Mini review Explorer of the Seas RFS cruise to Bermuda that ended up in Canada

[themendes]

We found out on Friday that we were sailing to Canada instead of Bermuda. We have 4 young children and my parents were flying to Newark from Florida to meet us. We unpacked our summer clothes and added some long sweaters and pants. We had not seen my parents in 4 months, so decided to make the most out of the trip. The seas weren't bad at all. It rained on our last sea day home and hangers were rattling in the closet and some items fell pit of the living room tv stand. We all managed to sleep through it. Overall, the staff went out of their way to make the trip memorable. We were in a royal family suite with 4 young children, and our attendant, wait staff and concierge went out of their way to make the trip special. We are from NE, so Canada is not new to us. We did decide to make the most out of the trip, and had a blast. The suite perks were put to good use. Our concierge, Denzil arranged for us to have a private limo tour of Halifax. This was more time efficient and would have cost is more to the bus tours as a family of 8.

Our 9 year old daughter even swam in the pool during the first sea day. My husband and I did enjoy the hot tubs.

We took advantage of being able to order off the MDR menu and had dinner in our room one night. We were spoiled by the size of the AFT RFS and could not believe the size of the balcony. Will post pics of room and suite soon.

 

 

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[themendes]

Verrazano bridge during sail away.

 

Halifax

 

Delicious lobster in family owned restaurant in Halifax. Our drivers find: best homemade bread.

 

AFT view of a NCL ship from our balcony in Halifax. Due to the balcony being AFT, we had little wind issues and actually used the balcony often.

 

 

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[themendes]

AFT view deck 8 leaving Halifax.

 

Peekaboo Bridge and Helipad as we were leaving Halifax.

 

We saw whales and dolphins on our way to Halifax. Our kids loved that.

 

Ice skating during open ice.

 

Mom's birthday cake.

 

 

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[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review and photo's.

[themendes]

Sunrise in Canada.

 

EOS St John, Canada

 

 

Our daughter was part of the ice show. Made her day! Don't miss this show.

 

Champagne sent to our room.

 

Just went under the Verrazano bridge on our way back to Bayonne this morning.

 

 

 

 

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[Sass4]

Great pics!

[themendes]

 

The bridge all lit up.

 

AFT balconies rock. I enjoyed a solo cup of coffee this morning with this view.

 

Last picture as we rolled into port.

 

We had suite benefits with luggage tag number 1. We met Denzil in the Concierge Lounge. He called up the elevator. We took it straight down from Deck 9 to Deck 1 with no stops. First time during the entire trip. Lol.

We grabbed our bags and went through the suites customs line all within 15 minutes.

 

 

 

 

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[themendes]

Final thoughts. Give. The circumstances, we were grateful to have a RFS. Overall, we enjoyed everything the ship offered and even allowed our older 2 kids to go to the adventure club until 10 pm a few nights. We took all 4 kids to the 9 shows and they were well behaved and attentive. They loved the shows and we probably would not have had them see them after busy beach days on Bermuda. We played mini golf, climbed the rock wall and used the sports courts. We played Bingo (we never have time for that on regular trips) and went to the ice show. My parents and kids loved that.

 

We made the most of the 600 OBC and still had a negative balance on our account.

 

We ordered room service breakfast daily for my parents and kids and then my husband and I are a leisure breakfast at Portofinos (suite guest benefit).

 

We would also take our Windjammer lunch there daily. Often ate alongside the captain and crew.

 

 

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[sharonlacey]

Nice that you had a great family vacation. We had our family with us in June on the Bermuda cruise, a little rain but it did not stop us from having a great trip on the Explorer. Thanks for the TR.

[KBS1607]

Loved your daughter in the show!

[themendes]

 

Found a few more post worthy pics.

 

Sunrise from our balcony.

 

 

 

Explorer docked in Saint John.

 

View from restaurant in Halifax.

 

 

 

 

 

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[themendes]

Thanks. She had a blast. We asked our kids their thoughts on the cruise and they all said that it was amazing. They loved our cabin, the ship, the staff and actually even the ports. We ended up taking a limo on our tour and it was their first time in one and they loved it. We all ended up napping in the limo on the way back to the ship. Bc of Canada's seat belt laws, we either had to book RCI excursions, walk near the port or book a private driver. With a family of 8, the limo was the cheapest and most efficient way to see anything. We are glad we did, bc we walked around St. John and it was so steep that we ended up bringing my parents and kids back to the ship and heading back out alone to hit a pub.

 

 

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[IWORK2CRUISE]

Way to make the best of a change!

Nice review and pics.

[gowensricks]

I really enjoyed your review and I also loved your positive attitude!

[Silverhues]

Enjoyed your review and pics! Our family of 8 stayed in a RFS on Explorer as well (also deck 8) just a couple weeks before your cruise. That balcony is amazing, and the suite perks really enhanced our vacation as well. Denzil was fantastic! I had planned on writing a review as well ( still will write a short one), time has just gone by so fast! Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. I am glad you were able to enjoy the cruise in spite of all the changes....