EvertonCJ

Hi CC

Some great photos.

Are there kettles in the staterooms?

If so, do you have to bring your own coffee or is it provided?

Many Thanks

Chris

Hi Chris

She will be fine and well looked after. Just let your waiter know on the first night in the MDR, the menu shows a little symbol of a cereal grain for everything that can be offered as Gluten free. The first opportunity you will have to tell them is when they offer your daughter bread as soon as you are seated. You can then explain and they will bring her gf bread and it is lovely!!

 

At the end of the first night they will give her the menu for the following evening. Then she can choose something with the symbol or she can chat with them and they will try to make non symbol items gf if possible.

The only thing I've ever flommoxed an RCI chef on was asking for pastry, as thats tricky gf.

 

The best I've eaten since my diagnosis is on RCI ships.

 

To be honest the chef on Explorer did get a bit lazy with me and offered me the same dessert every night. But I liked it so I only protested and asked for a change once or twice lol.

 

There was only the slight hitch I mentioned the first night, when clearly no thought had gone into it and I got salmon and a jacket potato - literally.

 

Your head waiter will normally take over the pre order of food. One night I couldn't make my mind up between the gf sea food and pasta dish or the palenta dish. Our head waiter said he could ask for something to be created from the two.

It some how got lost in translation and the picture below shows what I ended up with. Somewhat ridiculous and a waste of food as I couldn't eat it all but they tried so I laughed.

 

Some nights I had two desserts haha.

 

Our first cruise we did I stuck to Windjammer for the first few nights as I thought I'd be safer with what I could see myself. But then we tried MDR and never looked back.

 

She can get gf bread toasted in Windjammer. There is always a gf dessert option in Windjammer and cafe promenade. Cafe promenade have the most gorgeous gf chocolate chip cookies. Tell Aviv and Joe I sent you!! They aren't on display you have to ask for them at the counter. Aviv gave me 4 on the last night haha.

Cafe prom will also do you gf cheese pizza which is lush and you'd never know it was gf.

 

Also stick around to hear about our Gionvanni's experience.

 

Thank you for such a detailed response. It sounds as if my daughter will have plenty of options to choose from.

Chris

Great review and some lovely photos.

My 16 year old daughter is a coeliac. Where there plenty of options for you on board?

I read somewhere that in the MDR you can order your food 24 hours in advance if you have specific dietary requirements. Did you do this?

Once again, thank you for all your help.

Chris

Hi Chris

I don't drink beer and my husband is allergic to alcohol so its not something we looked at closely. I can't recall seeing draught beer but someone else may correct me. There was however a good choice of bottled beers and lagers.

 

During sunny days there is a lack of sun beds around the pools; both the main pool and the solarium. There are people out with their towels from early on.

However the pool attendants were enforcing the rule of removing towels from beds that had been left un attented for periods of time.

 

I sat in the shade in the solarium one afternoon for about half an hour and then moved to in the sun by the pool, when a bed became available.

 

If you don't have to be sunbathing right next to the pool, head to deck 13 forward, this is a new sunbathing area, created above the new cabins on deck 12. The sun beds are new up there, there are plenty and it was often quiet.

There are normally beds to be found at deck 12 aft also. You can find beds if you look, its just that they won't be right next to the pools unless you are out very early.

 

When we were boarding in Southampton they were loading hundreds more sun beds on board.

 

If you are on first sitting or an earlish MTD for dinner then you will be okay getting seats in the bars. If however you are on late sitting, by the time you are out of the MDR at 10pm-103pm you will find it tricky to get a seat in the bars. The weather was so gorgeous for us that we got our drinks and went and sat out on deck 4 or up to the pool decks.

 

I hope that helps. Please feel free to ask anything else. I'll hopefully be able to load some more this afternoon.

Thanks for the quick reply CC.

We are on the traditional dining at 8.30pm so getting a seat afterwards may be an issue.

Our stateroom is on deck 8, but we are travelling with friends who are on deck 12 so the sunbeds on deck 13 sound ideal.

Hi Cymru Cruiser

Really enjoying the review so far.

We are on the Explorer on July 26th and wondered if you could answer a couple of questions.

Most importantly, can you get draught beer on the Explorer or is it just bottles?

Also, a number of recent reviews have mentioned the lack of available sunbeds and the lack of seating in the bar areas. Is it really as bad as they are saying? Just looking for a bit of reassurance.

Many Thanks

Chris

Hi, they do two shows a night and the times vary, sometimes 7pm and 9pm, other times 9pm and 10:45pm :-)

 

The ones on deck 12, do you mean the panoramic staterooms? If so they look awesome.

Thanks for the reply Melissa. It sounds like you and your Mum are having a great time.

Our friends only booked for the July 26th cruise this week and wanted an outside cabin. Apparently, there had just been a cancellation, so they got one of the panoramic staterooms on deck 12.

How long do the shows normally last? If we are eating at 8.30pm, could we watch the 7pm show?

We have never cruised before, so don't really know what to expect, but your positive comments have been very reassuring.

Once again, many thanks.

Chris and Hayley

Hi Melissa

Really enjoying your review. We are doing the same cruise on July 26th. Is it possible for you to give us some information about show times?

We are booked in for traditional dining at 8.30 each evening, but still want to watch the shows. Do they have 2 shows each night?

Also, we have friends who have booked to stay in one of the new cabins at the front of the ship on deck 12. These are not on any of the deck plans that we have seen. What do these new cabins look like?

Thanks for all your help. Enjoy the rest of your holiday.

Best Wishes

Chris and Hayley