Great first time cruise with family
Explorer of the Seas Cruise Review
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 3
7 Night Greek Isles (Venice Roundtrip)
Sail date: August 06, 2023
Ship: Explorer of the Seas
Cabin type: Oceanview
Cabin number: 3720
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 6 months ago
Review summary
Lucked into choosing the perfect size ship and itinerary for a somewhat clueless family group of first time cruisers, and of course now we're hooked! (Belated review due to me just discovering the app, but I figured it might still be useful)Embarkation
Queued for over an hour at the port to hand in our bags, which was ok for us but in the direct blazing sun and without anywhere to sit some would definitely struggle. Once through that part everything went smoothly, rooms were ready and our muster was done in about one minute flat.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Buffet was amazing, I'm vegetarian and never struggled to find something nice to eat. Avoid the vegan cookies, though!
We only ate at the MDR once (too busy with activities to have time for a 2 hour meal every night!) but the veggie food was lovely there too.
Only speciality we tried was Johnny Rockets. Veggie burger great, "cheese" toastie basically a lump of plastic. Root beer float made up for it!
Onboard Activities
Definitely a very outdoors, sport-focused offering, which was great for a couple of our family members who were all over the climbing wall and the surfing. Gym got good reviews from them too.
Indoor activities were on the schedule but often either completely empty or just with one or two people turning up, so whether that's awkward or a chance to make friends with the two other people on board who like the same things you do is a matter of opinion!
Entertainment
We made it to one stage show in the theatre (very entertaining, talented singers and dancers) and the ice show (fantastic all round). Live music around the ship at various times was nice although things like the piano in the Schooner bar were way too loud for the size of the venue.
Disco playlists were pretty dated, but not enough to be classic. Most disco events were one and done during our 7 nights, but the silent disco was on twice and the exact same playlist both times so most people left the second one once they realised.
Children's Programs
All the organised sports stuff kept our 12yo nephew occupied through the day and night, he loved it and made lots of friends. Can't comment on the stuff for teens though as our niece was too shy! Looked like a good setup for them as far as we could see.
Service and Staff
Almost everyone we dealt with was fantastic and they clearly work very hard. Special shoutout to the music director, and also the folks singing at the buffet entrance, I don't know how they do it!
We did have a few iffy moments, one of the regular event hosts for example was definitely having a bad week and one of the bartenders was a bit rude about us not knowing how everything worked on day 1. But this was a very small minority of interactions.
Our other issue was with our waiter in the MDR. She was extremely intense with the constant checking up and interrupting and veered close to just outright begging for a good review. We're British and obviously they're trained the USA way so this is probably just a cultural thing, but it was too much of a song and dance and we didn't go back. Ymmv.
Ship Quality
Absolutely loved everything about this ship. She's good looking from the outside, she's clean and well-maintained on the inside. Slightly dated looking in parts but always sparkling. The layout was great for us, very easy to find your way around. The promenade deck is something I understand a lot of newer ships are missing which is a shame because it's a great place to watch sail in or just get some peace and quiet (or some shade!). Being able to wander out onto the helipad at the front, or right around the back of the ship to look at the wake, just perfect.
Cabin / Stateroom
Fabulous size with more storage than two people could ever need for a cruise of this length. The bathroom was perfectly functional, again with a lot of storage and a great shower. Bed super comfortable. The highlight of the room is definitely that huge round window above the bed, especially since it was so deep you could climb in and use it as a window seat! The only downside is awkward placement of the power sockets but that's a minor thing for most people.
Ship tip
If you're on deck three, make careful note of which elevators actually go to your end so you don't get lost after a drink or three...
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
Booked onto the official transfer coach as we were a bit nervous about getting back in time otherwise. Tour guide was very friendly and efficient, answered questions and places we might want to visit, and turned up on time to get us onto the return coach so what more could you want.
Athens itself, obviously 4 hours unsupervised was not enough to see much but we made it to the acropolis, did some shopping and had a very nice slow lunch at a back-alley restaurant. Think we made the right choice for a first visit with kids in tow.
Beautiful place, but there were a LOT of ships visiting (14k cruisers total, apparently) and it was extremely windy so we definitely didn't see it at it's best. Luckily our captain announced he was going to go a bit faster overnight and get us the actual dock spot, if we'd had to tender I think it would've been a nightmare.
The sea buses into the old town are handy and it's nice wandering the narrow old streets. However, as we'd been warned by the captain the prices everywhere were outrageous so we were back on the ship by lunchtime and felt like that was just about enough.
Every single member of the family including two surly children would go back here in a heartbeat, put it that way.
We did an official excursion which took us sightseeing by coach, first to a lookout over a fancy beach then to Melissani Cave and Drogarati Cave (both stunning although in quite different ways!). Our tour guide wasn't the best but the stops were well worth it and the journey around the island was spectacular. Well worth the money.
The excursion got us back a bit early so we were also able to explore a bit of Argostoli itself. Extremely beautiful but eerily quiet!
Originally this was supposed to be a sea day, so what a bonus! Absolutely stunning sail-in and out, unfortunately we only had a few hours and the tendering process was a shambles so we got about an hour and a half on shore. Luckily though the old town is right over the road and a very nice place for a stroll. Would 100% go back to explore more.
Cruise Bay Of Kotor (Kotor Fjord)
Fully recommend being out on deck with a drink and a comfortable spot because you will not want to look away.
Disembarkation
We opted for the earliest slot and just carried our own bags, so not much to review. We did get conflicting instructions on where to go in the paperwork the day prior, but just listened for the announcement and ambled off no problems.
Traveler Photos
