Explorer of the Seas - dry dock 2023

[tcneal]

1 hour ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Sounds like a waste of drydock time. Who cares about slides... give us more places to eat!

I agree.  As of 4PM the slides are still closed.  I wonder if they will open this cruise.

 

It looks like there are new digital controls in the elevators and signage in the hallways.  This is my first time on Explorer so I'm not sure but they look new.

[tcneal]

I know someone asked earlier.  There are no new USB plugs by the beds.  Other than the carpet and the drapes everything else in the room looks untouched.

[sharonlacey]

Love if someone on can take a few pics and post.  Would love to see the new slides.

 

[kruzerci]

5 hours ago, tcneal said:

On right now.  Haven't found any new restaurants yet.  New carpet in staterooms but haven't done much exploring yet.

Are you sure it’s new or just more modern looking? I have a hard time believing they replaced the carpet since they did it in 2014 yet Mariner and the Freedom class ships still have original nasty carpet from 2003-2007 after more extensive refurbishments. 

[nzcruiser2023]

Can anyone on the ship at the moment let us know if they updated the gym and steam/sauna rooms? I’m deciding between ROS and EOS and hate paying for the sauna/steam room! 

[VDawgAndVan]

9 minutes ago, nzcruiser2023 said:

Can anyone on the ship at the moment let us know if they updated the gym and steam/sauna rooms? I’m deciding between ROS and EOS and hate paying for the sauna/steam room! 

On Brilliance it was a refurbishment of every machine. Awesome. That would be incredible if very machine was brand spanking new 

[CntPAcruiser]

6 hours ago, tcneal said:

On right now.  Haven't found any new restaurants yet.  New carpet in staterooms but haven't done much exploring yet.

 

Could you please confirm that they did not remove Explorer's forward-facing fitness center and locker rooms like they did on Navigator?

[tcneal]

1 hour ago, kruzerci said:

Are you sure it’s new or just more modern looking? I have a hard time believing they replaced the carpet since they did it in 2014 yet Mariner and the Freedom class ships still have original nasty carpet from 2003-2007 after more extensive refurbishments. 

I'm really not sure.   If it's not new it's very clean for my experience on ships.  But I was wrong about the curtains.  They were just modern looking.  On closer inspection there were holes in them.

[tcneal]

2 hours ago, sharonlacey said:

Love if someone on can take a few pics and post.  Would love to see the new slides.

 

I will try tomorrow.

 

Just set sail.  4 hours late.  Reason given was resupply after dry dock.

[tcneal]

17 minutes ago, CntPAcruiser said:

 

Could you please confirm that they did not remove Explorer's forward-facing fitness center and locker rooms like they did on Navigator?

I didn't go in but I believe it's still there.  I do plan on going this week so I'll report on the machines.

[The Sunset Glow]

9 hours ago, tcneal said:

I know someone asked earlier.  There are no new USB plugs by the beds.  Other than the carpet and the drapes everything else in the room looks untouched.

Someone posted on a picture on another forum of the light on each side of the bed and they had a usb port on the side of lights. 

[CntPAcruiser]

12 hours ago, tcneal said:

I didn't go in but I believe it's still there.  I do plan on going this week so I'll report on the machines.

Thank you. It wasn't expected there would be enough time to make this extensive a change, but you never know.

[tcneal]

I didn't get up to the deck as today was Perfect Day but here is a shot from the dock.  If I can figure out how to attach the Pic.

 

 

 

[tcneal]

16 hours ago, The Sunset Glow said:

Someone posted on a picture on another forum of the light on each side of the bed and they had a usb port on the side of lights. 

 

 

I will post a picture of our lights when I get back to the room.

[tcneal]

18 hours ago, The Sunset Glow said:

Someone posted on a picture on another forum of the light on each side of the bed and they had a usb port on the side of lights. 

Definitely no USB ports.  Here us the light.  Maybe they were in a suite.  We're in a Spacious OV Balcony.

 

 

[The Sunset Glow]

2 hours ago, tcneal said:

Definitely no USB ports.  Here us the light.  Maybe they were in a suite.  We're in a Spacious OV Balcony.

 

 

Yeah, that’s not the same type of light. I’ll see if I can find it again. 
 

update: here’s a picture of the light. They are in a Spacious Ocean View balcony, cat 4B on deck 8. But others on the ship are saying they don’t have them either. I even saw another picture of a completely different light. Nothing seems standard - Did RC go to value village to to get their lights? 😜

Edited March 14, 2023 by The Sunset Glow

[rhino7176]

On 3/12/2023 at 2:59 PM, fredmdcruisers said:

Sounds like a waste of drydock time. Who cares about slides... give us more places to eat!

I'd rather have more entertianmnet venues.... don't care that much about the food venues, but that's just me.  I do like to hear about upgraded staeroom carpet and such though,

[tcneal]

3 hours ago, The Sunset Glow said:

Yeah, that’s not the same type of light. I’ll see if I can find it again. 
 

update: here’s a picture of the light. They are in a Spacious Ocean View balcony, cat 4B on deck 8. But others on the ship are saying they don’t have them either. I even saw another picture of a completely different light. Nothing seems standard - Did RC go to value village to to get their lights? 😜

We are in the same type of room on deck 7 (either 3B or 4B).  It's very strange that they would update some of the rooms in the same category.  I could understand if it was just suites.

[Morecruisesplz]

11 hours ago, tcneal said:

We are in the same type of room on deck 7 (either 3B or 4B).  It's very strange that they would update some of the rooms in the same category.  I could understand if it was just suites.

The non usb photo is the same light as we had in Jan.

Edited March 14, 2023 by fredmdcruisers
Typo

[tcneal]

Here is another shot of the slides.

 

 

[tcneal]

We went to the top tier event today and the captain talked about the dry dock.  He said the only visible changes other than cleaning were the water slides, mini golf, and the basketball court.  I didn't pay much attention but I guess they are all new.  He said everything else was mechanical and behind the scenes. 

[CntPAcruiser]

15 minutes ago, tcneal said:

We went to the top tier event today and the captain talked about the dry dock.  He said the only visible changes other than cleaning were the water slides, mini golf, and the basketball court.  I didn't pay much attention but I guess they are all new.  He said everything else was mechanical and behind the scenes. 

 

Thanks again for reporting. Elsewhere on CC someone mentioned that Freedom just took out the nice locker rooms for the fitness center to create more cabins, and we were hoping this was not done on Explorer.

[Morecruisesplz]

23 minutes ago, CntPAcruiser said:

 

Thanks again for reporting. Elsewhere on CC someone mentioned that Freedom just took out the nice locker rooms for the fitness center to create more cabins, and we were hoping this was not done on Explorer.

So no new carpet?

[icsys]

On 3/12/2023 at 11:58 PM, tcneal said:

But I was wrong about the curtains. 

                                                                        ...  On closer inspection there were holes in them.

 

All that time spent in dry dock and they can't spend a bit of money replacing worn out curtains!

[Morecruisesplz]

34 minutes ago, icsys said:

 

All that time spent in dry dock and they can't spend a bit of money replacing worn out curtains!

Sad, really.