Staying Active on the Explorer of the Seas

Like its sister ship Voyager of the Seas, which debuted in late 1999, the 3,114-passenger, 138,000-ton Explorer of the Seas is more than a cruise ship. It’s a big seagoing resort. We just recommended this pair of Royal Caribbean International ships to a friend, a divorced father taking his two teenagers on the first cruise for any of them. “I don’t want to get bored,” he said. We promised him he wouldn’t.

These are the much-ballyhooed ships with ice-skating rinks, rock-climbing walls, in-line skating rinks and miniature golf courses--and that’s just the top and bottom decks. In between, there are spas, a jogging track, a basketball court, children’s play areas including a pool with water slide, a teen center, a Johnny Rockets diner, a dozen bars, a shopping promenade, a wedding chapel, a casino and a cigar club.

Despite the size of the Explorer of the Seas, there are fewer people out and about on deck than you might expect. With 765 cabins having private balconies, passengers tend to breakfast in the cabin and loll about on their own veranda.

As jazz buffs, we fell in love with the Explorer the minute we saw the life-size statue of Dizzy Gillespie at the entry to the top-deck jazz club called Dizzy’s. Around the nightclub are imaginative portraits of jazz stars that change as one moves past them.

In the adjacent 19th Hole sports bar, a perpetual-motion machine volleys small steel balls through a Rube Goldberg-style apparatus that is as fascinating and relaxing to watch as a crackling fire or surf on a beach.

We could imagine our friend and his son and daughter getting enthusiastic about the Chamber, a two-deck Gothic castle with gargoyles, stained-glass windows, “medieval” bar chairs, bats hanging from the ceiling and spooky lights.

The dining room is a vast, three-deck area with central atrium, and each level carries its own name--the Columbus, Magellan and Da Gama restaurants. Tables are assigned at two seatings for dinner.

Another favorite area is the Royal Promenade, an enclosed “street” with shops, a sports bar, an Irish pub, sidewalk cafes and impromptu parades by costumed performers. Some cabins that would be termed inside because they don’t overlook the sea provide window seats overlooking the promenade. Called atrium staterooms, they have two lower beds that convert to queen size; rates start at $1,149 per person with early booking.

The surcharges that used to be levied for activities like ice skating and rock climbing have been dropped, so all the formerly big-ticket extras are free. A quiet candlelight dinner for two is possible in the romantic Portofino Italian restaurant by making reservations and paying $20 apiece surcharge. Children under 13 are not permitted. Reserve soon after boarding for the best choice of times.

If you want to schedule a wedding or renewal of vows in the chapel, call (888) 933-7225 for details on the Royal Romance packages.

Explorer of the Seas sails Saturdays year-round from Miami for the Eastern Caribbean, where it visits the private Haitian island of Labadee; Nassau, Bahamas; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Except for the appealing beach at Labadee, complete with village craft markets, the ports play second fiddle to the ship itself.

Fares start at $1,049 per person, double occupancy, with early booking discounts, plus $399 per person for third and fourth occupants sharing an inside cabin. Outside cabins and suites are more expensive, from $1,349 going up to $8,949 per person for the royal suite.

To learn more, see a travel agent, call (800) 255-4373 or visit https://www.royalcaribbean.com.