Want your opinions on this cruise please

[shaggyofwv]

Ship Name: Explorer Of The Seas

Departure Port: Cape Liberty Cruise Port, New Jersey

Ports of Call: Cape Liberty Cruise Port, New Jersey; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Roseau, Dominica; Bridgetown, Barbados; St. John's, Antigua; Tortola, British Virgin Islands; Cape Liberty Cruise Port, New Jersey

 

The cost of our balcony room would be $1,749 pp for a March 2010 cruise..

 

Anyone who has done this 12 night cruise please give me some insight and your opinions.. Also, how does the Explorer compare to her sister ship the Mariner (our favorite ship)..

 

Thanks in advance.

[GMoney]

I've done a very similar itinerary on a HAL ship and it's a great, great cruise, especially to get to those places from NJ. The itinerary is stellar. Dominica is one of the few relatively unspoilt places in the Caribbean.

 

The only downside is that EX has no covered pool, so you will lose the first and last 1.5 days.

[green eyed lady]

Explorer is the same as Mariner, just a few years older. We're sailing on EOS for the 2nd time Nov 1 :D We've been on Mariner and Adventure...AOS is our favorite but all 3 are great ships...I wouldn't hesitate to do the 12 day at all...go for it!

[GMoney]

Explorer is the same as Mariner, just a few years older.

 

They are similar but not the same. EX has balconies built into the super-structure; Mariner's are on the outside. EX has a pool at Adventure Ocean; MR doesn't. EX has a sports bar on the Promenade; MR has Vintages. There are a few other minor differences.

[LAKaye]

The most significant difference between the Mariner and the Navigator and the first three ships in the class, including Explorer, is the in-hull balconies.

 

Please Google around for photos of the Explorer; perhaps someone with examples will post a few photos.

 

You should know about this ahead of time.

 

Bon Voyage~~

 

Leslie

[shaggyofwv]

They are similar but not the same. EX has balconies built into the super-structure; Mariner's are on the outside. EX has a pool at Adventure Ocean; MR doesn't. EX has a sports bar on the Promenade; MR has Vintages. There are a few other minor differences.

 

 

The difference in the balcony is one of the most important things to me.. From the pictures that I have seen of the early Voyager class ships' balcony it looks as though you have less privacy versus the balcony on the newer Voyagers.. Am I correct?

[Emily7]

I went on the same cruise this year late Feb - Early March. The difference being St. Kitts was in place of Tortola.

The cruise was amazing! We were unsure wether the 12 nights would be too long but it was perfect. All the ports were beautiful and it was great to see the differences b/w them all. The Explorer is a fantastic ship. I am sailing on the Adventure of the Seas this December and I can't wait.

 

It was really cool leaving from the cold weather and waking up the next to a gorgeous day!

[mgmigs]

i did this trip on the explorer last dec, but like the previous poster, we did st. kitts instead of Tortola. i am doing this cruise again in november but unfortunately on my sailing Tortola was dropped for a sea day (not sure why). i really was not all that impressed with st. kitts and i was looking forward to Tortola but thats the breaks i guess. 12 days is fantastic, sooooo relaxing, you are with everyone on the ship so long you kinda start feeling like family (in a good way ;)). the islands are great. my favorites were Barbados, Antigua, st. thomas and st. martin has so much to offer with it's 2 separate sides. you will love it!

[shaggyofwv]

i did this trip on the explorer last dec, but like the previous poster, we did st. kitts instead of Tortola. i am doing this cruise again in november but unfortunately on my sailing Tortola was dropped for a sea day (not sure why). i really was not all that impressed with st. kitts and i was looking forward to Tortola but thats the breaks i guess. 12 days is fantastic, sooooo relaxing, you are with everyone on the ship so long you kinda start feeling like family (in a good way ;)). the islands are great. my favorites were Barbados, Antigua, st. thomas and st. martin has so much to offer with it's 2 separate sides. you will love it!

 

 

Thanks for all the replies.. Of the ports of call on this cruise we have only been to St. Thomas and St. Maarten, that is one of the big attractions of this cruise. We love going to new places..

[zantedeschia]

The difference in the balcony is one of the most important things to me.. From the pictures that I have seen of the early Voyager class ships' balcony it looks as though you have less privacy versus the balcony on the newer Voyagers.. Am I correct?

You have more privacy. The sides on the earlier Voyager class ships are made of metal. The newer ones have sides made of glass (plastic?).

[shaggyofwv]

You have more privacy. The sides on the earlier Voyager class ships are made of metal. The newer ones have sides made of glass (plastic?).

 

 

I see.. How does this affect your views on the balcony as compared to the Mariner?

[wraithe]

No Chops on Voyager Ver. 1 (Voyager, Explorer, and Adventure), no Jade, balconies are different, clubs are different. FWIW, there is no way that I'd go from the Pittsburgh area to NJ to sail, if I was going to travel that far, I'd go to FL and sail from there, even if I had to do two 7 night cruises on a B2B. JMHO, I just don't see any reason to (again, IMHO) waste two to three days on each side of my itinerary, sailing in relatively cold weather in March to get from NJ far enough South to be comfortable, and then travel North while it's still cold at the end of the cruise. It's a very good itinerary, but not my cup of tea. The photographs that used to be available at http://www.voyager-class.com are located here.

[DonnaK]

I see.. How does this affect your views on the balcony as compared to the Mariner?

 

Yes, you have more privacy. It's very cavelike and cozy. This is a huge advantage to us!

 

The outer balcony wall is made of steel that comes up about mid-thigh high and is then topped with glass. (On Mariner, it is all glass). Your view isn't really restricted because you can still see the sea while seated and while lying in bed.

 

Avoid deck 6 if possible because on those decks, the steel wall comes up higher than on the other decks and is not topped with glass. It's not a huge difference or a dealbreaker, but decks 7-10 are better than deck 6 balconies because the view is slightly wider.

[shaggyofwv]

No Chops on Voyager Ver. 1 (Voyager, Explorer, and Adventure), no Jade, balconies are different, clubs are different. FWIW, there is no way that I'd go from the Pittsburgh area to NJ to sail, if I was going to travel that far, I'd go to FL and sail from there, even if I had to do two 7 night cruises on a B2B. JMHO, I just don't see any reason to (again, IMHO) waste two to three days on each side of my itinerary, sailing in relatively cold weather in March to get from NJ far enough South to be comfortable, and then travel North while it's still cold at the end of the cruise. It's a very good itinerary, but not my cup of tea. The photographs that used to be available at www.voyager-class.com are located here.

 

 

We normally do drive to Florida and cruise out from there, but we can't get this particular itinerary anywhere in Florida.

 

Thanks for the link to the pictures, very helpful.

[cds2423]

We to did the identical cruise in Feb of this year with the St. Kitts difference, our best cruise ever. This was also the first time my DH & I were actually sailing alone, no family or friends, we thought OMG 12 days without anybody else to go on excursions, shopping or whatever, but we had nothing to worry about, we met another couple while standing in the platinum check in line, who were in the same boat so to say, first time without F&F, we spent 12 days together, becoming great friends and have spent 2 weeks together this summer showing each other our respective cities. This was totally off track but I just wanted to point out that cruisng can really impact your life after you leave the ship

We did a whale watching excursion in Roseau, it was fantastic, we saw probably 8 whales and hundreds of dolphins.

Make sure you try out Portofino, it's not to be missed.

We're sailing on the Adventure in just a few days, this time with our family including our 4-1/2 yo GD, can't wait to show them more about cruising life. Cheers :)

[wraithe]

We normally do drive to Florida and cruise out from there, but we can't get this particular itinerary anywhere in Florida.

 

Thanks for the link to the pictures, very helpful.

 

Glad the photos were helpful, I really wish the original web site was still up, it was great. I look at things a little differently than most do. My first cruise itinerary got changed twice before we left, and twice after we sailed. Because of that, I don't sweat itinerary, if I want to see an island, and I'm going to be upset if I miss it, then I'll fly there and stay for a while. They had to change our itinerary for our upcoming repo, and there was some wailing and gnashing of teeth amongst our Roll Call. Several have actually cancelled the cruise or shifted to other cruises. I pick a ship, how long I want to be gone and if it happens to stop somewhere, great, if not, no love lost.

[masterbaker]

I'd love to see similar itineraries offered from Florida. ( I keep asking, maybe one day RCI will listen) ;)

[shaggyofwv]

I'd love to see similar itineraries offered from Florida. ( I keep asking, maybe one day RCI will listen) ;)

 

 

I would love to see a similar itinerary out of PC with the Freedom next year, but it won't happen.

[GMoney]

I'd love to see similar itineraries offered from Florida. ( I keep asking, maybe one day RCI will listen) ;)

 

I agree!