Explorer review june 5th thru june 14th

Review of Explorer June 5th thru June 14th. This review reflects my opinion which I’m sure will differ from others.

We drove to New Jersey on June 4th and stayed at the Ramada Plaza on Frontage Rd. Trinity Reservations had a package that included free parking and transportation for up to 4 people to and from the port. Ramada was a very nice hotel with a friendly staff. This is a new program for them so there are few kinks to work out.

We arrived at the port around 11:00 and waited in line at the port for one hour before we got to the luggage drop off. Our driver was not too happy with wasting all that time. Checking in and getting on the ship was very fast. We went right up to the Windjammer and it was so packed that it took 20 minutes to get a seat.

Since I’m really not into watching parades, I would not book a promenade room again. We had the curtains shut all the time so it was just a waste for us.

We had a very nice room steward Joe and the best waiter Fred and assistant Mirko. They made a nice team and were the best waiters we have had since we started doing “My Time Dining.” If you do “My Time,” ask for Fred and you won’t be disappointed. Mirko was going home for a few months. The food was also an improvement from the last few years. The only thing lacking was good desserts. I like sweet desserts and never care for the bland desserts on the cruise. We went to Portifino’s one night and it just took entirely too long. It took 45 minutes just to get our appetizers so we were there over 2 ½ hours. The food there was okay but nothing special. I personally like Giovanni’s much better.

The “Meet and Mingle” was okay. It just seems that so many people come that don’t even participate on the boards and they are the ones that win most of the prizes. I guess that is what they come for because they sure don’t mingle. To me this defeats the whole purpose of the “meet and mingle.” Met a few nice friends from the boards and we did a cabin crawl which was very nice. We also waved our Pink Boas in Bermuda. Some I will continue to keep in touch with and hopefully cruise with again.

We went to go to the dining room for lunch one day and my BH had on a sleeveless t shirt (not a tank or cutoff t shirt). We were stopped at the door with “you can’t come in with that shirt on.” It wasn’t said in a pleasant way either. Rules are rules though so he went and changed into a different shirt which wasn’t a problem. The problem we had with that was in the dining room every night there were people with hats, shorts, basketball shorts, sweat pants, etc. One lady, and not a small lady, had on real short jean shorts and a little skimpy tank top. After seeing this night after night I did complain to the dining room manager. His response was that they don’t see everyone coming into the dining room and since this cruise is coming from the east coast they overlook nice shorts (HUH???). They walk you to your seat in “My Time Dining.” We don’t have a problem following the rules but just think they should apply to everyone.

The Diamond Event that was held in the evenings was very nice. We went to it most nights, had a glass of champagne, and met some nice friends. I think it’s nice that RC provides that perk and we were told that starting the very next cruise the voucher system would be returning.

We have been to the same islands so many times that we didn’t do any excursions this time. Labadee is my favorite place and I made friends a few years ago with a local lady that sells in the marketplace. We took a few bags of clothes, shoes, etc. with us to give to her. The people there are so appreciative of anything you give to them. I decided not to eat lunch and gave my plate of food to my friend. She shared her chicken leg with 4 other people. I guess some of us just don’t realize how lucky we are.The worst part of the whole cruise was waiting to get off the ship.

There was some kind of problem with the people doing the self assist and it took about 2 hours just for them to get off the ship. Since they were so far behind they called everyone with tags 1 thru 19 to get off at the same time. What a disaster that turned out to be, you couldn’t even get the elevator to go to the 1st floor, it stopped on the 2nd.

All in all it was a great cruise and can’t wait to go again.

We know where U R coming from, we were in the #1 group getting off and what a disaster. Someone dropped the ball big time on this one. I have reached burnout so bad I moved my Dec. 12th Quantum cruise to March 19th of 16 on the Anthem. Hopefully the port of Bayonne will have gotten their act together as well as RCCL.

Thanks for the report!

We were on that cruise also, as well as the previous one for a Back2Back.

I totally agree about the disembarkation process.

We were concerned that the the process would be a mess (had read it in some reviews) and therefore spent the morning between the two cruises watching people do "Self Assist".

The problem that we observed (beside having to use a bus to get to the terminal) is that MANY people attempt "Self Assist" who should not do it resulting in hordes lining up and trying to get off the ship. Examples: families with children too young to carry their luggage thus requiring the parents to try and lug more than easily handled, people who had difficulty walking without assistance attempting to walk and drag multiple bags, people with more stuff than they could handle dropping things and having to stop and pick them up, etc. Add to that the fact that they are carrying all that luggage onto the busses that had embarked them without luggage in tow therefore reducing each bus's capacity my at least half, etc.

The problem that we observed (beside having to use a bus to get to the terminal) is that MANY people attempt "Self Assist" who should not do it resulting in hordes lining up and trying to get off the ship. Examples: families with children too young to carry their luggage thus requiring the parents to try and lug more than easily handled, people who had difficulty walking without assistance attempting to walk and drag multiple bags, people with more stuff than they could handle dropping things and having to stop and pick them up, etc. Add to that the fact that they are carrying all that luggage onto the busses that had embarked them without luggage in tow therefore reducing each bus's capacity my at least half, etc.

They used to have you sign up for self-debark and it was limited in number. Now they let everyone who asks, do it, and it is really terrible.

My pet peeve: 4 and 5 year olds lugging heavy suitcases down the stairwell. Mothers saying, "you have to keep moving, sweety!"

Sorry, but if you have young children I don't think you should be self-disembarking.

wow we always self-disembark, and never had any problems or issues like this. This is concerning for future cruises.

I agree that the ship needs to enforce having people sign up for self disembarkation so that there is some screening of those who are unable to do so, and making sure that those who aren't signed up for self-disembarkation put their luggage out the night before.

And, before anyone says that this is impossible, this is how is used to be, and how it was on our Celebrity Summit cruise last summer at the same port. The steward came around on the last evening with a list of those who signed up for self-disembarkation, and made sure that those not on the list knew that they were expected to put their luggage out.

We were also on that cruise and agree, getting into the luggage drop off and disembarkation was a disaster. this was the worst disembarkation yet! We had to pay our driver extra for dropping us off and then again for our lateness in getting off the ship. We also waited in line for an hour before getting to the luggage drop off. We had been told there would be 'top suite luggage drop off' but when we asked at the port when we finally got to luggage drop off, we were told there was no such thing that day. Interesting. All in all, the cruise itself was great and the crew was wonderful. the ship looked great considering it is an aging ship, however, the carpet in our OS was extremely worn and faded....she will do well with the upcoming refurbishment. We will miss sailing on the Explorer next year but definitely enjoyed our final voyage on EOS!

Did anyone else notice the electrical problems that occurred during our cruise? It was a bit weird that there were so many in one cruise!

swiss

Thanks for your review. Sounds like you had a good time on your cruise.:)

We were also on that cruise and agree, getting into the luggage drop off and disembarkation was a disaster. this was the worst disembarkation yet! We had to pay our driver extra for dropping us off and then again for our lateness in getting off the ship. We also waited in line for an hour before getting to the luggage drop off. We had been told there would be 'top suite luggage drop off' but when we asked at the port when we finally got to luggage drop off, we were told there was no such thing that day. Interesting. All in all, the cruise itself was great and the crew was wonderful. the ship looked great considering it is an aging ship, however, the carpet in our OS was extremely worn and faded....she will do well with the upcoming refurbishment. We will miss sailing on the Explorer next year but definitely enjoyed our final voyage on EOS!

Did anyone else notice the electrical problems that occurred during our cruise? It was a bit weird that there were so many in one cruise!

swiss

I only knew about the small fire in the Windjammer. Were there other problems?

Luckily the hotel was paying for the transportation or I'm sure we would have paid extra. We just gave him a nice tip.

Watched you Cindy arrive in Bermuda on the Port Bermuda webcam :)

The best disembarkation I ever experienced was when we did not need to catch a plane and waited on the Lido deck enjoying the view and playing cards until everyone else had left the ship. The worst was when we decided to self-disembark.

Watched you Cindy arrive in Bermuda on the Port Bermuda webcam :)

 

Pink Boa Emmy,:D

I can't wait to meet you on the Quantum. You really started a wonderful thing with the pink boas. It's a lot of fun and a great conversation starter.

I only knew about the small fire in the Windjammer. Were there other problems?

Luckily the hotel was paying for the transportation or I'm sure we would have paid extra. We just gave him a nice tip.

Yes, there were electrical crew working on the stairway between deck 9 and 10 mid-ship for quite a few days. Several times they closed that one stairway off on the right side (our side) and we were having quite a few issues with lighting in our room. Another couple on deck 10 near us was also having issues with their lights, etc. One night late in the casino, there was a decent amount of water dripping out of the ceiling in the bathroom next to the light fixture in there. Several casino players advised numerous people about the problem. Eventually it was fixed. There were a few other blinking lights going on that we saw and also heard about. Just seemed weird as we had not experienced any of that in previous cruises. They were minor compared to all the outstanding things about the cruise. Would go back on the Explorer in a heartbeat and sad to see her go! swiss