Max's Mom on the Explorer ~ 10/13/13 ~ My Picture Diary

[BeagleMomma]

Loving all of your pics of ExoS. We will be sailing with her March 2 for the first time. Thanks for all the effort on our behalf! Looks like a great trip thus far.:D

[maxs mom]

You mentioned that suite guests were invited to Cloud 9 for cocktails. Does that mean they cannot use the CL as they have in the past? Cloud 9 was used for diamond guests on our past cruises on the Explorer.

How was the food on the cruise?

 

Oh no! The Suite Guests could go to either place......Cloud 9 and the CL..... they mostly seemed to use Cloud 9, though. On the Explorer they don't have a Diamond Lounge yet, so the Diamond event is held in the 19th Hole....which is a very nice bar in the Viking Crown.

I thought the food was very good to excellent on this sailing. I am not a picky eater.

[dorisg55]

Just stumbled upon your great review and pictures. We are leaving this Sunday and I was excited before I read this, now I can unhardly contain my excitement. I guess I'll have two sleepless nights thinking about boarding the ship and sailing away to Bermuda.

Thanks again for a great review.

 

Doris

[Canadian Tyler]

Hi Jane, so glad to see another review from you. The picture of the captain's table from above is really neat.

Inquiring minds want to know...what were your beach plans that got cancelled because of the rainy day? Or did you make it to that beach on the other days?

[maxs mom]

Loving all of your pics of ExoS. We will be sailing with her March 2 for the first time. Thanks for all the effort on our behalf! Looks like a great trip thus far.:D

 

Thanks! The Explorer is a great ride! As I said before......we were pleasantly surprised at a lot of improvements from our previous cruises on her. Hope you will enjoy your trip in March!

[maxs mom]

Just stumbled upon your great review and pictures. We are leaving this Sunday and I was excited before I read this, now I can unhardly contain my excitement. I guess I'll have two sleepless nights thinking about boarding the ship and sailing away to Bermuda.

Thanks again for a great review.

 

Doris

 

Doris.....we were almost on your sailing! I know you are excited! Have a great cruise! I'll try and get as much done as I can before you leave!

[maxs mom]

Hi Jane, so glad to see another review from you. The picture of the captain's table from above is really neat.

Inquiring minds want to know...what were your beach plans that got cancelled because of the rainy day? Or did you make it to that beach on the other days?

 

Tyler.....great hearing from you again! Oh.......stay tuned!!!!! One of the greatest beach days ever!!!!!!!!!! We planned to go to a resort that first day, but fortunately they let us come the next day instead. It was fabulous!! Lots of pictures coming up. You know me.......I'm going to find the best beaches out there!

[Sonny]

If anyone is interested - you can see live pictures of the Explorer today. Just click on this link:

 

http://portbermudawebcam.com/

[Paige6187]

Thank you for the opportunity to relive last week's cruise while I am at work today, Jane! And, to get to see pictures/hear about things I didn't do!

[LABCHICK]

Hi Jane

 

Loving your review. We have sailed on the Explorer several times. Since we will be doing the repo next Nov., I am enjoying this review and seeing all your pictures.

 

See you in 5 weeks on the Indy.

[Canadian Tyler]

Tyler.....great hearing from you again! Oh.......stay tuned!!!!! One of the greatest beach days ever!!!!!!!!!! We planned to go to a resort that first day' date=' but fortunately they let us come the next day instead. It was fabulous!! Lots of pictures coming up. You know me.......I'm going to find the best beaches out there![/size']

 

I know it! You're always my source for the best beaches!

[maxs mom]

Salud!!!

Lots of chickens running around! Just like Key West!

Couldn't resist the picture at the faux phone booth!

We wandered over to Snorkel Park and took some pictures. They were not opened today, but I think plenty of people enjoyed going here the next two days. One night there was a DJ party out there......I think the cost was $20.

[maxs mom]

Here's another picture from Snorkel Park:

It was back to the ship in time for lunch.

The Windjammer was very pleasant today with many of the cruisers off the ship. The pool areas were very nice as well even though the weather was not the best.

[maxs mom]

The Solarium was especially nice today:

I caught this guy Duffnering!

I'm sort of known for posting my feet in different beach locations. This was the best I could do today!

 

Edited October 25, 2013 by max'smom

[ckrobyn]

Jane - did you happen to notice where the suite seats were located on the pool deck? They are usually where the stadium seating is adjacent to the pool bar - just wondering if it is the same on the EX as it is on the AOS? :rolleyes:

[maxs mom]

The weather improved some in the afternoon. I noticed several boat excursions leaving from the pier. It warmed up a little bit, too.

We spent our afternoon just reading, relaxing and enjoying some quiet time in our cabin.

We went to the CL for drinks tonight.

Tonight we were invited to have dinner with the Guest Relations Manager, Federico Rodriguez, at the Captain's Table. We met some other nice couples in the Aquarium Bar for drinks first. The Aquarium Bar was hoppin' tonight!!

After drinks, we went down one flight of stairs and were seated at the Captain's Table. This was every bit as nice as eating with the Captain (whom I never saw all week, by the way!). We had special place cards:

There was a special menu with special waters and excellent wine. I chose the shrimp cocktail......the kind you get at Chops:

I also had the Filet Mignon......this was the large filet that you get at Chops and I swear my regular knife went through it like butter! Soooooo good!

For dessert we had a sampler plate. There was sorbet in the pastry shell. Yum!!

[maxs mom]

Here is the picture that they gave to us at the end of the evening:

We also received a very nice coffee table book of the Restaurants of Royal Caribbean, complete with recipes of some of their premier dishes from each restaurant.

This is Federico:

And this is his sidekick, Roy Ellis. They were both very charming.

Really nice evening in the dining room!

[maxs mom]

Jane - did you happen to notice where the suite seats were located on the pool deck? They are usually where the stadium seating is adjacent to the pool bar - just wondering if it is the same on the EX as it is on the AOS? :rolleyes:

 

Robyn.....sorry I didn't notice where that was. We very rarely, if ever, use the Main Pool area......only the Solarium for us! But I would imagine it would be the same place.....in the stadium area.

[Paige6187]

Jane - did you happen to notice where the suite seats were located on the pool deck? They are usually where the stadium seating is adjacent to the pool bar - just wondering if it is the same on the EX as it is on the AOS? :rolleyes:

 

Robyn,

 

I noticed that they were in the stadium. Sorry if that makes you sad :(

[Sonny]

Jane - did you happen to notice where the suite seats were located on the pool deck? They are usually where the stadium seating is adjacent to the pool bar - just wondering if it is the same on the EX as it is on the AOS? :rolleyes:

 

My name's not Jane, but I can tell you that the suite lounge area is on both sides of the pool bar.

[maxs mom]

Dinner took longer than usual tonight, but that was OK. The Love and Marriage Game Show was tonight and we always enjoy that, so we went straight to the theater where we met Janet and Gene, who were already there. The show was well under way by the time we got there. It was a good show. Leigh did a nice job with that. Here are some pictures:

This was something I had never seen before.....they asked the husband to draw a picture of the wife......pretty funny.

It was late when that was over, so we turned in then. This little guy was in the cabin tonight.

[maxs mom]

My name's not Jane, but I can tell you that the suite lounge area is on both sides of the pool bar.

 

Glad to know that not one, but two people knew that answer!!

[CruisingCaraCat]

Just want to add my thanks for this wonderful review. Congratulations on your retirement, mine is planned for 6 months from now.

 

I'll have to admit that I haven't sailed from New Jersey since I went on the inaugural for Freedom, mainly because that embarkation was very painful. I was happy to read that it seemed much easier for you, maybe I should try it again.

 

I may get an inaugural on the Quantum which I understand will be sailing from that port so I could get that chance.

 

thanks again for your review!!! (since you were a teacher maybe you can check my spelling:))

[maxs mom]

Thursday ~ October 17, 2013 ~ Bermuda

Woke up early and it was pouring down rain.....oh well.....what can you do?

Go get some coffee in the CL I guess. I was surprised when one other person came in and got their coffee and left. The coffee machine in the CL is one of the old ones, but it worked well and I think the coffee was better than from the new fancy machines that they have on the newer ships!

We had another fabulous breakfast this morning at 8:15 and while we were eating, the weather began clearing up!!

We finally make the decision to go to the beach!! Yay!! Janet and Gene decided to go to Hamilton.

Those of you that know me know that I seek out the very best beach possible on each island and that's where we go. I can't stand beaches that are crowded and have too many cruise passengers!! Ha! I go to the beach to relax, have lunch, adult beverages, and a quiet time. We had reservations at this resort yesterday, but since it rained, they said that we could come today instead. Good thing because this ended up being the highlight of our trip!!

I learned of this resort from one of our roll call buddies, Gail. She had been here before and was very helpful in providing the info we needed to make reservations and other arrangements.

We have been to Bermuda many times before and have always enjoyed Horseshoe Bay. But the last time we were there.....the crowds were unbearable, so I wanted to try something different and I am sure glad we did.

The name of the resort is Coco Reef. It is adjacent to Elbow Beach. They have a day pass available for $49 pp. This includes 2 chairs, an umbrella, towel, beach, pool, a wonderful two to three course meal with beer and wine. Wow!!

Luckily we met up with Gail and 3 others at the taxi stand and we were able to share a taxi out to the resort and that was very affordable. The taxi fare was $44 and we split it 6 ways. Very reasonable and much better than taking the bus. The bus stop is out on the street and there is a long walk from there to the resort......not an option for us. We arranged with the taxi driver to come back and pick us up at 3:30. Great deal!

After about a 30 minute taxi ride, we were dropped off right at the door of the resort. This is the lobby:

We checked in easily and got our towels then walked out through the restaurant area and the pool area and down to the beach area.

[heatherb1958]

Here is the picture that they gave to us at the end of the evening:

We also received a very nice coffee table book of the Restaurants of Royal Caribbean' date=' complete with recipes of some of their premier dishes from each restaurant.[/size']

This is Federico:

And this is his sidekick, Roy Ellis. They were both very charming.

Really nice evening in the dining room!

 

 

 

 

Thank you for posting the picture of the table group. A very good cruising friend is with you!

Tamer from Sweden, a really nice guy. We last saw him on Serenade from BCN to Dubai in January this year .