We traveled on Explorer of the Seas, departing Miami on Saturday, February 7, 2004 on an Eastern Caribbean route returning to Miami on Saturday, February 14, 2004. Ports visited on this route include San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and Nassau.
The cruise was booked through AAA; we in an Atrium Cabin (Cabin No. 8609) and paid approximately $800 per person including port charges. We felt that the Atrium Cabin located on Deck 8 was a great value and extremely convenient to the Windjammer Cafe and pools on Deck 11 as well as the Promenade area on Deck 5, Casino on Deck 4, etc. (Our Cabin was located near stairwells, could always walk up or down easily rather than wait for the elevator). Note: The Atrium Cabin has a bay window that overlooks the Promenade Deck (Deck 5). Therefore, you feel like you have a window to the outside, however you hare looking out into the very center of the ship. We flew from Pittsburgh to Miami on a 9:00 a.m. direct flight with US Airways, arriving in Miami the day of our departure at approximately 12:30 p.m. We took a cab from the Miami Airport to the Miami Port; cab fare is $21.00 fixed rate plus tip. We spent about 40 minutes in the Miami Airport getting our luggage and about 20 minutes driving to the Port. We spent no more than one hour being processed by Royal Caribbean and were in our Stateroom by 2:30 p.m. Our luggage arrived in our Stateroom by 4:00 p.m. This allowed plenty of time to unpack prior to the muster drill and clean-up prior to dinner. Before we go into details of our week; we will say that we thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of our cruise.
The following are some comments/highlights: Food -- We ate most of our breakfasts and lunches in the Windjammer Cafe (buffet style) as well as a few meals at Johnny Rockets (a diner). All of our evening dinners, but one, were eaten in the Main Dining area (our dining room was the Magellan on Deck 3). We had the early/main seating (which was about 6:00 p.m.). We found this to be more convenient with respect to evening activities and we were not "stuffed" at bedtime. Also, there were two midnight buffets -- both of which were quite excellent. One was held on the pool deck with the other one being in the main dining room. The early seating allowed us some room to eat again at midnight. We found the food on the Explorer of the Seas to be "average to above average" with several of the "special" dinners (lobster, prime rib, and the midnight buffets to be above average). The food at Johnny Rockets was good; we would recommend having lunch there.