OCD Planner's ~ EXPLORER ~ 5 Night Pictorial Review 1/4/15

[mawvkysc]

You mentioned dry dock earlier. Do you know when it is scheduled? I searched the threads a did not see any info.

 

Love,love,love this review!

 

Sorry, ignore my question. I was confusing Explorer and Enchantment.

[ace1zoe2]

Before long the Sheriff and the Pilot boats showed up to start the Parade of Ships out of Port Canaveral. It was fun watching the other ships pull out ahead of us and to see all the happy faces waving to everyone as the left.

 

 

 

The Carnival Sensation lead the parade to sea:

 

 

Look at all the people lining the rails at the front of the ship!

 

 

The balcony cabins on this ship appeared to be few and far between with just a few on each deck midship and at the aft:

 

 

However the water slides up top looked like they would provide lots of fun!

 

[ace1zoe2]

Next in line was the Disney Magic:

 

 

 

Again, lots of folks up top for sail-away:

 

 

 

Third in the parade was the big girl, Freedom of the Seas!

 

 

[lah66]

Another great review, Cindy! You really touched me with the story of the Military family! That was so gracious of you and Charlie to buy their meal! Keep up the good work! Love the details and the photos! Lauri

[ace1zoe2]

I took quite a few pictures of the Freedom as she sailed by:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then that left just one... EXPLORER OF THE SEAS! We were next in line...

[ace1zoe2]

You mentioned dry dock earlier. Do you know when it is scheduled? I searched the threads a did not see any info.

 

Love,love,love this review!

 

We were told April onboard. Not sure what date in April though. The deck plans online have a version thru 3/7/2015 and a new one after 4/24/2015 which would be a really long dry dock so I'm betting it is somewhere between those dates.

 

Thanks so much for your kind words. I hope you will continue to follow along! I will be posting Cruise Compasses, Menus and Hand-outs once I finish up this first day.

 

Cindy

Edited January 12, 2015 by ace1zoe2

[ace1zoe2]

Great review and loving the photos!

Did you hear anything about Explorer getting a Flowrider or not? Or anything really on her upcoming Revitalization!!

I've been on Voyager twice (before her Revitalization) and am booked on Explorer for a 3 night sampler cruise this coming November when she comes to Sydney, Australia.

 

This is all speculation on my part but since Explorer is a Voyager class ship and they have added the Flowrider to both Navigator and Voyager I think it will be added to this ship as well.

 

The deck plans for Deck 13 for April 24, 2015 and forward are not showing up on line, only for before April 2015.

[ace1zoe2]

Another great review, Cindy! You really touched me with the story of the Military family! That was so gracious of you and Charlie to buy their meal! Keep up the good work! Love the details and the photos! Lauri

 

Hi again Lauri!

 

Thanks for the compliments. That is something we started trying to do a few years ago after our daughter married a sailor. All of our kiddos are grown and gone now and money isn't quite as tight now that they are all out of college and married.

 

If we happen to see someone in uniform we do it ANONYMOUSLY. I just thought sharing the story might give others in a similar position in the future an idea to do the same.

 

By the way I never finished reading the really long thread about the Oasis "secret balconies" that you started... what was the final outcome?

 

Cindy

Edited January 12, 2015 by ace1zoe2

[ace1zoe2]

Of course since we were on the final ship... I have no pictures of the ship at sail away. I do, however, have pictures of the sun setting over the port as we made our way to sea...

 

 

 

 

 

The nearby beach area and a shrimp boat heading back in to port that we passed on our way out:

 

 

[skyking]

So awesome, we were on the freedom that day. Great pics!!!

[ace1zoe2]

Next I think I will go ahead and post all the menus from the Main Dining Room. We went on every night except Tuesday when we ate at Portofino's.

 

I had to take pictures of the MDR menus so I will post them now. The other paperwork and CC I have saved in PDF format and as soon as I figure out how to attach them to a post I will include them.

 

Night 1:

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry I didn't get the dessert menu.

 

Day 2 (I think):

 

 

[ace1zoe2]

 

 

The previous menus may have been day 4. The next menus are Day 2 (Coco Cay):

 

 

 

 

[ace1zoe2]

Here's another day... I've confused myself about which menu was on what day:

 

 

 

 

Below is the information for the Diamond and above C&A Drink vouchers that are pre-loaded onto your Sea Pass card that can be used between 4:30 and 8:00pm. So if you want anything other than wine, champagne or soft drinks it is best to use your vouchers in the bar area for free drinks rather than paying for them at the Diamond Event (less a 25% discount).

 

 

 

And here is the sign posted outside the Main Dining Room addressing appropriate attire. For the most part it was followed, however I did see 2 men at the same table near us who wore a baseball cap every single night and more than a few men who wore shorts to dinner. I also noticed people coming in to the MDR anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour late for dinner. None of the above affected my dinner not one bit, I'm not judging anyone, just stating what I saw. I know over the years that we have relaxed the way we dress for dinner and skip formal nights in lieu of the specialty restaurants instead.

 

[ace1zoe2]

Explorer of the Seas also has the towel check out policy when going onshore for the day:

 

 

Below are attachments for Suite Perks, Spa Specials, Explorer Staff & Ship Facts, Day Spa Price List & Diamond Onboard Savings Offers.

Suite Life - Suite Perks.pdf

Spa Special Offers.pdf

Explorer Staff & Ship Facts.pdf

Explorer Day Spa Price List.pdf

Diamond Onboard Savings Offers.pdf

[ace1zoe2]

Next are the Daily Offers:

Daily Offers - Day 1.pdf

Daily Offers - Day 2.pdf

Daily Offers - Day 3.pdf

Daily Offers - Day 4.pdf

Daily Offers - Day 5.pdf

[ace1zoe2]

The Cruise Compasses are next. I had to scan them by page otherwise the files were too big for Cruise Critics rules.

Cruise Compass Day 1 - Page 1-2.pdf

Cruise Compass Day 1 - Page 3-4.pdf

Cruise Compass Day 2 - Page 1-2.pdf

Cruise Compass Day 2 - Page 3-4.pdf

Cruise Compass Day 3 - Page 1-2.pdf

[ace1zoe2]

And the rest of the Cruise Compasses:

Cruise Compass Day 3 - Page 3-4.pdf

Cruise Compass Day 4 - Page 1-2.pdf

Cruise Compass Day 4 - Page 3-4.pdf

Cruise Compass Day 5 - Page 1-2.pdf

Cruise Compass Day 5 - Page 3-4.pdf

[ace1zoe2]

Here is the menu for Portofino's and the last of the onboard handouts which cover Departure morning instructions and the schedule used for departure times:

Portofino's Menu.pdf

Self Assist Departure Information.pdf

Departure Infomation & Schedule.pdf

[theatrebabe]

Third in the parade was the big girl, Freedom of the Seas!

 

 

 

We were on that sailing!!!!

 

[ace1zoe2]

Ok, back to the pictures! Day 2 was our first port day onshore at Coco Cay. When we booked the cruise we were scheduled for Nassau (which we've never been to either) but somewhere along the way they changed the itinerary since there were 6 other ships in port at Nassau.

 

I will apologize in advance for the quality of most of the pictures at Coco Cay. We boarded the tender around 9:30am or so to head to the island when I realized that I had forgotten my camera in the room. After my pouty face, DH finally offered to get off the tender, return to the room for my camera and extra battery & then meet me at Coco Cay.

 

I arrived with the rest of the group after a short 5 minute trip and found a bench in the shaded porch of the Excursions office to wait on DH. And I waited and waited and waited. A smaller boat with a few personnel from the ship zoomed in and then away. Finally after about 30 minutes or so two tenders showed up at the same time and hubby had my camera! It seems that there was a medical emergency and they had to hold the tenders and clear the boarding area to get the patient back onboard.

 

Side story: We later found out during our All Access Tour on the final Sea Day that there was a 16 year old girl who had a seizure while swimming in the shallow water at Coco Cay. Her family was able to get her out of the water and she was taken back to the ship and Medi-Vac'd by the Coast Guard to a hospital in the Bahamas. According the Erky from Turkey who told us this, the ship had been told she was "doing fine" now... although, someone else pointed out that that was probably the "canned answer" they tell cruise passengers to prevent putting a damper on their vacation or violating any privacy laws. I am going to remain positive and think that it all turned out ok for the girl and her family.

 

Okay, back to our day on Coco Cay:

 

So we set out for our tour of the island. I think I might have taken 5 pictures when the battery died! No problem, sweet hubby remembered the extra battery. I put it in the camera, turned it on... and NOTHING!!! The battery was dead. He had even asked me before we left home if I had charged the batteries. I thought that I had done so when we returned from our Med trip in early November but apparently through the holidays I had used it and forgot.

 

I was SO MAD at myself. I did have my iPhone with me so that is what I used to capture most of the pictures you will be seeing. If the pictures are semi-good they are from my DSL if they are grainy they are most likely from the iPhone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ace1zoe2]

We were on that sailing!!!!

 

 

That is one huge ship! The largest we've been on is Voyager class. Maybe someday we will get to do the Freedom class. It's been rumored that maybe one will be coming to Texas, if so I'll be on it!

[ace1zoe2]

Not living near any beach areas, this was the first time we'd seen the beach chairs. What a great idea which allows those with mobility problems to still access the island!

 

 

 

The "harbor" area where the tenders dock:

 

 

Some of the many hammocks available throughout the island:

 

 

 

[ace1zoe2]

The private cabanas that can be rented for the day:

 

 

 

The front edge of the island before the sandy beach area begins:

 

 

The area where they set up the lunch buffet. It is a BBQ type lunch with hamburgers cooked on the grill, hotdogs, pork ribs, mac & cheese, potato salad, etc.

 

 

 

[ace1zoe2]

The place to rent Wave-Runners:

 

 

The 1 hour tour costs $96 for adults and $30 for an additional rider.

 

The Aqua Park is open to both adults and children. It operates on a 50 minute schedule every hour and the cost for it is $19.75 no matter your age. It is open to anyone over 4 years of age and 48" tall who can swim. There is a water trampoline, floating iceberg, a log roll, a floating sand castle and more.

 

 

The giant water slide offers all-day access for one set price of $23.75 per person regardless of age. Minimum age is 4 years and minimum height is 48". The water slide is 4 stories tall (40 foot) and 175 foot long. You can slide down as many times as you want all day long.

 

 

The first beach that you come to seemed to me to be the most crowded. It was nearby and easy access to the water without having to walk to far and I think most people just plop down here and call it a day.

 

 

The next little lagoon type area seemed a little less crowded:

 

 

There were kayaks and paddle boats available. I'm not sure if any of these items can be rented individually on the island or if the tours I've listed are the only things offered. The kayak adventure was 1 hour and 30 minutes in a 2 person Kayak and it cost $39.75 for adults and $35.75 for children (minimum 8 years).

 

[theatrebabe]

That is one huge ship! The largest we've been on is Voyager class. Maybe someday we will get to do the Freedom class. It's been rumored that maybe one will be coming to Texas, if so I'll be on it!

 

We were one of those 6 ships in Nassau the day you went to Coco Cay. We docked right next to Allure, and it was amazing to see how huge she was!!!!! And yes, before that moment I felt like Freedom was so big! I remember being on Explorer when she was brand new, and being so impressed by her size :)