Explorer of the Seas Review
Worst cruise ever, very disappointing; pick your act up Royal Caribbean.
Rating by category
Additional details
This is my eighth cruise in total and my second with Royal Caribbean. My previous RC cruise was a wonderful experience and I had no hesitation sailing with them again. Not sure I'll be going with them in future unless they make some serious changes.
Some of my concerns may seem petty, but a lot of little things add up over 14 days. The pattern I see in most of the issues I experienced is not enough staff to service the number of passengers, staff with insufficient experience, & staff with the wrong personality to be in a service industry.
• Boarding
Cabin Review
Promenade Stateroom
The cabin was OK - about what I expected. Neat & clean but not overly fancy. The promenade window was a bit of a novelty for the first few days but after that I rarely bothered opening the curtains. I was hoping it would let in natural light but there is only artificial light on the promenade. May as well have been in an inside cabin & won't pay extra for promenade again. Our cabin steward did a good job - we rarely saw him but the room was always well kept.
Port Reviews
Wellington
Wanted to go on the cable car but there was 1 1/2 hour wait for tickets. Seemed to be a lot of school groups on end of year excursions.
Dunedin
Over an hour wait for the shuttle bus that I had pre-paid tickets for through the ship. (non-refundable). Another Royal Caribbean fail for this cruise. Would have been better to arrange private transport. There was another ship docked the same day and the local university had graduation day functions on.
Dunedin itself is a lovely place. Visited the Cadbury chocolate factory, historic train station, and best of all Speights Brewery (previous cruise).
Picton
Free shuttle buses from the dock into town. Local art/craft markets running. Best oysters ever at the little cafe on the corner of the main street opposite the shuttle bus drop-off
Tauranga
Nice little town. Walked in from the ship & just wandered up & down the main street. Great fish & chips (in newspaper - like the good old days) at a shop right down the end of the street.
Auckland
Just another big city. My son commented that we could have been walking down the street in Sydney. Will organise to do something out of the city if we visit again.