CruisnChic Cruise Review on Explorer of the Seas on Jun 16, 2017

Explorer of the Seas Cruise Review

CruisnChic

Contributor Level: Third Mate

35 Days Till Next Cruise

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 10

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

Sail date: June 16, 2017

Ship: Explorer of the Seas

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

My first impression walking on the ship was "eh" (not bad, but not excellent). I read tons of reviews about how clean and perfect this ship is, so I expected such when I boarded. I didn't find that it was the cleanest ship I've been on when I arrived, but it certainly wasn't bad. It wasn't "love at first sight" either. As we traveled, I grew to absolutely love this ship. It's big and I was worried about how difficult it would be to navigate the floors (with our room being at the aft) and how crowded it was going to be. I quickly learned the set-up of the ship and loved how the ship itself and the schedule really controlled the crowds quite well. With all of the people on board, I never felt cramped (except on the elevators and in the Windjammer). It really helped distribute people nicely. I would definitely go on this ship again. I do recommend eating in the dining rooms to avoid crowds as it was very difficult finding tables in the Windjammer. The food was good and the cookies are always my favorite. The activities staff seemed a little unorganized, but we still had fun. Oh! I did want to mention - I read a lot of reviews that shared how there was tons of advertising for the specialty dining rooms (that they were bothered at their table while dining with an invite to purchase these dining options). On the first day, we were visited at our table once. We told them we were not interested and was not bothered the rest of the cruise. They did stand outside of the Windjammer and the main dining rooms, but did not pressure us. The ship was a bit rocky two nights (3-4 foot swells the second night and 10 foot swells the 5th night (the nights that we were going back and forth to Alaska from Seattle/Victoria). While at Tracy Arms Fjords, the captain did an AMAZING job at Sawyer Glacier. (Went there instead since the Tracy Arms Glacier was too icy to get to). We sailed all the way to it and he had the ship literally spin 365* (in place) three or four times. The scenery was stunning and it was great having this wonderful ship and talented crew get is there safely. Cheers to another awesome Royal Caribbean cruise. Up next... Hawaii!

4 Comments

Catsrule 7 years ago

Thank you for the very informative review! I found it extremely helpful. I'll be sailing on her in August 2018 and can't wait. I want to retire NOW (8 more years to go) and take cruises throughout the year!

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missvictoria121 7 years ago

Lucky you! Captain tried Tracy ford.. lots of ice. Interesting if this was the cruise right before our sailing 6/30. Curious why he would attempt if he knew it was still icy and not be able to attempt. We didn't pass any glaciers unfortunately during the cruise, just ice.

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CruisnChic 7 years ago

My pleasure! :)

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dreemerann 7 years ago

thank you for the review

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