Well, we survived our first cruise on Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas. We had a good time.
The ship was beautiful but is starting to show it's age. The food was good, it was not as good (to us) as some people told us it was. Return cruisers said the food was not the same quality or type that they received last year on this ship. Could have been due to a lot of kids wasting food, I don't really know.
We met a lot of nice people from different parts of the country and different countries.
Our cabin on deck 3 was quiet, we didn't hear any noise. Our stateroom attendant Danny was great. Rooms were clean, had plenty of storage. Bathroom is small but we didn't have any problems. Make sure you have attendant remove items from frig so the kids don't eat the as they are expensive. Beach towels are available on deck 11 by the bar. We were near THE PALACE which was handy for the shows.