Explorer of the Seas 12/17 review and port changes

We just arrived back today from the 12/17 sailing of the explorer of the seas. Overall it was a wonderful trip. There were a few hiccups here and there but nothing too bad. Our itinerary changed because the ship had to return to Miami the night of sailing for a sick passenger. Because of this and, from my understanding the time they lost, they ship ended up skipping Belize. The schedule changed and as a result we were in Cozumel overnight. This disappointed my group as we were not able to be in the casino for the evening and during the day while the ship was in port. We continued on and then we were told because of the day change in scheduling that Costa Maya could not take in our ship as there was another one in that day? Not too clear on this but long story short no Costa Maya and instead we were in Montego Bay.

I will do a quick run down here:

Arrived at the port at 11:15 and walked on. Cabins were not ready yet so had lunch to wait. Booked spa apts in the mean time. Glad I did. Even at 12:00 there was a line and spots were filling up!

The ship was in very good shape and the beds were more comfortable then the last two sailings I have had on this ship. The new bedding was excellent, by far the best we have had on RCCL.

The food was ok. Just my opinion but I don’t think that the food was on par for what I have had in the past on RCCL. Not to say I didn’t enjoy it, I did and the weight I gained shows it, but it sort of seemed like something was missing. I also found that the menu was slightly smaller than it had been in the past. Portofino was excellent as usual and well worth the money.

The spa was especially good this time. Amy was wonderful and I saw her three times!

The only complaint I would have was with the tendering situation. Now, I completely understand that getting 3000+ people off and on a cruise ship is not a small deal by any means. However, this was my 4th time on a Voyager class ship and it was the most un organized I have ever seen it; especially in Grand Cayman. There were hundreds of people wondering around on the deck above where you caught the tender. There really should have been someone there to watch over it. Lets just say when I was there the natives were getting very restless. There were people cutting in line and there were some tempers flaring. The wait I had been about 45 minutes to an hour just to get on the tender. People also seemed to be missing their tours. Cozumel was also a bit of a mess with long lines and such.

Oh, we also brought bottles of wine and such on the boat in our luggage and didn’t have any problems at all.

Overall it was a wonderful trip and would do it again in a second. If any one has any questions ask away.

Thanks for the review!

Too bad you missed Belize and Costa Maya. We were on the 12/3 sailing and really enjoyed those ports. That said, I'm sure the family of the sick passenger apprecitated RCCL's efforts to get the passenger the best of medical care. In the scheme of things it looks like RCCL made the best of the situation.

I agree with you on your review of the food. This was our 3rd RCCL cruise (Explorer 12/3) and the food just wasn't at the same level as on previous cruises.

Hope you enjoyed the entertainment and other aspects of the cruise.

Did you need to tender into Cozumel as well???:confused:

Cruising is a blast, and we have loved our 3 previous RCCL cruises, one of which was on the Explorer 3 years ago. However, had we known what this past week was going to be like ahead of time and had we been given the option to cancel with a full refund, that is certainly what we would have done.

We chose this particular cruise because of excursions we really wanted to take in Belize and Costa Maya. No one in my group had been particularly excited about Cozumel or Grand Cayman, and no one had any desire at all to go to Montego Bay. Tendering was disorganized and involved lots of long lines often with very angry people. Same thing with the Guest Relations and Excursions Desks lines. Information was ever-changing and not reliable. My DH who is an extremely easy-going guy made the uncharacteristic comment last night that overall it simply was not a relaxing experience.

Most passengers seemed to have a good time despite the problems, but the sense was that it was because they were powerless to change the situation which was indeed disappointing and frustrating.

To echo the OP, the food was not stellar. My two best meals of the week were at the Miami airport Manchu Wok (a couple of spring rolls) and a cheeseburger at O'Hare International. I'm not saying that with any bitterness. It's just that none of the food on board (either in the dining room or at the Windjammer) bowled me over. It was ok, not great.

Compared to what I remember from 3 years ago, the EOS is showing signs of wear or inattention. She is still beautiful and I could walk around for days drinking in the sights, but it was common to find small problems. Examples: non-working elevator buttons, non-working door open buttons (usually there for disabled access but now also essential because of norovirus), a sometimes-psychotic elevator recording that announced the wrong deck, phone message announcements that said there were (e.g.) 4 messages when there was one (did they get lost?), some finishes that looked blotchy, a sign with a letter fallen out. I could go on, but that's the idea.

On the other hand, service was excellent, seas were calm, the weather was very good. We all made new friends, and I'm sure we will have fond memories. Yet I keep thinking about one of the questions on the form we filled out yesterday: would we cruise with RCCL again? Not sure. The situation that caused the mess may have been unavoidable, but way it was handled in the aftermath was not.

Jan

these reviews are very different then the other one about this cruise that was just posted. did you guys reaD? agree?

Did you need to tender into Cozumel as well???:confused:

Yes. It was pretty bad. There was no room at the pier until the Freedom pulled out at 4p.m. at which time we were to take her spot. Until then, we tendered on the huge ferry boats that they usually use to cross to Playa del Carmen. Lines were very long, tours were missed. The ship told us that the last tender would leave the pier for the ship at 5:30. We happened to get in line for the tender at 3:50 only to find that they had stopped until the Freedom left and the EOS pulled up. We were hot, irritable, and totally disgusted that no one from RCCL was there giving any information at all and that they had changed the schedule for (what seemed to the 100s of angry people on the pier) no good reason.

The ship remained docked until early the next morning when it again pulled out to a tendering position. This time it was WAY out there and lots of people had no desire at all to put themselves through another tendering experience like the day before. At that point, many people didn't even trust the ship to stick to a departure time. In any case, we had to leave at 2 so the 2nd day in Cozumel was kind of a waste.

Jan

these reviews are very different then the other one about this cruise that was just posted. did you guys reaD? agree?

I read the posts. I guess it depends on what you wanted and expected from the cruise. There are people who are going to have a wonderful time no matter what happens. Thankfully, I think this group constitutes a majority. There are others, like the screaming I-have-connections-I'm-calling-the-CEO guy who are just the opposite. Some people count heavily on the excursions as the highlight of their trip; others couldn't care less where the ship went because the ship is the trip.

My comments came from two places: one was that we had been very excited about ports that were cancelled, two was that the overall EOS experience just didn't match up to last time.

Jan

two was that the overall EOS experience just didn't match up to last time.

Jan

You know, this is one reason why I would be hesitant to ever book Explorer again. Our time on her, when she was doing her old Western route, is one of the best cruises we have ever had. For one reason or another everything just came together on that cruise and it was such a perfect time. I would be very concerned that no return to that ship would ever live up to our first time on her and I would hate to do anything to ruin our memories of her.

This is the 2nd time we have booked this cruise and the 2nd time the ports were changed first time 07-17-2005 we moved out of the way of a tropical storm but didnt tell anybody till departed Miami (1hr.) went to eastern, it was nice but not what we wanted didnt say much just enjoyed the cruise and sites.

2nd cruise 12-17-2006

Review:

Arrived at pier early real early around 11:00 on board at 11:30, cabin not ready until 1:00 went to windjammer for lunch. Windjammer is a buffet nothing more nothing less same all week this was my kids first cruise they enjoyed the food but kids can eat the same thing everyday with no problems.

We left miami around 6:00 had to wait till all other ships moved no big deal though I was on and ready....

We had late seating, during dinner my daughter made a comment that the ship was turning around and i told her oh no thats just the movement of the ocean..oops...... after dinner approx 10:30 captain made an announcement that we are turning around heading back to Miami to remove a very ill pax, also stated coast guard will not come out thats why we will meet them in Miami.

Monday morning Captain came with another announcement...this stating that we will not be going to Belize because we lost 8 hrs...so this is our 1st change...... our new itenerary cozomel tuesday and stay all night leave wed at 2 p.m. go to Grand Cayman then to costa maya.... not thinking i thought well the family will see mayan ruins in costa maya...

we arrived at cozomel to find out we are tendering because the Freedom is docked. TENDERING wow did rccl screw the pooch on this, because we are now in cozomel on a different date there is not enough tender boats so lines were around 3 hrs to get off, but we will be docked later starting at five,so after a great day at Playa mia beach we arrived around 4 to get back on ship we were told if not on tender by 4:30 couldnt get back on ship till docked at6:00 oops........with approx 400 pax witing for tenders they changed their plans again they stopped tendering they are going to dock early sorry folks just stand there hot, thirsty, tired and yes getting a little upset. well finally after waiting 2hrs we stood in a real long line to get on the ship. oh by the way the ship docking overnight means nothing Since NOTHING IS OPEN WHEN IT IS DARK DUH maybe RCCL should figure this one out. The next morning my boys and I got of the boat went into shopping area, bought our sov. and got back on before moving and wow im glad we did this the ship now anchored way off shore. we stayed on the sip the rest of the day, so consider this an extra sea day. Alot of pax stayed on. Then another message from the Captain......I'm sorry but the Port of Costa Maya now says there is not room for us there so we we be gong to Montego Bay, Jamacia on Friday instead...well there went the mayan ruins........

thursday arrived in Grand cayman and remember we are not supposed to be there that day also. alot or excursion were cancelled tours, beach breaks, tours were missed. got a taxi went to seven mile beach was great beach highly recommend tendered back to boat waited 1hr for tender but happy to be back on.

Friday......Wow a crappy port How about painting the walls at the port to remove all the grafitti we were told they offer a 12 dollar shuttle pass. Went to buy one at port and was told "Sorry mon we only sell that on thursday" after figuring out every place we wanted to go the shuttle fees would be around 200.00 for a family of five.......So lets seee Im in a country that promotes smoking of pot and drugs is this a place to take your kids....NO...This port is a total waste for a Family in my opinion we went back on the ship. just another sea day.

Overall:

The Ship is beautiful had a great time on the Explorer Statesroom att. was great turn down service every night towl animals and treated my kids like his own always laughing with them and giving them chocolates anytime.

We had late dining table 460 Waiter was Natasha, Asst waiter was Menzie best service i have ever had on a cruise very personal great presentations, food in dining room was good very good enjoyed ever meal.

By the way the Cruise Director was Allen Brooks did a great job except for the day he was on the TV with the Captain talking about the changes we have been thru. stating that " we are trying our best to SALVAGE your vacation" I take that as they know they screwed these port changes real bad.

notes familys:

rock wall is only open at certain times

inline skating only open at certain times

kids water slide only open at certain times

This is something you wont find out until you get on the ship

My recommendations for what they should have done

Skip Belize make it another sea day and then finish the rest of the ports according to iteneray, that way we would have at the ports when we we supposed to be and ports could have handled 3500 pax.

My recommendations for what they should have done

 

Skip Belize make it another sea day and then finish the rest of the ports according to iteneray, that way we would have at the ports when we we supposed to be and ports could have handled 3500 pax.

That would have been the ideal thing to do. Wonder why they didn't do that? Makes perfect sense.

On one of our cruises we were not able to stop at Labadee due to problems in Haiti, so a stop at the Bahamas was a last minute substitute, but the rest of the port schedule remained the same.

these reviews are very different then the other one about this cruise that was just posted. did you guys reaD? agree?

I think that no matter what everyone will not be happy. Everyone has different expectations for their vacations. To start, we never docked in Miami to let the sick passenger off the boat. There was a CG boat that met the ship. I was on the front of the boat around 1:30 am when this happened. While I was standing there, on the helipad, it made me wonder why they just didn’t use that.??:confused:

My only complaint with the Cozumel situation is that they should not have stayed in port. Why not SLOWLY drift to CG? This way at least the Casino would have been open, and the shops? Also, I didn’t think that there were as many night activities planned because they were in port. I had lunch that day at Carlos and Charlie’s and was not about to get back there at night. After speaking to many cruise staff it seemed that many of them went ashore that night. I am glad they got to enjoy it. As for that tender situation many of my party got stuck in it, but at the end of the day, what are ya gonna do? They made the best of it.

Personally when they said that we were going to Montego Bay I was thrilled. I have been to Costa Maya before and really had no desire to go back. I was not going to get off the ship. There really are some wonderful tours in Montego Bay that I have been on. Ocho Rios is also very nice; I would not have minded going there either. Again, personal preference.

Again, this all comes down to opinion, but I didn’t feel that there was that much wrong with the ship cosmetically. 3000+ passengers drinking and having fun week in and out will of course do some damage. I was surprised to find that I thought the ship was cleaner then when I was on it in Oct of 03’.

What I felt the ship was missing most was organization. It really seemed to be lacking when it came to activities, tenders, etc. I was not really bothered by this but it would have made the changes seem a little easier had there been some more organization.

At the end of the day I was away from work email, with my family, and on vacation so I was happy! One thing to note though, when your on a cruise your are basically at the ships mercy to do what they want to do. It’s not like your on land and you can leave so easily. Weather or health situations can really screw up other peoples plans! But again what are ya gonna do? :D

first off i never stated we redocked at Miami we met CG at the break water i was also up at 1:30 and could see Miami very well

I also agree the ship was in great shape but I'm dissapointed in the changes we went thru it seemed like we never really knew when and where we would be going and that goes along with the staff also. Yes you make your vacation for what it is, but planing a trip with your entire family with excursions paid for. We had to schedule excursions outside of RCCL due to age requirements. Don't get me wrong we enjoyed our cruise it was a fantastic time, as an adult we must live with change but, your children don't always understand, my kids read about the ports we missed and they were looking forward to those than the other ones

We were on this cruise as well and had an absolutely fantastic time. We are a family of 5 - 27 yo twin sons, 13 yo son, my husband, and me. When we book, we always keep in mind pick the ship first, the port it sails from, and then the itinerary. One of the twins has dreamed of going to Belize since high school and he really looked forward to our stop there. So of course we were all disappointed we didn't make it but on the other hand, we knew this possibility always existed since ports do change, for a variety of reasons.

Yesterday on the plane home, one of my twins son turned to me and said "This was the best vacation ever Mom, thanks!". And he sincerely meant it. He and his brother loved the all nighter in Cozumel and took advantage of that not returning to the ship until 3 AM. All the kids loved the surprise Jamaica visit and 2 did the jungle inner tube excursion and had a blast. In fact, they said Montego Bay, Jamaica was their favorite port.

We all met so many different interesting people on the ship, sat with another family of 5 at dinner and found we had so much in common, we fast became friends and my sons and their kids hung out a lot together the entire trip.

We felt food was good, better than what we had on the Voyager in Aug '04, but my husband summed it up this way "the food was good but no one thing really stood out.

None of us enjoyed the tendering, especially in Cozumel with the choppy waters and the long waits.

DH, 13 yo DS, and I had aft cabin 7688 and enjoyed the extra big balcony. I will say it was quite a hike to anywhere on the ship and though I really loved the cabin, the other 2 prefer to be mid ship.

Our cabin steward, Emmanuel, was just OK. Nothing special, kept the room mostly OK but didn't do much with the balcony and once we had to ask for fresh towels. He mentioned he gets off the ship in 2 weeks and I think he was ready for a break. The twins steward, Joy, cabin 7279 PR, was phenomenal. She joked and teased with them the whole time and they totally got a kick out of her. I know they tipped her quite well!

We spent more in the Casino on Blackjack and slots than we had initially planned :eek: . Hopefully somebody on the next cruise will get some of this back!

I attended the ice show, Marty Allen show, and Finis Henderson. All 2 were top notch. I don't attend all shows, we cruise a bit, so I pick and choose as I also like to just sit, relax and read. There were so many activities available, one could go non-stop the entire 7 days without sleep. I know, the twins tried and came pretty darned close!

We brought home many special memories, a great 7 days together without the stress of work, school, and sports, and renewed family connections. This is why we do at least one family cruise each year and this trip certainly met our expectations. I recognize because all cruisers go into the experience with very different expectations. What we take away and how much we enjoyed it varies. And yes, changes were made, we did deviate from plan, and readjusting after dreaming about certain places for so long is tough and disappointing for many. But, for my family, this was a 5 star cruise because our number 1 goal was to cruise. Give me the sea and me on a cruise ship upon it and I am in heaven. The rest is frosting ;).

One last item, I heard that the person we went back to Miami for that first night was not airlifted because she could not afford the 25,000.00 the helicopter airlift was going to cost. Not sure what her insurance situation was but if this story is valid, it's one more example of why getting cruise insurance is important.

May I add a vent?

My family was also on this cruise and suffered similarly with the crowd of people in Cozumel (and a tired two year old) when we arrived well in advance for the "last" tender only to be left on the dock to wait.

In Grand Cayman, we booked two separate excursions with RCI only to be told after we tendered (along with perhaps fifty other people) that both were cancelled. We managed on our own to negotiate two other excursions as the RCI Explorations rep who was on the dock to help us was MIA. He arrived an hour later (as I waited) only to tell me he was on a bathroom break. Of course, if I had been the one to face the angry people perhaps I would have hid as well! I was told by Guest Relations later that we should have received a cancellation notice to our stateroom. How they managed to miss notifying us on both of two excursions, I will never know.

I'm sure some of this had to do with the fact that our dates at not one but all of the ports differed from those planned, which goes back to tisbad's comment on why such an extensive itinerary change was made.

However the most disappointing part of our cruise had nothing to do with the port changes. We had booked the cruise in part so my husband and older son could get scuba certified in an exciting place. (We live in Canada and an open water dive here involves some COLD water!) This excursion was booked months in advance. We arrived at the dive shop on the first morning of the cruise (not having received any tix to our cabin) only to be told that the class had been early that morning. One instructor said to the other in our presence "Remember how we were supposed to have seven people? These must be the ones we missed..." Apparently they forgot to call us to let us know details. They refunded our money of course, but not before they were rude in doing so.

Had the miscommunications been limited to the port changes, we would have been better able to make the best of it.

Having had wonderful experiences with RCI in the past, this just seemed like one problem after another. Perhaps I am just cursed - we also had mechanical problems and a fist-fight break out on the plane ride home!

I will be writing to RCI about my experiences - any thoughts would be appreciated.

Sorry for the ones disappointed about the itinerary change but it happens from time to time and if a person is dead set on visiting certain ports then they should fly there and take a land vacaton. Cruise lines have the right to make the changes and we all agree to it when we except the tickets. I have learned over the years with cruising that in some situations you have to roll with the punches. I have had ports of calls changed myself. One can write to the cruise lines but my guess is that you will receive a form letter basically apologizing and that is it. After reading this thread it seems that some rolled with the punches and others didn't.

After reading this thread it seems that some rolled with the punches and others didn't.

It also seems that RCI didn't do much to make the rolling any easier....

Sorry for the ones disappointed about the itinerary change but it happens from time to time and if a person is dead set on visiting certain ports then they should fly there and take a land vacaton. Cruise lines have the right to make the changes and we all agree to it when we except the tickets. I have learned over the years with cruising that in some situations you have to roll with the punches. I have had ports of calls changed myself. One can write to the cruise lines but my guess is that you will receive a form letter basically apologizing and that is it. After reading this thread it seems that some rolled with the punches and others didn't.

Exactly correct. The cruiselines are not obligated to take you to any ports in reality. On our Grandeur cruise back in September 2005 we missed three out of five ports due to Hurricane Rita. We didn't receive any compensation for that nor would we ever expect to receive any. We did receive compensation since our cruise was shortened by one day. We've also missed ports due to medical emergencies at sea. Ship happens.

Basic facts of situation in posts above, no need to re-hash. 6 in my immediate party (me, wife & 2 daughters) plus in-laws. Yes, I have been on these boards and read the cruise documents & web site and know changes occur. Hurricane once changed another cruise.

BUT - how handled make all the difference in the world and this was not handled well.

After some basic informational announcements, captain went silent. We got a 10 minute video on RC television with him stating little more than what was said in the public announcements. The key question to many, why not add another sea day to get to Belieze 1 day late and then miss another common RC stop - such as Cozumel, to get back on schedule?

Also, as you have read, Explorer had to tender the first day, Freedom had the dock; OK - Freedom's scheduled day, But the next day, what should have been the Explorer's day at the Cozumel dock, we only stayed tied-up to 9:30 am ship time (8:30 Cozumel time) and then back out for another smaller RCCL ship to have the dock. Why was that? Our cruise documents state docking that date. Of course, after everybody heard about the problems getting off the day before, that half-day in Cozumel became a boat day for the overwhelming number of passengers. And when this happened, ship not prepared to handle the crowd as service issues across the ship from Johhny Rockets to Adventure Beach pool & slide were not staffed and overburdened.

Additionally, unlike other recent cruises where captain makes appearance at the Crown & Anchor Society party, he was a no-show at the one my family attended and from what I gathered he did not make the later party either.

General Comments - Explorer showing age; rusts spots and peeling paint on balconies and other areas visible (near rock wall).

Cruise Compass not correct on activities with the kids (rock wall sessions and Advt Ocean Beach water slide) and very limited times for activities or their limited capacity (ice skating lessons of Friday).

Good issues - Abisha one of the best table waiters ever & Elkin and crew in the Weekend Warrrior sports bar great. Entertainment, the RCCL Singers and Dancers, very good on this ship.

Please excuse any spelling issues, I-Spell not working this session

Sorry for the ones disappointed about the itinerary change but it happens from time to time and if a person is dead set on visiting certain ports then they should fly there and take a land vacaton. Cruise lines have the right to make the changes and we all agree to it when we except the tickets. I have learned over the years with cruising that in some situations you have to roll with the punches. I have had ports of calls changed myself. One can write to the cruise lines but my guess is that you will receive a form letter basically apologizing and that is it. After reading this thread it seems that some rolled with the punches and others didn't.

I agree that if you are dead set on seeing on of the ports it would be best to fly there because you never know. I have been on 20 or so cruises and on those there have been two medical emergencies. I am sure that this sort of thing unfortunately happens more often then I thought.

Also, after reading these boards for years it never seems that there is usually any compensation for these types of changes. It seems to be that the only time there is anything is when there is a hurricane or weather related when there is an actual loss of days to a trip, not in an itinerary interruption. Or another example would be was when the Freedom had a loss of days due to the cleaning.

I plan on writing to RCI as well to point out how well their staff handled irate customers despite itinerary changes and a few other hiccups. I'll point out specifics, and bring up a few items where their staff could have done better. I expect nothing in return but do want to expose the positive as well.

I am amazed at what some people complain about (I'm not referring to anyone here who has posted). I listened to an exchange at guest relations that had me totally wondering what planet people stepped off of. Totally clueless and with unattainable expectations. Sadly, they are the people who will go home and tell friends how bad RCI is when in fact, it was the complainers who were clueless.

Jack Frost, I'd be upset about the Scuba excursion debacle as well. Port changes, though disappointing, are not unexpected. But to realize the Scuba instructors were missing a few people, and not being proactive about finding out who was missing and calling their stateroom, is cause to write about.

I would also like to add that another reason we had such a great time is we didn't know if we'd make it in the first place. Seattle got hit with an extremely powerful windstorm the night we planned to fly out and our plane was one of the last to depart the airport until the storm subsided. After we arrived, we learned power was out all over the region and our power was out for 5 days. It was strange to see pictures on MSNBC.COM of homes around the corner from our house with trees bashed through roofs. We were not sure what would great us last night and did find a 100 ft. evergreen down in our backyard. Thankfully, it fell in the best possible way only damaging a little bit of the neighbors fence. But, we have a heck of a lot of tree branch clean up to take care of.

While our neighbors huddled around stoves most of last week to keep warm, we were basking in the Caribbean sun. I will be careful to not bring this up ;)

We arrived home late last night to a refrigerator filled with gone-bad food, including what we planned for Christmas dinner. I spent the morning cleaning it out and found a Safeway not far away open for a few hours. Thankfully! Dinner is back on :D

I agree that if you are dead set on seeing on of the ports it would be best to fly there because you never know. I have been on 20 or so cruises and on those there have been two medical emergencies. I am sure that this sort of thing unfortunately happens more often then I thought.

Also, after reading these boards for years it never seems that there is usually any compensation for these types of changes. It seems to be that the only time there is anything is when there is a hurricane or weather related when there is an actual loss of days to a trip, not in an itinerary interruption. Or another example would be was when the Freedom had a loss of days due to the cleaning.

We've also had an occasional bad experience during our cruises (ie: babies in solarium jacuzzi, people jumping overboard, etc). Fortunately it's the exception and not the rule. I'm sure your next cruise will be a much more enjoyable experience.

Basic facts of situation in posts above, no need to re-hash. 6 in my immediate party (me, wife & 2 daughters) plus in-laws. Yes, I have been on these boards and read the cruise documents & web site and know changes occur. Hurricane once changed another cruise.

 

BUT - how handled make all the difference in the world and this was not handled well.

 

After some basic informational announcements, captain went silent. We got a 10 minute video on RC television with him stating little more than what was said in the public announcements. The key question to many, why not add another sea day to get to Belieze 1 day late and then miss another common RC stop - such as Cozumel, to get back on schedule?

 

Also, as you have read, Explorer had to tender the first day, Freedom had the dock; OK - Freedom's scheduled day, But the next day, what should have been the Explorer's day at the Cozumel dock, we only stayed tied-up to 9:30 am ship time (8:30 Cozumel time) and then back out for another smaller RCCL ship to have the dock. Why was that? Our cruise documents state docking that date. Of course, after everybody heard about the problems getting off the day before, that half-day in Cozumel became a boat day for the overwhelming number of passengers. And when this happened, ship not prepared to handle the crowd as service issues across the ship from Johhny Rockets to Adventure Beach pool & slide were not staffed and overburdened.

 

Additionally, unlike other recent cruises where captain makes appearance at the Crown & Anchor Society party, he was a no-show at the one my family attended and from what I gathered he did not make the later party either.

 

General Comments - Explorer showing age; rusts spots and peeling paint on balconies and other areas visible (near rock wall).

 

Cruise Compass not correct on activities with the kids (rock wall sessions and Advt Ocean Beach water slide) and very limited times for activities or their limited capacity (ice skating lessons of Friday).

 

Good issues - Abisha one of the best table waiters ever & Elkin and crew in the Weekend Warrrior sports bar great. Entertainment, the RCCL Singers and Dancers, very good on this ship.

 

Please excuse any spelling issues, I-Spell not working this session

You do realize that when itineraries have to be changed, a cruise line cannot simply just create their own itinerary. Could be that Belize may not have been able to take the Explorer on another day. Who knows the reasoning behind the changes but it is up to the cruise line to make the changes that will work best for the overall situation. Not defending the cruise line but that's how it works. We read these same compaints each and every time a ship has to change it's itinerary.

To Travellady, I can only imagine what you must have heard. I was on a Carnival ship that had to change course for a tropical storm. You should have seen the lobby of the ship. It was close to becoming a riot. Some folks can except change and disappointment and others cannot. I feel sorry for the crew in times like this as they have no say so at all in what the main office decides for the ship but they have to take the load of garbage slung at them.

This is not the first time I've read about turning around to drop off a sick person and fouling up the cruise for 2000-3000 people. (Not just RC).

It seems to me it would have been cheaper for the cruise line to send this person back to port by helicopter and possibly pick up part of the tab. I can't imagine that the money they lose on excursions is not more than the airlift tab. Interesting that the person's medical problem could wait so many hours for the ship to get back to Miami. And why not drop them off in Key West?

I have to give the cruise line credit for going to extraordinary legnths for one passenger. Maybe the cruise lines should offer insurance for airlift only, since turning around is so disruptive to a cruise. I wonder how much this would cost. I've never been on a cruise where more that one person has to be helicoptered off, but I have been on cruises where this has happened.

To each his own experience I suppose. We just got off the Explorer on the 17th and as much as we ran around on the ship, she is in fantastic shape. Never saw the rust up by the rock wall mentioned...come on people..let's take a look at your house. Are your yards manicured? This is a fantastic ship with the best captain and the best staff. The one person is correct in the cost of the helicopter and some travel insurances don't even cover that either from what our ta showed us. If you want gourmet food, pick the luxury liners but for us Royal Caribbean does it great and we love the Explorer. We are thankful to just be able to get on the ship and know that we have to go with the flow and be flexible. Happy Cruising to All.

Cruisingator2 - regarding accepting change and disappointment - I just read a statistic a few weeks ago regarding acceptance of change. My workplace is undergoing sweeping changes in terms of what we make, how we make it, and team structure. I read 1/3 will resist change totally and eventually leave, 1/3 will overtime accept it and go with the flow, and 1/3 are energized by change.

I suspect these statistics apply across the board and those verbally tearing into the crew fall into the 1/3rd who are change resistant. The problem was, they couldn't leave :eek: - at least until they got to the first port on Tuesday.