I will share some thoughts on our cruise, and comments by other passengers.

Baggage:

This is the second time our luggage is so late arriving. Two years ago on Rhapsody, the same thing happened. Not really a problem, but I am curious. There were lots of folks in shorts at dinner the first night. I do not know what system RCI uses, but maybe it's because I am always in the cheap seats at the bottom of the boat. Don't know.

Cabin:

Two things struck me about the layout of Explorer as we went along -- this ship has two things at opposite ends of the ship from what I am used to -- the Windjammer buffet is at the back of the ship; the kid's program is at the back of the ship. The only food available at the front is the Cafe Promenade that was nice and convenient. Our cabin was in a dead end corridor sharing the outside walls of the Chamber disco. No noise came from the music and the hall was extremely quiet. This was the quietest room we ever had. With only one other room before the dead end, there was no foot traffic.  Also right around the corner was the Palace Theater.  One floor up was the promenade deck as I call it -- they call it the embarkation deck.  Two floors up was the Cafe.

Quad room -- beds lower and then fold out; easy to swing up during the day or lower to flop on.

Peek-a boo bridge and the Ocean Lab:

I like to watch the Ports as we arrive and the best spot is from the Helipad at the front of the ship. Another good spot is from the peek-a-boo bridge area on deck eleven. I always had my GPS to watch the ship speed, location, etc. The peek-a-boo had that information on the TV screen as well as the electronic chart showing everything right down to the water depths. Really well done.

Much of the same information is available via touch screens on deck four in the Aquarium bar area. There are two areas, one on each side of the ship right before you go through the sliding doors outside.  One talks about the ocean and one talks about the weather. The large screens are touch screens and have a lot of information available. We were told that RCI spent $2M mostly in engineering and construction costs, and the University of Miami chipped in $1M. Because they can study the same route week after week and accumulate weather an ocean data over a long period of time, they hope to learn more about them. One interesting thing is the correlation between the weather infrared satellites and the actual water surface temperatures. How accurate are the satellite photos really? One scientist on board is studying the drift of African red soil along the Gulf Stream.....

The reason they can say the Explorer is the largest ship (as opposed to the Voyager) is because of the Oceanographic institute on board. There are three areas dedicated to this: a lab on deck one, weather station on deck 13, and the above mentioned interactive learning centers on deck 4. Throughout the week they have several programs you can attend. Sign up sheets are in the library.

It was interesting in that on Explorer as all ships including the one in the Perfect Storm, (the first day in room movie), weather maps are faxed as needed. Of course, these are black and whites. The Ocean lab on the Explorer generates theirs in color. The Captain found this out and asked to have the color maps emailed to him daily. Thank you Florida taxpayers.

Topless deck?

As promised to the RTC news group, I found the St. Tropez topless deck but was unable to verify its actual use. Saw nothing of interest while there -- gone several times in pursuit of confirmation. However, this deck is right outside the windows of the Weather station, and you know how those weathermen can be......

Under used rooms:

Seems like some of the least used rooms are in the Viking Crown area of the ship. The 19th Hole sports club had a very well done golf ball machine. It was build to play various musical instruments with golf balls in a long continuous maze of twists and turns. Dizzy's Jazz Club was also there, but no music until 11:00 -- never were many folks there. I asked the CD Ken Rush about it and he said he was working to improve that. Some of us in the second seating would like some music without having to stay up so late. I was told that on this particular cruise they never got crowded. Found a singer/guitar player in the Irish pub. Very good, but lots of noise from the Promenade.

Internet:

Internet Access was easy and effective. I used it three times for quick e-mail checks. Connections seemed to be around 36K but I went on early each day. Others said at peak times, midmorning and afternoon it slowed down noticeably. The in-cabin system using your own laptop is a flat rate of $100.00 for the week for unlimited use. They give you a special replacement phone for your cabin along with detailed instructions for setup and dialing into the system. It is a little weird in that must clear your voice mail box on the ship before using. The weekly charge would be equivalent to 30 minutes daily so you can plan accordingly. Regular rate in the computer center is 50 cents per minute.

Kid's program:

We use the 6-8 year old program and the RCL program is far superior to the one we used on Sun Princess last year. The Rhapsody program was better than Princess. Because of the ship's size our expectations were high. We were not disappointed. On sea days, the program operates 9-12, 2-5, and 7-10. Extended hours after 10:00 are paid directly to the staff at $5.00 per hour cash. Port days they keep them from 9:00 until an hour before sailing. Lunch and snacks are included. At Labadee, they take the program ashore.

While we felt the Princess program was a little better than baby-sitting, the RCL folks do a lot of things. Besides staying in the room, they take the kids out around the ship - parades, elevator rides, face painting, volcano experiments, talent shows, bingo, scavenger hunts, etc. One night they showed up parading through the dining room as pirates.

It is a very well run program, with instructors who have had child education training. This program alone would almost be enough to decide on RCL in the future.  Other age group are 3-5, 9-12 and 13-17.  Saw the 12 year olds given Polaroid's to take photos of objects for their scavenger hunt.

Interactive TV

Very easy to use. Our table mates stood in line for excursions the first day. Hated technology, computers, etc., but after visiting with them they agreed to try to do it on TV. The next day they were elated to have been able to do it themselves. Checked their charges daily. Got very excited. It is indeed easy to use.

Because we left on Saturday and the first Port was Nassau on Sunday, I booked a tour over the Internet via the RCI web site several weeks before leaving. That went well and the ticket was delivered Saturday night for the Sunday morning tour. No problem at all. I did have to call to the excursion desk once later in the week to find out exactly which beach a particular tour in St. Thomas sailed to and she had to look up the information in a book she had.

Ports - remember that the season was over so crowds were relatively sparse. I cannot imagine St. Thomas with a crowd.

Nassau

Walked around and went through the straw market. While here the ship held an emergency drill - they lowered all the starboard lifeboats and drove them around the harbor for a while. Got them back up pretty quickly. Interesting. The ship's horn sounded the emergency signal while we were on shore and a policeman asked what was happening. Told him they had announced the drill and the passengers should ignore the blasts. We really wanted to get over to Paradise island but it began to rain on our way to the Fort. Had to cut it short. Shopped around but found nothing I could not buy at home for less money even with the tax. Watches 20% off US retail. I enjoyed the pretty colored pastel buildings. Hair braiding is $2 per braid. List prices are posted. I thought downtown was clean and maintained. Several families were dressed for church. Very friendly.

As we arrived a Disney ship was leaving and after we docked, the Carnival ship pulled out. They had spent the night there.

Bought some local crafts for the collection.

The cheapest Cubans we found were from a cab driver. R&J Churchill in tube - $11.00. Not dry or stale.

My son took the America's cup tour - $89. Sailed a 75 foot sloop used for training the Australian crew in 1992. Got to crank the sails and mast. Two boats, about 15 per boat.

St. Thomas

Left the ship as soon as we could. Took a cab to Megan's Bay - we had it all to ourselves for over an hour. The morning never got crowded. Saw crabs, starfish and some sea urchins. $3.00 to get in and they did not have freshwater showers available. Around 11:00 we paid the cabbie $20.00 per person (three of us on the jitney) to tour the other beaches - Coki, Sapphire, Honeymoon and Morningstar. The tour folks were in the same type jitneys and they were loaded down with 25 or so passengers. Wanted to visit the other beaches for future reference. Coki seemed to be the best one for snorkeling or scuba - the reef is right there and Coral world is nearby. Sapphire was attached to hotel, but was very pretty and we could have used the services of the hotel. Morningstar is adjacent to the Marriott Frenchman's Reef Hotel and actually is very near the ship docks. Probably the nicest landscaping job around. Went up to Mountaintop for the view.

In town the shops had the most merchandise of any of these ports and the best prices. Better than San Juan.

Watched the ship leave and weave its great bulk out of the harbor. They say that as many as 8 ships can be here at one time - hard to believe although I saw a post card with 6 in port.

San Juan

Immediately grabbed a cab with 15 others at $10 per head to take a long look around the town. Down to the beach area and past all the high rise condos and hotels on the beach near the port. Spend 45 minutes at Fort Cristobal and then dropped off in Old San Juan. The Fort was interesting in that the US government strengthened and added some turrets during WW II.

Lots of shops - art galleries, specialty stores. Found one that had hundreds of the Atocha coins for sale. The biggest stores were very nice. Not a lot of bargains here though. However, the art was wonderful to see. Local artists are in abundance and  they are very talented. Found the grave of Ponce de Leon in the Cathedral.

Labadee

Just a nice if overdone sand beach. RCL has built two open air restaurants and bars that they provision from the ship As we ate breakfast in the dining room, we could look down and see them loading up the tender with the day's goods. Must have been 100 bags of ice. There are also two large bars that have been built. Cobblestone sidewalks, first aid huts, chairs for everyone, tram shuttle, ice cream bars for purchase, hair braiders..... Getting close to looking line Disney's Beach Resort Hotel in Orlando. However, the beach was superb. The water was also. Get a floating mat and float. We did the waverunner and got over to see some of a Haitian fishing village. It's very sad to see how these folks have to live. Knowing nothing about the ecosystem the clear cut timber, which send silt to the reef, which kills the reef and not they have to paddle out 8 miles to catch anything larger than a few inches. They have scavenged Evian bottles to use as floats to mark the crab and lobster pots. The ship ran over hundreds of them as we approached the harbor. Having the RCL compound there does give them some medical and social interaction as well as a shortcut to the schools.

Only two ships per week. Five days off. Might get used to that.

Food

Because of the late seating, we snacked a lot at the Cafe Promenade - pizza, sandwiches (which varied daily), desserts (some of which showed up on the dining room menu days later), coffee, tea and water. Sodas were by the can and must be purchased.

The windjammer was the typical cafeteria fare, with the addition of a carving station. Not sure how it worked, but as an alternate venue on the first formal night they served the same menu and seated your group as a group. Did not get the rest of the story of what they did.

I have learned that in the dining room go with the suggestion of the waiter - they serve the same meals every week and know what is cooked on board - or just re-heated food service. Our guy Ali was always right about it. Same with soups and same with desserts.

We did not have one disappointment at dinner and that was because we chose to listen to Ali. Only one slightly off lunch in the dining room - fried fish.  At dinner, the wine service was a bit slow - we just got the bottle and refilled ourselves. Turned it down one night when it arrived late. They also ran out of several wines the last two nights. Those who can plan ahead had no problems.

Overall - the best week of food on any of our cruises.

Captain Olav Nyseter was an interesting fellow. He was starting his 40th year at sea. He was on the Voyager when it started up. Told us about the 5 day trip bringing the Explorer from Finland to Southampton. 35 foot seas for four days. Said there was not too much damage - broken doors and such, but they made it through fine. He also had to outrun hurricane Hugo back in 1988. He was in some of the footage for the Travel Channel and then another fellow was also shown as Captain.

CD Ken Rush was very available for questions, suggestions and such.

Cabin steward was Lyshtra and very efficient and friendly.

Entertainment was the best I have seen and was getting to rival Las Vegas for glitziness. The ice show was amazing.

Hint: Read the Compass carefully. The few things we missed were because we did not read it carefully. Both the Daily Compass and Planner need to be perused when turning in for the night to plan the first part of the next day.

Leaving

It's always sad to see "Friday" go down on the elevator floor knowing only one more day. The only more depressing thing is seeing the word "Saturday" there.

Typical disembarkation on RCL. They changed our carousal with no announcement. One big free for all. Several colors were in the wrong place. Had the same thing in Vancouver two years ago - we had to hunt down our bags on the sidewalk outside the airport - colors all mixed up. I guess it really is just like the luggage at the airport, but I'm sure someone can figure this one out. They probably don't really care.

All in all, a great time, highly recommend this trip even if you do not like the ports.

E-mail specific questions, or use NG.

Mbolner@texas.net