Just back from 9 day Bermuda & Carib on EOS, any ?

[CruiseKeeper]

Can enyone tell me if they've changed the dinner seating times & what time was the main seating? I've read a few posts where people seem to think they will be earlier. 6 of us are cruising this August and the coundown is well on :) .

 

Thanks....Deb

 

Hello Deb,

 

The main seating was at 6:00 and the second started at 8:30. However, on the first night second seating started at 9:00.

 

You and your group of 6 will not be disappointed, the cruise was LOVELY and we had the chance to meet the most wonderful people.

 

Qsuzi, this is my second 9-night sailing on the Explorer in 7 months out of Bayonne and look forward to a third and more. I didn't feel the ship was showing wear and tear, but I'm comparing it to my last cruise on the Majesty in December right before the refurb. No, it's not new, but it sure is just about perfect!

 

I'm sorry, I don't know anything about the mystery dinner. We weren't able to get a reservation for Portofino due to arriving late and we did eat in the WJ one night so we could get to Studio B early enough for good Quest seats. We did! :D WJ dinner was enjoyable. We had prime rib, baked potatos and anything else we could want.

 

As was trvlml's experience, embarkation was a breeze. We followed the signage for the priority boarding and it was simple and pleasant.

 

In St. Maarten, we went to Divi Beach and had plenty of time to enjoy ourselves, travel back and still do a small bit of shopping in the port area.

 

It's a great ship. Enjoy!

[DebNY13]

Thanks L & J....My husband and I had a great time on the Voyager, thus we are returning to RCI. We had late seating and found it to end too late (we like to hang out after dinner at the bars, casino, etc. :o ). When we were on Carnival, we went for the early dinner and found a few things out A) we eat less - which is always a good thing :) and b) we had that much more time to hang out with our new friends in whichever part of the ship we were hanging out in. When we heard the times were maybe changing to 5:00 or so, that is a little too early!!! 6:00 is fine!!

 

And you are right.....we know we will have a great time as we always do on ANY vacation!!!

 

Deb

[DPurcell58]

To the OP, like others, I respect your opinions, but:

 

1. You booked an OS, didn't you think you might have more space and a larger bathroom area? Why the comment "Do people really need these things?" (jacuzzi tub, bidet)

 

2. You encountered some "rude" people? Try sailing in Aug. with 900 kids aboard (which is when we sail due to school vacations so I'm not complaining). Kids can be more annoying than older people sometimes.

 

3. You were told your tags would be called at 10:00 and you were only called at 10:30?? That's really not a long wait and I don't think you needed to catch a plane or anything.

 

I hope you have a very nice trip next time on NCL.

[DPurcell58]

 

In St. Maarten, we went to Divi Beach and had plenty of time to enjoy ourselves, travel back and still do a small bit of shopping in the port area.

 

 

We did this last year as an RCL excursion. I'm wondering can you just go by yourself by taxi? Since we arrive there late, maybe that's the way to go. It was a very nice beach area.

 

Thanks

[CruiseKeeper]

We did this last year as an RCL excursion. I'm wondering can you just go by yourself by taxi? Since we arrive there late, maybe that's the way to go. It was a very nice beach area.

 

Thanks

 

To tell you honestly, next time, we'll probably try it on our own. Given the amount of people we had to organize into vans, a taxi probably would have been quicker. The Divi excursion included 2 drinks each, a hamburger/hot dog lunch, chaise lounges and whatever Divi charges for admission. I don't know how you'd go about arranging that part yourself. Perhaps you could contact Divi yourself on the Internet to inquire. I'm sure there's also free areas of the beach, but I'm just not familiar enough to advise. i did like that it was closer to the ship than Orient which allowed for more time too.

[mrchips14]

I can't get an answer to the following question, in addition to the 2 formal nights are there smart casual (semi formal? 1 or 2 nights ). The rest are casual?

 

Leaving on Friday and need to pack clothes, do not have room for things I do not need. LOL

 

Thanks

[DPurcell58]

To tell you honestly, next time, we'll probably try it on our own. Given the amount of people we had to organize into vans, a taxi probably would have been quicker. The Divi excursion included 2 drinks each, a hamburger/hot dog lunch, chaise lounges and whatever Divi charges for admission. I don't know how you'd go about arranging that part yourself. Perhaps you could contact Divi yourself on the Internet to inquire. I'm sure there's also free areas of the beach, but I'm just not familiar enough to advise. i did like that it was closer to the ship than Orient which allowed for more time too.

 

 

thanks, that's the one we did last year too. We may just do it again, just was wondering with arriving later than last year how it worked out, but I guess it was fine. Thanks again.

[CruiseKeeper]

I can't get an answer to the following question, in addition to the 2 formal nights are there smart casual (semi formal? 1 or 2 nights ). The rest are casual?

 

Leaving on Friday and need to pack clothes, do not have room for things I do not need. LOL

 

Thanks

 

There was a smart casual night but you wouldn't be able to tell the difference from casual if you weren't looking for the differences. You saw some sport coats on the guys, some ties, but not many. Women wore slacks, pant suits and sun dresses. Of course, you still saw blue jeans here and there too. I think semi-formal is is too strong a description for what we saw. Don't you just hate packing?

[clochette]

I am going on the Explorer next February and was getting concerned after reading this review, I am so thankfull for the comments from other people who were on the same cruising and enjoyed it. I really believe that there are people who will find fault with everything. I also always thought that NCL was for an older crowd and RCL was geared toward families with kids teenagers. I have only cruised with DCL but am really looking forward to this upcoming cruise, and I will make sure not to compare both lines.

DCL does have Bingo and boy is that an expensive cruiseline that caters wo young families!!

[Deidre427]

St Maarten- the water taxis which are used to get into the town, stop running at 6 pm but the shops at the pier stay open as long as the ship is there.

 

San Juan- We were off the ship by 7:30 and noticed that all stores were open and running.

 

Dinner Seatings are 6 pm and 8:30

 

There were 3 or 4 times the ice show performed giving you a few choices to when you wanted to see it.

 

There are the 2 formal nights, a disco or 70's night, a USA or red white and blue night, and the rest seemd to be smart casual. To me it was hard to tell how people were dressed. People don't really dress anymore for dinner like they used to. If there clothes were dry, I think they were allowed in. Also there was so many polyester pantsuits, I don't know what category that falls into, mabye tacky night?

[CruiseKeeper]

I am going on the Explorer next February and was getting concerned after reading this review, I am so thankfull for the comments from other people who were on the same cruising and enjoyed it. I really believe that there are people who will find fault with everything. I also always thought that NCL was for an older crowd and RCL was geared toward families with kids teenagers. I have only cruised with DCL but am really looking forward to this upcoming cruise, and I will make sure not to compare both lines.

DCL does have Bingo and boy is that an expensive cruiseline that caters wo young families!!

 

You have a great attitude and I'm sure you'll have a great time because of it! :) Some of the stuff probably did occur to the OP, but you shouldn't generalize and berate an entire line because customer service staff can't explain why the ships designer put cabins where they do or control the diversity or attitudes of fellow passengers. Getting on and off the ship are certainly never highlights of any cruise experience either, I agree there is always room for improvement there.

 

I hope the OP has a better experience on NCL.

[mrchips14]

Deidre427 & L&J cruiser.

 

Thanks for the info, I might just through in a sport jacket with the suit.

 

The worst part of cruising (other than getting off ) is packing and getting to the ship. Vacation starts when I dump bags off with the porters.

 

See ya

[Imasealuvr]

Imasealuvr, we weren't on your sailing, but we did take the Explorer to Bermuda and we enjoyed our cruise as well. Everyone seemed well mannered aboard too, thank goodness. That beach near the ship was really nice (Snorkel Park). There was a pavilion & a water slide, and it was next to the Dolphin Quest. Did you get to see it?

We were there during the week so the shops were open. Wasn't it a beautiful island!?:)

 

 

Yes! It was beautiful. I did not get to see Snorkel Park, but there is always NEXT time!! ;)

[BobBeaSea]

For the OP we were on this sailing and had a great time. I thought the ship was in great shape and has a fine crew. Sorry things weren't completely to your satisfaction however, after reading your posts, satisfying you might be a tall order. :D I am sure you will enjoy NCL.

 

For future Explorer cruisers...no worries, everything is fine with the ship. I'll be posting a review when I get around to it.

 

For Mr. Chips, don't worry about "Smart Casual" night, it doesn't really exist on RCI anymore, especially sailings to the Caribbbean. There are only 2 formal nights on the 9 nighter, second night out and second last night back. Treat all other nights as Casual and you will be fine.

[smoosh21]

EOS Bermuda & Caribbean May 11

 

Embarkation

 

We arrived at Cape Liberty around noon, thinking we were early and that it would be a breeze getting on the ship. Boy was I wrong. When we arrived there were so many people, we had to wait in the security holding area while they filtered the hundred or so people who had been there even earlier. Cape Liberty and RCL staff were not too sure about what to do, seemed like they were all new, we were in an Owners Suite and were told we would have a Special embarkation line, with the Crown & Anchor Diamond members, no one knew what we talking about. How is it possible to maintain a job and not know simple answers to questions? I know I would be fired.

When finally made it to the “Special” check in thing moved a little faster. The shuttle bus to the ship is quick and easy, I know a lot of people have complained about this but it must be because they bring too many carry-ons.

 

Was this the first sailing of the season? I know that causes a lot of chaos too.

 

Also, with your disembarkation, did they announce it was delayed? 10:30 AM seems awfully late if you were only the 3rd group off the ship. Again, I am wondering if there were delays because you were at the start of the season.

[BobBeaSea]

Was this the first sailing of the season? I know that causes a lot of chaos too.

 

Also, with your disembarkation, did they announce it was delayed? 10:30 AM seems awfully late if you were only the 3rd group off the ship. Again, I am wondering if there were delays because you were at the start of the season.

 

I think they had a little trouble clearing the ship, don't know why but being the first sailing of the season from Cape Liberty might have something to do with it. The ship docked at 7:20 am and I believe they announced at roughly 9:10 am the ship had received clearance. We were the 5th colour called (purple, out of a total of 12 colours + white), sixth counting "white" which was not published. I think white was meant for Diamond status and up as well as those needing assistance...there were about 500 Diamond and up passengers onboard. Once we got off the ship it was a remarkably quick and painless process. We drove and parked at the port and were in the car by 11:00 am.