Nov 1 2014 - Explorer to Fla from NY, Lifeboat Crashes

[The Big Booper]

At the end I snapped another picture of the couple, two different outfits today. Then up to the cabin, to be greeted by the longest nighttime towel visitor we have ever had. I had trouble moving him from the bed to the couch but at least he doesn’t bite.

 

 

 

Success. I got the shoes in the picture.

 

 

Edited November 29, 2014 by The Big Booper

[The Big Booper]

Day 11

 

 

Bonaire. This was the first time ever that we had ported in Bonaire. We knew that it was known for snorkeling and scuba and that the water was crystal clear. Just looking out from our port balcony we could see how clear the water was and observe the beauty of the port area.

 

Since we don’t snorkel we decided to just get off the after breakfast and see what the place was like. The port area is bright, colorful and clean. There appears to be a push by the island to greatly expand the retail businesses here and we noted many new buildings almost finished just waiting for completion and tenants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As touted in the tourist brochures, the water is crystal clear.

Edited November 29, 2014 by The Big Booper

[The Big Booper]

We helped the island economy by buying some nice tee shirts and a bb cap for me. Almost my entire collection of ball caps was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy when a giant oak tree fell on our house causing well over $100,000 damage One of my goals on this trip was to replace all those hats. DW is still fuming about that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sugar*Magnolia]

Really enjoying your review and all your pictures! Thanks for sharing, boy are we going to miss Explorer!

Cheers! :)

[evelyn51]

I can't help but wonder how many suitcases The Couple needs for their cruising?

[The Big Booper]

I can't help but wonder how many suitcases The Couple needs for their cruising?

 

That picture is coming. Last day.

[The Big Booper]

Some more pictures.

 

 

 

 

Early in the afternoon we were caught in a rainstorm that lasted around 15 minutes. When it stopped we hustled our way back to the ship in case it started again. We bumped into The Couple and they were prepared for inclement conditions. We don’t arrange these meetings, they just do lots of the things that we do. Notice his shirt and her skirt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Big Booper]

We didn’t do much when we got back to the ship other then trivia. We decided to pass on the show in the theater, an Elton John cover show. We did go to the Remembrance Day ceremony held in the Promenade where taps was played from the Bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner, we went to the Big Band Dancing event held in Maharajas. Our kind of music. And some very good dancers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Big Booper]

We then walked out onto the Deck four promenade and stood at the rail looking at the water and the Moon. So Peaceful. Tomorrow is Aruba, the last stop before heading home to Florida.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Big Booper]

Day 12

 

 

Aruba. This was the last stop and most of the passengers were perturbed that we got in at 7 AM and all aboard was 12:30 PM. The feeling was that Bonaire and Aruba should have been switched since there is a lot more to do in Aruba.

 

We were in port with the Coral Princess, doing a partial Panama Canal transit. If we ever do another Canal run it will be with this ship or it’s sister; I don’t need plumbing problems. There also was a ship named Freewinds, which is owned by the Church of Scientology and used for training sessions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Big Booper]

 

 

Yes, we ran into each other again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the short stay there was not much time to do anything that required touring; we’ve been here several times before. I finally found a 55mm PL filter for the FZ70 at Boolchands, none of the camera stores on the other islands had much in the way of that size filter. The camera has a huge zoom lens and the glass is bigger then most non-DSLR cameras but smaller then the lenses on the bigger DSLRs. The downtown area here is bright and colorful which also describes the other two ABC islands. Bonaire is the newest so it looked shinier but all in all they are three very attractive places to stop

Edited November 30, 2014 by The Big Booper

[The Big Booper]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ship pulled away for it’s 2.5 day run to Port Canaveral and with the nice warm sunny weather people were all over the outdoor areas. So we decided to explorer the Viking Crown Lounge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Big Booper]

On the pool and sports deck.

 

 

 

 

[The Big Booper]

 

Jenn and her family.

 

 

 

As the day wound down we had another beautiful sunset.

 

 

 

This was one of the last nights of trivia with our trivia buddies

 

 

Chantal and Marc

 

 

Kevin and Christie

Edited November 30, 2014 by The Big Booper

[The Big Booper]

After dinner, we went over to Studio B for the Quest. We were looking forward to watching how Leigh and EFT ran it. Heh heh heh. They did a great job. At the end after the traditional parade of beauties sorta dressed up we left Studio B.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Big Booper]

After leaving Studio B we once again ran into The Couple who looked dapper. Loved that tie.

 

 

 

 

 

We're taking the doorway sign on all our future cruises, may there be many more. Many thanks to GrandmaGail.

 

Edited November 30, 2014 by The Big Booper

[The Big Booper]

Day 13

 

 

At Sea. Today we experimented by going to the Concierge Lounge on Deck 9 for breakfast, the first time we ever did that. We ran into our tablemates from NJ, Alfred and Samia. This was the only time we saw lox at breakfast. Denzil and his crew put out a nice light spread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ran across six of the Coke Freestyle machines, two in the Promenade and two in each wing of the Windjammer.

 

 

[The Big Booper]

I finally got around to taking pictures of our E hump balcony cabin when it was neat. The Explorer was one of the first ships to have the Star Trek Transporter Tube shower stalls, no more getting felt up by a shower curtain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Big Booper]

More Cabin

 

 

 

 

The pool band, playing on the pool deck!

 

[The Big Booper]

This afternoon the wonderful ice skating troupe put on the last performance of “Spirit of the Seasons” followed up an hour later by a special presentation for the top tiers. Each skater did a short routine followed up by an audience Q & A session. The questions were concentrated mainly on the background of the skaters and the issues in adapting to the small rinks aboard a ship. Long straight high-speed runs become shorter slower curving routes. It takes even these high end skaters months to fully feel comfortable zooming around these small rinks and this crew has only been on since the end of September. You couldn't tell by watching them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Big Booper]

 

 

 

 

 

[The Big Booper]

The doorway to port side deck four is still barricaded since the lifeboat issue will not be fixed until we get off at Port Canaveral. More on that later.

 

 

 

 

 

The production show tonight is “Invitation to Dance” choreographed by Louis van Amstel (ABC’s DWTS). We’ve seen this on two other ships and have always been impressed by the high-speed spins that the dancers do in these routines.

 

 

 

 

 

The Couple looked extremely elegant tonight in a sea of dazzling white. Wow!

 

Edited November 30, 2014 by The Big Booper

[The Big Booper]

Marc and Chantal from our table. Plus our entire table. I forgot to take the PL filter off the camera so the picture came out too dark. Still new to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Centrum still is impressive.

 

 

The towel surprise was A Valentine Day Arrangement.

 

[The Big Booper]

At Sea. The last day AKA day to pack. Boo. The highlight of the morning was a special trivia run by EFT with his very own customized answer sheets.

 

Shortly before 1 PM we had a cake decorating demonstration with X Chef Delroy, a passenger and CD Leigh. They actually opened up the performance bridge for passengers to watch the event and we were one of the lucky ones who were allowed up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Big Booper]

There was a barbecue luncheon held on the pool deck today. Looked good.

 

 

 

 

Our trivia buddies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second parade, Royalpallooza, went off at 5:15 PM today. It was new and was different from the second parades we had seen in the past on Explorer. There was a colorful circus theme that really brightened things up. Plus the stilt walker was alive and well.