Explorer of the Seas Review

4.5 / 5.0
2,038 reviews

Anniversary Surprise Gone Bad

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Explorer of the Seas
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LBerry6121
6-10 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Mar 2015
Cabin: Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Balcony

I had been planning for months to surprise my wife for our 25th anniversary with a cruise, telling her to take vacation and telling her nothing else. Plans made for a relaxing cruise to celebrate and Thursday before we departed (Saturday) I let her know what we were doing. Being married 25 years it also meant I knew enough to give her time to properly pack and not showing up at the port and her going, "OMG, I'm not packed for a cruise." One of the secrets being married 25 years for my male friends reading this. All the planning and preparation as well as expectations could not have prepared us for the real surprise, finding out Royal Caribbean had allowed through a third party the booking for 2,200 college kids on spring break to be on the cruise.

We arrive at the ship and check in went fairly smooth, even though if you were not Gold the lines appeared to be quite long. Looking at the guests in line it did appear to be a lot of younger generation people. It wasn't until we were on the ship and my wife and I in line to get drink packages that we discovered the ship was 2/3rd's college kids on spring break. There were drunk kids falling down in the Windjammer even before we departed the port. Not a good sign! The ship departs and we get our luggage and my wife decided to get a glass of wine. I said I would wait and 45 minutes later she comes back. The lines to get a drink were crazy. We went to the casino and could not even get on the Blackjack table at first, and forget trying to get a drink at the bar while waiting. Both the first and second day you could not even get close to the hot tub and pool on the top deck, littered with intoxicated kids having a good time. Sleeping the first night was a luxury with all the school chants up and down the corridors, drunk kids bouncing off the doors, and music being played. I went to Guest Relations on the second day to tell them how extremely upset I was over Royal Caribbean not telling us it was a "spring break cruise," to be told "we'll file a report.

It wasn't until we pulled into Cozumel that things quieted down as all the kids went ashore to indulge in adult beverages. Cozumel was the first port I personally witnessed some of the kids with bags packed being escorted off the ship. Good for RC, but not good enough as the cruise was helpless with addressing all the problems. By the way we were told they ran out of Tequila and Vodka the first night. How does a cruise ship on a five day cruise run out of anything the first night?

Cabin Review

Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Balcony

Cabin E2
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