“Suite!” Just Retired to be a pirate at sea with Sea Dog and Polly The Pirate Semi Live Explorer Nov. 7th

[RCCL Fan]

On 11/10/2021 at 6:57 AM, Sea Dog said:

New and Improved Giovanni’s 

 

Our first experience at Giovanni’s 

Was on Adventure 4 years ago . I was underwhelmed. It was good but did not have the wow factor.

 

This time Giovanni’s had the wow factor. We started out with 4 different appetizers.
 

 

 

 

The meat and cheese plank was still as good as it’s always been. We also had the Ahi Tuna Sashimi and pork belly along with mozzarella and heirloom tomatoes. But the wow factor came from the grilled octopus. Wow this was so tender and so full of flavor. Best octopus I’d ever eaten.

 

For the mains I had heard people say their filet was better than Chops so I had to see and taste for myself. This tasted just as good if not better. The key was the sauce that you could pour over the steak or dip. Now I’m normally a sauce guy for steak. Just some salt and pepper and let the meat speak for itself but this Broccolini Barolo Sauce was out of this world. It gave the steak a whole new flavor profile. I highly approved.

 

Jonathan had the Ossobuco and was really good and Linda had the same filet as I did. She loved it. I had a side of the Pasta Carbonara  with poached egg on top and lots of grated Parmesan on it.

 

We were so full that almost did not get dessert. We ordered Tiramisu to split but the waiter also brought  out a chocolate torte with chocolate ganache on top. Wow again. And the Tiramisu was a hit also.

 

Linda wanted to chill on the balcony and Jonathan went to on of pool deck to read. I went to headliner show to hear Paul Hughes a singer that sings the classics like Sinatra,Bobby Darin and Michael Buble. He was good. Not Sinatra but good. I was really impressed with the big band that had about a hour and half rehearsal with him to learn all the charts. They sounded great. I was very impressed.

 

After that back to schooner bar to drink with my new friends and had  my great bartender Norvo recreate the Baton Rouge Drink that used to be on Schooner menu but was taken off. It was Captain Morgan Spiced Rum with Hennessy Cognac and simple syrup. The original recipe called for rose syrup which he substituted another syrup for. Sorry my phone died and I did not get a photo. I will try again.

 

Lastly more Zoom woes. I stayed up past 1:30 trying to get my video of our excursion today to upload to you tube. No luck, stalked every time. Tried this morning at 6am again no luck. You will have wait till I get home. What a joke the surf and stream is on this ship. Very frustrating. I could complain but it would not help. I will mention it on my post survey. I have to wonder if it’s because Explorer was just supported in the app? Now you have all these people using the app might be clogging the pipeline. Just a thought.

It's always different ship to ship.  I swear Giovanni's filet is better than Chops on Allure an Indy.   It's just the opposite on other ships.     

[clutchcurrier]

Greg, found your review just this morning and have enjoyed it very much.  Congrats on yours and Linda's retirement.  I retired about 8 years ago but my hubby is still trying.  He is an architect and all his old clients keep calling him about jobs.  So sorry about your little Maggie.  We know your pain.  We had to put our last horse down in March due to a incurable medical condition.   Still miss him.  When you have been with horses almost 35 years it's hard to find you don't have them anymore.  Loved your review and are looking forward to our Princess cruise in March 2023.  Safe travels home

[Sunshine3601]

17 minutes ago, RCCL Fan said:

It's always different ship to ship.  I swear Giovanni's filet is better than Chops on Allure an Indy.   It's just the opposite on other ships.     

I have found it be better on the Serenade too.

[lazydayz]

Safe travels home.  Looking forward to the rest of the story.  

[dianajo67]

So looking forward to the rest of your review!  Guess I’ll temper my expectations of the internet service when I’m on there in a week!  I do have a couple odd questions:

 

1.  How was the temp and water pressure in your jr ste?  We’re going to be in one close to yours.  If all was hot and hard, I’m probably going to cancel my royalUP bid!  Yes, I know they aren’t really correlated at all!  A couple old jr ste reviews indicted the shower wasn’t great but didn’t say why.

 

2.  Where was your best steak? Debating doing the chefs table, but wondering about giovannis vs chops.

 

Sorry your semi live didn’t work out like you wanted due to crappy internet. On the other hand, you have a huge audience now waiting anxiously for more of your excellent videos and photography!

 

I’m just planning to supplement your review when we go at this point.   We have different excursions etc.  

 

 

[Sea Dog]

13 hours ago, BonTexasNY said:

Greg, safe travels home!  Thank you for taking us along and can't wait to read and see more of your wonderful experiences.

 

12 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Safe travels. Looking forward to your future posts.

 

11 hours ago, Lionesss said:

Be safe, rest up.

 

Cannot wait to "READ ALL ABOUT IT"

 

Thanks again for the thread

 

11 hours ago, crewsweeper said:

Safe travels home.  Willing to wait for the full Monty.😄

Thanks every one we finally made it. God I do hate flying. I gotta move to the cruise ports. Luckily there were no fights just some crying babies and it seems like less and less leg room. My legs, rear and back are still hurting. Funny I haven’t gotten my land legs back. A couple of times I found myself swaying to keep balanced. Tomorrow I will start cranking out content and believe me you do not want to see my full Monty 😬

[lenquixote66]

On 11/7/2021 at 5:44 PM, DaniDanielle said:

Explorer was our first Royal cruise ship.  So happy to have you document your cruise!

Our first RCI too.I just found this thread .

[lenquixote66]

I just read all 21 pages of your wonderful cruise.Very happy that you had an enjoyable cruise.😀

[Ocean Boy]

On 11/7/2021 at 5:44 PM, DaniDanielle said:

Explorer was our first Royal cruise ship.  So happy to have you document your cruise!

 

19 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

Our first RCI too.I just found this thread .

It seems that Explorer was the initiation to RCI for a few of us. Apparently the ship does something right since it got us hooked.🙂

[perfect match]

@Sea Dog, glad you and your family made it home safely. You’ve just reminded me of how glad I am that we live in Central FL, an easy drive to any of the Florida cruise ports. 😎. I’m old enough to remember the days when flying was fun. These days, at least for me, not so much fun! 

[Sea Dog]

21 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

 

Bought my first and only Keens just like these when walking the streets of D.C.  Feet were killing me in regular tenni-runners.  Dropped into that mall down by the mall and snatched them, didn't matter what they cost which back then I thought was expensive!  That was back in 2005 or so, still use them every cruise for the beach and they look brand new still...sooooo comfy!

 

I like them very comfortable but I think I got mine too small. I should have sized up by a half. Mine are 9.5 and very hard to put on. Should have gotten a 10.

 

19 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

It's always different ship to ship.  I swear Giovanni's filet is better than Chops on Allure an Indy.   It's just the opposite on other ships.     

 

Giovanni's filet was excellent this trip. It was a good as Chops but Chops on this trip really shined. The filet was one of their best.

 

 

17 hours ago, dianajo67 said:

So looking forward to the rest of your review!  Guess I’ll temper my expectations of the internet service when I’m on there in a week!  I do have a couple odd questions:

 

1.  How was the temp and water pressure in your jr ste?  We’re going to be in one close to yours.  If all was hot and hard, I’m probably going to cancel my royalUP bid!  Yes, I know they aren’t really correlated at all!  A couple old jr ste reviews indicted the shower wasn’t great but didn’t say why.

 

2.  Where was your best steak? Debating doing the chefs table, but wondering about giovannis vs chops.

 

Sorry your semi live didn’t work out like you wanted due to crappy internet. On the other hand, you have a huge audience now waiting anxiously for more of your excellent videos and photography!

 

I’m just planning to supplement your review when we go at this point.   We have different excursions etc.  

 

 

 

1) Temp was great. It got hot quickly and the pressure was good but it's not full blast. Big enough shower head to get a good soak.

 

2) I did not have a bad filet all week. I loved the Chops filet. Giovannis a very close second as it was seasoned slightly different but had a killer sauce. Chef's Table filet was amazing. If it were me. I would do all 3. You can't go wrong.

 

 

12 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

Our first RCI too.I just found this thread .

 

Welcome aboard. Stay tuned more excitement.

 

11 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

 

It seems that Explorer was the initiation to RCI for a few of us. Apparently the ship does something right since it got us hooked.🙂

 

I was so impressed with Explorer and they take good care of her. Workers were painting the hull when we were in Barbados.

 

7 hours ago, perfect match said:

@Sea Dog, glad you and your family made it home safely. You’ve just reminded me of how glad I am that we live in Central FL, an easy drive to any of the Florida cruise ports. 😎. I’m old enough to remember the days when flying was fun. These days, at least for me, not so much fun! 

 

I suffer from anxiety and going through the whole airline experience is nerve wracking for me. I think a move may be in order.

 

UPDATE: So I'm so excited to be back home and post all the content I've collected from the past week. But right now I feel cursed.

 

After experiencing horrible internet speeds this past week I come home to my blazing fast Google Fiber at 1,000gb up and down only to find out there is an outage in the area. TV is pixelated and internet is slow. Trying to download some photos from the cloud. 749MB is going to take 3 hours. This pirate is now has the curse of the black pearl.

Edited November 15, 2021 by Sea Dog

[Ozark_Kid]

Hey @Sea Dog after the trip and being retired I thought you might sleep in a bit.  Glad y’all made it home safely.

 I heard that a slice of pie costs $2.50 in Jamaica and $1.75 in the Bahamas……Yep. These are the pie rates of the Caribbean!

Welcome home.

[Sea Dog]

1 hour ago, Ozark_Kid said:

These are the pie rates of the Caribbean!

Welcome home.

I like pie! I'm totally stealing this.

[Sea Dog]

St. Thomas Part Deux

 

Ok before I was so rudely interrupted by Zoom crashing and crawling like the escargot in the MDR, Lets get back to day 2 on our cruise. St. Thomas.

 

Before the details, a short video to get you in the mood.

 

 

I love St. Thomas. As in my earlier post I got up very early to get the sunrise and approach to St. Martin. Our excursion was to Secret Sands Beach. A 21-acre Secret Sands/Smith Bay Beach Eco Park located on St. Thomas' east end. Beautiful light pink sand beaches, luminescent aqua-blue water, which was some of the clearest water I've ever seen and complimentary beverages of a killer rum punch. More about that later.

 

 

Polly the pirate really loved this spot.

 

 

She gives it two wings up.

 

And besides an amazing beach. It’s Rumday, Rum, rum and more rum.

 

 

Jonathan made friends quickly with Kareem and Spartan who were our hosts. They provided a killer rum punch that was a secret recipe. It was a locally produced rum and pineapple juice but there was a couple more flavors in there that I could not put my finger on. Mango, Guavaberry, Peach perhaps? Kareem would fill over half the cup with rum then came the punch. It was so good. I don’t know how many we drank but we drank as much as any good pirate would tell you. I was definitely slurring my ‘RRRRRRRRRR’s.”

 

 

Jonathan even talked Kareem into doing rum shots with us and they were happy to oblige After all it’s all about the rum isn’t it?  or until as my friend Jack Sparrow would say "why is all the rums gone?"

 

 

Glad I'm not driving. Hated to leave this place. We will be back.

 

Edited November 15, 2021 by Sea Dog

[DaniDanielle]

Thanks Greg.

[Maitaivegas]

Wow your video editing is on pointe.

RCC could use your video as an advertisement, good way to support your cruising habit.

I really love your trip report so far 

[jmklade]

On 11/14/2021 at 5:55 AM, Sea Dog said:

Back to where we started. Breakfast one last time in the windjammer then Debarkation at 9am. Long day ahead. I will start the in-depth review on tomorrow. Lots to tell you and show you. Thank you for sticking with me. I can’t wait to get some real internet.

 

Thanks for taking the time to do this even though it was difficult.  

[Sea Dog]

Formal Night in the MDR

 

 

I was pleasantly surprised at how many people dressed up for formal night. I am still trying to get an accurate count but it looks like around 2100 people are sailing on Explorer. About 2/3 full. There are a lot of Spanish speaking guests and I assume a lot of Puerto Rico residents. They do dress to the 9's so it was great to see. Of course Mr and Mrs Sea Dog did dress up but did not get our picture taken. We like being behind the scenes.

 

We are eating in the MDR only twice and both are on Formal nights. Tonight I started with my favorite. Escargot.

 

 

Now a pet peeve of mine. I always order a pre dinner cocktail a "Manhattan".

Two parts rye whiskey to one part sweet vermouth, two dashes of angostura bitters, and a cherry—it's hard to beat.

 

 

Pet peeve: Never serve a manhattan in a high ball glass over ice. It should be served in a chilled martini glass with no ice. Chops does it right.

 

Main course roasted beef of tenderloin. Medium rare and tasted so delicious.

 

 

And for dessert a carrot cake. Nothing fancy wished it was more moist. My wife makes a killer carrot cake that is so moist. I think it is all about the oil that is used. I still ate the whole thing. Staff was great very attentive. It was a longer dinner time than normal. In and out less than 2 hours. I've experienced less than 1 hour.

 

Headliner Act

 

 

We decided to head to the Palace Theater to catch "Two Funny Guys." Brothers Mario and Daniel had impeccable timing and did a variety of material portraying characters in funny situations and blending slapstick with hop and cerebral humor.

 

The brothers were from Argentina and performed boleadoras, which are little balls tied on the ends of ropes. In Argentina they were traditionally used with a throwing technique to catch cattle. Later they also appeared in the folk dance of the Gauchos as an percussion instrument along with the feet and the drums. Very enjoyable. They were eating in the MDR a couple of nights later and their table was laughing all night. They wee quite the pair. Very funny.

[Sheal]

On 11/13/2021 at 2:15 PM, Sunshine3601 said:

Great news!    As of today and royal's website St Kitts is now off the bubble list.    Anyone fully vaxxed is allowed to book private tours, shop, etc etc.       

This was updated for St Kitts, St Lucia and Barbados.    Antigua was removed from the list the other week, so all is slowly getting back to "normal". 

LOL.  My sister just came back yesterday.  She missed the updates by one week.  Those were many of the ports she was visiting besides SJU and maybe one other. 

[Sea Dog]

6 minutes ago, Sheal said:

LOL.  My sister just came back yesterday.  She missed the updates by one week.  Those were many of the ports she was visiting besides SJU and maybe one other. 

We were at St. Kitts on November 13th and the protocols were still in place. Bubble tours only.

[Sea Dog]

DAY 2 HOMAGE TO TWANGSTER

I am not normally a morning person but when I cruise I got the adrenaline rush and excitement of being on a ship. @twangster loves to take pictures on a ship at extreme hours when no one is around. I was wide awake  at 5am and decided to venture out and around Explorer to see what I can see. Take a peak.

 

 

The endless hallway.

 

 

Sunrise on the Pool Deck

 

 

My favorite bar The Schooner.

 

 

Flow Rider. I did not see this in use all week but then again it might have been certain hours.

 

 

Sunrise Basketball anyone?

 

 

I hope we don't need this.

 

 

A St. Croix sunrise.

 

 

Safety first.

 

 

This was observed sometimes. More lax as the week progresses.

 

 

Can't ever get enough of this.

 

 

Tied up with no place to go.

 

 

 

R Bar. This will become special later.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2021 by Sea Dog

[twangster]

2 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

DAY 2 HOMAGE TO TWANGSTER

I am not normally a morning person but when I cruise I got the adrenaline rush and excitement of being on a ship. @twangster loves to take pictures on a ship at extreme hours when no one is around. I was wide awake  at 5am and decided to venture out and around Explorer to see what I can see. Take a peak.

 

 

The endless hallway.

 

 

Sunrise on the Pool Deck

 

 

My favorite bar The Schooner.

 

 

Flow Rider. I did not see this in use all week but then again it might have been certain hours.

 

 

Sunrise Basketball anyone?

 

 

I hope we don't need this.

 

 

A St. Croix sunrise.

 

 

Safety first.

 

 

This was observed sometimes. More lax as the week progresses.

 

 

Can't ever get enough of this.

 

 

Tied up with no place to go.

 

 

 

R Bar. This will become special later.

 

 

 

 

 

Love it!  Great photos!

[Sea Dog]

Cafe Promenade

 

 

A lot of people love the Cafe Promenade for a quick breakfast and cup of coffee. They also serve pastries, sandwiches and a variety of late night snacks. Perfect for the late night cocktails you consume and need some filler material in the ole stomach before bedtime. Also pizza available from 11am till 3am. Got the munchies?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again if you need a snack this is the place.

 

 

[grapau27]

21 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Cafe Promenade

 

 

A lot of people love the Cafe Promenade for a quick breakfast and cup of coffee. They also serve pastries, sandwiches and a variety of late night snacks. Perfect for the late night cocktails you consume and need some filler material in the ole stomach before bedtime. Also pizza available from 11am till 3am. Got the munchies?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again if you need a snack this is the place.

 

 

Super food photos.

Graham.

[Seville2Cabo]

42 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

DAY 2 HOMAGE TO TWANGSTER

I am not normally a morning person but when I cruise I got the adrenaline rush and excitement of being on a ship. @twangster loves to take pictures on a ship at extreme hours when no one is around. I was wide awake  at 5am and decided to venture out and around Explorer to see what I can see. Take a peak.

 

 

The endless hallway.

 

 

Sunrise on the Pool Deck

 

 

My favorite bar The Schooner.

 

 

Flow Rider. I did not see this in use all week but then again it might have been certain hours.

 

 

Sunrise Basketball anyone?

 

 

I hope we don't need this.

 

 

A St. Croix sunrise.

 

 

Safety first.

 

 

This was observed sometimes. More lax as the week progresses.

 

 

Can't ever get enough of this.

 

 

Tied up with no place to go.

 

 

 

R Bar. This will become special later.

 

 

 

 

 

Can you get the Louis XIII with C&A coupons?