EXPLORER IS BACK! May 16-20, 2016 REVIEW w/lots of photos

[Hoopster95]

Now it's about 2:15'ish ... Well, luckily for us there was no line, but there were still a ton of fellow cruisers inside the WJ. The staff looked a little exasperated... I can only imagine. We walked all the way to the back to check out all that they had... already one side was roped off (I assumed cleaning/getting ready for dinner already). They had maybe 1/3 of the normal available offerings on embarkation, but I least I wasn't forced to have a burger... they even had one of my faves = paella. So we had a decent plate of food but not too too much as we were due for Chops tonight... we were in and out of the WJ in 15 min.

 

And off we went up the stairs from the WJ to continue our ship tour on the same port side we just left from, travelling aft from the elevator lobby... this area of deck 12 aft is the Adventure Ocean/kids/teen areas of the ship.

 

 

 

 

I would think all these areas are great for kids as the various rooms are large, bright and spacious with direct access out to the decks and easy walk up to the sports court for various games/events.

 

 

 

Walking out of the Adventure Ocean area, aft deck 12 has many loungers, as well as a covered "breezeway" of sorts that connect the port side over to the starboard side with plenty of tables.

 

 

 

 

Walking around the back of the ship, you look up at the Florider seating area, but you can't see the Florider itself. On the other side of you reach Johnny Rockets. The doors were closed so I didn't get any interior shots, but there's plenty of great photos on-line. Note: we ate there on the final evening... the juke boxes at each table do not work nor does the staff dance/sing anymore as they once did. I think this has been the case for a while yes?

 

[Hoopster95]

Entering the push door that is right beside the Johnny Rocket front entrance, you enter into the hallway the divides up the various areas for tots, adventure Ocean, teens, etc.... we turned into the Teen Optix area which was just inside from Johnny Rockets. Very cool space for teens.

 

 

 

 

Back out into the general hallway also brings you to the huge arcade.

 

 

 

 

And through the arcade takes you into the elevator lobby area, with the front entrance of Adventure Ocean here. Each ship has a different vehicle protruding from it's wall... Explorer has a motorcycle.

 

[yogimax]

And this is the first time on any ship that I have noticed life-jackets of all sizes available right at the pool deck beside the towel station.... is this new? Interesting.

 

 

Hoopster - Your excellence continues. I hope you don't mind my comments.

 

These are actually the jackets that kids are supposed to wear in the swimming pool. They made an announcement encouraging parents to use these. Sadly, most parents ignored the request. My guess is there was a tragedy involving a child on another cruise.

[pk_crusing]

Really loving the photo's we are on the explorer in Feb '17...our first cruise ever.

Thank you for you detailed review.

[Hoopster95]

They made an announcement encouraging parents to use these. Sadly, most parents ignored the request. My guess is there was a tragedy involving a child on another cruise.

 

Ah ok. I didn't hear that announcement. Thanks for mentioning it... and anyone else by all means if I mention something not correct or you have something to add that I didn't experience by all means share.

 

Yogi, last year a child on Indy and Liberty drowned, I believe both cases in the circular whirlpool in the H2O zone. Jewel in December didn't have these jackets and I haven't sailed since, so wonder if other CC'ers on ships currently are seeing these jackets as well.

[Hoopster95]

Really loving the photo's we are on the explorer in Feb '17...our first cruise ever.

Thank you for you detailed review.

 

Ah, South Pacific out of Sydney? Lots of upper pool deck areas for everyone to enjoy in the warm weather. Great ship for this itinerary!

Have an awesome sailing and thanks for following. :D

[Hoopster95]

We decided to head upstairs to check out the Viking Crown. We took the stairs, but immediately upon exiting the elevator you will come across Dizzy Gillespe himself greeting you at the front entrance

 

 

Here is the bar and seating area of Dizzy's with a superb view forward. The dance floor was the night club venue 11pm and onward, and was for adults only. We had a great sailing with excellent mix of people up there all four nights... normally night #1 is very dead around the ship but Graham Seymour set up 70's night on night 1 and it carried over upstairs... brilliant move as it set a tone for the next 3 evenings as well.

 

 

 

 

On the other side of the hallway out by the elevator lobby is the entrance to Izumi, a super nice space with great views. Having a ton of Asian influence here in the Vancouver area, I have had great amount of excellent sushi here so I normally don't bother with sushi on board. I've tried Izumi only twice before on other ships and it was pretty good, so if you don't have the opportunity at home to try Japanese, this may be great for you (especially with sourcing fresh fish to bring on board here in BC/Alaska).

 

 

 

Edited May 25, 2016 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

I wanted to check out the Sportdeck and see if anyone was out on the FloRider yet, so we walked down a flight of stairs and out the hallway to the Sports Court. Here's a great shot from the port side looking forward to the court as well as the rock climbing wall. The second photo is from the same spot looking aft... plenty of loungers to stay close to the action, FloRider/tan, babysit kids, etc.

 

 

 

 

And here's the first view of the FloRider, which was shut down until later in the early evening hours. This is the first time I've been aboard a ship with a Florider and never got on it... too chilly and not enough days.

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Walking back around the Sports Court, checking out the mini-golf etc, I saw that the gate leading up the stairs to the Diamond Lounge was not locked (it normally is). So we headed up those steps. The deck up there on the starboard side next to the climbing wall is reserved for Diamond and above cruisers, great spot to hang out if you wish to be outdoors vs. inside with a great view aft of everything going on.

 

 

 

 

The DL is very nice too, great views, nice open space and connected to Dizzy's for overflow if needed. I visited the CL a couple of times for my morning coffee fix as it was just a flight of stairs up from my cabin but I would take the DL any day of the week over the closed in windowless CL by a mile! The CL (soon to be suite lounge I guess) is not a perk at all on this class of ship in my humble opinion

 

 

 

Heading out through the door you end up right back at Dizzy's again

 

Edited May 25, 2016 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

Having explored most of the external venues of the ship, it time to grab the elevator and head back down to deck 5 to check out the Sapphire Dining Room. Pictures are always worth more than a thousand words so I'll let the images do the talking here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

 

 

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Walking out of the Sapphire Dining Room on deck 3, you come across the lobby with the curved stairs leading down from the Promenade as well as the entrance to Studio B. The doors to Studio B were shut so I couldn't get any pictures inside of the ice rink at this time,

 

 

 

From the center is a fabulous vantage point upwards of the wonderful piece of art hanging down from the Promenade above. It's really spectacular.

 

 

 

And below here we are looking back towards the MDR before heading up those stairs.

 

 

 

Up the stairs to deck 4, where I've been used to seeing Boleros (still Boleros on the Navigator for example) is a new venue for me called "The Tavern"... just a plain old bar with very little appeal in my books, a big downgrade from the action and vibe of Boleros. I never spent any time here

 

 

 

And lastly a view of the hanging art here on deck 4 before moving on

 

[Hoopster95]

It was at this point I started having troubles with my camera :mad:

My trusty Sony that's been all over the world taking these great shots for my reviews may have finally kicked the bucket. I was still able to take shots on manual mode or night settings (aperture open) as I was getting a flash error and none of the automatic settings would snap a photo whatsoever. So I did the best I could until I grabbed my other camera primarily for the rest of the cruise.

 

Walking forward from the Tavern Bar area you walk into the entrance of the casino. I have played poker often on various ships and gone down to watch others play at various tables, but with only 4 days on this cruise I was only through here in transit from one venue to another. There was smoke smell but it wasn't gross the times I went through.... and it was relatively busy each time

 

 

 

 

 

Heading out the other side forward towards the "The Palace" theatre you first have to walk through the Schooner Bar, where I have my absolute best memory of my first cruise on Explorer....

 

You long time Explorer cruisers out there (Merion_mom? Clarea?) You guys remember Matt Yee? What a hoot!!!! Piano man/diva, mega comedian and one of the best entertainers I have ever seen on RCL, standing room only 5-6 people deep at the Schooner Bar and he raked in tip money like it was going outta style! Seen him once after that (on Freedom I think) but that was years ago, and he's been m.i.a. since. Anyone know what happened to him?

 

[Hoopster95]

It was here I wanted to head into the theatre to take a few shots as I always do on each ship tour, but there was a rehearsal going on so no go. Instead we headed outside the doors and began making our way forward to the helipad. Just a few short steps forward you will find these sets of stairs on both port and starboard sides. Note on this side (starboard only) at the very top of the stairs you can make out a set of doors in the picture below... they look like crew doors but they are not. Open them and go through. It looks like a dead end with another immediate set of doors, but these 2nd doors lead into the Star Lounge and are public doors. If you are mobility challenged or you just don't feel like going down to deck 4 and then walking up these outside steps, that's a short cut you can use

 

 

 

Once at the top of the steps (or out the Star Lounge "secret" doors) you make your way to the front. Note to actually get onto the Observation Deck (I hate that name! I'm saying "helipad" from now on lol) you need to climb 5-6 steps. To the left is the outdoor crew area.

 

 

 

I love the helipad, many incredible memories on various ships. One of my favorites was on Adventure when I didn't have any status... I was out on the helipad leaving Malaga on sailaway and had D+ friends I met on board up on a bridge tour. I was taking pictures of them from down below and likewise they took some incredible shots with me down on the helipad. Priceless.

 

Note that the "helipad" cannot be a true helipad with those extra benches now bolted down right in the middle.

 

 

 

 

Ever wonder how many people can fit into those blow-up flotation canisters?

I have never really looked at these, but thought it was interesting when I went over to take a close look. Never seen this mentioned on CC so thought I'd post it here as we walked our way back away from the helipad. Note how these get dropped down by the crane... but how does this work in rough seas or when listing the wrong way?

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Heading back starboard side, we did enter the Star Lounge through the "secret doors". There were a few people there so I went over to the other side to snap this pic

 

 

 

Walking out towards the Promenade, you will also encounter the Connoisseur Club, basically a cigar smoking room. They also had a "Pinnacle Only" standing placard inside as well so I wonder if they have any specific PN events/things in there. Nonetheless, this was the only time in 4 days I entered that room.

 

 

 

And finally the view down the Royal Promenade from the entrance of the Star Lounge

 

 

 

It was here that we headed back up to the cabin to check for luggage and unpack, then have a real quick rest/nap until 4:30pm muster. Having been woken by the announcement we made our way to muster and soon enough it was time for sailaway... We had originally booked for 6pm Chops dinner but with sailaway at 6pm, I didn't want to miss it so re-booked Chops for 8pm instead.... So at 6pm sharp, off we went!

 

 

 

This is a lame photo of the Sailaway pool deck party... it turned out waaaaay better than this. I would say right after this photo the music was turned up and more people wanted to join the fun of the Macarena and other dances. Also seemed like a lot more people ended up watching as they came up and heard all the music. Was actually a "Caribbean-like" sailaway with plenty fellow cruisers having some fun.

 

 

 

Buh Bye Seattle, see ya in only 4 more days.

 

[Hoopster95]

Night #1 was fabulous for my gf and I!! We attended the 6:30 show. I wish I had my compass from night #1 as I cannot remember this guy's name, but he was really good and got the small'ish crowd on his side quite quickly. Can someone on this sailing (yogi?) remind me of his name?

 

 

 

 

This lady was sitting by the stage at the far end, doing sign language interpretation. I gotta tell ya, I had as much fun watching her as the show! She was totally awesome and animated, dancing and singing to the music as she was signing, super fun. I'm sure she was giving an amazing service to her clients, and they likely "heard" the music through her. If I had seen her around the ship I would've let her know but I never did see her. Well done!!

 

 

 

With purchased wine I brought on board in hand (two bottles in my carry-on backpack, no issues or questioning), Chops was excellent... gf is a foodie and loved her fillet. I had the tuna, again excellent. All the fixin's and appies were also great... only downside was the scallop appie was super tiny.

 

Once dinner was over, it was time for 70's night in the Promenade! Promenade was packed, very well attended show, was nice to see as more people made it very fun. As usual, they threw out the flashing rings and other goodies out to the crowd and the Village People guys came down for pics with the ladies.

 

 

 

The party headed upstairs to Dizzy's on deck 14. The 70's/80's music continued for a short time but soon turned more modern. Nice to see Dizzy's mostly full (almost standing room) and the dance floor well used also. very very good crowd and fun night. The place was still full at 12:30 when we went to bed. Great first day on board Explorer. :D

[SPhillips]

You long time Explorer cruisers out there (Merion_mom? Clarea?) You guys remember Matt Yee? What a hoot!!!! Piano man/diva, mega comedian and one of the best entertainers I have ever seen on RCL, standing room only 5-6 people deep at the Schooner Bar and he raked in tip money like it was going outta style! Seen him once after that (on Freedom I think) but that was years ago, and he's been m.i.a. since. Anyone know what happened to him?

 

[

 

It looks like he's on Anthem right now :)

[Hoopster95]

It looks like he's on Anthem right now :)

 

Really? Awesome... one reason alone to book Anthem!

[Hoopster95]

For those of you who have never visited Victoria, it's a great city to walk around in with a gorgeous inner harbor and plenty of things to do to have a great day. It's also sunny more times than not, and is an easy city for DIY ("do it yourself") outings rather than booking tours. Here's the view of the port area from my window seat at breakfast in the WJ... shorts & t-shirt weather! We were on for a great day today.

 

 

 

 

Today was going to be a walking day through the city, and we had no rush to get off the ship as there was no timeline. So on the way down to deck 1 I wished to take a few more pics of the Promenade areas without many people which I had missed on Day 1. Every Promenade has a classic vehicle of some sort in it... here's Explorer's

 

 

 

And here's a view from the Promenade from the aft Centrum looking forward and then aft.... and then up!

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Here's the view down the Promenade looking forward again. You can see guest services on the right and the red lighting of the R-Bar on the left. Many cruisers used the R-Bar as a quiet space in the morning to have their coffee, read the Compass, etc. In fact we sat there a couple of times in the morning (in the big oversized couch with canopy at the far end), shared pictures with a few other cruisers, etc. I wish we had a drink there, very cool venue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 26, 2016 by Hoopster95

[hitcharide]

Really loving the photo's we are on the explorer in Feb '17...our first cruise ever.

Thank you for you detailed review.

 

We are going on that cruise as well! I'm so very excited about it, it's my first cruise that is longer than 4 days and doesn't just do the West Aussie coast :)

[Hoopster95]

Out on the pier there's plenty of maps, including paper maps that you can take with you. I would recommend the various maps you can find on line... the hop-on hop-off bus map works perfectly as the many sites are labelled right on it. The entire area is walkable over the 7-8 hours in port. For example, everything we did this day from approx 9:30am to 3:30pm back on the ship was walking and incl a full sit down lunch at a local hot spot.

 

 

 

Looking at any Victoria Map from Ogden Point (where the cruise pier is):

• walk to the left, you go to Fisherman's wharf then around to the inner harbor & Parliament Buildings (approx 30-40min)
  
• walk straight through the side roads, you can get to the inner harbor and Parliament Buildings quicker in about 20min
  
• Turn to the right from the Pier walking alone the shoreline and you get to the Beacon Hill Park in about 1/2 hour.
  

 

We opted for the the 3rd route as our tour involved a circle route away from the inner harbor until later in the afternoon. Here are pier photos for you

 

 

 

 

 

Moving away from the ship the walk along the shoreline... it's a beautiful walk, and you can make your way onto beach for a short portion of the walk. In my very first post of this review I posted one of my fave pics of this trip from one of the beach spots. Here's another with Explorer in the background

 

 

 

Further ahead the beach/walkway access ends at the water level as the terrain becomes cliff like, so the path goes up to street level. Note the picture below the water-front walkway we were just on. We're now out of site of Explorer... I estimate this was maybe 1/2 hour'ish to this point

 

[Hoopster95]

I have at least 50 or so photos of our time here this morning, a really nice walk, huge petting zoo and massive playground area for kids, fountains, gardens, plenty of wildlife, big trees... nice place to hang out for a while. We spent maybe an hour walking through and visiting a few spots within the park.

 

We now reach one of the entry points to Beacon Hill Park... the well known "Mile 0" marker of the famous Canadian Terry Fox, who began the "Marathon of Hope" running across Canada on one leg & a prosthetic in 1980 to promote awareness and raise funds for cancer research. After 5 months he had to give up the run as the cancer had spread to his lungs. He died a year later in 1981. His foundation still thrives to this day raising millions of dollars each year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Fox

http://www.terryfox.org/

Here stands Terry Fox's memorial statue.. look behind the "mile 0" sign. Terry's run began at the Atlantic Ocean... he was to end it here at this spot I believe by emptying a bottle of water he scooped up from the Atlantic Ocean here at this beach into the Pacific. Also alongside is a tribute to Steve Fonyo for all you Canadians out there who know of Fonyo.

 

 

 

 

Here's just an extremely small taste of what's inside the park.

 

 

 

 

 

And besides the many squirrels, and even the many peacocks freely roaming around, there's plenty of these guys roaming around ruling the roost. Of course... we're in Canada after all!

 

[Hoopster95]

From the park we estimated an approximate 30min walk through the "villages" of Victoria to Craigdarroch castle... turned out to be more like 45min. What I mean by "villages" is that various smaller communities are divided into names such as Farfield Village, Cook Street Village, Oak Bay Village, etc etc. There's usually a 1 or 2 block area that is lined with local shops, cafes, stores within these communities. From the Park we walked directly up Cook Street to Fort Street, then up Fort St to the castle

https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Beacon+Hill+Park,+100+Cook+Street,+Victoria,+BC+V8V/Craigdarroch+Castle,+1050+Joan+Crescent,+Victoria,+BC+V8S+3L5/@48.4182682,-123.3619318,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x548f74eadf908b6b:0xb41e4d0e159ad40e!2m2!1d-123.3631182!2d48.4126825!1m5!1m1!1s0x548f748a80d47bd7:0xb220d97265e61d6f!2m2!1d-123.343561!2d48.422694!3e2

 

 

 

This is a nice place to visit but you don't need more then an hour to read some of the placards about the Dunsmuir family and the historical significance of this place. There's a ton of info online and I recommend at least skimming through some of the information before visiting

https://thecastle.ca/

Here's a few pictures of our time spent there, well worth a short visit, and it's on the hop-on hop-ff schedule as well as many excursion itineraries.

 

 

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

A short 3 block walk down from Craigdarroch castle is the Government House and Gardens, the home of the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. The house itself is not public, but the entire grounds and gardens are. Here's a map for all you planners:

http://www.ltgov.bc.ca/gardens/map/default.html#

Take a look through the website at the various individual gardens with photos likely in peak season... not as elaborate but almost as nice as Butchart without the travel to get there and back.

 

Oh, by the way and it's free!

 

Again having a good 30-40 photos here, I'll share a few with you here to give you a taste.