Exploring the High Seas without the Magic- 9 Nights on RCI 8/4/11 Complete! 4/24!

podsnel · Aug 22, 2011

Hi there! My name is Ellen, and I'm here to tell you about YET ANOTHER fabulous vacation...but this time, it was an Un-Disney vacation, 9 nights aboard Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas to Bermuda, St. Marteen, St Thomas & San Juan, PR. Four of us went on this cruise, myself, my DH, Pods, DS14, Tyler and DS12, Timmy. Previously, we have been on two Disney cruises on the Magic, both to the Western Caribbean. (Although Pods & I have also been on some other cruises without them). My boys will tell you that hands down, cruises are the way to go!! Their favorite vacation EVER!! But would this one be? Would we all have as much fun without the Disney magic?

I hope you'll read along to find out!

podsnel · Aug 22, 2011

In case you didn't notice, we are a NJ family- that's right, I am a REAL Real Housewife of NJ, and my DH is a REAL NJ Houseman. :thumbsup2

Anyway....for years I have wanted to try a cruise out of either NYC or, better yet, Bayonne, NJ- no flying, no weighing of suitcases, no overnights before the trip- just throw the 50 tons of luggage in the car and drive to vacation in under an hour. How great does THAT sound? Well, let me tell ya...it's really all that and a bag of chips!

But which cruise should we pick? We have Norwegian, Carnival, Cunard, Holland America,& Princess all going out of the big apple, and RCI and Celebrity out of Cape Liberty in Bayonne, NJ. Of all of them, we decided RCI would be the most fun for our kids- the Explorer of the Seas is docked here year round, and has an excellent reputation for having the friendliest crew around. Last July my GF Marilyn (who is also my fabulous TA) brought me onto the Explorer for a TA tour and lunch- and I was SOLD!! Here we are last year on the tour, along with the WWF World Champ who was on our tour, too-

I came home from that lunch and called Marilyn to book us on the 9 night August 4th cruise- and bless her, Marilyn not only booked us right away, but she also was able to snag one of the coveted AFT corner cabins up on Deck 10! AWESOME!! So a year later, we were hopping in our car after saying Good-bye to our dog, Summer, Our older son, Sean (who is autistic and would not be joining us- he's much happier going to summer camp!), and my cousin, Sheree, who would be watching over them both. We hit the road at 12:40...and 1/2 an hour later...we saw-

And-

Pods dropped us and our 50 tons of luggage at the curb, went to park the car ($171 for a 9 night cruise), and we were through security, checking in for our Seapasses, passing through the terminal-

After the boys grabbed a couple of yummy cookies in that waiting area (I love that they had cookies & lemonade!) we hopped right on the shuttle for a 2 minute ride to the ship-

And had fun with this guy on the way over-

who was quite a character, and who made that two minutes seem like only 5 or 10, but I digress :rolleyes:

.....(j/k- this guy was a buster, and we had fun!)we were out-

and getting on...

....and it was not even 2:00!! We LOVE this travel day!!! So far this vacation ROCKS!! :rotfl:

We passed by the Medical Facility .....

Where we reminded Tim he was on his own on this cruise if he even thought about visiting here (we had a little...ummm....episode...on our last DCL trip and spent sail-away down getting xrays- I DON'T recommend the Dr's office as a good spot for sailaway, BTW...) and then took the elevator straight up to Deck 10 to drop off our carry-ons before lunch at the Windjammer. EXCELLENT!!! :yay:

Up next- how big IS an Aft cabin, anyway????

podsnel · Aug 22, 2011

On my tour the year before, the RCI rep had taken us into all the suites, and all the cabins....but there was one that REALLY stood out. The AFT D1 cabin(s) on Deck 10- they are configured differently, and they have a bigger balcony- and I was THRILLED to be staying in one! But....would it be noisy? Would it get sooty? Would it be extra hot back there, especially in freaking AUGUST???

Ummm...the answers are no- no- and no. We LOVED it back there-

Anyway, walked down the hall....

And this is what we saw-

Hey!! How did he get there so fast???

The boys were EXHAUSTED from all that TRAVEL!! :rotfl:

I have to say, there was a LOT of storage space in the cabin- I found a place for nearly everything!!

Woohoo!! tyler likes it!!

Marilyn had sent us a bottle of wine and a $50 OB Credit-

Gee- I wonder what we're gonna do with THAT... :rolleyes:

And then the balcony...oh, that heavenly balcony-

It was so big, I couldn't get it all to fit in the photo! Out here there were 2 chairs, 2 lounge chairs, and a really nice size table (that we LOVED using for room service breakfast most mornings! :goodvibes

).

Happy with all that we saw, we left our stripper-pole cabin and headed up one deck to lunch in the Windjammer...

knewton64 · Aug 22, 2011

San Juan has me curious. popcorn::

DIJA pack da mon-kee statue in da suitcase?????? :laughing:

PICS of SAn Juan??

T.T.F.N.

podsnel · Aug 22, 2011

knewton64 said:
San Juan has me curious.

DIJA pack da mon-kee statue in da suitcase??????

PICS of SAn Juan??

T.T.F.N.

Hey Chris! :cheer2:

No- I did not pack da monkeys- I am perfectly happy molesting foreign monkeys on foreign soil, thank-you very much!

San Juan is gorgeous- and I have pics and vid from there- but you'll have to be patient- we were there on Day 7! :scared1:

Gina · Aug 22, 2011

Lovin' the report! Can't wait to look at it again when I get home from work so I can see the pics.

And I share your adoration of the D1 afts on deck 10... We had the other corner, 1388, last year on Voyager and have the same stateroom next Feb. on Mariner. Can't WAIT. So quiet with no traffic past your door, and sooooooo blissful just watching the wake behind the ship from that ginormous balcony. Have a portable hammock to put out there this next time, looking forward to that!! :cloud9:

And looking forward to the rest of your trip report! :goodvibes

podsnel · Aug 22, 2011

Gina said:
Lovin' the report! Can't wait to look at it again when I get home from work so I can see the pics.

And I share your adoration of the D1 afts on deck 10... We had the other corner, 1388, last year on Voyager and have the same stateroom next Feb. on Mariner. Can't WAIT. So quiet with no traffic past your door, and sooooooo blissful just watching the wake behind the ship from that ginormous balcony. Have a portable hammock to put out there this next time, looking forward to that!!

And looking forward to the rest of your trip report!

Hi Gina!

What a GREAT idea with the hammock!! :worship:

If I am lucky enough to score an AFT cabin again, I will DEFINITELY be copying you! ITA, the wake was sooo relaxing- and the stars at night were bliss.... :cloud9:

One night was a full moon- it was gorgeous out there, we had to make ourselves leave the balcony to go out!

Where are you going on Mariner?

karajeboo · Aug 22, 2011

You know I'm in, my WDW going, future DCL cruising partner!!!! :thumbsup2

You are looking HOT by the way!!!!

podsnel · Aug 22, 2011

karajeboo said:
You know I'm in, my WDW going, future DCL cruising partner!!!!

You are looking HOT by the way!!!!

Hi Kara!!! :hug:

I hope I'm your DCL cruise partner at LEAST two times that we know of in the not too distant future.... if DCL leaves NYC for 2013, do ya think you could do RCI from NYC instead? PUH-LEEEEEEEZ??!!!! :thumbsup2

Gina · Aug 22, 2011

podsnel said:
Hi Gina!

What a GREAT idea with the hammock!! If I am lucky enough to score an AFT cabin again, I will DEFINITELY be copying you! ITA, the wake was sooo relaxing- and the stars at night were bliss.... One night was a full moon- it was gorgeous out there, we had to make ourselves leave the balcony to go out!

Where are you going on Mariner?

Oo, I need to check the calendar and see if we'll get lucky and have a full moon too!!

We're going to Cozumel, Belize, and Roatan. Love your itinerary the best, but out of Galveston that would have to be a much longer cruise. And we're spoiled now with driving maybe 30 minutes tops to the pier, rather than spending a day each way in and out of airports! Not to mention the cost. So I'm happy with the Western Caribbean.

I never get tired of Cozumel and a day at Paradise Beach, we did Roatan last time and *loved* it, and this time in Belize DS and I will be enjoying a nice empty day on the ship -- which is our absolute favorite destination anyway. I like the ports, but a whole week just doing donuts in the ocean would suit me just fine too. :cloud9:

It's incredible, the size difference between the aft D1 and the regular ones, for the same exact price -- and the aft one has a stripper pole in the middle, to boot! LOL. :laughing:

Wicket's Mom · Aug 22, 2011

This groupie has to follow her peeps, so count me in! :cool1:

emma'smom · Aug 22, 2011

THANK YOU for this report! This is the EXACT cruise that my extended family has identified for next summer....I am so interested in all of the details. We're taking my 72 year old parents on it for their 50th Anniversary. I've only ever cruised DCL....so this will be really interesting.

tinkmom2 · Aug 22, 2011

The verandah room looks pretty big. Is it bigger or smaller than DCL? And what about cost?

Beth D · Aug 23, 2011

Another groupie checking in!

So far we have one hot babe in a pink dress, three handsome fellas in tuxes, vino and stripper poles in the room, and it's not even supper time yet! :thumbsup2

This sounds like a heck of a sail! :banana:

karajeboo · Aug 23, 2011

Beth D said:
Another groupie checking in!

So far we have one hot babe in a pink dress, three handsome fellas in tuxes, vino and stripper poles in the room, and it's not even supper time yet!

This sounds like a heck of a sail!

Supper time? I don't even think they've left port yet!!!!! :rotfl2:

dvc4life · Aug 23, 2011

Great opening on your TR. Wow, what a room you got. It looks so huge. :thumbsup2

kid-at-heart · Aug 23, 2011

Signing on but it is a super busy week so I will be back later to read. :goodvibes

chisnpeke · Aug 23, 2011

We went on this EXACT cruise on August 17, 2007. It is a great cruise route and the Explorer is a great ship!

Looks like you had a good time so far!

podsnel · Aug 23, 2011

Gina said:
Oo, I need to check the calendar and see if we'll get lucky and have a full moon too!!

We're going to Cozumel, Belize, and Roatan. Love your itinerary the best, but out of Galveston that would have to be a much longer cruise. And we're spoiled now with driving maybe 30 minutes tops to the pier, rather than spending a day each way in and out of airports! Not to mention the cost. So I'm happy with the Western Caribbean.

It all sounds good to me!! I like the sea days the best, I think- the ports, to me, are kind of like icing on the cake.

I never get tired of Cozumel and a day at Paradise Beach, we did Roatan last time and *loved* it, and this time in Belize DS and I will be enjoying a nice empty day on the ship -- which is our absolute favorite destination anyway. I like the ports, but a whole week just doing donuts in the ocean would suit me just fine too.

I haven't been to Roatan or Belize, but would love to see them- I am a fan of Cozumel as a cruise port, I think there is soooo much to choose from there- we have enjoyed Chankanaab & a royal dolphin swim and a day in Nachi Cocum on our visits there.

It's incredible, the size difference between the aft D1 and the regular ones, for the same exact price -- and the aft one has a stripper pole in the middle, to boot! LOL.

Yea- it's a BIG difference- I think alot of people don't like the walk (which never bothered us), a little more motion (which I LOVE because I really enjoy "feeling" the ship, ESPECIALLY when I'm sleeping), and potential engine noise (which we did hear occasionally, but not enough to be an issue). Also on some ships there is a soot problem from the stack- but we never had any soot on our balcony.

Wicket's Mom said:
This groupie has to follow her peeps, so count me in!

YAY!

Thanks for continuing to keep your groupie status!! :yay:

emma'smom said:
THANK YOU for this report! This is the EXACT cruise that my extended family has identified for next summer....I am so interested in all of the details. We're taking my 72 year old parents on it for their 50th Anniversary. I've only ever cruised DCL....so this will be really interesting.

You're WELCOME!!!! :goodvibes

I read everything I could get my eyes on in the year leading up to our vacation- some of it was accurate, some was not. So I hope that I'll be able to help you- please feel free to ask anything you want to, I will do my best to answer.

We did really enjoy this cruise- 9 days is PERFECT, and the service was just as good as Disney, so no worries there- how old are the kids going on the ship?

tinkmom2 said:
The verandah room looks pretty big. Is it bigger or smaller than DCL? And what about cost?

Yea- this cabin was MUCH larger than our balcony cabin on the Magic, but that was due to it being an AFT cabin. Here's the deck plan from the 10th deck, you can see how our cabin was a different shape and size-

The cost? Well, it was more expensive than our DCL cruise, but that's because it was in primetime August- and our DCL cruises were in Oct/Nov. Also, this was 2 extra days- so, it all kind of balances out, I guess. Next summer, comparing the 8 night NYC magic to the 9 night Explorer, Explorer is cheaper. But then the DCL includes an excursion (a day at WDW for everyone with transportation) and we could bring wine onboard the Magic (to keep in our cabin)- confused yet? I am!

Beth D said:
Another groupie checking in!

So far we have one hot babe in a pink dress, three handsome fellas in tuxes, vino and stripper poles in the room, and it's not even supper time yet!

This sounds like a heck of a sail!

What a GREAT post!! :thumbsup2

From, of course, a great Groupie!! I really like the way you've summed it all up there, Beth!! :thumbsup2

podsnel · Aug 23, 2011

karajeboo said:
Supper time? I don't even think they've left port yet!!!!!

We have not even had LUNCH yet!! :rotfl:

dvc4life said:
Great opening on your TR. Wow, what a room you got. It looks so huge.

It was- it has spoiled us terribly!!

kid-at-heart said:
Signing on but it is a super busy week so I will be back later to read.

Glad you're here, Kate! :cutie:

chisnpeke said:
We went on this EXACT cruise on August 17, 2007. It is a great cruise route and the Explorer is a great ship!

Looks like you had a good time so far!

Hi there!! And I'm glad you had a blast, too! I hope I get to go again someday!

Exploring the High Seas without the Magic- 9 Nights on RCI 8/4/11 Complete! 4/24!

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