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Explorer of the Seas
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Explorer Of The Seas
Ship review by Anne Campbell© |
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Onboard Experience Things to Do Dining Ambience
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Best For People Who Want:
A fun and jam-packed cruise vacation without ever stepping off a ship. These sister ships' extensive activities, amenities and entertainment options match those of any vessel afloat - and then surpasses them. Highly recommended for families with children or groups in a wide range of ages. Good balcony cabins; non-stop nightlife. |
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Should Be Avoided By People Who Prefer:
A luxurious cruise experience with high levels of food and service, quiet and sedate or sumptuous surroundings; large inside/outside standard cabins; gourmet cuisine; a personal level of service; single, open seating or an intimate dining experience; a close-to-the-sea cruise experience. |
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Onboard Experience
 The 3,838-passenger Voyager of the Seas was the first Voyager-class (Adventure, Explorer, Mariner, Navigator of the Seas) ship. She appeals to passengers of all ages -- from kids to seniors -- and with nearly every taste. Happily, even those who can't do all of what the Voyager offers enjoy watching those who do. This is a real people-watching ship, drawing such a wide range of passenger nationalities that you're as likely to be greeted with "buenos dias," "bonjour" or "guten tag" as you are by "hello." She offers an impressive list of firsts - 40-foot-high rock-climbing walls that are busy all day; ice-skating rinks for recreational skating as well as for Ice Capades-type shows; in-line skating; a three-story dining room; and the biggest casino at sea. Voyager also boasts a 9-hole miniature golf course, full-court basketball, table tennis court and three pools.
While ships this size lack intimacy, many of the dozen or so bars and lounges make for pleasantly private nooks and crannies during the day, when they're not busy. But by virtue of the ship's layout, the potential to feel overwhelmed is mitigated. Hallways are slightly "jiggered" so you don't get a sense of walking down a bowling alley, as you do on many megaships. And signage is excellent so we never got lost. Sections of the ship even feel like a neighborhood. For instance, passengers can spend the day "downtown", along the ship's "heart", a 500-foot-long four-deck-high Royal Promenade that's modeled after a mall. It's like a real street including a cherry-red British Morgan car parked outside the faux English Pub! The promenades are dotted with cafes, a 24-hour eatery for pizza, pastries and sandwiches, and a self-serve yogurt station. Uncannily authentic shops, including a millinery selling straw hats, display their wares outside. A mini-casino with the world's biggest roulette wheel contributes a bit of that Atlantic City Boardwalk feel.
While Royal Caribbean initially charged for special activities such as rock climbing, ice skating, golf and roller blading, passenger complaints about these extra costs led to the elimination of the surcharges. Today, they're all included in the price of your cruise ticket, a very good deal indeed. Let's hope long lines don't become the new problem and result in the cruise line returning to its policy of charging. The exceptions are the small alternative restaurant, Portofino, where a hefty $20 surcharge is levied and Johnny Rockets which now carries a $3.95 service charge.
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Things To Do
Entertainment:
 Voyager and Explorer enjoy the benefits of Royal Caribbean's fleet-wide high level of Las Vegas-meets-Broadway-style entertainment – though "name" performers are likely to be ''I-thought-they-were-dead'' variety. For example, Charo was the headliner on our cruise, and even she joked that passengers ask her, ''Didn't I see you 276 years ago?'' Lounge performers may include magicians and stand-up comedians who are generally very entertaining, if not downright excellent. Personally, we found the production shows lavish, but lacking a central theme. I personally like the piano bar and Viking Crown Lounge, where a single performer provides background music. But these ships are so extensive in entertainment, you can be sure you'll find your personal favourites available (unless it's classical music).
Fitness:
You can get more than enough fitness on Voyager and Explorer just playing around on the sports deck. The ships' well-equipped gyms draw serious fitness buffs with its full range of the most state-of-the-art machines. The Steiner Spa is a two-level affair that, with its winding staircase, looks more like the lobby of a boutique hotel, albeit with a Greek motif. It also houses a small attractive thalassotherapy-like pool in an airy glass-enclosed private semi-circular room. The Solarium's outdoor pool area is nestled behind the spa. It sports classical statuary and feels reminiscent of Pompeii. I could spend the entire voyage camped out in this serene area, surrounded by fountains, foliage, a retractable glass ceiling and huge whirlpools.
For Kids:
With the diversions that abound on Explorer, you may wonder what else
kids could possibly need on these ship. But Royal Caribbean "Adventure Ocean" youth programmes offers plenty. The youth activities manager tells an assembled group of enthusiastic youngsters: "We're trained to party, stay up late and eat pizza with you." Yaaaaay! Designed for four separate age groups, the youth programme makes these ships an excellent choice for families with children. Children's programmes are segregated by age: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 and 13-17. Teens will find their own private coffee house and disco.
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| Dining |
Cuisine:
You could eat 15 times a day on Voyager and Explorer, but you may not want to. Unfortunately, the Achilles heel on these Olympic-sized vessels is the food. Despite the fancy descriptions on the menus, choices are limited and unimaginative – unless you consider a "Titanic" salad with iceberg lettuce creative. Some meals do turn out above expectations. But nearly ship wide, the food, including even the pizza and self-serve yogurt, is lackluster.
Restaurants:
After the gracious Georgian-style three-level dining room, the hands-down most popular venue is Johnny Rockets. On our sailing, there was a permanent 30-minute wait for seating there. The vast Lido deck restaurant for casual buffet-style meals is cleverly designed to look like two individual eateries, minimizing the sense of size and crowds. Portofino, the alternative Italian restaurant, is a lovely intimately-lit venue, though tables are placed a bit too cheek-by-jowl to confer the kind of privacy you'd expect here. On the other hand, you're so close to other tables that you're just as likely to converse with the strangers around you and wind up making new friends. But RCI now levies a steep $20 per person surcharge for dining at Portofino and Navigator's Chops Grille.
Service:
The service on our sailing was above average. It's obvious that the multinational staff and crew get the biggest kick just seeing how much the passengers enjoy themselves on these ships. They all are cheerful, knowledgeable and eager to help, considering how often they have to help passengers keep from getting lost. The wait staff in every restaurant was noticeably solicitous and conscientious. Our dining room waiter even wrote our names down so that he would remember them. On occasion, though, the wait staff at open-seating lunch was so busy being charming that they were slow in responding.
Cabin service staff was very efficient but unobtrusive, and they were the bearers of such thoughtful items such as beach towels, which miraculously appeared in our cabin the night before a port stop. Room service on our sailing tended to be excruciatingly slow - due mainly, we were told, to the unexpected popularity of in-cabin breakfast orders that resulted from the large number of balcony cabins (757).
Attire:
There are two formal nights per cruise. Maybe it's this ship's particularly festive reputation that induced most men on board our sailing to don tuxedoes for formal nights. But a dark suit is just as appropriate. In general, though, this ship offers so much to do on board on any given evening that we noticed passengers didn't all dress alike. |
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| Ambience |
Decor:
 Compared to Voyager of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas has the warmer decor and the most distinct art collection, much of it done by celebrities like Peter Falk and Anthony Quinn. Despite a disparate décor overall, these are eye-pleasing ships. Though there are many whimsical touches, like a real vintage car (Voyager) and a motorcycle (Explorer) on the Promenade and a mannequin permanently situated on the bridge that spans the atrium, hardly anything about the décor seems gratuitous or overdone. Even the ships' well-placed art is surprisingly sophisticated.
Public Areas:
That ice rink you hear so much about is, structurally, the core of the ship, which makes for some zigging and zagging in order to navigate around the ships' main public areas. But the Grand Promenade is indubitably the heart of these vessels. Much of the indoor activity on these ships takes place here. While nary an inch of the Promenade is sunlit, it hums with passengers all day long. For a sense of the sea, you'll have to head for the cluster of lounges on the upper decks or outside on the decks themselves. Amply decked out with recliners, the pool areas bustle with activity and also are the staging area for fashion shows and planned games. Outside, the real action takes place on sports deck, where fitness fans work up a sweat playing ping-pong, basketball or rock-climbing. Families flock to the open-air 9-hole miniature golf course.
The disco pulses into the wee hours and is as just as likely to draw young-at-heart grandmothers as it is the Gen-X crowd. One of Voyager and Explorer's more unique rooms, the Aquarium Bar, is book ended with floor-to-ceiling seawater tanks teeming with Day-Glo tropical fish. The well-stocked two-deck library feels more like an urban bookshop and even thoughtfully provides seating at its glass wall for an overview of the Grand Promenade. Here, too, the Internet centre draws the techies nearly 'round the clock. One of my favourite lounges on both ships is the Viking Crown Lounge, perched 14 decks above the ocean. You can also get married in port in the ships' Wedding Chapel, and bring up to 60 of your friends and families. Las Vegas-style shows are scheduled in the enormous multi-level theatre, which boasts excellent sight lines and comfortable seating.
Cabins:
Hats off to Royal Caribbean for not stinting on balcony cabins. On these ships, there are steel walls between balconies instead of glass partitions common on most new ships (they aren't really private). Inside cabins do measure a teensy 160 sq. ft, and outside cabins range from 180 to 265 sq. ft. Suites range from 610 to 1,188 sq. ft. Those vaunted atrium-view cabins overlooking the Grand Promenade can be mighty claustrophobic, and curtains need to remain drawn for privacy – your view is another cabin’s picture window, with occupants staring back. Personally, I don’t think it’s worth the extra charge. It's better to have no view than to have someone peeking in and having to keep your drapes closed.
Cabins are superbly designed, including such thoughtful touches as beds with rounded corners and lighted vanity tables with mirrored cabinets. Storage is excellent, especially for a ship that essentially goes nowhere. Standard amenities include colour TV’s with CNN and movies, safes, individual temperature controls, and an RCI first, hairdryers. Bathtubs are found only in the highest category staterooms, as most bathrooms have just showers (though unexpectedly large ones) and medicine cabinets. There even was a full-length mirror in our "superior" category cabin.
A word of warning in cabins with minibars: Don't touch anything in that fridge unless you plan to pay for it. The deal here is that the fridge/minibar is automatic. You will automatically be billed for anything you so much as touch for more than 30 seconds.
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