Food was the worst. Great service! Hot tubs and pool cold. Lots of activities, but lots of waivers for kids to sign. Drink machine were always out of ice and beverages, and needed more machines.
Explorer of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern
It was a long cruise!! Bring your own chips/ snacks!!! Get the pop/ virgin drink package!!! Do not eat in the main dining room!! There are only 2 formal nights in main dining, dress how you want any time!! Don’t over pack on clothes, you will be in you bathing suit most of the time!! I never wore my tennis shoes. At the ports we bought t shirts at each one and I would wear that shirt the next day. One outfit per day is plenty!! BRING SNORKEL GEAR. BRING BATTERIES TO CHANGE DEVICES. Buy an waterproof camera, it’s worth it!! Bring a shirt to swim in, lots of people got burned. Don’t spend money at the restraint on the cruise ship, they all taste the same.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
People became sea sick!! Not what I was expecting.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
Main dining room was horrible! The spaghetti sauce tasted like carrot baby food. The only decent food was the deserts, which were always warm like the cheese cake was never cold it was a weird warm. The windjammer had mire to pick from even though it wasn’t very good. Most people I saw were eating lots of French fries and salads!!
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Pools and hot tubs were never warm/ hot enough. The hot tub had to be in the low 90s and pool easily in low 70s. They would always close the pools at 10 pm if not before, they were always closing them before 10 to be cleaned though. Other activities required parents to sign waivers, which is a long process, they should really have you do this before the trip, you need to sign up for time slots/ waivers for ice skating, teen club stuff, rock climbing, and the wave thing.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Live music was always good, the ice skating show was the best, you wouldn’t miss anything if you didn’t attend the comedy show! Bingo was too expensive, I believe it was $45.
Children's Programs
2 out of 5
We had put money towards the arcade, but the instruction were very hard to understand to access the money. Too many waiver patent had to sign for kids! Not much to do for 18-20 years old on the cruise because they/ aren’t considered an adult, they can’t drink alcohol or gamble and they can’t be part of the teen experience. The rock climbing was basically always closed. You could only ice skate for 20 min if you signed up.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Best part, they kept everything clean and tidy, they were very polite. Most of the staff were non native English speakers, but they tried their best to please us!
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Lots of walking! You will stay the same weight you came on the ship after all the food and walking. The ship did need more coco cola machine if you have the drink package. I would say you need them in every other level because they were always out of ice and drinks, and were too Gary away from cabins. Also those machines didn’t have just regular water in them! Also all the straws on the ship are paper, which is good for the environment, but they dissolve and become useless after 10 min! So bring your reusable straws!
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Perfect for 4 girls. But there was only 2 outlet plugs! Bring extra batteries to charge devices! Plenty of storage and hangers. 5 hangers per person! Shower was plenty big. Beds were just okay feeling, hard on the hips! Room are sound proof! Laminate a sign with your party name to hang on door with magnets. Bring hanging magnets!!
Ship tip
You’ll be spending lots of time on the ship and less time on land!
Went snorkeling off an island. Water was a little rough. The beach wasn’t very big. And water was about 5’5. Did the helmet dive, it was very cool, but no personal cameras aloud!!!! To buy the ones they take is $40.
My favorite excursion, we did a tour by boat to a beach where we stayed for at least 3hrs, this has the most sea life. BRING YOUR OWN SNORKEL GEAR, they didn’t have snorkel gear for people, we brought ours. There was hermit crabs, fish, coral, conch. Clearest water was here!!
The last 2 days on the boat were boring and could not wait to have my regular food back!! We mostly sat in the hot tub and pool and watched the movies on the ship at night!
We were on this cruise, the main dining room entrees were not up to par. The appetizers were very good as were the desserts. Service was good and so was the beef Wellington on NYE. Fries in the WJ were great (spicy cajun) I am craving some now
LOL!
Interesting. We were on the sister ship Adventure of the Seas on the same itinerary in November and loved it. We found good variety and quality of food in both the dining room and buffet. We found more things to do on board than we had time to do. Maybe cruising during the holidays caused some of the issues
Wow, I don't think cruising is for you. Most of your review was negative. Are you a very picky person? We've been on 10 cruises and loved them all. We've also
loved the food in the MDR every night. Absolutely delicious. Loved all our ports.
Cruising is the best vacation ever ⛴🌴
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