Explorer of the Seas Mini Review

[Shiraz49]

Ok, we survived the 22nd Dec Christmas sailing ex Syd to Sth Pacific.

 

Very surprised at the amount of space all around the ship even with a full complement of large family groups and heaps of children.

 

Sad that they no longer offer wine packages .... have to buy a premium drinks package that gives you 20 - 40% off wine purchases ... negates some of the supposed benefits of Crown & Anchor membership. At $780 not really sure it's a good option.

 

As usual all service staff and room attendants were excellent.

 

My view only and there was nothing really wrong with any of the food BUT it seems the quality is slowly declining, but again service staff were excellent.

 

Their new method of accessing cruise photos gets a massive fail from me ... think it's based on facial recognition ..... obviously didn't recognise our faces, was a real pain to try to find photos and if/when found their "watermark" made it difficult to access whether they were worth getting as it often hid a smile or from. Great for the environment, sadly not so great for me.

 

Ice skating show excellent and Flowrider staff also worthy of a mention providing guidance and encouragement to kids and older 1st timers.

 

Overall a great if not quite excellent experience overall.

Cheers Tom

[Clarea]

Thanks for the report.

 

Sorry to hear they didn't have a wine package available.

[easyboy]

Thanks for the review. There might be a need to change their new method of accessing cruise photos.

[tigerbeth]

Ok, we survived the 22nd Dec Christmas sailing ex Syd to Sth Pacific.

 

Very surprised at the amount of space all around the ship even with a full complement of large family groups and heaps of children.

 

Sad that they no longer offer wine packages .... have to buy a premium drinks package that gives you 20 - 40% off wine purchases ... negates some of the supposed benefits of Crown & Anchor membership. At $780 not really sure it's a good option.

 

As usual all service staff and room attendants were excellent.

 

My view only and there was nothing really wrong with any of the food BUT it seems the quality is slowly declining, but again service staff were excellent.

 

Their new method of accessing cruise photos gets a massive fail from me ... think it's based on facial recognition ..... obviously didn't recognise our faces, was a real pain to try to find photos and if/when found their "watermark" made it difficult to access whether they were worth getting as it often hid a smile or from. Great for the environment, sadly not so great for me.

 

Ice skating show excellent and Flowrider staff also worthy of a mention providing guidance and encouragement to kids and older 1st timers.

 

Overall a great if not quite excellent experience overall.

Cheers Tom

 

Thanks Tom

 

I've been waiting for a recent review as we will be on the Explorer sailing 30th March !

And it's our first time on Royal Carribean !

The drinks package sure doesn't seem like value to me , l've been tossing up whether to purchase one or not at all.

 

Any tips on the ship that we might need to know?

 

Beth

[Shiraz49]

Thanks Tom

Any tips on the ship that we might need to know?

Beth

 

Beth and Co. I'm sure you will love your cruise.

The Ice skating show tickets are allocated based on stateroom, everyone gets a time/date, if you miss your allocated session you an turn up just before the show and take your chance on an empty spot with a view. I'm not a skating fan but it really is worth having a look.

 

Murder Mystery dinner at Chops Grill was given a thumbs down by our family members that went .... cheaper chops option is to just order the Chops steak option in the dining room ($19 vs around $35).

 

Unless your a big drinker I'd give the $780 pp top of the range drinks package a miss, includes soft drink, spec. coffee, beer, cocktails, water and 40% off wine by the bottle (or included if you just buy by the glass so why buy by the bottle?)

 

Royal Promenade is a nice open, airy area (shops and bars).

 

For a large ship with heaps of passengers it was roomy and you could always find somewhere to chill out.

 

Cheers Tom

 

Meant to add I'm not a fan of the layout of the RCL fleet but that's a personal thing.

Edited January 9, 2017 by Shiraz49

[davekathy]

Shiraz49...thanks for review.

[reallyhooked]

Thanks for your review. Thinking about Explorer in August to Alaska

[drrich2]

What do you dislike about the layout? I ask mindful that the layout and crowd absorption aspects are often cited as RCI advantages.

 

Which ship layouts did you prefer, and why?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Shiraz49]

What do you dislike about the layout? I ask mindful that the layout and crowd absorption aspects are often cited as RCI advantages.

Which ship layouts did you prefer, and why?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

I'm not a fan of major bars (Dizzy's in the case of Exp. o t Seas) being in the middle of the ship overlooking the pool area and having the gym high up near the bow ... good view for the exercise junkies but a bar there is my preference.

It's a 'signature' location on the last few generations of RCL ships.

 

Also like a Sea View/Pool bar overlooking the stern of the ship (again Exp. of the Seas overlooks the pool)

 

Think HAL and Princess stick to that more 'traditional' layout.

I know there are pros and cons and reasons etc for the various layouts but as I said, my personal view (not asking anyone to like it, just giving my preference).

 

Regardless any time onboard regardless of layout is better than being ashore.

Cheers Tom

[Shiraz49]

Thanks for your review. Thinking about Explorer in August to Alaska

 

You'll love Alaska (assuming you haven't been before) ... we were there May/June and unfortunately the weather resulted in most of our intended flying excursions to be cancelled .... regardless loved the Yukon region (esp. Dawson City). Didn't do the Banff/Lake Louise stuff, stuck to the 'wilderness' regions.

14 day land then 7 day cruise.

Whatever you do its a great destination.

Cheers Tom.

[tigerbeth]

Beth and Co. I'm sure you will love your cruise.

The Ice skating show tickets are allocated based on stateroom, everyone gets a time/date, if you miss your allocated session you an turn up just before the show and take your chance on an empty spot with a view. I'm not a skating fan but it really is worth having a look.

 

Murder Mystery dinner at Chops Grill was given a thumbs down by our family members that went .... cheaper chops option is to just order the Chops steak option in the dining room ($19 vs around $35).

 

Unless your a big drinker I'd give the $780 pp top of the range drinks package a miss, includes soft drink, spec. coffee, beer, cocktails, water and 40% off wine by the bottle (or included if you just buy by the glass so why buy by the bo

 

 

 

Royal Promenade is a nice open, airy area (shops and bars).

 

For a large ship with heaps of passengers it was roomy and you could always find somewhere to chill out.

 

Cheers Tom

 

Meant to add I'm not a fan of the layout of the RCL fleet but that's a personal thing.

 

Thanks Tom,

Did you take a bottle of wine onboard yourself? Or bottles of water &/ soft drink ? Or know if anyone else were able to ?

Did it take long for your cabin to be ready ? Don't really want to lug carry on stuff around for too long !!

 

Thanks again

Beth

[Shiraz49]

Thanks Tom,

Did you take a bottle of wine onboard yourself? Or bottles of water &/ soft drink ? Or know if anyone else were able to ?

Did it take long for your cabin to be ready ? Don't really want to lug carry on stuff around for too long !!

Thanks again

Beth

 

In regard to wine .... no problem, we took 2 bottles (think we could have taken 4 but not 100 certain), they ask you to take it out of your luggage that goes to the cabin, need to carry it on board with you. If you do leave it in your luggage it will go to security ... no problem but you will have to pick your luggage up from security, they just check that it isn't spirits. As an afterthought, as they don't really check your carry on wine, you could potentially carry aboard spirits.

Also pleased to note that they don't apply any cover charge if you take your own wine to dinner.

Although they specify arrival times based on cabins/decks we just rocked up early, dropped our bags, carried our wine and boarded (about 4 hours ahead of our allocated time slot, no problems).

As a general rule the stateroom are usually ready by 3 - 4 pm, depends on how much cleaning was required after the previous cruise... plenty to see/do/eat until they're ready. The luggage will usually be there pretty quickly.

Cheers Tom.

[tigerbeth]

In regard to wine .... no problem, we took 2 bottles (think we could have taken 4 but not 100 certain), they ask you to take it out of your luggage that goes to the cabin, need to carry it on board with you. If you do leave it in your luggage it will go to security ... no problem but you will have to pick your luggage up from security, they just check that it isn't spirits. As an afterthought, as they don't really check your carry on wine, you could potentially carry aboard spirits.

Also pleased to note that they don't apply any cover charge if you take your own wine to dinner.

Although they specify arrival times based on cabins/decks we just rocked up early, dropped our bags, carried our wine and boarded (about 4 hours ahead of our allocated time slot, no problems).

As a general rule the stateroom are usually ready by 3 - 4 pm, depends on how much cleaning was required after the previous cruise... plenty to see/do/eat until they're ready. The luggage will usually be there pretty quickly.

Cheers Tom.

Thanks again Tom,

Previously cruised on Princess ,where we arrived early but our cabins were always ready , good to know your experience.

Never thought of taking my own wine to dinner so happy to know I can do that .

Cheers

Beth

[pk_crusing]

Thanks for taking the time to review, we are on EOS in a month :) so excited to read all I can on the Aussie cruise experience.