Europe 2015- Explorer of the Seas Dining: Part Three

In this third and final post of my Explorer of the Seas dining series, I will give you the scoop on the main dining room (MDR) and Windjammer. With the exception of alcohol, soda, speciality coffees and food upgrades ( like fancier cuts of steak and lobster), dining in both the Windjammer and MDR are included in your cruise fare.

Our experience in the MDR was a bit of a mess.

Initially, we were given an upper level table for eight, although we never had another family seated with us. Before I get to my complaints, I must emphasize that the dining staff was working very hard. There was nowhere else on the ship that the lack of staff made a bigger impact than in dining. It was clear, that there was nowhere near enough staff to handle the volume of passengers. Service suffered.

To make matters worse, the Explorer of the Seas came out of dry dock just prior to our cruise and they added over eighty rooms. I'm sure Royal Caribbean is happy with the profits, but we felt like sardines.

Dinner was an ordeal. Service was slow, our courses came out at weird times, bar service was nonexistent, orders were wrong...but the kicker was when my vegetarian mother-in-law was mistakenly served meat. Twice. Twice, after she was very clear that she is a vegetarian. This was the deal-breaker. We thought that a change in tables might fix the situation.

Here is where we went wrong. Instead of asking the restaurant manager for a switch, we decided to use our suite concierge, Denzil. Denzil was very helpful and had us switched to a table on the bottom level, however, it was clear that this arrangement created a kerfuffle. We were now on a "dissatisfied customer" list and it haunted us for the remainder of our trip.

The new seating arrangement was marginally better. The servers were far more on-top of things, however, they also had a much busier section. Dining on the lower level was loud and frenetic. Here are a couple of panoramas Dan took of our table.

All around, the food in the main dining room was average to disappointing. Although the menu did change nightly, you could always find beef, chicken, fish and a curry. There were also many British favorites, I'm guessing as a nod to the majority of the guests on the cruise. All of my meals were either bland or overly salty with mushy veggies. Edible, but not very good.

I really didn't like the MDR manager on the lower level. He kept checking up on us, but he would talk without looking us in the eye. His staff seemed extra tense, like he is probably a jerk to them when they go behind the scenes. The worst was the poor guy in charge of taking drink orders. He was older and had trembling hands when he poured. He just couldn't keep up with the volume of drinks that he was expected to serve. Royal Caribbean really missed the mark here. If they hired a few extra people, they would have sold a ton more drinks and had much happier customers. I bet the food would have tasted better too.

I guess we drank too much champagne, because on the last few nights of the cruise, they completely ran out of what we had been drinking. It wasn't just the champagne, I couldn't get several cocktails at the bars, because they had run out of various ingredients. Running out of alcohol on a ship full of Brits = disaster! Cranky cruisers.

This said, we skipped the MDR in favor of specialty dining and casual meals at the Windjammer. When we skipped the MDR, someone from the MDR ( the manager, our server) would track us down to make sure that we were happy and to question why we were not dining in the MDR. Our concierge called our suite to make sure that everything was okay. We weren't pushy or angry when we complained, yet it seemed like the MDR staff was walking on egg shells around us for the rest of the cruise. I guess we made waves.

Windjammer is the casual option for meals. It's a buffet and other than no swim attire, you do not have to dress up for dinner. Here is the thing about Windjammer, during lunch it is a madhouse. It's so busy, you will likely have to make rounds to secure a table. They make announcements over a PA to urge guests to leave as soon as they have finished eating.

So, there is one way around this; become a suite guest. Yes, it's pricy, but if you can afford it, being a suite guest will make your cruise infinitely more enjoyable, especially during breakfast and lunch. During those meals, you are allowed to grab your meal from the buffet and bring it into Chops Grille, where servers will get your drinks. Chops is quiet and relaxing, while Windjammer is the polar opposite.

In the mornings, Chops sets up a private buffet for suite guests and you can order off of a menu, so you don't even have to walk into Windjammer, unless you want to.

If you dine in the evenings, the seating in Windjammer is bearable, especially if you arrive early or late. Many people bring their children into Windjammer for an early dinner, before the kid's club opens. We did this a few times. It's convenient.

Admittedly, on my previous Royal Caribbean cruise on the Mariner of the Seas in 2008, I didn't think much of the food at Windjammer. I'm pleased to report that on this cruise, I actually looked forward to the offerings at Windjammer.

Windjammer offers a decent variety of food with daily specials. They always have a curry and an asian noodle section. There are burgers, hot dogs and a make-your-own pizza station. The meats and vegetables are substantially better than what is served in the MDR. The fruit was perfect. The best cantaloupe that I've ever eaten. The dessert stations are massive and they always have ice cream. Honestly, it's tasty food. The only minor issue, is it grows a bit "Same-y" after two weeks on the ship.

Here we are for dinner in Windjammer.

Dinners in Windjammer were an easier experience than the MDR. Everyone got the food that they wanted without waiting and it was easy to grab a staff member for bar orders. It may not have been as "fancy", but it was usually a more pleasant experience.

Windjammer has ocean views like this...

I'll end with a funny story.

Our cruise coincided with the 4th of July. As the only American in our group, I was singled out by the staff to be invited to celebrate the 4th. Americans reading this, take a moment to think of the foods that you associate with the 4th of July.

I'm thinking a BBQ...hot dogs, hamburgers, baked beans, potato salad and some apple pie to finish. Got that image?

The very kind and very international staff was excited to present me with the menu for their special ( $20.00 surcharge) 4th of July dining event, featuring a full turkey meal.

Gobble Gobble?

They were crestfallen, when I had to tell them that it was the wrong American holiday.

They promoted the event for several days, including sending multiple invitations to our suite, but I don't think that they had many takers, because on the 4th, the event was switched to a special curry dinner.

We did celebrate the 4th of July in Windjammer with an special cake.

Europe 2015- Explorer of the Seas; Embarkation and Suite Review

After months of planning, embarkation day had finally arrived. It took two taxi runs to transport us and all of our (my) luggage from the Premier Inn to the Southampton Port. We arranged to arrive at eleven, which was the earliest time that we could begin to board the ship. We were not alone. The port was bustling and we watched as porters loaded our luggage.

Here's a cute picture of Dan, Zoe and Felix, as we were waiting for Dan's parents to arrive in the second taxi run.

Let me take you back to our pre-trip planning for a moment. Royal Caribbean International (RCC) has a terrible website. It's slow and it's difficult to navigate. In every case, it was easier to call with a question, even thought it meant being on hold for thirty minutes. The phone operators were always very pleasant, however, theY often provided conflicting information. This was especially true when my father-in-law spoke with them regarding formal nights. Two phone calls and an email later...we still had no idea what to expect.

This website snafu spilled over to embarkation day, when we had printed the wrong paperwork. It ended up being quickly resolved, but not before a rather grumpy employee barked orders at us. To be fair, I think that she may have been a port employee, rather than someone with the cruise line. RCC had extremely friendly staff.

We booked two Grand Suites and with this, came a ton of perks. The first perk was a separate queue for embarkation. We were given a blue sticker, which fast tracked us on to the ship. Paperwork issue aside, boarding was lightening fast.

At check-in, we were given our Seapass. The Seapass is key to everything on the ship. It's a room key, an identification card and it's a charge account. RCC operates on a cashless system, so all charges go through the Seapass. We elected to put a credit card on our account for the balance, but we also had a choice to pay cash. As a bonus, we had almost nine hundred dollars in shipboard credit via a promotion when we booked through Costco Travel. We elected to not give the kids charging abilities on the card and due to his age (5), Felix's card did not function as a room key. Our Seapass was gold to identify us as suite guests.

The first stop after check-in, was the obligatory boarding day picture.

After the picture, we took the kids over to a booth where they met an employee from the kid's club named Splish-Splash. All of the kid's club employees have crazy nicknames. Splish-Splash, who ended up being one of Zoe's favorite Kid's Club attendants, gave each kid a red wrist band. They wore the wrist band of the duration of our cruise and it would be used to identify them, if there was an emergency or we got separated. Luckily, we never needed the wrist bands.

We didn't have access to our rooms before three, so we explored the ship and had lunch at The Windjammer. The Windjammer is the casual buffet option on the ship. It's popular, especially on that first day. This is where our best suite perk came into play. As a suite guest, we had the option to eat in Chops Grill.

Chops is a reservation based steak restaurant in the evenings, but for breakfast and lunch, it's open as an alternative dining space for suite guests. Seriously, this is the biggest reason for booking a suite. If we didn't have this perk, murder or suicide would have occurred on our vacation. At times, the crowds in The Windjammer were unbearable. It was such a treat to have a quiet dining room to enjoy our meals and we got to know the staff, who were wonderful.

Rooms on cruise ships are notoriously small. Although I had been on three previous cruises ( Big Red Boat, Carnival and RCC), I had only experienced interior staterooms. I was really curious to see what we were getting for splurging on a suite.

Our room was amazing! It was spacious, not even feeling cramped when the couch was transformed into a bed for the kids. The balcony was huge and let a ton of light into the room. The best part, we had ample storage for all of the (my) luggage.

The bathroom was surprisingly large, with double sinks and a soaking tub.

The balcony was massive and pretty much where I parked myself with a book for the entire two weeks. I absolutely loved the deck and I can't imagine doing a future cruise with an interior room. Nope, not happening.

On the last day of our trip, as I was packing, I thought that I had better take some detailed shots to show off the storage in the room. Please mind the mess.

First, the vanity. As my readers know, I love my make-up mirrors, so that was a huge feature for me. However, look at all of the drawers and cupboards. Plus, the giant mirror is also hiding a cupboard. I had no idea about the mirror until a week into our trip, when my mother-in-law clued me in.

Storage in the bathroom was more than we needed. We couldn't possibly fill all of the drawers and vanity cupboards behind both mirrors. I have a lot of grooming products, but I couldn't meet RCC's expectations!

We had two end tables on either side of the couch and they both doubled as storage space.

We had one big closet and a half closet. Plenty of space for all of our clothes. Another suite perk, fluffy robes.

A note on laundry; we paid to have a majority of it done on the ship. Yes, it was expensive, but it also saved us a lot of stress. We didn't have mounds of dirty laundry everywhere and since we were also traveling after the cruise, we needed clean clothes for the our final week in Europe. Plus, it kept the peace to have the kid's favorite items cleaned for them. We never paid for the same-day laundry, but sending it out non-rush, usually guaranteed that it would be back the next day. I had one tank top ruined, but it was delicate and I probably should have known better than to have it cleaned with the regular laundry.

One way to save is to take advantage of a laundry special. They ran it twice during our cruise and it was thirty dollars for all that you could stuff into a special plastic bag. Only certain items counted and it was a basic wash without pressing, so for stuff like tee-shirts, socks and undies.

In addition to the closet space, there was ample drawer space.

The cupboard on the far left in the above picture, held a refrigerator. The fridge was a stocked mini-bar, but it also had room to add our own items, like macaroons from France!

There was a large counter and even more storage above the drawers.

Our suite attendant, Pedro, was great. He brought us a fresh bucket of ice every afternoon and made the most incredible towel animals every evening. I'm going to dedicate an entire future post to his towel menagerie.

A little more on the suite perks. We had a concierge lounge that was run by Denzil Fernandez. Denzil sent us an e-mail greetings prior to our trip and he outlined several of our perks. We were given a fruit plate on arrival and complimentary formal night attire pressing. One perk that the kids liked, was the ability to borrow movies and Play Station 3 games. Denzil had a large selection of DVD's and games in the concierge lounge.

Although we didn't make use of it much, the concierge lounge was open for us to use and it had complimentary drinks and nibbles in the evenings. It just didn't feel like an appropriate or fun place to bring the kids, so we only visited to see Denzil. He helped arrange excursion tickets for us and he resolved a dining issue.

We let the kids run wild when it was empty.

We also had a special roped off area of lounge chairs by the pool, which were first come/first serve for suite guests. We only found them to be full one time. We didn't see any of the main stage shows, but if we had, there was also a section of seats reserved for suite guests. We did see the ice show and when we arrived, Denzil escorted us to seats in the front row and asked if the kids wanted to take part in the show. More on the ice show in an upcoming post.

Towards the end of our trip, we started to feel like we were being followed. We had a lot of staff members in dining, especially management, going out of their way to make sure that we were happy. Then, one morning, I noticed a list at the front desk of Chops Steakhouse. It had all of the names of the suite guests and their room numbers. The Explorer of the Seas has over three thousand passengers and I would estimate that only maybe a hundred of them are suite guests. We were definitely getting a large dose of personal service.

After cruising in a suite, I'm officially spoiled. While planning the cruise, I frequented cruisecritic.com as my primary resource for planning our vacation. It's a great site run by fellow travelers that offer personal vacation experiences and advice. One of the big debates that came up frequently on the RCC board, was whether or not the suites are worth the extra expense?

Yes, Yes and Yes!!!!

Some people argued that a Junior Suite is good enough, as it gives you a little extra space, but is more affordable than a Grand Suite or above. The Grand Suite is the lowest category of suites that still gives you the suite perks. You get none of the perks in a Junior Suite. Our Grand Suite was amazing, but it was really having those perks that impacted our vacation enjoyment. Seriously, having the quiet dining room to escape the madness at Windjammer was worth thousands!