Just back from Western Caribe 6/20-6/27 on the Explorer - any questions?

[giantsfan]

I think Shoretrips is giving me the cold shoulder. I mentioned what they did for you and I haven't gotten a reply yet. Still working on them.

Everyone is doing well, thank you.

[Host Anne]

Ron and Mark ~ miss you guys! You still make me smile.

We're finally home (kind of) this weekend. Amanda is in a soccer tournament in Dayton so it'll be an short day trip tomorrow. But I'm hoping to get a review done this weekend and some photos off to folks. Seems like this cruise was eons ago. But it was SOOOO much fun. I sincerely hope we can all do it again sometime soon!!!

Keep in touch!

~Anne

[hdcline]

[quote name='giantsfan']Anyone need any questions answered?[/QUOTE]
I have a question, My family and I are going on Explorer of The Seas in Aug to the Western Caribbean. I have called Royal Caribbean and my travel agent both and they tell me the times in our itinerary are in Island time and not ship time. My son and I are planning to scuba dive in Cozumel and Grand Cayman but the times we can go depends on if our itinerary is in Island time or Ship time. What I am asking is does the ship change it's times to the port times or does it remain on EST though the entire cruise?

[lmt219]

The ship remains on EST and does not change.

[Host Anne]

I had a hard time getting this answer before the cruise. But we definitely stayed on EST. I'm starting to think they are doing it to mess up the private tours not booked through the ship. But your tour operators in the ports seem to have their tours planned to accommodate the ships schedule. We arranged all private excursions on this cruise and had no problem with timing anywhere.

[Marcys]

hdcline--

When will you be on Explorer doing the Wesern Carib? We're leaving next Sunday on EOS for Western route and have a large CC group going.

Marcy

[hdcline]

[quote name='Host Anne']I had a hard time getting this answer before the cruise. But we definitely stayed on EST. I'm starting to think they are doing it to mess up the private tours not booked through the ship. But your tour operators in the ports seem to have their tours planned to accommodate the ships schedule. We arranged all private excursions on this cruise and had no problem with timing anywhere.[/QUOTE]

Since we are in Eastern Daylight Saving Time when leaving Miami, will we remain in Eastern Daylight Saving Time or does the ship move it clocks to Eastern Standard time which then would put us in Island time for Cozumel and Grand Cayman?

[hdcline]

[quote name='Marcys']hdcline--

When will you be on Explorer doing the Wesern Carib? We're leaving next Sunday on EOS for Western route and have a large CC group going.

Marcy[/QUOTE]
We will be leaving for the Western Caribbean on Aug. 15, 04. We us it will be only my wife, son (age 13), my mother-in-law and myself.

Hope you have a great cruise

[tortoni]

hdcline, we are on your cruise, there are nine of us altogether, including 5 kids.

[hdcline]

[quote name='tortoni']hdcline, we are on your cruise, there are nine of us altogether, including 5 kids.[/QUOTE]
Hope to see you onboard. There will be 4 of us with one my son age 13. How old are the kids in your group? The kids might enjoy meeting each other.

[Host Anne]

You're right -- it's Eastern Daylight Time right now (and was when we sailed). The ship remains on whatever time it is in Miami when you depart Miami. If you are on a cruise when the time goes fron EDT back to EST, I'm not sure what they do.

~Anne

[donnabsn]

Hello Anne,

Only two weeks until my Barefoot Cruise.....hey, just curiouse did you post our pic?

Donna

[Mark O]

Anne,

Would love to cruise again, minus the parents. Think you could convince RCCL to bring us all back as cruise_critc_eers (like mouseketeers)? We'll do some heavy duty marketing for them. I'll coordinate it all if you get them to treat us!

Mark

[Host Anne]

Donna ~ go ahead and rub it in. We'll all be slaving away and you'll be cruising. Can't wait to hear how you like it. No, I never go the photo sent (bad Anne). I'll try tomorrow. Haven't had time to think straight, lately.

Mark ~ you're a hoot! Treat us??? HA HA HA !!!! We got a party!

Hope everyone is doing well.

~Anne

[Mark O]

Anne, come on give it a try!

Mark

[Host Anne]

If only there was more time in the day!!!! ;-)

~Anne

[Mark O]

So Anne, how many cruises do you have bookings for as of today?

Also, would you mind emailing me your travel agent's name and telephone number?

Thanks.

Mark

[oliwafan]

This is Oliwafan (Ben) from Vegas. The cruise was an absolute blast and even though it's been over for a month now I still miss it. I finally found a thread after searching through the new boards for our cruise. I'm guessin this is the only thread left. It was cool meeting you guys at sail off and seeing everyone throughout the cruise. By the last night I was totally worn out and my voice was gone but it was worth it! It was fun seein everyone party and CHRIS was the man buyin drinks. Everyone take care and keep in touch.

[Host Anne]

Hi Oliwafan (Ben) ~ so glad you found us again! It was a great cruise, wasn't it?! Truly one of the best we've had and our Cruise Critic friends made it that way. I agree....we should all stay in touch.

Mark ~ we have three cruises on the books right now:

Jan. 28, 2005 - 10 Day Southern Caribbean on Sun Princess
July 2, 2005 - 12 Day Baltics on Jewel of the Seas (Amanda's graduation)
Feb. 6, 2006 (I think that's the date) - 10 Day Mexican Riv. on Mercury

Join us on any of them. By the way, the Sun Princess was a steal. Look for an email!

~Anne

[Melanie H]

Hello i will be cruising in october. Did anyone do the dolphin swim in cozumel? Do u need those water shoes. What would u say we should do in costa maya, we are 16 and 17 and cruising with our aunt any ideas. Thanks for any help

[jkhurck]

[quote name='Melanie H']Hello i will be cruising in october. Did anyone do the dolphin swim in cozumel? Do u need those water shoes. What would u say we should do in costa maya, we are 16 and 17 and cruising with our aunt any ideas. Thanks for any help[/QUOTE]

Hi Melanie...I did the dolphin swim in Cozumel a couple of years ago. I wish I had water shoes. You stand on a metal grate that was kind of slimy. It definitely wasn't too bad, but I'm just a sissy :)

I'm going to Costa Maya in 2 weeks and have booked the Coral Reef snorkel. Really looking forward to it!

[Host Anne]

There were others in our group that did the dolphin tour. Hopefully someone will post and tell you about their experience. I know they enjoyed it.

We all went to the town of Majahual during our stop in Costa Maya. This is the small local fishing village. Nice beaches with restaurants/bars all along the beach. It was a great place to spend the day.

Have a great cruise!

~Host Anne

[jkhurck]

[quote name='Host Anne']There were others in our group that did the dolphin tour. Hopefully someone will post and tell you about their experience. I know they enjoyed it.

We all went to the town of Majahual during our stop in Costa Maya. This is the small local fishing village. Nice beaches with restaurants/bars all along the beach. It was a great place to spend the day.

Have a great cruise!

~Host Anne[/QUOTE]

Oh, I forgot the best part!!
I LOVED the dolphin swim!!! It was the highlight of our cruise.
I'm really glad we decided to sign up for that excursion.

Let me know if you have any other questions :)

[Mark O]

Melanie,

I was on the cruise with HostAnne, and my party of four did a dolphin excursion at Dolphin Discovery in Playa Del Carmen, which is exactly the same facility as the one they have in Cozumel. We did the Royal Swim with the Dolphins at $125 per person, which, although slightly more than the Dolphin Encounter that they also offer at $99 per person, is much much much much much better (did i make my point?).

The Royal Swim includes the touching and kissing the dolphin as you do in the encounter, watching the dolphins do some tricks, which you also get in the encounter, but also - which is not part of the encounter excursion, you personally get to do two stunts with the dolphins - 1) two dolphins approach you from the rear, you grab their dorsal fins, and they pull you thorough the water and 2) two dolphins approach you from the rear as you lay face down in the water; they push on the soles of your feet and propel you up as they pull you through the water - this was awesome!!!

My research tells me that the cruise line doesn't offer the royal swim. You can reserve it yourself however by going to Dolphin Discovery's website, or you can go through a third party agency at the same price - [url]www.shoretrips.com[/url] is who we used. If you use shoretrips and let's say the ship is late or doesn't stop in Cozumel as planned, they refund your money. I'm not sure whether booking through Dolphin Discovery directly affords you that opportunity.

Oh, and I didn't think you needed water shoes, and I have really sensitive feet.

Any more questions?

Mark

[giantsfan]

Hi Mark,

I got the refund from Shore trips. How is everyone doing at your place?