Review of Baltic Cruise on RCI Explorer of the Seas Part 1

[Jan Rosser]

Well I jumped ship for this cruise principally because Explorer of the Seas was the only suitable ship going to the Baltic during the dates we wanted in the school holidays. I had only sailed with Royal Caribbean once before and that was a 17 day cruise and stay to Dubai and the UAE repositioning to Barcelona so flights both ways. I wasn’t sure then I wanted to do a repeat with RCI - more negatives than positives mainly because of the experiences of sailing the Straits of Hormuz under escort and no stops in Egypt because of unrest however sailing the Suez Canal made up for some of it.

The family hadn’t travelled with RCI so were more open-minded and I think they generally enjoyed the cruise but I wouldn’t put it at the top of my choices unless the itinerary was pretty special. The ship we sailed on is not one of the bigger ones in the fleet but it had the climbing wall and flow rider and the ice rink. Different layout but we eventually got used to it. Lots of different nationalities but principally British with quite a few Americans in big family groups and some Chinese tourists.

Travelled to Southampton by coach - one stop on the way down and we arrived at the docks by 1.30. There were passengers on the coach for both RCI and P&O and those travelling on Ventura got off first and then we were dropped off - straight through security then to check in - no sitting waiting or queuing. We had checked in online - problem with camera so once we had the sea pass card we went onto the ship and had the photo taken on deck - all very efficient and quick. Makes you wonder why P&O can’t adopt a similar system - admittedly I do have priority check-in with P&O but this was even faster.

I met up with the family getting off their coach so we then went to find our cabins - all on deck 8. We booked inside cabins but I had one which had a window overlooking the promenade - I’m not sure I would opt for this type of cabin again - bit of a novelty - I just like being able to see out and couldn’t justify the single supplement for a balcony in the Baltic - didn’t think I’d get the use of it. The cabin was quite big - settee next to bed and then a seat below the window - no extras in the bathroom - no shower cap/shampoo/conditioner etc just soap in the bathroom and shower gel - the shower had doors not a curtain. Enough wardrobe and drawer space for me but I think the family struggled a bit. Pleasantly surprised to see a kettle and tea/coffee etc plus a small fridge. Lovely bedding but only bath towels not sheets. Overall though quite happy with the cabin - the steward was very friendly and pleasant - the cabin was kept very clean - no chocolate on the pillow at night though!!

Lifeboat drill for me took place outside on deck - we stood in rows near our lifeboat - glad it was fine - we had the usual talk from the captain then dismissed - my son and family had their drill in one of the lounges.

Cases didn’t arrive until just before dinner so we went down in our travel clothes as did most people - we were on anytime dining and we booked the same table for the whole of the cruise - the waiter and his assistant were so attentive and pleasant on our first night as indeed was the head waiter who came to our table every night. Our waiter went through the menu each night recommending dishes and from night 1 he knew all our names. I know Towny said he didn’t agree with the system of rebooking the same table every night but we were happy to do this - we ate at roughly the same time every night and it suited us to book our table in advance. The food was in my opinion better than on Oriana in April but excessive in portions - we struggled most nights - I rarely had more than the main course and a dessert - we disappointed the waiters - we just didn’t eat enough for them. We didn’t eat in any of the speciality restaurants.

The Windjammer buffet was very good - so many choices and apart from the first day when we embarked we always managed to get a table to accommodate all of us although usually the girls ate lunch with their friends. We sometimes had a snack in the cafe on the promenade deck - it was always busy there - speciality was pizza.

We had breakfast in the dining room - you could either do self-service or have waiter service which is what we opted for and where we experienced really bad service on the second morning - a wait of almost an hour for a lukewarm breakfast served by a very incompetent waiter and assistant. This was our only experience of bad service on the whole cruise and we were delighted to find chocolate strawberries in our cabins the next day and a bottle of fizz at dinner the following night presumably as an apology.