Explorer of the Seas Review (3/12 to 3/19/2006)

[mav]

We were on this past weeks sailing and I'm still waiting for my luggage. Everyone else got their bags but mine was lost somewhere between ship and pier. They did find it and are shipping it to me UPS. Not Express!!! We did have a great cruise up to that point. Better to lose your luggage on the way home rather than the reverse!

[Firefighterhoop]

Ouch, Sorry to hear about your luggage!

 

I have seen several people dressed up in their Millitary Uniforms for formal nights.

[SuzieTrue]

Glad to hear things are back to "normal" on Explorer. We are looking forward to ziplining, ruins with David and Ivan, beaching it and Stingray City. Only 48 hours until we head to Miami!:D

[boykin]

SuzieTrue-

We were on last weeks Explorer and some of our group did Ivan's ruin trip. Be prepared that although it is a great excursion, Ivan is long winded and can run late getting back for lunch. Definitely pack some snacks, my family was starved when they returned. You will love this cruise and you won't believe how beautiful the water is in every port. We had 83-85 degree weather everyday and not a single cloud, hope you have the same.

[andynlala]

We were on this cruise too, and we also had a BLAST!!! I was really surprised that with all the people, it never really felt crowded. We were on the Carnival Victory 2 years ago, and you could realy tell with the crowds on that one. You had to wait in line for everything!

In Belize, we did the zip line and cave tubing, the zip line was the highlight of our trip. The kids loved it. Cave tubing was allright, but not bad, I definately wouldn't get off of the ship if I didn't have an excursion planned. Not the nicest of places. Costa Maya was nice, we went to the beach in Majahual. If you go there, go down to the end, there were alot less people down there. We did the dune buggy tour in Cozumel, that was Awesome! alot of fun. I can't believe all the damage from the hurricanes, that was sad.

The hot tubs were a joke. I froze sitting in one of them, then had to move to the one with a ton of people. They never seemed to have them all open at one time. You see 2 open, both packed with people. Overall, everything was wonderful. The rockclimbing wall was fun, the lines weren't too bad.

The food was good, the only bummer was that the Windjammer had the same thing as in the dining room. I have to agree that Caribbean night was the worst meal. Not to worry though, I filled up on those yummy sandwiches at the cafe promenade. My husband and kids say the pizza was the best there too.

I hate being home! I can't get back in to the swing of things. Not to mention the weather is terrible. It's rainy and cold. It's pretty funny though, my kids both keep putting on shorts and t-shirts thinking it's still warm! The next morning after we got home, they were on line checking out thee Freedom of the Seas, they're ready to go again!

[nhrenee]

Thanks for the great review! Do you remember which night was in the dining room was caribbean?

[NCTarheelsCruiser]

Thanks for the great review! Do you remember which night was in the dining room was caribbean?

 

From my experiences, it seems like it is usually around Thursday night on the 7 nighter's. No matter though, if you are looking to go to Portofino's, just go there as soon as you board to make reservations and they can tell you what night is Caribbean night in the dining room. We did that on our last cruise and booked Portofino's on the spot. Hope that helps.

[Firefighterhoop]

Wednesday (Costa Maya) Was the Caribbean Night on our sailing...

 

Scott

[Hflors]

Our group of 4 women were also on the cruise. The opinions varied, but all of agreed that the ship really has a "WOW" factor.

 

We stayed in the Royal Family Suite. It was a little disappointing. The room was dirty trash from the previous cruisers and just plain dirty. Also the maintance has not been kept up. Tv in livingroom broken - called maintenance they come up and announce that it will need to be replaced. Refrigerator didn't keep items cold - called maintenance and they tell me "it's not a refrigerator it's a "chiller". Well no matter what it's called please get it to keep things cold. He tells us everything is as cold as it's going to get. The air conditionig doesn't work. Miantenance comes looks around and leaves without any more info. Then we finally figured it out. The door to the balcony must be sealed with the handle in the upright position before the air will come on. Lastly after the first night of the room not being cleaned I called housekeeping. They tell me to leave Florance our stateroom attendent a note. It takes two days of notes to get her to vacumn the furniture which had sand dirt and someone's fingernails in the cushions! We all wrote on our comments cards that this suite needs through cleaning and updating of furniture.

 

The view from our balcony was to die for. Every night there was the moon. and each morning we got up early to see the sun rise. That was awsome.

 

Conseiers (sp) useless - I called him about two hours after we boarded. I needed two reservations to the spa for the next day abour ten am, ice show tickets for tuesday night. Also we need our table changed. (I had requested and was assured by RCL that we had a table for five near a window on first sitting. Went to the dinning room and guess what we are at a table for twelve in front of the main entrance.) He calls me back he can't get us spa reservations for the next day at any time. We can come to the conseirs lounge and pick up ice show tickets and he called the Matre'd about our dinner reservations. We go to the lounge and pick up the ice show tickets and also get more than one key to the lounge since there are four people in our suite. Sure we can have them. But he tells me he can't do anything about the dinner reservations his best suggestion is to go at 6pm and talk to the marti'd After several discussions with the marte'd and the customer relations desk we finally get the table we requested minus the window.

It put a damper on the first day of our cruise I finally had to ask the conseire just what did he do? If he is unable to get us the reservations we want then what does he do? Needless to say we went to the spa oursleves and made our reservations. In fact on my sister's comment card she listed the conseirs as -"Useless"

 

The dinning room staff is excellient!!!! They were always there with anything we wanted. The food was wonderful. I can't say enough nice things about them. I wish they were here now.

 

We didn't get off the ship in Belize - been there done that. We did take the tour with IVan and DAvid and we loved it. OUr only sorrow was that it ended too quickly. Ivan is an awsome tour guide and you can feel how pashionate he is about the ruins. We would like to do this itinary again just to do his tour.

 

Cuzimel we also stayed on board and relaxed that day. Grand Caymen we took the Rays reef and rum point we went with Native way sports. They were great. lunch at rum point was so wonderful with fresh maha maha. Then layed in the water until it was time to return to the boat. We were a little anxious about returning to the ship. We were running late and anxious because We had been invited to dine with the captain!

 

Don't ask me how I don't have a clue. But it's true we did dine with him and his brother who was on board visiting. I will have to tell you it was pretty awsome to be invited. The last day we tried to rest since one of my sisters had been sunburned and I had caught a terrible cold.

 

Got off the ship and checked into our hotel. We couldn't get a flight home on Sunday.

 

All in all it was a wonderful cruise. I love the ship. I would sail her again even with the problems we had.

[leksi25]

I want to bring on a bottle and wanted to know if they were actively checking/confiscating?

 

Thanks,

 

Aleksandra

[01821]

[i have never witnessed anyone on formal night wearing their military dress uniform. Would my DS be out of place if he were to bring his dress whites?

 

We had a Navy Captain wear his dress uniform to formal night, and he looked wonderful!