Explorer of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

My husband and I cruised with our daughters, sons-in-law and grandkids.  Even though the ship had over 5,000 people cruising, there was so much room to accommodate everyone. Our inside cabin was quite roomy and gave us the sense of being in our own private bedroom. It was kept clean and nicely designed. Food in the dining room and café was excellent and non-ending. Waiters were quite professional and accommodating. With so many shipboard activities, one needed never to feel bored. Our cruise director and assistant, Leigh and Erky, were a blast!  The shows also were outstanding. The one drawback we experienced was the time our cabin toilet didn't work due to a problem in the main line. This lasted just a short time. Overall, my whole family loved the cruise. We would certainly travel again with Royal Caribbean. 

It was great from start to finish. Booking another one soon! The room attenant was great. Our waiters for dinner did a great job getting to know us. The experience was awesome for our 1st vacation. The ship was big and plenty to do. The buffet had a lot of food except it wasn't so hot but food was ok. I can't wait for the next one!

at pier 10 to 15 minutes to get off bus tocheck luggage tags go into tent in line for boarding passes and take pictures same aslast cruise we took april 26 2012 then on bustram toship. We see the construction going on to accomidate future arrivals this is a plus.on board ship and at windjammer eating things are much better for our nine day cruise with mt family ,I have cabins to accomadate eleven people rooms on promenade 8th floor.rooms B0225 7 9 61 & B6119 for three people after nine days a wonderful trip for the family . crown&anchor bad job we were suppose to be all diamond but for one person so things did not go good at beginning we survived. time to go home bad embarcationand debarkation bad part of cruise shoving & pushing toget off short tempers not enough porters and long walk tobuswith luggage we seefuture to be much better with consruction going on.bad bus drivergoing back home did not help, did not want to stop for break .but did family cruise was still wonderful thankyou. William rapoza 53 howland street Dartmouth Ma.

After boarding we went to the Windjammer Cafe and found it very crowded (obviously) amd the lay out of food stations was very different from our previous cruise. It made it difficult to just select what you wanted without having to stand in a long line while people decided what they wanted or not.  Even after we were at sea, it was difficult getting around the Windjammer because some stations were closed, and you had to walk towards the back or front depending where you entered. The meals in the main dining room were superb and the service as always was impeccable as was the service from the cabin staff.

main dinning the food was awlful but the service was great. it wasn't fair to the servers. Was better in the Windjammer buffet, that where the extra tips went for me. The steak looked frozen and fake. it was better prepared in the Windjammer.... The slot machine where very tight, and the give ways where cheap. we won the same game on the cruiseline several years ago and got an excursion and a good bottle of champaign... this time 5 dollar cheap watches come on things aren't that bad. Not many selection for food for the night-line party crew... how about some hot wings and better pizza.

This was a great cruise.  The people were helpful and answered anything you wanted to know or would find out.  They were great!!!!!

The food was beyond anything I could imagine.  You had a variety of food and could find anything you wanted.  The breakfast buffet was great.  I could not say enough good about the cruise and the people.

This was my husbands first cruise and he never expected to enjoy it but to my surprise he said everything about the cruise was great and had to change his opinion.  The only thing is he said there is a lot of water and that did not impress him.

15 year old boat. You can see and feel it everywhere. It is also very dirty. The food is pretty bad and boring. If you enjoy healthy and unprocessed food you will be deeply disappointed.  The highlight of the trip was coming home. Oh, and the entertainment I won't even mention- a joke. 

Every part of our trip was wonderful!  We were a group of 14 and had a wonderful time.  The only problem we had was that our party was somehow split into 2 different dining rooms for the dinner hour, but this was fixed as soon as I mentioned it to the dining staff.  The only other problem was the lack of being able to communicate with each other when making plans or doing separate activities.  We wasted a lot of time trying to figure our when and where to meet up.  If we could call or text it would have been easier but the cell phone cost was prohibitive.

Great trip for family with grown up kids and grand kids. Things for everyone to do.  Ice show was really great.  Services was the best we have every had. Easy on and off at port liberty.

Everything was excellent!

Just one thing: television. Very old TV-set in our cabin, even not flat screen, from the beginning of last century. That grandpa-TV-set spoke only Spanish. Even English-speaking movie we had to watch with Spanish subtitles. Why?

I tried to reprogram launguage. Impossible.

There are several kinds of program on our ship TV - Spanish, German, Italian, French, Chinise, Mexican... I did not see anybody like French or German on the ship. However there are many, many Russian people there. Russian launguage was here and there but not on TV. Why?

I think it's right time yo add Russian program on TV as well.

Thank you very much.

We had a fantastic Time!!! From when we initially booked the cruise through working with Jon Kaden who guided us through the biooking process to the cruise itself was incredible.

This was our honeymoon and the ship was fantastic, I have been on 4 other cruises and this was the prettiest ship to date. The activities and shows were great as they had many different things to choose from. The ports of call were nice, we loved St. Maarten!

I woudl say my only two things for improvement woudl have to be having different selections of food in the Windjammer cafe for Breakfast and lunch. The food was good but it seems they served the same things each day. My othe suggestion for improvement wold be to add some sand on the beaches of Labadee Haiti. It was very difficult to walk into the water and navigate the rocks.

I woudl like to thank Jon Kaden for his expertise and the reminder phone calls regarding payment and priiting of documents for our cruise, as well s the follow-up calls upon our return asking about the cruise and making sure we submitted our on-cruise bill for reimbursment, I will definetly book through again and hopefully use Jon.

Thank you Royal Carribbean for giving us a great cruise and memorable honeymoon, we are looking forward to booking our next cruise soon!

Dave Ecenrode and Melis Diehm!

The overall food on the ship was poor quality. The 'so called' prime rib was such a low quality that I didn't eat it, as for the mushy lobster. Other than the omlettes for breakfast, there was nothing I found appetizing. The service in the dining room was exceptional. Our room Stewart was also outstanding. The entertainment was fair, ship is tired looking. The port in Bermuda is boring. The disembarkation was the worst I've seen, totally disorganized. We kept our luggage so we could walk off and leave earlier but that just didn't happen. They wouldn't let people use the elevators but made them carry their luggage down several flights of stairs. why??? It made no sense treating people like this. We are platinum members and the perks were sub par. The 45 minute cocktail reception was a joke. It was really just a sales pitch. Mediocre drinks and no passed appetizers. Not a nice way to appreciate your platinum and above passengers.

i will probably not cruise again with RCCL. We cruised with Celebrity in April and Regent in January, both being positive experiences. They know how to treat and pamper their guest. They did not treat their guest like cattle and present poor quality food.

This was our first cruise so we did not know what to expect.  The service from all staff was over the top, especially towards the children.  Our dinner staff was very catering to our needs and were ready for us each evening with our drinks and smiling faces.

NOT ALOT OF TIME AT PORTS, NOT EXCEPTIONAL ENTERTAINMENT, EXCEPT THE ROYAL CARIBBEAN TALENT SHOW MEMBERS! THEY WERE GOOD. FOOD CHOICES AT DINNER WERE NOT AS GOOD AS OTHER ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES. NOT A FUN CRUISE BUT VERY RELAXING. EVERYTHING ELSE SEEMED TO GO AS PLANNED! I CAME BACK FEELING LIKE I ACCOMPLISHED A RELAXING SUNNY VACATION, WITH LOTS OF BEAUTIFUL SURROUNDINGS CENTERED FROM THE CARIBBEAN BEACHES, & GORGEOUS BLUE OCEAN INLETS!

I didn't rate this cruise excellent because the Drinks Premium Package was disappointing. The advertising didn't mention limitations and it was obvious what I called premium was not defined the same by Royal Carribbean. The cruise ship is outdated and the balcony was disappointing too.

The overall cruise was very good--the best of our previous experiences with Royal Caribbean. Gorgeous ship, great service, very good accommodations, and the four destinations were awesome.  We love the town plaza with all of the shops, eateries, staged and spontaneous activities, including a Starbucks, which made my wife and daughter extra happy . The evening dining menu and food quality in Da Gamma were ok and a little disappointing, however.  The best thing about the dinner was our waiters and the bonding we established. They were the most personal and best we have experienced and they became part of our extended family. Our greatest overall food experience was in the buffet (breakfast/lunch).  The food was very tasty and enjoyable every day. We did not experience the buffet for dinner. We had dinner twice at the specialty restaurant and enjoyed the food and atmosphere very much.  The room service menu and food were also very good. Our cabins were very comfortable and the experience of sleeping with the open balcony was so refreshing and rewarding. We are eagerly looking forward to doing this cruise again and hope our experience will be enhanced even more by our comments below.

Would like to make a few suggestions for enjoyment in the future.  The dinner menu and food quality need to improve.  For example, crab cakes were on the menu and every one in our party ordered them.  Not a single piece of crabmeat could be found.  They were made with fake crabmeat (pollock),  and after the first bite, all of us returned the dish.  A couple of times the food was not cooked thorougly or as requested and not enough daily variety was offered. These were inexcusable and disappointing.  Overall, maybe one-half of the items we selected during the nine dinner nights were good to very good. No excuse for it not being consistently very good.  Good thing we had the waiters we did.  They made up our dinner disappointments.

We were disappointed in the choice of sweetners used in the preparation of sugar-free deserts and available in the dining and eating facilities. All of the sugar alternatives were nutri-sweet varities that are all artificial and dangerous to ones health.  More healthier and natural sweetner such as truvia or stevia were no where to be found.  Splenda, which is not as good as truvia and stevia, but much better than nutri-sweet was unavailable, but available on other Royal Caribbean Ships we have traveled.  No excuse for that either.  We have come to love cruising on Royal Caribbeans and hope these suggestions will be implemented in time for our next cruise this year.

What an amazing trip.  Highly recommended trip.  Ship was awesome... as expected by RC, and Bermuda... if not already on your bucket-list... put it on there.  Very well worth the trip.

Renting scooters is discouraged by most, but my wife and I are adventurous- and loved them.  The island is only 22 miles tip to tip.... and we put 64 miles on our scooters in the 24hrs we had them.

Overall I thought the cruise was nice. The food was pretty good in the dining room, though at times I thought it could have been better. I did have a great experience with the helpfulness of my server in meeting my gluten free needs. They had fresh baked gluten free bread for me every dinner, and I ordered breakfast for the following morning which included gluten free french toast or gluten free pancakes. Both of which I can't remember the last time I had! My server was Wendell - he was absolutely wonderful. He told me everything I could want to know about the ship, how to get the food I needed (for my gluten allergy), and even about the islands. He was a pleasure. I cannot say good enough things about him!

Just a note - Portofino's was a little overrated. Its only $25 per person for the dinner, but the food wasn't fabulous and it was more about the "presentation" of the food than the taste of the food. You might as well not waste your money since the normal dining experience (sit-down as well as the buffet) are included in your costs. 

My niece who is 7 months old also accompanied my family on the trip - and the cruiseline was less than helpful when it came to her. She wasn't allowed in the pools and they reminded us constantly of this (we just had her feet in the water to cool off). They had a pack and play for her to sleep in but it took up the bulk of the room which was frustrating and they said they could not take out the table that was in the room to give us more room. They don't provide any baby food or anything like that so my sister had to bring everything herself. They also don't allow children that are not potty trained to be in their children's activities so she could not be apart of that. Lastly, they say they offer babysitting for nights you want to go to dinner/drinks without the kids - but really its based on the staff doing overtime if they choose, but it is not guaranteed that they will show up because if they have other duties needed, then they dont have anyone to babysit. This was very frustrating because they advertised it like it was 100% there and available, but really its not. So from the sounds of it - it just seems like the cruiseline isn't very accomodating to little children. The biggest problem was that they still charged for the baby as a full passenger along with gratuities - which is crazy. She wasn't allowed to use any of the ammenities!

I think at the end of the day, the cruiseline is really meant for people without kids, people with elementary school aged kids(they were better with their activities for them), and elderly people. If you have young kids - you're constantly running around with little help from them.  

The biggest complaint I have is that there were no signs posted about getting your photos from the cruise prior to the day of embarkment back in the US. They did not have their photo area appropriately staffed for the demand on the last day of the cruise. Becuase of the craziness in the photo area - we waited until the morning of embarkment - and we were unable to purchase them. Its a little crazy. But essentially I was told that there are international laws that keep them from selling things once we're back at port. The physical pictures were discarded (recycled) as of midnight the night before, and the electronic photos were deleted as of midnight the night before the cruise ended. I'm disappointed about that.   

First time with Royal C.  Many activities on the ship for the whole family. 5 star dining. Wonderful entertainment with the ice show, comedy show, magic show and musical entertainment. Everyone of the crew were very courteous and friendly.

I have to say we enjoyed this cruise very much!  The kids (2 boys, 6 and 4) had a very good time.  they loved the pool and the jacuzzis (spelling??).  THe food was great.  nothing outstanding but never had a bad meal.  loved it all.  the entire ship was very clean.  for a ship to have been in service for a while now, i was impressed by the clenliness of everything.  nothing looked worn, slightly outdating in color, but overall I felt comfortable.  The ports were beautiful.  limited time in most of the ports which made it difficult to get out and enjoy them.  Labadee was BEAUTIFUL and we had the best time there!  They built it up wonderfully!!  My only and biggest problem..... our 8 month old!.  She was fine but the entire ship had nothing to offer her.  They did not provide any babysitting services, in the room or in any other area of the ship.  That proved to make things difficult for a baby that loved to sleep.  I made the mistake of getting an inside room with no windows, so sitting in the room while she slept was impossible.  she wasnt allowed in the pool, no diapers, swim diapers, or pull ups in the pool!  Then to top it off, the wanted to charge her gratuities!!!  I absolutely refused.  Partially my fault for having booked a cruise ship that did not provide any services for her but i also should have been alerted to the extremelly limited amenities for a baby!!!