We're Diamond members, so we've been on a few cruises and I think we know what to expect on board. One of the things we like about our Diamond status is being able to meet other cruisers in the Diamond lounge. This ship doesn't have a Diamond Lounge. On other ships they would take over one of the other lounges on the ship even though they didn't have a dedicated Diamond lounge. In the case of the Explorer, they took over the card room, but didn't offer cocktails or beer (just wine), and no snacks. We were told if we wanted beer or cocktails we could go to another bar and bring them back to the lounge. Very quickly, the impromptu Diamond Lounge wasn't being used by anyone.

With one exception (when visiting the ice show), we had a hard time getting bar service. Every night, multiple times a night, we would sit down in a bar and we couldn't get waited on. We would either have to go up to the bar ourselves, or leave and go to another bar/lounge on the ship.

On the last night of the cruise, my wife was on the way up the elevator to try and find the concierge to complain about the poor bar service. She happened to get on the elevator with the officer that manages the bar staff on the ship. She mentioned the lack of service on the ship and that they would be making more money if they could get servers to actually wait on customers, but the officer wasn't very interested in her concern. This tells you all you need to know about the source of the problem. Read more