Hmmn. The good - Great service by the crew who work hard to keep us all happy. Good food overall in the main restaruant, though I think Carnival do a far better job at the bistro. Chops Grill was fantastic at breakfast. No passnegrs were to be seen at Johnny Rockets. Those who went reported back on bad food. The pools were great.. This is one thing RC have all over Carnival. The pools are bigger, cleaner and the life guards ensure the kids are behaving well at all times. The not so good - The ship is looking increasingly old and tired. Quite a few rust spots on her. The cabins are worse than a 2 star hotel. The crew works hard to keep her clean, mind you. The lifts were particuarly slow and not well programmed. The evening shows were better than expected. The ice rink shows were fantastic. While the crew works hard to reinforce the message of "wash your hands," for some, the message will never get through. Time and time again we saw quite a few other passengers disregard good hygene standards, particuarly at the bistro. e.g picking up food with their bare hands instead of using the tongs. Sure enough, there was an outbreak of cold and flu on the cruise. The whole process of disembarking for shore excersions was average at best. At The first port) Penang, it took over an hour to get us off the ship once the ship was cleared. That had a negative flow on affect for the shore excersion which was cut short. Read Less

This was the worst cruise we have ever had. Missed two stops, they said it was too rough, CRAP, just too many old people who would have been a pain to get them off. Food was poor, i got sick from Japanese. Italian was frozen pasta. We sent our washing to the laundry, and they lost all our clothes, so when we got off the ship, we had no clothes for three days, in Singapore. We contacted them when we got home, and they insulted us by saying they will only pay us 60% of the cost of our clothes. NOT GOOD ENOUGH! Room was clean, but every morning, we would be woken up by loud banging, them fixing pipes in the walls that were leaking. The hand basin leaked into my cosmetics bag, and destroyed lots of items. Once again, they didnt care. I tried to buy a drinks package before we got on the ship, as they said it was cheaper to do before, but they locked me out 2 days before we were to go on the cruise, so we got stung a huge price when we got it on board. We spent over $3500 on board, and this is how we got treated. I wrote to them telling them all the issues we had, and not a response....... Never ever ever again....... Holland America all they way now. Read Less

This was part of a 3 leg repositioning cruise from Australia to Europe ... with hardly any stops on the 13 day leg from Dubai, we transited the Suez Canal without proper narration as to what we are seeing starting at 4 am. The only other port calls were Athens and Valletta... both stops if you haven't been before were guessing games as the cruise line did not give port information for those wanting to explore on their own.. it's all geared to those taking shore excursions This cruise had a lot of sick people on board .. it was difficult not to catch whatever was going around. The captain withheld much information about what was going on on the ship and of course sugar coated what little information he gave... of course with 3,000 people you don't want to cause alarm but intelligent people are not sheep.. Although the Explorer OTS is my favorite class of ship in the RCI fleet, the ship is very tired.. obviously in need of maintenance and refurbishment..it will be limping into the shipyard.. Our last cabin was a disgrace.. so many items broken or not working.. (our reward for Royaling Up) .. Dining room service for breakfast and lunch..? How about waiting for 40 minutes for a menu item that they don't have... grapefruit! Lunches were only good on sea days when you could help yourself to the salad bar buffet style... I don't understand if the wait staff is short handed or something else.. The entertainment is never the best on repositioning cruises but this was probably the worst.. Some of the dancers were sent home at selected ports as they also got sick..The ventriloquist stayed healthy but...! The ice show is always good, but at one point the lead female ice dancer got sick and was also sent home.. The ports from Australia to Dubai were selected for the convenience of RCI .. not enough hours in any port except Darwin and Dubai where the ship stayed overnight.. The inconvenience of having to pack up everything and move to another cabin defeated the purpose of unpacking once and enjoying a relaxing cruise ... totally for the convenience of the cruise line ...this cruise, not even offering to move your closet of hanging clothes for you to lessen the blow.. imagine being sick and having to pack your bags and move to another cabin ... Would i take this particular cruise again...? probably not! Read Less

My wife and I have sailed on the Explorer of the Seas for multiple cruises and had high expectations for the 4 B2B Odyssey cruise that was offered from Sydney to Southampton, UK from March 29th to May 7th. Those expectations have not been achieved. Due to a high number of older and more experienced cruisers, who are apparently much more tight with the pocketbook, we have had many of the venues we enjoyed stopped or marginalized for Royal Caribbean to cater to their Diamond and Diamond plus cruisers at the expense of anyone lower. Bingo was stopped due to low participation, yet the problem, was very little advertising, playing Australian versus US Bingo, low payouts and constant switching of the venue time and location. The Casino has been lightly attended and part of that was the introduction of new slots with higher minimums. They even increased the minimums on the Blackjack tables. They refused to change out card decks if a player requested it. If you wanted to play craps many times one would have to play alone and only late in the evening. Many of the scheduled poker, blackjack and slot tournaments were canceled due to lack of minimum players. Even when we tried to recruit more players to come, the ship refused to broadcast that we were seeking a few more players to play. Complaints to the CD were dismissed by his saying that the decisions were coming out of Miami. Laundry was refused due to being in the wrong bag. (It was a plastic bag for a special one cost for the bag that our steward had left us earlier and we had not utilized but they only ran on certain days versus the higher cost itemized laundry bag.) This has been a very disappointing cruise, and seems to be getting worse as it goes on. Since this was 4 B2B instead for just one repositioning cruise, the entertainment was stale by the second leg of the trip. Timing was not very well coordinated with other activities like meals. We enjoyed the enthusiasm of the entertainment staff but the Cruise Director and Asst. Cruise Director tended to act like a couple of juveniles with a morning show that was a level of entertainment not much above that of juveniles. Sort of Bennie Hill type of humor. Maybe the geriatric crowd aboard Royal Caribbean on these repositioning cruises love this sort of stupid antics but I found it demeaning at many times. My recommendations are not to take the repositioning cruises on Royal Caribbean unless you are a Diamond or above in their Crown and Anchor Society. it just does not pay to be onboard. Read Less

Explorer of the Seas is showing its age now, with many areas looking tired and in need of renovating. Was almost the worst cruise we have been on, only saved from this by having good food and wonderful dining room staff. The buffet area seemed more crowded than on ships of a similar size, and at sometimes it was a problem to find a table. The choice of food however was up to RCI’s usual standards. The main dining room experience was good, with a varied menu each night as well as the standard dishes available every night. One of our party was vegetarian and there were at least two main courses available each night. Additionally, our waiter produced the following nights menu to look at, and if the veggie options didn’t appeal, he arranged for an off-menu dish to be prepared for the following night, an excellent service which we have only had before on Celebrity cruises. We were well looked after by our waiters Benjaman and Rovie. we went to the main dining room for breakfast once to avoid the crush oft he Windjammer, and was surprised to see how chaotic it was. Diners were getting their meals 15 minutes after their partners on the same table, teas and coffees were ordered, never to appear. Where this cruise failed miserably was with the entertainment programme. The ships singers and dancers only appeared in three shows during the three-week cruise, when normally this form of entertainment would appear at least twice per week. Other acts in the evening included a juggler who could only juggle with three clubs and an Australian comedian whose act consisted on identifying non-Australians in the audience and then insulting them, explaining because we are friends, he could?? There were two good acts, a musical impersonator and a Liberace style pianist. Daytime entertainment consisted of trivia quizzes and bingo. Poolside entertainment only appeared in the third week, and there were no sail-away parties. There was a very good ice show, but access was limited on a rota basis. This was without doubt the worst entertainment we have had on any cruise and certainly not up to RCI’s usual level. Possibly because it was a re-positioning cruise RCI were doing things on the cheap, as people we had met who had sailed on Explorer earlier in the season said it was much better then. The biggest disappointment of the cruise was the failure to make the two stops at the Great Barrier Reef, due to weather conditions restricting tender use apparently, although certainly on the second stop at Cairns most people said on previous cruise’s they had used tenders in worst weather. No attempt was made to stop and the Captain was in a rush to get out to sea and open the casinos and shops, obviously people spending on board was more important than waiting to see if the weather moderated. In both cases the ship was out to sea before the announcements were made. As a compensation the Cruise Director offered free access to the films on the interactive TV for the two days it would take to sail to Darwin, but that day the interactive TV stopped working only to miraculously start again the day we docked at Darwin – nice offer RCI. The reason given for not using the tenders was Health and Safety, and yet at Darwin the angle of the boarding ramps almost necessitated ropes and climbing boots and health and Safety did not seem to be an issue Another issue with RCI was that at Brisbane, (and at Cairns had we stopped), because the ports are a distance from the centres, shuttle buses would be needed to get there, for which RCI levied a $25 dollar fee, unless you were on an RCI excursion. Other cruise lines in this situation provide a free shuttle from/to the port. Read Less

This was our first time cruising with Royal Caribbean and it will be our last. On a number of occasions we raised our concerns with the management of the ship. Concerns raised include stains on towels ( which looked like blood on one occasion and mascara on another) on the first occasion I rang the Hotel director, whose number was in the cabin, re the towel issue to be informed that someone would be down with clean towels , ( I am still waiting) and the to be asked how I got his number, the card din the cabin disappeared that evening. The next night we had the issue of what looked like mascara stains, this time I went to the guest services desk. The towels were replace and we had a visit from the deck supervisor. On the first sea day between Sydney and Brisbane, when the weather was poor. There is insufficient break away areas for the number of passengers that were on the ship. The promenade area was parked like sardines and some bright spark then decided to run the morning Zumba class in that area. We were on My Time dining, for the first seven days of the cruise, all 4 of us thought the food was poor and the service was shoddy. After the mid cruise questionnaire, where we raised the issue of service, quality of food, things did improve drastically. There appears to be a significant number of middle managers/supervisors standing around in the dining room doing little while the waiters and assistant waiters are running around Unfortunately due to the swell two ports, that were tender ports were missed. But the at Darwin, you had to be a mountain climber to get on and off the ship due to the extreme angle of the gang ways. I requested to see the health and safety officer plus a copy of the risk assessments for the gang planks at Darwin in at least 4 occasions, I have still not received anything despite being informed by 4 staff that someone will be in touch and it being logged - still waiting! The cabin was good, for an accessible cabin but it was showing its age. Bed linen was rather thin. Entertainment- the dancers/singers were good and delivered 3 strong performances as did the ice skaters. We didn’t attend the other shows. We thought the range of activities on offer through the sea days were weak. Given our experience on this ship, with a management team who on the face of it, say yes but then totally ignore passengers comments. We will never cruise Royal Caribbean again Read Less

I booked this trip well over a year ago, and had six friends join us which was great. We were all very excited and had pre-booked and pre-planned everything possible. To start with, the embarkation at Sydney was fairly quick and our room was available straightaway, and this was probably around 1 pm. We were immensely happy with our particular room up on level 12 but I will go into that in more details later. We had lunch up in the windjammer cafe which was very nice with plenty of variety and it didn’t take too long until we found seats for all of us. By the time we got back ,our bags had arrived so it was a very efficient service. We had pre-booked the chefs dinner, The gallery tour and lunch, and also the wine around the world talk and tasting. All the information for these were waiting in our cabin for us which again is great service. We met our cabin Steward KOLI..He turned out to be a lovely young gentleman, very personable and very very efficient. So we all just wandered around the ship and checked everything out and eventually met for dinner in the main dining room, where on that night, and every other night following, we had really really nice food. We had Billy and Inyomen, looking after us every night, and they also were extremely friendly, extremely efficient, with a great sense of humour. We had some people with food allergies and one vegetarian, and they went out of their way to ensure everything was okay for them. My husband and I are not great socialisers , as we don’t drink a real lot, and generally don’t bother with the shows, we just like to relax, read a book, have a nap, and do very little. And many times we did do this. But my friends are more outgoing and like to do all the activities and see the shows, so we went along to a few of these things, like trivia, karaoke, and all sorts of other shows, and I have to say, that despite myself, I had a really good time at these activities. We saw ice shows , Movies, parades, art shows, and I watched the wave Rider and golf activities. And generally kept myself entertained, together with long long periods in the Jacuzzi that was in the spa , Very near our room. We thoroughly enjoyed our gallery tour and huge lunch and bottomless champagne..wow Same with the wine tasting.. I’ve been to Champagne in France, and many wineries in Australia, but still learnt things from the sommelier on this cruise.. The best of course was the chefs dinner. Wow wow wow..worth every cent.. way too much food and wine, but a fantastic experience.. So, we also had some other stuff go on...Two medical airlifts early on in the cruise.. not that great for the patients ( who I believe are ok now) but quite exciting for those watching the skill of the pilots and medical staff. Our cabin afforded us the best view ...so many photos and videos taken.. Apparently another medical problem which meant we departed Darwin abit late.. Two missed ports of call. Airlie and Yorkies Knob.. which meant we only stopped at Brisbane and Darwin... Quite a few people disappointed, but really didn’t bother me, as I’m aware that these stops are often missed due to the weather.. those people who set their hearts on seeing the Great Barrier Reef, would have been better just going up there for a few days , as cruising and using tenders is a 50/50% chance.. I had prebooked private excursions at both places and was SUPER surprised to get my money back immediately...no questions asked. Read Less

We are Diamond Plus RCI cruisers. Have always enjoyed our RCI cruises. I must say that this was the Most Disorganized cruise we have ever taken. It seemed that one department had no idea what another department was doing. We had great waiters in main Dining Room, we were on My Time, deck 3. The evening menus seemed to be same menu day after day. We truly missed the Chef's Suggestion of the Day that we used to have. The breakfast menu on deck 3 was the same everyday. We just walked over to center of Dining Room for buffet. The Royal Caribbean Dancers and Sinhers were a highlight for our entertainment. The rest of the entertainment was a major disappointment and that's probably why the Palace Theater was hardly more than half full regardless if it were early or late show. First RCI ship we have been on where entire crew (all departments) were not represented at Closing Show. We were sad to see that it was only cruise director/activity director staff and Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers. I realize that this Review sounds like I am a complainer but I really am not. I spoke with countless other passengers to see if I was off base. Most that I spoke with felt as I did I found. To be honest with you, if this was my first RCI experience I would not be cruising on RCI again. As it is we have four more RCI cruises booked at this time with another on Explorer of the Seas on November 4th. If we didn't already have plane and hotel reservations already paid for I would cancel the cruise on the Explorer. I am praying that there will be a different management crew on that cruise and things will change for the better. Read Less

We chose this cruise because of its itinerary. We hadn’t been on Royal for a few years and didn’t expect that it would be so changed. It has or it’s just that we are spoiled from our other non royal cruises. The staff didn’t care. For instance it took two full hours to disembark. No staff to direct passengers while waiting or offer suggestions as to where to stand. We were the first group scheduled and we were self assist. It appeared that they were discharging their tour groups first so there we were along with another 1000 or so people waiting two hours. And then the announcer actually told the following group to report while we were still there. Total chaos and rude staff. Elevators ran inconsistently or not at all. They were also out of service for much of the trip. We were sitting in the shade poolside for several hours when a representative said”hey guys we have to move you”. Really? They had decided to set up a poolside buffet and told 40 people to move. Poor planning. And very rude to top it off. There are too many choices to use vacation time and money but this is a no brainer. We won’t be back. They won’t miss us and we won’t miss them. Read Less

I am on board this ship attending a genealogy conference. Thank goodness I AM attending a conference because the overall options for things to do on this ship are terrible. Everything is aimed at young families - the ones where the parents traipse off and have a good time but leave their brats to run amok and annoy fellow guests. Then there is the food - the Windjammer is terrible, all food is well overcooked and what is not eaten is served up the next day in a variety of stir fry's and casserole-type dishes. The Sapphire Dining Room is just as bad. The only decent meals are to be had in the speciality restaurants which leads me to think they make the general food so bad you will naturally take up the specialities! It would also appear that the shore excursion staff are not kept informed about any changes to excursions until the very last minute and are not able to get the message out to its passengers. For one excursion I was booked on, I was complaining about the change of date at such late notice (the evening before) when several other passengers advised they had had 4 date changes to the same excursion. Was also booked on the Tour of the Ship only to be told while waiting for the tour to commence that it would not be happening because we were sailing through the Torres Straits and no one is allowed to enter the bridge or engine room on this day. HELLO why was the day available for the booking in the first place when the organisers would have known we would be travelling through those Straits on that day. Arrived in Darwin to be told our collected tour group (who had to meet at the fore theatre room on Deck 3 had to walk up to Deck 4, across to the aft elevators and go down to Deck 1. We get down there having had to wait many minutes for elevators (they only take so many people) to be told, no you are exiting from Deck 4. Up we go again to find we have to disembark down the steepest, wet, gangway I have every seen. Our group consisted of many elderly persons with mobility problems including a totally blind woman with a stick. Surely this is a health and safety risk just waiting for a passenger to have a fall and sue the pants off of Royal Caribbean. I have done several cruises with their sister company Celebrity and the difference between the two is staggering. Royal Caribbean - Explorer of the Seas - no longer supplies fresh water jugs to your cabin; no longer gives you that little chocolate on your bed making you feel special; instead of two cabin stewards there is only one very overworked steward; the conference room in the fore of the ship has only 1 toilet for up to a hundred people. Then there is the state of the elevators, one of which kept breaking down - to be honest it was the one you could rely on because it wasn't working with the others continually whizzing past your floor or staying on each deck for around 4 or 5 minutes minimum. Much quicker to take the stairs but not suitable for the elderly or those with mobility problems. I could go on but then I'd only be seen as a whinger - along with at least half of the passengers on this cruise. My advice - pay the extra and go with Celebrity or its ilk. Read Less