Too crowded

Explorer of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 16

Overall rating:

3.8 out of 5
Verified Review
Explorer of the Seas

6 Night Western Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: November 25, 2023

Ship: Explorer of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 7518

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 11 months ago

Review summary

We probably won't cruise with RC for a while. The ship was maxed out so it was crowded everywhere you went. One morning we couldn't even find an open table at the Windjammer. There were lines everywhere and there were kids hanging out in the halls at night. Not a pleasant experience. I have to say the entertainment and the Main dining was great as were the ports of call.

Embarkation

3 out of 5
Miami cruise port made us park far away then sit in a bus for almost an hour

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
The Main dining room was excellent. The buffet (Windjammer) was overcrowded and the food was just "ok".

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5
The pools a spas were overcrowded and we didn't feel comfortable going in them due to the number of people using them all day long.

Entertainment

5 out of 5
All of the entertainment was awesome! Broadway quality shows and musicians.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
The Main dining room staff couldn't have been better. They were exceptional! The Windjammer staff was ok.. but not exceptional. Room service was terrible for the first 2 days, then they got better.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5
Everything was clean and nice although the cabins could stand an upgrade.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5
The cabin was fine, but the wind blew our carpet up and we had to get that repaired. Also, there are only 2 outlets in the room and these days we need more.

Ship tip

Look to make sure the ship is not fully booked otherwise you'll be waiting in lines for everything. Also, there were too many kids.

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

1 out of 5
They made us wait on a bus for nearly an hour to get on the ship. Not a great port.

Labadee (Cruise Line Private Island)

5 out of 5
Very nice! We did jet-skis and had a great time. The beach got crowded by noon so we left.

Falmouth, Jamaica

5 out of 5
A nice port if you stay within the gates. there were a lot of nice shops and the people were nice and respectful. It looked a little unsafe outside the gates.

George Town, Grand Cayman

5 out of 5
Great place to land. We snorkeled and swam with the stingrays. The water was rough that day so it was a little exhausting but we had a great time despite the waves.

Disembarkation

2 out of 5
They funneled us around the ship to get off. Took about 45 minutes. Could have been done better.
Was this review helpful? 16

6 Comments

Bertfish     11 months ago

Don’t book cruises during school breaks and you’ll have less kids. My fear on these new ships is they are becoming amusement parks at sea and gonna be packed with kids. Lines are inevitable these days as post covid cruises seem to always be at max capacity

livlifenoregret     11 months ago

If you don’t like kids don’t sail on a family oriented cruise line. We have an adapter that is cruise approved that turns one plug into 3 with 2 additional USB ports. Best cruise purchase I’ve every made lol

ncrob     11 months ago

One of the things that I do is buy an EU adapter, because there's two US outlets and one EU outlet. So it gives you an extra outlet to use

Gwbigdog     11 months ago

Thanks for sharing

Ruby13     11 months ago

Love, Royal Caribbean and their ships, but too many kids, so we moved onto Celebrity

cruising2004     11 months ago

Sorry you were disappointed with your cruise.

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