We drove from upstate New York to Port Canaveral so we could stop and see friends along the way. We ran into snow in North Carolina and learned that folks from this part of the country don't have a lot of experience driving in the snow.
Embarkation Day - Royal Caribbean has built a very nice terminal at Port Canaveral, they also seemed to have the bugs worked out that I had read in other reviews ...
I booked Explorer of the Seas while on board Oasis during a cruise in February 2014. I'm still a rookie to Royal Caribbean as this was my second sailing however I've cruised with Carnival 4 previous times. The reason for booking this particular cruise was the itinerary to Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, and Haiti. At the time of booking I knew very little about this ship other than what the deck plan ...
Let me preface - my husband and I are in our 50's and this was our 8th cruise (our second on RCL) and we were accompanying my mother and her 80 year old friends on a reunion cruise. They are experienced cruisers with 75+ cruises under their belts, so they were not novices by any means.
Arrival: The lines to board the ship were ridiculous! It took over an hour for Diamond Check in. We felt sorry ...
I had heard some stories about long lines and delays boarding in Canaveral at the new terminal, but it seems that they had all the bugs worked out by this cruise. From the time we arrived until we were on board was under 20 minutes. Once on board, we did have to wait for a little while as the health inspectors finished up-Explorer scored a 99. After a quick bite in Windjammer, we went to our ...
This is my 2nd cruise with Royal Caribbean, my last with them was 10 years ago on the Majesty of the Seas. I was anxious to try Royal again after so long because I wanted to try something different. This was my 5th mother/daughter (me) cruise. We tend to like the longer sailings, and this was our 3rd trip to Aruba in 4 years. Mom has been great with going on Carnival the last couple trips, but ...
Pros
• The food in the dining room and buffets was good (but not outstanding)
• The dining room staff was very friendly (especially our assistant waiter)
• We had a family oceanview stateroom, which was spacious and nice
• The overall decor in the ship was quite tasteful, and the artwork in the stairways, and the hallways leading to the staterooms was nice
• The shows were good, but not ...
Prior to sailing we knew it was an 'older boat', and read the reviews that complained about decor, food, and other various things. But our overall impression after we got off the boat was very positive - almost everything was much better than we expected. These are just some random notes we made, and hopefully they'll be applicable after the boat comes back in May.
Food
Much better than we ...
It is a bit odd writing a review of a ship that is about to go into dry dock for 45 days of repair and change, and then be stationed in another part of the world, so I will consider this review as much an ode to RCCL as to our particular cruise.
We sailed on February 12, 2015 for a 9 day trip to the ABCs. We arrived a day early and were able to watch a rocket launch from the Cocoa Beach Pier. ...
We cruised out of the new cruise terminal out of Port Canaveral it was a very easy embarkation from the time we got to the port till we were walking on the ship was about an hour. The Explorer is a beautiful ship however you can tell that she is showing some age the carpets were discolored and there were a few stains on furnishings but all and all the ship was very clean. Our room was ready at ...
We read reviews before our vacation. We doubted a lot, but we decided to try. We returned yesterday and so happy, like we were in a paradise! The crew was phenomenal, the cabin was very comfortable, the service was excellent. Food was like from haven. It's very hard to please to everyone, when over 3000 tourists on the ship, but if you are normal honest educated, intelligent person, you have to be ...
