This review is not intended to imply that the Explorer of the Seas is a bad ship, it is in almost every way...mediocre. The ship is in dire need of a refurbishment which is happening later this year. In the meantime the cabins have dingy carpeting, chipped fixtures and a bit of a musty smell to them. They are adequate and functional but somewhere around a Best Western hotel room by comparison. The cabin steward did a fantastic job keeping things clean and in order and even started the towel animals around day 4. The dining room food was average for the most part. Nothing really stood out as fantastic and if you don't go to the dining rooms for the service than you might as well head to the Windjammer. The Windjammer is faster, has a bit more variety and allows you to get something more than the slightly undersized dining room portions. The highlight of the dining room was the excellent service we received from our Head Waiter Pepito and his Assistant Michael. The shows were below average to average. Their was a good comedian on day 3 - Scott Alexander, an average comedian Etta May and a horrible juggler/Comedian named Scotty Cavanaugh. The production shows were really cheesy and I watched a lot of people walking out during the performances. The ice show was not bad. The performers were good but the ice is just too small for them to really do anything to wow the crowd very much. Their were not as many activities as I have seen on other cruises and what they had was mainly talks designed to sell spa services or jewelry disguised as an enrichment talk. The exception to that were the Art Enrichment talks which were done by Sean O'Connor. Sean really put effort into bringing some good information and answering questions. The ports were okay with the exception of Puerto Rico which is nothing more than a crowded, dirty american style city with a spanish name. Beware of the "water park" in Haiti (Labadee) as it is just a bunch of inflatable obstacles floating in the water, most of which you can't even climb on to without above average upper body strength since they don'y have ladders, just handholds. Also, on embarkation day be prepared to be herded in to the Windjammer for the buffet where there is nowhere near enough seats for all the people who are waiting with nowhere else to go because you can't get into your cabin until at least 1:30. Also, you spend a great deal of your vacation waiting for the elevators most of which arrive already full to capacity. If you don't mind stairs you will save yourself a lot of waiting and frustration. Again, I don't want to sound as if this was a bad cruise because it wasn't. It also was not a good cruise. We all agreed it was mediocre in almost every way which was disappointing because I don't think you pay that kind of money hoping to have a so-so time on a cruise. This was our 2nd RCCL cruise and I think our last. We have enjoyed a couple of cruises on Princess much better and I think that is where we will return.