Explorer of the Seas Review
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Our first cruise on RCL, we have previously cruised 3 times with NCL and once with the high end Windstar, so there will be inevitable comparisons. We are myself and my partner and on this occasion we took along his 15 yr old son for his first trip to NY and his first cruise.
Flew from London to New York and spent a few days there before taking the PATH from 33rd over to Hoboken. We then took a cab down to Port Liberty. First impressions is that this is very chaotic - firstly we could not find where to check in so we actually drove up to the ship to ask them, then we sat in a long queue for at least 30 minutes as there seemed to be no differentiation between the drop off line and the waiting for the car park line. Finally we got dropped off the cab only cost $35 there was no one in the suite line at all and we must have been through check in and on the little transfer bus within 5 minutes and on board by noon. First impressions of the ship - she is huge! And full of such wonderful art work there was so much to see. I saw a wonderful painting on the first day [that I thought would look good on the walls of my lounge!] but I could never find it again until the last day when I literally walked up one staircase [bottom to top] and then down the other staircase until I succeeded!
At 1pm our suite was ready we were in Owners Suite #1314 which is on the forward part of the hump on the 10th floor the room was great with the biggest TV you have ever seen. The negatives is that is smelt and I could not get rid off the smell for the whole duration of the cruise. I think the previous occupants must have spent the whole cruise chain-smoking and blowing the smoke at the bed!. Our steward got an ozone machine to try and clear it but it didn't really help I think the windows needed to be left open for a few days to give it a real blast of fresh air. In addition, we found a teeshirt by the bed from the previous occupants and the trash in the bathroom had not been emptied. The balcony was also very small considering the size of the cabin but we did not expect to be using it much in late October!. Minor details.