Explorer Of The Seas. Just Back 4-17

[Earthling]

Dinning Room food:

 

The dinning room food was very good every night, many options to pick from, I don't think one night was any weaker or stronger then any other night. I personally enjoyed a the vegetarian appetizers that I tried especially the berry and buttermilk soup. My wife thought the scallops and risotto was excellent, the spring roll and many of the soups were great. The main courses were recommended by Thomas our waiter, and all the vegetarian dishes were very good we never had to order off the alternative menu. As a matter of fact all of our table mates seemed very pleased with the menu selections. The dinning room food was far better then Olive Garden or Cheesecake Factory, sorry I don't know about Morton's.

 

Embarkation:

 

We arrived at the ship at 1:30pm and were on board and in our cabin in least then 15 minutes. If you have all your documentation ready for the customer service people to work with you should have the same results. There were no lines at any checkpoint we went through. We drop off our carry-ons, listen to our noisey neighbors, went to lunch, then went to guest services to see if they could move us to a quieter cabin. The guest service rep said we would know by 5:00pm, so we decided to take a tour of the ship. By the time we were done touring guest services had found a a quieter cabin. Our cabin steward moved our bags to new cabin and introduced us to our new steward.

 

Swaying of the ship:

 

Because this was my first cruise I nothing to compare it to. But my wife has sailed many time before and she did say that this was the first time she really felt the sway of the ship. That was mostly on our last sea day. If you get seasick easy make sure you pack a motion sickness medication just in case. Tendering from ship to shore the two times in the itinerary were not a problem for us. We did find out on our tender back to the ship from Grand Cayman that we almost didn't stop there because of sea conditions earlier that morning. However the water smoothed out and the captain decided it was safe for us to tender in.

 

Time in Belize:

 

Belize City was the first port of call on our cruise. The day we arrive temps were in the mid 80's and 76% humidity. It took us new englanders bit of time to get use to the topical weather. We arrived early in the morning most of the shops were just opening. We walked around the pier shopping area then adventure into the city. Enjoying all the local color we walked in and out of stores, some of which had air conditioning. We also stop at a local vendor who was cutting up fresh fruits and selling them for $.50 a bag. We found the Belize post office and sent post cards to the family, and pick up some local stamps. Just outside the pier shopping on the same side of the street as Goodmark jewelers there is a must shop store with local crafts and artist goods. I am not sure of the name but it had in it wood carved plates and bowls and statues that were outstanding. So if you are not doing an shore tour go out and adventure around the city don't just stop at the pier shops because the great finds are always in usual places.

 

Cloe:

We do not know what happen to Cloe. Goose has been the cruise director on the Explore for a couple of months, We spoke with him coming back on the tender from Grand Cayman, he said he came from one of the other ship in RCCL. I am sure that from time to time cruise directors are switched around so that they don't get burnt out.

 

About pools on the ship:

We stayed mostly in the adult pool area, it was much quieter, didn't have children running around, and had more room in the pool and hot tubs. On our daily walk to the Windjammer for lunch we did pass through the main pool area, everyone looked like they were having a great time, the band was playing and both pools and hot tubs were jumping.

[RenSea]

Since you have saved your copies of these coveted documents could you scan and post somewhere?

 

Question for Adventure 6-8 yrs, What night is the pirates night and parade? Is the after hour babysitting still $5? What night can they eat with the staff at JR and do they charge the extra charge? Did you have early dining and how did you work out dining and getting them to the club at night?

 

Compass Question? Were there theme nights and what nights did they fall on? What night is Quest? What night is Rain playing? Any favorite bars or bartenders?

 

Thanks to all that have sailed EOS recently for being able to answer these questions.

[mslaabs]

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions (and other's as well). Great information to have before the vacation starts.

[gkrebs]

In Belize, If You like to snorkel take the water taxi over to Caye Caulker. Cost is 17.50 US rdtrp and then grab one of the locals to go out to the reef. That cost was 17.00 US per person. The stingrays and sharks were awesome as well as the other reef life. Eat lunch down at the restaurant at the end of the street. 3 of us had sandwhiches and soda, for 14.00 US total including tip.

 

 

Well worth the difference between 80.00 - 90.00 for the ship excursion, since it only cost us 40.00 each and more snorkeling time then the ship run excursions. They were heading back to Belize City as we were sitting down to lunch and we still were back to the ship in plenty of time

[nascarfans_wny]

Still hoping to hear from more people who have been on the Eastern itinerary we'll be taking in October, but you guys have given GREAT information for all of us "future Explorers" to benefit from. Glad you enjoyed your trips -- I don't know how we're going to wait another 6 months :D

[Teeara]

Belize City was the first port of call on our cruise. The day we arrive temps were in the mid 80's and 76% humidity.

 

Were the temps comparable in Costa Maya, Cozumel and Grand Cayman? I am going on the Explorer in April next year and have never cruised in Spring.

 

Theresa

[rram1234]

question for Earthling:

 

you did the ship excursion in grand caymen with the stingrays, how crowded was the boat that took you out to the sandbar? was it a small or decent sized boat?

[Earthling]

Teeara:

The port days were nice everyday. Even though it was cloudy the entire time in Cozumel it was still a beautiful day. Unfortunately though many of the Explorer's snorkling excursions were cancelled due to the rough waters but the private tours all still wnet out. The humidity did not seem to affect us any of the port days after Belize. I am not sure if it was because we became acclimaited to it or it just wasn't as bad.

 

rram1234:

The boat out to the sandbar was decent sized. I would say it held about 40-45 people. As we were on one of two boats from the Explorer and we were the first two boats out to the sandbar it was not overly crowded. However, after about 20 minutes being out there all the other tours started showing up and the stingrays became a bit more sparse. I strongly reccomend taking the $45 pp ship tour that leaves at 9:45 am so you can be amongst the first out there as well. Make sure to bring plenty of disposable underwater cameras. You cannot have enough for the trip. Trust me on that.

[Alucard]

I'm going on the Explorer on June 19th, Would it be possible for you to scan the Compass and Menu? Thank you very much. :D

[Earthling]

Sorry, we did not bring either home for souviniers. I will do my best to answer what I can for you though regarding activities and menu items. I do strongly reccomend hitting the omelette bar in the WIndjammer in the mornings though. Yummy.

[PAGA]

Question for Adventure 6-8 yrs, What night is the pirates night and parade? Is the after hour babysitting still $5? What night can they eat with the staff at JR and do they charge the extra charge? Did you have early dining and how did you work out dining and getting them to the club at night?

 

We've sailed on Explorer, Mariner and Navigator with our son -- 2 times in the 3-5 age group and once in the 6-8 age group. Not sure if it was a difference in ships, age group, or simply the number of kids on board Thanksgiving week, but in our experience my son only got to eat in Johnny Rockets with the Adventure Ocean staff while he was in the 3-5 age group. In the 6-8 age group on Navigator Thanksgiving week the 6-8 year old dinner was in the Windjammer. There was no additional charge for dining with the Adventure Ocean staff. If your child participates in dinner with the staff the kids dinner usually starts shortly before main seating in the dining room. The Adventure Ocean staff will take the kids directly to the Adventure Ocean facility following dinner.

 

On nights when our son ate with us in the main dining room my husband or I usually ran him to Adventure Ocean between our main course and dessert. The wait staff is accustomed to this and adjusts their service speed accordingly (I should note we've always been seated with other family members or by ourselves -- if we were at a table with folks we didn't know we would not disrupt dinner in this way).

 

We did not use the Adventure Ocean dinners on Explorer. On Mariner there were at least 3 nights the staff dinner was offered for the 3-5 year olds. On navigator for the 6-8 year olds I believe there were only 2 nights (formal nights), but again, we didn't use it because I didn't feel my son, who had only been 6 for a month, would be able to handle the buffet.

 

On Mariner, we swore by the kids dinners because we had been assigned late seating -- as long as we're in main seating we've found that our son (equipped with a GameBoy and/or hand-held movie disk player and headphones) can easily handle dinner time, as long as we take him to Adventure Ocean as soon as we finish our dinner.

[balconyonly]

"Since you have saved your copies of these coveted documents could you scan and post somewhere?"

 

I don't have a scanner, I can check at work. As for Adventure ocean here is a quick overview

 

"Is the after hour babysitting still $5? "

 

Yes the late night party zone 10pm until 1 am is $5 per hour

 

"What night can they eat with the staff at JR and do they charge the extra charge?"

 

nights 2,3 and 6 and no they do not charge any extra.

 

They also take the kids for ice cream every afternoon at 3:30 pm

 

Adventure Ocean Explorer 6-8 yr old recap

 

Day 1 Sunday 1:00 - 4:00 pm OPEN House

8:15 welcome aborad presentation, meet staff

8:50 - 10:00 pm registration

 

Day 2 Monday 9:00 am - 12:00 noon

nutty nicknames, pictures with captain, captains drawings

gagball

 

1:30 - 5:00pm

Junior quest, big top rehearsal, circus of the seas Parade

in Royal Promenade, Adventure Science

6:00pm Adventure dining Johnny Rockets

7:00pm - 10:00pm Survivor night, tribes, face painting

10:00pm - 1 am Late night party zone

 

Rest of the days similar hours with the following highlights

 

Day 3 Tuesday Jurassic Journey ( dinosaur stuff all morning)

Art, science afternoon

Wide World of Sports night

 

Day 4 Wednesday Adventure Theatre morning

Explorer Olympics afternoon

Pirate Night Pirate Parade at 9:15 in royal promenade

 

Day 5 Thursday Under the sea morning

Multicultural Mania afternoon

Rock n Roll night Karaoke, dance lessons

 

Day 6 Friday Science, scavanger hunt morning

Secret Agent afternoon

Jammin in your jammies night, they do a movie in the screening room, decorate a pillow etc

 

Day 7 Saturday Talent show morning, perform in Maharajas lounge

Krooz Komics, circus afternoon

Carnival nightime

 

 

We had early dining. The nights they ate with us, we took them to adventure ocean as soon as we were done. Or if they were done early I ran them up then came back. We were generally done eating at about 7:40 ish

 

For the adults

 

Day 1 Sunday Casual, welcome aboard show, Parade on Promenade

 

Day 2 Monday Formal, Captains reception, Gala dinner, RC dancers, history repeating show, late night comedy

 

Day 3 Tuesday Casual, Rain, Family fued gameshow, first show for Planet Ice, salsa dance class, Venetian feast dinner

 

Day 4 Wednesday Caribbean attire/casual, caribbean dinner, Planet Ice shows, Crown and anchor repeat cruiser party, Love and marriage gameshow, pool party, late night pool buffet

 

Day 5 Thursday 50's,60's, casual , chefs dinner, RC dancers show fast forward, the quest game, rocking thru the decades show

 

Day 6 Friday Formal, headliner Roger Behr, planet ice, Latin Parade royal promenade, midnight gala buffet

 

Day 7 Saturday casual, feast of nations dinner, farewell variety show

[jlpepper]

balconyonly:

 

Was snorkeling equipment available for rent at Uvero Beach, or did you bring your own? Was the beach very crowded?

[RenSea]

Balconyonly, thank you for your highlights of the Adventure Club!!

[tn1728]

Earthling- thanks for your review on the vegetarian items- was there a separate menu or just a choice of one vegetarian entree at dinner?

 

Balconyonly- thanks for all the info!

[balconyonly]

I never noticed snorkling equipment for rent, we had our own equipment. There were others snorkling I don't know if they rented or brought their own.

 

We got there on the first bus. It was empty. When you go in to the beach go left. If you go right the beach strip is smaller, the water is less sandy and the jet ski's are all on that side of the beach. Much quieter and bigger on the left. Even by 12 noon it was still only half full. Tons of lounge chairs. Lots of sun or if you want it lots of palm trees to find shade.

 

There are two bars that serve the drinks. Never had any problem getting drinks. The water is all bottled, yes the lids are sealed. The soda is all in cans ( coke products). The ice cubes are all made from purified water.

 

The first bus left at 9 it takes 30 minutes to get there. They tell you the buses leave to come back at 11, 12 and 1pm. Don't pay attention to this. They are trying to stagger the returns to the ships. The carnival people use the same buses. There is a schedule on the board at the arrival point and they keep adding times. The buses leave on the hour right up to 4pm. They call for as many buses as they need. The buses are the large air conditioned motor coaches. Some even have washrooms.

[PyeDog]

On boarding day, is the main dining room open for lunch? Can you just go there and eat once you board? We did this on an NCL cruise and it was great after the hassle of the airport to just sit and be waited on. However, on NCL all of the dining is "freestyle", so no assigned seating/dining times; you just went to any of the 9 restaurants anytime you wanted and they found a table for you.....so I'm not sure if this would work with assigned seating?

 

Thanks,

Pyedog

[balconyonly]

The main dining room was definitely not open for lunch. Just the Windjammer and cafe promenade were open at lunch time.

[balconyonly]

for those wondering about the menus. there is a topic called " Navigator Menus" created by elleluv the thread is here

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=165714

 

she kindly includes a link to the menus

 

The menus are the exact same as the Explorers. The same entres, starters, salads, alternative choices etc.

[jas7903]

Hey we are going on the explorer on July 17, 2005, has anyone done the Dolphin Encounter in Cozumel? Also what is there to do on the other islands, we did Stingray Island in Grand Caymen last year, it was great, also did the the Dolphin Encounter in Jamaica, that was fabulous!! Have to do it again.

[jas7903]

Hi, we are going on the Explorer of the Seas on July 17, has anyone done the Dolphin Encouter in Cozumel??? Also, what is there to do on the other islands, we have already gone to Stingray Island last year. It was great.

[RenSea]

My Dh and sons 11 & 13 did the dolphin swim at Chakannab (sp). A great experience! We booked it ahead of time through thier web site. Don't have the address but search under Cozumel and Im sure it will come up somewhere. We rented a jeep and drove to the park. After we spent most of the day there we took our jeep out for a drive around the island stopping at different points for pictures and drinks.