DivineDivia

I don't know particularly about QOTS, but on other RCCL ships I have been on, there is usually a meet up at a bar around 10pm each night.

Symphony of the Seas! December 1!!

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Any questions or comments? Where you on this cruise?

Final day of the cruise in Nassau. I have been to this port several times. I booked a glass bottom boat tour through the cruise line. I thought I would sleep in since my excursion started later. Wrong! There were crew drills so my dreams were dashed.

The tour was operated by Sunshine Tours I think. It was about a 4-5 minute walk from the Explorer to our ship. We sailed past Atlantis and a variety of celebrity owned homes. We then went over a protected marina and saw a variety of sea life.

I then walked around some and then headed back to the ship.

I had dinner at Portofino. Had a nice table by the window and a great waiter. He offered to take my picture and then took a selfie with my camera! I have always found the food and service at Portofino to be excellent and I am sad that this restaurant is being phased out.

The farewell show featured Chuck, a comedian juggler.

Tip: So, if you haven't sailed in a while, like me, there are no more vouchers for tips. They do leave you two envelopes to leave additional tips for anyone that wowed you.

Today was the second sea day and we are heading to the Bahamas. Went to the Windjammer again for breakfast. I feel like I can make the perfect omelet now. Then I headed off to my meeting with the Next Cruise specialist/Loyalty Ambassador whatever they are called these days. Didn't seem like there was a lot to do today. There was supposed to be a watch seminar. I went but it didn't happen. I went to the Champagne Bar and tried a Flirtini. This was hands down my favorite drink of the cruise. Fruity, fizzy, and delicious. I decided to explore the ship. Super windy today! I find the area over looking the bridge. This was cool. Captain James was not in there, but still an interesting experience. They have information out there to tell you about the bridge and a map that lets you know where we are at and where we are headed.

I had dinner tonight with the folks I met from Wisconsin. The Indian food came. I had butter chicken. So good. Probably some of the best food that I had on the entire cruise. However, couldn't pass up the lobster tail since it was on the menu tonight. We then hit up the Solarium and played spades and euchre.

After I got my butt handed to me in cards, I headed to Quest. Was standing room only. Want to know what the strangest thing I saw at Quest was? A marriage proposal!

Today we arrived in Cozumel. This was my first trip to Mexico. I booked the Tequila Tasting through the cruise line. I wanted to make sure I had a good breakfast so I decided to try the fresh made omelet station at the Windjammer and it did not disappoint. I met several of the college kids and the all happened to be from North Carolina, but didn't go to school in the state. The Tequila Tasting happened at Discover Mexico which is not far from the pier at all. We were greeted with margaritas. We were then taken to a private room were we learned the history of tequila and tasted three types of tequila. We were also taught the proper way to drink tequila (sorry, it isn't shooting it). We then went through the museum and had a picture with donkey. We then tried a guava margarita with chili pepper. To. Die. For. I already liked mexican hot chocolate, and I believe this will be the standard way to drink my margaritas. We then had an authentic taco bar and saw traditional dance show and then it was back to the pier.

I went back to the room for a bit and I have to say one of my new favorite guilty pleasures thanks to this cruise is SouthBeach Tow and Operation Repo.

I headed to the top deck to see if any was going to be left behind. I was amazed at the amount of people lolly gagging around after All Aboard!

After sail away, I got ready for the Mystery Dinner. At the dinner, I met some great people from Wisconsin that introduced me to the beauty of an Old Fashioned. The Mystery Dinner meal is pre-set, but is very good.

In case you are curious about cruising during Daylight Saving Time change. We did not switch on Sunday. We did not switch until Day 4, the sea day before the Bahamas. Cozumel does not observe DST.

Started off with breakfast in the main dining room and then headed to the Welcome Back Event. Oh wait, hello, I forgot to mention that this cruise made me Platinum, very excited on my achievement! Back to the event, the crew did a great job on making sure on C&A members got in. There were mimosas, champagne, yellowbirds, and bahama mamas. Two of the Royal Caribbean Singers put on a show and then Captain James told us about some news. He talked some about the plans for Explorer. She will be getting some tenders, new staterooms, new restaurants, and a flowrider. He also briefly spoke about the Celebrity Edge project. He said the ships will be smaller than some of the other Royal Caribbean ships, but did not give great detail, but he did say keep an eye on it. Four cruise got their crystal blocks on this cruise, with on person having over 1000 cruise points.

Next, off to the shopping talk. So apparently, Cozumel is the place to shop because the Mexican government is offering 8.9% rebate on your Visa/Mastercard purchases if you show your passport.

Tip: If you are a gym goer and want to avoid the crowd, 11-11:30 was a great time. I spoke to the trainer and that is what she suggested. I never had a problem getting a machine then.

After the gym and a quick snack at the cafe, I went to the ice show.

Tip: You can go to the ice show other than your assigned time if you wait until 5 minutes before the show starts. As long as there are empty seats, they will let you in. This is what I did.

The show was fun. The guest act was amazing. She was an ice skater that did amazing things with hula hoops and they just kept adding more and more hula hoops. I hope she is in Vegas when I go back. I would love to see more!

After this, I went to the Gem stone talk. They lured me in with the false promise of earrings. You have to pick them up in port, FYI. You do get the charm at the talk though. I did find the talk interesting though. In general I found it to be more informative than the Port Shopping talk. I stopped at the Champagne Bar for a Kir Royale then headed to my room to get ready becasue tonight is formal night.

I did do My Time Dining. I pretty much made a set reservation time for 5:45pm. We did not have lobster or shrimp tonight. There was a fish dish and a beef dish. I got the fish dish and a Passion Mango-rita. I asked my waiter if they could make Indian food since it is no longer on the menu and he asked the head waiter and they said yeas. After dinner I decided to explore the ship more and headed by Portofino. I noticed they were doing the Mystery Dinner for Day 3. I asked if they still had availability and they did. I told them that I was supposed to have Indian food in the main dining room and they said that they would transfer it over to the following night for me. I'm excited because I have always wanted to do the Mystery Dinner.

Tonight's entertainment is courtesy of the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers. A variety of tunes from different parts of the country: Miami, Vegas, San Fransisco, and Chicago. I then went and participated in the Finish that Lyric Game Show. It was me, and a lady from Michigan against several students from Georgia. I got kicked out on the second round on Mustang Sally. I still have never heard that song and I am pretty well versed in music!

General note: Today, the crew was not as friendly! Not sure if it is because I look to be the age of the spring break crowd or because a lot of them said that their contracts were ending, but it was noticed. Several other loyal royals were talking about it as well. Maybe I slept through something that happened over night though. Several passengers were also talking about the college students being a pain.

So turns out that I am on a Spring Break Cruise! The ship was 2/3rds full with college students on spring break I heard. I also heard a few got kicked off for climbing over their balcony to steal chairs from their neighbor's balcony. I shouldn't have been surprised. I work at a university and was also taking advantage of spring break. Lines for the drink package were long! There have been lots of threads on prices. I did not get the drink package. I never bought pop, but I did by alcohol. I only bought one thing that was "cheap" an adult coffee was $8 and $9.44 with gratuity. Everything else was $12 and $14.16 with gratuity. I am not sure if thinking how many drinks per day is always the best measure. I would base it on drinks per trip. I drink more on sea days. Anyway. Do the math for yourself, I left wishing I had got it.

I got a North Carolina resident discount and was able to swing a Junior Suite at a reasonable rate. I wish they would not use those shower curtains, but other than that, I liked it. I did have to request tea for the tea kettle, but it was not a problem. The extra closet space is nice as well.

The Muster Drill was hilarious, but also trying. I met a nice couple there. The drill took longer than it should because the college kids were just finding their friends and not checking with the crew.

I went to the spa raffle. Didn't win, but got excited because they gave everyone in attendance a $30 spa credit. Well, the excitement was short-lived, this was the deal of the day also in the Cruise Planner! Went to dinner, and then the Welcome Aboard Show. The comedian was David Orion.

Hi fellow CCers! Writing my review of the final Explorer of the Seas sailing before she gets revitalized and heads to Europe. This was my first solo cruise and 4th sailing with Royal Caribbean. The captain was James MacDonald, cruise director Mike Hunnerup, and loyalty cruise sales manager Alex Mangabeira.

So a little about my pre-cruise festivities. I flew in from North Carolina and used Cocoa Beach Shuttle to take me from MCO to the DoubleTree. If you mention CruiseCritic, they give you a 10% discount. My flight was delayed and I called the company to let them know. The woman took down the updated information. When I got to MCO, I had several messages from the driver. When I called back I told him that I called and the name of the person I spoke with and he said the drivers use the paper system and the office use the computer system. Long story short, I had to wait an hour for a driver and it is a 45 minute drive from MCO to the Cocoa Beach area.

The DoubleTree was a nice stay. No problems. A little far from the pier if you like to be right there.

I also used Cocoa Beach shuttle the next morning to take me to the pier. They came right on time at 10:15am. I got on and he asked me if I had a voucher. I said no, no one said anything to me about a voucher. He said no problem, I was on the list. We made one more stop, a family got on and, we were out of seats! The father had to stand as we drove to the pier. I was the only one for a Royal Caribbean ship so we stopped at Carnival (I think it was the Sunshine) first. As we made it up to the area to drop off passangers the security made us go around again which took an additional 20 minutes. Once we dropped everyone off, we had to wait for the shuttle to fill up again, so I got to the Explorer at 11:30am. During this time, I canceled my return trip from Explorer to MCO using Cocoa Beach Shuttle.

When we arrived to the Explorer the passenger drop off proccess went smoothly. I was checked in and on the ship in under 10 minutes.

I only have a first name on the activities manager Tanya. I will let you know if I find out more. The paella was yummy. I only had a little. I think I will make my way to the promenade.

Off to the spa tour!

I was a fan of the pork stew myself! :)

Maybe. I know people here rave about it.

Oh and there is honey stung chicken!

Ok slight misdirect as I won't be live blogging. I will post a review when I get back. Crew member said this is the last cruise before refurb. Kiwi water is delightful and free in the Windjammer. I ordered the water bottle package through RC because I heard Port C is hard core about water. Glad I did. I don't know about checked luggage but I personally witnessed them confiscating packs of water as carry on. They did let me bring a single bottle.

Will answer what I can before muster!

Excited! Anyone else on this cruise? It will be my first cruise out of Port Canaveral.

Nah, stick with Chops. You can go to Giovanni's for lunch for cheaper if you want to give it a try b

You can select which day it gets delivered to the state room. It also tells you how many bottles when you add the water package to your cart. You can select how many bottles you want.

Perrier = Sparkling Water.

Yes, chai and hot chocolate included. Does IOS have Lattetudes or however you spell it? Whatever the local cafe on board is, that is where you can get your chais and hot chocolates.

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I personally can't wait to sail her. It's time for a shake up with rccl ships. Same old same old. Same boring food in the MDR. For people like me who sale a lot I'm sick of having the same prime rib and turkey dinner in the MDR. And being young I love the tech.

Word! LOL. IMHO Dynamic Dining is just a tweak on MTD, which I love. I also love trying different foods. We are booked on Anthem for 2016 and we have a different venue each night for dinner. This foodie can't wait!

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Thanks for sharing!

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Yum!

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Anyone have a cabin near Two70? We are near the stairs/elevator closes to it on Anthem and I am wondering if we should change.

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I wanted to know this as well, thanks!

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I was on Freedom two weeks ago and bought the Replenish package ahead of time. I found it to be of great value. I would have freshly squeezed juice at breakfast in WJ, then bead to the Café Promenade and grab a specialty coffee as it was Starbucks brand. And I would also grab a bottled water. Than at lunch if we were on the ship, I got a Coke. And in the afternoon, I would get a non-alcoholic cocktail (the banana daiquiri was good) or another Starbucks and another bottled water. At dinner the MDR, I would get a coke. Then after dinner I would go back to the promenade café and get non-caffeinated beverage like vanilla steamer or hot chocolate than head to the theater. Than after I sometimes grab another cocktail and a bottles water. I only used the machines 3-4 times the entire cruise.

 

 

 

To the OP, sounded like you were a little confused on what was included. But glad to hear you got a refund.

Love your method! I am stealing it for my next cruise.

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