Explorer of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Great value for the money. Rooms look a bit worn and tired. Shower did not function properly til the third day. Only 1 specialty restaurant on board. Don't expect and chocolates on your bed in the evening or even towels in animal shapes.

It was a wonderful cruise.  it was the rest I needed from my job and home. Loved my dining room waiters who made me feel at home and willingly to make my dining  a pleasure. Never has to ask the waiters any twice and they already knew what I was going to order.

In the morning, I would eat breakfast on deck 11 and there were plenty of everthing to eat.

I Ioved the ports especially, Puerto Rico and St Marten.  The tour guide for Puerto Rico was polite,knew the history of the Island and funny.  

I also love the gambling on the ship.  I was disappointed that the machine do not pay well for the money you play.  I also was annoyed giving up my gambling points to play the raffle and missed the drawing because of the Quest Show which finished 11:45pm.  Did not know if anyone won.

My room was clean on a daily basis and the young man was willingly to provide for what ever I needed.  Be willingly to take another cruise with Royal Carribben.  Keep up the good work!

My husband and I had spent the summer and early fall in several feel better situations.As a result we looked forward to our time on The RC Explorer. Our first impression was that of a happy and caring staff waiting for us. We were delighted with our veranda stateroom, perfect location and quite roomy. The balcony needed a revamping of paint, carpet,furniture....our only negative..it was perfectly functional, however. The room steward for 8332 ( Ramdeo) was wonderfully and consistently accommodating ....smiling always. We had our first experience with " anytime dining " rather than out usual late seating choice. What a Great choice ...not only time wise but our waiters , Roy and Coco were super excellent in all aspects, from sharing meal information to service which left nothing to wait for or change. Thank you both. We were delighted to meet Coco's family during the Dominican port stop. Since we sailed with calm and rest as our primary objective RC was a delight from food to comfort.....we have been on many cruises this one ranked in the HIGHS.

The Explorer of the Seas is a wonderful ship that is perfect for a family vacation.  The personnel is extraordinary and make you feel a part of the family.  Our waiters, Roy Miranda and Coco were beyond expectations.  The food was very good, alot of selections to choose from.  My husband and I prefer breakfast in the room every day so we utilized the Room Service every day.  I spoke to Jose each day to order and he was so fabulous.  If I forgot to call to order, he would call the room to remind me.  What an excellent staff RC has.  We will definitely be sailing with you next year or even sooner if we can.  My only suggestion to improve the trip is to remodel and paint the balconies.  The table is much too small to hold a tray so we had to eat in the room.  Other than that, everything was wonderful.

First off, the food is outstanding. The service that presents the food is even better. Do yourself a favor, just order all of the appetizers from the beginning.  You'll thank me later. The entertainment is top notch. The rooms, the furnishings, all of it it is exceptional.Except.

Except if you are highly reactive to cigarrette smoke and have done a lot of research to make sure that you have secured a non smoking room, you haven't.  Not if it has a balcony, you haven't.  The first room that I had, I had chosen specifically because I knew that it would give me a view of the Statue of Liberty.  The guy smoking cigars next ddor must have done the same.  No matter that we were in a no smoking room, with a no smoking section.  My complaints were first poo pooed, and then I was given the choice to move. Not the smoker, me! So I chose the other room, received a crappy bottle of screw top wine as an apology and still couldn't use my balcony in the new room with the sub standard view because, you guessed it! Another hog smoker on the balcony next to me. Royal Carribean has outstanding service and beautiful furnishings, but they are not non smoker friendly.Don't sail with them if you have asthma.

the things that stand out the most was the service at the sit down dinner you could not beat it,the shows were also very good,the crew were real friendly. there is so much to do on the ship,the food was great.you really had a good time i would recommend going to bermuda was beautyful.one thing i would tell you is stay away from taking the bus,the driver i had was the worse made me sick with his driving.

From the moment we stepped on board, the party started and didn't end until we left the ship. Our cabin attendant was just great, friendly and knowledgeable about all activities aboard ship. Then there was our waiter and assistant waiter. All the women at the table wanted to take them home, they were that terrific. Now, someone special, our Cruise director. Never have I seen someone so involved with every aspect of your day to day life, when does he sleep?

Lastly, and the best, was the food. every day the food selection seemed to get better and better. One of the women at our table wanted to order everything on the menu, it all was so good.

Hats off to RCI, another fine cruise!

The ship is beautiful and most of the crew is fabulous. The itinerary was awesome - 2-1/2 days at sea and three days on Bermuda was awesome.  Kudos to RCI for this itinerary.  Our cabin steward was second to none.  He was fabulous!

Having cruised on Carnival and NCL previously, I had expected RCI to be a step above and it just wasn't.  From what I had heard, RCI was worth the extra $$.

The food in the Windjammer was adequate, but with few exceptions, pretty much the same every day.  The food in the dining room was good, but not superb and I found having a section of food you can order in the dining room for an extra charge a bit overdone since they have restaurants on board you pay extra for. Keep the extra charge food there.  Having to pay for fresh squeezed orange juice was a bit much as well, especially since no one said anything about paying for it before you were asked if you wanted it.  Concentrate was included, but fresh squeezed was a charge.  It seemed like everywhere you turned there was something else they want you to pay for, such as at the Cafe Promenade - snacks, light food, coffee, etc, but within the Cafe is Starbucks and Ben and Jerry's, both at a cost.  

I did find, however, if you wanted to have an adult beverage the prices were pretty comparable to being on land.  That was a pleasant surprise

The boarding process leaves something to be desired. No one at the gangway to meet you and give instruction.  The waiting areas for disembarkation was disorganized and lacked seating for many people.  I know they are in the business of making money, but keep the "money making" propositions off to the side - let the passengers that have come on board to relax be able to do that without having someone selling something every time you turn around.  I also found someone yelling "Washy, Washy" everytime we entered the Windjammer to be quite annoying.  Overall, it was probably the most relaxing vacation we've ever had, but I credit the itinerary for that.  RCI.... your ship was gorgeous, but your service was not at all what we expected.

First of all, we liked the fact that we did not have to fly to get on this cruise.  From.  The moment we arrived, we received excellent service from the staff.  Then ship was very clean, and the entertainment was great.  This ship has an ice show, which was performed beautifully, despite the mild movement of the ship.  We did my time dining, which we highly recommend.  The food was very good, and healthy choices were always availableThe wait staff was the best we have ever had..  There were many onboard activities, so boredom in inclement weather was never an issue.  Regarding the excursions, we liked the bus tour of the island, but we would have liked a stop at one of the beautiful beaches, which was not included.   Speaking of beaches, we caught a bus to Horseshoe Bay beach, the best beach we have ever been to.  The beach was clean and the water temperature was just right.  The Hamilton sightseeing and shopping excursion was a waste of money ( $62 per).  Had we known better, we would have caught the ferry to Hamilton for $8 round trip. We intend to do this cruise again.

My Husband and I recently returned from a 7 day cruise to Bermuda on the Explorer of the Seas.  This was our 18th cruise with RCCL.  As always we had a wonderful time.  The service on board was wonderful, as was the food in the main dining room.  Our waiters Ronel and Andel were superb.  After the first night they knew exactly what we liked and would have everything ready for us when we arrived for dinner.  We are Crown & Anchor Society memebers and were able to eat in a special section of the dinning room.  The service there was excellent and the food was delicious!  Most days we ate lunch at the windjammer cafe.  The food was good and there was a good selection.  We had lunch in the dinning room once. They have a great salad bar there.  It was delicious.  Make sure you try it.

Our cabin stewart, Alison did a great job of keeping our stateroom neat and tidy.  He was always there for whatever we needed.  He made sure our ice bucket was always filled and would leave out clean wine glasses everyday.

Although the weather was not the greatest we still had a wonderful time.  We have decided we would never leave that late out of Bayonne, NJ.  (Oct. 13th).

I feel like I missed a few days of the cruise because we were not able to get in the pools or hottubs.  It was too cold , rainy and windy.

The ship is in need of a refurbishing.  It is 13 years old and is beginning to show it's age.  I understand it is going to be taken out of service in December of 2014 for refurbishing.  The Quantum of the Seas will be taking it's place in Bayonne.

Bermuda is one of the nicest and cleanest ports you will ever go to.  The locals are very friendly and the seanery is beautiful. Lots of things to do there.  The beaches are the best.  Don't miss Horseshore Bay Beach.

I'm sure if you decide to take a cruise on the Explorer of the Seas, you won't be disappointed and will have a wonderful cruise.  We are looking forward to our next cruise with RCCL.  We are always loyal to royal!

The Explorer is a great ship.  We first sailed her 12 years ago and I can state that without qualification, she has aged gracefully and is in very good shape. 

On most cruises the elevators are a great bottleneck, on this cruise that was not the case; people actually were courteous and not pushy!!!  In fact, the passengers and crew on this cruise were some of the friendliest and most pleasant we have ever met.

Embarkation at Port Liberty was very smooth.

See the sail-away from The Viking Crown Lounge.  You get a tremendous view of the Harbor and going under the bridge is awesome.

Seas were very smooth throughout.

Bermuda is Absolutely Wonderful.

We had MTD and that worked out great for us.  Had room service for our "wake-up" coffee but our breakfast was in Windjammer.  (We love the variety and they do really great omelets.)  We ate in Portofino one night and the food and service were outstanding. 

Cruise Director Leigh is superb and the entertainment was good;  Quest, Love and Marriage etc. are always fun. The ice Show was excellant....we were not totally awed by the "Featured" guest entertainment but it was decent.

All in all, we were well pleased and would absolutely recommend this cruise.

The cruise ship was very well maintained and the ship's crew were very helpful and attentive to our needs.  The one disappointment was the food.   It seem like the quality of the food was not up to the standards of other cruise lines.  Overall the visit to Bermuda was a very nice experience.

While I found extended time at sea difficult to deal with while wanting big time hours at my Bermuda destination, it's easy to see why some people become true 'cruisers. There is more to do thatn one could imagine, though for me, 'reality based' entertainment is not my thing. The pubs, and football TV is goodly, and the pools and hot tubs are great. Even just tanning on the deck near the pool bars is great, too.

I just want to be at my destination faster than a true cruise is going to get you there. Now that gambling will be allowed at the ports in Bermuda, maybe the ships will speed up the the trips so folks who want to explore the island can do so, while the others can stay on board if that's their thing/

Our 8 day 7 night Bermuda vacation was just fabulous!  We had the most wonderful time exploring the breathtaking island!  You can see the hand of God the Creator in this beautiful island!  We loved the pink sand of Horseshoe Bay, the snorkeling of Tobacco Beach, the quietness of St. Catherine's Beach, and the views from Gibb's Hill Lighthouse!  Nothing on the island is dreary.  Everything is bright, beautiful, and fresh!  The homes are beautifully colored in pastels!

Explorer of the Seas is a majestic ship with every luxury you could imagine!  The food, service, and entertainment was incomparable!  We loved the rest you are forced to do on the ship!  A vacation which is truly a vacation!

We chose this cruise primarily because it only had one stop. I guess we thought it would be easier on us as far as getting around.  But, in fact, we departed the ship all three days we were docked.  If you have no difficulty walking and enjoy exploring on your own, buying the bus pass might be a good idea.  However, looking back, I wish we had at least booked the half-day tour covering the entire island. We ended up walking a long distance from the ship to catch a bus to Hamilton.  Looked around there for a short time and then took the ferry to St. George.  We visited a couple of the local sights and then caught the ferry all the way back to the ship.  The second day we again caught the bus and, on the advice of some other cruisers, got off at Elbow Beach.  Not a good idea.  There were no bathroom facilities, no water, etc.  Then you had to climb a very long hill to get back up to the street to catch the bus.  I don't mean to sound totally negative, but just want to make you aware that if you have difficulty walking that you need to consider how you are going to get around.  There were other cruise ships there also and that created large amounts of people trying to get around at the same time, which resulted in standing on the bus and hoping you were actually going to get on the bus or the ferry. The cruise was very smooth, no bad weather, mostly good food and very good entertainment, We had a room with a balcony and had plenty of room.  The closet was quite large and held everything. I think most of our problems were just poor choices on our part and us not realizing how much walking on and off the ship was going to be involved.  I would not hesitate to recommend the ship or the cruise.

My wife & I have gone on more than 18 cruises on various cruise lines.  While a few were VERY disappointing (not Royal Caribbean or Celebrity)  I have to say that we  were not thrilled with  the overall condition of  Explorer.  I think it's time for an overhaul.  The various members of the crew, from stateroom attendant , dining room staff, buffet staff and others were supberb but appeared to be short staffed & overworked.   However the food at the buffet was not as good as we've usually had on Royal Caribbean and the food selections at the dining room was not as extensive as it used to be.

This was a wonderful cruise. There is so much to see in the various ports. We loved learning of the history that developed the areas. The ship itself was beautiful and offered great entertainment, activities and food. We were struck with how nice the folks who cruise are. Many were very loyal cruisers of the Royal Caribbean Cruise line and had been on multiple cruises. We wouldn't mind taking the same cruise so we'd have more time in the same ports. The one port that was not very impressive was Corner Brook, Newfoundland, where we just did a city tour. The passengers who went further out to a fishing village had a better experience.

I reserved $59 (on sale) excursions at the PIE stop prior to the cruise and paid for 4 of them with my credit card and got a receipt online for that transaction. A day or so later, I got a message that I could not take that excursion with my companions, and when I got on another site about Charlottetown learned that there was such an excursion there but that Royal Caribbean had changed the port schedule and Explorer of the Seas would stop at PEI a day early and not be in port at the advertised times, preventing its passwngers from taking said excursion. I following up with Glenn Miller, he arranged for us to receive an additional stateroom credit of $75 each for the 4 of us. What was credited to us was only $75 per stateroom, not each passenger. We then had trouble but did book a lesser excursion on PEI and paid more $ for it.

If you like to keep busy, 5 cruise ports with this trip is for you. A lot of history and beautiful sites to experience. Great food and great entertainment.

No pen, paper, shampoo or lotion in room. No Asst. Cabin Steward. Must purchase the premium beverage package for everyone in cabin even though only one person drinks. Overall service from staff wAS excellant. The ports were great.