Just off Explorer of the Seas......

and all I can say is that Royal Caribbean is AMAZING!!!!!!!! Review and pics to come! If anyone has any questions about Explorer feel free to ask!

Isn't EOS great! And Royal, too!

We just got off the 9/25 cruise to Bermuda, my first and DW's 3rd. What an amazing vacation! We've booked for next year, same time, and can't wait (only 344 days to go :) ).

Anyway, looking forward to your pics, if only to remind me of where I just was :D

Dave

I've been trying to find out if the dividers between the balconies of the grand suites open up. Would you happen to know? Anyone? Thanks.

My family and I also just got off the Explorer yesterday. It was AMAZING! First time cruising and will definately do it again. The staff is the greatest on this ship!

My family and I also just got off the Explorer yesterday. It was AMAZING! First time cruising and will definately do it again. The staff is the greatest on this ship!

Good to hear! My family will be taking our first cruise ever in June and it will be on her, too. Tell me anything. I can't get enough hearing about her. I'm so glad that you had such a good time. Welcome home!

Whoo-hoo! I'll be on Explorer to Bermuda in a week and one day! :) Any ship/port tips?

Did you try to bring water onboard? soft drinks?

We want to get a case of Coke Zero and Poland Spring on our next cruise, but read they're really strict now.

Leaving in 7 weeks on Explorer to Caribbean.

What cable news channels are broadcast on the Tv

Well, it's a bit of a ramble, but my review of EOS from 9/25 just got posted. Much else that I'd have to say would repeat what I put in there (but of course, I LOVED it!)

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=73584

And also of course, feel free to ask for clarifications, if need be.

RareBird, we brought a few bottles of water onboard, but I found the tap water to have no foul taste at all. (DW won't drink tap, but I have no problems doing so...) We also got soda packages for our kids. Never figured out if it was worth it, money-wise, but it was sure nice just waving the card and saying "Coke, plz" and not having to sign or anything.

Erie 13, I think I remember seeing Fox, although DD kept the set on Cartoon Channel for most of the cruise :) . (I tend to try to avoid tv, if I can, and news especially. Gets me too worked up, if you know what I mean. Not what I want on vacation.)

Dave

RareBird, we brought a few bottles of water onboard, but I found the tap water to have no foul taste at all.

This is absolutely correct. In addition to having good taste, the ships water is probably much purer than you will find in most states.

We brought a six pack of Coke on in our backpack. It went right through their scanner and they didn't say anything. We also picked up another six pack of Coke in Bermuda and it also went through the scanner in our backpack. It wasn't hidden so I guess they weren't worried about it.

Cable news channels were Fox News, CNN, and CNN Espanol. On previous cruises we got CNN International, but not last week on Explorer.

Forgot to say we just returned from the October 9-14 cruise to Bermuda. Not long enough, need to do 7 nights next time. I really didn't want the cruise to be over yesterday. Really had a good time.

Who is the cruise director and who is the Captain? Will they still be on board for the 10/28 sailing out of Bayonne?

Any movies being shown on board in their "cinema"?

We will have a total of 5 sea days in all so we are trying to line up inside things for us to do since for most of the time it will be too cold for the open decks.

Is the art auction finally gone?

MARAPRINCE

Well, it's a bit of a ramble, but my review of EOS from 9/25 just got posted. Much else that I'd have to say would repeat what I put in there (but of course, I LOVED it!)

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=73584

 

And also of course, feel free to ask for clarifications, if need be.

 

RareBird, we brought a few bottles of water onboard, but I found the tap water to have no foul taste at all. (DW won't drink tap, but I have no problems doing so...) We also got soda packages for our kids. Never figured out if it was worth it, money-wise, but it was sure nice just waving the card and saying "Coke, plz" and not having to sign or anything.

 

Erie 13, I think I remember seeing Fox, although DD kept the set on Cartoon Channel for most of the cruise :) . (I tend to try to avoid tv, if I can, and news especially. Gets me too worked up, if you know what I mean. Not what I want on vacation.)

 

Dave

Thanks for the review - we're boarding at the end of November and can't wait! I noticed part of your group had the Royal Family Suite. We are in one for the first time on our cruise - were they happy with it? Did they use the concierge services very much?

thank you all for answers. I do like and drink ship's water but prefer Poland Spring as I'm already accostomed to it.

Two things that I can remember right now that I said I would do differently when we sail again. #1. Bring a clock -- rooms are dark and all we had were our cell phones and the time was not correct. A digital clock would have been helpful. #2. Do the express checkout -- sitting and waiting for our color to be called to get off the ship was quite long.

Well, it's a bit of a ramble, but my review of EOS from 9/25 just got posted. Much else that I'd have to say would repeat what I put in there (but of course, I LOVED it!)

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=73584

 

And also of course, feel free to ask for clarifications, if need be.

 

RareBird, we brought a few bottles of water onboard, but I found the tap water to have no foul taste at all. (DW won't drink tap, but I have no problems doing so...) We also got soda packages for our kids. Never figured out if it was worth it, money-wise, but it was sure nice just waving the card and saying "Coke, plz" and not having to sign or anything.

 

Erie 13, I think I remember seeing Fox, although DD kept the set on Cartoon Channel for most of the cruise :) . (I tend to try to avoid tv, if I can, and news especially. Gets me too worked up, if you know what I mean. Not what I want on vacation.)

 

Dave

Well done on the review, thanks for sharing it!

Thank you for the review. We will be heading out in January and will be driving from NH to NJ. Hopefully the weather isnt to bad for the drive.One question I had for you is my DH loved the homemade cookies from the cafe that we had a couple of years ago. Last year on the NOS they were more like store bought cookies. DH would like to know if they are still store bought or did they bring back the homemade cookies? TY and glad you had a great time.

Thank you for the review. We will be heading out in January and will be driving from NH to NJ. Hopefully the weather isnt to bad for the drive.One question I had for you is my DH loved the homemade cookies from the cafe that we had a couple of years ago. Last year on the NOS they were more like store bought cookies. DH would like to know if they are still store bought or did they bring back the homemade cookies? TY and glad you had a great time.

Having just had a galley tour on the Explorer this past June, I can confirm the cookies are baked onboard. That being said, they are frozen cookie dough and pre-portioned. The Executive chef said they bake over 20,000 cookies per cruise! :eek:

Eric

Thanks all for the update on the cable news channel.

Thank you Eric for the cookie update. DH will be very happy to hear, its one of his favorite treats on our way back to our room for the night.

The cruise director was Chris Northey and the captain was Carlos Pedercini. I don't know if they will be aboard on October 28.

They had an express art auction the afternoon of the first sea day. Then an exhibition and sale that evening. They had a grand finale art auction the afternoon of the second sea day.

Movies being shown in the cinema were "Alice in Wonderland", "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" and "It's Complicated". These same movies were also shown on the cabin tv.

The things we really enjoyed this week were:

Dinner in Portofinos. Best meal of the week.

The Quest. It's amazing what people will do to win. I laughed until I couldn't catch my breath.

The Ice Show. The special guest doing the hula hoops routine was amazing.

The 70s dance party on the promenade. The Village People showed up and a good time was had by all.

Pets at Sea. I made a stuffed pink flamingo and dressed him in a Royal Caribbean hoodie. I carried him around all week and made lots of new friends. He was quite the ice breaker.

I have a clock story for you. I packed our travel alarm clock as I always do. I forgot to pack extra batteries and of course the clock died on day 2. Grrrrr. We had to use the cabin telephone to set a wake up call for port days. I hate doing that because I am paranoid it won't work and we will miss our shore excursions. Fortunately the wake up calls were flawless, but I stressed about it anyway.