Explorer of the Seas review 4/11-4/20/08

[andyjo0930]

Well, we just returned home a few hours ago from our wonderful 9 night cruise out of New Jersey! Here's our review.

 

Embarktion - Actually not bad at all. We have heard a lot of mixed reviews about cruising out of New Jersey. Other than having the exit closed where we were supposed to get off, we actually didn't have any problems. We arrived into the shipyard at 11:10. We were on the ship by 12:30. The lines are divided by decks, and it moved rather quickly. We were given a bus number of 8. We waited approximately 10 minutes after we checked in before they were boarding our bus. It was a quick 3 minute ride down to the ship (for those of you wondering it is handicapp accessible). This ship does all entering on deck 1. My sister had priority boarding and was on the ship maybe 10 to 15 minutes before the rest of us. So it wasn't that much of a difference.

 

Ship - The ship itself is beautiful. It was pretty clean, and for the most part well maintained. We did have a problem in our shower that it leaked every time even though the doors were shut. Also, one night one the men's bathrooms had water pretty deep all over the floor. Other than that, there were no major problems.

 

Service - The service definitely lacked compared to our prior cruises. We have been on 4 previous cruises, all RC, but all much smaller ships. The service is much better on the smaller ships. We hardly saw our room steward, though our room was always clean and she did a good job, we just never saw her. Our waiter and assistant waiter were just okay. Probably the worse we ever had. We were a group of 13 and 2 in our group were added at the last minute and were not on our table. We went down there the first day and they said they would add them to our table. They actually put another table next to the big one to accommate us so that we could sit together. That being said, our waiter had another big group behind us and then our table (with 13 instead of the original 11)... and he just seemed to get frazzled and a lot of our orders didn't come out right. Also, the assistant waiter was very slow, took him a couple of nights to remember soda, lemons, coffee... stuff like that.... and we were only offered a second roll or bread on one night and getting water refills and/or soda refills was sometimes difficult to get. The service on the rest of the ship was just okay. We had a few nice bartenders, but mostly the drink staff was just okay.

The activities staff was pretty good. The cruise director was Mike Hunnur (spelling) from Australia. He was okay, but activities manger Phil was actually much more fun.

 

Activities - We participated in a few activities on the ship. This was spring break for high schools and there were over 800 kids on board, with 500 being teenagers, so that being said, there were a lot of kids. The activities such as pool games and pool olympics, we had always participated in before, didn't this time, because the only ones who were playing were the kids. They had family karakoe also a few times throughout the cruise and there were a lot of kids singing for that also. The activites that were strictly for adults were okay. The belly flop contest was good (my husband actually won it!).... and the late night adult shows such as love and marriage, the quest, the liars club, I actually didn't see any kids attending at all. We had a lot of fun at these activities.

 

Unfortunately, although we had good weather, we also had a lot of wind. The mini-golf, in-line skating and rock climbing wall were not open the majority of the cruise because of this, especially the rock climbing wall.

 

Ports - We went to Labadee, Dominican Republic, St. Thomas and San Juan. We were able to get on and off the ship in all ports with no problem.

Labadee - Great beach day. This was our second trip there and loved it. My nephews did the zip line. It takes approximately 45-50 minutes from the time on your reservation to the time you actually zip down. Also, they are taking your photos at the bottom as you come down and we were able to purchase them later on the ship. There are no signs posted as to where you actually had to check in, but it's over by the Dragon Flight Cafe. The locals were a little agressive about buying their merchandise, but we still had a great time walking through the market. The last time we were there, we were on the Empress and had a lot less people and choose the first beach as you get on the island. This time we did the same thing and it was a bit of a mistake. By the afternoon, there were so many chairs, you could hardly get to yours. That beach was the most crowded.

Dominican Republic - We actually had a private excursion booked which canceled on us two days prior to leaving. We booked another and went back and forth for a few days via e-mail and thought we were all set, but never were picked up. We ended up just grabbing a taxi and they stayed with us for the day, took us to a beach, we did some shopping and then came back to the ship. We only saw very little of the island itself, but the beach was absolutely beautiful.

St. Thomas - We had to go through immigration prior to getting off the ship in St. Thomas. Actually, for that many people, we went through the line somewhat quickly and it was very easy. Once off the ship, we had a private excursion booked with Godfrey Tours which took us shopping, then on a tour of the island and then to a beach. We have done this tour before and it's a lot of fun. You get to see a lot of the island as they take you up the mountain top.

San Juan - We decided not to book anything in San Juan since we were only there for a few hours (7 to 2).... we got off the ship around 9:30 and walked around for a few hours and shopped. We went to a "pigeon park". My cousin's grandparents live there and he remembered this park where you can feed the pigeons. We found the park and the birds actually will sit right on your head, arms, legs, all over you.... as long as you have food. I took a lot of pictures.......... from a distance.

 

Shows - We went to a few shows, but not all of them. The comics were good and the late night comedy shows were very funny. We saw one production show that was also pretty good.

 

Disembarktion - Again, no problems. Just so you know, it's $16.00 a day to park, 9 night cruise was $144.00 and you have to pre-pay it when you park.

 

Overall, we had a great vacation. There were no problems on the ship with the large amount of teenagers other than the cafe promenade was a little crowded with them around midnight or so. Also, they have two pretty big size hot tubs by the main pool, one was reserved only for adults and the other was for anybody. It was overrun by young children who were too small to swim in the pool. They were coming in with their floats and goggles and thought that this was a pool. Also, it was pretty hard to get a pool chair anywhere near the pool, although the deck patrol was out in full force.

 

Well that's about it. Realty has now set in and I have to be to work in the morning. I hope everybody enjoys our review.

[esbie11]

Thanks for the review! We will be taking this same cruise next year (although we will be going to the ports in reverse order). I am a little discouraged to hear about all of the kids. We are traveling with a group of 26 (all adults) and I THOUGHT we had picked the best time of year, with it not being hurricane season, but yet it wouldn't be too hot and the kids would still be in school. HOWEVER I totally forgot about spring break, so it looks like we will be having the same experience as you with the influx of children/teens. I am glad to hear that your trip went well and you didnt have any difficulties embarking or disembarking (as that is a concern for me too, particularly while traveling with so many people). I am just hoping my wedding cruise doesn't turn in to Romper Room:(

[attitudeda]

Did you go and see any of the ice shows.

 

We were on the 12 night sailing out of Bayonne on March 16, 2008 and had a great time. We had Gordan as our cruise director (He's a great singer) and Phil was was the activities manage. I found Phil to be kind of annoying. Our cabin steward was the best, thanks Paula we will see you again in October.

Our bar staff was the best. We also sailed with a large group of children or teens since this was over Easter and found them to be well behaved.

 

We sailed with our daughter who is 14 she met a nice bunch of kids her age and they all had a great time. We had over 500 kids when we sailed. So please don't pre judge a cruise with kids before it sails.

[pmfan]

Thanks for posting your review. I enjoyed reading about your cruise.:)

[Bobal]

Can you (or anyone else for that matter) tell me what time is second sitting for dinner on the Explorer out of Bayonne? Thanks

[Silvertint]

Can you (or anyone else for that matter) tell me what time is second sitting for dinner on the Explorer out of Bayonne? Thanks

 

1st 6:00pm

2nd 8:30 pm

[ChristieNJ]

AndyJo - Great review!!!! May I ask which beach you were taken to in the Dominican Republic? And how long did it take to get there? And what kind of amenities were available, and at what price? TIA :)

 

 

Thanks for the review! We will be taking this same cruise next year (although we will be going to the ports in reverse order). I am a little discouraged to hear about all of the kids. We are traveling with a group of 26 (all adults) and I THOUGHT we had picked the best time of year, with it not being hurricane season, but yet it wouldn't be too hot and the kids would still be in school. HOWEVER I totally forgot about spring break, so it looks like we will be having the same experience as you with the influx of children/teens. I am glad to hear that your trip went well and you didnt have any difficulties embarking or disembarking (as that is a concern for me too, particularly while traveling with so many people). I am just hoping my wedding cruise doesn't turn in to Romper Room:(

 

That makes two of us! We'll be on the same cruise, and while I never EVER cruise during any Spring Break or summer vacation, this time we had no choice. My daughter will be on Spring Break that week, and I know Massachusetts also has Spring Break that week. Hopefully it won't be a disaster!!! :(

[djquog]

We too were on the March 16 cruise with 400+ children on board and we were surprised that we seldom saw more than a few at a time. I don't mind not seeing the room steward often as long as the work is done and it always was. Our waiter and assistant waiter were mediocre and while the head waiter stopped at our table each night, he never once made eye contact with any of us. What a shock to see him smiling when they did the parade through the room. I much prefer eating dinner in the Windjammer and would skip the dining assignment completely if I weren't motion sensitive and can find this a problem on the highest decks. Loved our cruise and the ship and booked for next year.

 

Jan

[kittymom65]

Thanks for the review!

[Nancygop]

I too was on this cruise - back at work now :-(.......... Anyway, LOTS of kids - the little ones did not bother me as much as the TEENAGERS! Many were rude - guess their parents never taught them appropriate behavior. Also, on one of the last nights, our elevator was going up and suddenly changed direction to down (the hospital emergency light came on). Anyway, we went down to deck 1 and the doctor told us we had to get off. We just wanted to make sure the emergency was not for any small children as we had kids in the Adventure Ocean. From the info. he gave us, their was a fight (between teenagers - figures!). It was in the library, guess parents and teens were involved, throwing books, etc.

 

Overall, a nice cruise. However, in Labadee STAY AWAY from the market. Although I do feel bad about the plight of the Haitians, they are way too pushy and also the musicians that are scattered on the island kept pushing their CD's. I just wanted to relax................

 

We had a GS and it was very nice. We saw the room attendant several times. The wait staff (Jacob (HW), Laverne and Pram) we GREAT! They really kept my 8 year old DS entertained with their tricks, etc.

 

We only went to the concierge lounge 3 or 4 times. Ricky, the concierge, seemed nice, although did not do a lot for us besides getting our table switched for dinner. I had emailed him before the cruise to request a table for 4, and it was never done, so I was a bit disappointed. By the second night, we had our table for 4 and the wait staff was great compared to the staff we had the 1st night - could not get any drinks, bread, they were a bit out of sorts.

 

The ship is beautiful, just some small minor details (i.e. rust, paint, fabric materials ripped, etc.) that they need to address, maybe in dry dock?

 

Overall, how can you complain about a 9 night cruise when you do not have to cook, clean or go to work?

[*Sparkle*]

Thanks for your review I am taking this cruise in December. I hope that I won't have the problem with teenagers. We (my sister and I) booked this cruise before christmas because we thought it would be a safe bet with minimum crowds and kids.

 

Your review was helpful because we haven't been able to look up any shore excursions and wondered what we would do in port.

[cruissett]

Thanks for the great review. We were on the Explorer on the March 28th 2008 cruise and found the staff extremely friendly! Even more so then usual! Gordon was our cruise director, but we understand he's changed ships. Who was it that took his place?

[Dave85]

Thanks for the review! Very sorry to hear you had CD Mike Hunnerup -- we had him on the Brilliance and he was awful. We're sailing on Explorer in 31 days... hope he's not around by then!

[anchorsaweigh]

I too was on this cruise - back at work now :-(.......... Anyway, LOTS of kids - the little ones did not bother me as much as the TEENAGERS! Many were rude - guess their parents never taught them appropriate behavior. Also, on one of the last nights, our elevator was going up and suddenly changed direction to down (the hospital emergency light came on). Anyway, we went down to deck 1 and the doctor told us we had to get off. We just wanted to make sure the emergency was not for any small children as we had kids in the Adventure Ocean. From the info. he gave us, their was a fight (between teenagers - figures!). It was in the library, guess parents and teens were involved, throwing books, etc.

 

 

I was on this ship as well and wondered what happened. I was on my way to the elevator on Deck 7 when the excitement was over but there was still chatter going on - I didn't know what happened. It's terrible when teens act up but it's inexcusable when adults/parents get involved.

[andyjo0930]

AndyJo - Great review!!!! May I ask which beach you were taken to in the Dominican Republic? And how long did it take to get there? And what kind of amenities were available, and at what price? TIA :)

 

 

It was a beach that was next to a hotel, Casa DeMar. The name of the beach was something Bayhibde (sp?). The ship actually offers an excursion to this beach, i'm assuming where the hotel is. We were down the beach from the hotel. You can't walk up to the hotel, it's roped off and there is a guard to make sure you don't pass by. It took about 20 minutes or so to get there. We paid 20 bucks per person and had two taxi's (there were 12 of us)... and they stayed with us for the entire day until we were ready to go back to the ship. The beach itself was beautiful, but the locals were a little pushy trying to get you to buy something at their little stores. There were a lot of people from the ship there and we actually had a good time.

[ChristieNJ]

It was a beach that was next to a hotel, Casa DeMar. The name of the beach was something Bayhibde (sp?). The ship actually offers an excursion to this beach, i'm assuming where the hotel is. We were down the beach from the hotel. You can't walk up to the hotel, it's roped off and there is a guard to make sure you don't pass by. It took about 20 minutes or so to get there. We paid 20 bucks per person and had two taxi's (there were 12 of us)... and they stayed with us for the entire day until we were ready to go back to the ship. The beach itself was beautiful, but the locals were a little pushy trying to get you to buy something at their little stores. There were a lot of people from the ship there and we actually had a good time.

 

That's good to know!! Thanks for the info! :) Oh, was there any charge to get on the beach itself? And were there snacks/drinks available?

[DPurcell58]

Christie, if you search my posts you'll see what I wrote about our trip in Feb. We got a day pass at the Iberostar Hacienda , was well worth it for the day, we had a great time.

[ChristieNJ]

Christie, if you search my posts you'll see what I wrote about our trip in Feb. We got a day pass at the Iberostar Hacienda , was well worth it for the day, we had a great time.

 

Ok I will! Thanks for the tip! :)

[DPurcell58]

Here's a link:

 

http://www.iberostar.com/EN/Bayahibe-hotels/Iberostar-Hacienda-Dominicus_3_73.html

[nychelle02]

Thanks for the review:D I am sailing 11/1/08 and I can't wait!!