Explorer Spring Break Review - special diet edition

[FunkyMumNJ]

Hi all! I have gotten so much great information here on Cruise Critic, so I wanted to post a review of our trip last week on the Explorer. Plus, it keeps me from catching up on the laundry.

 

Background info ~ we love cruising and this was our third time on Explorer, and second Spring Break cruise. My family includes me, DH and four kids, aged 17, 14, 11 and 5. My 11 year old has autism - not the high functioning, quirky type but the speech delayed, hand flapping, behavior issues type - and he also has food allergies (gluten, corn, dairy and soy). All the kids love to cruise. This review is going to be mostly about family activities ~ I usually couldn't make it to anything grown up or late night because the kids wore me out!

 

First thing I will note is that this was a spring break cruise. The ship was full of KIDS. If you don't have kids or don't like kids, you might not want to cruise during spring break. My teenagers LOVE cruising during spring break since the teen club is so full and they get to meet so many people. For my son with autism, it is a little more challenging since he needs more attention when he goes to Adventure Ocean, and quite honestly, he can't stay for long when it is super crowded. But the staff is great, they keep all the kids busy, and for my special guy, I got a beeper so I could come and get him if/when he melted down.

 

OK, so let's start the review! We are from south NJ, so for us it was a short ride to Bayonne. We left home at 10:30 and made it to the port by 11:30. Small line that moved well, we unloaded our luggage, hubby parked the car and we were on the ship by noon.

 

No pictures allowed in the customs area, but I snapped this one really fast as we headed to the ship.

 

 

Checked out the dining room:

 

 

Our table for six:

 

 

Library on the 7th deck - lots of books:

 

 

Grand Promenade on the first day:

 

 

 

Be sure to look for the Statue of Liberty!

 

 

We got some food in the Windjammer - my son had some snacks we packed and we took a chance with the plain rice and some plain fish from the buffet (seemed fine). Then it was time for sail away!

 

OK, only six photos at a time, so more coming in a minute!

[FunkyMumNJ]

Sail-away!!

 

 

Heading under the bridge - it was a bit chilly on deck:

 

 

Sail away party was on deck 5, Royal Promenade. Note the soda machines in the background - if you get the soda package you can refill with sooo many flavors. My soda drinking 14 year old loved it. There were 2 more machines in the Windjammer.

 

 

 

My daughter enjoyed dancing with the (future) Activities Director - she took over halfway through the week when the other activities director went home for a wedding:

 

 

Rooms were available after 1:30 so we headed out to check out ours. First time to have an aft balcony and we got one of the super special ones (shhhh, I'm not telling which one) that had enough room to hang a hammock on the balcony.

 

[narrow56]

I love reviews from the same cruise I was on. yay!

[FunkyMumNJ]

After the sailaway party, which was lots of fun, with line dancing and good music, we headed to the room to unpack, then it was dinner time.

 

When we booked the cruise, we filled out a form indicating we had special dietary needs. Then the first night we met with the Maitre'D to go over our needs. My son is the type of kid who just likes the same food almost every night, so we confirmed that he could have shrimp, chicken and plain white rice for dinner. We put in our lunch order at this time too, and for breakfast my son just liked the gluten free bread along with some cereal we brought on board.

 

If you have food allergies, they now note on the menu which foods can be prepared gluten free, vegan, dairy free, etc. And there are a LOT of options, including desserts. Probably best to avoid the Windjammer, but they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner in the MDR and it is all fabulous. Since my son has multiple allergies, we did bring him almond milk, his favorite rice cereal, plus snacks like cookies and chips, plus some Izze soda that is just fruit juice and seltzer. RCCL has no problem letting you bring sealed food onto the ship in a suitcase. Oh, and we were able to get french fries from Johnnie Rockets, and they made them w/o corn or soy oil. They were so good!

 

After dinner we went and signed the kids up for Adventure Ocean - after that the teens disappeared almost entirely. LOL. Kids Club was not open that first day. I believe we went to the show that night, just a welcome aboard thing - but my 11 year old loves to go to the "show" each night so we went.

 

Early bedtime after a long day!

 

Out at sea, day 2 - a little cold but sunny:

 

 

NCL was following us:

 

 

View of our cabin:

 

[FunkyMumNJ]

So we went for breakfast and I ordered an omelette with mushrooms and cheese plus turkey sausage, my daughter had french toast and my son brought his cereal and almond milk. They also toasted him up some gluten free bread and cut it in the shape of triangles, which pleased him to no end, lol.

 

The first day was still chilly so we attempted kids club - my 5 year old loved it of course. My son only lasted a short time because it was PACKED and I guess he tried to run out of the room and was being aggressive and scaring some of the other kids. This is not his usual behavior so I felt bad that he started off making such a bad impression, but we decided to try again later. Before we knew it, it was lunchtime - one of my favorite parts of the cruise, the Tutti Salad bar in the MDR!

 

You pick your veggies, and then you can add chicken, shrimp, feta, mozzarella, any dressing - it is so yummy. My daughter loved it too.

 

 

Then my crazy kids wanted to go in the pool. One of the pools was kept heated to 77 degrees, the other one was unheated.

 

 

Meanwhile, this is how my husband enjoyed the pool:

 

 

After the pool we just enjoyed strolling around the ship - it was getting warmer but still cloudy:

 

 

[grace#11]

We'll be on Explorer next week - looking forward to reading your review. You take terrific pictures - what type of camera are you using to get such great, steady, clear indoor shots?

[FunkyMumNJ]

After lunch we tried kids club again. It was still very crowded but I asked if my son could stay for a little while if I stayed right outside the door to intervene in case of a problem. They agreed, and he was happy to go back in and this time he behaved. I think he really just wanted to go and color on his own and not play the games with the other kids, but the kids club staff was (rightfully) trying to engage him and that maybe was what set him off in the first place. Who knows? But he stayed for about 45 minutes while I waited outside and then we left. He was very happy that he got to go and I was glad that we gave it another try.

 

 

Now we are up to dinner time - first formal night! Coming up!

[FunkyMumNJ]

We'll be on Explorer next week - looking forward to reading your review. You take terrific pictures - what type of camera are you using to get such great, steady, clear indoor shots?

 

Thank you ~ I just got a new Nikon D600 :D ~ it is great in low light!

[FunkyMumNJ]

First formal night! We didn't take any family photos because my teenagers were running late for dinner, and I figure we always want the ones from the second formal night anyway, since by then we are all tanned and relaxed, right? LOL.

 

My teenagers did NOT want to bring ties or dress shoes. They got away with looking like this:

 

 

I wore a more formal "little black dress" ~ I saw some VERY dressed up and most dressed like this, and some empty tables at dinner for the people who probably just skipped it and ate in the Windjammer:

 

 

And here's my daughter on the stairs - I noticed nice new carpeting in many areas on the ship:

 

 

Something else to note, in the MDR they have the option to buy lobster any night of the week for $30 extra, also a surf and turf or steak option (forget the prices on those.) My hubby sprung for lobster for my oldest tonight and it was quite a lot of lobster:

 

 

 

 

My daughter had lobster ravioli:

 

[FunkyMumNJ]

After dinner there was a nice sunset at sea:

 

 

And we went to the show, got there about 15 minutes early and had no problem finding seats. We enjoy the shows, very talented singers and dancers, lots of costume changes, and great orchestra.

 

 

After the show we picked up my daughter from Kids Club. They are generally open each day 9-12 and then 2-5 and then finally 7-10 but be sure to check each day because on port days it can be different. And they have after hours events as well - it costs $6 per hour per kid to go to the late night or dinner party events. Worth it if you want a night out late. I could never make it much past the shows, lol.

 

As you walk to Adventure Ocean, there is a big arcade. You can put a certain amount of money on your child's card to play games if you want. We never did, even though there was a lot of whining about it. But I saw lots of kids playing the games.

 

[FunkyMumNJ]

Here's our cabin, all made up at night. We had two of these, next to each other. Our room steward, Allison was awesome.

 

 

And now it is Tuesday! Handy hint, if you will be on Explorer - each day they change the carpet in the elevators to the correct day of the week. So if you forget what day it is, you can check in the elevator, lol.

 

 

Scheduled to arrive in Port Canaveral at 1:30 - weather was warming up so we had some fun by the pool - big crowd for the "Sexiest Man" competition:

 

 

Then lunch in the MDR again - and here's our waiter Sid. He was our dinner waiter but worked in the MDR for breakfast and lunch and came to check on us each day to make sure we were taken care of. The dining room staff on Explorer is definitely one of the friendliest I have ever encountered. Hi Sid!! I miss you!!

 

 

Here we are in Port Canaveral, pulling into port! Nice day, going to be warm and sunny!

 

 

Other ships in port that day, Disney and NCL:

[FunkyMumNJ]

 

In Florida, I opted to take the younger kids to Disney for a princess dinner at the Grand Floridian hotel. Less money than going into the park, and still fun! We booked the bus transfer to Disney through the cruise line - totally worth the $35 per person since you don't have to worry about traffic or car rentals or anything. Dinner was $40 for adults and $20 for kids and included a pretty decent buffet AND special diet help from the chef. AWESOME!

 

My husband and older boys opted to stay and enjoy the ship all day, and they had a blast.

 

Here's the Grand Floridian:

 

 

We got to the Disney Transit center at around 3:00 (??) and then we walked over to take the ferry to the Magic Kingdom island (why not?) - from there we hopped on the Monorail and took a ride. These are all free and fun. We could see the castle from the ferry:

 

 

Just a note about Disney - we have gone into the park on a cruise day before, but I don't know if it is really worth it to pay for tickets when you only have a few hours. Keep in mind that during spring break, the lines for rides can be over 2 hours long. Some that rode on the bus with us said they only went on 2-3 rides. My son has a handicap pass, so we don't have to wait as long, but I still didn't want to fight the crowds in the park that day.

 

Here's my son with his gluten free dinner at Disney:

 

 

We got to meet Prince Charming, Cinderella, Fairy Godmother and the two "ugly" stepsisters. It was definitely fun for my little ones.

 

 

After dinner (around 6pm) we met some friends who live in Florida and we took the Disney bus (free) from the Grand Floridian to Downtown Disney. My kids had fun looking in the shops and riding the carousel there ($2 per person) - a note about this - if you do this, allow a LOT of time to get back to your bus at the end of the day. Our bus was scheduled to leave the Disney lot at 9 sharp. It took us about 30-40 minutes to get to Downtown Disney on the bus, so I left at 7:30 so we would be back early. Well ... I took us over an hour to get back! I was getting a bit nervous, but we made it to the bus by 8:45, phew.

 

Here's my son checking the map at Downtown Disney:

 

[narrow56]

I learned my lesson about doing a theme park on a cruise. We did Universal and were only able to go on the Harry Potter ride, which was almost a 3 hour wait! Never again!

[FunkyMumNJ]

We sailed out of Port Canaveral at midnight. There was a sailaway deck party but I didn't make it. Hubby said there weren't many people there.

 

Here's the port at night:

 

 

Next day - Nassau!! First things first - breakfast! Here's Janet who helped us every morning and most days at lunch, she always caught us as we came in, gave us a special table and brought my son his special meals. She did this for quite a few families, busy lady but always smiling.

 

 

Docking time was in the afternoon, so my son went to kids club (where he seemed to finally settle in) and my daughter came with me to the little kids pool all the way in the back of the ship. I didn't take any photos, but they have a slide there that is open at certain times, and it is a great spot to get some sun because it is shielded from the wind.

 

And then we arrived!! Beautiful day!

 

 

What to do in Nassau? If you have kids, I don't suggest just getting off the ship to look around. There are some nice activities but the port area is really more for party people. In the past we have done a pirate tour, and more recently we did the dolphin excursion at Blue Lagoon (which I booked myself instead of through RCCL, it was cheaper and not that hard.) This year we chose to take a cab to Cable Beach and get day passes at the Sheraton resort. Cabs were $5 per person each way and I don't remember the day pass charge but since we got there so late (around 3:30) they only charged us $15 for the 3 adults (counted my 17 year old as an adult) and let the kids in free. SCORE.

 

The cab ride is about 15-20 minutes at the most. The resort is amazing, pools, hot tubs, swim up bar, and a gorgeous beach.

 

 

 

[FunkyMumNJ]

I learned my lesson about doing a theme park on a cruise. We did Universal and were only able to go on the Harry Potter ride, which was almost a 3 hour wait! Never again!

 

We did Epcot last year and it was tolerable since my son has the handicap pass, but it was still very crowded and hard to navigate.

[FunkyMumNJ]

We left the Sheraton around 7 and headed back to port. We had made arrangements the night before so that my son would be able to have his dinner set aside, so we wanted to get back and feed him.

 

A few nice shots of the beach and Nassau on the way back:

 

 

 

 

Back on the ship at night - Atlantis from our balcony:

 

 

 

Back on board, the teens scattered, hubby got me some dinner from Windjammer and picked up my son's special dinner from the dining room, and then he took my daughter and was able to be seated to have dinner with late dining since there were lots of empty seats due to people being out in Nassau. They had a nice daddy/daughter date and I enjoyed a little rest in the room. Too tired for the show.

 

Thursday was Coco Cay! I was up early and got to watch the sunrise. There's an NCL ship docked for their private island nearby. We arrived at 8 am but we were not in a rush to get off the ship. We got our tender tickets after breakfast and went ashore by 11 am.

 

[FunkyMumNJ]

Tendering was easy since we waited - no lines, lots of seats.

 

 

Best views of the ship are from the Tender, make sure you bring a camera!

 

 

 

And here we are!! Nice and sunny, supposed to be 77 degrees. It was a bit windy and the water was choppy but still a nice day.

 

 

Straw market:

 

 

 

FYI - Adventure Ocean operates at the beach too.

 

[FunkyMumNJ]

The beach was a little crowded, but we still found 3 beach loungers and settled in. My 11 year old likes to swim all they way out as far as he can (so I have to go with him) and that was first on his list.

 

If you have a swimmer or want to snorkel, I highly recommend renting a vest for $8. The current is pretty strong and the water can be choppy - it is easy to swim out far and then HARD to get back in. We have brought out own snorkel gear in the past, but this year we rented one set ($32) and then just got vests. You can swim out on your own and see lots of great stuff. They have sunk 2 planes and a boat, plus there are some rocky areas with fish - decent amount if you go on the right day. My photos from out at sea are on my disposable water camera so nothing to share from this trip but I will share some from last year's trip so you can get an idea.

 

Here's a shot of the beach:

 

 

 

Coco Locos available with your Seapass card:

 

 

 

Definitely good advice, the birds get crazy when you drop food:

 

[FunkyMumNJ]

Some Coco Cay water shots from last year:

 

 

 

Sunken plane:

 

 

 

There's a nice barbecue lunch. My son was able to have some rice and some chicken - probably not 100% safe but the other option was going back to the ship to eat, or trying to track down a headwaiter, which seemed pretty impossible.

 

 

After lunch, my son went to Adventure Ocean for a while - it was pretty empty so that worked well for him. I got to relax a bit and then my hubby went to get him so we could swim all the way out again, lol. I was hoping to have time to check out the straw market but that didn't work out. Oh well, swimming all that time helped to work off all that barbecue food!

 

Just in time to shower and make it to dinner. We all had a lot of sun and that shower felt so good. I am sorry I didn't keep track of what I ate each night but everything was good. On this night, the waiters all came out and we clapped and swung our napkins around. Yay for the waiters!

 

 

 

After dinner, of course we went to the show. I think this was the night we saw Rondell Sheridan. (The dad from That's so Raven and Cory in the House.) He was very funny. My teens ran into him later on the ship and he posed for a picture with them, very nice.

 

Then there was a 70's party. I tried to make it for this but I was wiped out. Hubby enjoyed it very much. I got one picture on the way to my room.

 

[FunkyMumNJ]

Here's another shot of the 70's party, taken from the library I think:

 

 

Friday at sea - it was cloudy and rainy but after 3 days of sun, that was fine! After breakfast the kids went to kids club for a bit and we met with our Cruise Critic group for a picture. Not many showed up. Where were you guys?? LOL. Here's our little group:

 

 

We also did some shopping, I believe this was the day they had $10 tee shirts and some Pandora style bracelets for $24.99, picked up some souvenirs and gifts and then it was lunch time.

 

More Tutti salad bar, and my daughter's crush in the middle, she loved this waiter and smiled and giggled every time he came near her.

 

 

And we had a singing waiter too!

 

The afternoon was REALLY pouring down rain. It was warmish but just too rainy to do anything outside. I enjoyed some time in the cabin, watched Life Of Pi (excellent) and my daughter took a nap. Hubby took my son to Kids Club for a little while and then it was time for our 2nd formal night.

 

We made sure to go a bit early so we could get a formal family photo. They came out OK. We bought a few before we left. Then it was dinner - our favorite, the night they have the fisherman's platter (AKA - lobster!)

 

Here's hubby with the awesome Maitre'D:

 

 

Lobster dinner - the lobster on this trip was much more generous than the lobster on Enchantment last year. They made THREE special ones for my son with dietary issues - and he ate them ALL.

 

 

OK, have to take my oldest to tennis, I'll finish up later!

[scooter90]

Very much enjoying your review. We are on the Explorer next March, same route.

[FunkyMumNJ]

I'm back! I know if I don't finish this whole review today I never will.

 

After dinner, it was showtime again. Also, it was Pirate Parade night for Adventure Ocean! My daughter participated and loved it. My son stuck with us for the show and observed the pirate parade.

 

Aaargh - kids club staff are really into their jobs!

 

 

Here come the mini pirates, right through the theater and headed to the stage. Very cute!

 

 

Here's a shot of the theater before the show, very beautiful curtain on the stage, lots of comfy seats:

 

 

Tonight was the final production show, opened by our Cruise Director Richard Spacey. He really was awesome. On this night he opened with the Evolution of Dance. So funny. His signature "I love you" has been coming out of my mouth to the kids all week. I heard he left the Explorer after this sailing so I am glad we got to have him before he moved on to bigger, better things.

 

 

You can see him perform here:

 

 

And then the final show was great too:

 

[FunkyMumNJ]

Saturday came too soon! Last day at sea, it was sunny, but a bit windy and cold. We had our ice show to look forward to. In the past, you had to go and get tickets if you wanted to see the show, but they recently made a change. Now the show times are based on muster stations - there were two shows on Friday and two on Saturday. We were assigned to the last show, 4pm on Saturday.

 

Morning view from the balcony:

 

 

Peeking out the window at breakfast:

 

 

If you get a chance, you should check out the Peekaboo Bridge on deck 11 - a spot where you can peer in and see the bridge. Here's what I saw when I went on Saturday morning:

 

 

After breakfast, the kids went for a short visit to Adventure Ocean and then it was time to head up to Dizzy's for the Talent Show! Get there early if you want seats, and be ready to enjoy lots of amazing "talents" like joke telling, hula hooping, singing and dancing. Very cute for the kids and everyone who participates wins "FIRST PRIZE" and gets a medal.

 

Doesn't hurt that the views from Dizzy's are great! It was a very windy day, you can see the crew was on deck tying down the chairs!

 

 

Here's the medal:

 

 

And here's Dizzy. There is so much artwork throughout the ship, every stairwell and hallway has some kind of amazing art hanging, and there are sculptures throughout the ship, be sure to check it out if you are on Explorer:

 

[FunkyMumNJ]

Another thing that the kids loved - the ice cream machine outside the Windjammer, near the pool. My son couldn't have any, but my daughter enjoyed one last ice cream. They had one machine with vanilla and chocolate (and a swirl option) and another machine with strawberry. Free and available until 8 pm each night, if I recall.

 

 

After the show it was lunchtime - one last Tutti salad! Here's Desislav, another great waiter in the MDR - she always cut up my daughter's food, spoiling her completely.

 

 

My husband's favorite dessert - some kind of chocolate~peanutbutter thing that was YUMMY:

 

 

After lunch, my kids went to the pool despite the cold. We were surprised that it was not too cold in the sun. Captain said it was 50 degrees that day. I guess in a heated hot tub, you can stand anything!

 

 

After lunch we did some packing and then it was time for the ice show at 4. Amazing! I don't know how they can do what they do on a small rink with the ship moving like crazy! Lots of costume changes and super skilled skaters. The title (I think) was Spirits of the Seasons and they started like this:

 

 

 

Then they went to fall, winter, spring and then summer. Photos to follow.

[FunkyMumNJ]

Very much enjoying your review. We are on the Explorer next March, same route.

 

Thank you! I know you will love it! Friendliest crew around!