Just off Explorer 8-2 cruise

[jeffreyg63]

Just got back from the Explorer 9 night cruise. We had a great time however there are some problems with this particular ship that really need addressed. Sadly with this particular cruise ship being almost sold out continuously I doubt anyone will do anything. Why should they when people seem to continuously make excuses for the management of this ship. This cruise left on August 2nd with over 3600 people (600 plus were kids…ugh). Sounds bad until I heard from the cruise director that the next cruise had over 1000 kids. Good luck with that. The teenagers are like packs of wild animals. They are in certain places doing nothing but causing trouble which is what teenagers these days do.

 

 

Captain = C Nice guy, good looking, visible, approachable and funny but he is not on top of things. This ship supposedly has 100 people dedicated to maintenance. I’m sorry but I don’t think using duct tape to hold up lights and placed over elevator buttons which are missing plus the tape appeared in our state room at various places is acceptable. Nor do I think windows that have blown gaskets that cause the window to be completely clouded should be left in that state. The stains on our sofa in our room on deck 7 (balcony) were so bad nobody would sit on it. If I stayed at a hotel and saw such things I wouldn’t be very happy and I don’t think it should be acceptable for a ship. I don’t want to hear “but she is 10 years old”. Last time I checked RCCL doesn’t lower the prices based on the age of the ship so why do so many people find this acceptable based on the ships age? Ultimately the captain is responsible. If these kinds of things are acceptable to him what else are they not keeping up on? In my experience it’s not one or the other it’s all things that are dealt with the same way whether its maintenance or safety or food. RCCL is just trying to save money by not fixing these things or the captain doesn’t care. This ship isn’t supposed to be dry docked for 2 more years. Are they going to wait that long?

 

 

 

Ports = A The only thing that should be addressed somehow is the amount of time spent in Puerto Rico. Lot’s to see for history buffs but not enough time to do much. Bermuda is great. One piece of advice..take a cab to any beach you want to go to. Any other way takes too long. A cab ride to Elbow or Horseshoe beach is about $30 and takes about 20 to 30 mins. The ferry at the terminal where the ship docks only goes every 30 minutes so if you miss one it takes too much of the limited time you have on the island. We usually go to elbow beach to avoid the crowds at horseshoe. Rental for lounge chairs and umbrellas are available for $10 for each item. There is a beach restaurant with a shower, bathrooms and a bar nearby. Great beach. Don’t wear anything shiny into the water or risk the fish going after it. Nothing dangerous but unnerving for some. St. Marrten was very nice. Got off the ship and instead of taking a cab to orient beach which is very nice and interesting since it’s clothing optional we opted for going to great bay beach which is in front of the town where the shopping is. We rented four lounge chairs and two umbrellas for $15. Yes $15 total. Get a massage from the women on the beach instead of the ship. You can get a full massage for $50 right on the beach. Just as good as the ship and over $100 less. Labadee was nice but be careful. If you decide to go to the market to do some shopping and help out the starving Haitian’s be ready to be mobbed. They are very aggressive. My advice is push back hard and you will be fine. I don’t know why RCCL allows them to be so aggressive. We didn’t really want anything but when you have these poor people begging for money to eat we just bought stuff so they could have the money. We rented a cabana which was worth it but skip the “upgraded buffet” as we waited at least 40 minutes for food and the “upgraded” food which was shrimp and steak was all gone. Ridiculous set up by RCCL. No management to be seen anywhere to fix the bottleneck which was only two cooks, two grills and they only cooked two diff things at a time. Poorly executed. For those of you not in a suite or renting a cabana the regular buffet was fine. No lines.

 

 

Food = D- All I can say is it was pretty awful at times. Other times it was average to better than average but I wouldn’t call it good or anywhere near great. I’m not counting my thoughts about requesting a private table for four since our family hasn’t been on vacation for years together and we are diamond members but we were not given what we requested. It was later resolved so when I tell you about the food I’m not counting that whole episode as part of the evaluation. We read all the reviews and took all of the really bad ones as well as the really good ones with a grain of salt but I must say we are not picky eaters and we found ourselves playing a game we called “guess what this food is supposed to be”. You could actually see people with multiple plates of food on their table continuously leaving the plates full in search of something they could eat. You want specifics? Okay this is what we found with no exaggeration. Keep in mind some days it was fine for the same food I’m about to call out and other days not so good. We found….pancakes so hard a fork would not penetrate them, crust on the French toast that was so hard it could break your teeth, eggs benedict with the egg yolks solid, steak that was grisly and not tasty, green stuff coming out of chicken that was neither tasty or identifiable, chocolate cake (we think) served on Caribbean night that I’m not sure was cake, sherbet that was without a doubt freezer burned, spaghetti sauce that we think was actually a cross between tomato sauce and salsa, the Danish were not fresh, desserts not thawed properly, no vegetables in windjammer except broccoli the entire time and they should just stop making the non-sugar desserts and leave it at that. Someone please explain why they have to put corn in just about everything. Portofino’s was disappointing as well. The selection sucked quite frankly and it wasn’t up to par with past visits to this restaurant. I don’t know what the story is but the management of this ship and the cruise line should be ashamed. What was good/acceptable food wise? The so called Asian night was a good dinner with the rice, ravioli in the MDR, breads (rolls in MDR and raisin bread in windjammer), mashed potatoes in MDR, turkey, ribs, surprisingly the pizza (even the make your own at the windjammer) and lobster night was okay. Forget about the sushi at Jade in the windjammer unless you want salmon and nothing but salmon. No tuna…ever or anything else unless you call California type rolls sushi. And don’t tell me “well they are making food for 3,000 people”. There are no excuses for what we experienced except using cheap ingredients and/or using bad chefs or they just don’t care. If they really cared about the quality of the food or had proper procedures in place that food would not have made it to the passengers.

 

 

Johnny Rockets was great. Nothing bad about it. A great shout out to Mr. Rick Frampton. Always smiling and eager to please. You gotta go see them dance. Nice bunch of people.

 

 

 

The service in the MDR was great except for one thing. The wait for iced tea or a soda or anything other than water was at times way too long. My advice if you want anything other than water, order it before anything else and ask for two. For those soda lovers out there the Coke machines were installed and tested by the passengers on this cruise. It was free during the testing but will only be part of the soda packages going forward.

 

Crew = A+ I found no fault with the crew even though their leadership is questionable at best. They were always eager to please, trying to help and doing their jobs with a smile. Special shout out to “No Wasi, No foody, No happy”. You’ll have to go on the cruise to figure that out. Also, Raphael in the Windjammer and Nicklas our room steward. I’d hire all of you in a minute.

 

 

Cruise Director Richard Spacey. A+++ Easily the best one I’ve seen in my limited number of 8 cruises. Always smiling, friendly, very approachable and quite visible during the cruise. If they have a better director than him I’d be surprised.

 

 

Entertainment = B+ Didn’t go to all the shows but the onboard staff are good singers. I think they pay them extra for every song they use the words New York cause you’ll hear it quite a few times. I thought the magician was a good twist on an old trade. Didn’t see the comedians show at midnight but he was okay in the main show one night. The game shows are worth the price of admission. You have to go to the quest game show if you don’t go to any others. Just leave the little kiddies with the baby sitter. Other cruise lines have top entertainment coming onto the ships like the blue man group or Cirque du Soleil but RCCL is lagging here.

 

 

Pools = B. The bingo crowd was very efficient at saving chairs in the adult only area. By 9am forget about getting a spot. There are only limited sun areas there anyway. We found it much less stuffy and not as loud next to the pools by going to the level above the pool on the sides and getting lounges. Plenty of them and the view of the ocean is unmatched. The pool water several days into the cruise was getting ugly. They should change it more often. We did love the fact that they leave some of the pools and hot tubs open 24/7.

 

 

If you’re a people watcher there is plenty to see. Watching the terribly morbid obese people on scooters run over people to get to a table only to get up and walk to the buffet is especially interesting oh and the ridiculously fat kids with two plates of food running over people to get to the Jell-O is quite a site. Watching the vultures at the 75% off on watches sale is an experience. People five or six deep buying two, three even four watches at a time for junk was a study in human behavior. By the way, the watches were on sale again the last two days. Someone has to explain to me how the shopping guy gets away with telling everyone that the reason the Caribbean is so cheap for diamonds is because they have very little mark up and then offering a 65% off coupons to everyone. I’m convinced that the company gets a kickback from the stores they so heavily push everyone to go to. I wouldn’t trust any of them.

 

 

Someone please tell management to keep an attendant in the gym area at all times. I don’t think they would like seeing children climbing on all the machines or towels and god knows what thrown everywhere but we did witness this. Older people needed help with the operation of the machines and were left guessing.

 

 

The silent dance parties are strange to me but people seemed to like it. The chamber was great for dancing unless you have an issue with smokers. There are plenty there. Not sure if it’s allowed but nobody did anything about it so I assume it was okay to smoke. Watch your mixed drink orders. Unless you’re getting a martini or something on the rocks make sure they don’t use the best stuff. As an example a red bull with top of the shelf vodka….$11.

 

 

 

The casino people are fantastic even when they are taking your money. For those lottery fans the jackpot is up to over $535,000 and climbing. Numbers pulled every night at 11pm in the casino. Lots of slot, blackjack and Texas holdem tournaments. The only downer was that most of the slot machines are ancient.

 

 

 

For those who want to access the web…Good luck. Fifty cents a minute if you buy a package and for that you get dial up speeds. They are using satellite technology which is all they have for the time being and as usual it’s very slow. It’s good for checking emails but don’t expect to do any big time surfing. Bandwidth is really limited for now. My beef is simply that if it’s this slow then don’t charge. One of the cruise lines is going to figure it out first and offer it for free to gain share. With today’s intensive web/cell phone connected generation they will get more customers.

 

 

Some news we found interesting was regarding the new sunshine class ship coming in a couple of years. Apparently RCCL wants to put it in Bayonne but there may be trouble on the horizon as the port authority is threatening to make it a cargo only port. I’m guessing that’s just a negotiating ploy but getting that new ship there would be very nice as long as they address the food situation and build a real cruise terminal instead of a warehouse that is not set up for such an operation. Taking busses to the ship is not very efficient for anyone. It works but I’m sure it’s not what they want for a new ship.

 

 

Getting on and off the ship is easy and well-orchestrated. If you want a cab there are plenty upon arrival. No need for a car service. Watch the van guys as they will wait and wait till the van is full before leaving. If I ever did this port again I would arrive around 2pm as you won’t wait at all.

 

 

As I said at the beginning we had a great time as a family despite several misses by RCCL. Would we go on that ship again? Probably not.

[vivavegas]

Welcome Back! Sorry that everything was not as you expected.:)

[sstepson]

Seems like it'd be hard to have a nice relaxing vacation, what with all the nit-picking and all...

[LovesCruising]

I too am sorry your expectations were not met. Doing Explorer for the thrid time soon - never had any of those issues. I was especially baffled by your people watching comments.

[lovinthevaca]

Wow, I was also on this cruise with my family, and we had a terrific time. We went as a multi-generational group (16 - 81), and everyone was happy. This was our first time on RCCL and it won't be our last.

The only complaint of yours that was echoed by anyone in our group was the aggressiveness in Labadee, but because of this the rest of us chose not to go to the market and enjoyed our day.

Hope you enjoy your next vacation more!

[celebrity]

Sorry to hear about so many negatives but glad you had a good time overall. This is not the first time I've heard a complaint about stained couches in deck 7. No excuse when it could be steam cleaned. I have sailed EOS 7 times and always stayed on deck 8 and my couch wasn't stained.

I agree the food has gone south dramatically. In fact, I lost a few lbs on my 9 night sailing in June. I didn't starve but one night at dinner, I took one look at my entree and had to leave the dining room. No complaints from me though as I ate a lot of salad.

From what I've been reading, RCCL is improving the menu..hooray!

There have been numerous complaints about P.R.'s short stay but at the Captains Corner it was explained that in order to get back to N.J., they have to shorten the port time. I believe they stop there to refuel and that's why they make the stop.

I do think your remarks about your fellow passengers was a bit cruel.

Hopefully your next cruise will be better.

I am confident that the Sunshine class will port at Cape Liberty. We deserve a new ship.

[DonnaK]

We were on the ship two months ago, and thought the ship was well maintained, and the food was delicious (not 5*, but certainly very good). We definitely did not have the same experience as you did, and wouldn't hesitate to sail on Explorer again.

[lovetocruiserccl]

Seems like it'd be hard to have a nice relaxing vacation, what with all the nit-picking and all...

 

I agree. What about the fun. I've been on the Explorer several times and will continue to go back because I love it.

[kathy884]

Thank you so much for your review! This really gives me some things to consider.

 

We go to the New Jersey/NYC area annually in the summer for a short relative visit (three nights / two days), and I was seriously considering doing the five night Explorer of the Seas cruise that has two days at sea and two days in Bermuda in combination with the visit (nice week long get-a-way) -- would kill two birds with one stone (see the relatives and give DS 16 who is in love with cruising a chance to cruise). We did something similar this past week -- relative visit and five night cruise on the Carnival Glory to St. John and Halifax, Canada. We didn't have any issues with wild kids/teens or adults on this one / nice little get-a-way.

 

Questions for OP and other Explorer cruisers out of New Jersey:

 

Do you think a late May or early June cruise to Bermuda might be better than August -- have some teens / 20 somethings which DS would enjoy, but not the wild groups of kids / teens OP referred to? Late May, early June, or early August would be our options. I'm guessing May / early June would mean touring rather than going to the beach/snorkeling in Bermuda, but we're not that into the beach, so that wouldn't be a problem for us.

 

Also, did you go to any of the evening shows and if so, how was the entertainment on the Explorer? Frequent cruisers of Carnival and RCCL in general from reviews I've read seem to find the entertainment on RCCL much better than Carnival. I'd rate the Carnival entertainment on the Glory this past week as a slight step below shows they do at the Busch Gardens theme park in Orlando. I do have to say I thought the comedian they had was really pretty good. It was fun to go to a few shows, but it certainly was no big loss to miss any of these.

 

Food reports on the Explorer have me concerned. I'll have to watch reviews with the new menus which look great. I'm assuming that you still had the old menu on this cruise, and new food offerings aren't on the Explorer yet? Food reviews for Carnival aren't as good as they used to be, but in general, from reviews I've read from people who cruise both lines (lots of freqent cruiser go on quite a few cruises on each), cruisers tend to prefer Carnival food and have more positive than negative reports. I was pleased that on last week's Glory cruise DH (who is a bit of a foodie) actually enjoyed the Carnival food. Do realize he had reasonable expectations, wasn't expecting fine dining, etc. The rest of our group were perfectly happy with the food too. I'm hoping to hear good reviews with the new Royal Carribean menu. We aren't frequent cruisers, have never been on RCCL before, and I'd love to try a cruise with RCCL.

 

Also do you know when specifically the Explorer goes to dry dock? Maybe I'll wait till summer of 2015 to try her after some refurbishment -- would that timing work?

 

Thanks so much.

[uksimonusa]

Sorry you had so many bad experiences, was on EX last month and the only problem we had was they made us get of on the Saturday, hope you have better luck next time

[jeffreyg63]

We thought the shows we saw (6 of them) were good and the game shows were great. Have always been pleased with their entertainment.

 

We were told by some of the management that the new menus are not being rolled out to all ships any time soon. They seemed to believe it was happening as ships went to drydock. All I can tell you is what we were told.

 

Regarding the quality of the food it simply must be that some people have lower standards than others. We are not picky eaters and have really enjoyed the food on past RCCL cruises. I went on this cruise with low expectations on the food. I have to call it like it is and say this was not good.

 

Some may think I'm nit picking but it is clear if you over look your emotional attachments to the ship, company or the port and really look you will see their quality is slipping. It's not a surprise as their profits year over year are way down. They still made 47 million in their first quarter of 2012 but it's nowhere near the same period as last year. It's only logical that with their profits down and oil prices way up that they have to cut something to keep their investors somewhat happy.

 

Believe it or not all that we witnessed/experienced we just took note and moved on. I guess some people are better than others at dismissing things out of your control. None of it made our vacation less fun. We had a great time.

[NJcruisenewbie]

You go on a cruise during the summer & are surprised there are a lot of kids on board:confused:. We went on the explorer in late June with extended family & didn't have a problem with crazy teens. Most spent their days on the sports deck. We also loved taking the ferries/buses in Bermuda. It was a great way to meet locals & learn about island life. I'll agree the food wasn't very good but the staff was great & the ship in wonderful condition.

[celebrity]

Thank you so much for your review! This really gives me some things to consider.

 

We go to the New Jersey/NYC area annually in the summer for a short relative visit (three nights / two days), and I was seriously considering doing the five night Explorer of the Seas cruise that has two days at sea and two days in Bermuda in combination with the visit (nice week long get-a-way) -- would kill two birds with one stone (see the relatives and give DS 16 who is in love with cruising a chance to cruise). We did something similar this past week -- relative visit and five night cruise on the Carnival Glory to St. John and Halifax, Canada. We didn't have any issues with wild kids/teens or adults on this one / nice little get-a-way.

 

Questions for OP and other Explorer cruisers out of New Jersey:

 

Do you think a late May or early June cruise to Bermuda might be better than August -- have some teens / 20 somethings which DS would enjoy, but not the wild groups of kids / teens OP referred to? Late May, early June, or early August would be our options. I'm guessing May / early June would mean touring rather than going to the beach/snorkeling in Bermuda, but we're not that into the beach, so that wouldn't be a problem for us.

 

Also, did you go to any of the evening shows and if so, how was the entertainment on the Explorer? Frequent cruisers of Carnival and RCCL in general from reviews I've read seem to find the entertainment on RCCL much better than Carnival. I'd rate the Carnival entertainment on the Glory this past week as a slight step below shows they do at the Busch Gardens theme park in Orlando. I do have to say I thought the comedian they had was really pretty good. It was fun to go to a few shows, but it certainly was no big loss to miss any of these.

 

Food reports on the Explorer have me concerned. I'll have to watch reviews with the new menus which look great. I'm assuming that you still had the old menu on this cruise, and new food offerings aren't on the Explorer yet? Food reviews for Carnival aren't as good as they used to be, but in general, from reviews I've read from people who cruise both lines (lots of freqent cruiser go on quite a few cruises on each), cruisers tend to prefer Carnival food and have more positive than negative reports. I was pleased that on last week's Glory cruise DH (who is a bit of a foodie) actually enjoyed the Carnival food. Do realize he had reasonable expectations, wasn't expecting fine dining, etc. The rest of our group were perfectly happy with the food too. I'm hoping to hear good reviews with the new Royal Carribean menu. We aren't frequent cruisers, have never been on RCCL before, and I'd love to try a cruise with RCCL.

 

Also do you know when specifically the Explorer goes to dry dock? Maybe I'll wait till summer of 2015 to try her after some refurbishment -- would that timing work?

 

Thanks so much.

 

If you wait until 2015, it may be the new Sunshine ship. You are correct that if you sail in late May or early June the weather may not be warm enough for swimming at the beach. I saile May of last year and June 7 this year. Both times too chilly. I've also gone in July and it was fabulous.

[jeffreyg63]

You go on a cruise during the summer & are surprised there are a lot of kids on board:confused:. We went on the explorer in late June with extended family & didn't have a problem with crazy teens. Most spent their days on the sports deck. We also loved taking the ferries/buses in Bermuda. It was a great way to meet locals & learn about island life. I'll agree the food wasn't very good but the staff was great & the ship in wonderful condition.

 

Funny I don't remember stating we were surprised. Again just reporting on what we saw. It didn't affect us one way or the other. The ship is not in wonderful condition. It's in good shape but far from wonderful.

[marci22]

I know what you mean about the condition of the ship. People think you are nitpicking when you say it needs updating. I don't mind some rust spots and worn carpeting but there are some cabins that desperately need updated fabric. Some of it is really stained and worn out.

 

The sushi: we were told on another ship that they can only keep fresh seafood for 3 days and salmon is the only thing that really keeps (due to oil content) so they use it a lot.

 

Funny you mention about the salsa/sauce. On our Allure cruise, they only served salsa and bbq as the dipping sauces in the CL. I think that somewhere along the line, they bought a boatload of salsa for cheap and now they are trying to use it in any way possible! Salsa as cocktail sauce, marinara sauce, etc. They think you don't notice.

 

We went on the 9 night Ex last summer and it was fine. Food was good, but we know what we like and we keep ordering the same things every cruise. I had a couple dishes that I really didn't like but usually just ate something else. Waffles and pancakes on any buffet are usually not good.

 

We always have a good time on Ex but certain things can be improved upon.

[Sammy Sails]

You can't blame management on unruly children' or teen behavior. The fault lies with the PARENTS, who are probably the rude people that you encountered. People are people and they don't change while on vacation. They seem to feel entitled.

We have over 20 cruises on Celebrity and many others on assorted lines. We have sailed solo, with adult friends and have even brought 5 adult children, their spouses and 7 grand kids with us to Bermuda,Canada and Mexico. All except my 45 y/o son were good and I told him to go to his room.

The pool attendants on Explorer had everything under control, including chair saving and smoking. I even saw the Pool Butler take a teens sign and sail card and he told the "young man" that his parents had to go to security to get the card back.

We also were disappointed with the steak just never ordered it again.

We'll be back on 1/13/13 Explorer 9 night. We have done the same cruise and same cabin 3x......

I hope that your next vacation is better. Maybe you should go no and adults only vacation middle of winter to avoid kids.

Have a happy life.

[celebrity]

You can't blame management on unruly children' or teen behavior. The fault lies with the PARENTS, who are probably the rude people that you encountered. People are people and they don't change while on vacation. They seem to feel entitled.

We have over 20 cruises on Celebrity and many others on assorted lines. We have sailed solo, with adult friends and have even brought 5 adult children, their spouses and 7 grand kids with us to Bermuda,Canada and Mexico. All except my 45 y/o son were good and I told him to go to his room.

The pool attendants on Explorer had everything under control, including chair saving and smoking. I even saw the Pool Butler take a teens sign and sail card and he told the "young man" that his parents had to go to security to get the card back.

We also were disappointed with the steak just never ordered it again.

We'll be back on 1/13/13 Explorer 9 night. We have done the same cruise and same cabin 3x......

I hope that your next vacation is better. Maybe you should go no and adults only vacation middle of winter to avoid kids.

Have a happy life.

You told your 45 year old son to go to his room? Lol.

[mommaof 3]

Thank you so much for your review! This really gives me some things to consider.

 

We go to the New Jersey/NYC area annually in the summer for a short relative visit (three nights / two days), and I was seriously considering doing the five night Explorer of the Seas cruise that has two days at sea and two days in Bermuda in combination with the visit (nice week long get-a-way) -- would kill two birds with one stone (see the relatives and give DS 16 who is in love with cruising a chance to cruise). We did something similar this past week -- relative visit and five night cruise on the Carnival Glory to St. John and Halifax, Canada. We didn't have any issues with wild kids/teens or adults on this one / nice little get-a-way.

 

Questions for OP and other Explorer cruisers out of New Jersey:

 

Do you think a late May or early June cruise to Bermuda might be better than August -- have some teens / 20 somethings which DS would enjoy, but not the wild groups of kids / teens OP referred to? Late May, early June, or early August would be our options. I'm guessing May / early June would mean touring rather than going to the beach/snorkeling in Bermuda, but we're not that into the beach, so that wouldn't be a problem for us.

 

Also, did you go to any of the evening shows and if so, how was the entertainment on the Explorer? Frequent cruisers of Carnival and RCCL in general from reviews I've read seem to find the entertainment on RCCL much better than Carnival. I'd rate the Carnival entertainment on the Glory this past week as a slight step below shows they do at the Busch Gardens theme park in Orlando. I do have to say I thought the comedian they had was really pretty good. It was fun to go to a few shows, but it certainly was no big loss to miss any of these.

 

Food reports on the Explorer have me concerned. I'll have to watch reviews with the new menus which look great. I'm assuming that you still had the old menu on this cruise, and new food offerings aren't on the Explorer yet? Food reviews for Carnival aren't as good as they used to be, but in general, from reviews I've read from people who cruise both lines (lots of freqent cruiser go on quite a few cruises on each), cruisers tend to prefer Carnival food and have more positive than negative reports. I was pleased that on last week's Glory cruise DH (who is a bit of a foodie) actually enjoyed the Carnival food. Do realize he had reasonable expectations, wasn't expecting fine dining, etc. The rest of our group were perfectly happy with the food too. I'm hoping to hear good reviews with the new Royal Carribean menu. We aren't frequent cruisers, have never been on RCCL before, and I'd love to try a cruise with RCCL.

 

Also do you know when specifically the Explorer goes to dry dock? Maybe I'll wait till summer of 2015 to try her after some refurbishment -- would that timing work?

 

Thanks so much.

 

Just wanted to suggest you also look at sailing out of Baltimore, it's isn't that far from anywhere in NJ. We are doing a 6 day to Bermuda in a few days on Enchantment, but the Grandeur will be there soon and looks beautiful in a recent review. There is also an 8 day option that includes New England. We also found a lot better price than on the Explorer. Worth a look!

[roscoegirl]

We sailed the Explorer this past June and had a great time! It was our first time on the ExOS and I thought she was just beautiful. We stayed on deck 9 in a very nice JS. The only down side of our cabin was the balcony furniture (seriously needed to be replaced). Other than that, I had no issues with the condition of the ship.

 

I do agree the crew/staff are A1 and the Captain is a cutie...could be that he cares more about handling the ship safely than he does about stains on fabric;) We saw crew constantly cleaning public areas...we had also lots of kids (not a problem for us)...we enjoyed most of the venues available especially the Ice show--fantastic!! (guess you missed that little diddy-:eek:)

 

We enjoyed a nice meal in Portofino's--worth much more the the $20 fee.

 

Although I agree with you about the quality of the MDR meals, my hubby had no problem at all...we certainly did not run out of alternative options nor did we go hungry.

 

Possibly, and I'm not judging you, one of the luxury lines may be a better choice...certainly one that normally has fewer kids and smokers. Just a thought.:)

[robsmom]

We were on explorer in July and I agree with most of your review. The main thing we were not impressed with was the food. We wanted to like things, we really did and we are not picky. My initial reaction was that it was mostly good, but upon reflection my husband and I think it was OK. Sometimes it was bad, sometimes it was good. I think that the main point you are making is that there is a lack of attention to detail on the ship. The ship and activities are really good and could be great. We had the same dining situation. Had priority dining due to being in a suite, asked for small table for just 5 of us, but were assigned to a large table. Don't make it a choice if you can't try to accommodate people. Out table-mates made it clear on day one that they wanted to sit alone and did not want to sit with children. They asked to move and we asked to move. We ended up with the large table (great window seats) by ourselves. This made me feel bad for the waiter not having a full table. Your description of the watch sale made me laugh. I remember asking my FIL if he thought they were giving them away. The prices were not good and could be beat on amazon most days.

[loveandcruises]

I was on your cruise and I agree with the part about the gym being unattended. (You and I may have even spoken to each other about it.) I wrote a note and left it at the unattended gym desk so that someone might call me. When I did get a call, the personal trainer told me that in order to learn how to use the equipment, I would have to pay her $55 for a half hour for her services!!

[jeffreyg63]

We were on explorer in July and I agree with most of your review. The main thing we were not impressed with was the food. We wanted to like things, we really did and we are not picky. My initial reaction was that it was mostly good, but upon reflection my husband and I think it was OK. Sometimes it was bad, sometimes it was good. I think that the main point you are making is that there is a lack of attention to detail on the ship. The ship and activities are really good and could be great. We had the same dining situation. Had priority dining due to being in a suite, asked for small table for just 5 of us, but were assigned to a large table. Don't make it a choice if you can't try to accommodate people. Out table-mates made it clear on day one that they wanted to sit alone and did not want to sit with children. They asked to move and we asked to move. We ended up with the large table (great window seats) by ourselves. This made me feel bad for the waiter not having a full table. Your description of the watch sale made me laugh. I remember asking my FIL if he thought they were giving them away. The prices were not good and could be beat on amazon most days.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read it. Yes, the level of detail is not there like it used to be. Plain and simple they have cut back on a lot of things for obvious reasons. Yeah the sales were funny. The company has obviously recognized and I give them all the credit in the world that people on vacation spend like crazy for just about anything. I really saw this in action at the art auction where they use the lure of free champagne to get people there then use that guilt on some of the passengers to buy their art. They must make a fortune on that stuff. The funny part is seeing the huge lines at guest relations the last two days as they figure out what they owe and disputing everything. We still had a great time. Lot's of laughs and good memories.

[green eyed lady]

What cabin # were you in? I have a balcony on deck 7 next month :eek:

[jeffreyg63]

I was on your cruise and I agree with the part about the gym being unattended. (You and I may have even spoken to each other about it.) I wrote a note and left it at the unattended gym desk so that someone might call me. When I did get a call, the personal trainer told me that in order to learn how to use the equipment, I would have to pay her $55 for a half hour for her services!!

 

Now that is funny because you did talk to some people in our party. They wondered what happened after they left.

[jeffreyg63]

What cabin # were you in? I have a balcony on deck 7 next month :eek:

 

Room 7644. Great location just don't look at the sofa. LOL.