For our anniversary and my birthday we selected a grand suite on the Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas. First the suite was NOT grand it was filthy - stains on the sofa and the chair, stains on the coverlet and sheets. The toilet had urine streaks down the front, the bathtub had multiple soap scum runs down the sides. For 3 days we found more issues. The first day we asked for the room to be cleaned - the 2nd day the sheets & coverlet were changed and some of the soap scum cleaned. I CLEANED THE TOILET and other areas we were using. The drawers at the vanity were filled with black hair - looked like a woman had brushed her hair into the drawers - we were unable to place our clothes in them. The coffee service - a perk of a suite - had used/previous guests' coffee grounds still in the pot and the warmer pot was still dirty. The coffee service was not stocked in the first 3 days - we moved the coffee service to full view on the bar as a hint but nothing changed until we got a manager in the room. We were not informed of the "suite perk" of a concierge drink time in a special room before dinner until the 3rd day; unable to get any information prior to the cruise about perks or events/activities.

WARNING: the dine your time is a huge joke - YOU MUST SET A TIME or you will not be seated. The dinners took hours and the food was mediocre at best. The first night it took 20 minutes just to get acknowledged and that was after waiting for an hour and 30 minutes to be seated. Service was very poor in the restaurant, some napkins still had previous guest lipstick and makeup on them - disgusting. We attempted to brave the Windjammer only to discover that nearly all of the food was pasta and not well cooked - our one and only visit was accompanied by a set of utensils wrapped in a napkin covered with bright red lipstick. The tables were filthy and no one made any attempts to clean them. Servers seems to be put off by guests. Each day we had to complain about issues - this created a frustrating experience that detracted seriously from the vacation we had planned.

When booking we requested to be away from the smoking areas yet we were booked right under the main smoking area on the ship. The cig. smoke on the ship was overwhelming - we both became ill, I experienced nose bleeds, wheezing and congestion. The casino dumps stinking smoke all over the public areas - we couldn't tolerate the enormous amount of smoke long enough to look at the pictures or shop on the promenade. The casino seems to have no air handlers and the guest services refused to accept an incident/exposure report. Read more