It's over! I'm back from the Explorer today

Heres some info from our 7/24-7/31 Explorer of the seas cruise.

We stayed 2 days prior at the holiday inn port of miami (directly in front of the Bayside marketplace).

Had room 803 which faced the port, got to see the explorer sailing in bright and early sunday morning and WOW, what a monster that ship was... HUGE.

Our room was great, 2 full size beds with a queen sofa sleeper. Hotel wasn't bad at all. We spent alot of time across the street at the bayside market which we loved. We took the Star cruise on the pink lady. Saw lots of famous peoples homes...

The bayside has something for everyone. Live music playing, lots of shopping, restaurants, food courts, photos taken with parrots, snakes....

Bubba gumps was a fun place for lunch. I wasn't impressed with the ceasar salad so they switched it and I got the "run chicken run" salad and it was ok...

Ordered room service the first night at the holiday inn and the food was good.

Getting on the ship was better than getting off.

We were having lunch in the windjammer by 12:30. We brought our things to our room which was 6628 and I was surprised to see it was a hump cabin. The balcony was totally private as it was all enclosed in metal, no plexiglass between balconies. Deck 6 was just fine, not one complaint.

We were 5 rooms away from stairs and elevators. Walk down one flight to the prominade, the columbus dining room was also right there at the bottom of the stairs located on deck 5.

We mostly at in the windjammer, this was a relaxing vacation and WE didn't feel like dressing up so in order not to offend anyone we stayed in the windjammer. In all honesty, on formal nights not everyone was dressed up. Again remember whats dressy to some isn't dressy to others. Some women and men looked just gorgous , elegant, some glitzy, some plain and some gaudy. Either way they were all having a great time and thats what mattered. I didn't spend my cruise time checking out wardrobes of everyone. Just a few stood out in a good way...

There were ALOT of kids of all ages on this cruise. I will say that MOST of them were very well behaved. My 13 yr. old son was with me along with my Mother. We only saw a few at night time while we were swimming that were out of control, enough so that we left. These were kids probably around 12-16, parents were no where around. But that was only a few.

They made quite a few announcements over the PA system daily regarding reserving seats and its not allowed.

Our ports of call were

1)San Juan, Puerto rico... We just walked and shopped.

2)St.Maarten We took the "Afternoon beach bash" through the ship. We went to Waikiki beach on orient bay. What an awesome beach, picture perfect. My son got a glimpse of some topless women but we really weren't on the "nude beach part" so he didn't see alot. He wasn't impressed with what he saw... You figure it out. LOL

3)St Thomas. We did the Goddfrey tour on our own, booked a few months ago. Let me tell you. For $20.00 per person we were taken in a nice open air bus/van to shopping for 2 hours, then a tour of the island for 2 hours. Stopped for pictures along the way. Went to mountaintop and had my first banana daquiri... Liked it so much I ordered a 2nd for the road trip to the beach. Didn't realize the effects until into my second one and I giggled the whole way down the hill just about. It was good!!!!!!!!

We were given three choices for the beach. Coki beach for crystal clear waters and snorkeling, magens bay or sapphire beach. We along with a few others went to coki beach... I was very impressed. The water was Crystal clear, my son had a blast snorkeling.

There was a place for food/beverages, changing rooms , rest rooms and of course souviners.

We payed to rent the umbrella and chairs but it was worth it. My Mom sat and relaxed while we swam/snorkeled.

They even had "beach service " bringing you food/drinks to your chair , some even had drinks brought to them in the water! Fun place.

Next day was at sea and on saturday we did another rccl excursion.

Bahamas.......... We snorkeled with the stingrays. Another great time. You take a ferry ride 20-30 minutes over to blackbeards cay which is half owned by Sandals. Its their private Island across from the main hotel . I stayed there a few years back and its a gorgous property. You can't miss the big pink buildings.

The stingrays were really gentle giants... I was quite the chicken in the beginning but figured "what the heck" and I had a blast with my son. They took pictures there for you and we definetly bought them for $10.00 each.

Getting off the ship today was ok until we got into the cruise terminal. Word of advice and fairness to others if I may.

When they call your color tags while on the ship please get off.

When they finally called our color I think 4th from the beginning we had to wait nearly 2 hours for our luggage to come to the carousel. Reason being is that all the other color tags on luggage weren't claimed because the people were still on the ship. They couldn't load anyone elses and it became a bit annoying but I surprised myself at how calm I stayed!

Customs/immigration was a breeze.

Really no lines other than waiting for the luggage

You have to meet with immigration officials the morning you dock in St.Thomas. They did this in the dining rooms on the ship. Whether or not you get off in St.Thomas you have to present yourself to customs or its up to a $3300.00 fine.

When you get off in the bahamas dont' forget to bring along your photo id with your seapass card. They check before getting back into the ship terminal area. It's mandatory.

I can't think of anything else right now. I will say that it was a wonderful week at sea. No bad weather , no tropical anything other than drinks....

Any questions I'll be happy to answer.

I was happy to meet a cruise critic member Royale and his wife helen.... He gave us some awesome T-shirts he made... A very nice couple from PA... If your reading Roy... Thanks again and it was great meeting you and your wife.

Happy sails to all future cruisers out there... It's worth the wait for those of you waiting..

Goodnight.

ps........ I'm still figuring out who's gonna bring me my soda w/ lemon and clear away the dishes... Eek.... So many things I have to re-learn now.. I was so spoiled all week long. I did gain some weight , those desserts were so amazing. I bought 3 rccl cookbooks and the exec chef signed them for me. I'm giving 2 away as gifts. You get them at the courtesy desks for $19.95 each. Well worth it.

Hi Carrie...So glad you had a good time...

62 more days for me..:D

Hello there..... those 62 days will fly by and will stall again the last week. It's so worth it....

Hi Carrie...So glad you had a good time...

 

62 more days for me..:D

Thanks for the review!

How long was the tour?

How many people need to sign up for the 20.00 per person?

Any other tour info you can give me would be great.

Will be in St. Thomas in March and want to see as much as possible and have some beach time.

Thanks, Judi

Glad you loved the Explorer. We sailed her in Dec. '03, the AOS Dec'04 and are on the Mariner this Dec. Love those voyager class ships. We too did the Eastern when we sailed the Explorer. We're doing the Western this year.....I can't wait to go.

Welcome back to reality!! :eek:

Cindy ;)

Great review! Sounds like you had a wonderful time. We love those Voyager class ships too :)

HI

We were picked up @ 9:00 am at the pier dock (wait there right outside the gate). We did shopping until noon , sightseeing until about 1:45 and then to the beach and were picked up at 3:45. He then picked up the other group at sapphire beach at 4:00 . We were back at the cruise terminal by 4:30 and we sailed I believe at 5:30. Plenty of time. We got to do everything we wanted there and timing wasn't a factor for us. His email is godfrey@godfreytourusvi.com

you pay at the end of his tour. He appreciated the add'l tip also.

We did our other two tours through the ship. One I booked in advance with our travel agent and the other I did while on the ship. Let me know if you have any more questions.

How long was the tour?

How many people need to sign up for the 20.00 per person?

Any other tour info you can give me would be great.

 

Will be in St. Thomas in March and want to see as much as possible and have some beach time.

 

Thanks, Judi

What a nice well rounded review! And thanks for posting it so quickly after your trip! Good luck adjusting to "real" life!

Carrie,

Very nice review! Glad you had a wonderful time & Welcome back to reality!

Was so impressed with your review regarding the "clothing attire" in the dining room. Your attitude was wonderful .... in comparison to some of the remarks others have. Too bad all couldn't see it that way.

Again thanks & good luck getting adjusted to everyday life.

Shirley

Welcome Home!!! Loved reading your review! Glad you had such a great time! :)

What was your sons opinion of the explorer?

Great review, Carrie !

We're most likely to repeat the Bacardi Distillery and El Morro tour in San Juan -- don't see much else we'd like to try there. We're still working on how to spend our St. Maarten and St. Thomas days. St. Maarten will be new to us -- may be best for snorkeling or similar. We missed shopping in St. Thomas on our honeymoon, so we may prioritize that this time around. If it weren't for the fact that we'd like to try to drag Kathy's mom to The Atlantis on Paradise Island to see the casino, we'd consider never leaving the ship in Nassau -- we've done just about everything we want to there, and a "day at sea" in port could be interesting.

Carrie P.It was great to meet you and your son and mother.Glad you enjoyed

your cruise.That was our 20th on RCI and just as great as the other 19.

We will be sailing on the Freedom 6/11/2006.

Glad you enjoyed your week of pampering on the Explorer! I agree that you had an EXCELLENT attitude about what people wore or didn't wear to the dining room. It is after all a vacation, and that can mean totally different things to different people. Personally, coming from the most remote area of the world(ok, well almost the most ;) ) every time I have cruised it has been fun to dress up and be glamorous...but I do realize that people who have the opportunity to get fancied up more often would not be as eager to do it on vacation. Good review, I enjoyed reading your takes on excursions! Will keep that in mind for booking next summer's voyage!

HI

 

We did our other two tours through the ship. One I booked in advance with our travel agent and the other I did while on the ship. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Carrie P.,

Did he have certain sight seeing places he took you to or did you ask for certain things? In checking the net you don't save that much going it on your own, but sometimes you can get a more individualized tour. So Goddreys sounds good, as we would get our choice of beaches. We have done all our excursions via the ships in the past.

Re ship- We were on the Explorer in 03 (our 1st cruise) we loved it so much. We did the Western ITN. I loved the "mall" and we both really liked everything about the ship. We are looking forward to the Southern C. ITN. in 06 on the Serenade.

Hope you aren't too sad about leaving the ship. It is a huge withdrawal. :( I remember we told our cabin steward we wished we could stay on for another 7 days........

Thanks for your prompt answers.:)

Carrie That was a great review. We are going on the NOS in Nov. We are gathering information for Nov of 2006 for Eastern int. You have given me some wonderful information. Thank Royal When I saw where you lived I almost fell off my chair. Sellersville is my home town. Lived there all my life till I got married. I lived on diamond street on top of the hill. :)

Hello,

Nice review. I was just wondering how was the weather. extremely hot, humid...?

My family and I are cruising the same itenary in 3 weeks.

I am glad to see you had alot of fun.

Thanks,

Chris

thanks for the review..Did you LOVE Clodah (the cruise director)?? She Cracked us up!!

(I was on Explorer from the 17th - 24th).

We also did the stingray at blackbeards.

Did you "Get" to save anyone like we did? ha-ha.just joking but did they mention that at all on the cruise?

Thanks again for the review.

We have cabin 6328 - which appears to be in the same location but opposite from yours-

Question: Did you have a smaller balcony or an odd shaped balcony.

According to the picture it seems to be smaller?

Was there any noise from elevator or stairs?

Would you pick that room again?

If you look down is there nothing but lifeboats?

We are just unsure if we made a bad choice.

Hi - Goddfrey had his own itinerary for us, with the sightseeing he took us through the poor areas, devastated areas through hurricanes and what it looked like when the owners didn't have insurance, then we hit the wealthy areas and what a difference. Mountaintop was just spectacular , you could see (and he pointed out) each of the us virgin islands as well as the british virgin islands... Goddfrey was so informative .. He gave us descriptions of the three beaches and what they were each good for and we picked which beach we'd go to. He then dropped us off at the beach of our choice and gave us an "escort", a young girl who watched over us, got our chairs , umbrellas and really made sure we were having a good time. Came back 20 minutes prior to pick up time to let us know we should get our things ready shortly. Then it was right back to the ship.

I've been to St.Thomas a few times, was married there in 1988 (widowed now) so it's a special Island to me. My son (13) was thrilled to see where we got married.

Hope this helps , any more questions I'd be happy to answer them. I got so many great tips from reading this message boards from other travelers and their advice was greatly appreciated.

Carrie P.,

 

Did he have certain sight seeing places he took you to or did you ask for certain things? In checking the net you don't save that much going it on your own, but sometimes you can get a more individualized tour. So Goddreys sounds good, as we would get our choice of beaches. We have done all our excursions via the ships in the past.

 

Re ship- We were on the Explorer in 03 (our 1st cruise) we loved it so much. We did the Western ITN. I loved the "mall" and we both really liked everything about the ship. We are looking forward to the Southern C. ITN. in 06 on the Serenade.

 

Hope you aren't too sad about leaving the ship. It is a huge withdrawal. :( I remember we told our cabin steward we wished we could stay on for another 7 days........

 

Thanks for your prompt answers.:)

I'd book this cabin again in a minute. It was not a small balcony and was totally private. You would have to really lean over the balcony to see lifeboats so it didn't interfere with any views whatsoever. Across from us were no rooms which we liked. No noise at all... It was a great cabin... Enjoy your cruise

We have cabin 6328 - which appears to be in the same location but opposite from yours-

Question: Did you have a smaller balcony or an odd shaped balcony.

According to the picture it seems to be smaller?

Was there any noise from elevator or stairs?

Would you pick that room again?

If you look down is there nothing but lifeboats?

We are just unsure if we made a bad choice.

It was HOT, upper 90's all week with a few drizzles but no rain. Actually it rained for about 10 minutes while shopping in st.thomas ... It's more humid here in N.J.

Hello,

 

Nice review. I was just wondering how was the weather. extremely hot, humid...?

 

 

My family and I are cruising the same itenary in 3 weeks.

 

I am glad to see you had alot of fun.

 

Thanks,

Chris

Thanks Roy, it was great meeting you and your Mrs. as well.... Enjoy the freedom... Keep us posted.

Carrie P.It was great to meet you and your son and mother.Glad you enjoyed

 

your cruise.That was our 20th on RCI and just as great as the other 19.

We will be sailing on the Freedom 6/11/2006.

Thank you for your kind comments....

Can you believe I woke up to no milk in the house and had to run out to get coffee? This isn't fun anymore. Funny thing is while at the store I started moving... The sea legs are working now.

Carrie,

 

Very nice review! Glad you had a wonderful time & Welcome back to reality!

Was so impressed with your review regarding the "clothing attire" in the dining room. Your attitude was wonderful .... in comparison to some of the remarks others have. Too bad all couldn't see it that way.

 

Again thanks & good luck getting adjusted to everyday life.

 

Shirley

My son couldn't believe he was inside a ship... He thougt the whole trip was amazing. I think he enjoyed the excursions better though. He said on the stingray tour "this was an adventure of a lifetime"... When I can figure out how to put my pix on here from my new digital camera I took I think over 200 photos...

Welcome Home!!! Loved reading your review! Glad you had such a great time! :)

 

What was your sons opinion of the explorer?