The Holidays on the Explorer: My Diary

[maxs mom]

At Sapphire Beach there is a nice place to get lunch. It;s under new management since the last time we were there, but you can get a great hambuirger or chicken sandwich there. Good drinks also. I had a Bushwhacker for dessert. Yum! When we got back to Havensight....John went back to the ship and I did a little bit of shopping.

After dinner tonight there was caroling on the Promenade. It was very well attended and we sang lost of songs. Lots of fun.

Ran in to Wendy and her family on the way to dinner.

Visited with Lisa and Guy in the CL before dinner.

The Promenade was a lot of fun on Christmas Eve.

[maxs mom]

Santa from "Santa Maarten" paid a visit to me on Christmas Eve. I was surprised with a new trinket and it was well received!!

A new Chocolate Diamond bangle!! Yay!!!!

After cruising the Promenade, we turned in early.

[maxs mom]

Oh...... I almost forgot. Christmas Eve....before dinner......There was the most beautiful sunset that I think we have ever seen at sea!! Here are a few pictures when we were leaving St. Thomas.

[kclvt]

Can't wait for the rest of your review! We will be on Explorer (our 3rd time) in March and can't wait!

[maxs mom]

Saturday.....12-25-10

Christmas Day......At Sea

Slept in a little today. Got up in time to see Santa's arrival on the pool deck complete with a band and elves!

He continued his parade through the Promenade and then down to Studio B where he saw all the boys and girls and gave out presents. Very nice!

Edited January 9, 2011 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

The skating rink was open and it was even snowing in there!

I found some CC buddies while I was out and also some egg nog!!

[maxs mom]

At 1:00 some folks from our roll call group met up at the MDR for lunch. I think about 25 or so showed up and we had a nice time.

After lunch.....Wendy co-ordinated a cabin crawl. We visted about 5 different cabins and had a lot of fun. We started in our JS.

Edited January 9, 2011 by max'smom

[alexkrn46]

I am enjoying your review, thanks.

[maxs mom]

We visited a couple of D1's, a promenade, and ended up in an inside where Graham showed off his "walk in closet" !!

So after all this fun......I decided that I really didn't feel good at all. I spent the rest of the day in bed with aches and congestion and a bad cough. Seems that quite a few of our shipmates were also feeling a bit like this as well. I felt a little better by dinnertime but we came back to the cabin and went right to bed after dinner. We took a couple of formal pictures before going to bed.

[maxs mom]

Sunday.....12-26-10

Barbados

After a good night's sleep.....I felt much better. I bounced back quickly, but many people on the ship had colds and congestion and such!

We got up very early today.....we were the only ones in the D/D+ dining room for breakfast today. Since it was a holiday in Barbados today, I knew the beaches would be crowded, so we needed to get out there early. We met David and Nancy and headed off to Accra beach....one of my favorite spots in Barbados. Our taxi driver dropped us off exacrly where we wanted......the Bar Ke'nai at the end of Accra Beach. We were one of the first to arrive and got the premier spots on the beach. Not long after we got there, they ran out of chairs and umbrellas, so I was glad we got there early. The taxi was $7 pp and he came back to get us at a specified time. I love the Bar Ke'nai. We paid $15 for two chairs and an umbrella, but that cost is absorbed in any food and drink that you order in their restaurant. They are really nice there and the food is really good. The beach was wonderful today.

Here we are cruising into Barbados.

There were 5 ships in port today.

This is Accra beach:

[maxs mom]

I love the reef at the end of the beach. It's just a cool place to hang out.

I found this little guy there:

Time to stop for today...I'll add more tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in!

[splogger]

The best I have ever seen, really ejoyed it and it make you want to go back on the ship, we will be going again, thank goodness, as I would get withdrawal systems!!!! Thank you so much. Christine:):)

[JetSet2B]

Great review and pics!

[The Big Booper]

Keep it going, enjoying the trip all over again. And looking at someone else's pictures.

[Sugar*Magnolia]

Great review, Jane! Love reading a review on the same cruise!!

 

Maybe mine will be finished next week?? lol

[The Big Booper]

. j e t s

Edited January 9, 2011 by The Big Booper

[charliegirlac]

Love reading your reviews!! Keep it coming!

[maxs mom]

Before long, several of our CC buddies showed up on the beach. We had a nice day at Accra Beach. Very good food at Bar Ke'nai also. Today was quite hot and very nice!

Once again. The key to going to this beach this time of year is to get there EARLY.

[maxs mom]

Our taxi driver came back to get us right on time. It was back to the ship for ice cream/showers/nap!

Leaving Barbados is always pretty.

Crystal Serenity and the QE2 were in many of the ports with us.

That night the CL was pretty dead again until the first seating folks came back in after dinner.

After dinner we went to the casino again and we both won some money at the slots. We took our winnings and went to bed!

[maxs mom]

Monday.....12-27-10

Dominica

Once again, we are up early. Had breakfast in the WJ today....hardly anyone there! We just wanted a quick breakfast this morning. Dominica is one of my favorite ports. It's just so beautiful here. We couldn't decide what to do today. We finally decided that we would go down to the dock at the Fort Young Hotel and see if we could find Captain Jerry and see if he had room on his boat to go whale watching again. We did this last year and it was fabulous. When we were here in the summer, we grabbed a taxi and toured all over the rainforest......also fabulous! But today, we just felt like a boat ride.

Sure enough, not long after we got down to the dock (8:30) Jerry and the Proud Mary sail in. He had enough room for us so we hop on the boat with about 6 other people.

So we head out into the ocean in search of whales.

Edited January 9, 2011 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

Well......we searched and searched......but no whales today!! Lots of dolphins.....but no whales. Very dissappointing. So what can you do........drink beer, of course!!!

I got to drive the boat!

Expensive boat ride!

I still recommend going whale watching with Captain Jerry. Our experience last year was incredible.

[maxs mom]

We went back to the ship for lunch. It was quiet on the ship today, so I roamed around and made some pictures.

No one playing mini golf today. The course is in great shape. Looks like it had been completely redone!

No one climbing the wall today!

I love the pictures that you can get from the ship in Dominica.

Sail away from Dominica:

[maxs mom]

Tonight we meet our tablemates Joe and Tony (My boys!!) for dinner at Portofino. Excellent food and service, as always.

I had the tuna steak.

And Tiramisu for dessert:

Here's another sail away picture from Dominica.

We left late from Dominica because a passenger fell at the pool today and hurt her ankle. The ship was not capable of treating her so she went to the local hospital for treatment. We saw the ambulance at the dock when we came in for lunch. They had to wait for them to get back before we could leave.

[nyer]

Oh wow! I didn't know I had a following! We loved the Serenade so much that we booked another Back 2 Back on her the same weeks this summer. We sure were spoiled on the Serenade! Hope you enjoy the Explorer.

 

Sorry....that was a reply to NYer

 

I promise you that I am not a stalker! LOL Maybe one day I will be on the same ship as you at the same time as you.

We' date=' too, loved the Serenade. We thought it was the most beautiful ship we have been on. Thanks, we know that we will enjoy the Explorer. We did her 9night cruise in '09. This time we are doing Bermuda 5 night with our daughter and her DH and their 3 yr old daughter. I am looking forward to my first cruise with my granddaughter. [/color']

Rose

Edited January 9, 2011 by nyer

[maxs mom]

Tuesday......12-28-10

Antigua

So in the night, John started to get the crud. He did not sleep well at all and felt misierable, so he opted not to get off the ship today.

So I hooked with with my Canadian buddies and we head out early for Valley Church Beach.....another one of my favorites. We were the first ones out there today and it was beautiful. We got a taxi for about $6.00 pp although at first they quoted $8pp. The trick here is to walk on past the first taxi standa ways and you will get a cheaper price. The driver did not want to be paid when he dropped us off......he said we could pay him when he came back for us at 3:00. Here are a few pictures of the beach when we got there.

We paid $5 for a chair and they put us in the premier spot on the beach with plenty of shade. We settled in for a great day at the beach.