PatsFanBrian

We just hit Diamond with last week's cruise. The double points offer last year put us over the top. Now we have to book our next cruise to take advantage of it.

And in the Beach Club, you can have both (the server called it the surf and turf package).

We had our first stop at Coco Cay last week. It was a sudden itinerary change due to TS Bonnie going over Aruba. We decided to splurge on the Beach Club for no other reason that we wanted to live large for once (and we had another excursion cancelled due to the change) and we just weren't in the mood to explore. We loved it. Whether it's worth the money is subjective and personal. If we go back, we may do the free things, but then again, living the life of luxury was a nice experience.

The boarding time you mention is the general "All Aboard" time. When you are allowed to complete the check in procedure online, you'll be able to select a designated boarding time. When that time comes, you can arrive any time at or after that time. Many arrive early, sometimes it's enforced, sometimes not.

Miss Saigon is by Boubil and Schondberg, same pair that did Les Miserable ( another nerd here). Two of my favorite musicals.

We've booked onboard just once, even though we visit the desk on every cruise. The only reason why we booked that one time was because we were able to get on Quantum's first official sail and it was only available at the Next Cruise desk. I rarely find any advantage of booking at Next Cruise. The deals initially seem enticing until you find that the best deals are only for the extended sails and the deals become smaller as the sail becomes shorter. The only advantage I saw last week was the smaller deposit, but not enough to tempt me. We'll just go through the normal booking process once we have an idea of what and when for the next one.

I've been to the Start Line brewery, it's a short ride for me. Wormtown is my other favorite. Jack's Abbey in Framingham has some really good brews. Wachusett in Fitchburg is excellent. If you're ever looking for a micro-brewery, Craft Roots in Milford is one of my favorite spots.

I'll take a Sam Adams Wicked Hazy NE IPA. Or better, Sip of Sunshine IPA out of Vermont.

My issue isn't the hard liqour, I'm always specific with my requests (my wife is Tito's, I'm Bombay Sapphire), but it's the beer selection. I've railed on this in the past, but it's definitely a pain point for me. It would be nice to have an occasional IPA offering, or a seasonal brew. But we just keep getting the Bud, Bud Light, Miller Light, Corona, Coors Light, etc. There's a whole world of beer out there and there's plenty of good commercial beer to stock up with. Yeah, the Pubs sometimes have other choices, but those choices have remained stagnant for years and I don't always want to be in the Pub. A few years ago, the pub on Serenade had an IPA, I may have single handedly wiped out what they had in stock. I'll be happy to become the Royal Beer Guy if they need some help.

We had the same MTD every night, 6:45. And the staff in that section assured us her needs would be taken care of. But even though she ordered ahead of time, they never were ready for her. The seating issue was the people at the table showing up late every night. Truly inconsiderate not to think of the people coming behind them. RC should have a policy about showing up late for your assigned time. But they also should have been quicker to put us at an open table. When we were assigned a new table for the last 2 nights, everything was great. The head waiter could not have been more helpful and they had her order ready to go as soon as we sat down. BTW, even the lines for those who were walking in seemed to move at a good pace. I didn't here any complaints about it.

Hi folks, There has been a lot of negative reviewing lately. An old adage in customer relations is that people are more likely to review when they're unhappy. So as a counter balance, here's a review of my recent sail on Explorer out of Miami. First, I know everyone's experiences are different and there are many factors that make a trip good or not. We went on this sail for our 40th Anniversary with our good friends, my expectations were tempered and I was determined to enjoy it no matter the issues. Our trip from Boston to Miami was dicey. We flew on the 24th. Our flight got rescheduled twice during the day from 2:00 -> 4:30 -> 6:45. When a flight gets rescheduled that many times, the worry sets in. But we made it off the ground, landed 5 hours late, had a fiasco with the hotel shuttle, but made it to the hotel a bit after midnight. As long as we were in Miami, all was good. Boarding in Saturday morning was a breeze. We were making dining reservations by 11:30, eat before it got busy, then got a lay of the land for the afternoon. When we were boarding, we noticed a group of employees waiting to get on which made me feel better. On that note, at Captain's Corner, we were told that the ship was fully staffed except for shop clerks and spa workers. The biggest issue was inexperience. They were training more staff than normal. The inexperience showed at times, but the staff worked hard to make everyone's time enjoyable. So let's get the negative out of the way, mixed with some positive.....The two main complaints are the dining experience (we had a special situation) and the overall entertainment. One of our friends has severe Celiac. That led to some issues mostly because the team we had for the 1st half of the trip had trouble coordinating her diet needs. We had assigned MTD times, the first night was perfect, our friend was assured her needs would be handled, more on that later. We had 3 nights of specialty dining. We went straight to Chops to schedule everything, particularly eating at Chops on the 26th, our anniversary. All seemed well until we arrived there on that day and were told our reservation was for the next night. In fact, all our reservations were off by one day. After giving them some sad puppy eyes, they accommodated us, rescheduled the other 2 nights, but now the MTD slots were all messed up. While we were eating, the head waiter came over to apologize for the mixup, 3 other people were also booked for the wrong day. I'm assuming inexperience on the part of the person who booked our times. That first night in Chops was rough. We clearly had an inexperienced server and the meal dragged on for close to 3 hours. At one point, we could see the head waiter gesturing to our waiter to pick up the pace. Eventually, the head waiter took over our table and moved things along. The other 2 nights of specialty were great. The MTD got worse over the next few days. The staff kept losing our friend's order for gluten free and scrambled to find food for her. Also, the table was always occupied. Turns out that the people at our table were always showing up for their time late and holding up the table. They initially got us another table quickly, but the next night, they told us to come back in 20-30. When we went back, they were still there, so they put us at another nearby table. Next night, rinse and repeat, they were just finishing that main course at 7PM. So we insisted on any table, they sat us in a different section. The experience suddenly became great. The head waiter made sure our friend got everything she needed, kept checking on us, the waiter and assistant were great. When we left, we asked to have the same table for the last night which they did. Entertainment was "meh". Really not the fault of the performers, the shows were just not well designed. The singers were not up to the usual RC standards, but we made the most of it, the performers gave it what they had, but they couldn't overcome the material they had to work with. I really enjoyed the Ice Show. The headliner was a bit of a painful experience, excellent voice, but tried to hard to be a Vegas entertainer and it just didn't work. All the above being said, it was a more positive experience than it seems. First, the bars were fully staffed, the servers were always to be found. They were always friendly and helpful, we got to know a few of them and made sure to tip extra to show our appreciation. The ship was full, but it never felt full. There were many families, lots of teens, but they were never an intrusion and most were very polite and well behaved. The pool area was busy, but we tend to do the pool early and do other things later, so we never had a problem getting chairs. Our room steward was on top of things, quickly got me my CPAP supplies (even though I had filled out the form ahead of time), kept our room clean and always had clean towels for us. When we scrambled to reschedule excursions due to the itinerary change, the desk was helpful. It helped that we took advantage of the app and our time at the desk was to resolve a couple of small issues. The excursions were mostly good. In Labadee, we rented the beach lounger. They were nice, but the beach area was rocky. Luckily there was a clear path in one section to get past the rocks. Next time in Labadee, we'll just take advantage of the free beach. The Dominican was not good, no fault of Royal. We went to Biyahibe Beach Break. They took us to a resort for the afternoon. The resort was a bit in need of repair. But the worst issue was the beach was unusable. The rocks and coral were unpassable. Very few people went in the water. We went to the pool which was just OK. They were short staffed at the pool bar and all we had for food was a burger or hot dog. I would strongly discourage anyone from booking that if they stop at the Dominican. Our last 2 stops were changed due to TS Bonnie. We were supposed to be in Curacao and Aruba, but the storm was passing those islands on the days we were supposed to be there. Very disappointing, but we can't control the weather. So we went to Jamaica and Coco Cay. We decided to just to port shopping in Jamaica and then spent the day by the pool with almost no one else there. In Coco Cay, we splurged and went to the Coco Beach Club. We felt it was worth the price, best day of the trip. The beach and pool are great, but the food and service is what really put it over the top. Best meal of the week in any venue. And the server was on top of our friend's dietary needs. Our trip back to Boston could not have gone any better. We were off the ship so quickly and at the airport so early, that we were able to get on a flight 4 hours earlier than what we had booked. So that's the review. Overall another excellent cruise despite some of the issues. I think each passing week will improve as the ships get their staff fully trained. We're already looking at our next sail

Bumping even though the OP is run away….. We’re on Explorer now and the ship is in excellent shape, passengers are having a great time and, according to the ship’s hotel manager, the ship is fully staffed except for spa workers and shop clerks. This is everything I expected so far.

Oddly, one of the best shows we've seen was Charo on Freedom back in '06. People of my age know who she is. We went to the show expecting the full Coochie-Coo act and waiting for a train wreck of a show. The first part of the show was what we expected, but then she went off-stage ad came back on wearing formal wear and carrying a classic guitar. She explained that prior to her Coochie days, she was trained by one of the great classical guitarists in the world. She then spent the rest of the show displaying skills that I never imagined she had. It was truly incredible and memorable.

First time in Cozumel, sitting on our port side balcony waiting for the ship to depart, a gentleman suddenly appears sprinting down the dock towards the ship with both arms loaded with shopping bags. Unfortunately for him, the gangway had already been pulled back and he was stopped by 2 security guards who turned him around and started walking with him back to the port. The whole time, he kept turning around and looking at the ship while still clutching all those bags. If anyone had witnessed my brother-in-law trying to zipline in Jamaica, they would have had a good laugh. Fortunately for him, it was a tamer course with mattresses on the end of each run to cushion the runaways. He needed each one of them. He was bruised when it was done.

We're 10 days away from going on Explorer. Yes, it would have been nice to be amped, but it did undergo a refurbishment in '15, so it's not like the ship is going to come apart at the seams. Our last sail in '19 was on Serenade, that ship needed some love and care, but it didn't stop us from having a great time. The sad reality for the OP is that if they didn't think the ship had been amped, they would have gone on and had a great time. The amping adds some bells and whistles, Likely ones that they would not take advantage of, but when it's done, it's an afterthought. What stays are the ports, the people you meet and the activities you take advantage of. I can't imagine throwing away hard earned money because of that, but there's a lot of things in this world I can't imagine.

For all the reasons already mentioned. Not sure how many more I could add. Cruising is definitely not for everyone. We took our first cruise back in '06 and fell in love with it. Others we know have been on one and told us that once was enough. There's a vacation style for everyone, this is the one that works for us.

We've got an 11AM boarding time for our sail on the 25th on Explorer. First stop is the specialty restaurants to get our 3 slots set up. Then the Windjammer, then the first bar we come across. Rooms usually open around 1-2, so drop off carry-on bags in the room, unpack if big bags have arrived, then back to the nearest bar. We'll get to the muster station sometime during that sequence. 23 days...tick, tick.

^^This! One of my biggest complaints over the years has been the poor beer selection. Throw in some IPAs, seasonal offerings, etc would be nice. On my last cruise, going out of Boston, I was hoping that they would take advantage of the Harpoon brewery being one block away and the Sam Adams brewery being less than a mile away and stock up on some variety, but my hopes were dashed. I just go with the flow, but it would be nice to have more than usual major brands available. I got lucky on one cruse when the pub had Sam Adams Lager. I almost single handedly drank the couple of cases that they had. But ultimately, any beer is better than no beer.

Stage 3 is coming up for us, 3 weeks from tomorrow. We're getting ready to go into full blown anti Covid mode, masks everywhere, no unnecessary visitors or visiting, take out instead of dine-in, etc. There is a stage between 3&4, will our flight get cancelled or rescheduled. We're flying down to Miami the day before and we've already been rescheduled from morning to afternoon. The way the airline industry has been going, it's definitely a stress point.

The price for Explorer in June just jumped today. Kicking myself for not taking the last "special" price. The standard pre-boarding price had been $70/day, the last few special prices (Buy 1, get 1 half) was $66, now the latest "special" price that just came out is $73/day. Interesting that the price jumped on the day they come out with another round of "special" prices.

Never been to Bonaire. Our Southern Caribbean in June doesn't include it (we have La Romana instead). When we went in '17, in Aruba, we taxied to a beach (think it was Eagle?), stayed a bit and taxied back. We spent the afternoon walking the town and then topped off the stop with a sunset cruise. We're already have the sunset cruise booked again in June. We really enjoyed Curacao. We started with an excursion to the distillery and which included a few hours at a beach. In the afternoon, we walked the town. The walk into town is really nice, we loved the town itself. At night, the view of the town from the ship is picturesque. If the stop in Curacao goes into the night, passengers are forewarned to leave plenty of time to get back because the pontoon bridge could move to let a ship pass at any time and there's no way around it except by taxi. Not sure if we'll just get a ride to a beach this time around, but we'll definitely be in town.

We will be Diamond after our June cruise. Without the double points, we'd have to wait another cruise to get there.

Wife and I had Moderna. We both started running a fever about 18 hours after the 2nd dose. Lasted about 24 hours. Our daughter had Pfizer, ran a fever for 2 days after 2nd dose. Son is waiting for 2nd but already had Covid in March. He thought the first shot would be worse but just had mild symptoms. Well worth a couple of days of discomfort

Just one: Explorer 6/25/22-7/3/22 Southern Caribbean