review

This was the third time that I sailed on the Explorer of the Seas.  While the Explorer is a great ship I enjoyed it better before they did the recent changes.  While the outside theater is a nice idea,  it does not always work when there is high wind or rain.  The inside screening room was nicer. I liked that they made more use of the Palace Theatre.  I missed the little private areas throughout the ship where you could just relax and read. They eliminated the card and board game room and combined it with the library.  This made the library very crowed and it was difficult to find a book with all the people in the way.  The main dining room did a nice job and the waiters that took care of us (Ieka and Oka) were excellent.  The room and balcony and bathroom and closet were excellent.  Only the mattress could have been better.  Lunch in the main dining room was a little bit of a disappointment.  We had eaten there on our last two sailings on this ship, and thought that offerings were better on the previous cruises.  There needs to be more communication between the shore excursion people and the food staff..  In San Francisco if you went a night excursion you had to leave the ship before supper . The wind Jammer Café close early after lunch and opened too late for people who had to go on a tour. In our case the tour was bus tour that did not stop to allow a meal.  Something must have happen on the last day in Canada because at lunch there were no vegetables to be had at lunch.  We were not the only ones to notice this.  I also missed some of the seminars such a music appreciation or music history as well as just some general history.  Also any possibility of having some additional channels for the tv.  While we did have some disappointments, we did enjoy our cruise.  The staff was great and friendly and very helpful.  The ship handled very well in the seas. One area I was worried about was the fact that in order to make connections to get home we needed a very early flight of 9:50 a.m.  The staff helped me by telling us we could use the express departure and  told us there would be cabs available.  That gave me great peace of mind.  We were able to get to the airport in plenty of time. Just a though.  We had to leave our cabin around 600 a.m. but all the eating areas were still closed.  Perhaps one dinning area could be opened with a continental breakfast fir those who leave early.