March 11th-21st 2014 Explorer of the Seas 10-Day Review

[anchor81 anchor81]

Hello Fellow Cruisers,

 

This thread is my review for my first cruise on RCCL Explorer of the Seas trip March 11th-21st 2014 sailing out of Bayonne, NJ. Hopefully this doesn't become too long for some of you to read. LOL! I will try to condense this so it doesn't get too overwhelming.

 

On March 11th we sailed out of Bayonne NJ on Explorer of the Seas. I had never been on a cruise before and my wife had been on a cruise MANY MANY years ago when she was younger. Checking into the terminal was a very easy process I must say. We came prepared, and had everything we needed so their were no hiccups involved with paperwork. We waited about 45 minutes or so to take the bus over to the ship to board which wasn't bad. We then went up to the 11th floor to have lunch at Windjammer Cafe.

 

The first few days on the ship were a little rough for me I must say. Not having to do anything with Royal Caribbean, but in my life I had only been on small boats and was not really receptive to sea life if ya catch my drift....:). Nothing came up from below but I was VERY off kilter. It was by no means horrible, but there was definitely movement on the boat and I felt off.

 

I must say the entertainment on the boat was very good. It keeps you busy when your out at sea. We didn't do any outdoor activities the first couple days due to it was very windy and cold out. We walked around on the ship and DEFINITELY ate like pigs. LOL. There is so much food on the ship to eat.

 

Entertainment on the Ship:

 

The variety of activities on the boat in my opinion was more than enough accommodating to different personalities. We attended the ice show, comedy shows, went to the casino, and enjoyed the live music entertainment sprawled throughout the ship.

 

Ports of Call:

 

Samana, D.R.: Before leaving for this cruise I gathered information about visiting this area in DR from people that I know that have been on cruises and to be honest just about everyone stated that Samana was not that great to visit. This area is very well known for the whale watching and found out later that this is one of the main reasons RCCL has a stop there. We didn't do a whale watching excursion but I booked an excursion to go over to Cayo Levantando after researching prior to cruising as I didn't want to chance disappointment on our first stop. A small resort area this beach was beautiful. The water was beautiful and very nice scenery. Our first encounter with international street vendors. These people are very pushy when your walking through to get to the beach. They don't take the first NO, and I can't blame them. LOL. They are there to make money and in no way did I ever feel in harms way with them but they will make may attempts to get you to buy. This day we just relaxed in the water until it was time to tender out. TRY A COCO LOCO if ya' go. A good island drink in a LARGE coconut.

 

St. Thomas: Day two in St. Thomas we were a little lost on what to do. I didn't really plan anything by way of excursion we just kinda' wandered and around the island on a whim. Everyone talks about how this is a known shopping port so that is kinda' what we went on. When you get off the boat a short walk takes you to a shopping area near the port. The shops to me were all the same lined up in rows. There are a ton of shops in this area but as you are walking there are LOADS of jewelry stores and I mean LOADS of them. Your typical "boardwalk" type shops are sprawled about and they all basically stock the same items with MANY varying prices. This is where we got our first taste of bargaining with vendors. I strongly suggest new cruisers and hell even seasoned cruisers BARGAIN. They will tango with you and they are plenty of places to buy the same item for a lower price. Don't insult them but we would buy an item in one shop thinking it was a good deal and then walk immediately to the next store and find that item a few dollars cheaper. I never felt ripped off or scammed, because while your shopping and unless you are looking for specific items their is no way to tell if you are going to find something cheaper unless you visit EVERY single store first and BUY after. After that, we walked what was stated as a 1 mile walk to Main st. area. A very nice walk, but be forewarned it isn't a 1 mile walk. It's 2 1/2 miles. LOL. We visited some street vendors lined up along the road. Picked up some souvenirs and trinkets for the kids. Good deals, and again you can bargain. In the Main St. area again LOADS of jewelry shops. We visited the Belgian Chocolate factory store and bought some chocolates. Very good chocolates and on the expensive side. In my opinion worth it! We went into a few other random shops. We went back to the ship to change into swimming attire and decided amongst the advice of SEVERAL people to go to Magens Bay. we hopped a taxi which for the 2 of us was $20.00 with tip, (I wish cab prices were like that in the USA here!). The drive up was interesting because its on the other side of the island. Treacherous roads. We arrived and I must say we were not impressed in the slightest. Maybe it was all the hype, but for starters the beach was very crowded. After being spoiled to amazing waters in Cayo Levantando the day before. The beach was clean, the water was nice, and the scenery was beautiful but I didn't experience the WOW factor like other peoples opinion of it. To each is own.......

 

St. Kitts: Day 3 arrived in St. Kitts and again didn't really plan on any excursions we just got off the ship and walked around port area and then planned on a beach escape later in the day. After we got into the main shopping area right outside of dock, you are ran about with so many taxi drivers offering tours of the island. This was the heaviest amount of bombarding we experienced on an island. We politely declined and moved on. We walked around shop are and purchased some souvenirs and then had planned on going to a beach. The area immediately outside of port is not that nice. It was Sunday and from what we heard being a very religious area that just about all stores were closed so we didn't venture very far off into the city. After going back to ship to change attire we found a taxi driver after many recommendations to visit Cockleshell Bay. I have to shout out the taxi driver Calvin Joseph and the hut attendant Debbie at the beach. Beautiful scenic drive to the bay and amazing photo ops. We arrived at this small beach which was very relaxing and not crowded. The taxi driver offered us a tab because I guess he was friends with Debbie. Very accommodating people and treated you like family when you arrive there with beach chairs underneath some shade. The water was beautiful with the exception that my wife was getting nipped at by some small fish that would swim right up to you. I didn't get bit! We found a bunch of shells to bring home to my daughter, but later on when we arrived back at the ship, they were all confiscated and we were told we were not allowed to bring them on board with us. also, along this island you will see roaming monkeys about. They are very cute.

 

St. Martin: Our final island stop was st. Martin. I had pre-planned to go to Anguilla from Marigot Bay via ferry so other than a VERY VERY interesting history lesson on the way to Marigot Bay we sadly did not experience much of Dutch or French side other than walking around for the last half hour before boarding ship.

 

Anguilla: We hopped a taxi and drove to Marigot Bay to catch a water ferry over to Anguilla which was a 20 minute trip. The reason for going to Anguilla was I surprised my wife to swim with dolphins at Dolphin Discovery. Upon arriving in Anguilla we checked into customs which was just a few minutes and came out of terminal expecting to taxi to the place to swim with dolphins. It was a short walk from the ferry terminal. The swim with dolphins cost about $200.00 for the both of us. My wife had always wanted to do that and she loves dolphins so it was worth it for her to experience that joy. The beach was AMAZING AMAZING! An unpopulated beach with a waiting area for your group to swim with the dolphins. I really can't say it enough. The water here was amazing and I would consider vacationing here alone in itself for a week. The experience with the dolphins was fantastic learning about them. Came out with knowledge and understanding for such an amazing creature. After that we hurried back to ferry terminal to get back to the ship. After arriving back at port we had only about an hour to spare before departure. I would strongly suggest if you go to Anguilla on cruise, prepare for it to be the whole day. You cut it real close getting back to the ship after traveling back an forth there. An hour left isn't much time to spare......

 

Sailing back home the final days wasn't bad. We had a very rough night on the second night back. The boat was REALLY rocking and in fact we went to bed at like 7:30pm and didn't wake up till like 10:30am the next day. The last day we were kinda' antsy to get home. Although, 10 days is nice to relax without kids or life's daily pressures we were excited to get back home! This had been our first trip alone without kids in 11 years so it was long overdue.

 

Overall, the trip was fantastic, and I would cruise again. RCCL did a great job of keeping us busy while at sea. The food was very good and most of our eating was done in the Windjammer. Out of the 10 nights we did 3 in main dining room including one of them being formal nights. For starters, we are casual people and the food offering although very good in the dining room was a little to fancied up for me at least. I enjoy fine dining and all but the food offering was not really to our taste. The Windjammer has a vast selection of food available at dinner time and you can find find multiple different things to eat that you will like. Getting off the ship we opted for Express checkout and it went smooth. I would recommend RCCL to anyone looking to cruise. It doesn't take much to satisfy me. sure you had a lot of people complain but you will always find those in the bunch. The cruise was great and I hope anyone who reads this enjoys the post. Sorry if it was too long!........

Edited March 25, 2014 by anchor81 anchor81

[Yorkvillain]

Very nice review and not too long at all. In fact I think most of us on here love the longer reviews!

[SoundDawg]

Thanks for the review! We just booked Explorer for October.

[gems4me]

Thanks for the review. Going on the Explorer on April 24. Can't wait.

[adkboy]

Thanks for a great review. We are sailing on Explorer to Bermuda on April 19th. It's been too long of a winter here in Northern NY. Need some warm sun!