Review from our recent Explorer cruise

[PuterMonkey]

(I submitted a version of the to CC but realized there were parts I wanted to go back and flesh out, so here it is. We had a wonderful time and I'm honestly sad to see this class of ship leaving New Jersey.)

 

Background: This was a 9-day cruise stopping at Bermuda, Saint Martin, San Juan, and Labadee. It was my third cruise and my husband's fifth. We are both in our early 30s. We were very blessed on this trip to have mostly calm seas and good weather. We hit the jackpot in two other ways as well, one being that we had easily the best random stranger tablemates I've had (all young couples around our own age, and we ended up hitting it off immediately), and I had one of the best surprises I've ever had the day before our departure, when I logged in to triple-check our reservation and discovered that the actual, mythical upgrade fairy had bestowed upon us a leftover balcony. YAY!

 

 

Embarkation: Barring a few impatient guests, the whole thing was overall smooth and nothing to note.

 

 

The ship: We've previously sailed on both the Voyager and Liberty so were familiar with what to expect. She seemed to be in pretty well-oiled condition. I understand the ship is due for dry dock this coming winter, meaning her interior is older. You can see this if you're looking for it, in the carpets, the older tvs, the windows seeming in need of a good powerwashing in some areas. But really, she was as clean and tidy (if not more so) than the vast majority of hotels I've stayed in. I'm really only describing this because I've seen others mention concern, really, I would have otherwise thought little of it.

 

 

The room: We lucked out and were moved to a leftover balcony just prior to cruising. It was my second time in a balcony. The cabin we were moved to was #7660 which is port side, aft above the rear lifeboats. We must not have been the only cruisers struck by lightning, because several cabins around us were listed as available the day before the cruise, and were all full on the voyage. Being port side on this sailing was definitely the way to go. We ended up on the docking side at all four ports, and got to enjoy observing the docking procedures and people watching. The cabin did still have one of the old-style tvs (which my husband made much mockery of), but one potential perk for privacy lovers is that the cabin is right next to a fire wall/door, meaning the one wall is thicker and the balcony wall on that side is made of metal, not a divider.

 

 

The service: We're pretty low-key travelers and didn't run into any snafus on this trip. In my experience everything was great. Both our room steward and waiters were perfectly friendly and helpful when we had questions. Our stateroom attendant brought us a corkscrew and wineglasses no questions asked, and on more than one occasion both in the Windjammer and in our hallway, someone stopped what they were doing to help me carry my things (I swear, I'm not frail looking). One of the high points of the ship you can't miss, is the lady who mans the purell station outside the Windjammer and sings dance songs about handwashing. She's hysterical and often had the kids dancing with her. If you can get kids actually excited about handwashing, that's a plus in my book.

 

 

Speaking of kids, a general observation: There were far fewer kids than I expected for a summer cruise. I don't know if it's because it was a longer trip, or the crazy winter resulted in longer school years and fewer vacation days for the parents, but I didn't feel like I was constantly seeing kids dart around the way I did on our last sailing on Liberty.

 

 

Activities/Entertainment: We didn't go to most of the parades or shows. At 30, ice shows and musical reviews generally aren't our thing. We did go to the comedy show on opening night and were moderately entertained, as much from people watching as from the actual show. Of the musical acts our favorite was Alex, the classical guitar player who alternated between the Aquarium and Schooner bars. He was nice to listen to while enjoying a cocktail before dinner. We also did trivia on several occasions and enjoyed this. We had two general gripes that were both quite trivial (see what I did there?). One, that they need to limit the size of the teams here, us playing as two just can't compete against big 6-7 person families. Also, the 80's music trivia had not one rock song. Not one, so don't be fooled if you're planning to show off your knowledge of Motley Crue. However when you're competing for a keychain your gripes aren't really worth worrying over. It's just for fun.

 

 

The food: My husband and I had differing opinions here. I'm a pretty adventurous eater, with a lot of influence from the local health nut/international communities where I live. From this perspective I found some high points worth noting, mainly the station in the Windjammer dedicated to Indian and Asian food (and usually vegetarian Indian at that), and the make-your-own stir-fry they have available at dinnertime. This is a very worthy alternative if nothing on the MDR menu is calling to you. We ended up doing just that on two of the casual nights. As far as the MDR goes, we did both notice that the portions were smaller than we had on our last cruise (several years ago), but as both of us have grown more health-conscious since then we were fine with this. We both tried several things with hits and misses, my personal favorite being a chocolate espresso souffle for dessert one night. Di-vine. One major downside we both also agreed on: this ship can't cook a scallop to save its life. Seriously, don't get them. We tried them three times between us and every time felt they were slightly undercooked. We did have lobster night (second formal night), and all three guys at the table ordered it. One mentioned how he loved lobster and was sure he wanted two, and our waiter (Andrew) brought an extra tail not only for him but for all three of them. We thought that was pretty cool. Also, the coconut ranger cookies that everyone on Cruise Critic mentions loving made frequent appearances, and we *may* have created a little hoard of them to take home on the last day of the cruise. As far as the coffee goes, I drink it regularly. I've seen criticism of the Windjammer coffee so I'll say I found it pretty comparable to what you'd get at a place like IHOP. It's not gourmet but it's certainly better than the can of Folger's they give us at work. I never did try the Starbucks.

 

 

One last thing about food: We went to Johnny Rockets one day for lunch and it was good, pretty comparable to Five Guys we thought. But we'd like to suggest to RCI that what they really need to do is replace it with Chipotle. Burgers are a dime a dozen these days shoreside.

 

Drinks: My husband got the soda package which worked out well for him. The thing I wanted to note was that I've heard on CC about crew members checking the cups prior to letting you fill them to make sure it's the real owner...this did not happen to us once the entire cruise. Half the time I would pick up a refill for the H myself while he was doing something else. We could have easily shared this between us if I had any liking for soda.

 

 

The ports:

-Bermuda, we did a catch-and-release reef fishing trip (one of those things the H had always wanted to try). This was actually far more fun than catching rockfish at home, because the crew put us right on top of the fish and these things were hungry, no waiting around for hours in hopes of a few nibbles. You had to be really fast because half the time they would bite off the bait before your line even hit bottom. Everyone on the boat caught something and most people more than one. So for my H, this was great, and for me the pace was fast enough to keep my attention, and hey, I got a nice boat right and view of the reef out of it.

-Saint Martin, we just took the water taxi over to the shopping area and did our souvenir shopping. Apparently there are people who really plan this place out. We saw multiple people heading back to ship with newly purchased luggage and tvs in tow.

-Puerto Rico, our excursion was a trip to the El Yunque rainforest. They call it a hike in the program, but all the paths are paved (they need to be, it would be like walking in a mud pit otherwise); it is really more of a nature walk with some stairs and hills. The downside to this trip is easily the long bus ride it takes to get from the cruise port to the rainforest. You definitely want to be off the ship and ready to go when they dock. But on the other hand, it was really beautiful in the forest, there were no mosquitoes, we saw some great views and waterfalls and some wildlife (tree frogs, salamanders, snails, and one locationally-confused chicken), and the temperature was perfect compared to the hot sun by the port. If you like getting out, I think this is a part of Puerto Rico worth seeing.

-Labadee, we just got off the boat and wandered around exploring, eventually settling on a beach underneath the zip line course. We spent some time playing in the water, which was neat because if you stood still long enough, all these little tropical fish would start swimming around your feet. The water temperature was perfect, my only wish was that I'd brought water shoes because there was a lot of grass and rocks to navigate around to get to the clear areas. We entertained ourselves for a while by counting the number of people going down the zip line and translating that into the profit RCI was making. All I can say is, if they do that every single day, I gotta start buying stock. We went back to the ship for lunch and to enjoy the emptiness of the pools before the rest of the crowd returned.

 

 

Debarkation: It is a crying shame that RC doesn't put more effort into this. It's the very last part of your cruise you experience and probably the first thing in your mind when you get home and tell your family about the trip. Anyway, since we had driven and had a long day of driving and relatives ahead of us, we decided to give the self-debarkation a whirl rather than waiting for our tags. This was just awful. We were told by various crew members that when we arrived at our waiting area, we'd get numbered tickets to organize the procedure. So, we showed up an hour early and were among the first there. No crew members, no tickets. More people arrive and the room starts filling up. Finally, just after the ship has officially docked, Erky from Turkey strolls in and states that the line will form on one side of the room, eliciting shouts from people on the other side who 'arrived first' (but after us, although we aren't the type to shout and make a scene over this). He promptly caves and moves the line to their side, disgruntling all the people on the first side who had arrived early too. So now we all move to the 'line', except Erky has left and placed another crewmember in charge, who vaguely directs newcomers to the 'end' side of the room. Then when they call us to start downstairs, makes no effort to control which side of the room is leaving first and the thing ends as basically a free for all. Lots of grumbling all around. Super organized, RCI. Seriously, that ticket thing people had mentioned to us would have worked so much better. The only upside to this method was that we did, in fact, get off the ship around 9:30, breezed through customs, and were headed home before most regular tickets would have even been called.

 

I'll try to come back tonight and post a few of my favorite pics. Feel free to ask questions!

[Pomperaugrr]

Excellent review and similar to our experiences. It was an awesome cruise and the ship was in good shape for her age. The crew was outstanding as usual.

 

Leigh and Erky were a very good team as well.

 

Eric

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[JohnGaltny]

Nicely done.

 

The fiasco at the end surprises me. RCI usually doesw embak/debark better than anyone.

 

Thanks for taking the time.

[marci22]

Debarkation on Explorer is horrible. I've done it many times.

 

They always tell the first arrivals to go all the way back into the waiting room. Then, they are the very last to leave. As a result, people who know wait at the entrance, clogging up everything. The crew has had so long to work this out and yet they haven't. It's ridiculous.

[Annefran]

Thanks for the great review. We leave on EOS July 31 for the 9 night cruise too. We did the same cruise back in May 2012 and had a great time. We really wanted to cruise on EOS one last time before she left NJ. This will be our 6th cruise on her. I was starting to hear some rumblings that EOS wasn't in good shape and was a little nervous. Glad to hear you enjoyed the cruise and the ship. We only live 40 minutes from the pier area and enjoy NOT having to fly to sail. Hoping we won't have a long wait to get on board since we aren't leaving the house until 1pm. Happy Cruising!

[Annefran]

(-Puerto Rico, our excursion was a trip to the El Yunque rainforest. They call it a hike in the program, but all the paths are paved (they need to be, it would be like walking in a mud pit otherwise); it is really more of a nature walk with some stairs and hills. The downside to this trip is easily the long bus ride it takes to get from the cruise port to the rainforest. You definitely want to be off the ship and ready to go when they dock. But on the other hand, it was really beautiful in the forest, there were no mosquitoes, we saw some great views and waterfalls and some wildlife (tree frogs, salamanders, snails, and one locationally-confused chicken), and the temperature was perfect compared to the hot sun by the port. If you like getting out, I think this is a part of Puerto Rico worth seeing.

 

Thanks for posting your review about this excursion. I signed my DD (21) and her friend (20) up for this excursion. I've already been to El Yunque Rainforest and opted not to take the hike. They will be very pleased that the paths are paved etc. Although my DD did the hike to Table Top Mountain last year in South Africa. So this should be a breeze for them, :p. I'm staying at the port to do some shopping in Old San Juan and going to one of my favorite bakeries there, La Mayorca on San Fransico Street near the San Fransico Church. Thanks again for the great review!

Edited July 3, 2014 by Annefran

[PuterMonkey]

Thanks for posting your review about this excursion. I signed my DD (21) and her friend (20) up for this excursion. I've already been to El Yunque Rainforest and opted not to take the hike. They will be very pleased that the paths are paved etc. Although my DD did the hike to Table Top Mountain last year in South Africa. So this should be a breeze for them, :p. I'm staying at the port to do some shopping in Old San Juan and going to one of my favorite bakeries there, La Mayorca on San Fransico Street near the San Fransico Church. Thanks again for the great review!

 

If they've done any hiking before this won't be difficult at all. The hike itself is only 2-3 miles and they stop for a snack/break by the waterfall. Have fun!

[John Reid]

Debarkation on Explorer is horrible. I've done it many times.

 

They always tell the first arrivals to go all the way back into the waiting room. Then, they are the very last to leave. As a result, people who know wait at the entrance, clogging up everything. The crew has had so long to work this out and yet they haven't. It's ridiculous.

 

Agreed. A very good ship. My November cruise was excellent. Going again in August before she leaves NJ. But the absolute worst debarking procedures I have encountered on 12 cruises on 4 different lines from 5 different ports. Embarkation is no great shakes either.

[TBone2K]

Thanks for the review.

 

For trivia, we just try and find another couple to pair up with. Great way to meet new people.

 

If I recall debarkation in NJ, we did self debark as well, but basically, we just hung out and had a later breakfast and walked off once they started calling numbers.

[butterflymama]

Nice review. Thanks!

 

Schools in this area just got out last week. In our district Thursday 6/26, was the last day for the younger grades. My high school and middle schooler's both had finals on Monday 6/23. This had nothing to do with weather, just when they are normally out of school.

 

If you wanted fewer kids, you picked the right cruise!

 

I know my sister in law just cruised 6/22 to 6/29 on Celebrity out of NJ. She picked that week because it was the last week before prices skyrocketed!

[lovelife]

Thanks for taking the time to review. Anxious to see the photos. I'm looking forward to sailing the 14-night repositioning in a few months.

[molly361]

Thanks for the review- we are hoping to sail on her in early 2015

[SoundDawg]

If they've done any hiking before this won't be difficult at all. The hike itself is only 2-3 miles and they stop for a snack/break by the waterfall. Have fun!

 

Thanks for the great information! We are doing this same cruise on 10/9 and I was looking at this excursion. How long is the bus ride? We have an almost 4 year old who I think would like this. He's pretty adventurous. This will be his forth cruise.....:eek: