Explorer of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We liked most of the ports, and it was nice to relax by the pool. We would have liked more entertainment and more options to do thing in the evening (other than going to a bar and drinking, now that is fun but gets a little boring after a few nights). Royal Caribbean last minute changed our embarkation port, so that was a bit of a fiasco. We ended up checking in at Venice port and then they bused us to Trieste port (2 hour bus ride). The act of leaving the boat was fine. However, Royal Caribbean left us stranded at the port of Ravenna. The town of Ravenna is so small and not set up to transport masses of people from a cruise ship. This town had severe storms and major flooding, the train station was completely shut down and this town only has about 20-30 taxies. We got off thinking we would go to the translation and grab our train. We finally got to the station and found out it was closed. As you can image we were livid that Royal would leave us stranded. (there were also about 150 + others from the cruise stranded there too. I finally got a taxi back to the port and tried to talk to someone from Royal, and they didn't care at all. They just said sorry and for us to go back to the station and hope for the best. Not sure we will cruise with them again.

The port of calls are excellent.We did enjoy the tours we attended.The spirit of the seasons are fabulous.My husband and I watched 2 x.Just this cruise that my 2 children were not able to come.

The ports on this cruise were great, especially Split and Koper where the old town is right outside the cruise port. Dbrovnik old town is not far, and the city in general was great. Naples was great as getting to Pompeii was very easy. I was disappointed in the activities available on the ship (the trivia games were poorly ran or in venues that couldn't accommodate the people who wanted to participate), and any other programming tended to be far too late in the evening.

Overall this was a pretty good cruise ship. I love the larger cruise ships better just because my first cruise was on the Allure of the Seas. There are some things I would change as far as the pictures starting first with the photo poses not being the same at all booths everyday.

The cruise was great but the dinner staff was the best.

From the very start of booking the cruise, it's 'buyer beware!'. I booked ours through , lured by such come-ons as 'up to $250 to spend on board', 'up to $1,500 EXTRA to spend on board or prepaid Visa', etc. etc. Only AFTER booking the cruise and paying the non-refundable deposit did I find out that the 'special bonus' was only on-board credit of $50. A very big difference! That credit did go up to $75 on-board credit by cruise time, but they know that it's only a drop in the bucket for what the total bill will end up. The total cruise an 8-day cruise or the Dutch West Indies for two people in an interior cabin with a big TV screen to view the outside world instead of a window, was $1,591. But that's only the beginning. What's not explained from the start is that each person will automatically be charged $16 per person for each day of the cruise for staff gratuities. That is acceptable, considering the great service you get on-board, but they've just automatically added $256 to the 8-day cruise. So much for the $75 on-board credit! From the time I purchased the two fares from , I've felt like a leech had attached itself to me, trying to drain me at least another $1,000. They also allow you to bring on board 12-20 oz or less beverages. If you can make that last for 8 days between two people, more power to you! Otherwise ALL other beverages cost money, including water! Can you imagine? Even water is held for ransom on board a Royal Caribbean ship! I did find two water fountains in the exercise room that I could fill bottles from, but other than that I would have to buy one of their beverage packages. At first, I was tempted to buy just the refreshments package, which they list as being $36/day. With tax that would have added $340 for just one person to drink only carbonated beverages for the 8 days! There's no way that I'd be able to drink enough every day to justify that. So, I toughed it out with refilling from the water fountains in the exercise room. At least RC has the heart to keep fitness-conscious people hydrated and didn't have a soda machine for them instead. Of course, now that I mentioned surviving off of that for the 8 days, they probably will! On board, the roulette Dealer, at about 3:30 pm on Fri 4/21, literally cheated me out of about $20 payout on one play. For verification of the dealer's cheat, check the security footage from the casino from that day. She paused the game to verify my claim of my chip placement because this inexperienced, incompetent dealer thought the chips weren't place properly. The players both to my right and left verified my claim. Then when the pit boss told the dealer to pay me, she paid me for a single chip when there were four on that spot. The security footage will bear that out. And bring shampoo! RC advertises that they provide the soap and shampoo, but what they're referring to is a 3-in-1 liquid. If you want a better quality shampoo and/or conditioner and/or body wash, you'd have to bring it. The food in the main dining and the self-serve cafeteria was great and a good quality, served by some great wait staff! What a great opportunity to try out food that I wasn't accustomed to ordering. It made the on-board experience bearable. Be mindful, though of Johnny Rockets! There are no prices on their menus and the waiter who we had the first day was literally making up the prices in his head as we were inquiring about the different offerings! I guess whatever prices he felt were appropriate for the day/time/his personal wallet shortages, is what he came up with.

We enjoyed our vacation. Internet connectivity which we purchased was inadequate. However, they did discount our internet fees substantially.

This was a wonderful trip. Some rain at our 1st port. Dining Staff was fabulous. We had Gunta and Navari.

We enjoyed getting back on the seas. The entertainment was really good but the food needs some improvement. We were looking forward to going to coco cay but the weather made it impossible to stay. Falmouth, Jamaica was a great port.

This cruise will give you the best Bang for your Buck, whether a first time cruiser, or, taking your 26th cruise like us.

Great cruise. Evening entertainment could have had more options and no duplicate shows in the main show room.

promoted “ship credits with booking”, but after booking claimed that our booking was made too close to sail date to receive any promotion. Due to needing two cabins utilized agent. Made process more complicated and nearly booked first cabin at wrong (much more expensive) rate.

Loved this ship. We are sailing on it again in February 2024.

It was a fantastic cruise. Wished we had more time in Aruba. Arrived at 8 AM and left at 4:30 PM. Would rather have stayed until 11 PM here instead of Bonaire.

Missed the chocolates on the pillows at night. And the wine packages in dining room. Some dishes were really not very good. Also not impressed with quality of nightly shows.

This was our 2nd cruise. Loved the Islands, not sold on Royal Caribbean but it was a good time.

Great trip to get together with a group of old friends.

I went to couple of cruises before, all of them very nice , a lot of things to do, to see to eat, but this one was especial because it was my moms birthday and a lot of family member went. We really have a good time and most of them are ready for the next one …… Only one thing I didn’t like, they get all mix up with the billing which i don't understand why if they have every person credit card on file and they should just make the charges the person who is buying things not to the roommate …it gets confusing for us ..other than that we really enjoy

I was a relaxing and great cruise, staff was great and helpful

We took our daughter and husband for their first cruise...needless to say they were impressed. With us it was my 43....have plenty of comparisons. Ship was clean, weather perfect and the two main issues were not understanding the cruise director who spoke WAY TOO FAST. Also, there was no available audio for announcements in our cabin despite turning up the volume. It would be OK to skip the corny "wash your hands" in the Windjammer. Thankfully we are always entertaining a new cruise venture and RCL is not a bad choice.