ship Shape meals all seemed to have nuts on one item or another, which we both thought was strange since most nuts have a lot of fat in them. Perhaps the Ship Shape meals could have been a little plainer? The Windjammer and Island Grill were good for both breakfast and lunch. The Café Promenade had good snack items as well. We did splurge and go to Portofino’s on one night. Even though the charge was $20.00 per person, we thought it was the best meal of the cruise. The food was fantastic and plentiful. Even though we greatly enjoyed the main dining room, it was nice to have the change one night. We enjoyed the food on this cruise more than on the Grand Princess.
Spa
The spa was set up very well. It did have a large Jacuzzi as well as many up to date work out machines. I did use Steiner’s services twice, once for a massage and once for reflexology and enjoyed it. My wife went to Yoga and had a personal training session and enjoyed both of those as well. What was interesting is that on the Grand Princess, Steiner went out of their way to make sure that my wife could get a massage by trying to find one of their products that she was not allergic to. On the Explorer, the manager told her that she could not be accommodated. Very interesting. Also the Steiner personnel were more “hard sell” on their products than they were on either the Destiny or the Grand Princess including in the Gym at the personal training sessions.
Ports of Call
To be honest, we went on this cruise for the ship and not the ports since we have been to all of them many times, except for Labadee. We went to Nassau, St. Thomas, San Juan and Labadee with two days at sea. We only booked one shore excursion, the glass bottom boat tour on Nassau, which was interesting. We actually ordered this one in advance on RCCL’s web site a few weeks before the cruise. St. Thomas is always fun, we wandered around on our own for most of the day. In San Juan, my father-in-law and I walked for two hours around old San Juan, while my wife and mother-in-law did their own walk around old San Juan. Since neither my wife nor I are beach people, we decided that when the ship got to Labadee that we would enjoy all the facilities on the ship when everybody else was gone. It was a good idea, there was almost no one else on board and we could do everything we wanted without the crowds. We did take the tender over to Labadee to say we were there, but we turned right around and went back to the ship.
Entertainment
The entertainment was very good. We greatly enjoyed the ice show, Planet Ice, even though we thought that the costumes were a little over done. We also enjoyed a great pianist named Jason Perrin who played nightly at the Schooner Bar. Of course, we went to the “Newlywed/Not so Newlywed” show; even though we know the questions and will never volunteer to go on stage ourselves, we still like to watch that show. We also played in the casino a little and actually broke even! The music we heard around the ship was very enjoyable as well.
Debarkation
We thought that debarkation was handled well, especially for a ship the size of the Explorer of the Seas. Our color was one of the last called and we were off the ship and had our bags by 9:45 AM. One of the things we appreciated was the baggage carousel. It was much easier than searching through mounds of similar black bags spread around a warehouse. We got a taxi and were at the Miami airport a few minutes after 10:00 AM.
Conclusion
We had a fantastic time on this cruise. The ship was great, the service excellent, the ports of call were fine and even the weather cooperated. Would we take Royal Caribbean again? In a heartbeat! Even though there are some things about the line that annoy us, (the singing waiters, for example), we are always pleased with their service and enjoy their ships. Would we go on a Voyager class ship again? Definitely. In fact we look forward to booking another Royal Caribbean cruise soon.
Cruise Review: Explorer of the Seas 7/21/01 Eastern Caribbean
Introduction
This was our 7th cruise together. We decided to go on this particular cruise last November when we went to a Royal Caribbean/Celebrity presentation by their local sales representative. My wife took one look at the video on Explorer and said, “We have to go on that ship.” So we did. This was our third time sailing with Royal Caribbean, and our third cruise in 2001, so I will be comparing some aspects of this cruise with our previous cruises on the Grand Princess and Carnival Destiny as well our cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas, which we took last July. I will say up front that we had a fantastic cruise on the Explorer of the Seas.
Pre Cruise
We spent a few days at Walt Disney World before arriving in Miami the afternoon before the cruise. My wife’s parents joined us in Miami as well. We spent the night at the Courtyard by Marriott MIA Airport South, which is our usual Miami pre-cruise hotel. This property has three of Marriott’s brands: Marriott, Courtyard, and Fairfield Inns. We can almost always get a free night using our Marriott Reward points there, plus they have an airport shuttle and are only a few minutes away from the pier. We had an excellent dinner on Friday night at the Hereford Grill across the street (sort of) from the hotel. The hotel arranged for a van to pick up the four of us and all of our luggage at 10:30 Saturday morning. The van was right on time ($8.00 per person) and we were at the pier at 10:45 AM.
Embarkation
Check-in was a breeze. Since we got to the pier so early, I thought we might have to wait a little while, we were checked in immediately. While we were checking in at one end of the terminal, my mother-in-law (who was in a wheelchair) was escorted to a separate check-in area and their formalities were handled quickly as well.
Our Cabin
We had cabin 9608, a Category “C” suite with a balcony, right in the middle of the ship. We met our steward almost immediately, and he said that he was still making up our cabin (although it looked just about finished to us), but we could leave our things and explore the ship. Our cabin steward also had already converted the beds from two twins into one queen for us. This was the largest cabin that we have had and we enjoyed it immensely. The balcony was used by both of us quite a bit, and we could sit out and read while listening to our walkmans and watch the scenery pass by. This is the fourth time we have had a balcony and find it hard to go back to a cabin without one. I will say that if we have a balcony we spend much more time in our cabin than when we do not have a balcony.
The Ship
We were on only the 39th voyage of the Explorer of the Seas; she is less than a year old. The amenities that this ship has are amazing. The Sports Deck on deck 13 has all the goodies: Nine hole miniature golf course, inline skating track, and the basketball court. One more deck up on the back of the funnel is the rock-climbing wall. On deck three is the ice skating rink; although we did not skate there we did see the ice show that was performed. The ship is in excellent shape, and we saw very little wear and tear. She has fifteen decks including the Viking Crown lounge and the wedding chapel. The main dining room is three decks high and is on decks three, four and five. The Windjammer and Island Grill are on the aft of deck 11 as well as the alternative restaurant, Portifino’s. The showroom is two decks high and is on decks three and four. I would be remiss to not mention the Promenade on deck five; that is where all the shops are as well as additional bars and the Café Promenade. Twice weekly parades are held on the Promenade as well as the Captain’s cocktail party. Also the purser’s desk is on deck five as well. The casino, along with a few bars is on deck four. The Adventure Ocean (kid’s) program as well as the game room are on deck 12. There are two main pool areas on board, both on deck 11. Towards the bow is the Solarium, which has the adults only pool, and this time (unlike our cruise on the Enchantment) we noticed that the staff was keeping kids out of the pools and Jacuzzis. A little farther aft, but really in the center of the ship on deck 11 was the main pool area. This is where all the action is, compared to the relative quiet of the Solarium. There were many additional various bars spread around the ship; I don’t think that we even saw them all. The elevators were a little slow at times, but they all worked (except one). However, we very rarely used the elevators and walked up and down the stairs 99% of the time-no weight gain on this cruise for us! We also enjoyed a tour of both the Oceanography and Atmospheric labs on the ship. It was very educational to see the work that was being done, and we both appreciated the fact that RCCL included it on the Explorer of the Seas.
Service
The service that we experienced on this cruise was sensational. Our Cabin Steward, Cesar from the Philippines was wonderful. He kept the room very clean, the ice bucket full, and we very rarely saw him. He also made us some very cute towel animals a few of the nights. Our dining room waiter Pedro from Portugal was one of the best we have ever had. My wife has some food allergies, and after being told of them on the first night of the cruise was very cognizant of what was being served and made changes when appropriate. He was also very personable and made some good suggestions on the food being served. Our Assistant Waiter, Sunil from Trinidad and Tobago was also excellent. He had our preferences down on the first night and never forgot them. He was also very personable. Both our waiter and assistant were also the waiters for the Captain’s table. The one night that the Captain and his entourage ate at the main seating with us, we did not notice any degradation in service, even though both of our wait staff had an extra table. I would also like to mention our headwaiter, Juan from Spain. My mother-in-law can only eat certain foods, and each night Juan would show her the menu for the next night, and if there was nothing on the menu that she could tolerate, Juan would arrange an off menu main course. He also had a special anniversary cake made for us. One of my wife’s allergies is to coconut, and their usual anniversary cake has a coconut icing, so per her request he arranged for a lemon cake that was better than any of our deserts in the main dining room all week. We also ate at Portofino’s one night and the service was very professional and polite in there as well. Even the service at Johnny Rocket’s did not leave anything to be desired. The service on this cruise was miles ahead of Carnival, and even a bit better than the great service that we had last year on Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas. It is hard to compare to Princess since we used their Personal Choice dining, but suffice it to say we were extremely pleased with the service we received on the Explorer of the Seas.
Food
In the main dining room, the food was very good on this cruise and a definite improvement over the food on Royal Caribbean last year. The menu changed sufficiently that I had plenty of choices each evening. I particularly enjoyed the Filet Mignon, Chicken Cordon Bleu, and the Prime Rib. My wife thought that although she found a lot of different choices (and she enjoyed the lamb and most of the fish dishes), and she agreed that the food was better this year, it would have been better if the chefs did not try to “improve” the food with nuts, which is her major allergen. The Ship Shape meals all seemed to have nuts on one item or another, which we both thought was strange since most nuts have a lot of fat in them. Perhaps the Ship Shape meals could have been a little plainer? The Windjammer and Island Grill were good for both breakfast and lunch. The Café Promenade had good snack items as well. We did splurge and go to Portofino’s on one night. Even though the charge was $20.00 per person, we thought it was the best meal of the cruise. The food was fantastic and plentiful. Even though we greatly enjoyed the main dining room, it was nice to have the change one night. We enjoyed the food on this cruise more than on the Grand Princess.
Spa
The spa was set up very well. It did have a large Jacuzzi as well as many up to date work out machines. I did use Steiner’s services twice, once for a massage and once for reflexology and enjoyed it. My wife went to Yoga and had a personal training session and enjoyed both of those as well. What was interesting is that on the Grand Princess, Steiner went out of their way to make sure that my wife could get a massage by trying to find one of their products that she was not allergic to. On the Explorer, the manager told her that she could not be accommodated. Very interesting. Also the Steiner personnel were more “hard sell” on their products than they were on either the Destiny or the Grand Princess including in the Gym at the personal training sessions.
Ports of Call
To be honest, we went on this cruise for the ship and not the ports since we have been to all of them many times, except for Labadee. We went to Nassau, St. Thomas, San Juan and Labadee with two days at sea. We only booked one shore excursion, the glass bottom boat tour on Nassau, which was interesting. We actually ordered this one in advance on RCCL’s web site a few weeks before the cruise. St. Thomas is always fun, we wandered around on our own for most of the day. In San Juan, my father-in-law and I walked for two hours around old San Juan, while my wife and mother-in-law did their own walk around old San Juan. Since neither my wife nor I are beach people, we decided that when the ship got to Labadee that we would enjoy all the facilities on the ship when everybody else was gone. It was a good idea, there was almost no one else on board and we could do everything we wanted without the crowds. We did take the tender over to Labadee to say we were there, but we turned right around and went back to the ship.
Entertainment
The entertainment was very good. We greatly enjoyed the ice show, Planet Ice, even though we thought that the costumes were a little over done. We also enjoyed a great pianist named Jason Perrin who played nightly at the Schooner Bar. Of course, we went to the “Newlywed/Not so Newlywed” show; even though we know the questions and will never volunteer to go on stage ourselves, we still like to watch that show. We also played in the casino a little and actually broke even! The music we heard around the ship was very enjoyable as well.
Debarkation
We thought that debarkation was handled well, especially for a ship the size of the Explorer of the Seas. Our color was one of the last called and we were off the ship and had our bags by 9:45 AM. One of the things we appreciated was the baggage carousel. It was much easier than searching through mounds of similar black bags spread around a warehouse. We got a taxi and were at the Miami airport a few minutes after 10:00 AM.
Conclusion
We had a fantastic time on this cruise. The ship was great, the service excellent, the ports of call were fine and even the weather cooperated. Would we take Royal Caribbean again? In a heartbeat! Even though there are some things about the line that annoy us, (the singing waiters, for example), we are always pleased with their service and enjoy their ships. Would we go on a Voyager class ship again? Definitely. In fact we look forward to booking another Royal Caribbean cruise soon.