Explorer Review--Bermuda and Caribbean June 5, 2014

[shopping is fun]

We are a family of 4 (husband, wife, 2 teen daughters), and we were on the June 5, 2014 9-day Explorer sailing to Bermuda and the Caribbean. This was our 3rd RC cruise, and this is my first Cruise Critic review (or perhaps more like an overview!) Overall, we had a lovely cruise and thought the Explorer was a very nice ship. Our previous cruises were on Voyager and Freedom. Freedom does remain our favorite! We cruise to enjoy a break from the busy (and often, unpredictable) schedules associated with teenage daughters, who have nicknamed me “Drive and Pay”—maybe I should change my user name to that! Our preference is to be casual and comfortable, yet active, onboard. In other words, formal dining is not why we cruise! We don’t drink, except for the soda package, and we try to eat (and act) sensibly. We don’t hang out at the pool all day, and we have never (yes, never) ridden the elevator in 3 cruises!

 

Anyway, we began our trip with 2 days in New York, staying at the Marriot Courtyard in Jersey City/Newport, NJ. This location (recommended on CC, thank you!) was ideal for commuting via the PATH train to NYC. The hotel was comfortable and was across from a typical mall, where our girls did a bit of last minute shopping! Taxis were taken from the airport to hotel, hotel to pier, pier back to airport, but travel within NYC was on foot (we really like to walk!) or on the subway, which we had not experienced before, but quickly figured out! Now on to the cruise!

 

Embarkation—we arrived fairly early and apparently avoided a traffic jam en route to the pier. We waited about an hour in the terminal, but it was not unpleasant. There were areas to sign up for kids’ programs, beverage packages, etc. While the process for actually getting to the ship was a bit unusual, it really did work fairly efficiently, and taking the short shuttle ride was not a problem since we didn’t have our luggage. We were onboard around lunchtime, just in time to be part of the massive stampede within the Windjammer. The behavior of some of the other cruisers was just appalling—rudeness, pushing for position, piling multiple plates with enough food to feed a football team, etc. Not only was the gluttony an embarrassment, the almost unpresentable appearance of some of the passengers was shocking. While formal dress was not expected, at least smart casual attire might have been nice—after all, isn’t going on a cruise special??!! Some people were dressed like they were going to mow the yard! This was the worst first impression we have had on our 3 cruises, and it surprised me that this impression was based on the lack of manners and respect shown by the guests. Perhaps this is more common than we thought, but we did hear Leigh (cruise director) say, “People, calm down, we have done this, we’ve got it, we know how to do this—we WILL NOT run out of food! Just put down the fork!” It did calm down after about 3 days, only to resurface at the various $10 sales (especially the t-shirt sale) on the promenade!

 

Food—we do like the casualness of the Windjammer, so we ate all meals, except for 3 dinners there. I am always happy to have a great selection of vegetables and fish, while everyone else in our family had no trouble finding good selections of food they enjoyed. Sometimes the fish and chicken seemed a bit dried out, but this wasn’t a major issue. The Indian food in the Jade section was also very tasty! The 3 dinners we had in the Main Dining Room, using My Time Dining, were unremarkable. I was surprised that the serving of shrimp consisted of 2 (yes only 2) small shrimp along with the lobster on the Fisherman’s Platter. For those of you who love the coconut ranger cookies, those on the Explorer are soft, not crunchy—just how we liked them! The Coke Freestyle machines (4 in Windjammer, 2 on Promenade) were often out of Diet Coke toward the end of the cruise, and occasionally, we had to ask the Windjammer staff to refill our soda cups. We were amazed by the server who balances a tray with coffee cups, creamers, etc. on his head, all while pouring coffee! He was even in the farewell show!

 

Entertainment/Activities—the headliner shows were great, but the production shows (Royal Caribbean singers and dancers) were kind of boring. The music was old and the routines seemed tired. The Ice Show was the best we have seen. Other onboard activities seemed slightly slow getting started, as I don’t remember too much happening on the first sea day, but then things picked up. Our girls were part of only about 120 teens on the ship, but they quickly found friends and had fun. They had hoped for more sports events just for teens (as they had enjoyed on the Freedom). Overall, the enjoyment factor on the Explorer was greatly enhanced by the wonderful team of Leigh and Erky from Turkey. What a hoot they are, and they were so visible, seemingly everywhere. They truly made our experiences so much more fun!

 

Ship’s Condition—basically fine. The public areas are beautiful, and our room was the standard style. We had a flat screen TV; our girls had an old tube TV. The fitness center could use new machines and individual TVs that have good reception.

 

Service—Superb!! Our attendant, Cherton, was perfect, and everyone was friendly and helpful!

 

Ports—I will not go into much detail here, as many people have written about them. We did not do excursions, as we prefer to explore on our own. Labadee was beautiful, and one daughter did the zipline, saying it was one of the most amazing experiences ever. She said she would do it again, and even pay for it with her own money!! I will note that the onboard talks, given by Barbara D. (??) about the ports were quite informative, especially her advice about how to see Old San Juan in a short time.

 

Disembarkation—we elected to do self-walk-off, bouncing our bags down 2 flights of stairs. We were on the shuttle about 25 minutes after we arrived at our assigned area (Maharaja Lounge) to wait. Our number was 140, but this process moved fairly quickly. Getting the luggage on and off the shuttle bus was challenging to say the least; they should have had a little ramp (like a wheelchair ramp) to use for rolling bags. We are very glad we did the self-disembarkation, as I doubt we would have made our noon flight if we had used the regular process.

 

Summary—we did love our cruise, the smooth seas, the outstanding crew, the wonderful balance between relaxation and fun, and the itinerary. We are so thankful for the privilege of cruising and thankful to Royal Caribbean for providing such a rewarding vacation!

[TNIris]

Thank you for a great review!

 

We sail in October. We're going to do a few days in NYC beforehand, and I am very nervous about finding my way around that city, but MORE nervous about trying to get from NYC to the cruise port! :eek:

[marci22]

Nice review. Glad to hear about the Jade section as someone else had posted that they no longer had Indian food during lunch. Did they only have it during dinner?

Edited June 20, 2014 by marci22

[lakelorain]

Nice review. Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise. The Explorer is one of our favorite ships. Hate to see it leave NJ.

Sad to hear about the crowd behavior. We experienced the same thing on the Jewel out of Tampa a few years ago. Sloppy dress(even in the MDR) and eating enough food for a family of four was the norm. Some people never cease to amaze me.

Thanks for taking the time to let us know your thoughts.

[Susie51]

Thank you for your review.

[shopping is fun]

Nice review. Glad to hear about the Jade section as someone else had posted that they no longer had Indian food during lunch. Did they only have it during dinner?

 

 

If I remember correctly,there were always some Asian/Indian selections (noodles, miso soups, and some type of main entrée) at lunch, but more of a selection at dinner. They even served Shanghai noodles at breakfast!

[CruizinTigers]

Thanks for the review! Glad you had such a nice trip.

 

My family and I will be taking the same trip in less than two weeks! Can't wait.

 

Mind one question? I know you stated you ate in Windjammer most nights, but do you recall if there were any "smart casual" dining nights planned in the MDR for your sailing? A recent poster shared with us that on his recent trip, there was two formal nights, but the rest were casual, no "smart casual". I'm trying to figure out if that was a fluke or if it is the norm.

 

Thanks!

[heziggy]

Thank you for a great review!

 

We sail in October. We're going to do a few days in NYC beforehand, and I am very nervous about finding my way around that city, but MORE nervous about trying to get from NYC to the cruise port! :eek:

 

 

my family will be on the same sailing (2 adults and a 12 yr old boy) come join the roll call if you haven't yet

 

Thanks for the overview. can't wait till it's our turn!!

[shopping is fun]

my family will be on the same sailing (2 adults and a 12 yr old boy) come join the roll call if you haven't yet

 

Thanks for the overview. can't wait till it's our turn!!

 

Thanks for the review! Glad you had such a nice trip.

 

My family and I will be taking the same trip in less than two weeks! Can't wait.

 

Mind one question? I know you stated you ate in Windjammer most nights, but do you recall if there were any "smart casual" dining nights planned in the MDR for your sailing? A recent poster shared with us that on his recent trip, there was two formal nights, but the rest were casual, no "smart casual". I'm trying to figure out if that was a fluke or if it is the norm.

 

Thanks!

 

 

No smart casual, although casual is defined as sport shirts and trousers for men and sundresses or slacks/blouses for women. In reality , the attire ranged from t-shirts to nice dresses.

[SandyBShores]

Great summary! We sail to Bermuda w three teen girls next month. Was there anything there your girls particularly liked or disliked?

[shopping is fun]

Great summary! We sail to Bermuda w three teen girls next month. Was there anything there your girls particularly liked or disliked?

We explored the dockyard area and the shops and then took the bus to Hamilton, where we shopped, wandered, and had a casual (of course!) lunch at a little place called Chatterbox, which was on the street side of a "mall" ( really just a few indoor shops, but the air conditioning felt good!) The shopping is expensive, but the island gear-type store (nicer t's and sweatshirts) was a hit. It is near a little cafe called Lemon Tree, which was highly rated on Tripadvisor, but was actually closed. We rode the ferry back to the Naval Dockyard and returned to the ship. The return ferry runs only hourly (check for actual times), takes about 20 minutes, so be sure to allow enough time before the all-aboard time. The bus ride, which was interesting and beautiful, with numerous stops to pick up locals, takes 45-55 minutes!

[gnocchi_mommy]

Thank you for a great review!

 

We sail in October. We're going to do a few days in NYC beforehand, and I am very nervous about finding my way around that city, but MORE nervous about trying to get from NYC to the cruise port! :eek:

 

We are also on the Oct 9 sailing! So excited!

[SandyBShores]

Perfect advice for teen girls...where to shop! Thank you!!

[smalltimecruiser100]

We did the 9nts Bermuda and Caribbean in April and loved the ExOS. At that time, Keith Williams and Erky handled things and were supurb. Was "Washy Washy"(Kendra)on board during your cruise? She was great!

[shopping is fun]

We did the 9nts Bermuda and Caribbean in April and loved the ExOS. At that time, Keith Williams and Erky handled things and were supurb. Was "Washy Washy"(Kendra)on board during your cruise? She was great!

 

Yes, she was there. What enthusiasm!!!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review! At least when they get older they will drop the "drive" part of your name!