Explorer of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The only think I did not appreciate was the "barkers" on the Promanade Deck the first night selling their wares.  Too much like in Vegas. 

All the crew were excellent.  The maid service was wonderful. The waiters and bartenders were excellent.

Our favorite part were the shows at Palace Theater every night along with the Cruise Director, Graham Seymour,! Windjammer Buffet.

The food & the service in the Saphire Dining Room, 3rd & 5th floor, was not up to par. The waiters seemed overworked & breathless. The food at times skimpy . We ate most of our meals in the Windjammer Buffet.

We also didn't appreciate the wait at the elevators. We liked our stateroom & our stateroom attendant, Gregorio, very much!!

The Tracy Arm Fjord is spectacular.  What an awesome sight.  Sights of Juneau & Skagway, Victoria are great a well.  Just doid not have enought time to explore Victoria due to length of tour at the Butchart Gardens.

Some cruisers at the windjammer are rude.  No respect at all for the other passengers.  Liked very much the quick breakfast or lunch at the Windjammer, but turned off quickly by the disrespectful & uncourteous folks.

Seattle boarding is so disorganized, guess because of the pier congestion.

Shows are okay, but could be improved.

The cruise was wonderful.   We have been on Carnival Cruises previously and had even higher expectations for Royal Caribbean food.    We were greatly disappointed by the food!   It was tasteless for the most part, steaks were tough and some of the hot food we were served was cold.  I told our waiter in the dining room what I wanted one time and he tried to talk me out of it to a cheaper cut of steak.  Our sitting was not handled well in the dining room either.   The Windjammer was some better with breakfast being the best!   Overall the food was a total disappointment.   The stateroom, with balcony, was great.   The service there was excellent almost to the point of being around too much.  :-)  The movies they showed at the pool could not be heard so that was not well planned by the ship.   The cruise director was good and funny!    The shows were good with our favorite being Fast Forward.

The entertainment was fantastic.  The excursions were excellent and well organized. There were lots of activities - something for everyone. However, It took us 2 1/2 hours standing in line to check-in; it was unclear what the problem was.  This could use a great deal of improvement. 

WHERE do I start? We traveled in a group of 13 people who came in on various flights on different days.  Two in our group decided to fly in and out on cruise days and booked flights with RCCL.  Disastrous!  The flight was late and the ship almost sailed without 6 of their passengers; 2 of which were in our  group.  Ship personal advised  that the ship would sail with or without them at 4pm resulting in extremely stressful moments. Finally, they arrived but with no bags...bags arrived 2 days later in Juneau! Our friends where shaken up to say the least.  No clothes, no food, nothing.. RCCL gave them a little bag with toothpaste and toothbrush... on the 2nd day.  Clothing vouchers where to come from the airline which was difficult to contact.  Our friends just bought what they could.  No underwear, socks or personal type clothing onboard for purchase. IT WAS SOOO STRESSFUL for all involved.

DINING: We were suppose to have a diner table for 13.  Somehow it was for 11. We asked the maître d to add the two extra chairs to our enormous table and he said he could not do that. After two nights of eating separately, our waitress accommodated the two chairs and had us all sit together...stress...again!

Our dining room experience, other than the seating, was wonderful.  Our waitress (Geraldine), her helpers (Imade 1) and the Bar runner (Imade 2) where FANTASTIC!  Food was good!  Windjamer (buffet) was ok.  Suitable for it's purpose...but found it to be closed at times when we needed to eat.

CAFE PROMANADE is open 24-7..thank goodness...but needs more seating as its the only place to eat when everything else is closed...so MOST passengers are there or have to "take out" when there is no room.

Next to the cabins... we had an outside balcony on the 9th deck (9292). Balcony was smaller than I expected but worth getting. Room steward (Clayton) was excellent! Rooms were clean and large.

CHOPS GRILL murder mystery dinner experience was ok.  The meal served was EXCELLENT!!!! The performance was ok. The actors did not have microphones so if you are sitting in the back, you miss a lot of the dialogue.

PHOTOGRAPHY- Disappointed - the backdrops were all geared for "island" photos...not one backdrop had a mountain, snowcaps, Alaskan view... they had tropical sunsets, palm trees, beaches. I hardly took any photos.... sooo disappointing! Did like the automated photo center!

ENTERTAINMENT -  AWFUL.  First of all, the Cruise Director (Graham Seymour) was basically the entertainment.. he sang, was the comedian, danced, performed, hosted..you name it (also, can behave inappropriately from time to time). There were 4 excellent professional singers on board and we hardly saw them. There was 1 excellent professional comedian on board and he had only 2 shows, which was FANTASTIC (Kivi Rogers).  The Cruise Director was selling a personal DVD and CD of himself after "his" late night show. I have cruised many  times and the Cruise Director "directs" his team to cover events and the performers perform and the actors act... This guy was actually lip syncing to a series of British tunes in the promenade dressed up in a British flag..awful!  There were parades in the promenade that where not conducive to the crowd... clown like characters...performers where out of sync...laughing at themselves when they messed up the choreography...child like shows that did not fit the Alaska experience and the COST of this trip. And if you didn't get a front seat, you pretty much missed it...  my advice is to get up high and watch from above.

ICE SKATING show was very nice and worth going to.  Get in line early and if you are in a group, expect not to be together for the show.  Its based on your Munster station code.

SHORE EXCURSIONS where amazing... Helicopter/Glacier tour; White pass Train Tour; Zip lining ... PORTS of CALL where amazing.. EZ on and off ship to shore experience.

THE EXPLORER OF THE SEAS was not prepared for the ALASKA experience  passengers where expecting.  This ship was still in Australia mode.... warm summary type of vacation. Rock climbing is only opened on sunny days "non wet" days...Flow Ryder (wave machine) closed most of the time because we're in ALASKA.  We did play a very cold and wet game of Dodge Ball..which was fun. We played shuffle board...cold but fun.  Jogging/walks in the morning was lovely but FREEZING. Decided to take my walks INDOORS.

GYM was awesome. STEAM room and saunas where nice and clean.  SPA was lovely however We booked 3 massages... 2 Swiss and 1 Deep tissue.  All three left us all bruised and sore. I ALWAYS book spa massages on all my cruises and never had this happen before. 

Cruise in General: Not happy

Disappointed especially with the cost of flying across the country (Florida); staying in Seattle before and after cruise and the cost of the cruise.

Sad to say but I don't think I would recommend RCCL for Alaska.

Our group age range = 21 though 60.  (13 people)

We loved Alaska and the excursions offered.  Denzil, the concierge, and Ravi, our cabin stewart, were great.

However, we were so excited to take this cruise bc we just knew that it would be the freshest seafood available.  As an example, I ordered the lobster the last night.  Not only was it mealy in taste, but there was no meat in the shell.  I was later refunded the cost by the chef and they admitted that it was left over from Australia, which was more than two weeks from the date.

The food service staff was awful across the board.  It didn't matter if we were eating in the main dining room, ordered room service, were eating in the windjammer or in Chops for breakfast, the staff was ineffective and unprepared.  The food was awful!

Singers and dancers in all the shows did a great job

Service in dining room very good 

crew and staff helpful and friendly

Ships common areas where always clean 

Due to flight issue, we missed our departure port. RC told us numerous times over the phone that we could meet the boat at the first port of call with no issues then finish our cruise, but we would have to leave the ship early due to some Jones Law in the US. No problem to us, so we flew to Juneau and met the cruise a day late. They would not let us on the boat. Made us wait outside in the freezing cold for over an hour. They claimed I had not notified the cruise line of our plans, ugh! Eventually, since I knew the laws and had proof that we were complying with the law, they let us on the boat but refused to return our passports for a full day. They also changed the reason 3 times why they would not return our passports (which we needed for an excursion in the Yukon). Guest services was a joke. We did however eventually manage to settle in and enjoy parts of the cruise. Some highlights and lowlights:

1. Ship was nice and our JR Suite was very comfortable and clean

2. Fitness facility was very spacious and had a lot to offer

3. Mystery Dinner was dumb, 3 hrs long, and food was no better than midnight buffet quality. For $65 a person it was not worth it

4. WindJammer cafeteria was HUGE, but all the food seemed under seasoned and half of it seemed like frozen dinners you buy at the grocery store. Was not impressed with the selection or quality of cafeteria food. We only made one formal dinner and food was good but portion size was seriously small.

5. We did enjoy the amount of onboard activities. Go to the Quest and Marriage shows. I personally enjoyed the sport activities (dodgeball, archery, cornhole,etc)

6. Alaska is AMAZING! Got to see Orcas, humpbacks, eagles, sea lions, glaciers

7. This ship did not give off the "Party Vibe" like Carnival (which we liked)

8. Karaoke was a huge hit on the ship, but they stopped it early every night

9. Graham, the cruise director, (who we got to meet and hang out with while we waited in the cold to board the ship) was fun, but bordered on being potty mouthed even in front of kids.

I will try other cruise lines before giving RC a second try.

Shore excursions were the favorite part of our cruise . The White Pass railway and helicopter tour of a glacier were highlights. Juneau was an interesting city to walk around.

The view of Alaska was breath taking...Well worth the trip from the south to Seattle which has a lot to do downtown as well . Bring a jacket with a hood the wind from the Alaska air is no joke .Seafood in British Columbia at the Red/Blue fish food truck is a must visit...

No major complaints. Our stateroom was very nice except the window was so dirty it was hard to really look out. All in all, a great trip. Had no problems and everything was delivered as promised. 

The staff were the crown in this cruise. So helpful, so nice. Food was to die for in the running room. Lots of things to do. In Alaska we Saw whales, bears, eagles and dolfins. Only thing I would change is have more inside movies in the palace theater instead of outside theater where you got pretty darn cold. It was a great first cruise. Can't wait to book my next.

The food was the most disgusting experience from tough skirt steak, to under cooked food, health hazards all across the boards for the consumer such as myself.  The amount of false advertisement was horrific! From no 3d movies, no welcome back party, and on top of that every activity on board such as the rock wall, ice skating, and shows were on a time limit. Plus, the last parade was held before passengers were required to be on board. The most memorable activities that were held were not announced and if they had been it was last minute. My money goes towards these activities. Also, rooms very  tight spaced especially for someone who has a disability. There were an enormous amount of tripping hazards and we were only provided with the bare minimum essentials (no pens, no bible, no body lotions or soaps) . As a loyal customer to Royal Caribbean I can say whole hardheartedly I am outrageously disappointed with my experience. If my money doesn't go towards the food, activities, travel experience, and memorable activities than what does it go towards?  This experience as similar to MANY others who attended on this cruise is a great way to lose loyal customers such as myself. The amount of hazards from the food provided to the rooms could result in lawsuits. I will expect to see a change come of this not just for loyal customers such as myself but for future customers. Would you want to attend a cruise experience like this?

The prettiest part of the trip was Victoria, BC.  Juneau and Skagway were great as well.  The ship was very good and clean.  They were always cleaning everything and telling us to use sanitizer. This made me feel better.

Everything was good except the food.  It was poor quality, little choices, always cold in both the dining room and the buffet.  There also wasn't food available (except in a very small cafe with a very long line) after 9:00pm.  By the end of the cruise, everyone was complaining about it and when in port, bringing food on board to have a good meal since the ship didn't provide that.

However, if food isn't your main reason for this cruise, it is wonderful to see Alaska on a cruise ship.  Is this the best ship, NO, but it is still Alaska!  This is my 7th cruise to Alaska, I will go again, not on RC.

Without exception, the entrie crew on the Explorer of the Seas does everything imaginable to make their guests happy.  The on-boarding process is slow and tiring (see below).  Ask for help if you need it.  We ordered coffee from room service the first morning and it never arrived.  Not a huge deal for us but we did mention it to our waiter.  That evening we received 4 specialty cupcakes and an apology.  Second night we received a bag of gourmet cookies and apology.  Third night a bottle of wine and an apology.  It was very apparent they want to make your cruise as perfect as they can.

This was the first cruise of the season out of Seattle and unfortunately it was too cold on deck to enjoy outdoor activities.  I wish more activities were planned indoors on the day at sea because not everyone wants to spend the day drinking and gambling.  The shows in the theater were good and we especially enjoyed the ice show . The performances and the costumes were  fantastic.  We had a large Oceanview room which was spacious and provided great views and light.  I highly recommend this room category.  The food in the dining room was very good but the food in the windjammer cafe only consisted of quantity not quality. Explorer of the Seas is a nicely appointed ship but with 3,100 people on board it was often a long wait for an elevator to go up or down. The port of Victoria offered several good excursions but the second port Nanaimo was disappointing with not much there.  The service on the ship in all ares was excellent and Royal Caribbean has done a great job hiring and training a great crew. 

Victoria and Nanaimo were very welcoming communities to us.  The entertainment on board was wonderful.  

Your survey won't let me submit my review without having more words in this section.  I do not appreciate that!    Is this enough?  

Had problems getting luggage first night and gave up on internet. The service was good especially enjoyed time in dining room where we were always treated special.