Review w/ photos - Explorer leaves NY for the last time

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

November 7, 2014 – Saint Lucia

When I wake up I look at the window and there are heavy clouds on the horizon. However, since I went to bed early, I decide to get up, sit outside and hope for the best. The first thing I notice is that it is warm (and the sun is not even up yet). Sunrise was a bust again. I took a few pictures, but that was at the time the sun was supposed to rise. I wasn’t going to wait for it to make it over the clouds. Instead I came inside where it was nice and cool and worked on this. I also filled the laundry bag I got from my room steward yesterday (I had to ask for it) with enough clothing to make it thought the rest of the cruise (I only packed for ten days). The wash and fold (no pressing) fill the bag cost thirty dollars and Diamond members get a $10 discount.

Then I watch as we cruise into the harbor, and again, right into the sun. So I’ll take the area pictures later. It looks like it rained here last night. The Captain is spinning the ship to face out, which is what the Captain did the last time I was here (on the Serenade in 2008). After we arrive I shave, shower and dress for the shore excursion.

Today’s shore excursion was interesting to say the least. When I checked my ticket it said to bring a swim suit. I know I purchased this shore excursion for its photographic opportunities. As a result I didn’t bring anything to carry a wet bathing suit and towel in. Oh well, I’ll just skip the bathing in the warm mineral pools. However, when I get back I see I have purchased the Saint Lucia’s Historic Diamond Estate tour and the tour I am on is the Breathtaking Soufriere & Warm Mineral Bath tour. Did Royal Caribbean change my tour? No, a little research reveals that the two different names are for the same tour.

To be honest, I would have preferred more photographic opportunities. However, I am glad I didn’t take my DSLR, as we did some hiking (and the DSLR is heavy and not fun to hike with). Instead I took my much smaller point and shoot camera. The camera and the hat were the only two things I brought with me, so I was traveling light. On the tour I found a shot glass for my friend, which I stuck in the same pocket as the camera.

While the tour was not all I had hoped it would be, the tour guide (his name is Jay) was much more than I expected. He was great! Also on the tour was Veronica, who is from the shore excursion department. She was evaluating this tour, as it is the Explorer’s first stop at this island.

At any rate, Jay was my equal wise guy wise. So while driving along (and there was a lot of driving) our van of twelve passengers had a great time. The first stop I was expecting, as it was an opportunity to take a picture of the ship from a vantage point. I have a similar picture of the Serenade of the Seas when I was here before in 2008.

Out next stop was overlooking a bay where the yacht owners tie up their yachts during hurricanes, as the bay is very well protected by tall mountains.

The tour guide then purchased some local bananas for all the passengers. He asked us to save the skin to feed to his kids. At first I thought he was kidding. However, he assured us that his kids love the banana peels. So I figured, okay, I can see a young child (say three or four years old) enjoying some rather strange food. However, soon we stopped at a house with four or five young goats (aka kids). As most people know, goats will eat almost anything, and these goats were expecting to be fed as we exited the van. Okay, he got us with that one, but now I am wise to him. Game on.

Next we stopped where we could get good photographs of the Pitons (two tall mountain peaks). I took one picture through the window. Then someone asked if our guide could open the door, which he did. My second picture is of the side of the door. A photograph I knew I could have some fun with. As it was I quickly announced that I now had a beautiful picture of the side of the door. I then took several more pictures of the Pitons though the open door.

We then stopped at the Diamond Botanical Gardens. After short walk we came to a waterfall where the guide used our cameras to take our picture with the waterfall in the background. He took several of me, some from some interesting angles. Still, it would have helped if he understood photography a little better. In this case it would have been better to step back and zoom in a bit. The background then looks a little more to scale. Using the wide setting from close make me look as big as the forty foot waterfall.

Then we stopped where most took a dip in the warm mineral pools. I bought a shot glass for my friend and some water for myself. Then I found the picture of the side of the van door and showed it to Jay, saying, “Would you like to see what the side of your door looks like?” He was quite concerned, as it was he who opened the door, until I showed him that I had some good pictures of the Pitons. Okay, I can be a wise guy too.

On the hike back Jay look behind him to see that everyone had stopped. I told him that everyone was looking at the hummingbird. With just the two of us standing there, I asked Jay if he knew why the hummingbirds hummed. He didn’t. So I told him it was because they didn’t know the words. Old joke, I know. However, Jay thought it was funny and shared it with the group. They all laughed. Perhaps the joke is so old that the younger set (anyone under forty years old) or those from other countries (we had a couple from England and a couple from Germany) had not heard it before.

On the drive back he asked everyone in the van how many turns we had taken. Most guessed between fifty and one hundred. I guessed one, figuring that this was all one long turn. Others guessed as I thought about this some more. There was no way Jay could have been counting the turns. Then it hit me, the answer is two. We had taken some right turns and some left turns. Jay gave me a high five.

Since I was traveling light, upon my return to the ship I went directly to the Windjammer for lunch (I had not eaten breakfast) and brought it down to my balcony to eat. Then I laid down to rest. The next thing I knew it was 6:00pm. I uploaded my photographs and updated this.

Then it was time for dinner. At dinner I had the cream of mushroom soup and Chicken Cordon Blue. The soup was fine, but the Chicken Cordon Blue was a little different than I expected. The cook had not removed the bone. It was kind of like Chicken Cordon Blue on a stick. Starting from the bone free end, it was possible to eat eighty percent of it with a knife and fork. The remaining twenty percent was more like eating a chicken leg. It was good, but it was the first time I had Chicken Cordon Blue on the bone.

Once again the topic of conversation at dinner was what we did on the island. I told my story that you just read above. Seems feeding the goats banana peels is fairly common among most of the tours. Someone made the comment that most of the tours seem very similar. I pointed out that on Saint Lucia everyone wants to see the Pitons and that in Acapulco everyone wants to see the Clift Divers. Thus, all the different tours end up making a stop at these popular places, even if the rest of the tour goes to someplace unique.

I am not a heat and humidity person, so after dinner I went back to the cabin and went to sleep. So until tomorrow morning, goodnight.

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

The cruise director and the activities manager on formal hot tub day ...

BBQ on the pool deck ...

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

November 8, 2014 – Barbados

I guess I am more tired than I thought. When I wake up it is light outside, even though the sun has not officially risen yet. Still I can see there are clouds on the horizon and I don’t even bother getting out of bed. However, soon I see land so I go out to see how close we are. It feels a little cooler this morning compared to yesterday morning. I can see what looks like a cruise ship in the harbor. I looks a little like a Princess ship, so I am guessing P&O. Sure enough it is the P&O Ventura.

I decide to quickly dress and go up to the helicopter pad to take some pictures. Once again we are headed directly into the sun, so I grin and bear it and do the best I can, given we are only going to approach this harbor once. Since this is a commercial dock, there is nothing worth wasting free film on once we are inside the harbor. The Ventura has the best location. We are directly across from the Ventura; however, it looks to be about a half mile walk to get to the town side of the dock (we are on the ocean side of the harbor). According to the Captain’s announcement, which I cannot hear inside the cabin with the door closed, there is a shuttle bus to take us to the edge of town.

Well, I have a 9:00 tour scheduled, so it is time to shave, shower and dress. I’ll see you later this afternoon.

There are shuttle buses to take the passengers to the passenger terminal. From there I’m on a large tour bus with 27 other passengers plus a tour guide and driver. It turns out to be a lot of driving along roads in need of some maintenance. We make three stops and I grab a few pictures at each stop. However, because of the weather, which is completely overcast, the scenic photographs don’t look so good. Also, the tour guide is more or less average. Good, but not nearly as good as Jay was yesterday.

The first stop is at a church. I’m not sure why every island likes to include a church on its tours, but I’ve been on a lot of tours hoping for good scenic photographic opportunities (according to the description of the tour) and I have ended up seeing a lot of island based churches.

I found the profile of a rock formation that might have been carved, since it looked like there was a nose sticking out. I took a picture of the rock and showed it to the guide. She agreed it did look like a nose, but was unaware of any faces carved into a rock formation.

Next we stop at a scenic beach, which would have been a lot nicer if some sunlight had been included. There is someone with a green monkey who expects a tip if you take photographs of him and the monkey. I took two pictures and was going to give him a couple of dollars; however, he wanted five dollars. Okay, lesson learned. However, I did get to pet the monkey, which mouthed my finger, but did not try to bite me.

The final stop was at another scenic point, which once again would have benefited from a little sunlight. We received a free drink. There were several options. I choose the run punch. I also bought a shot glass for my friend, so now I am all set. Then we head back to the ship. I decide to walk back to the ship so that I can take a few pictures of the two ships in port as I walk back.

Again, traveling light, I am able to head directly up to the Windjammer to get lunch and head back to my cabin to enjoy lunch on the balcony. Though with nothing happening around the ship, there is really nothing special about eating lunch on the balcony.

After lunch it is nap time again. However, I get up in time to watch the sail-away from my balcony and then listen to the Captain’s announcements. He provides the time for sunrise tomorrow and then refers to sunset tonight. Then says we cannot see the sun and doesn’t give a sunset time. We have a little over five hundred nautical miles to go to our next port, so tomorrow will be a day at sea. However, he is predicting better weather for our day at sea. After that I upload my photographs, update this and back everything up. Then at 6:30 I head down to The Palace Theatre to take in the second production show. So I’ll be back at you after dinner.

The production show tonight was Wild, Cool & Swingin. It was good, but did not have as much energy as the prior show, so I did like it as much. Though I got some good pictures, when they put the spot light on the singers, they wash out because the rest of the scene is much darker. They end up looking like glowing ghosts in the photograph.

After the show I had stopped at the Aquarium Bar for a double of Baileys’ Irish Cream. Then for dinner I had the shrimp cocktail and the always available (meaning every night) free steak, which once again was very good (it is better tasting at the Chops’ steak, but not as tender). Tonight’s conversation began with the usual, what did you do today. However, the post dinner conversation was about the changes Royal Caribbean has been making on the ships. In general most of the changes have not been well received, at least by my tablemates. I have more of a wait and see attitude, but from what I know about the changes, I don’t view them as “upgrades”.

After dinner I returned to my cabin to check out tomorrow’s Cruise Compass. My day of rest has turned into a busier schedule than I had hoped for. I’ll see what I can do given that there are some schedule conflicts and plan my day tomorrow morning. So until tomorrow morning, goodnight.

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

Approaching St. Maarten - our first port of call ...

There were five ships in St. Maarten. We are number four to arrive ...

And here is number five to arrive, fresh from Europe ...

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

The helmet dive ...

You can tell from the water drops on the helmet that it is raining ...

Probably not the best place to land a helicopter ...

The big one is one a fish - he is one of the safety divers ...

Edited November 22, 2014 by Cuizer2

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

November 9, 2014 – Day at sea

When I wake up we are traveling west, so the sun is rising behind us. I can also see that I forgot to put my camera outside. No, wait, I didn’t forget, I purposely did not because it had rained during dinner and I didn’t want to take a chance on my DSLR getting wet. No matter, with the camera inside and the cabin as cold as the air conditioning can make it, there is no way I can heat the camera up in time for a sunrise photograph, assuming that there might be one worth photographing. I can see there are clouds on the horizon, of course that is to the south, I don’t know what kind of cloud cover is behind me and I see no reason to get up to find out what there is.

Now it is almost 10:00 and I have shaved, showered and dressed. At 10:30am there is an “Exclusive Top Tier Event” (exclusive being all the tiers except the lowest tier). Until then, I am updating this and uploading my photographs from last night. As I look outside I see lots of clouds but it is still only partly cloudy, nice and warm and best of all, nice and bright. I wish it was like this yesterday, it would have made my scenic photographs look a lot more scenic. Nonetheless, it appears we are going to have a good calm day at sea. So until later, it is time to go out and take advantage of what Mother Nature has given us.

There are four things I am interested in today: the Exclusive Top Tier Event, the ice skating show and two lectures. The first one is Digital Living, Discovery the Possibilities – Imagine a world where digital devices are not only compatible with each other, but are compatible with your lifestyle. The second one is Aviation – How does the pilot get you safely from point A to point B?).

First was the Top Tier Event. It was nothing special. Then I went to the technology lecture. The guy starts off explaining how you can charge several USB devices at once. I already know how to do that, so I left to take some pictures around the ship. There I saw the family that was part of the roll call who has six kids on the cruise. Back down to the cabin to change lenses and grab the bag of cookies Royal Caribbean give me. Then back to deck twelve to give Mom the cookies I received on the first day. I am sure the kids will enjoy the cookies more than I would.

The Captain gave his status report at noon today. We are 274 nautical miles from our next port, which means we have to average about 15.25 knots to make it on time. Also, the Captain announces what everyone has already figured out, the weather is beautiful. A quick look at the full decks and pools will confirm that.

Next is the aviation lecture, which was interesting. Afterwards I asked the pilot if he had heard the story about the pilot on a continuing flight who offered to give the blind passenger’s dog a little exercise. The passengers see the pilot of the plane disembarking the plane with a Seeing Eye dog, which scares the passengers. The pilot laughed. In Mythbuster terms, he rated the story plausible. Finally was the ice show. It was good, but in my opinion, nothing special.

Back in the cabin I caught the end of the San Francisco verse New Orleans football game. My friend is a big 49ers fan. I can only imagine the range of emotions my friend went through at the end of the game.

Tonight is our second formal night, as I thought it would be. I could not believe it when some on the roll call argued with me and claimed the second formal night would be after we left one of the islands. Today being a sea day was a natural choice for the second formal night. At any rate, I bought a Caribbean shirt in Antigua that I am going to wear tonight. So I’ll catch up with you after dinner.

I posed for several pictures and then headed to dinner. The topic of conversation stated with the various comedians, but soon switched to funny lines from older TV shows and movies, such as my favorite line from Planes, Trains & Automobiles, “Those aren’t pillows!”

After dinner I returned to my cabin to find out my favorite team, the Green Bay Packers were playing. A few minutes into the second quarter I started to feel bad for Chicago (it was 28 to nothing in Green Bay’s favor). At any rate it is now 10:30 and I have a 9:15am shore excursion tomorrow morning. So for now, goodnight all.

Oops, now it is 35 to nothing. I think I’ll turn off the TV at halftime and go to sleep.

The fish reduced that guest to just bones in less than ninety seconds ...

OMG, now they are after me!

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

Antigua ...

The crew was afraid the island was going to sink, so the crew went onshore with their life vests on ...

That night they had a camp out on the pool deck ...

Antigua's Stingray City ...

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

These are wild stingrays. The arrow point to the reason they are called stingrays ...

Edited November 22, 2014 by Cuizer2

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

November 10, 2014 – Curacao

Good morning everyone. Sunrise today is supposed to be at 6:30. Yesterday we were headed west (our heading was 267). At 6:00am when I woke up I decided to check on the status of the sunrise. I turned on the TV to the ship’s information channel (channel forty) and discovered that our heading was now 308. This meant that the sun would rise directly behind the ship. If I wanted a sunrise photograph I would have to leave my cabin, something I have done before to get good sunrise photographs. I went out on the balcony and looked back; there were clouds on the horizon. Then I looked straight up and there were no clouds. I decide to go back to bed. Winter time is not the best time for sunrise pictures. However, if one is going to enjoy a two week repo cruise, one does not get to choose the time of year.

Around 7:00 I notice we are next to land. The ship is turning to approach the pier with the port side toward the pier, just like the last time I was here (in 2011 aboard the Carnival Miracle, which departed from Fort Lauderdale the day after the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl). The captain made it a little hard for the people responsible for handling the forward lines. The first throw was short. At least three times a gun was used to shoot the line to the pier, all three fell short. Finally the pilot boat had to come out, get the lines and drag the lines over to the pier.

It is 8:30am now and all aboard is twelve hours from now. Our next port may be closer than the pier was when docking. So we have all day to visit this very colorful port. I’ve got a submarine to catch at 9:00am so I’ll catch up with you later.

Oops, it is not a submarine, it is a semisubmersible. However, one advantage of this is that the guide can go to the top deck and feed the fish. In fact, the fish were following the boat waiting for breakfast. So we did see more fish than I did from the submarine in Saint Thomas. Nonetheless, I liked the real submarine in Saint Thomas better.

Back at the dock I bought a couple of shot glasses for my friend and another Caribbean shirt for me. Then back on the ship to have brunch, cool down and get a different lens for my walking tour of Willemstad.

Last time I was here I did not cross over the river to the other side. This time I did. The Vision of the Seas must have arrived after I left on my tour. It was docked on the other side of the movable bridge. On the other side I stopped at a shore side restaurant to take in the sites, rest and have some ice cream to help me cool down. During this time the moveable bridge was opened and closed. The woman from the shore excursion staff that was on the tour in Saint Lucia was at the same restaurant I was at. I took a picture of her. But when I paid my bill she disappeared.

Once the bridge was closed I headed back to the ship. I changed into my bathing suit and took a dip in the nice cool salt water pool. Then back to the cabin to take a fresh water shower, upload the photographs, update this and get some rest.

At 5:00pm I went down to the shore excursion desk to show Veronica the picture I took of her and to verify some information about my shore excursion to Port Canaveral before my flight home. Seems we have to self-disembark at 7:30am. There was nothing about this on the Internet when I signed up for this tour. Veronica said that a letter would be given to us later. This is a two week cruise and not everyone has managed to pack everything into one suitcase (though there are those who claim to be able to pack for two weeks using only a carry-on). Fortunately I can easily handle my entire luggage (one suit case, one laptop backpack and one smaller camera backpack). So this is no problem for me, but it is still important information that should have been provided to me earlier, instead of my having to find out from someone complaining about it at the dinner table.

Well, it is after 6:00pm. I am waiting for it to get dark so that I can take some nighttime photographs of the ship. Then it will be time for dinner. So I’ll be back after dinner.

I got some good nighttime photographs of the ship, dropped off my camera in the cabin and headed off to dinner. I like the free steak, so I order that and some chicken for dinner. Tonight’s conversation started to get into politics. I hate politics. As far as I am concerned, all the politicians are in it for either their own self-interest (money, power or to help out their friends) or they are incompetent. We started to talk about inflation and what actions the government can take to control it. I said a few things, but didn’t want to get into any arguments. Eventually the discussion turned toward phone, television, the Internet, the providers of these services and the various ways of providing the service (wireless, cable and fiber optics).

After dinner I returned to my cabin. Even though tomorrow is a day of rest for me, I just wanted to go to sleep. So until tomorrow, good night.

The kids of St. Lucia ...

The Pitons ...

Edited November 22, 2014 by Cuizer2

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

Welcome to Barbados ...

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

November 11, 2014 – Bonaire

Once again the crew could have rowed and we would have arrived on time. This is the first time I’ve been to Bonaire. I looked at the various shore excursion offerings three times and I could not find anything interesting. Tomorrow we will be in Aruba and will be leaving Aruba early. I wish we could have gone to Aruba today and left Bonaire early tomorrow. I’m not the only one that feels this way.

I woke up at 5:00 and put my camera out on the balcony to heat up. But then when I checked the TV I found that our heading was 28 degrees. That meant that sunrise was on the other side of the ship. I looked outside and just and just did not feel like getting dressed. I left the camera out so I could use it coming into port.

When I notice the pilot boat speed up and cut in front of the ship after dropping off the pilot I realized I was going to have to get dressed anyway and head over to the helipad to get the coming into port pictures. Well, it turned out the port was on the left side of the ship after all. It looks like Bonaire is building up the port area. Lots of new shops are visible. I know the shops are new, because they look new and there is nothing in the shops yet. None of the vendors have set up shop yet.

So, with nothing planned, I figured I would go over some odds and ends:

1) Early in the cruise my room steward saw me leave the cabin. However, he didn’t see me come back. He walked in on me while I was getting ready to leave again. It was no big deal to me, as I am using the dead bolt to control when the room steward can come in. But it apparently got to the room steward. The next time he saw me he apologized and said for now on he would only come in when the blue make up the room card was out. I have been using the make up the room card, and this has worked out well with two minor hiccups. The first was one morning when I was out of the cabin for a while, but he had not made up the room. Then I came back, dropped off some things and went out again for a short time. I should have removed the room card because I knew I was coming back soon and I had to change for my shore excursion. Sure enough, when I returned the room steward was cleaning my room. The second time was yesterday morning when I forgot to put the card out. But the day was young and I put it out before exploring Willemstad and when I returned, the room was clean.

2) Why is the bathroom light switch next to the hinge side of the door, outside the bathroom? Most people have the bathroom light switch inside the bathroom. So once you walk in and realize the switch is outside of the cabin, you cannot just reach around. You have to exit the bathroom to turn on the light. Why can’t they put the light switch on the latch side of the door, where it would be easy to reach?

3) The Explorer is the second of the five Voyage class ships. The first three have the balconies inside the structure of the ship. Thus the balcony is inside a steel box. It does not have the open air feeling that the Navigator and Mariner (the last two of the Voyager class ships) have. The balconies on the Navigator and Mariner are outside the structure of the ship. The Navigator and Mariner are my two favorite Royal Caribbean ships. I have been on the Freedom and if you have young kids I would recommend the three Freedom class ships over the Voyager class, as the three Freedom class ships have the H2O Zone. I have also been on the Allure, but it is just too big. My favorite Carnival ships are the four Spirit class ships. The Spirit class ships are about the same size as the Radiance class ships; however, I do not like the layout of the Radiance class ships.

4) I must have pulled a muscle the first night trying to stay in bed. The right side of my hip hurts me when I am standing, trying to stand from a sitting position, trying to sit from a standing position and when lying on my back in bed. However, it does not hurt when I am walking or sitting, so it has had very little negative effect on the cruise experience (but I would be happier if it didn’t hurt).

5) Every evening at dinner I have two pieces of bread. One with cheese and one with pumpkin seeds. And every evening the assistant waiter gets the cheese bread right and then tries to give me the sesame seed bread.

6) Carnival has pool side food and drink stations. That way if you are wet and wearing a bathing suit you don’t have to dry off just to eat. And since a waiter (or assistant waiter) prepares the drinks on Royal Caribbean, it is hard to get ice. Carnival has ice at all the drink stations. However, I have heard that you can get ice from the Freestyle Coke machines on Royal Caribbean even if you didn’t purchase the soft drink package.

7) When the people on the pier are too far way for someone to throw the rope, they use a gun to shoot the rope over. The Explorer of the Seas needs a new gun. The weighted ball that was supposed to land on the pier fell short and went swimming every time.

Well, that is it for now. I’m going to relax some more, then have brunch and then go explore the area around the port. So I’ll see you later.

So, here is how my day went. A little before noon I left the cabin and boarded the elevator for a ride up to deck twelve where Johnny Rockets is located. I boarded on deck seven. Someone on the elevator wants an express ride to deck eleven, where the Windjammer is located. I guess he is really hungry. So he holds the number eleven button in hoping the elevator will skip all the other decks. The elevator stops at deck eight to allow someone else on. The person holding the number eleven button is visibly disappointed. I’m left wondering how someone so naive about the operation of an elevator can earn enough money to afford to cruise. Finally I make it to deck twelve, only to discover that Johnny Rockets is not open.

Since Johnny Rockets was closed, I headed down to deck eleven for brunch. While looking for something yummy I spot the first officer having lunch. I say hello. After I gather a plate full of food, I find a seat near the windows overlooking the ocean. The weather looks good. Done with lunch I catch an elevator heading to deck one, where the gangplank is located. Once on the dock it starts raining. At first it is light, but very quickly builds to a major down pour. I quickly duck under the tent where security is located. I know this is one of those famous ten minute tropical downpours.

Once the rain stops I head to town to get shot glasses for my friend. Then head back to the ship. I debate exploring more, however, one look at the sky and I realize it could rain again. Unfortunately there is a line to re-board the ship and sure enough it begins to rain. I don’t charge my friend for the shot glasses I buy him, but he better appreciate what I have gone through to get the shot glasses for him.

Back in the cabin I take off my wet clothing and put my wet shirt outside to dry. It is nice and sunny now. Okay, I get the message. I’m not leaving the cabin. I lie down and take a nice long nap. I wake up about the time everyone is due back on board. Of course since it is humid outside the shirt has only gone from soaked to damp. So I dry it enough to put on with the hair dryer. Then I head down to the photo gallery to find the photographs from the last formal night (the photo gallery was closed all day yesterday). I pick out five pictures and again take advantage of the Diamond five for fifty dollars deal and I bought another photo album (I don’t know why I did that). The normal ten picture photo package is $175. I have eleven (one free and two five for fifty) for only $100.

Then I head back to the cabin to upload my few photographs (the ones in my camera, not the ones I just bought) and update this. Dinner is in about one hour, so I’ll back everything up, and get ready for tomorrow’s shore excursion. I hope it doesn’t rain, as I am taking my DSLR. It is the same shore excursion I took in 2011 when I was here, except this time I’m taking a better camera with me. We are only in Aruba for a short time, so we can make it back to Port Canaveral on time (or at least that is what the Captain said as we left Bonaire). I think it is because the way back is up hill (take a look at a globe). At any rate, my shore excursion meets at 8:30. So, I’ll catch up with you after dinner.

I had the shrimp cocktail, the sliders and free steak for dinner. Then, because of the early shore excursion, I head back to my cabin and hit the bed.

This would be more scenic if the sun had showed up today ...

Do you see the nose ...

This is going to fall over some day ...

This picture cost me $2.50 (I took two pictures of the monkey) ...

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

November 12, 2014 – Aruba

It is amazing what a half day’s sleep plus a full night’s sleep can do for you. I’m up a 6:00 and feeling pretty good (except for the right side of my hip). I watch the pilot boat speed away after dropping off the pilot. Then I head to the helipad to get some pictures (which look dull with no sun) and some sunrise photographs (which are just that, the sun rising, as there are no clouds overhead and plenty of clouds on the horizon.

We are cleared to go shortly after 7:00am. However, there are no vendors out and about that early. My tour ends at 11:45am and the back on board time is 12:30pm. We leave at 1:00 for the two and a half day trip back to Port Canaveral. There is a message on the TV (for those that actually read the messages) telling the Port Canaveral shore excursion guests that they will have to carry their own luggage off the ship. I can’t wait for the problems that is going to create.

At any rate with nothing better to do, I decide to get breakfast and then head down for my tour. I’m a little early so I decide to sit and wait, until someone else shows and gets shown the bus to get on. So I follow and find out I’m actually one of the last to show up.

Our first stop is the butterfly farm, which is the reason I brought my good camera. Those butterflies are not the most cooperative photographic subjects I’ve tried to photograph, but I did get some good photographs nonetheless. However, I am drenched in sweat chasing (walking) after the butterflies in the shade. It is hot and humid. I find a shot glass for my friend at the butterfly farm, so life would be good except I also want to get a Caribbean shirt, as Aruba has the best prices for these shirts and we are docked a long walk from the street vendors (and the bus cannot let us off outside the gate).

The next stop is the natural bridge. Back around 2005 or 2006 the big natural bridge collapsed. All that is left is a pile of rocks and the smaller bridge. I take a few photographs and then head back to the bus.

Our last stop is bunch of boulders. There is some debate about how the boulders ended up where they are. One theory is they were blown out of a volcano and a second theory is that the boulders were pushed up out of the sea by some geological force. The weather conditions have etched some of the boulders into unusual shapes. But from my point of view, these are still just boulders - yippee! The place is called Ayo Rock Formations (in case you develop a boulder fetish and feel like traveling to Aruba to satisfy it).

Upon our return to the ship at 11:35am I headed over to the street vendors (dodging all that did not have Caribbean shirts) and found what I was looking for. The price was $15 which is at least five dollars less than any place else on the other islands that sell the Caribbean shirts.

I made it back to the line to get onto the ship by noon. And what a line it was. EVERYBODY was coming back at the same time. They even had two security stations for boarding the ship and the line was still moving at a snail’s pace. Fortunately it was hot and muggy, so that besides the joy of a slow moving line, everyone had the chance to feel hot and muggy (in the shade, in the sun - it really didn’t matter much).

At any rate, back on board I had lunch and went back to the cabin to change out of my sweat drenched clothing and took a shower. Then I watched an overpriced movie, (thirteen dollars via pay per view) on the TV in the cabin, where at least it was nice and cool.

After that I uploaded my photographs and updated this. It should be sunset soon and since we are traveling north (actually NNW) and since I am on the port side of the ship, I can watch the sunset from my balcony. Unfortunately there are no clouds overhead and plenty of clouds on the horizon, so I will not waste any free film on the sunset. Then I’m just going to relax until dinner. So I’ll be back at you after dinner.

I had the shrimp cocktail, the included steak and tempura for dinner. Actually everybody at the table ordered the tempura. Tonight’s discussion centered on future cruises. One person booked a repositioning cruise from Boston to Tampa Bay for next October on either the Radiance or the Brilliance (I forget which one). That is a thirteen night cruise with a similar, but better itinerary than this one, mostly because they get to spend a full day in Aruba. If I recall the itinerary correctly, the ship spends three days to get to Saint Kitts, then Saint Lucia and Barbados, another day at sea, Curacao, Aruba and three days at sea back up to Tampa Bay.

And even though tomorrow is a day at sea, I decide to just get a good night’s sleep. So until tomorrow morning, goodnight.

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

Bonaire ...

Our last port - Aruba ...

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

November 13, 2014 – Day at sea

I wake up at 6:00 and look outside. We are heading northwest which means sunrise is on the other side of the ship. I decide to skip getting dressed and going out to the rear of the ship for a possible sunrise photo. Per the ship’s information channel we are approaching Haiti. The ship will have to turn to the northeast to make it between Cuba and Haiti. Then it will turn northwest again as it heads toward Port Canaveral. We are traveling at about eighteen and a half knots. Yesterday we were going just below twenty knots.

As I set up my computer this morning I realize my cabin is turning into quite a zoo. I have a rabbit on the night stand, a monkey hanging from the lampshade, an elephant on the table and a dinosaur standing on top of the TV.

The Captain’s Corner is at 10:00am and I am looking forward to that. After I finish updating this and backing everything up, I figuring I’ll grab a quick breakfast and then head over to The Palace for the Captain’s Corner. Then after the Captain’s Corner I check out the stores to see if there is anything interesting that is worth buying. That should give the room steward enough time to clean the cabin.

After the Captain’s Corner I come back here and update anything of interest from the Captain’s Corner and then continue picking out pictures to post with my review. So far I have only sorted through day one (embarkation day). I have taken 2615 photographs and videos which are taking up 23.7GB of disk space. I can back up a total of eighty gigabytes. By that I mean that I copy everything from the computer to a flash drive so that if the computer’s hard drive fails I have not lost everything. I have 128GB of storage on the memory cards that I use in my DSLR alone (the other cameras have their own separate memory cards) however, after I back everything up, I erase the memory cards so I don’t get different day’s photos mixed up. I store each day’s photos in a separate folder on the computer. And in case anyone is wondering, the review is currently twenty three single spaced type written pages and over fourteen thousand words.

Basically I have everything a need for my computer and camera. I have an extension cord for the cool (dry) evenings when I like to update things on the balcony. I have extra batters for all the cameras except the underwater camera (which does not get used as much) and of course I have chargers for each. I also have surge protectors and multi-outlet plugs (they are smaller than a power strip but serve the same porpoise). And I have plenty of memory cards to story the pictures on.

Well, it is about two hours before the Captain’s Corner. So I’m going to stop here, back everything up, get dressed and head out for breakfast.

Well, there was a change in plans. The weather is nice, so I took my breakfast back to the cabin.

Then it was off to the Captain’s Corner. I asked why the one lifeboat had not been hooked up and moved back into its normal position. First there were a few jokes about liking the look and doing the same with all the other lifeboats. But actually there are apparently some mechanical issues. None of the ports we visited had the equipment necessary to fix it, so it will be fixed in Port Canaveral. Also, not one, but two lifeboats were damaged. Lifeboat twenty two was forced up and has damage on the top.

One lifeboat will be replaced by a spare lifeboat that is available when we dock on November 15. One of the lifeboats will be repaired and a will then rejoin the ship when it returns to Port Canaveral on November 24. At that point the ship will then have its full complement of lifeboats. The Captain explained that SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) requires the same number of lifeboats on both sides of the ship. So, even without four of the lifeboats, based on lifeboat capacity and the number of passengers and crew, the ship is still within the SOLAS requirements.

Someone mentioned the propulsion issued this ship had a month ago. It seems the center fixpod (it does not move) has something wrong with it that requires the ship be taken out of water to fix. So, they have removed the screw (the propellers on a ship are called screws) and the ship is running on just the two azipods. I was wondering why I only saw two wakes coming off the back of the ship. Nonetheless, this has not created any changes in our itinerary (the half day in Aruba was in the schedule long before the propulsion issues became known).

The ship will go into dry dock in Spain in March. The fixpod will be repaired; three new specialty restaurants will be added as well as four additional tender boats (as Europe requires a lot of tendering). This ship will then spend time in Europe, Asia and Australia. A Flowrider will be added and other changes will take place. The dry dock is scheduled to last five weeks and cost about sixty five million dollars.

Someone asked about fresh water. The ship can make its own water, but it has to be moving forward at at least six knots to do so. As a result, the ship cannot make its own water in port and thus will sometimes buy it locally.

Someone asked if any security camera footage of the rogue wave would be included in the Cruise in Review DVD. The cruise director is in charge of what goes on the DVD and his answer to this question was NOOOOO!

One person asked if we crossed the equator. Really? Again, how do some of these people earn enough to afford to cruise?

After the Captain’s Corner I returned to the cabin to update this, upload my photographs and as I look out at the ocean I can see we are having beautiful weather and very smooth seas, something which was confirmed by the Captain at his noon time announcement. The Captain says we can see Haiti off our starboard side and Cuba off our port side. So I am going to take a break from this and head up to deck twelve to see what I can see.

It does look nice outside. However, while Haiti was visible off the starboard side, the land we saw off the port side was not Cuba, but rather some little island about 74 nautical miles east of Jamaica. In fact, even now, two and one half hours later, we are still about sixty nautical miles from Cuba, which puts Cuba beyond the horizon.

I attended another aviation lecture entitled How Does an Aircraft Fly? This is the second of three lectures on aviation that I have attended (I missed the first one) and there has been audio visual issues all three times. The most interesting part of these lectures, to me at least, is the cause of accidents. Pilots running through a check list but didn’t actually confirm the settings; they just said what the setting should have been. Another time the pilots didn’t realize they had the nose of the plane pointed too far up, causing a stall.

At any rate, I’m back in the cabin and I am going to review my photographs to see which ones I want to add to my review. Then as dinner approaches I shave, shower and dress for the last formal night. Tonight I have soup, pasta and the free steak.

Back at the cabin I decide to check out the football game, which was not really competitive, so at halftime I go to sleep.

Here is what is left of the bigger bridge ...

Welcome to Boulder City, Aruba ...

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

Who decided to dock the submarine here???

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

The crawler (moves the rockets from the VAB to the launch pad) ...

The VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building). The flag is over 200 feet long. The blue field is the size of a regulation basketball court. The strips are eight feet wide. That smaller building in front is the Launch Control Center ...

The Apollo Command Module ...

The rocket garden ...

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

November 14, 2014 – Day at sea

Well today is our last day – boo! I am up in time for sunrise. To catch it I have to leave the cabin. It doesn’t look like there are many clouds overhead, but it also doesn’t look like there are many clouds on the horizon, so I dress and leave the cabin.

It wasn’t a great sunrise, but it wasn’t a bust either. It would have helped if the clouds overhead were not so thick. Instead of showing the color of sunrise, it was just black. In fact, soon after the sun rose, it rained for a short time. Since I was near the Windjammer I decided to have breakfast. I secured the basic ingredients for an Egg McMuffin and made a couple for myself.

At 10:30am there was a sale I wanted to check out. However, there were too many other people buying things, and since I had already eaten breakfast, I decided to find a chair in the shade on the pool deck and relax for a while. I needed to give the room steward time to clear the cabin.

I noticed that they were setting up grills around the pool deck and decided to just wait until lunch was served. There was watermelon, pineapple, salads and BBQ chicken and ribs. Then back to the cabin for BBQ sauce removal and a quick rest before attending the last aviation lecture. This time all the equipment worked properly.

The lecturer mentioned the economics of the aviation business. So at the end of the lecturer I asked him if he knew how to makes a small fortune in aviation. He asked how, and I said, start with a large one. He laughed and then said yes, he has heard that one.

After that it was back to the cabin to rest and prepare for departure. I am being forced to self-disembark in order to attend the shore excursion which will take me to the Kennedy Space Center, and then to the airport where I have a 6:50pm nonstop flight back home. I’ve decided I don’t want to carry my DSLR around the Kennedy Space Center, so I use my point & shoot camera.

The sun is setting just outside my balcony. Again there are no clouds on the horizon, which is good, and no clouds overhead, which is bad. So all I am getting is a big bright orange ball on the horizon. Still, that is better than nothing, so I take a few photographs of my last sunset at sea.

I checked my account and it is almost $290 (after the $150 onboard booking credit). That seems rather high given that I didn’t buy that much. However, about half of that amount is gratuities, and $150 over gratuities for two weeks is not bad. So now that I have everything organized for tomorrow, I’ll back everything up, shave, shower and dress for my last supper. So I’ll catch up with you after dinner.

I had shrimp cocktail, pasta and the included steak for my last supper. Our after dinner conversation centered around Port Canaveral, Alaskan cruises and airline miles. Then we all said our good-byes and I headed back to my cabin to update this. We are setting out clocks back one hour tonight to match the time in Port Canaveral. So I am using the extra time to update this. Then I’m going to watch the rest of Rambo: First Blood and then go to sleep. I have to be ready to leave at 7:30 tomorrow. So, until the jet is at ten thousand feet, good night.

Cuizer2 · November 22, 2014

November 15, 2014 – Travel day

Well the Captain said that we would meet the pilot boat at 6:15 and sure enough I saw the pilot boat pull up next to the ship at 6:15. However, both of the damaged lifeboats were still on the ship as we docked. There were three other ships in Port Canaveral today; the Disney Fantasy, the Carnival Liberty and the Carnival Sunshine (formally the Carnival Destiny which was the first cruise ship in the water to exceed one hundred thousand gross registered tons, which is a volume measurement, not a weight rating).

I got dressed and went down to the helipad to watch us come in. Then over to the Windjammer to grab a quick breakfast and back to the cabin to eat it. Then it was time to go to the casino to debark. Someone asked if I had all my luggage – yes. Then she tried to direct me to one of the lounges. I said that is not my meeting place. She asked where I was supposed to meet. I said the casino. She asked how I knew that. However, before I could pull out my shore excursion letter directing me to the casino, someone else asked if I was on a tour – yes, and into the casino I went.

Soon after arriving at the Aquarium Bar, which is just outside the Casino and where my tour (there are two) was meeting, an announcement was made that the ship had not been cleared yet. This was quickly followed by a request for everyone in the tour to line up. Standing for a long time hurts my back and it was clear we would be standing for a long time. I have no idea why everyone was asked to stand (for about thirty minutes before we were cleared) but I stayed seated.

Once inside the terminal there are two lines, one for the elevator and one for the escalator. If you don’t have one hand free, you are directed to the elevator. The elevator is small and the line is long. I had a free hand (the other one cost a lot of money – HA HA) and went down the escalator. The customs officer wanted to know if had any alcohol (no), tobacco (no) food (I pointed to my stomach – the customs office said I could keep that food). Then he asked me if I was traveling alone (yes) and when I bought my ticket (September 29 of last year – the day I boarded the Allure of the Seas). At which point I was reluctantly allowed back into the United States (or at least Florida). This time again I was able to use my passport card (though I did have my passport handy just in case).

Once outside the terminal I was then directed to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) bus. I was amazed to see people there to board the ship. Who wants to wait in line for over three hours? Even I only try to arrive about thirty minutes early. The bus driver asked everyone except me which airline they were on. After he put my luggage under the bus, I asked him if he was sure he put it in the right place. He assumed wrong and had to take my luggage out and place it in the correct place.

I saw the workers working on the two damaged lifeboats and I saw the cranes arrive. However, we left on our tour before the damaged lifeboats were removed from the ship. As we left the port area we passed by the spare lifeboat that would be put on the Explorer for the next voyage.

We had a super tour guide who was very enthusiastic. Turns out that this is a fully guided tour. I didn’t realize that, as I was hoping to go on my own. However, this tour guide was so good that I really didn’t mind. Besides, I am booked on the Freedom next April, and all I have to do is either come a day early or book another late return flight and take the tour, go out on my own and just make sure I am back to the bus on time. This tour includes the upgraded tour of the launch pad, where the tour bus gets real close to the launch paid. One of the new facts I learned from our tour guide is that all of the astronauts have to be five foot eleven inches or shorter. There is not a lot of room inside those space capsules.

For souvenirs I bought and ID tag for myself, a shot glass for my friend and two ice cream sandwiches for my two nephews. I hope they don’t melt (they shouldn’t, they are both freeze dried).

After the tour we were taken to the airport. I had not eaten since 7:30am and it was now 3:30pm. All I wanted was a quick snack, since I only had three hours until I board. Since I am in first class, I’ll get a meal on the plane. It will be airline food, but at least it is food. So I grabbed a Big Mac meal.

Yesterday I almost bought a second bag since I was concerned that I might be overweight. I decided to chance it. Well, I was overweight at 52 pounds. However, Delta allows first class passengers seventy pounds. Saved!

No special security line for me, just an express line to get into the security line. So I have to remove my shoes, belt and laptop. Also, I had to take everything out of my pockets. Well, there is a reason I was wearing a belt. I have no idea how many people I mooned (at least I was not going commando). Also, I was concentrating so much on getting everything out of my pockets I forgot that I was wearing a backpack. However, I was reminded of that fact when I approached the scanner with, “SIR, YOU HAVE TO REMOVE YOUR BACKPACK!” Oops! Ever try removing a backpack while trying to hold up your pants? That is when the people behind me got mooned. Sometimes I wonder how people earn enough to afford to fly.

After clearing security (and turning down a few marriage proposals) I decided to update this. The Orlando Airport needs more electrical plugs. I found an open one behind an empty seat. I must have had to lean forward more than a dozen times because others were plugging in, or unplugging, from the outlets behind me. I have not flown out of Orlando in eight years. The airport has been upgraded since I was here. The upgrades are rather impressive in my opinion.

Unless something unusual happens during flight and/or ride home, I have come to the end of the review [which is now 27 single spaced type written pages long (almost two pages per day) and just under seventeen thousand words].

So what were my impressions?

1) The Captain (Captain Rick) was fantastic.

2) This was my second fourteen night cruise (my first cruise was also fourteen nights).

3) I have no plans to return to New Jersey to cruise unless there are some improvements made to traffic flow (I have cruised out of Manhattan and Brooklyn and I would not mind returning to either of those two terminals.

4) Given the lousy year I have had (which is finally looking up) this cruise was just what I needed.

5) It was nice that after the typical one week I was only half done. Nonetheless, even two weeks now seems too short.

6) The crew was great.

7) The cruise director was also very good. Very few cruise directors have impressed me. This one did. Nonetheless, I don’t depend on the cruise director to have a good time.

8) There were not very many children on the cruise. I heard the number thirty mentioned. I have noticed the cruises with a small number of children seem to have less energy. I know I certainly did.

9) I had a great time.

I arrived safely at LAX without incident. I then found the Prime Time Shuttle representative and waited, and waited and waited. Fifty minutes later I was finally in a van and headed home. For half the price I could have taken the FlyAway bus to Van Nuys and a taxi home in the same amount of time. When I told the Prime Time representative at the curb this, he just shrugged his shoulders. Next time I'll either take the FlyAway/taxi route home, give Super Shuttle another try (Super Shuttle was great the one time I used Super Shuttle) or for only about thirty dollars more, use a limo service that is prompt and actually cares.

For those that care, I have a total of 2951 photographs taking up 26.5GB of space. That is almost 9MB per photograph. And this ended up at 28 pages and 17,360 words.

Well, hopefully you found something interesting and/or entertaining in the review. The Explorer of the Seas will only be in Port Canaveral for about four months. So until April (my Freedom of the Seas cruise), good-by.

I am going to add a PS here. Before the Explorer cruise the GS cabin I wanted for an April 2016 cruise was advertised by Royal Caribbean, on Royal Caribbean's website, for $3,810 before taxes. After the Explorer cruise the same cabin was advertised by Royal Caribbean for $3,893.88 after taxes. The "best" price Royal Caribbean could give me when I purchased the cabin onboard the Explorer was $4,937.98. I e-mailed the information to my agent on Sunday evening. Before I returned home from work on Monday I had a new invoice showing the total to be $3,893.98. So the "best" price I could get while booking onboard the ship was more than $1,000 more than Royal Caribbean's advertised price. This is just one of the reasons I prefer using an agent over booking directly with Royal Caribbean. I should add that I lost the $200 onboard booking bonus in the process. It was a hard choice between getting $200 OBC or saving $1,000 (for a net savings of $800), so I flipped a coin and saving $1,000 won.