Money, money, money Is all they care about

Item: Explorer of the Seas
Rating: 2
Author: binggong

Explorer of the Seas Cruise Review to Coastal - West Coast

binggong

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 15

Overall rating:

2 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Pacific Coastal (Seattle Roundtrip)

Sail date: September 16, 2016

Ship: Explorer of the Seas

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 7291

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

This is my fourth cruise trip. I've cruised with Carnival and Norweigian before. A strong feeling is this ship only cares about getting more money out of your pocket, and it can be reflected by having only one complementary dining restaurant, more strict dining policy and shorter dining time. As for the the buffet place, its dining time is also shorter than other cruise ships, and out of the three food sections, almost always there's one of them closed for cleaning. There's no free barbecue food court or free fountain drinks on the deck either, but there're at least a dozen bars. Be careful with the menu they offered on their website, we found out later that not all the dishes are free even in the complimentary dining restaurant like you thought when looking at their website info. Als be careful with their last day's breakfast time, they closed off food section way before the schedule. Overall, it feels like a military dining room, not a relaxed vacation restaurant. Blame the short-sighted management.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ports of call

Seattle, Washington

5 out of 5

Astoria, Oregon

5 out of 5

San Francisco, California

5 out of 5

6 Comments

laatherton 8 years ago

It is unfortunate binggong that you missed seeing the self serve soda stations (large red kiosks) on the Royal Promanade. I saw many people filling their souvenir Coke cups there instead of at the bar or in the cafe.

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

ljkg 8 years ago

Totally agree themartinfamily76 I love cruising because I get to relax. No housework is awesome. No thinking about what to buy for dinner. The shows are usually really great. The destinations are why we're on the cruise in the first place. I absolutely love seeing new places, new cultures and new people. I also love relaxing! The cruises have given me all that with little or No Alcohol to ruin my liver with!🎉

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

themartinfamily76 8 years ago

I find it disturbing that people put so much emphasis on food. Comments like "the food is supposed to be the best post of the cruise" alcohol and food don't make a holiday. But as people put it they pay $x on a cruise they must eat $x in food right

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

ljkg 8 years ago

I agree bingong. RCL has a very different customer service to Carnival Princess and Norwegian. If you don't mind standing in a queue at a bar with drunken loud passengers on drink packages for a soda then I guess that what RCL promotes. I find the obsession with alcohol on cruises disturbing given most these passengers wouldn't normally drink that much alcohol normally. Is that what holidays are about now? And yes the really nice food is in the pay extra restaurants, but we did enjoy the free areas too.

Thumbs Up 2

Flag

caribbeanjim 8 years ago

I've never went hungry on any Royal cruise 😊 only disappointment was we had Lobster on Explorer and was not offered on the Liberty. Hope we have LOBSTER on the Navigator 🤗

Thumbs Up 3

Flag

michaella 8 years ago

The bar will also accommodate your soda requests.It is a shame you disliked it soo much. I found it quite the opposite and never spent any extra money. Far from military but each to their own.

Thumbs Up 5

Flag

Other reviews of this sailing

Awesome Family time....

Seattle Cruise

Fun !