Worst cruise ever

Explorer of the Seas Cruise Review to Transatlantic

ps241197

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 9

Overall rating:

2.8 out of 5

Verified Review

12 Night Spain & Azores Transatlantic (Barcelona To Miami)

Sail date: November 02, 2024

Ship: Explorer of the Seas

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 9214

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 month ago

Review summary

Other than the first couple of great days the entire trip to a nightmare after the storm hit us so hard that the ship tilted by 40 degrees and stayed like that for minutes. We had to turn around to Canary Islands due multiple injuries, 180 people decided not to continue the cruise. Most ridiculous was that Officers were trying to downplay the situation like it normal during crossings. Food and beverages became very limited due to massive breakages and spoilage during accident. Ridiculously Royal Caribbean refused to automatically offer any compensation, based on conversations with FD Manager and other Officers.

Embarkation

1 out of 5

N/A

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Dining room and Windjammer fair, Giovanni's was the dining highlight

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Lots of announced activities were either cancelled last minute or delayed

Entertainment

3 out of 5

All Production and Headliner shows were amazing. Game shows and Activity team involved events were poor, we had the feeling that Cruise Director (thought she was on a fashion show) and her Team were just there to place themselves in the spotlight.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Bar staff and room Steward were amazing; servers and FD staff needed lots of training.

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

Ship needs to go to dry-dock way ahead of July 2025 scheduled time. Nothing seems to work or things were falling apart. No way for the super hard working cleaning crew to keep the ship clean, it's way past the chance.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Good size and great location, Steward tried his very best to keep the dated room in shape.

Ship tip

Stay away from it until it is refurbished. Not the safest ship anymore, especially since we tilted after being hit by a "surprise storm" and huge waves almost took us down. Suggest watching the incident videos from this crossing, which made the news all around the world.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Barcelona, Spain

4 out of 5

Malaga, Spain

4 out of 5

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

Absolutely nightmare, waited two hours in line to get through customs

10 Comments

karencruiser 22 hours ago

Good heavens I know that’s frightening because it happened to us. We were in the pool and then suddenly the ship just tilted and stayed to the angle for what it felt like half an hour but was probably only a couple of minutes ,all the water poured out. Plates and glasses were smashed in the buffet, and lots of cosmetics and facial stuff was smashed in the spa area. Quite frightening there for a few minutes. I hope people recovered alright from their bad experiences.

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Ladyjunecliff 2 days ago

Wow! I am glad you weren’t injured. Thanks for sharing your experience. So sorry you didn’t get to enjoy the cruise after that wave. Amazing these ships can handle these mishaps at sea.

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Cruisers4Lyfe 27 days ago

Thanks for sharing

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uwep 1 month ago

Yes, absolutely correct: worst cruise ever. We left in Gran Canaria before transatlantic crossing.

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TiffyTaffy 1 month ago

Yikes- I’m sure if the ship could have diverted it would have. Glad you all are safe. I’m off to look up the CD.

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HeavySeas 1 month ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise experience

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kellies26 1 month ago

You think they could have predicted this? I’m guessing none of the staff enjoyed any of it either. 🙄

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RoyalCruzer 1 month ago

Agree on the CD. She believes she is a celebrity. Very obnoxious.

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MarkXDStops 1 month ago

I heard about this cruise! I guees they had to go back to Canaries to check the seaworthy-ness of the vessel after the rogue wave. My question is Do you wish you had debarked with the other 180 and flown instead?

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Gwbigdog 1 month ago

Oops, sorry, thanks for sharing your cruise

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