EXPLORER semi-live May 15-19 REVIEW w/lots of photos

[Hoopster95]

Next stop was lunch... we have built an appetite! And we were ready for one of the most talked about restaurants on Vancouver Island: "Cuckoo Trattoria & Pizzeria" at Coombs. Coombs is a super small town on the highway only 10 minutes from cathedral Grove and only 5 minutes from Qualicum Falls. The market is famous on the Island as well as Vancouverites on the Mainland for it's grassed/landscaped "roof" with goats that graze and live on the roof! Also, the market itslef is well known for finding all sorts of international stuff that you can;t find anywhere (sauces, foods, an awesome cafeteria with fresh pizza/sandwiches, etc) This is an excellent place for lunch for any of you who plan to visit on your own.

http://oldcountrymarket.com/

https://www.google.ca/search?q=google+map+macmillan+provincial+park+to+coombs+market&rlz=1C1RNVH_enCA559CA585&oq=google+map+macmillan+provincial+park+to+coombs+market&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i64.10080j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

 

 

No goats on the roof today... sleeping maybe?

 

 

 

Inside the market... it is huge in here, goes on for quite a ways. If you are one to poke around in a shop and look at different things, you will love it in here. They have other stuff besides foods... trinkets, local art, tourist stuff, etc

 

 

 

OK ok.... enough of this.... we're starving now! We actually stopped at the Cuckoo Trattoria & Pizzeria first and made a reservation in a half hour (12:45pm) as it looked like it was getting busy.... so glad we did. When we came back there was a couple of people waiting for tables but we were ushered to a nice window seat at the back. This place is getting mega great reviews and the locals all talk about it

http://www.oldcountrymarket.com/italianrestaurant.php

 

The menu is fantastic... I wanted to order several things! Thise of you who plan to go with 4 people or more, there's a back page to the menu whereby they feed you family style (like Giovanni's on the ship) by bringing you a platter or two of pasta, then mains to share. I really wish I was there with another couple to try one of those options.

 

 

 

I opted for the rustic Ciabatta with Tomato/Basil soup... all foods are locally grown, organic.... absolutely delish!!!

The table beside us ordered their famous lasagna... I truly regret not ordering that. Talk about mouth watering. You'd have to see it for yourself.

 

We finished lunch and headed to our car.... there she is... what a beauty!!!!!!!

 

 

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Lol!!! Ours was the gold Ford Five Hundred :)))

[Hoopster95]

A 10 minute drive from Coombs market is the North island Wildlife Rescue Center

http://www.niwra.org/

https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Old+Country+Market,+2326+Alberni+Hwy,+Coombs,+BC+V0R+1M0/North+Island+Wildlife+Recovery+Association,+1240+Leffler,+Errington,+BC+V0R+1V0/@49.2982272,-124.449216,12z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x54888e5dedfb4269:0x8c90da14ab9e9504!2m2!1d-124.423622!2d49.305271!1m5!1m1!1s0x54888fd0f93171e3:0x909c42284ed2c459!2m2!1d-124.3578886!2d49.2933505!3e0

 

 

 

This place is set up more like a zoo than a rescue center, although they have staff areas and truly do rescue wild animals. Several of the animals will never be released as they are injured too much.

 

 

 

I'll keep this part simple and short... the place was a ghost town. There may have been another 5-6 people in total all inside.

More importantly the execution was really poor. There was very little interaction with staff or animals, but I guess that goes with the time of year/date/tourists. To really make this place a destination they would need staff to interact with people coming in, showing them the animals, feeding them, taking care of them. So while the thought was very noble, this park was a big disappointment for me... and it's too bad in that they'd probably receive so much more in donations if they promoted properly as there is a ton of potential. Entry fee is $21 per adult here. RCL offers a tour stop here along with Coombs market, but I can't see this being worth the time and cost vs. other options (like what I did this morning). We lasted about 30 minutes and headed out

 

 

[Hoopster95]

We had an option to stop at Qualicum Village, which is an artsy seaside village right on the shore with a few shops and restaurants, but we decided we wanted to get back to Nanaimo early enough to go back to the Cafe we found last year with the 1st & 2nd prize award for best Nanaimo Bars in town. GF had a snooze while I drove, and in no time we dropped off the car. It was around 2:45'ish so still plenty of time before all aboard at 4:30

 

The car rental was basically one block below the beginning of the Old Quarter of Nanaimo where this Cafe is located

 

 

 

Ah I can just taste it now as we got closer up the street.... salted caramel 1st price winning Nanaimo Bar... so ooey and gooey, and totally delish.... YUMMMM....

 

 

 

And when we got inside they were sold out!!! What a drag, their 2nd prize winner was sold out too, probably by our fellow cruises earlier in the day. I hadn't factored that in....ah well. Another store around the corner had the "normal" little squares so we enjoyed a small piece each just to tide us over.

 

So we walked back down over the Bastion bridge to Bastion Square, down to the waterfront walkway, and out to the street to get back to the ship. This walk in total was maybe 20-25 minutes total. We were back on board by 3:30pm. Here's a few photos along the way.

 

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

I wanted to enjoy sailaway out on the Helipad today, but since we were on board early we took a walk around the ship.

I remembered on a thread or two several months ago about service dogs a picture was posted when someone asked where does the service dog go poop? Well, like on Oasis/Allure, I finally noticed this on EoS as well on deck 4 aft

 

 

 

We had not once stepped out on deck 13 aft yet, the sports Court. That's very rare for me. Funny enough, this was the only time we ended up back here the entire 4 days! The only photo I wish to share is actually really important... one of the FloRider pumps has malfunctioned and only 1/2 of the Florider is working at this time. It had failed during the TP. I asked the Sports Court staff and he has no clue how or when it will be fixed as the entire unit has to be lifted out/etc according to him. I have no clue of the mechanics involved but it sounded like this was a serious thing. If so, there's going to be some massive line-ups on the warmer summer sea days and the Victoria day this summer on EoS

 

 

 

We made our way from deck 12 forward to get down to the Helipad

 

 

 

Finally, we were ready for sailaway. Bye bye Nanaimo

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

You know, we all talk about how subjective food is and the various reports we read about various MDR experiences and the specialties... it's even more apparent when those varying opinions are right in front of you.

 

We had MTD dining tonight. I have not been a fan of the MDR/MTD the last year and half or so but this night my dinner was excellent. Same ship, same Chefs... same table.... my GF didn't like her dinner at all! lol

 

Tonight was the Pimiento menu, basically the Italian menu. GF started with antipasti and I had the arrancini... wow were the arrancini ever good! I could've had 20 of those for dinner

 

 

 

 

2nd course was a simple garden salad (bleh) for GF and I had the roasted garlic soup (YUM!)

 

 

 

 

Main course GF had the garlic shrimp (meh per GF) and I had something I've never had off the Pimiento menu the lasagna (this was surprisingly outstanding)

 

 

[Hoopster95]

And like last night, tonight I put my camera and phone down, no pics to share.

We rushed down to the Star Lounge to participate in MJ music trivia... I've won this before. However quite a few of the songs had changed and we ended up 13/15, 2nd place bridesmaids again.

The Headliner was magician Justino Zoppe... he was very very good.

Finish that Lyric was back in the Star Lounge and was very fun as well...

Great day today :)

 

Here is the Day 3 compass

 

 

 

 

[Biker19]

If so, there's going to be some massive line-ups on the warmer summer sea days and the Victoria day URL]

 

 

Nooooooo......

 

Biker, who was counting on short Flowrider lines

 

 

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[Blizzard54]

Nooooooo......

 

Biker, who was counting on short Flowrider lines

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I would not worry too much about long line for the flowrider. The Alaska trip should have a little bit older crowd than the 4 day. I do not expect too many will be braving the cooler weather.

 

Looking forward to boarding the Explorer tomorrow.

[Hoopster95]

Day 4 - Victoria

 

If you have time to get up early for both Nanaimo & Victoria, they are both beautiful sail-ins. I do that sometimes (especially Europe) but not on this sailing. Best I can do is a picture of the pier from the WJ once we had already arrived.

 

 

 

We were really praying for a decent day today, and it was perfect for what we had planned.. not burning sun, no rain, slightly on the cooler side. As you get off the ship and go towards the security building, there's plenty of maps and walking/biking info for everyone to look at. There's also some excellent routes and maps to print out on-line. This city and the various info provided makes Victoria one of the easiest cities to navigate on your own that I have experienced anywhere with RCL.

 

 

 

 

Just outside of the red security building, you get to the area where taxis and drop-offs occur, as well as a bike rental company so you can just walk right off the ship and onto a bike!

 

 

 

 

I believe it was $30 +tax (5% GST in BC) per adult and they supply a great map, in fact this one that they have hanging on their wall. If not busy, the owner will go over the city with you circling specific areas to go to

 

 

 

And looking back to the ship you can see how easy this place is to find. I say now the bikes are newer and in excellent condition, the gears worked perfectly, brakes were excellent, everything was excellent. I highly recommend this service and this company for anyone coming off the ship.

 

https://victoriabikerentals.wordpress.com/

 

 

[Hoopster95]

I'll mention now that Victoria is a city built for biking, with plenty of marked bike routes all over the city, and especially downtown for safety. I'll point out a few things as I go along, but I just want to say that now for those of you who may be skeptical with a bicycle in the "big" city. This town is absolutely ideal for biking.

 

 

 

My gf lived in Victoria for years, so we had planned a full day (and I'm guessing a good 15 miles or so) of biking to various areas of the city that tourists just wouldn't go to for various reasons (not much to see, not iconic, too far away thus effort and time). I'll keep our morning tour short

 

We first biked up along the coast towards Beacon Hill Park. I have many more pictures and description of this area in last years review, great place for a walk away for the hustle and bustle, petting zoo for kids, some great views. We only made enough of a stop to take a view of Explorer behind us as well as the famous Mile 0 marker of Terry Fox's incredible adventure across Canada

 

 

 

 

But our target this morning was a longer ride around the corner of Beacon Hill Park and beyond. There's some great views and beautiful little neighborhoods. We stopped here and there as we continued to Trafalgar Park and viewpoint. I posted from here live a couple of pages ago but here's another... beautiful views and great city to ride in

 

https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/James+Bay,+Victoria,+BC/Trafalgar+Park,+190,+240+King+George+Terrace,+Oak+Bay,+BC/data=!4m8!4m7!1m2!1m1!1s0x548f74bdd704f387:0x5c59b6061536ac18!1m2!1m1!1s0x548f74550874712d:0x10fd6d7be08dbb66!3e0

 

 

 

We continued all the way around to the other side, again stopping at a couple specific spots of interest, arriving at the Oak Bay Marina.

 

 

 

https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Trafalgar+Park,+190,+240+King+George+Terrace,+Oak+Bay,+BC/Oak+Bay+Marina,+1327+Beach+Dr,+Victoria,+BC+V8S+2N4/data=!4m8!4m7!1m2!1m1!1s0x548f74550874712d:0x10fd6d7be08dbb66!1m2!1m1!1s0x548f74387327a8ad:0xb95a0c502ef2f79a!3e0

 

We cycled through various areas of ultra expensive homes (specifically The Uplands), golf courses, gorgeous gardens and phenomenal Garry Oak trees which are everywhere in Victoria. Victoria is also known for having deer and other wildlife within the city, in fact I took a picture of one munching on a bush about 25 feet away from in someone's yard as I stopped my bike and very slowly got as close as I think I could. Great morning so far!

[Hoopster95]

Just past the Oak Bay Marina is a great Park called Haynes Park. It has kiddie playground, a very cool Fish & Chip/Burger joint called "Oh My Cod!" lol but especially has an awesome beach. On Rhapsody in 2013 in July, I got sun-burned in Rhapsody's main pool, so several cruises this summer will get beach weather in Victoria at times, especially in August. If you do, and you wish to take a short break from the regular tourist stuff in the inner harbor, this could be an excellent 1-2 hour stop for anyone (family) to chill out with your toes in the sand

 

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Haynes+Park/@48.4265638,-123.3074741,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x701868d904daaef8?sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj9uK2jx4zUAhVLy1QKHYaEDZoQ_BIIbDAK

 

 

 

Back to our scheduled programming!... From the Oak Bay area we stopped for water and decided to cut through the city in order to get to our preferred lunch location at Bastion Square (only 3 blocks away from the inner Harbor). As mentioned, Victoria is super biker friendly.... here's an example

 

 

 

Here's another example... look closely. Cars have a red light but the "bicycle" light is green for bikes only. There's various buildings and sites to see as you ride by

 

 

 

 

This shot is right in Chinatown at famous Fan Tan Alley. It is the narrowest street in Canada. At its narrowest point it is only 0.9 metres (35 in) wide. We didn't stop here, but if you're walking around Victoria by all means you may wish to visit

(various reviews both positive and negative)

 

https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Attraction_Review-g154945-d10288019-Reviews-Fan_Tan_Alley-Victoria_Victoria_Capital_Regional_District_Vancouver_Island_Briti.html

Just around the corner from Chinatown is Bastion Square, with a great restaurant called ReBar. I also reviewed this place last year. Good wholesome food, vegan options, organic, etc. For those of you trying to find it, just walk straight up past the large Victoria Tourist info Center across the street from the Empress about 4 blocks up on Wharf St and you can't miss it.

https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Oak+Bay+Marina,+1327+Beach+Dr,+Victoria,+BC+V8S+2N4/Bastion+Square,+Victoria,+BC/data=!4m8!4m7!1m2!1m1!1s0x548f74387327a8ad:0xb95a0c502ef2f79a!1m2!1m1!1s0x548f749ae0831a89:0x86747bf131cb1b36!3e0

 

Edited May 26, 2017 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

After a great lunch we headed somewhere different that we had never visited, Victoria West across the Johnson St bridge to visit an area known s "The Gorge" along the Galloping Goose Trail.

 

https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Bastion+Square,+Victoria,+BC/Selkirk+Trestle,+Galloping+Goose+Trail,+Victoria,+BC/@48.4327325,-123.3834018,15z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x548f749ae0831a89:0x86747bf131cb1b36!2m2!1d-123.3684732!2d48.4257415!1m5!1m1!1s0x548f737acffc68c5:0x2fa7ebe866110b6f!2m2!1d-123.3826563!2d48.4390396!3e0

 

In last year's review I also mentioned that the Harbor taxi does a scheduled tour up through The Gorge. I now have no cloue why... not much to see at all, I was disappointed actually. It's more of a great thoroughfare for locals to bike/jog/walk into work from the outskirts or for a nice day out with the family, but it's really not a tourist area at all compared to the many other great things Victoria has to offer.

 

We went over the Johnson St Bridge which has been part of Victoria's skyline for almost 100 years, but is being taken down soon and replaced with a newer bridge.

 

 

 

Here's the Trestle that spans the Gorge for foot traffic and the view back

 

 

 

 

Passing a few locals, I overheard them speak about how abnormally low the water was. The mention of this sparked my memory later when we boarded EoS... I'll explain when we get there.

 

[Hoopster95]

We did not spend much time around the Gorge area at all, and once we got over the trestle decided to retreat back over the Johnson St bridge and back to the Inner Harbor. If you've never been to Victoria, this area is truly the crown jewel of the city and must be visited for a first timer. Here's just a few pics as we make our way around the Harbor and off to the other side towards Fisherman's Wharf.

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

A short bike ride along the seawall (the google map I link to shows the street) and you quickly reach Fisherman's Wharf... it's only a 10-15 minute walk.

 

https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Inner-Harbour+Pathway,+Victoria,+BC/Fisherman's+Wharf,+1+Dallas+Rd,+Victoria,+BC+V8V+0B2/@48.4203538,-123.384818,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x548f749a6f5312c9:0x1ab20947bec5e0bd!2m2!1d-123.3692122!2d48.4208445!1m5!1m1!1s0x548f74a26cd21121:0x3b9e9346964b321b!2m2!1d-123.3828732!2d48.4226433!3e0

 

 

 

It was very busy down there, and I think many cruisers were enjoying the area

 

 

 

The area not only provides eateries, kayak/whale watching excursions, and various shops, this is home to many locals who live on the very eclectic house boats moored here. There are some really weird "homes"... this is just one of them!

 

 

 

 

I had mentioned in our roll call that about 3 months ago a bylaw was passed to no longer allow feeding of the seals, and that fines would be imposed. Well, the no feeding sign was up....

 

 

 

But that sure didn't stop the fish store to sell to the public in order to throw to the seals in the harbor

 

[Hoopster95]

With about an hour to go before all-aboard, we left Fisherman's Wharf for the ship, only about a 5 minute bike ride or 10-15 minute walk back to the ship

 

 

 

 

Remember my earlier comment on the abnormal low water in the gorge? Well, I guess it was also super low here at the pier.

I've never seen this before!

 

 

 

 

We cleaned up and headed up to our go-to sailaway place this cruise, the Viking Crown.

 

 

 

Evening events in a nutshell.... we had casual dinner in the WJ tonight and it was pretty good. Tonight the feature was rack of lamb and there were a lot of other goodies. We headed down to British music trivia... 3rd tonight so no pen or keychain this cruise lol. The show this evening was a singer named Hayden Smith, I didn't find him overly good. And of course the night finished off with Seymour Graham's own Rock Britannia which he's been doing for years on whatever ship he's been on as the CD. We were in bed right after that.

 

[TimeToGetNauti]

Excellent review. Love to see these sites from a biking perspective.

[Blizzard54]

We are currently having some of the lowest tides of the season in the Salish Sea. That explains why the gangway was so steep and the beaches wide. I am not sure how much longer they will last.

We will be boarding the Explorer today. We have been to Victoria many time for some reason have never been to their Fisherman's Wharf. That will be our target this trip.

[Hoopster95]

Excellent review. Love to see these sites from a biking perspective.

 

If you truly are a biker, this is an awesome city to explore. I have way more pics, but biking through parts of the city that we went through I figure would interest maybe only 0.1% of the passengers anyways unless you are a biking enthusiast or have a connection to the city being a "local" or at close enough (like me) :)

[Hoopster95]

Day 4 Compass and debarkation info

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Debarkation

 

Debarkation was a total breeze. We were given tags #3 the night before... we sued them with no intention of being ready for debarkation at 7:15am. So we had a leisurely breakfast, went back to our room for final clean up, and left the room around 8:30am. We went directly down to the gangway exit... no need to check in at the theatre or wherever else they tell you to congregate. If you here the announcement that your luggage tag# has already been called, just walk on out, easy peasy.

 

I figure in maybe 5 minutes we went from closing our cabin door to being inside the terminal. The area where luggage #3 was located only had about 20 bags left there so it was super easy to find ours

 

 

 

The security line was great as well

 

 

 

And outside everything is well organized and labelled, with the biggest line there on the right if you look closely.

That line was the same line I mentioned last year to the "regular" Pier 91 parking area. Lots of people waiting for a shuttle there, yet they could've walked 10 easy minutes rolling their bag (see last year's review)

 

 

 

Instead we passed that line and walked up to the end of the walkway where a shuttle had just left, and another pulled in maybe 1 minute after. Here there were maybe 10-12 people at this time

 

 

 

 

I looked back at the line-up way back by the pier for the regular Pier 91 parking, and it was still a little bit of a zoo.

I got on my shuttle and a few more cruisers simply got there right on time and walked on up. As we pulled out, another shuttle pulled in. These are nice little shuttles, not large buses where you have to wait for 40 people in front of you. We comfortably and easily got to the the Armory Parking lot in a bout 10 minutes, and that's with a 5 minute stop at the traffic light and Friday morning rush hour traffic to turn left.

 

 

No joke, we were at our car in 30 minutes from closing our stateroom cabin door. Very impressed with this service. If I ever leave from Seattle again I will always come here... and it's less expensive then the regular lot.

https://www.seattlecruiseparking.com/

 

Final ratings for this sailing to come

[MoyCoy]

I'm back!!! Just signed up for last 3 days of Voom surf for free using my D+ benefit. Thank you RCL [emoji4]

 

Last night had a great dinner at Giovanni's... Much better than Jamie's on Harmony: Osso Bucco, Veal, crab ravioli, etc. Production show was "Fast Forward"... 8 out of 10 so pretty good. General Trivia at Schooner.

 

Today we're heading out to the ocean for

Our sea day. Sunny out in the ocean, still del behind is on land

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

How did you like Voom? Was is reliable? Could you stream?

[bigeck]

I've been following.

I couldn't find your google map walk in Victoria. Any chance of reposting it.

We are in Victoria twice in September

[Donna D]

just wanted to say thank you to hoopster 95 loved reading your reviews you were at times quite entertainng.

[Hoopster95]

How did you like Voom? Was is reliable? Could you stream?

 

Hi MoyCoy. I liked it. I did not get Surf & Stream, only surf and it was reliable in all the public areas that I tried (got to admit did not try them all) from what I can tell. Was not at all available in my room. Each time I came back from shore and selected the network, the auto-logon screen did not come up, I had to manually go to logon.com and then sign on, other than that work great every time I used it.

 

I've been following.

I couldn't find your google map walk in Victoria. Any chance of reposting it.

We are in Victoria twice in September

 

There's a few on-line... here's one I bookmarked a couple of years ago that still works

http://www.3dmobimaps.com/images/maps/pdf/mobimaps-VICTORIA-2012.pdf

This will be great to get you started at least to see where you want to go in and around the inner harbor..

The map they provide yo at the pier is excellent and superior to most I've seen on-line, so just grab one of those.

 

I think the best map you can study/plan from a general point of view is the Hop-on Hop-off bus map on their website

http://sightseeingvictoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/GL-2016-Brochure-Map.pdf

However the exact street names and how to get there is not the most obvious.

(p.s. The route following the ocean to Oak Bay Marina and then back through the city is quite close to what I described in this review. If you want to see more of an inner harbor review click on last year's review in my signature below)

 

 

just wanted to say thank you to hoopster 95 loved reading your reviews you were at times quite entertaining.

 

at times???

other times {...zzzzzz......zzzzzzz.....zzzzzz....} lol ;p

You're welcome :D

[Hoopster95]

Time to finish up this review....

 

Firstly thanks for following along! Very much appreciated as always. Hope I've helped you with some planning and entertained you a little bit along the way. I use a standard rating system (easy for me to understand and compare):

 

• "5" is a pass, but just barely...
  
• 6 ok
  
• 7 is very good but not memorable
  
• 8 memorable, but not the best ever
  
• 9 totally excellent, have recommended or raved
  
• 10 the best EVER
  

So without further adieu......

 

Food: -- overall 7

Giovanni's 7.5 ... another excellent meal, hate the ambiance of the venue however (no windows)

Chops 8 ... best meal of the cruise, gf's steak perfect, my tuna good (not the best ever)

MTD 7

WJ 7.5 ... great new breakfast choices, our dinner i there was a nice surprise also. Enjoyed this better than MTD

 

 

A Big miss on this ship: Park cafe... RCL should've added a Park cafe on the refurb, biggest mistake for this ship imho

 

 

Entertainment: -- overall 7

Production Show 7

Ice Show 7.5

Parades/Shows 6 ... very week 70's night brings this score way down. Rock Britannia was just meh this time

Headliners 7

Bands/Schooner pianist/Pub singer... n/a, I never hung out there whatsoever

 

 

Staff -- overall 7

Activity Director and staff 6.5

CD Graham Seymour 7.5 ... too bad he's retiring

CL 8 ... Denzil

Stateroom attendant 8 ... Asked him day one for daily ice, toiletries, etc.... never had to ask again

MTD ... 7

Chops 8 ... great service

Giovanni's ... 7 good but nothing special

The entire crew in general/general vibe 6

 

Venues -- overall 8, I love Voyager Class ships --

Helipad 9 ... love the sailaways/sail-ins

Sports Deck 10 ... one of the best parts of the ship

Star Lounge 6

Royal Promenade 8

Casino n/a ... (I didn't use this time)

R-Bar 8 ... n/a (I didn't use this time)

Schooner Bar n/a... spent zero time here

The Tavern n/a ... spent zero time here, but looked to have no ambiance or character, zero appeal to me

Pool Bars ...n/a

Pool Deck ... n/a :o:loudcry:

Solarium n/a ... (spent zero time here)

Gym ... n/a

Dizzy's/Viklng Crown ... 10 (the go to place for pre-dinner drink, and last year for night club activity)

DL n/a ... sat in Dizzy's every night

CL 1 ... (horrible location, if I were a suite guest I would never ever see this room other than to get morning coffee)

 

 

Overall Thoughts

Itinerary 7 ... (Victoria excellent! Nanaimo just ok. Nice little 4 day getaway close to home and the one sea day is nice to have)

Overall cruise value 7 ... Very inexpensive, but more often than not you get what you pay for

 

This was to be a simpler 4 day getaway from the rat race work schedule I have, easy to get to, no flying, etc... I truly regret not flying to FLL for a short Empress or equivalent option. We've had an awful winter weather wise, and this cruise was still very cool and not enjoyable for the outside where Voyager class really shines (Sports deck and pool deck). The itinerary is too close to home now I've discovered, as I have a very long bucket list of other places in the world to see.

 

 

However the cruise was good, we did a few different things I hadn't done (ie. Cathedral Grove I hadn't visited since I was a child) and we had a great time nonetheless. This will not be a memorable cruise 1 year, 2 years, 5 years from now... I will not be able to tell you what I ate when/where, what show was incredible, a special cabin that was amazing, etc... however for those on the west coast it's a super easy option on an RCL ship.

 

 

I see in 2018 not only is EoS doing this itinerary again in May, but also in Sept... along with a 3 day weekend cruise (Fri-Mon)

 

Thanks for following along everybody

H A P P Y C R U I S I N ' E V E R Y O N E ! ! !