EXPLORER review Oct 9-18

[TNIris]

Just returned home from a trip on the Explorer. Overall, we had a very good time. I was nervous about some of the reviews about the Explorer, but I thought she was in pretty decent shape, really couldn't tell a whole lot of difference from our trip on Freedom last year. We stayed in 8222 (balcony room, aft), and we had a flat screen tv.

 

Overall, we thought the staff were nice, we had a couple that weren't so nice, but that's probably going to happen no matter where you are. Although I don't remember that happening on the Freedom. For the most part, though, I felt like the staff went out of their way to make you happy.

 

I did use the Fitness Center, I wish they would have had some rowing machines, but they had a lot of nice bikes, treadmills, stair climbers, and ellipticals.

 

Which brings me to the food. Not as good as the Freedom, but I assure you we did not go hungry, nor did we lose any weight! :D

I thought the food in the Windjammer was very good, main dining room was just so-so. Johnny Rockets was also just so-so, I thought. We also had to wait over 30 minutes at 1pm one day at Johnny Rockets to have lunch.

 

Shows were just okay, in my opinion. I'm glad we went to them, though. The Love and Marriage Game Show was hilarious, a must-see!! Quest Game show was very funny as well.

 

After having Richard Spacey on the Freedom, we were a bit let-down with Keith the cruise director. Erke the activities director was funny, but his accent made it hard for me to understand him sometimes.

 

We missed our St. Maarten port due to weather, we did get to go to our Bermuda port, but almost all of the shore excursions were cancelled due to the weather. We went ahead and went to Horseshoe Beach anyway, but it was cold and very windy and the surf was rough, so we just took a couple of pictures and got back on the ship. Our stop in San Juan was cut short because of the weather, and the forts were closed because of the impending tropical storm. So we just went in a few of the shops and got back on the ship. Labadee was FABULOUS!!! The weather was gorgeous, the water was perfect, and I could have stayed there for DAYS!!!!

 

I was disapointed that the Promenade cafe did not have cookies like they did on the Freedom, but no worries, the WindJammer had plenty! We ate lots of Ben and Jerry's, YUM!!

 

The movies on the ship weren't very good (Ghostbusters, Gigi, Blindside). They did show Divergent one day, but the projector cut off in the last 10 minutes so I have no idea how it ended.

 

I thought the bed was awful. It was hard as a rock, and the sofabed that the kids were on was even worse, it was like a piece of plywood. They didn't complain about it, though, which is a first for them!

 

My one complaint about the balcony is that it has these huge sheets of green colored glass, so you can't see the water clearly sitting in your chair, you have to be standing up to see it. That sucked. I hope that's one of the things they change during refurbishment.

 

Overall, I'd give this cruise a B+

[TNIris]

Also, I should add that having to take a shuttle to get on and off the ship is AWFUL!!

 

On departure day, we were not able to leave the ship until 11:30 a.m., and we docked at 9:00 a.m. Not cool! Luckily that will change as they are building that new facility!

[Xina143]

We will be sailing on the Explorer in January, and I'm not having much luck with information on the shows. Besides the Standard Love and Marriage, anything else? Did they have some sort of Broadway show and Ice show?

[Clarea]

We will be sailing on the Explorer in January, and I'm not having much luck with information on the shows. Besides the Standard Love and Marriage, anything else? Did they have some sort of Broadway show and Ice show?

There is an ice show, 3 different production shows, and headliners (comedian, juggler, singer, etc.) that change almost every cruise

[dixiesue]

Just returned home from a trip on the Explorer. Overall, we had a very good time. I was nervous about some of the reviews about the Explorer, but I thought she was in pretty decent shape, really couldn't tell a whole lot of difference from our trip on Freedom last year. We stayed in 8222 (balcony room, aft), and we had a flat screen tv.

 

Overall, we thought the staff were nice, we had a couple that weren't so nice, but that's probably going to happen no matter where you are. Although I don't remember that happening on the Freedom. For the most part, though, I felt like the staff went out of their way to make you happy.

 

I did use the Fitness Center, I wish they would have had some rowing machines, but they had a lot of nice bikes, treadmills, stair climbers, and ellipticals.

 

Which brindidgs me to the food. Not as good as the Freedom, but I assure you we did not go hungry, nor did we lose any weight! :D

I thought the food in the Windjammer was very good, main dining room was just so-so. Johnny Rockets was also just so-so, I thought. We also had to wait over 30 minutes at 1pm one day at Johnny Rockets to have lunch.

 

Shows were just okay, in my opinion. I'm glad we went to them, though. The Love and Marriage Game Show was hilarious, a must-see!! Quest Game show was very funny as well.

 

After having Richard Spacey on the Freedom, we were a bit let-down with Keith the cruise director. Erke the activities director was funny, but his accent made it hard for me to understand him sometimes.

 

We missed our St. Maarten port due to weather, we did get to go to our Bermuda port, but almost all of the shore excursions were cancelled due to the weather. We went ahead and went to Horseshoe Beach anyway, but it was cold and very windy and the surf was rough, so we just took a couple of pictures and got back on the ship. Our stop in San Juan was cut short because of the weather, and the forts were closed because of the impending tropical storm. So we just went in a few of the shops and got back on the ship. Labadee was FABULOUS!!! The weather was gorgeous, the water was perfect, and I could have stayed there for DAYS!!!!

 

I was disapointed that the Promenade cafe did not have cookies like they did on the Freedom, but no worries, the WindJammer had plenty! We ate lots of Ben and Jerry's, YUM!!

 

The movies on the ship weren't very good (Ghostbusters, Gigi, Blindside). They did show Divergent one day, but the projector cut off in the last 10 minutes so I have no idea how it ended.

 

I thought the bed was awful. It was hard as a rock, and the sofabed that the kids were on was even worse, it was like a piece of plywood. They didn't complain about it, though, which is a first for them!

 

My one complaint about the balcony is that it has these huge sheets of green colored glass, so you can't see the water clearly sitting in your chair, you have to be standing up to see it. That sucked. I hope that's one of the things they change during refurbishment.

 

Overall, I'd give this cruise a B+

Did they have lobster on the explorer?

[TNIris]

We had lobster one night

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[michtrif]

We will be sailing on the Explorer in January, and I'm not having much luck with information on the shows. Besides the Standard Love and Marriage, anything else? Did they have some sort of Broadway show and Ice show?

 

I was on Explorer on the cruise after the original poster. It was a 5 day. There were 2 "broadway type" musical/singing shows - one was music of different cities in the US and the other was a musical journey through movies (footloose and dirty dancing stick out the most in my mind)

 

There was a Bon Jovi Tribute band (Blaze of Glory) and they were excellent.

 

The final show was a comedian Steve Shafer and he was hysterical. We really enjoyed him.

 

The ice show was excellent also.

 

We did not attend the Love and Marriage game show, but Quest was excellent- very funny (mature audiences) and the Battle of the Sexes did not hold our attention for very long.

[michtrif]

Did they have lobster on the explorer?

 

We had lobster (and prime rib) one night. I had both! I think it was night 4 for our cruise. (5 night)

[Merion_Mom]

We will be sailing on the Explorer in January, and I'm not having much luck with information on the shows. Besides the Standard Love and Marriage, anything else? Did they have some sort of Broadway show and Ice show?

 

There is an ice show, 3 different production shows, and headliners (comedian, juggler, singer, etc.) that change almost every cruise

 

Production shows are Stage to Screen and Invitation to Dance.

 

The ice show is called Spirits of the Seasons and it is WONDERFUL.