Great ports of call but a dissapointed in RCL Explorer of the Seas

Item: Explorer of the Seas
Rating: 3
Author: CaptinRon

Explorer of the Seas Cruise Review to Other (Asia/Africa/Middle East)

CaptinRon

Contributor Level: Third Mate

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 54

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Verified Review

11 Night Middle East & Asia (Dubai To Singapore)

Sail date: October 23, 2015

Ship: Explorer of the Seas

Cabin type: Oceanview

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

The itinerary was great!! But the new RCL seems to just view the cruise as a platform for selling stuff. The internet packages were outrageous and you had to purchase them in blocks (30 min or days). You could not just buy some minutes use them during the entire cruise like before. Also the soft drink package is outrageously priced. We tried Chops and the Italian specialty restaurants. They have really cut back and I could not get a medium steak cooked correctly in either one. (I am not picky - I order medium in hopes of getting anything between medium well and medium rare! If you want a good steak in Chops you have to pay an extra $20 surcharge on top of the $30 surcharge you already paid!! Even the hamburgers were much smaller. Very little in the way of port, cultural or educational lectures (the poorest of my experiences) and the one lecture they did have was always scheduled very early in the morning so the ship could sell drinks via bar games and spa treatments during prime time. Speaking of the time, time changes were done in the middle of the day (noon) instead of midnight. Very confusing and it shortened the daytime and always confused lunch in the dining rooms. (I guess this reduced the need for day time entertainment of which there wasn't much and maintained the drinking during the night!! And there was sickness. They were scrubbing the ship 24 /7. Mediocre food in the dining room for the most part. We did enjoy the breakfast buffet and the lunch salad bar in the dining room. The buffet on deck 11 had very good food with a wide variety but with much repetition. The service was very good - the crew really does its best for the passengers. But the WOW factor for me is: WOW what happened to RCL???

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

The cabin was fine. But we were on deck 2 and you may get a cabin over an area of the ship that has noise during the night. If I get a cabin on deck 2 again, I will try to find out what is under or near it. Our cabin was very noisy at times.

Ship tip

If you want to get a seat at the buffet on deck 11, get there when I opens! Also less chance of getting germs from the sticky tongs.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Dubai, U.A.E.

5 out of 5

Mormugao (Goa), India

5 out of 5

Cochin, India

5 out of 5

Penang (Pulau Pinang), Malaysia

5 out of 5

Port Klang (Kuala Lumpur), Malaysia

5 out of 5

Singapore

5 out of 5

6 Comments

vickiss 9 years ago

We too were disappointed. Only wow i found was Johnny rockets hamburgers a must at only $5.95 US surcharge includes chips/onion rings. they are huge couldnt even fit in desert! customer sevice 10/10 too. No wow factor elsewhere though. dining room was mediocre. windjammers good but needs more variation on longer trips imo and not enough drink waiters. almost non existent on out of peak times pool deck, pool deck needs more late night activity it died off by 9pm even both bars closed! had go deck 5 and bring bavk up deck 11..soda machines 3/5 out of order whole trip and eventually no soda in those! only flavoured water...i was annoyed as we all packages but couldn't get it our selves..I just booked p&o for next year

Thumbs Up 0

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Goldenwestie 9 years ago

Our stateroom bathroom got flooded 4 days in a row, customer services were appalling, we got nothing in the way of compensation, but will write to RC. I loved the ship, found lots to do, great gym but disappointed that they charged $15 for a spin class! Thought the food was great too, plenty to choose from, entertainment in the Promenade was best, but really something for everyone.

Thumbs Up 1

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guntherlj 9 years ago

mszoro. It's a crap ship. Crap and cheap company. And the flood in our bathroom through no fault of ours was disgracefully dealt with and yes I'm entitled to my opinion. I was caught with the gastro that someone bought onboard but I chose not to mention that as it was another passenger at fault not RCL. Never again and with people like you it has made-up my mind completely@#

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mszoro 9 years ago

It's good to see that a bed not being turned down minus a chocolate and a comprehensive 24/7 cleaning regime to prevent infection amongst 5000 people appear to be the only major things of concern! Thankfully they're still using sugar in the sweets😊 ...

Thumbs Up 5

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guntherlj 9 years ago

I agree. The comunication is non existant with individual passengers.We were expecting something fantastic and better than everything we have ever been on. This is our first and will be our last RCL. Its ok not great. No special touches like bed turn down or chocolate that you get on every other cruiseline. No pen or paper. No special toiletries. The food is OK. The cakes and desserts are fake and full of sugar. The pools are nice and there's an adult one. I am not a whinger and can see good in everything but to say we're dissappointed us an understatement. We are going to Chops on Thursday thanks to a flood in our stateroom but that's another story!. Will let you know!

Thumbs Up 1

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Kajy 9 years ago

Well I'm on her on Friday for 16 days don't know what to expect first cruise on any cruise line... I read all reviews good and bad, and will review when my cruise is done... Don't plan booking anymore cruises till this one is done.... 😀😀🚢⚓️🇦🇺

Thumbs Up 3

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Other reviews of this sailing

This was probably our best cruise ever.