Explorer of the Seas - Review - South Pacific - Nov

[aussielozzie18]

So there you have it. My 10 days aboard the Explorer. Had a fab time. Love both the Explorer and the Voyager. Imo, Ice Show better on Explorer. Night time entertainment in Palace Theatre much better on Voyager. Love the cupcake cupboard and Dreamworks characters on Voyager.

 

Great ships, great staff. Hope to one day cruise on them again.

 

Any questions, please ask.

Edited November 21, 2016 by aussielozzie18

[MicCanberra]

Thanks for the review. I too enjoyed the aquarium in Noumea, and the Ice show was wonderful.

[tillydog]

Hi Folks

 

We were on this cruise , we had a wonderful trip , really enjoyed our suite and a few of the perks , breakfast in Chops Grill is great , booked to go again on March 4th sailing booked an owners suite deck 10 1300 (Dominica Suite)

 

Best regards

 

john

 

We had OS 1300 last year - fab cabin!

[Mr&MrsCookie]

Day 7 - Noumea

 

Woke up to an overcast and drizzly day.

 

Have previously done the Amedee Island Lighthouse Tour which I really enjoyed. This time I wanted to visit the Noumea Aquarium which gets a good rap here on

cruise critic.

 

RCI operate free shuttles from the container terminal where we docked to the Passenger Terminal in the city. As we departed the container terminal, a person in a yellow and red t-shirt hopped on the shuttle and advised us all that they were running a hoho bus from the passenger terminal and that the cost would be charged to our seapass card - $15 USD.

 

Very short trip to the container terminal. Lots of different tours and hoho buses available. The money exchange place was very busy. Went upstairs and looked at the market stalls. Lots of goods - prices in XPF and AUD. Went back downstairs and saw the red & yellow stand - lots of cruisers were handing over their seapasses. The details of your seapass card were handwritten on a list and you just signed next to your name.

 

Hoho tour was well organised. Taken outside to a modern coach. Given a map of the drop off locations -

1. morning market

2. Port Plaisance - shopping centre

3. Lemon Bay

4. Aquarium

5. Anse Vata

6. Lemon BAy

7. New Calendonia Museum/McDonalds

8. Bernheim library

 

Only had a 10min wait for the coach to fill and we were off. I stayed on until the Aquarium.

 

I didn't know you could charge the hoho bus to your seapass card. I'm not sure what the red and yellow stand is - can you pay for any other tours with the seapass?

[Guest012]

No full review from me after being hammered when I reviewed the Legend last year so just a short summary:rolleyes: of our experience on this cruise, we didn't personally choose this cruise tend to stick away from the local milk run especially from November through to March :) it was a birthday celebration cruise with 8 good friends and their choice...all i am going to say is thank goodness for the sanctuary of the Diamond Club.... 900 children and heaps of Uni and Year 12 students onboard is a tad scary.

 

The ship itself is typical Voyager class having been on all 3 sisters our fav is still the Mariner of the Seas - prior to it's Asianisation which they started on our repo from Barcelona to Dubai :) Our inside cabin was larger than expected and in fine shape, our attendant was friendly and did a great job, always checked with us to see if everything was okay and whether we needed anything....note: tissues no longer in the bathroom because folks keep flushing them and clogging up the plumbing.... they are now in the top little drawer below mirror

 

Dining for us was 6.00pm MDR, 1st night was dreadfully slow felt so sorry for the waiters, from there on service was excellent the food was good and our head waiter and assistant were fantastic it was clear they both loved their jobs..... Windjammer food and wait service was very good, great selection every day. We are up at 6.00am to have a swim and spa so breakfasted there every morning well before the bus loads arrived... plenty of seats available at that time and so quiet, lunch and night time CRAZY.

 

Entertainment in the evenings, especially in the theatre left a lot to be desired ........very very disappointing.... big cost cutting here, sad to see.

 

Ports as usual were okay, only rain was in Noumea and didn't last too long other than that perfect weather........ thoroughly enjoyed the lumpy seas on the way back this big lady handles them well :)

 

Now for the gritty bits :) We had to have our sea passes replaced 5 times this cruise, lots of others did too, time they seriously addressed this problem better. Last day on the cruise mine worked fine for our cabin and the Diamond Club but not on the photographers scanner, go get another they said.......don't think so 5 in one cruise is more than enough !! We also had a few issues with the accounts department someone, not us, in their infinite wisdom turned our auto grats off:mad: We checked our account mid cruise and noticed there was only one day of grats charged then a credit for them nothing more so we got the pursers to check it out and sure enough they were off.... weirdy strange !!! only way to pay now was by lump sum so we organised that immediately....if the crew know who is opting out we must have looked real BAD......there were other charges on our account that should never have been there so had them reversed too..... got to watch them carefully now !!!!!!

 

The "top tier" event was one of the worst we have ever attended Captain Look at Me Look at Me made no mention of the company, the ship, the crew or even the eminent arrival of the Ovation instead he rabbited on for what seemed like hours about the difference between a "nautical and land mile" when finally finished he then announced he would sing us a song, but wait not just one song he did 3 each equally as bad as the other...being well mannered we stayed and silently suffered however had he attempted a 4th I was out that door quick smart....

 

I work in live performance sound...my suggestion for him is don't give up your day job............ !!!!!!

[MicCanberra]

No full review from me after being hammered when I reviewed the Legend last year so just a short summary of our experience on this cruise, we didn't personally choose this cruise tend to stick away from the local milk run especially from November through to March :) it was a birthday celebration cruise with 8 good friends and their choice...all i am going to say is thank goodness for the sanctuary of the Diamond Club.... 900 children and heaps of Uni and Year 12 students onboard is a tad scary.

 

The ship itself is typical Voyager class having been on all 3 sisters our fav is still the Mariner of the Seas - prior to it's Asianisation which they started on our repo from Barcelona to Dubai :) Our inside cabin was larger than expected and in fine shape, our attendant was friendly and did a great job, always checked with us to see if everything was okay and whether we needed anything....note: tissues no longer in the bathroom because folks keep flushing them and clogging up the plumbing.... they are now in the top little drawer below mirror

 

Dining for us was 6.00pm MDR, 1st night was dreadfully slow felt so sorry for the waiters, from there on service was excellent the food was good and our head waiter and assistant were fantastic it was clear they both loved their jobs..... Windjammer food and wait service was very good, great selection every day. We are up at 6.00am to have a swim and spa so breakfasted there every morning well before the bus loads arrived... plenty of seats available at that time and so quiet, lunch and night time CRAZY.

 

Entertainment in the evenings, especially in the theatre left a lot to be desired ........very very disappointing.... big cost cutting here, sad to see.

 

Ports as usual were okay, only rain was in Noumea and didn't last too long other than that perfect weather........ thoroughly enjoyed the lumpy seas on the way back this big lady handles them well :)

 

Now for the gritty bits :) We had to have our sea passes replaced 5 times this cruise, lots of others did too, time they seriously addressed this problem better. Last day on the cruise mine worked fine for our cabin and the Diamond Club but not on the photographers scanner, go get another they said.......don't think so 5 in one cruise is more than enough !! We also had a few issues with the accounts department someone, not us, in their infinite wisdom turned our auto grats off:mad: We checked our account mid cruise and noticed there was only one day of grats charged then a credit for them nothing more so we got the pursers to check it out and sure enough they were off.... weirdy strange !!! only way to pay now was by lump sum so we organised that immediately....if the crew know who is opting out we must have looked real BAD......there were other charges on our account that should never have been there so had them reversed too..... got to watch them carefully now !!!!!!

 

The "top tier" event was one of the worst we have ever attended Captain Look at Me Look at Me made no mention of the company, the ship, the crew or even the eminent arrival of the Ovation instead he rabbited on for what seemed like hours about the difference between a "nautical and land mile" when finally finished he then announced he would sing us a song, but wait not just one song he did 3 each equally as bad as the other...being well mannered we stayed and silently suffered however had he attempted a 4th I was out that door quick smart....

 

I work in live performance sound...my suggestion for him is don't give up your day job............ !!!!!!

 

Thanks for your review.:D

[seahawks24]

Hi, thanks for the review. Learnt a lot from it. We are cruising in feb and I'm concerned about disembarking. Do you have to be up first thing to get off the boat or can you sleep in to about 8am? Unnoticed that arrival time is about 6:30 am and I don't know if I want to be up that early.

 

 

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[MicCanberra]

Hi, thanks for the review. Learnt a lot from it. We are cruising in feb and I'm concerned about disembarking. Do you have to be up first thing to get off the boat or can you sleep in to about 8am? Unnoticed that arrival time is about 6:30 am and I don't know if I want to be up that early.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Welcome to cruise critic. Most cruise lines ask that you are out of your cabin by 8.00am or 8.30am as they have to get the cabins ready for the next passengers. You can of course stay on the ship in the public areas until around 9.30am. Of course if you are staying on (B2B) this will not affect you.

[seahawks24]

Thank you, that gives me some clarification [emoji3]

 

 

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[aussielozzie18]

I didn't know you could charge the hoho bus to your seapass card. I'm not sure what the red and yellow stand is - can you pay for any other tours with the seapass?

 

I had not heard of it before either. RCI certainly didnt advertise it on board anywhere. As far as I could tell, they were the only hoho bus co. that were associated with RCI (certainly it was the only one allowed to advertise near the ship). I kept the itinerary flyer. There is no company name, just a red logo with ho ho in yellow print. Staff wear matching red & yellow tops. When you are in the passenger terminal, look for the stand adverting hoho tours with the RCI logo at the top of their poster. On the day we were there they were located in the back left corner from the main entrance.

[aussielozzie18]

Hi, thanks for the review. Learnt a lot from it. We are cruising in feb and I'm concerned about disembarking. Do you have to be up first thing to get off the boat or can you sleep in to about 8am? Unnoticed that arrival time is about 6:30 am and I don't know if I want to be up that early.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

The Windjammer is open til 8.30am for breakfast on departure morning. The last allocated departure time on the departure info flyer was 9am. You are given a questionnaire midway thru the cruise to advise RCI of your preferred departure time.

[aussielozzie18]

Badger Bill, I agree with you re the nightly entertainment in the Palace Theatre.

 

I had my seapass card malfunction twice within 1 1/2hrs. I was very thankful that it occurred midcruise when I was the only one in the queue at guest services. Had it happened on the first/second or last 2 days, when they had massive queues, I would have been spitting chips.

[Malgit]

Thanks for your fantastic review, Cool Cruiser. My partner and I read it with great interest.

 

Our first cruise was on Voyager a few years ago and we loved it. We're on Explorer this January and we're hoping it's just as good.

 

Cheers!

[VK3DQ]

We had OS 1300 last year - fab cabin!

 

Hi

 

Thanks for looking after it for us ! :-)

regards

 

John

[Nickerz90]

I suppose they are not thinking about the film content, still it is better than the Titanic.;)

 

 

 

I would suggest he was neither or you would have remembered.:p

 

 

Or Poseidon adventure [emoji6]

 

 

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[Nickerz90]

Thanks for the review! I am one of a group of 8 travelling on explorer on 4th Feb.. it's basically the same ports except we have Mare as a replacement for Lifou instead.

 

Did you explore the cocktail menu much or know an average costing?

 

 

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[aussielozzie18]

Thanks for the review! I am one of a group of 8 travelling on explorer on 4th Feb.. it's basically the same ports except we have Mare as a replacement for Lifou instead.

 

Did you explore the cocktail menu much or know an average costing?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Hi Nick,

I was on a budget so I stuck to the drink of the day (cocktail) - $8.50 usd each. However, my friend was on the Explorer immediately before me. I was asking her today about the cocktail prices - she took a photo of the drink menus. Cocktail prices ranged in price from $8.50 to $11.00 each.

 

My tip is to get to know your bartender. Find one you like and stick with him/her. They tend to throw in a few extra free ones throughout the cruise.

[Nickerz90]

Hi Nick,

 

I was on a budget so I stuck to the drink of the day (cocktail) - $8.50 usd each. However, my friend was on the Explorer immediately before me. I was asking her today about the cocktail prices - she took a photo of the drink menus. Cocktail prices ranged in price from $8.50 to $11.00 each.

 

 

 

My tip is to get to know your bartender. Find one you like and stick with him/her. They tend to throw in a few extra free ones throughout the cruise.

 

 

Awesome! Thanks [emoji4]

I've got the drinks package but it only covers drinks up to $12 so this is great news

 

 

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[mr walker]

Hi Folks

 

We were on this cruise , we had a wonderful trip , really enjoyed our suite and a few of the perks , breakfast in Chops Grill is great , booked to go again on March 4th sailing booked an owners suite deck 10 1300 (Dominica Suite)

 

Best regards

 

john

 

Glad it went well for you. I was pretty sure you would enjoy Explorer.

[MicCanberra]

Awesome! Thanks [emoji4]

I've got the drinks package but it only covers drinks up to $12 so this is great news

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

With a drinks package getting to know a bar tender is even more important as they will know to have your next drink ready as soon as you finish the first one.:D

[Sally0101]

I was also on this cruise. Here are a few of my observations;

I had a great time but Royal Caribbean have definitely gone down in certain things since I last cruised with them.

 

Food- it was not as good as I remember but you can always find something to eat and would never go hungry.

Things like the chocolate buffet and lobster night are now gone.

 

Staff- As always they could not do enough for us - always friendly and joking but you can tell they are very overworked. We got on very well with our Waiter and Assistant Waiter - both of them told us they were very unhappy and would not be renewing their contracts with Royal Caribbean as the workload was too much because of cost cutting. It's a credit to them that they are so jovial and happy all the time in front of the customers.

 

Stateroom: We had two Ocean View Staterooms: 2640 & 2642

Our Cabin attendant was excellent. Just a warning to anyone who is thinking of booking these rooms - They are very Noisy - they are on top of something that turns on and off during the day and night. I personally can sleep through anything but it often work up the others. We didn't complain we just mention this in passing to our room attendant. The next day we got a phone saying they know about the noise and offered to move us. Because they would have to move us to different parts of the ship and we preferred to stay next door to each other so we declined their offer.

So if noise is an issue to you do not book these rooms.

 

Dress Code: The dress code on this ship was very casual. I saw all types of dress in the Dinning Room. I think most Australian just want to holiday and not be to worried about how they dress. Formal night was more like the old "Smart Casual Nights" .There were a few Tuxes and some suite but also a lot of pants and shirts. Personally I don't care how people dress and it doesn't affect my dinning at all.

 

Top Tier Event: I have agree it was the worst one I have ever been to. I think it was just a set up so the captain could sing :-) and unfortunately he wasn't very good.

 

Demographics: I saw all types on this cruise. Families, elderly and young people. Every one seemed friendly enough and we had no problems.

Yes, there were a few young people with Tattoos( as was mentioned on another thread) but you would be hard pressed to go anywhere with out seeing Tattoos these days. I'm in my 60's and they didn't bother me at all. They sat behind me in the Love and Marriage Show and were obviously enjoying themselves.

 

Overall I enjoyed the Cruise and had a great time. There have definitely been cutback with Royal Caribbean but us passengers are probably to blame as we want cheaper cruises. When I cruised 10 years ago I got a better product but paid a lot more than I did on this cruise.

 

These are just my observations and many others will have different opinions.

Edited November 25, 2016 by Sally0101

[Dobby_The_Ship_Elf]

I was also on this cruise. Here are a few of my observations;

I had a great time but Royal Caribbean have definitely gone down in certain things since I last cruised with them.

 

Food- it was not as good as I remember but you can always find something to eat and would never go hungry.

Things like the chocolate buffet and lobster night are now gone.

 

Staff- As always they could not do enough for us - always friendly and joking but you can tell they are very overworked. We got on very well with our Waiter and Assistant Waiter - both of them told us they were very unhappy and would not be renewing their contracts with Royal Caribbean as the workload was too much because of cost cutting. It's a credit to them that they are so jovial and happy all the time in front of the customers.

 

Stateroom: We had two Ocean View Staterooms: 2640 & 2642

Our Cabin attendant was excellent. Just a warning to anyone who is thinking of booking these rooms - They are very Noisy - they are on top of something that turns on and off during the day and night. I personally can sleep through anything but it often work up the others. We didn't complain we just mention this in passing to our room attendant. The next day we got a phone saying they know about the noise and offered to move us. Because they would have to move us to different parts of the ship and we preferred to stay next door to each other so we declined their offer.

So if noise is an issue to you do not book these rooms.

 

Dress Code: The dress code on this ship was very casual. I saw all types of dress in the Dinning Room. I think most Australian just want to holiday and not be to worried about how they dress. Formal night was more like the old "Smart Casual Nights" .There were a few Tuxes and some suite but also a lot of pants and shirts. Personally I don't care how people dress and it doesn't affect my dinning at all.

 

Top Tier Event: I have agree it was the worst one I have ever been to. I think it was just a set up so the captain could sing :-) and unfortunately he wasn't very good.

 

Demographics: I saw all types on this cruise. Families, elderly and young people. Every one seemed friendly enough and we had no problems.

Yes, there were a few young people with Tattoos( as was mentioned on another thread) but you would be hard pressed to go anywhere with out seeing Tattoos these days. I'm in my 60's and they didn't bother me at all. They sat behind me in the Love and Marriage Show and were obviously enjoying themselves.

 

Overall I enjoyed the Cruise and had a great time. There have definitely been cutback with Royal Caribbean but us passengers are probably to blame as we want cheaper cruises. When I cruised 10 years ago I got a better product but paid a lot more than I did on this cruise.

 

These are just my observations and many others will have different opinions.

 

thanks for your well balanced review Sally

[easyboy]

I was also on this cruise. Here are a few of my observations;

I had a great time but Royal Caribbean have definitely gone down in certain things since I last cruised with them.

 

Overall I enjoyed the Cruise and had a great time. There have definitely been cutback with Royal Caribbean but us passengers are probably to blame as we want cheaper cruises. When I cruised 10 years ago I got a better product but paid a lot more than I did on this cruise.

 

These are just my observations and many others will have different opinions.

Thank you for your honest and objective review.

[MicCanberra]

I was also on this cruise. Here are a few of my observations;

 

These are just my observations and many others will have different opinions.

 

Thanks for your review.:D

[6666oz]

Dream Cove Sail & Snorkel Adventure (cont..)

 

We were collected by 2 vans at the Vila dock. Semi-airconditioned and with seat belts. Informed it will be a 20 min ride to the pier where the Cariad was docked. Cariad is a 1960s motor sailing yacht. Boarded the Cariad and we were introduced to the crew, given chilled water and a safety demonstration. Motored to Dream Cove. I thought a Cove was sheltered but this spot was not.

Given the option to jump into deep water from the Caraid to begin snorkelling or be taken to shore in a dinghy and snorkel from the shallows. I took the jump in option. Crew members in several dinghies cruised the perimiter of the area we were snorkelling in to keep a close eye on us. Plenty of fish as the crew supplied bread. Due to the current, I had drifted and soon had a dinghy pull up beside me and a crew member instructed me to swim over to the more central area. We were given 1-1 1/2 hours to snorkel which was perfect.

Raisin toast, biscuits and tea/coffee were served on the way back to the pier.

I really enjoyed this tour.

 

Thanks for this info.