Explorere of the Seas

[eawstyle]

Our Family is planning for the 9 day out of NY on July 4th, 2008. We as a family (60>80 people) go every two years. Previous 4 have been on Carnival line. There are some questions that we have and I am hoping to get help from the experts on this site.

1. Does RC permit pre-registration?

2. Is there any plae to access a dinner menu, just to see what types of meals are planned? We have heard that RC serves a lot of fish and chicken in the main meals.

3. Is it first come-first serve for rock climbing, ice sakting, and minature golf or are they scheuled activities?

4. How is a the noise level for the rooms that face the promenade?

5. In Labadee is the food and activities included? As we understand this to be RC private island. What activites are there on the island?

6. What is the tipping rate on RC? Is it automatically added to your onboard account?

Thanks for any and all help.

[NancyN]

eawstyle,
Your family should really enjoy the Explorer.
To answer some of your questions:

1. Yes, you can pre-register online once you have made your final payment. You will just need your booking number.

2. Here is site that has many of the RC menus: www.cruiseclues.com

3. Miniature golf is always open and there will be scheduled times for ice skating and rock climbing. I know that golf and ice skating are on a first come-first serve basis, but not sure about rock climbing (I beleive that is something you sign up for).

4. I have found noise level in the promenade staterooms a non-issue, other than during the occassional scheduled parades and even then it is not overly invasive.

5. Food is included on Labadee as are some of the activities. Water toys/snorkeling gear, kayaks, jet skis, etc. incur an additional fee. Here is a link to the information we have compiled on our sister site Port Reviews: http://www.caribbeanportreviews.com/Labadee.htm

6. Tipping is about $10 per day per passenger and you will be given the option of automatically adding it to your onboard account.

Hope this helps-
Nancy

[ffemtirn]

We were on the Explorer in October and the menu usually includes dishes from the major meat groups (seafood, beef, and chicken) and a vegetarian and light dishes. Every thing we ate was at least above average. The buffet is also very good and a great way to sample multiple dishes.

Other than that Nancy had the right answers.