We have cruised 5 times 4 of which were on Carnival . We gave Royal Caribbean a try this time. We stayed at the Raddisson Miami May 29th, it seemed when we said we were with Royal Caribbean we were treated poorly. We were promised a sleep number bed and never got one, the wallpaper was falling off the walls, no smoke alarm and the carpet smelled like the toilet overflowed and was never cleaned up. We consulted the manager and was told that was the room Royal caribbean booked for us. The Explorer of the Seas is a beautiful ship embarkation didn't take long at all and went smoothly. The activities were all good, the parades and ice skating show were wonderful. Our balcony room was worn and soiled. They were in the middle of renovations with the rooms so hopefully this will be corrected. The room steward was always around and left his cart in the hall. The fold down bed never was completely made. One sheet thrown over the fold down couch.
Carnival's stewards came and went without seeing them and we always had clean well stocked rooms. Soft fold down beds. No bathrobes either that are standard w Carnival. The swim towels were only worn towels and not very big.
The shore excursion we choose in St. Maarten was the 4x4 jeep and was a lot of fun, the BOB underwater excursion in St. Thomas is not to be missed, San Juan city/rum factory tour was good too. They let us off the bus to shop also in old San Juan. Bahamas we did the Breezes day, Not really worth the money we didn't leave until 1 only had 3 hours and was very crowded.