Explorer of the Seas Review

4.5 / 5.0
2,038 reviews

Explorer of the Seas - Eastern Caribbean

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Explorer of the Seas

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Sail Date: Dec 2004
Traveled with children

I'm an experienced cruiser, and have been on 7 or 8 RCI cruises. I've been on the other large ship lines as well but like RCI the best when traveling with kids. That said, I was disappointed in the Explorer of the Seas. It was a bit worn and not well taken care of (ie, the windows were always dirty with fingerprints and carpets were torn etc.). It was too big, even for people who like activity. The bigness translated into long lines to sign up for the spa, shore activities, front desk. To avoid some of this, sign up for spa and excursions online; otherwise it's very frustrating. I'm a coffee nut and got on a ship whose espresso machine was not working!! After days of getting the run around, I finally got the truth out of one of the workers -- it was not going to get fixed all week!! If I was RCI I'd fly someone out to fix it, but of course that didn't happen. I wonder how long the machine was really broken.

Important to know is that you hardly know you're at sea when on this vessel. There are very few windows looking out at the sea. Most of the time you're walking "the mall" on the inside. I felt like I was at the shopping mall near my house -- not good! If you're deciding on a RCI ship where you feel you're on the ocean, go Radiance class, definitely. We were on the Brilliance of the Seas last year, and it's outstanding. Plus, you're always looking at the sea, with plenty of places to view people and the ocean at the same time. In addition, it's much more elegant than the Voyager Class. Feels like a floating Ritz Carlton!

We had an additional problem because my son who's 19 brought a friend who is 17. Big problem! They couldn't get into each other's clubs, and the 17 year old had a 1 a.m. ship-imposed curfew. It was crazy. Not sure how to remedy this, but it was a bad set up for us.

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