Few Notes from Explorer 6/4 Bermuda Cruise

[Knight17]

First cruise on Royal in 15 years - 15th anniversary with our two daughters, 10 and 8. Embarkation - drove from western PA Friday night & arrived in Somerset, NJ about 2:00 a.m. Drove to port via Staten Island - about a 45 minute drive. Traffic around terminal was a bit crazy around noon; parked in lot closest to terminal building after dropping off the bags and family. No paint overspray issues from what I could see - saw a couple of cars with plastic covers. Both embarkation and debarkation went quick and smoothly. Weather was very nice - upper 70's to low 80's for highs for the sea days and the two days in Bermuda with low humidity. It was breezy on the ship on the seas days so the pools were not crowded, but the pool area was crowded. No transportation issues in Bermuda for us - took ferry to St. George - 1st ferry filled up before we could board & we took the 2nd, slower ferry which left about 20 minutes after the 1st. Later in day took bus to Hamilton with no problem and returned to ship on ferry - crowded, but on time. 2nd day took buses to and from Horseshoe Bay - waited very little for buses, but they did wait until the buses were completely full, including as many as could stand as possible before departing. Shows on the ship were good - ice show show very good; the two song and dance shows were also good. I enjoyed both comedians, but some did not like one or the other. Cruise Director was very funny and entertaining. Did not see the show on our port day in Bermuda. I thought the food was very good - but we do not eat out often with our schedule, and rarely at upscale type restaurants so we are not very picky. The ship was very nice, especially the Royal Promenade Deck and the Centrum areas. We had a very good time and really liked the fact that we did not have to deal with an airport after getting off the ship.

[stones902]

First cruise on Royal in 15 years - 15th anniversary with our two daughters, 10 and 8. Embarkation - drove from western PA Friday night & arrived in Somerset, NJ about 2:00 a.m. Drove to port via Staten Island - about a 45 minute drive. Traffic around terminal was a bit crazy around noon; parked in lot closest to terminal building after dropping off the bags and family. No paint overspray issues from what I could see - saw a couple of cars with plastic covers. Both embarkation and debarkation went quick and smoothly. Weather was very nice - upper 70's to low 80's for highs for the sea days and the two days in Bermuda with low humidity. It was breezy on the ship on the seas days so the pools were not crowded, but the pool area was crowded. No transportation issues in Bermuda for us - took ferry to St. George - 1st ferry filled up before we could board & we took the 2nd, slower ferry which left about 20 minutes after the 1st. Later in day took bus to Hamilton with no problem and returned to ship on ferry - crowded, but on time. 2nd day took buses to and from Horseshoe Bay - waited very little for buses, but they did wait until the buses were completely full, including as many as could stand as possible before departing. Shows on the ship were good - ice show show very good; the two song and dance shows were also good. I enjoyed both comedians, but some did not like one or the other. Cruise Director was very funny and entertaining. Did not see the show on our port day in Bermuda. I thought the food was very good - but we do not eat out often with our schedule, and rarely at upscale type restaurants so we are not very picky. The ship was very nice, especially the Royal Promenade Deck and the Centrum areas. We had a very good time and really liked the fact that we did not have to deal with an airport after getting off the ship.

 

Good review...thanks for posting!

 

The only thing that I might disagree with was the debarkation. You experience might have been different but we found the whole thing pretty cumbersome having to exit on deck 1 and catch the tram. Part of our situation might have been because it was necessary for us to carry off our luggage to make our early flight but I thought having to catch a tram back to the terminal was a bottleneck in the process.

[cot427]

Thanks for the info! We are leaving this Saturday also from Western PA. Very excited!

[Knight17]

Good review...thanks for posting!

 

The only thing that I might disagree with was the debarkation. You experience might have been different but we found the whole thing pretty cumbersome having to exit on deck 1 and catch the tram. Part of our situation might have been because it was necessary for us to carry off our luggage to make our early flight but I thought having to catch a tram back to the terminal was a bottleneck in the process.

 

We had a 10:00 - 10:15 projected time to debark. We were called at about 10:15; walked right off the ship; waited a couple of minutes for a shuttle; walked right to our baggage area; and then had about a 5-10 minute wait to get to a customs officer.

 

Also forgot to mention that there was a variety of age groups on the ship. Not as many kids as I expected, but I guess ours were in the minority of schools in the Northeast that were out of school for the summer.

[MedicKen]

Cot,

 

We too are from the 'Burgh and have sailed on Explorer twice as well as picking up our son from his cruise. We left North Hills about 5am and, after 2 stops, were at the port about 11 am. It's an easy, but kind of long, drive. If you are a night life person you may want to consider arriving a day ahead of time.

 

Enjoy your cruise, We know you'll love the ship.

[cot427]

Cot,

 

We too are from the 'Burgh and have sailed on Explorer twice as well as picking up our son from his cruise. We left North Hills about 5am and, after 2 stops, were at the port about 11 am. It's an easy, but kind of long, drive. If you are a night life person you may want to consider arriving a day ahead of time.

 

Enjoy your cruise, We know you'll love the ship.

 

Thanks! I figure we will plan on leaving around 4am and take our time and stop twice and get there around that time. (Cannot leave a day early due to everyone's work schedule.) But we do like to stay up for the first night so, at least for me, I plan on taking a nap after lunch and before the muster drill so I can enjoy the rest of the day, because I will be the one doing most of the driving and I know how tiring it can be.

 

Now this week needs to go by really fast so I can cruise!

[stones902]

We had a 10:00 - 10:15 projected time to debark. We were called at about 10:15; walked right off the ship; waited a couple of minutes for a shuttle; walked right to our baggage area; and then had about a 5-10 minute wait to get to a customs officer.

 

Also forgot to mention that there was a variety of age groups on the ship. Not as many kids as I expected, but I guess ours were in the minority of schools in the Northeast that were out of school for the summer.

 

Maybe our experience was because we had to carry off our luggage due to the timing of our flight. They had us meet in the dining room on deck 4. Since they released all the carry off cruisers first (and there were several hundred) the elevators were packed. Many pax like ourselves opted for the stairs rather than wait for elevators.

 

My error was that I didn't consider that carry off would be released first during the debarkation process. Also bringing the luggage on the shuttle busses was very cumbersome. I was suprised that they had us exit off the ship on deck 1 rather than deck 4.

 

Again, not a huge deal - we made our flights and are no worse for wear.