Explorer of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

From the time I stepped on in Miami to the time I left, this cruise was phenomenal! The ship was clean and tidy and the crew was out of this world! Made many friends and met old ones too!

I was so excited to be returning to cruising since the shutdown and there were some bumps in the road, but I can't say that this was a bad cruise. The best part, which is the most important, I got to get away and relax!

We were pleased on all accounts. RC did not disappoint. Loved our cruise.

This was one of my favorite cruises. I met so many amazing people and loved Labadee.

The best I can describe this cruise was... Ehhhh. We enjoyed the 4x sea days, and needed the sea time to relax. The ship itself is un-impressive. The weather was haze-gray most days, but very little rain. The entertainment wasn't good at all, and activities were short and limited. The good thing was they played some good nightly movies... which was nice since the entertainment shows were soooo horrible! Never a bad thing to enjoy an outdoor good movie at sea! Embarkation and disembarkation were the worst we have experienced in over 20 cruises!!! Par for the course cruising out of Miami! And of course, we were 45 min late pulling out of Miami.... again, par for the course! Food was ok... again.. ehh. Service was great! They did the best they could to make the most of the situation we were in. Especially the Winjammer greeters!! These two girls had their own music going every time, dancing, and smiling, and "Welcome... time to washy washy" as you entered and "Thank you... Have a great day", as you left. 🙂 All in all... An "ehhh" cruise /at sea is still better than anytime at home! But we will not be booking another cruise on anything smaller than the Freedom class again!!

Good experience most part, ppl were holding pool side chairs not fair to others. Room attendants were amazing. Love the pool towel rules, need more diverse music in the piano bars. Trivia questions needs to be updated. I had a good time. Love had to be covid tested.

I really enjoyed this cruise. They had all the accommodations needed to keep you busy, fed, relaxed or entertained. I just wish we had longer time in Jamaica. I wore a mask but at the same time I didn't feel a threat of being infected on the ship.

Will not return to Royal unless Oasis class as they have different rules. Service is excellent and they're happy to have their cruisers back.

This was our 30th Anniversary Cruise that almost didn't happen due to covid, (it started out as an Alaska Cruise) but eventually things got better and the trip was on. We went First Class and reserved the Owners Suite. We had a great time, enjoyed all the ports of call.

We had issues but still had a wonderful family cruise! I loved both cocoa cay and labadee beaches and the included food and drinks is a very nice perk!

All in all we had a good time. The only parts I didn't care for was the bland food and the freestyle soda machines weren't working half of the time. But it sure beats a week at work!

Overall, my first cruise was a great experience!

We love the smaller ships. Explorer is due an update. We enjoyed this trip.

After long waiting for cruising, we enjoyed it as we did on our first cruise.

The itinerary is what we went for. The ship was my least favorite ship (we’ve been on 7 and that includes the empress of the seas). We had issues daily from the get go (from sewage smell in our bathroom, excursion issues, food quality control,etc). The kids club were decent but I can’t recommend this ship for anything else. Maybe if it had a full staff things may have been better but that isn’t what we had.

I had so many moments where I wanted to switch out of this cruise due to comments about the age of this ship and the lack of water slides and stuff for kids to do. I am so glad I stayed with it as we had the most amazing vacation.. even the kids said so. There was something to do everyday to keep everybody as busy as they want to be. The ports were all beautiful. Loved having the flexibility to do what we wanted at the ports and relax by the pool for the rest of the day or take a nap. It was money well spent and nobody wanted to leave at the end. The food was great with no complaints. We didn’t even get a chance to try the speciality dining as there were plenty to eat around.

Fabulous cruise. Island hopping cruises can be exhausting, I'll need to pace myself a little better if I do this type of cruise again. I really missed having a sea day!

It was our first cruise so we didn't know what to expect. I loved everything about this cruise.

Only 1100 guests on a ship designed for 3800. 😄😄😄😄

Royal Caribbean's "advantage" (lower cost than competing cruise lines) is also its fatal downfall: (cheap; charges for drinking water in the cabins, charges for soft drinks, etc.) I took my family to its Southern Caribbean cruise that sailed on 12/26/2021 on Explorer of the Seas. We had "stateroom" (marketing lingo for plain old cabin) 7594, so yes, we really and truly were on that cruise. Judge for yourselves if you find the following "policies" by Royal Caribbean acceptable or not: 1. Because of a medical condition, I asked for a few 1-liter bottles of drinking water in my cabin. Royal Caribbean refused and claimed that that the only choice is to buy individual soda cans with water from them at a hefty price (over $2 each such can that had the cruise company's logo. Royal Caribbean makes a hefty profit this way for hat is essential to life (drinking water). 2. During lunch and dinner we asked for a plain old coke or other soft drink. Royal Caribbean refused and directed us to a soda dispensing machine that will only work if the customer has paid for a pricey package deal for soft drinks. Keep in mind that a coke at even the cheapest hamburger joint costs almost nothing to any restaurant. I then complained up the chain of command all the way to a black gentleman who was in charge at the Customer Relations counter on board on deck 5, and who told me he had worked for Royal Caribbean for over 20 years and that "that is how things are", and that it costs Royal Caribbean to provide drinking water to its customers (who have paid thousands of dollars to get on the cruise) and that therefore they expect customers to pay for water. I told him that, by his reasoning, Royal Caribbean should also charge for toilet paper as that, too, "costs Royal Caribbean to provide to its customers". He failed to see the point. 3. Fresh squeezed orange juice was, similarly, an "additional charge" item. You get the idea. I have traveled with several cruise companies over the years, including Disney, Oceania, Paul Gauguin Cruise, and others. Royal Caribbean ranks at the bottom of the list because of cheap practices like the specific ones above.