Explorer 3/5/2013 - 3/15/2013 Review

[Jenn31708]

Well I've been home for about an hour...... what a trip it was. First of all, thanks to all of you here that helped me. You answered even the silliest or most absurd question. I noticed a few fellow cruise critic members on deck 9 with me as well. :D You know who you are!

 

This will probable be a pretty lengthy review, with lots and lots of pictures. In all, it was a great cruise, but there were a lot of negatives too. A lot had to do with the weather, which I know that was of course out of RCI's control. The captain and crew handled that SO professionally. I was truly amazed at how wonderful they were in this respect.

 

Ok, let's start from the beginning. We live in central Long Island, and 11 of us went on this trip. Hubby and I and his parents, his sister and her husband and their 5 kids... ages 5, 13, 14, 15, 17. We've all cruised before except for sister in law and her family, they were first timers. We had a cab company pick us up at 9 am and we arrived in Bayonne at about 11. DH and I and the in-laws were in junior suites so we ditched the rest of the family and went to the priority check in line. There was no other passengers there, so the woman that checked us in ran with us over to the rest of the family, pulled them off the huge line at the regular check in and checked them in with us. All together, it took less than 20 minutes for all of us. A short time later, they announced all aboard time.

 

 

We walked outside and jumped onto the bus and rode about 90 seconds to the boat. She is a beautiful ship! The kids lost their minds when they saw it, and their excitement was contagious. We all felt like it was our first cruise.

 

We hop on the elevators and head right for the buffet of course! :D

I spot the Statue of Liberty, and everyone in my group tells me Im crazy.... so I got a picture to prove it!!

 

 

Then we walked around a little checking out our new home for the next 10 days.

 

More to come in a little bit. After I organize my thoughts!!

[njmomof2]

Did your IL's kids really miss 9 days of school or were they on break for part of it? I have a freshman in HS and I am afraid to take him out for even a day or so because of the workload. Maybe their schools allowed them to take work in advance and they were able to keep up. That's a very long trip.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I have been waiting for someone from this cruise to post. I will be very interested to hear how it was.

[emen822]

Anxiously awaiting your thoughts! I am sailing in 9 days! :D

[silygirl77]

I look forward to reading more.

[narrow56]

I'm anxiously awaiting more!!

[sharod]

Keep it coming!!!

[marci22]

Did your IL's kids really miss 9 days of school or were they on break for part of it? I have a freshman in HS and I am afraid to take him out for even a day or so because of the workload. Maybe their schools allowed them to take work in advance and they were able to keep up. That's a very long trip.

 

Once my kids were in HS I only let them miss 3 days max; there is just too much work to make up. I try to work it around holidays and breaks.

[MrFunInTheSun]

Thanks so much for sharing your cruise adventure with us!

[Newsbuff16]

Looking forward to reading more! Thank you for sharing your experience.

[JustCruisin2012]

Maybe this virtual treat will help keep you going! Eagerly awaiting all you can share. TYVM.

[EMED2010]

Can't wait to hear more!

[Jenn31708]

Did your IL's kids really miss 9 days of school or were they on break for part of it? I have a freshman in HS and I am afraid to take him out for even a day or so because of the workload. Maybe their schools allowed them to take work in advance and they were able to keep up. That's a very long trip.

 

Yes, she did take them out of school for 9 days. They never miss much school, and they're really good students. The teachers were told a few months in advance so they could have work ready for them. It was really a once in a lifetime vacation, we'ver never been able to take a vacation together and with the kids getting older, we might never be able to again.

[SuitCaseBears]

Yes, she did take them out of school for 9 days. They never miss much school, and they're really good students. The teachers were told a few months in advance so they could have work ready for them. It was really a once in a lifetime vacation, we'ver never been able to take a vacation together and with the kids getting older, we might never be able to again.

 

Good for y'all. Some things are more important than missing a little school. We sail on Explorer (our first RCCL cruise) two months from tomorrow. I'm looking forward to hearing more.

[Jenn31708]

So after we do the buffet and wander a bit, its after 1:30. We decide to head up to our room. My only other cruise, we had a regular balcony on the Liberty. This time hubby let me splurge on a junior suite. I figured the bigger room and more storage space would realy come in handy for a 10 night trip. i was definitely not disappointed. We had 9258, it was about 10 rooms off of the elevators, starbord side forward. I hope I got all of that right, I'm terrible knowing where I am on the ship. :p

 

 

There was an insane amount of storage space. I brought extra hangers and never needed them. There was so many shelves, cabinets, and cubby holes. Most of them were empty... we never needed to use them. And the bathroom? So nice to have a bathtub and not have to shower in that tiny little capsule! Also, we had a little set up in the bathroom with Vitality brand shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, bar soap, and a grooming kit. In all, I already loved the room.

 

After we unpack, its time to wander a little more and then head on down for the muster drill. Blah blah blah..... everyone knows how this goes. Luckily it was painless and its time for sailaway. We make our way up to deck 12 and it's freezing and windy, but we have to at least tough it out until we go under the Verrazano bridge. I have to admit, it was pretty cool!

 

Now here's where the trip starts to get interesting. The amazing Captain Olav Nyseter comes over the loud speaker and tells us we have beautiful weather for sail away but it will get progressivley worse through the night and into tomorrow. Boy, he wasn't kidding. The wind and waves started up before dinner. We had table 351, 3rd floor behind the main staircase, 8:30 seatimng. Not the best location, but we didn't mind much. We met our waiter Francisco and the assistant Walter... really nice guys. Dinner was good, not outstanding.

 

After dinner we hit the casino for a bit, lose a little money of course and head upstairs to bed

 

More to come........ :D

[Curly locks]

Really enjoying your review and love the pictures! Can't wait for more! I'm sailing for the first time with RCI and on the EOS in two weeks! So excited! Are you able to give me a rough idea of how long it takes, if you don't carry your own luggage off, to disembark? Any advice would be appreciated. Many thanks.

[kleo30]

I'm enjoying your review. We almost booked this one...but went with the 11/3/13 sailing instead.

[Ned11]

Looking forward to more. I leave in 33 days and can't wait! :D

[Jenn31708]

Really enjoying your review and love the pictures! Can't wait for more! I'm sailing for the first time with RCI and on the EOS in two weeks! So excited! Are you able to give me a rough idea of how long it takes, if you don't carry your own luggage off, to disembark? Any advice would be appreciated. Many thanks.

 

We didn't take off our own luggage either. We got green tags, 18. That meant we were leaving between 10:15 and 10:30 and our meeting place was studio B. We got there at about 10, and 20 minutes later they called us and we walked right off the ship. I thought the disembarkation and luggage claim was very organized and smooth. .

[Jenn31708]

Ok, now here's where the trip gets interesting. The first night I'm woken up to the phone ringing at 4 am by some drunk looking for someone else and I can't go back to sleep. The ship is already really rocking and rolling at this point. The snow storm that's hitting the east coast was bearing down on us.

 

Hubby wakes up at about 7 and we find a few in our group. They were already really seasick, so they decided to just hang out in their rooms.

 

Hubby and I went to the Windjammer alone for breakfast and it was pretty good. The good Captain Olav makes another announcement that the winds and waves will only get stonger and the direction of the wind was going to make it really rough for us. Also, because of the weather we had to go much slower than he wanted so our arrival into Labadee would be delayed by a few hours.

 

I went to the guest relations desk to find out if the ice show was going to be cancelled for that day because the kids were so excited to see it. I was assured by the front desk that they never cancel the shows for weather and everything was on as scheduled. A few hours later, Chris the activities manager made the announcement that ice shows were cancelled for the safety of the performers! Oh well. I also wanted to know if the excursions we had booked for Labadee would be affected by arriving late. We had the water park and the coaster. The front desk said becaue it is their private island, our late arrival time wouldn't matter and we would be able to do the excursions.

 

As the day DRAGS on, it is getting rougher and rougher and my anxiety is through the roof already. After my last cruise we flew home and it was a really bad flight. I haven't flown since, which is why we chose this cruise out of New Jersey. I had no problems with the movement on the ship last time, until we got off the ship. Then I felt like I was still on the ship for about 3 weeks... weird, I know.

 

Anyways, my anxiety is getting really bad and I'm starting to freak out. I decided to go down to medical to see if they can give me anything to calm down. I talk to the nurse, a really nice man named Ariel who calmed me down a bit and told me to come back if it got worse.

 

Hubby and I decided to head to the dining room for lunch, because being higher on the ship like in our room or the buffet was too much movement for me. By now the waves are slamming the ship and they have closed off all outside areas completely. The captain makes another announcement asking everyone to be careful walking around and that it will continue to get worse and there is no way he can avoid it. He expects the winds to exceed 90 knots and the waves to exceed 20 feet. He also warned us about opening our balcony doors and cabin hallway doors at the same time which would create a dangerous wind tunnel and we would get hurt.

 

I know that the captain did the right thing and he wuld have never put us in danger, but I was honestly so scared. In my head I know that this ship can handle so much more than we experienced, I know the captain is the most experienced in the whole fleet..... all of this I KNOW. But thats the problem with anxiety, its completely irrational. I had a few ummmm..... breakdowns I'll say. If anyone was on this sailing too and saw the woman crying hysterically in the Promenade cafe, casino, Schooner bar, stairways etc..... that was me. :o

 

Finally I decide that I can't handle it anymore and head down to medical. They were closed, but the crew member that brought me down called the doctor on duty. Long story short (TOO LATE) they gave me an injection of something and some Xanax to calm me down, it was that bad. So bottom line, the ship was doing fine but I was a hot mess. They take me back in a wheelchair back to me room... how embarrasing!!

 

Unfortunately, I can't stay in my room long because being that high up I can feel the ship rocking so much. I wander down to the promenade and spend the next few hours just wandering in circles. I occasionally see members of my family, but they're so seasick they can't stay out of their rooms for more than 10 minutes. In the early evening the captain makes another announcement about the storm. It is pretty much at its peak, with winds at about 110 knots and waves 25-28 feet. He had to turn to avoid the worst of it because more than half the ship was ill and a great number of the staff was as well. Due to this, it would be impossible to make our scheduled stop at Labadee. We would have an additional day at sea and arrive at San Juan Puerto Rico at 9 am on Saturday instead of 2 pm. Of course we're disappointed, but I understand he had to do what was best for our safety. He also tells us that we shuld really see an improvement in the weather by about 4 am. So I stay wandering the promenade and the casino until about 3 am, stumble into my cabin and finally am able to sleep. Wowza..... what a 2nd day. :eek:

[dixieva]

Boy I can really sympathize with you! Several years ago we were on a ship during a hurricane and we had seas even higher than you had and lots of wind. I was freaked out. I have never prayed so hard in my life! It was really scary.

 

I'm just glad the weather got better for you.

 

Thanks for your review!

[momphoto]

We too were on this cruise and it was the most movement and of course highest waves we have ever experienced. I did not see you crying anywhere...lol...but I totally understand how this weather could affect some people. We were 3 lucky ones....the waves/movement did not bother us at all....we even sat up on deck 14 in Dizzy's for a drink in the afternoon and got to see the giant wave hit the ship when we hit the 120knot wind gust!! Of course up that high you could really feel the movement and it was hard to walk! It was also formal night and the captains welcome aboard party.....needless to say the promenade was not nearly as busy as it normally is. The captain even warned women not to wear high heals.

[Jenn31708]

We too were on this cruise and it was the most movement and of course highest waves we have ever experienced. I did not see you crying anywhere...lol...but I totally understand how this weather could affect some people. We were 3 lucky ones....the waves/movement did not bother us at all....we even sat up on deck 14 in Dizzy's for a drink in the afternoon and got to see the giant wave hit the ship when we hit the 120knot wind gust!! Of course up that high you could really feel the movement and it was hard to walk! It was also formal night and the captains welcome aboard party.....needless to say the promenade was not nearly as busy as it normally is. The captain even warned women not to wear high heals.

 

 

I would have passed out if I tried to go up to Dizzy's during that storm!! :D

I did hear the announcement about the high heels too, it did give me a chuckle

[cemor66]

Really enjoying your review and love the pictures! Can't wait for more! I'm sailing for the first time with RCI and on the EOS in two weeks! So excited! Are you able to give me a rough idea of how long it takes, if you don't carry your own luggage off, to disembark? Any advice would be appreciated. Many thanks.

 

In my experiences: Last time I checked my baggage when leaving the ship, it took a few hours for me to find my luggage in the terminal. Seems the longshoremen (and longshorewomen) sometimes have a problem reading the numbers on the luggage tags correctly. A 14 sometimes looks like a 24, etc. So I pretty much had to look through the whole terminal to find my pieces. And from what I saw that day, and heard, it's a common problem.

 

The other day I did express walkoff with 2 pieces of luggage. I was supposed to assemble in the deck 4 dining room at 8:30am. I looked over the side of the ship from the outside deck and saw people boarding the bus so I just dragged my stuff down and boarded. Exiting around 8:30, quickly was on the bus, sped through customs, walked outside just as a buddy of mine pulled up to drive me home...and being I live in town, I was home unpacking by 9...and in the corner store drinking a real container of coffee by 9:15. Now that's express service!

[cemor66]

I'm enjoying your review. We almost booked this one...but went with the 11/3/13 sailing instead.

 

I may see you on that one. That is on the radar.