The Emperor tries on Regents New er third hand "New" Clothes - Yes an Explorer review

[Travelcat2]

Why didn't passengers who received the wrong pins and certificate in error tell someone. I'm sure that they would have been replaced with the right one. While they should have double checked before handing them out, the boxes do look identical.

[JMARINER]

What, no door plaques?

 

j

[Emperor Norton]

What, no door plaques?

 

j

 

We were given those as well. But for secret squirrel reasons, I won't be posting mine - they look ugly if you redact too much from them;)

[Emperor Norton]

I think that the plaques are tacky and thought that no one put them on their door anymore. On the christening cruise, there was one door pretty much covered with them. Somehow they just looked old and outdated - especially on such a sparkling new ship.

 

There was one door on our trip like that. I want to say deck 10 starboard side. Other doors just had the one from this cruise.

[JMARINER]

We were given those as well. But for secret squirrel reasons, I won't be posting mine - they look ugly if you redact too much from them;)

 

Being a native Californian and with knowledge of Emperor Norton I, I understand completely your reservations. You never know about sneaky Boris.

 

j

[Eager2Travel]

Emperor Norton, I am missing you. Please tell me it's not over.

[Emperor Norton]

It's not over till I deal with 10,000 of my newest bestest friends in Venice;)

 

I still have images to process and weekends to enjoy off work:D

[Emperor Norton]

 

 

Something a bit more modern

 

Too modern perhaps

 

Oh joy I can pay too much for bad American chain food while in a foreign country!

 

Pity they don't underground utilities around old buildings.

[Emperor Norton]

Stairs up along with a blanket vendor (they'd look for a place to drop the blankets revealing genuine purses, sunglasses etc...) and some guy selling bottled water sans label and which upon closer inspection appeared to have opened caps.

 

Looks a bit better sans powerlines.

 

Sadly they did have an issue with graffiti

 

 

 

Duck, duck...

[Emperor Norton]

 

 

This reminded me of one of the fountains in the Alhambra.

 

 

 

They even had a little market

[Emperor Norton]

 

 

 

 

Same style turret you'll see in Old San Juan

 

[Emperor Norton]

 

 

 

 

 

[Emperor Norton]

Two of the "Vendors" ended up getting in an argument and the police arrived and drove them both off.

 

This was in a childrens play area alongside the Cathedral.

[Winner]

Great photos, as always, but please indulge us and tell us where they were taken. The last city you mentioned was Venice; doesn't look like Venice to me.

[Isklaar]

Great photos, as always, but please indulge us and tell us where they were taken. The last city you mentioned was Venice; doesn't look like Venice to me.

 

It's Palma, Majorca. See post #122. The thread had taken a brief detour since then :)

I agree, great photos as always!

Edited August 16, 2016 by Isklaar

[lincslady]

It's Palma, Majorca. See post #122. The thread had taken a brief detour since then :)

I agree, great photos as always!

 

FYO - the next ports, assuming they were all visited, and in order, were:-

 

Ibiza

Barcelona

Taormina

Valletta

Kotor

Split

Koper

Venice

 

It is good to read reports which are 'warts and all' and mention the less than good as well as the good.:)

[Isklaar]

 

FYO - the next ports, assuming they were all visited, and in order, were:-

 

Ibiza

Barcelona

Taormina

Valletta

Kotor

Split

Koper

Venice

 

It is good to read reports which are 'warts and all' and mention the less than good as well as the good.:)

 

Oh ok, those photos looked like Palma to me,but I haven't been to Ibiza so I guess it's a similar looking place.

Apologies for my error!

Save

[lincslady]

Yes, that was Palma!! Sorry, I just put down the following ones. No doubt EN will put us right when he next comes on here. I assume everyone knows that Taormina is in Sicily, Valletta in Malta, Kotor in Montenegro (a lovely sail in and out there), and Split and Koper in another of the Eastern European countries, can't remember which!

[Emperor Norton]

Still in Palma De Mallorca as the Hard Rock sign suggests ;)

 

Oh look, more "sailors" that aren't sailing.

 

It was hot out, so a nice refreshing beverage served in a vessel that may or may not kill you but at least is currently trendy (see copper toxicity)

 

What could they be setting up for?

 

 

They had topside seating too

 

The on deck BBQ. They had the temperature for it. I like the idea, but execution always leaves something to be desired (you can start with the lack of seating). About an hour and a half before the BBQ started a man set out backpacks/bags at both seats of a two top then seated himself at a four top. Chair hogging extreme? Needless to say I generally avoid such things as I don't find lines luxurious. From people that did attend I did hear there were some issues with a few buffet bulldozers just creating mounds of stuff on their plates. I did hear the seafood on offer was quite nice. I was surprised that no one fell from one of those poolside tables into the pool.

[Emperor Norton]

Dinner then was again in Compass Rose. Very fast seating and service no doubt due to the BBQ.

 

The salt stick looked as if someone had been licking off the salt.

 

 

Panko crusted shrimp. It would be nice if the menus listed the serving size of the appetizers. I would've ordered more. These were an order again dish.

 

Chicken Kiev served with chunks of a dill pickle spear. I was warned several times that the dish may squirt when cut into (I've never had that warning before:rolleyes:). So I pointed it towards a neighboring table and cut away.

 

It was good, I would have preferred Cordon Bleu, but it wasn't offered.

 

Dessert tonight was chocolate ice cream (OK but wont give Ben and Jerrys or Haagen Dazs a run for their money) along with the always available chocolate mousse sans mango topping. The chocolate moose was nice and would make repeat appearances.

 

Service for food and drink tonight was fine and there was no wait.

Edited August 17, 2016 by Emperor Norton

[Emperor Norton]

The next stop was Ibizia where I slept in and almost froze to death and then had a dinner that was among the bottom two dining experiences on the ship.

 

Lunch today was in Chartreuse. Yay. There was a problem with the a/c. Boo. They couldn't fix it. More Boo. It was really really cold.

 

I started with an Alsatian tarte which had leeks and cheese. It was nice and the dressing cut through some of the fat in the tarte.

 

I'm not a fan of the pockmarked plates and bowls.

 

What's this oddity?

 

Sadly the base for their version of a French Onion soup. As you can see they skimped on the onions. I would've preferred one of those old style crock pot things covered with ooey-gooey Emmenthal on top of a nice piece of crusty baguette floating on a richly flavored beef broth with a good amount of caramelized onions. This was lacking a good bit of cheese, a massive amount of the onions and the broth was mediocre at best.

 

Et voila!

Can you say so underwhelming that the only version I've had that I felt was worse used chicken stock and raw onions.

 

This massively crunchy brick was their version of a croque monsieur. Well it was crunchy and it had bread. Thats two things in its favor. Sadly the coating and bread overwhelmed the nearly non-existent ham and cheese. Were I to order it again I'd ask that they stuff it to the gunwales with ham and cheese or they'd get the lash. Arrr.

 

The tarte was definitely a order again, the soup never again and the sandwich I'd order with modifications. It was too cold to stick around for dessert.

 

Dessert was a margarita and a mudslide with ice cream at the pool bar (be nice to the staff and bring over your own ice cream)

 

Edited August 17, 2016 by Emperor Norton

[Emperor Norton]

While out on the pool deck I managed to grab of copy of the pool grill menu.

 

One thing that annoyed me was that when I ordered a burger medium rare from the grill I had to verbally acknowledge that ordering it that way could potentially lead to all sorts of dire consequences. I'm not sure if that crew member was having a bad day or that's standard procedure when ordering from the grill. They never made a verbal mention of doneness or verbal acknowledgement of safety in any of the other venues.

 

The chicken wings were good (a bit greasy even for wings) but lacked even a Buffalo level hot sauce.

 

The Reuben was shocking. For decades I've seen "Reubens" on ships that were scantly thicker than the bread they were served on. This one actually came close to something you might buy in a real deli. A bit more Russian dressing and more bite to the kraut would be nice.

 

The Cubano. Soo close (and IMO better and closer to "standard" than the one served on Oceania). Would've been perfect if they swapped the cheddar for swiss, the dijon for yellow American and made it bigger. I think this still slightly edged out the Reuben for me.

 

The turkey wrap seemed to be missing turkey whenever I ordered it.

 

The other half

 

The southwest potato salad - Im not sure what made it southwest.

 

Spicy slaw - Slaw : yes spicy: no

 

Fries: Generally cooked far ahead of time and held till cold and blech. Ask for a fresh batch or go for something else.

 

Pizza/flatbread: The tomato sauce could've used a bit more zing but otherwise these were good. Good enough to make a meal of. However they were what appeared to be the most often replaced item so you may have to wait a bit for the next one.

 

You can easily have these items delivered to La Veranda. Further you can also get pool grill items delivered to the bar (no matter what the person working at the grill says. It may take a comment to the bartender to get that sorted however).

Edited August 17, 2016 by Emperor Norton

[liptastic]

Emperor your posts and photographs continue to delight and entertain. I would avoid those tables at the poolside at the BBQ nite too. One to many adult beverages and a combination of the sun I am sure I would be the one to topple into the pool:rolleyes:. A bit close to the edge for comfort. Loved the chicken Kiev story.:). Jean.

[mj_holiday]

Emperor, thank you for all your posts and pictures. I am enjoying them while getting ready for our upcoming cruise.

 

I also tend to avoid outdoor buffets like the bar-b-q. While it seems nice, there always seems to be crowding and people saving space in the lines and tables, and by the time I get to the buffet, not much food and no tables.

[eliana]

Thanks Emperor for all your insights. I am a little confused by lunch arrangements on board the Explorer. Are buffets still available in the Terraza and have the lunches in the CR been transferred to the speciality restaurants? If so, are their menus like we used to enjoy in the CR and served at the table, or do the menus more reflect the speciality restaurants speciality?