Live from Explorer's final round-trip out of New Jersey

[imjoyful2]

I'm just now catching up here (when I have a million other things to get ready for our trip! lol) Looking forward to seeing you Carol on the 1st for our 14 nighter! :)

[The Big Booper]

We took the Explorer out of NY to the Caribbean several times. If St. Martin was the first stop we never got in until noon or so. That is normal. If there is a propulsion problem that would account for arriving 1 PM, an hour later then in years past.

[mrsfecura]

Not flying the day of the cruise was one of the first things I learned from Cruise Critic...way back in the AOL days!:) I've stuck to it, even when it's just a short flight to Florida.

 

Me too!

 

Nice review Carol!

[scooter90]

 

Do you know how long Denzil will be on board?

 

Jane,

 

When we are on the EX in September, Denzil told us that he was moving with the EX as it transitioned to FL and then over to Europe....he said he was staying with the ship so you will probably see him when you sail.

[Langley Cruisers]

Sunday was a sea day. I slept late, skipping the Crown & Anchor welcome back party. I was told by those who attended that I didn't miss anything. ;)...

 

What a drag that it was in the morning. Do you think that's so they save money not having to serve alcoholic drinks (if they didn't, that is)?

[ocean waves]

Carol, nice report, enjoying it. You mentioned you took a van to the port, are you from merion suburb of Philadelphia? If so where do you get the van to go to the ship? Hope your having a great time. Toni

 

 

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[maxs mom]

Jane,

 

When we are on the EX in September, Denzil told us that he was moving with the EX as it transitioned to FL and then over to Europe....he said he was staying with the ship so you will probably see him when you sail.

 

Thanks, Sue! Good to hear. I like Denzil a lot!

 

Just looking at our schedule and it looks like we will be leaving each port an hour earlier than normal. But since it gets darker at this time of year, that won't matter too much.

[angelofsin]

My mother is on this cruise enjoying herself. I would tell you exactly who she is but I think she may kill me for even saying this much (oddly enough my mom is the person who told me about your reviews in the first place). hope you enjoy the rest of your voyage.

[happyshelly]

Our Meet and Mingle was HUGE and GREAT. I actually won the first raffle drawing. (you could have knocked me over with a fern frond!) I got a key chain (!), a highlighter, a free movie (not sure if there is a dollar limit.......the porn flicks cost more. Um, I HEARD that the porn flicks cost more! ;) :o), and a sticker that is specific to a large sub-group of our group.

 

Hi, East Ghost Explorers!

 

I am now an honorary member. I even got the shirt. :D

 

That's how I stumbled into morning trivia.......M&M was in the Maharajas Lounge, and I walked back through the Schooner Bar, and there was.........trivia.

 

 

Welcome to the East Ghost Explorers. We are a great bunch of people. Sadly i could not sail with them this year but will be with them next October on the Liberty for EGE5.

 

Michele

[Whitnee1]

if you are hearing anything about any schedule changes due to the previously talked about propulsion issues on the Explorer that can not be addressed until dry dock. Seems it has taken a bit of speed away from her.

[Merion_Mom]

I'm also curious if there's been any mention of the propulsion issues and if there's any impact on the port schedules.

 

Propulsion problems are still an issue.

 

I *think* that the only effect on US is one hour earlier departure in Bermuda an done hour later to St. Maarten. But we got here earlier than the predicted one hour late.

 

Does that make sense? ;)

[Merion_Mom]

What a drag that it was in the morning. Do you think that's so they save money not having to serve alcoholic drinks (if they didn't, that is)?

 

They certainly DID. (you know what they say, Karen: "It's 5 o'clock somewhere." ;) )

[Merion_Mom]

Carol, nice report, enjoying it. You mentioned you took a van to the port, are you from merion suburb of Philadelphia? If so where do you get the van to go to the ship? Hope your having a great time. Toni

 

 

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Yes.

 

I highly recommend Dave's Best Limo. They pick you up right at your own home. I was not the first person on, and then there were three more stops to pick up people in the Northeast. All of these were door-to-door.

[Merion_Mom]

Dessert porn:

 

My daily serving of coffee ice cream:

 

 

My daily serving of berries:

 

 

Everyone else wanted me to feature THEIR desserts, too.

 

 

 

 

 

[Merion_Mom]

Today was our day in St. Maarten. We were the only ship in port today. I remarked on this not long ago when I was on a ship that was the only one in port.

 

It's a little bit lonely!

 

Overcrowding isn't good, but too few people is weird, too.

 

Ruth & I walked into town. It was very hot, and we sweated off three days' worth of meals.

 

We walked the entire length of Front Street, chatting, shopping and observing.

 

I somehow could not find my snorkeling equipment when I packed last Thursday, so I scouted out the stores and finally bought what I needed.

 

Ruth wanted to get stuff for her grandkids, so she ended up with color-changing nail polish from Del Sol and color-changing t-shirts.

 

We spotted the bishop in town again. He was still in religious garb, and I was hot just looking at him!

 

(hhhmmmm...........did that sound wrong? ;))

 

I came close to buying some jewelry, but I am always reluctant to spend money on myself. (well, except for cruise fares, of course) Besides, I will be in St. Maarten again next week!

 

Ruth bought some vegan chocolates at the Belgian Chocolate Box. This is a famous St. Maarten business. For those of you who want amazingly good chocolates, there is a small shop at the pier and a larger one in town.

 

We stopped at The Candy Store (yes, that's its name) on the beach, and Ruth bought some treats. He let us use his free wifi, which was good, because yesterday I discovered one of the few packing mistakes that I made this trip.

 

I am reading a series of books and grabbed the WRONG one off my table. It's NOT the next one in the series. Fortunately, my library at home lends out eBooks. The internet on board is too darn slow to download a book without, as mentioned before, wanting to gouge my eyes out. (oops, I think that I mentioned that on another site :D)

 

So I downloaded the correct book while sitting outside The Candy Store, on the beach at St. Maarten, gazing at the gorgeous cerulean waters of the Caribbean. :)

 

Ah, life is good.

[Merion_Mom]

Sailing into St. Maarten.

 

Captain James came on the loudspeaker and explained that he would be backing into our parking space.

 

 

 

 

I love the view with the shadows of the clouds on the land.

 

 

 

 

 

We are approaching the port.

 

 

[Merion_Mom]

Ruth & I in front of the "thanks for coming to St. Maarten" sign back by the rear of the pier area. It is near the Belgian Chocolate Box store and the exit to the taxis and tour vans.

 

I cannot even begin to tell you how hot and sweaty and disgusting we felt at this point.

 

 

On our walk back, we stopped some place that I had always walked past and wanted to enter, but just hadn't.

 

The Cheese Shop.

 

Ruth bought some vegan treats there (Droste Pastilles) and I bought a HUGE chunk of aged Gouda. I do not like regular Gouda (too bland for my taste), but the aged Gouda is a whole different animal.

 

I have found that my cabin's refrigerator works much better than many of them, so I am quite comfortable keeping the cheese in there. Both Ruth & the guy in the store said that this particular cheese actually is fine out of the refrigerator.

 

Ruth said that I should buy a cheese plane, but I declined.

 

 

Instead, I did what any one of you would have done.

 

;)

 

Tonight at dinner, I slipped a knife into my purse.

 

:D :D :D

[Merion_Mom]

There is no show tonight in the theater. I find that very very unusual.

 

There is "Big Band Dancing" in Maharajas Lounge.

 

Soon, the Love & Marriage Show will happen in the theater.

 

But no "show".

 

Oh, funny thing.

 

We have finished dinner. We are relaxing at the table. One of the tablemates glances at his watch, notes that it is 7:40, and there has been no announcement for people who haven't checked back onto the ship.

 

Just then, the PA springs to life and the voice proclaims four or five names.

 

:)

 

We left on time around 8.

[Merion_Mom]

I will now take a little time to address recent comments about the Explorer, on several recent threads.

 

People have talked about issues with food and personnel.

 

Here are my comments, five days in. (Remember, I will be on her this time for 23 nights. I am sure that I will update these comments as time goes by, if there are changes one way or the other)

 

The food in the main dining room has been good.

 

I missed having spring mix (assorted lettuces) on the Salad Bar, but that's just me. And that has been my only non-dinner meal there so far.

 

Dinner. The food has been good. The soups have been very good. I have been happy with all of my selections. Now, I am very familiar with the menu, and know what to avoid. Tonight was typical: my dinner was four starters. Period. Two soups: cream of mushroom & fish chowder. Both were yummy. Crab cake. Everyone raves about this. I like it. I do not love it. But I come from an area of "real" crab. Blue crabs, Maryland crabs, that kind of crab. One salad - the arugula and bosc pear and bleu cheese salad. Also good. (although the dressing was oddly thin & watery)

 

My friend Ruth is a vegan. She has told people on Cruise Critic how well she has been treated in getting good dinners in the MDR. This cruise, not so much. They are making her jump through hoops every night, instead of just making her vegan meals. She is quite frustrated and tired of the ordeal. One night they brought her gluten-free pasta, as though all food requests are the same. One of the chefs was brought out to talk to her, but it doesn't seem to have helped.

 

Our waiter and assistant waiter are trying, but they have too many people to serve. I mentioned earlier that on Night 3, the headwaiter brought over 3 additional diners who had just boarded the ship, having missed it in New Jersey.

 

Well, this is a ten-top. Eleven is too crowded. If you are a party of 11 and WANT to be squished in to accommodate you all sitting together, that is one thing. I don't want to be squished at dinner.

 

After dinner tonight, when Ruth & I were the last ones there, we spoke to our headwaiter. Instead of acknowledging our issue (squishing) and saying that he would try to do something about it, we had to listen to him explaining how overcrowded the dining room is, how everyone wants first seating, how some ten-tops have 12 people at them, how difficult it is to manage the dining room, blah, blah, blah.

 

I don't want to hear that. I don't need to listen to that. It's not MY problem; it's YOURS. Don't whine to me how tough your job is. Smile and tell me that you will look into it, even if you won't.

 

JMO

 

YMMV

 

:)

[Yorkvillain]

 

We spotted the bishop in town again. He was still in religious garb, and I was hot just looking at him!

 

(hhhmmmm...........did that sound wrong? ;))

 

Hahahaha!

[SherriZ366]

Jane,

 

When we are on the EX in September, Denzil told us that he was moving with the EX as it transitioned to FL and then over to Europe....he said he was staying with the ship so you will probably see him when you sail.

So he will be our Concierge on 12-4-2014. Have him in the CL on the GoogleDoc we are using for Current Concierges https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hKBiGZ9Gqcp2G2owtX3RyQy7yQ0ijgxCL0nPjQKK8j4/edit?pli=1#gid=0

[pinkroses]

Thanks for your review, Carol, that I just happened upon. I, too, love the coffee icecream and have had similar conversations on board until the waiter would just deliver it!! Also choose Pinot Grigio. My dear friend and her husband are on the EOS this week. They frequent the spot where you got your wine! Looking forward to next week!

[SherriZ366]

Sailing into St. Maarten.

 

Captain James came on the loudspeaker and explained that he would be backing into our parking space.

 

 

 

 

I love the view with the shadows of the clouds on the land.

 

 

 

 

 

We are approaching the port.

 

 

Saw you backing into St. Maarten on webcam -- EX is a "My Fleet" on Marine Traffic and got an email notice so pulled up webcam. Neat to watch -- needed the stress reliever.

 

We sail on EX on 12-4-2014.

[3CatsInMA]

We spotted the bishop in town again. He was still in religious garb, and I was hot just looking at him!

 

(hhhmmmm...........did that sound wrong? ;))

 

 

Yes! So very, VERY wrong!! LOL :D:D:D

[DKNYC]

Ruth & I in front of the "thanks for coming to St. Maarten" sign back by the rear of the pier area. It is near the Belgian Chocolate Box store and the exit to the taxis and tour vans.

 

I cannot even begin to tell you how hot and sweaty and disgusting we felt at this point.

 

 

On our walk back, we stopped some place that I had always walked past and wanted to enter, but just hadn't.

 

The Cheese Shop.

 

Ruth bought some vegan treats there (Droste Pastilles) and I bought a HUGE chunk of aged Gouda. I do not like regular Gouda (too bland for my taste), but the aged Gouda is a whole different animal.

 

I have found that my cabin's refrigerator works much better than many of them, so I am quite comfortable keeping the cheese in there. Both Ruth & the guy in the store said that this particular cheese actually is fine out of the refrigerator.

 

Ruth said that I should buy a cheese plane, but I declined.

 

 

Instead, I did what any one of you would have done.

 

;)

 

Tonight at dinner, I slipped a knife into my purse.

 

:D :D :D

 

Carol

You're just No Gouda!😂

 

Denise

 

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