Trip report Pacific Coastal 9/22-9/29--Explorer of the Seas

This was our first sailing with Royal Caribbean in sometime. My husband and I sailed (Virginians), and met our dear friends, a couple from Arizona. We had two balcony cabins on Deck 12. We all purchased the deluxe beverage package, and the VOOM.

Embarkation had lines, but moved very fast. We were dropped off at Smith's Cove Pier around 10:45, and were onboard before noon.

The ship is lovely, and has character. From some reviews here, I was expecting a rusty old tub. She is a lovely ship, expertly maintained, and spotlessly clean. Perhaps it helped that we were in the new balcony cabins up top. We loved the location, and the views were spectacular. The weather was outstanding, generally warm and sunny with smooth seas. Our steward, Ushnesh, was great and did his best to satisfy every request. We spent very little time on our balaconies this trip.

We went to about four shows, and they were all good. Loved the Ice show! There was plenty to do or not do, and generally we made our own fun.

The food was fine, not exceptional, but fine. I thought breakfast in the Lido was generally very good. We had anytime MDR, standing reservation for 7:45 with Peter and George. We had a nice four top by the window every night. The food was generally good, prime rib was only really bad dish. There was always something we DID like, and our servers bent over backwards to accomodate us. They always had our wine ready, and kept it coming. We ate in Chops one night, and it was very good.

I really don't like the coffee on board, bad everywhere, and used our drink card for specialty coffee on Deck 5 many times.

The crew was friendly and very good at what they do. They were oustanding in every way.

This was a great cruise, it went by way too quickly and seemed like a long weekend, rather than a week. My husband, my friend (a former travel agency owner), and myself all agreed the Explorer is a great ship. We all have many cruises in our pasts. My friend's husband had never cruised before, and he loved it. His enthusiasm was refreshing and contagious.

The ports were all good. Astoria was small and quaint, San Francisco vibrant and busy, Victoria was quite lovely, and we just walked around some there.

Debarkation was very easy, no lines whatsoever. We got off in a later group, as we were staying in Seattle for the entire weekend. Our friends did the early self dis-embarkation, as they had an 11 AM flight. They had time on their hands at the gate. The Seattle airport is very busy, and security was backed up the night we finally left.

My only complaint regarding the Explorer would be the hard beds. Our steward did his best to make it softer, he attempted two different fixes, but it remained hard. This is really an issue for us when contemplating longer cruises. DH retiring early 2018 and I think we might finally do a transatlantic, but probably not on RCI. We need to sleep comfotably. It is a personal issue, our friends like hard beds, so it was good for them.

I think we got our mileage out of the drink package. We enjoyed many non alcoholic waters, coffees, diet cokes (me), beer (DH), coctails and wine with dinner every night.I did not keep a tally, but enjoyed the freedom to not have to keep up with it. Just in case anyway wants it, they don't have Vitamin Water on the Explorer. I had read they did, and kept looking for it, until a bartender finally told me they no longer have it. The internet is pretty bad on the Explorer. Fortunately, we did not really need it, especially with all of the domestic ports. I took some Canda Dry diet ginger ale on board, and some wine. No comments from anyone boarding. We never even cracked the wine open!

All in all a wonderful, memorable trip enhanced by our cheerful companions and the gracious crew of the Exxplorer!

Nice review we did the Pacific Coastal Cruise on Celebrity Infinity back in May, ours was an 11 nighter and enjoyed all the ports.

Just wondered if you had any pictures of the new Balcony cabins on deck 12. We have been on Explorer many times when it's home port was in Bayonne NJ. Never knew they added cabins on deck 12.

Jimbo:)

No, sorry, I didn't take any. But, if you do a search, somewhere a kind soul posted some on CC, because I viewed them before I chose our cabins. I think they are standard size, but they have newer finishes, light wood and a wall mounted LG TV. We liked it up there! If you are prone to sea sickness, probably a no go. They were added in 2015 refit.