20220911 Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas ABC cruise - homeward

Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas ABC cruise - Disembarkation

Miami to home 

It was an early morning today - up at 6:15AM.  The plan was to grab a quick breakfast in the Windjammer and self-assist disembark with the first group at 7:15AM.  That was the plan.

Getting up and getting food went as planned.  Getting to the disembarkation deck went as planned.  Getting off the ship - not so much.  They had people lined up on deck 4 in the hot and humid motionless air outside.  For whatever reason, they weren't letting anyone off the ship.  We did catch a nice sunrise over part of the Miami skyline.

A little after 7:30AM, we were finally allowed to disembark.  The new Customs process absolutely rocks.  No passport, no ID.  You just walk up to the camera, it recognizes your face, turns green, and you're on your way.  No muss, no fuss, no long lines.

The next stop was between markers 10 & 11 at terminal G to wait for the WeParkinMiami shuttle to pick us up.  As expected based on the incoming process, it absolutely sucked.  A whole bunch of us were waiting for a van that didn't arrive.  I finally summoned an UberXL and four of us piled in for the two-mile ride to the parking structure. We shared the ride with our dining partners, Dave & Anjelika. At under $20 for the four of us, it was worth it.  We said our goodbyes at the parking structure and hit the Florida Turnpike.  As I sat back and let Super Cruise do the driving.

We made our usual stop in Orlando for lunch.

We will be eating well for several days on the leftovers.

By the time we got off the turnpike, a little room had cleared, so we made a stop at Russell Stovers.

For much of the drive on the turnpike, there was a constant *whack* *whack* sound.  Here's why.

Our windshield (and the entire front end) was absolutely splattered with bug guts.  That warranted a stop at the carwash where they did a surprisingly great job getting most of it off.  Then we went home and unpacked.

I always like to reflect a little on a trip upon its completion.  This marked our 26th cruise and fifth on Royal Caribbean.  Thanks to loyalty reciprocity with Celebrity, our Celebrity Elite status netted us Diamond status on Royal Caribbean for this trip.  One of the Diamond perks is that four drink vouchers are loaded on our Sea Pass cards daily.  By not purchasing the drink package and only purchasing the soda package, we figured that saved us $1,100 or so on this cruise.  That was a very worthwhile perk.

Comparing this cruise to our last cruise on the Caribbean Princess, well, there is no comparison.  This cruise was superior in almost every dimension.  The only one lacking was the absolutely horrible internet service on Explorer of the Seas. But beyond the sucky internet, everything else was terrific.  Outstanding service everywhere, good quality food, well-maintained vessel, and so on.

They had a nice variety of entertainment options.  While all the shows didn't appeal to us, that's OK because it is all about choices.

With 3,258 passengers out of roughly 4,000 at full capacity, the ship felt a little crowded to us. The Windjammer was regularly packed as were the pools and hot tubs. We are definitely spoiled having sailed on several 50%-capacity cruises.

Still, it was an enjoyable cruise and we would consider Royal Caribbean again, although we prefer Celebrity.

So now, we're home for the moment before our next adventure later this month.  Stay tuned for Antarctica!

20220910 Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas ABC cruise - Day 8 of 8 - Sea Day - almost the end

Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas ABC cruise - Day 8 of 8 - winding down

Sea Day 

 

A farewell cake in the Windjammer at lunch

All good things must come to an end and this is the last day of our cruise.  It has been a good week, sucky internet notwithstanding. I will do one more post tomorrow to wrap up the trip.

Today involved packing.  It's pretty simple for such a short trip and we were done in short order.

Today was a trivia day. We won the morning trivia. This time, we actually won a wonderful prize - a free dinner at either the Windjammer buffet or the main dining room! (If you don't cruise, you may not realize that those places are already included in your cruise fare)

Next up was cartoon dog trivia.  Each team had to identify 16 cartoon dogs as quickly as possible.  We scored our second win of the day with 15/16 and the fasted time completing the list.

1. Gnasher - Dennis the Menace's dog - nobody got that one right
2. Snoopy
3. Grommet of Wallace & Grommet
4. Scooby Doo
5. Astro from The Jetsons
6. Santa's Little Helper from The Simpsons
7. Droopy Dog
8. Bryan from Family Guy
9. Mutly - Dick Dastardly's dog
10. Clifford, the big red dog
11. Snowy - Tin Tin's dog
12. Odie - constantly tormenting Garfield
13. Huckleberry Hound
14. Scrappy Doo
15. Pluto
16. Pongo

We failed miserably at The Name Game, where the host provided a celebrity's birth name and we had to provide their better-known name.  Even crashing and burning, we finished third.  It was really hard!  Some examples:

• Carlos Ray = Chuck Norris
• Allan Stewart Konigsberg = Woody Allen
• Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta = Lady Gaga
• Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson = Katy Perry
• Peter Gene Hernandez = Bruno Mars
• Demetria Gene Guynes = Demi Moore
• Jennifer Anastasakis = Jennifer Aniston (turns out this is wrong as her father changed his name to Aniston before she was born and Aniston is on her birth certificate)
• María del Rosario Mercedes Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza = Charo
• Enrique Jose Martin Morales IV = Ricky Martin
• Michael Douglas = Michael Keaton
• Anna Mae Bullock = Tina Turner
• Curtis James Jackson = 50 Cent
• Norma Jeane Mortenson = Marilyn Monroe
• Eric Marlon Bishop = Jamie Foxx

After packing, we did our final trivia of the cruise - another general knowledge trivia, and along with our teammates, got our third win of the day.  It was nice to go out on top and we scored a medal for our two new players from St. Louis.

We enjoyed our final dinner in the Sapphire dining room before tonight's farewell show, headlined by comedian, Nate Weatherup. He was once again entertaining and we laughed a lot.

We are now sitting at the R-Bar, enjoying vanilla vodka-limoncello-pineapple martinis as I compose this blog.

Comparing this cruise to our last cruise on the Caribbean Princess - well, there is no comparison.  This is hands-down superior.  It's not perfect, but the level of service is wonderful.  So, we'll enjoy a couple more drinks and call it a night as tomorrow will be an early disembarkation day and drive home.

20220909 Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas ABC cruise - Day 7 of 8 - Sea Day - trivia and lobster

Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas ABC cruise - Day 7 of 8 - Let's get formal

Sea Day 

 

Ahh, sea days.  Sleep in. Have no plan.  Relax.  We like sea days.  We have two of them before we get to Miami and head home.

After a leisurely breakfast, it was a trivia morning.  We won the general knowledge trivia with our Cincinnati partners, John & Jean.  Then, we came close in the second trivia - movie quotes.  Wow, these were obscure.  We scored 8/15, losing out to two other teams at 9/15 & 11/15.  Finally, we came close in auto logo trivia.  We were shown 20 logos (with wording removed).  One couple scored all 20 while we came in at 18/20.  

1. Lexus
2. Honda
3. Renault
4. Mazda
5. Bugatti
6. Audi
7. Jaguar
8. Chevrolet
9. Saab
10. Lancia (we had no idea)
11. Alpha Romeo
12. Seat (we guessed Suzuki)
13. Volkswagen
14. Smart
15. Maybach
16. Vauxhall
17. Lamborghini
18. Mitsubishi
19. Volvo
20. Peugeot

We lounged around after lunch and then attended the Captain's question and answer session.

Left to right, the Cruise Director, Chief Engineer, Captain, and Hotel Director

They answered questions from passengers about ship operations and general Royal Caribbean information.  Here are some highlights from some provided stats:

• Crew: 1200 from 55 countries
• Daily meals: 22,000 (including crew)
• Steaks prepared weekly: 14,000
• Weekly consumption:
• Beef: 19,000 lbs
• Chicken: 18,000 lbs
• Pork: 75,000 lbs
• Lobster: 3,500 lbs
• Seafood: 11,000 lbs
• Salmon: 3,800 lbs
• Eggs: 75,000
• Pizza: 18,000 slices
• The ship was built in 2,000 in Turku, Finland
• Dimensions: 310.12m long x 42m wide
• Fuel consumption: 1 gallon moves the ship 60 feet

Later in the afternoon, Royal Caribbean's most loyal cruise known as Super Mario hosted a trivia all about Royal Caribbean.

That's him on the left - he's been living on Royal Caribbean ships for years - he holds the Guinness record for cruise nights

Dinner tonight was the traditional lobster night and that means formal attire.  We find it interesting that Royal Caribbean says the attire for the main dining room is formal yet they allow people in with t-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops.

After dinner, we tried our hand at Queen name that tune trivia.  We were pretty happy with 13/15 but 15/15 won.

Tomorrow is another sea day and we'll be packing.

20220908 Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas ABC cruise - Day 6 of 8 - Oranjestad, Aruba - drunk butterflies, but the internet still sucks

Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas ABC cruise - Day 6 of 8

Oranjestad, Aruba

The internet woes continue and the internet guru on the ship says that it is what it is.  Wow.  Yet, that doesn't prevent RCCL from selling "the fastest internet at sea" at premium pricing.  I will be having a detailed conversation with Royal upon our return home. I fought for two hours to get photos to load.

 

We docked bright and early in Oranjestad, Aruba's capital city.

Our excursion this morning left early at 8:45AM.  It was a combo experience with a visit to a butterfly farm, the remains of Aruba's natural bridge, and some free time at Eagle Beach.

The Butterfly farm is a conservation program that breeds butterflies and supports the butterfly ecosystem.  There were tons of butterflies flitting about.  It was very cool to walk around as they flew all around us.

In nature, the butterflies are attracted to fermenting fruit, so the farm has plenty for them to enjoy.  They actually get a liile tipsy and that figures into the mating process.  I guess it helps the ugly butterflies.

We saw catepillars as well as recently emerged butterflies.

And, here are some random photos of the other amazing butterflies that were all around us.

After the farm, we made an unscheduled stop at a neat rock formation.  We also got a peak inside a small cave where indigenous people created cave markings hundreds of years ago.

We then arrived at what remains of Aruba's famed natural bridge.  Unfortunately, it collapsed several years ago, leaving only the smaller "son of a bridge".

All around the area, folks have created small rock towers.  It is very interesting to look at.

I made this beauty

When the waves crashed in, this blowhole fired mist way up in the air

Our final stop was Eagle Beach were we just did a little swimming.  We tried snorkeling but there was nothing to see.

After getting back to the ship, we went into town to do a little shopping to support the local economy.  We spotted these two walking around the sidewalks.

We won another trivia tonight with our partners. Then, we had dinner in the main dining room tonight.  So far, we haven't been too impressed with the food on this cruise.  It's not bad, but it's also not great.  Arlona had the Steak Diane tonight and had to remove about 20% of it as she couldn't chew through it.  Tomorrow is lobster night so we're hoping it is better.

This guy was waiting for us in our room tonight.

So today was another good day. It was a long battle but I finally got the photos to load.  I]m going to try updating yesterday's blog now.  We shall see...

Next up are two sea days.  We plan on relaxing and winning some trivia. :-)