They charged me for drinking water in the cabin, among other preposterous charges.

Explorer of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern

Objective

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 3

Overall rating:

2.4 out of 5

7 Night Southern Caribbean Holiday (San Juan Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 26, 2021

Ship: Explorer of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 7594

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

Royal Caribbean's "advantage" (lower cost than competing cruise lines) is also its fatal downfall: (cheap; charges for drinking water in the cabins, charges for soft drinks, etc.) I took my family to its Southern Caribbean cruise that sailed on 12/26/2021 on Explorer of the Seas. We had "stateroom" (marketing lingo for plain old cabin) 7594, so yes, we really and truly were on that cruise. Judge for yourselves if you find the following "policies" by Royal Caribbean acceptable or not: 1. Because of a medical condition, I asked for a few 1-liter bottles of drinking water in my cabin. Royal Caribbean refused and claimed that that the only choice is to buy individual soda cans with water from them at a hefty price (over $2 each such can that had the cruise company's logo. Royal Caribbean makes a hefty profit this way for hat is essential to life (drinking water). 2. During lunch and dinner we asked for a plain old coke or other soft drink. Royal Caribbean refused and directed us to a soda dispensing machine that will only work if the customer has paid for a pricey package deal for soft drinks. Keep in mind that a coke at even the cheapest hamburger joint costs almost nothing to any restaurant. I then complained up the chain of command all the way to a black gentleman who was in charge at the Customer Relations counter on board on deck 5, and who told me he had worked for Royal Caribbean for over 20 years and that "that is how things are", and that it costs Royal Caribbean to provide drinking water to its customers (who have paid thousands of dollars to get on the cruise) and that therefore they expect customers to pay for water. I told him that, by his reasoning, Royal Caribbean should also charge for toilet paper as that, too, "costs Royal Caribbean to provide to its customers". He failed to see the point. 3. Fresh squeezed orange juice was, similarly, an "additional charge" item. You get the idea. I have traveled with several cruise companies over the years, including Disney, Oceania, Paul Gauguin Cruise, and others. Royal Caribbean ranks at the bottom of the list because of cheap practices like the specific ones above.