Quick Review Explorer to Bermuda 9/20/14

I just wanted to post a few a few observations of my cruise after reading reviews of the Explorer before my departure. I don't understand most of the negative reviews, we had a wonderful time.

This trip was a 25th Anniversary cruise with my husband, my sister in law, brother in law and his wife. I am a seasoned cruiser, my husband is not a fan of cruising, this was his a second cruise after a not so good experience on NCL. This was the 3rd cruise for my in laws. I was concerned this was going to be another bad experience for my husband, I was so wrong. We were on vacation and we all don't let anything ruin it for us but since I was the one who did the planning I did have my doubts.

My sister in law is from Florida and I sail with her from Port Canaveral, we were driving from Staten Island and my in laws were driving in from Pennsylavania. I wanted to be at the port by 11, we did not make it out of the house until 11:30 so we arrived at the pier at 12. We used the Port Liberty parking, my in laws used Premier and we met in the terminal. Boarding was not as horrible as I thought it would be. It is a process, park your car, shuttle to the terminal, check in to get on another shuttle to board. The lines moved and the shuttle was waiting. The worst part is when you board on deck 1, there are only 4 elevators to get up to the Windjammer so that is where the longest wait was. People felt the need to climb the steps to deck 2 for the elevator for a spot so it took longer. RCI should have control of the elevators so embarkation runs more smoothly.

Debarkation on the other hand was a nightmare. I'm not sure self assist was the way to go. The elevators going down were full as well as the stairwells, long slow lines. It took us almost 2 hours to get off. We followed our directions for self assist, not sure everyone else did and that is what caused the delay.

The Windjammmer was not crowded at any time, there was always a table, servers to assist. The food was ordinary buffet food and there was something for everyone, you don't leave hungry. Finally off to the pool,deck for sail away, this was not the best experience. The waiters are non existent which is a shame and lost revenue for the cruise line. There are 2 bars, both were crowded. One was near the DJ, the other on the upper pool deck, again you needed patience. I can never remember a sail away where I did not have a drink in my hand. It was very windy so most people stayed on the lower pool deck. We did get our drinks in time to sail under the Verrazano, that is 25 minutes from the pier but again,

we were on vacation. On other days there were servers on the pool deck but you needed to look for them, not always available as they were on my prior cruises.

The ship is beautiful. She is not new, but just like owning a home for 15 years, things are worn, nothing that would ruin a cruise. The ship was spotless, the public bathrooms worked fine and were also clean, our balcony cabins were nice and also clean, no sewage smells and the service on the ship was outstanding. We ate in the main dining room 4 nights and our waiter would double up on appetizers and bring us an extra entree to try (he even ordered us escargot for our last night in the MDR) it was not on the menu and brought us extra lobster tails. Honestly there was too much food. If you order an appetizer, entree and dessert, you will not be hungry. I ate more in the past 5 days than I did this month and we never ate breakfast. Lunch was in the Windjammer and it was ok. We ate in Portofino the last night and it was worth the extra money. We had an outstanding dinner. We were told that it will be replaced with Giovanni's Tabke after dry dock and Dynamic Dining will replace the dining rooms. Explorer will be sailing from China after dry dock so unless you do an Asian itinerary she will not be back.

We had 15 foot waves & 30 mile winds on our sea day out to Bermuda. The ship handled it well, a few felt sick but most were out & about. You just had to make sure you held on to something, we drank a lot so it helped. We had various drink packages and it was worth it.

We arrived in Bermuda to a cloudy wet morning. Our original plan was to go to Elbow Beach but since the weather was not good, we took a 3 hour tour of the island and saw everything. It cost us $30.00 a person, we had a minivan for the 5 of us and it was worth it. I have been to Bermuda many times, it was a first for everyone else and we all enjoyed it. The weather did clear up by noon. We ate dinner on the ship and we booked the glass bottom boat excursion for the evening which was also a nice excursion. Day 2 was spent shopping at the dockyard so we never did get to the beach.

The last day at sea was also windy & rainy so everyone was inside once again, this time the seas were calmer. The ship never felt crowded and there is always something to do. The entertainers could have been better. The C Wind band was not so good, there was a Latin band, we never sat with the piano player but Jimmy Blakewood in the Crown & Kettle was the best entertainment happening. He played a guitar & did sing alongs and kept us entertained. The shows in the theatre were ok, the ice show was very good. We went to a few shows and parades, I'm not sure the name of our cruise director, he did not make an impression like most did on past cruises, I think his side knick was Titi, he was around mostly and not very personable.

We enjoyed our time on the Explorer, my sister in law and I may sail her again out of Port Canaveral before she leaves for dry dock. I wish our trip was more than 5 days and am sad to be home.

If you are sailing the Explorer any time soon, enjoy. We had a great trip and the ship was beautiful with outstanding service. We were not disappointed, we were on vacation and did not let anything ruin it for us.