Explorer 5/23 Review + Pictures (part 1)

[izzyvet]

This was my 3rd cruise with Royal Caribbean and my 2nd on a Voyager Class ship. I had so much fun on the Adventure of the Seas two years ago, I invited my parents along for their first cruise and wanted to definately be on a Voyager Class ship.

 

Precruise: We stayed in Ft. Lauderdale the night before as flights here from Denver were much cheaper than Miami. We stayed at the Sheraton Yankee Clipper, purchased through Hotwire. This was right on the beach with lots of hotels and restaurants nearby. I would highly recommend this hotel, especially to anyone cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale. AM of the cruise departure we had booked ABC limos. They gave us a deal booking on the internet, which was an upgrade from a 6 passenger limo to a 10 passenger super-stretch. This came in very handy with all of our luggage. Don't know if everything would have fit in a smaller vehicle! A couple we met on cruisecritic's Roll Call shared the ride down to the port with us. It was a very pleasant and relaxing way to start the cruise.

 

Arrival-Day 1: We arrived at the pier at about 11 am. Very caotic at the curb, but the limo driver found a good spot to pull over. I think there were still some folks departing from the prior cruise. We handed our luggage off to the readily available porters and off we were to check-in. Check-in is arranged by deck and the smallest lines were for decks 2-3 and deck 10. We were on deck 6, which had a bit of a wait. There were plenty of employees directing people to the check-in desk and even with hundreds of people trying to check in, everything seemed to flow smoothly. The couple checking in directly in front of us caused quite a hold-up though. They had none of their documents ready and didn't know they needed a credit card for their on-board expenses. It took quite some time to get them checked in. We had everything ready and even my Mom who is not a US citizen got through very quickly. Heads up to everyone, please read your documents and fill out everything ahead of time and have everything in your hand. It will make things easier on everyone. Then finally, on to the ship!!

 

The ship is beautiful, I couldn't believe she is older than the Adventure, everything still seems sparkeling and new! We went off in search of our cabins and had a peak in some of the suites (most of the cabin doors were open at this point) We dropped off our carry-ons and had lunch in the Windjammer. Food here was always good, we had lunch here a couple of times during the week. After lunch we found our bags in the service gangway and asked if we could take them, no problem so we changed into swimsuits to hang out in the pool. By now it was very hot and a dip in the pool was nice. I never do remember to take my swimsuit in my carry-on, but this would be a smart thing. We had many drinks by the pool and met up with more of our Roll Call. And another pleasant surprise, the pools are fresh water!! I expected them to change to salt water, but they stayed fresh the entire cruise. (don't know if the water got changed though-never saw the pool empty) Soon it was time for sail-away, so we found the parents and had the neccesary foo-foo drink. (Miami Vice I think) . Freshened up a bit for dinner, then off to the dining room. Had a table for 8 with very nice dinner companions and one of the best waiters, Renauldo, that I have had on a cruise. Our assistant waiter was nice, but very quiet and we didn't get to know him that well. Dinners were the highlight of this cruise, not only because of the pleasant company, but also the service and cuisine were above what I had had recently. Food quality was very good on the Adventure, down a bit when I was on the Grandeur, but again very good on this ship. No entree was bad, some were superb. Sadly, I once again came to realize that Royal Caribbean cannot make a Creme Brulee. This is my favorite dessert, but I've never had a good one on a ship. So I ordered it and just like always, when it came it was seperated. Very sad, but such a small thing, when everything else was so good! And I didn't really need to eat a dessert every night, right?

 

Day 2 at sea: Woke up about 7 am, jogged 3 miles around the track. About 10 am noticed chairs starting to fill up, so went to stake out my deck chair. Not to much chair-saving on this day, but the last day was a different story. Fully 2/3 of the chairs had a towel and maybe one book or bottle of lotion on it. Most of these chairs had no one in them for over two hours. People who arrived after 11 could not find chairs in the main pool area on the upper or lower decks. Again, very nice that the pools are fresh water. Waiters always walking around with drinks and shots. Today it was Mango Tangos and Sex on the Beach. YUM.

 

Day 3: Belize. Got up early for tender tickets. We had a private tour scheduled with Coral Breeze and needed to meet them at 11 am. Got 3rd tender ticket and after waiting for what seemed like forever we were off. Ended up about 30 minutes early. We were warned that it was a 45 minute tender ride, but it was only 10 or 15 minutes. The Coral Breeze tour was really wonderful, with very good snorkeling and a good lunch. Did not hang around the Tourism Village all that long, we were kind of fried after being in the sun all day, so headed back to the ship.

 

Day 4: Costa Maya. Took a cab into Majahaul and hung out at the Pez Quadro beach bar for a while. Nice beach area that offered massages under a huge tree. No lounge chairs available here though (well there was one, which we were able to grab after an hour or so) Then when we felt like lunch, we headed to Oxtankha. Husband had a lobster dish and I had shrimp ceviche. Both very good, but kind of pricey. Nice view of the beach from the restaurant though. Shopped a little bit in the pier area, bought a shirt for caribbean night. I think I might book a tour if I came back here again.

 

to be continued at.....Part 2

(these new boards will only allow a post of 10,000 characters or less. Will make posting a review more of a challenge :confused: )

[gkrebs]

keep going Izzy. I am shocked that the pool was fresh water. You sure they didn't over clorinate it and maybe fool you into thinking it was fresh water?