Explorer of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Our family has been on 7 other cruises, and we are all in agreement that this was one of the best. The ship has a lot to offer. Our wait staff was as good or better than any we have had in the past. The food quality was excellent. We wish we could have had more time in some of the ports. Also, the port in Bermuda was not ready for our stop. Taxis were next to impossible to find and overall the stop was chaotic. We also found that the entertainers in the bars fell short of expectations.

After 6 Cruises this was one of the best . My wife and I had the greatest time. From the Staff to the food everything was the best

This was our first cruise and I can't tell you how much of a wonderful experience we had. The ship is supposedly refurbished-it looked amazing! The staff was absolutely incredible! There were 3400 guests on that ship and do you know the head waiter remembered our names and greeted us every night! Everyone from the room staff to the dining rooms to the cleaning people were just phenomenal. The ship was beautiful and extremely well kept. There was always something to do! We seriously went to bed at, like, 3:30 every night because there was just SO much. The cruise director was absolutely awesome. It was just a fantastic experience all around!!

Ship was beautiful and very clean. Room was comfortable and well kept. Overall it was a great experience.

The ship was very clean and overall a beautiful ship. You are allowed to bring water onto the ship after we were told we could not. They were very accomdating for the most part for my wife's and my own need's. Some of the staff in guest relations were somewhat clueless at times and it was a hit or miss to how helpful they were. The breakfast was always the same with very few health alternatives. I admit, I am difficult since the way I eat is not what you would eat on cruise ship (organic, vegan, veggies). I loved the activities and the dinner staff as well as the stateroom attendent. Most of the staff was great a few speed bumps overall. Bermuda is an amazing island you dock in King's Warf at the Royal Navy dockyard on the west end of the island. By scooter it takes 45 minutes to ride to to Hamilton which is the capital. The ferry takes 20 minutes. You must check out the snorkeling cruises in the reefs there is one we took for $45 dollars that we loved it left at 10am and returned at 1pm. Well worth it. Dolphin quest was expensive and a bit of tourist trap, although being with dolphins was well worth the experience. If you don't mind spending the money its a great experience.

The ship was clean, modern, nice decor, just too large for us.

The crew was excellent! could not ask for better! The shows were below average... very disappointed. The captain was not at any of the formal dinners... in fact, they were not consistant with people's dress.. we saw shorts and t shirts allowed on formal night, which they said was NOT allowed, so it was silly for the rest of us to dress up. The stores were expensive and mostly high end.. not small variety place for forgotten items, etc.. We enjoyed the cruise and the itinerary, but 2 islands were closed for holidays ( the main stores)...Mostly positive, tho!

The ship is beautiful and the steward was awesome and clean. Overall I would recommned this to anyone who wants to go on an awesome ship.

We really had a great time. The shows were great. Ports of call were great. No real complaints. The ship was almost too big.

We just returned from our 9 night cruise out of New Jersey to the Eastern Caribbean with our 2 kids, ages 9 and 7. Overall, it was a great time. A big challenge with the kids included there being little to NO water and pool activities at the Adventure Ocean club during the day. Therefore we opted to keep them with us on the pool deck during most days at sea. Also, the waterslide was not very impressive for them, more appropriates for ages 3 - 5, I would say. The ports of call were terrific, especially St. Thomas and the beach excursion in Dominican Republic. San Juan would have been great if we had more daylight hours, the fort was very impressive. The water park in Haiti is very challenging for adults that are not in GREAT shape. All inflatables require you to hoist your body up out of the water. My 9 year old LOVED it as did the older (ages 13 - 15) kids that we were travelling with. My 7 year old could not get used to the life jacket, which kept slipping up over his head, so he bailed out early. The food on the ship was GREAT, especially recommend the chops grille filet which you can get for an added $15.00 and all the appetizers and soups in the dining room are worth trying. I will say, however, if you are an eggs benedict fan, DO NOT waste your time with that in the dining room, the hollandaise was extremely lemony and my yolks were hard. The breakfast is pretty much the same every day, except a variation on the scrambled eggs, but there is alot to choose from including Belgian waffles, pancakes, omelets to order, scrambled and fried eggs, every different variation of breakfast potatoes and fruit, yogurt, granola, lox. My husband and I enjoyed a quiet breakfast before 8 to avoid the crowds, the kids came later. The pool deck and hot tubs were great. No real problem finding chairs unless we waited until after 11. The service was great and the shows were awesome. I would recommend every single one of them including the ice show which was just exhilarating and the Frank Vallee tribute. I would book again tomorrow if I could!!

We've cruised frequently with Royal Caribbean and I've always been impressed with the level of service offered by the lines and the cleaniness and friendliness of the staff. We've never been disappointed!

Our Grand children joined us and loved the climbing wall, pools, and ice rink. The ship is one of the easiest to navigate with the prominade as a central point. The ship was clean and the food was good.

Okay. First off, we have cruised Royal Caribbean 7 times, so we're not new at cruising. If you want to spend a full 3 days at sea in weather that is too cold to sit at the pool, and before you see land, this cruise is for you. We chose Bayonne thinking we would save on airfare, since we usually sail out of Florida...bad choice. The type of guests leaving out of New Jersey are much different than those leaving out of Florida for some reason. Their expectations seem to be lower, and the ship staff rose to those low expectations. And the "shows" that were to keep us occupied for the total of 5 days on the ship were more like high school musicals that professional productions. The very worst part was the disembarkation...we had seen bad reviews on this ship for this reason before, and were pleased to be told during the cruise that they had developed a new method for frequent Royal Caribbean cruisers. We were to meet in a special place and get off quicker...yeah right! They actually kept us longer than most of the others. I thought there was going to be a mutiny, people were so angry. Not a good experience. Believe what you may read in the reviews. We have always held Royal Carribean up as the standard that many other cruise lines should attempt to match. Not so any more. Our last 2 cruises with them have shown us that they are lowering their standards to become equal with most other lower class lines. That's a shame. The only good thing is that we have learned our lesson and will never sail out of Bayonne again. We will give Royal Caribbean another try on another ship.

Easy to navigate, spacious staterooms, beautifully decorated ship

The ship and staff were great. I was a little disappointed on the two ports that we could not go to. I thought that Royal could have given us something an on board credit or something to compensate. I did pay for a four island cruise.

The ship was very well maintained and had a lot of nice bars. We were disappointed in the TV selection, especially the lack of football on Sunday.

i thought the ship was in ship shape! evryone was very friendly, the food was great. the entertainment was wondiful. had such a good time i just booked a 10 day cruise. can;t wait!!!!

Mostly the friendly crew. I have eatn in fine restaurants. The Columbus room dinner exceeds them all. Such caring and politeness. We spent almost all of our land time on the ship. There is so much to do. Clean, clean clean.

I was disappointed in this cruise. We arrived from Chicago at 9;a.m. and did not board the ship until 1:30 we sat in a cold warehouse for 3-1/2 hrs . When boarding the ship there needs to be a person on each deck instructing people where to go. The dining are is OK but we had a screaming 6 month old baby crying for 2 hrs during dinner this was very annoying. We had to wait 1 hr for dinner to be served. We chose not to eat at the dining room we ate in the windjammer the rest of the trip. I had my bathing suit and coverup stolen from my suit case and my sister had medication taken. We left the ship at 8 a.m. and had to wait 2 hrs. for the bus to load 30 people. This was a joke. We got to the airport and had to wait another 3 hrs. for our flight.

All of the staff that we came in contact with were friendly and helpful. The ship was nicely decorated and the Promanade was a really nice touch. Unfortunately, the weather was very bad for 80% of the trip. First time in 18 years a hurricane hit Nova Scotia. The poor weather forced us to miss one port and most of the exected autumn views were obscured by fog or rain. We did have 2 days in Quebec instead of 1. The poor weather kept the passengers inside and the inside facilities and activities did not easily accommodate 3000+ passengers.